Chapter 252

Chapter 252

With Greed’s arrival, Ben got to work in earnest, having the crab show him how he performed while carefully examining his body. It was like he thought, he was sure he’d be able to do something for his voice easily enough, but it was the claws that would create some issues.The origin of this chapter's debut can be traced to N0v3l--B1n.

It wasn’t just a matter of deciding how he would wear them, it was how they would be built at all. His first idea was to basically make him metal gloves, but that completely changed the sound Greed’s music took, giving it a metallic ring that wasn’t originally there.

“Let’s see, so if that won’t work, I could do what? I suppose I could make something like funnel-shaped bracelets to capture the sound and tie an air enchantment to amplify it, but then what if the claws affect it? Since they’d be in front of the sound some of it could reflect back and make a feedback loop, something nobody wants. So then how should I do this, unless...”

“You got something?” Greed asked him, filled with hope after watching Ben spin his wheels as he thought.

“Maybe, give me a minute.”

He had an idea, a simple one too. This whole time, he’d been thinking of creating an item for both claws, as well as a microphone of sorts for the crab to talk into, but then again, there was no reason he couldn’t make one thing to project each sound. The quality might be affected a bit, but he was sure he could work that out with just a little bit of tinkering with the enchantment. He’d learned a lot about using air magic for sound spells since his music box after all, it would be good to put it into practice.

Taking all of that into consideration he began making it, putting better materials into his forge than he’d initially planned, solely due to how little he was going to be using. He was making it for a crab after all, it had to be at a size that Greed would be able to carry and move around himself without too much difficulty.

Once the metal was headed through he took out one of the many bone powders he’d pack to use in the competition, having not known what he’d be making at the time but seeing he wouldn’t be needing it now. It was one specifically meant to increase an item's ability to hold air enchantments, and considering that he would be trying to put the most powerful one he could on something so small, it was an absolute necessity.

Once the material was ready, it came down to flattening it into a plate before cutting and shaping it. The design he had in mind was simple enough. He was folding it into a small square cone, something that Greed should have been able to move around without trouble, and on the end of each he added a hinge that he attached more plates to. The point was to set it up in such a way that it could double in length after being properly set, while not taking up too much space beforehand. This would let him make better enchantments for it, and with that done he got started.

Even with everything he did to manage the space, the enchantment had to be on the smaller, more delicate side compared to what he would normally do. There simply hadn’t been enough material to do anything too crazy with it, but with a bit of care he completed it, letting the crab test it out.

Standing in front of it after the setup was complete, Greed walked before it, hesitantly clicking a claw and hearing the sound amplify before doing it again with his other one, making a different tone and seeming satisfied as he kept going, turning the test into a performance as he began to sing, not using words, but making sounds that would weave seamlessly into each snap he made. Ben couldn’t help but find himself enjoying it, even if he noticed a flaw in his enchantment as he did.

“This is great legs, you really know your stuff,” Greed told him happily, more than pleased with how it turned out. He had used a few amplifiers in the past when a venue had them and even if it wasn’t quite as loud, that was more than excusable considering how small it was compared to the ones he’d used for the larger races.

“Well hold on a minute there, something didn’t sound quite right to me some I’m going to do a quick modification,” Ben said as he took it in his hand to alter it. It had sounded fine, but it was definitely getting a slight distortion from the amplified sound bouncing off the metal. An easy enough fix after blending in an earth enchantment, and after putting it down he had the crab try again

This time it truly was perfect. There was no flaw in the noise as Ben let himself enjoy it and the few competitors who hadn’t finished packing up for the day stopped to listen. It wasn’t often that he got to hear the different musical options that filled the world, and he couldn’t help but think that as far as payment went, it really wasn’t too bad, even if he still fully intended to get copies of his skills in the future if he could.

With his customer more than thrilled, it seemed like that would be the end of things for the day, with enough hours left that he could still meet Will and Jake, but the crab had one more request for him.

“Alright, so I know this might be a bit much after you went to the trouble of making this, but you think I could ask a favour?”

“Well, you can at least ask.”

“Think I could get a lift back to my inn?” He asked sheepishly. “It would take me ages, but you could manage it in what, fifteen minutes? This city wasn’t exactly built for someone my size, and I’d rather not get stepped on when things start getting dark out.”

“Oh yeah, if that’s all then sure, it’s no problem,”

Ben was finding himself liking the guy well enough, even if his reputation may not have been the greatest, and he wasn’t wrong. It was too easy for such a small creature to accidentally be trampled underfoot. Even with his strong shell, he could still be injured and spending the thirty minutes there and back wouldn’t be putting him out of his way.

With that decided, Ben carefully scooped him up, following his directions to take him back where he was staying, chatting on the way. It was fun listening to the crab's stories, what it was like going across the world to perform, as well as his warnings over women.

“Hold on you bastard! You’re out of your mind if you think I’m just going to let you fucking eat me!” Greed yelled out, struggling to escape as the other crab walked closer.

“You’re body is my birthright father! I’m simply making you finally fulfill the obligation you should have upon my birth!”

Wait, father?

This was getting too complicated. He hadn’t planned on being a witness to both some patricide and cannibalism when he’d agreed to make a simple amplifier. “What the hell did you get me caught up in?”

“Ha, let’s just let this be my final piece of advice to you,” The smaller crab said. “Careful when you have some fun outside of your race. You never know when you’ll accidentally mess around with someone whose kind needs their young to eat part of their father to absorb their shell and grow their own. Even worse when you learn the woman’s a crime lord.”

He could see the fear in the other man's eyes as he failed to break free of his bindings. A small part of Ben couldn’t help but be amazed at meeting someone who seemed like they actually had worse luck than him, but he put the thought to the side and forced his minds into overdrive as he tried to come up with something, anything that would get them free and keep him from being murdered after this and Greed from being eaten.

Okay, so he needs a shell, what can I do about that? I can’t just make one, it’s a part of his body. In that case, could a healer do anything? No, if he needs to develop it through a specific method then a standard healer won’t be able to, maybe Steph or Yuzu could pull something off but even then it feels like it would be overly complicated. But there’s really nothing I can do and it feels like if there’s an answer it has to be magic but I’m really not sure beyond that. Unless-

As his mind was in a flurry of activity, Greed’s son reached them, taking hold of his father and looking him in the eye as Greed continued to scream.

“Eating me will never give you enough to form a proper shell! Look at you! Look at our size difference, I couldn’t have done it when you were born, let alone now!”

“And yet it will be something!” The other crab responded as he held him up above his mouth. “I’ll take any patches over what I have now!”

“Wait, let me help you!” Ben yelled before any attempts at eating happened. He had an idea, but it would mostly rely on the mages in his life to fulfill, he just had to get to that point.

Greed though misunderstood things. “You’re going to help him eat me you fuck? Come on, just try getting a bite! It’s going to hurt going all the way down though!”

“I think I can help you get a proper shell,” Ben yelled while he had the fleshy crab's attention, getting Greed to calm down in the process. “Something that would be able to cover you! If I’m hearing right, you can only use what he has, right? Wouldn’t you like something better? I’ll do it if you don’t eat him!”

For a second, it seemed to have the desired effect. He put down Greed and turned to him, with things only seeming to fall through as he moved to get his thick claw around Ben’s neck.

“That’s a pretty promise boy, but one you should be cautious of making,” He warned. “Now, I don’t have any problem with you. After dealing with my father I was just going to toss you on the streets and we’d leave town, so do you really want to be responsible for getting my hopes up?”

Okay, now feels like a good time to play my get out of being murdered card. “I can’t guarantee I can help, but as the apostle of Myriad I promise I’ll do my best,” He told them confidently, seeing what he thought were surprised faces around him as he felt the claw slip from his neck.

“Did you idiots really kidnap a goddamn apostle?”

“He could be lying,” One of the other crabs said meekly. “Just trying to get out of things.”

“Let me show you my card and I’ll prove it. Then we can move on to discussing just how I might be able to help.”

Greed's son waved one of his men over, and with a quick snip of his claws Ben was free, letting him prove his identity.

“Alright apostle boy, how exactly are you planning on helping me?”