Lily, You Monster?
"Lily, are you insane?"
"Your Highness... Crab."
"Mother, Crab."
"This mother of yours is sorry... Crab. Back then, I should never have eaten that clam... Crab."
"Please don't speak of it, Crab. Everything will be alright, Crab."
How on earth did things come to this?
Crabnius, the crown prince in name only now, could not hide the bitter despair welling up inside him as he gazed at his ailing mother.
Her once-sturdy shell was softening day by day, her sharp pincers blunting into stubs — the marks of the illness.
His mother, once the picture of health, had begun to sicken ever so slightly after attending a banquet to which Crabcrous had invited her to his palace.
When her condition grew serious, Crabnius went to Crabcrous directly and demanded answers, but his brother, riding high on his newfound confidence, simply smiled and played ignorant.
Even the empire's finest physicians could not cure it.
How could anyone call this an illness that simply arose on its own?
And an illness that appeared the very next day after a visit to Crabcrous's palace, no less.
Clack.
Crabnius's massive pincers clicked together with a dull grind.
"You should rest, Crab."
"You needn't worry about your mother, Crab... I will speak to Her Majesty on your behalf as well, Crab."
"...Rest, Crab."
Thud.
"Whew... This is driving me mad, Crab."
The frustration was suffocating.
He longed to pour his heart out to someone, but there were precious few in this palace he could trust.
Some portion of the staff here... no, perhaps most of them were servants of that damned traitor.
The only reason he hadn't purged them was to avoid provoking his brother needlessly.
As long as he let the bastard believe his grip was still firmly around him, he might yet find an opening to strike back.
"Your Highness, Crab."
"Vice-Commander, Crab. It seems the patrol along the shoreline's edge is finished, Crab."
And yet, within this untrustworthy palace, there existed a single group he could rely on.
The pride of the empire — the Pincer Knights, whom he had protected since long before he ever ascended to the position of crown prince.
He had ordered them to report to him at once should anything unusual occur beyond his domain.
It was soldier's work he was assigning to knights, to be sure, but his loyal retainers in the Pincer Knights had accepted the duty gladly.
"Was there anything unusual, Crab?"
Perhaps some hostile faction had begun to move.
At Crabnius's question, the vice-commander of the Pincer Knights answered in a noticeably grave tone.
"As it happens, that is precisely what I've come to report, Crab."
"...Has that bastard made a move, Crab?"
"No, nothing of the sort, Crab. It would be better for you to see it for yourself, Crab."
"...What in the empire is this, Crab?"
A knight lay in the infirmary with all eight of his limbs severed, while physicians attended to the reattachment procedure.
Around them, other knights gathered over the severed limbs, chattering among themselves in apparent astonishment.
"Your Highness has arrived, Crab!"
"Lord Crabnius, Crab!"
"What is this, Crab?"
"Ah — the being wished to become a knight of the empire, so she came seeking us out, Crab. She appears to be of the merfolk race, Crab."
"The merfolk race, you say, Crab?"
"That would seem to be the case, Crab?"
"No, she wasn't a mermaid, Crab."
The knights' opinions were divided. Crabnius, who had watched long enough, raised his pincer, and only then did the entire infirmary fall silent.
"Vice-Commander, Crab. You tell me yourself, Crab."
"Yes, Your Highness. While patrolling the shoreline's edge with two other knights, I discovered someone resembling a merfolk, Crab. She introduced herself as a wanderer and, declaring her wish to become a knight of the empire, took the knight-commander's trial, Crab."
"...And the result of that trial is this, Crab?"
"It is, Crab."
Hmm...
Crabnius lifted one of the severed arms with his pincer — the one scheduled for reattachment surgery soon.
The arms had been cut with astonishing cleanliness.
"What were the terms of the trial, Crab?"
"The moment the trial began, the wanderer used a spear — naught but a skewer — to blast away Crabph's pincer legs in a single strike, then severed his remaining pincer and all six arms within one second, Crab."
"...She's insane, Crab."
"That was my assessment as well, Crab."
Clean work.
At this level, her pincer — her spear, rather — is sharper than even the secret weapons I saw in that damned brother's palace.
'No... it might even surpass them.'
"Where is this wanderer now, Crab?"
"She was granted the rank of knight and retired to her chambers to rest, though she stepped out a short while ago to have a look around, Crab."
"I must meet her, Crab."
This might just be a chance to land a blow against that damned brother of mine.
"Can she be trusted, Crab?"
"I cannot say with certainty. But at the very least, she did not appear to be on his side, Crab."
Of course, if even this were one of his brother's tricks, then there wouldn't be a shred of hope left —
'The First Empress would never abandon me to such a fate... Crab.'
"I have no choice but to place my faith in her, Crab."
"Whoa. Incredible."
At the deserted edge of the beach, I had cast a perception-blocking spell over the area and was cooking up a crab feast.
For cookware, I had a few pieces Yena had given me last time, safely stashed in my inventory, and my own magic more than sufficed for the fire.
The pincer legs were at least twice the size of my arm, so beyond steaming and grilling, I was even able to boil up a small spicy seafood stew using seasonings I'd bought from shops around the empire.
I dipped my spoon into the bubbling stew and took a bite.
"Ah... Whoa. Wow."
This is what happiness tastes like.
The meat truly did melt in my mouth.
It wasn't as though I'd never roasted and eaten a crab this enormous in the past, but it had never been this delicious.
Besides, back then there were no seasonings with this kind of spicy aroma and kick.
Salt had been the best I could manage.
"Just wish I had rice to go with it."
Thanks to how enormous everything was, there was still plenty left to eat, but lingering too long would start to raise suspicions.
"Ahem. Time to clean up, I suppose."
Using my flames, I incinerated every last scrap of leftover food.
The scraps blazed up beautifully.
It truly, truly pained me, but there was nothing to be done.
Afterward, I used a tailwind to scatter every trace of the smell, dispelled the perception-blocking magic spread over the area, and returned to the empire in my usual form.
A servant who had been hovering near my room hurried over the moment she spotted me.
"Oh dear! Crab! Where have you been, Crab?"
"I just stepped out for a meal."
"Pardon? If you had only said something, we would have prepared a royal feast for you, Crab!"
"No need. It's only my first day — I can't impose on the empire like that."
The royal feast had already been consumed.
"That's not the point, Crab! His Highness! His Highness the Crown Prince has come in person to Knight Lily's chambers, Crab!"
"...Lord Crabnius has?"
"Yes indeed~! Crab!"
Given the sheer scale of the place, I'd steeled myself for a stay of several days, yet here I was meeting the crown prince far sooner than I'd expected.
The servant relayed word of my return beyond the door, and it swung open with natural formality.
There stood the vice-commander I'd met before, and beside him Crabnius, wearing what looked like ornaments of considerable dignity upon his shell.
He was smaller than the knight-commander, but the raw power he carried was anything but weak.
"So you are the wanderer newly sworn into the Pincer Knights, Crab."
"A knight, my lord — Lily. It is an honor to meet you, Lord Crabnius, the Pincer of the great Crab Empire."
I brought both hands together at my chest and bowed my head respectfully toward Crabnius.
It was a gesture closely mirroring the sight of two pincers meeting.
The servant and the vice-commander both flinched visibly in surprise.
Crabnius too regarded me with widened eyes.
"...How do you know the imperial greeting, Crab?"
"I picked it up while walking briefly through the imperial streets. I'm not yet accustomed to it — I worry I may have mangled the empire's greeting."
"...Not at all, Crab. Your greeting was more perfect than that of nobles of an old imperial bloodline, Crab."
Guilty as charged.
Clasping the hands was something the crabs did constantly, and pincers held deep symbolic meaning for them.
'Their greetings are all more or less the same, anyway.'
Truth be told, I had long since absorbed the courtly greetings of all manner of nobles, so mixing a few of them together produced something perfectly convincing.
"I have heard impressive accounts of your exploits, Crab. They say you subdued a knight within mere seconds, Crab."
"I simply didn't bother holding back."
"Even at full strength, your skill would remain exceptional — that much is certain, Crab. Now then, what is your race, Crab?"
"...My race, you ask?"
"That's right, Crab. I was led to believe you were merfolk, but they insisted otherwise, so you must be of some other race, Crab."
My race...
The race I belong to.
"......"
"...I am human."
My race is human.