Chapter 198: A Battle of Wits (And Pies)
No whisper or word dared escape anyone’s lips in the tense stillness that filled the dragon’s lair after Balthazar’s challenge.
The crimson beast eyed the merchant, her immense copper pupils narrowing on the resolute crab with a fierceness that could nearly cut through his chitin.
“You wish to challenge me?” Beatrix said in a calm and drawn out tone that filled the air between them with blazing heat.
Balthazar stared the dragon right back, his eyestalks firm and unwavering, and with as much resolve as he could gather, he replied, “That’s what I said.”
Dragons had not been sighted for several generations, but before that, they had existed for a long time. Since the first ages or even earlier. Before there were adventurers or perhaps even human civilizations.
Or at least that was what Balthazar had read in the books he gathered on draconic subjects after Madeleine was taken.
Adventurers always had the strange habit of looting all manner of books and tomes from whatever corner of the continent they had been exploring, despite seemingly never once bothering to read any of them.
The crab had since early on into his merchant career gained the habit of reading through whatever literary materials he could get his pincers on during the more dead hours of the day.
It had quickly become a pleasant activity for him. Both because it allowed practicing his new reading skills while learning more about the world around him, and because it was one of very few cases where he could use an item and still sell it at full price after.