“This is not normal,” the woman in red robes said.

Ruby stood by the edge of the Black Forest, between some trees and out of sight from any prying eyes that might look that way from the vast plains between her and the town of Ardville. With hands crossed behind her back, the enchantress stared up at the overcast sky through the crimson lenses of her glasses, her gaze focused on a specific spot that, to anyone else, would appear empty and unimportant.

“What isn’t normal, my dear?” a calm and soothing voice asked as a man stepped out of the forest’s shadow a few paces behind her without making a single sound on the snow beneath his boots.

“You’re back,” Ruby said to Jasper without taking her eyes off the sky above or showing any signs of surprise at his arrival. “I take it that means the issues with our temporary hideout have been taken care of?”

“Yes,” the man replied. “The forest elementals have been dealt with, and the cave is secured. The others are just finishing setting up your sigils, and once they’re done we should be undetectable and clear to work here undisturbed. Now, about what I was asking…”

“Look up,” the woman in red said. “What do you see?”

The warrior stepped to her side, crossed his arms in front of his chest, and stared up in the same direction as the enchantress, eyes squinting in careful analysis.

After a long moment of silence, the nomad adventurer exhaled loudly.

“If I was naive and didn’t already know you,” he said, “I would answer that I see clouds, maybe some drifting snowflakes high up. But knowing how you think, I’m sure what you really meant is not what I see, but rather what I don’t.”

Ruby’s eyes remained fixed on the sky, but the corner of her lips curved ever so slightly into a hint of a smirk.

“And?”

“And…” Jasper continued. “I see nothing. Not a single thing flying above.”

“Exactly!” the enchantress said, finally turning to face her confidant. “Where are all the birds? Not a single one anywhere around this area. For days. I’ve been watching.”

The dark-skinned man brought a hand to his chin and stroked it in thought. “That is strange.”

“Never mind the local birds that should inhabit this region at this time of the year,” Ruby continued. “Where are all the other birds? They should be all over this place after the anomalous event Amil’s Astrolabe triggered in that mountain. I would expect heavy surveillance, corrective measures, perhaps even a full area wipe. But so far… nothing.”

Jasper turned to the woman in red, his expression stone-faced.

“I have no doubt that mind of yours already has a theory as to why that is.”

“A working one,” Ruby said, beginning to pace back and forth between the trees. “There is not a chance that the system managers did not notice the disturbance caused by the dungeon emergence. We know this is not part of any regular procedure—because we caused it. That means they would be immediately compelled to investigate it and, almost certainly, contain it. No such thing has happened after several days. Even stranger is the complete absence of any avian creature around the mountain, whether natural or the less natural kind. I sent a scout into the plains yesterday. Earlier today he returned and confirmed what I already suspected—after a certain distance, birds can be sighted as normal. They just do not come near this place.”

The nomad watched the enchantress pacing and rambling to herself more than to him with the calm of someone who was already used to such behaviors from her.

“So you’re thinking there is an exclusion zone in effect around Semla Mountain?” he said with serene detachment. “One that specifically keeps all birds from coming near it?”

“Exactly!” the woman exclaimed, taking a sudden step toward him as she snapped her fingers and widened her eyes.

Jasper scowled slightly.

“But such a thing would require a lot of power, and very privileged system access. Especially if it can keep birds—those kinds of birds—from coming close.”

“You’re arriving at the same conclusion as me, then,” Ruby said. “Which only further proves that whatever is at the core of that mountain must be incredibly powerful—and important.”

The warrior stroked his chin again.

“But who within that place with the right access to the dungeon’s system would want to put in place a restriction barrier that keeps out other system managers?”

“No, you are missing a detail there, my friend,” the robed adventurer said. “Not system managers specifically. It’s keeping all birds out.”

A frown brought the weathered man’s eyebrows together, and he smiled.

“Surely you don’t think the crab is the one responsible for it, Ruby? Sapient or not, there is no way he has the power and knowledge to be a dungeon manager.”

The woman shook her head.

“I no longer take anything for granted when it comes to that peculiar creature. Every time someone underestimates him, he rewrites the outcome in his favor. We must find out what happened in that dungeon when he and his group went inside.”

The enchantress reached inside her robe for a small silver medallion hanging from her neck. Using her thumb, she rubbed it lightly a few times.

“Amber,” she said without turning around, just before the young girl came rushing out of the forest behind her.

“Y-yes, Madame Ruby,” the apprentice said, still catching her breath. “Did you summon me?”

“Have you learned anything new from observing the pond yet?” Ruby asked, crossing her arms behind her back again and returning her gaze to the sky.

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The young adventurer swallowed quietly before replying. “N-no, I’m afraid not, Madame Ruby. Other than the construction of a kitchen behind the bazaar, nothing of note has taken place that I have seen.”

The older woman sighed calmly.

“I was hoping to keep a low profile, but we need answers. We need to send eyes into that dungeon to find out what transpired in there.”

Jasper, who was looking toward the pond through a spyglass, lowered the instrument with one eyebrow cocked.

“That might prove challenging right now.”

***

“What do you mean, we can’t go in?!” an adventurer with a stuffy voice and even stuffier attitude exclaimed. “I am a level 32 knight and I will not be told what to do by some backwater creature!”

Balthazar rolled his eyes.

The knight and his party—a mage boy and a rogue girl—stood between the pond and the entrance into the Semla Dungeon, staring at the crab in front of them with displeased expressions.

“As a level 32 knight, surely you must have picked up a reading skill at some point, did you not?” the merchant said. “Read the sign.”

Balthazar tapped the wooden sign planted into the ground next to him, which stood in front of a long red rope connected to two stanchions, cordoning off the tunnel’s entrance. On the plaque, two lines read Dungeon closed for maintenance. Please check back later.

The party leader, barely taller than the crab, glared at the sign with a sneer.

“And who put that there? By what right?”

The merchant stretched his eyestalks up and looked down at the human.

“I did. By right of knowing what I’m talking about.”

The knight’s mouth twisted into a grimace as he squinted at the crustacean, who stared back unimpressed.

“We have come a long way to delve into this dungeon. It will take more than a mere merchant to keep me from going where I please, crab.”

Balthazar gave the adventurer a look of disdain before raising a claw in the air and—with a fair amount of flair—producing a loud snap with his pincer.

Bouldy, who had been standing still as a… Well, rock leaned forward, revealing himself from the background of jagged stones and other rocks that made up the mountain’s side.

Bringing his face slightly down at the four figures beneath him, the golem smiled.

“Friend?”

“No, no, no!” the crab quickly muttered under his breath, turning away from the adventurers. “Do as we rehearsed. Menacing!”

The construct’s expression flashed into one of surprise at remembering something before he quickly changed it into an attempt at looking threatening.

In reality, the golem looked more like he was painfully constipated.

Balthazar let out a quiet sigh.

He’s doing his best. I guess at least that counts as not friendly.

He turned back to the three humans, who were still looking up at the stone giant with jaws slightly dropped.

“So, as you can see, this merchant has security. I recommend you heed my warning and just go back up to town, rent a room at an inn, browse the market tomorrow, eat a pastry, and maybe at some later date you can check back on this dungeon.”

Forcing himself to tear his gaze away from the golem, the stuffy knight glared at the merchant again, defiance still painted across his face.

“You might have a golem, but there are three of us, and we came here looking and prepared for a challenging fight. You won’t get us to back down so easily.”

Balthazar rubbed the space between his eyestalks with a pincer, struggling to not let his eyes roll off his face and up the mountain.

Alright, so I guess it’s like that, huh?

The crab skittered a few steps closer to the human, who looked down with a frown of suspicion.

“Look,” he whispered. “I didn’t want to share the real reason why the dungeon is closed with too many people, but… you guys won’t spread this around, right?”

The wizard and rogue leaned closer above their leader’s shoulders.

“No, of course not,” said the mage boy. “We won’t tell.”

Balthazar made an exaggerated show of looking first to his right and then to his left, despite there clearly being no one nearby.

“You heard how this dungeon is full of spooky and savage skeletons that are way too high level for most of the adventurers who have been coming in here, right?”

“Yeah,” said the rogue girl. “That’s part of why we traveled back here. We thought we had beaten everything there was to beat in this part of the continent, but then this strange dungeon showed up.”

“What’s your point, crab?” the stuffy adventurer demanded. “We are not noobs. We can handle whatever’s inside this place, unlike those low-level amateurs.”

The merchant nodded.

“Indeed. Unlike them,” he said. “You would fight bravely, I’m sure. Carry yourself with honor. Maybe even win and beat the dungeon. And even if you didn’t, I have no doubt you would still walk away with your dignity and not soil your pride—or, you know… the floor.”

The short knight looked at him with a confused glare. “What are you talking about?”

“Well, some of these young adventurers who came in here to explore the dungeon got way more than they bargained for—as did their pantaloons.”

The mage grimaced. “Wait, you don’t mean that they literally soiled—”

“Oh, yes I do,” the crab said while nodding.

The knight erupted with outrage. “And what does that have to do with not letting us go into the dungeon?! It’s not like—”

“Quite explosively, I should add,” Balthazar interrupted.

“W-wait, what?”

“Seriously, the state of those floors? Deplorable. That just couldn’t have been natural. I suspect some foul witch’s potion must have been involved. Don’t even get me started on the walls. And the ceilings? Good lord, how does that even happen?!”

The stuffy knight kept pulling his face back until his chin was practically fusing with his neck, while his mouth twisted with revulsion.

“Dude…” said the rogue. “Maybe we should just listen to the crab and take a rain check on this place. I mean, look at him, would a crab wearing such a cute winter hat be lying to us?”

Balthazar could practically feel the doubt and wavering resolve coming from the snobby adventurer in front of him.

“You certainly heard about how this dungeon is pitch-black all the way through,” the crab continued. “Do you really want to walk around in the dark not knowing what you might step into next?”

[The Gift of the Crab: Success]

“Alright. Alright!” the knight blurted out, throwing his arms up. “You’ve described enough, just stop! We will leave this place for later. After it’s been…” A visible tremble ran down his whole body. “Properly cleaned up.”

With a sigh of relief, Balthazar watched from the front of his bazaar as the trio departed back to Ardville under the last remnants of daylight.

“Relax,” the crab said to his giant bodyguard standing behind him. “You can stop looking like you’re trying to pass a stone now.”

“Friend…” Bouldy said with relief as he dropped his poor attempt at looking intimidating and let his smile return.

After sending the golem back to his guarding post next to the tunnel, so no more adventurers tried to go in, Balthazar stared out pensively at the plains across the road.

That worked this time, but more like them will come to enter the dungeon. The merchant thought.

He needed a way to keep adventurers from discovering the mines inside the dungeon until he figured out what to do about it all. And he needed to do it soon.

Thankfully, Balthazar was always a crab with a plan.

Not always a good plan, but a plan nonetheless.

“Psst, Balthazar,” a familiar voice whispered from behind a stack of crates outside the bazaar’s front entrance. “Are they gone yet?”