The Merchant of New Borealis Ch. 10 (Original) (Patreon)

EDIT: Fucked up the first version of this poll. Sorry, folks. 

$1 - $5 = 2 votes, $9 to $15 = 3 votes. Anything above $15 = 4 votes   

Summary: The day's been saved, and you, the Merchant, walks around the town of Undercliff. Demis and humans are partying together, but two of your friends aren't so happy... Includes: Non smut and character drama

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You walk out of your bedroom with a stretch. You look around the inn, and find people partying downstairs. Part of you can’t help but smile at the sight.

Humans and Demis partying side by side. They’re welcoming to one another, kind and friendly, and-oh. Okay, that guy is making out with a spider woman in the corner. 

You step back, shaking your head a bit. You need to go find your friends, make sure they’re okay, but one friend finds you first. 

“Oh. You’re awake, human.”

You blink, and you turn around to find Mica smiling at you. You open your mouth to greet her, but she puts a clawed finger to her lip. She motions you over, and you raise your brow. 

You follow her, and the two of you skulk away from the party downstairs. No one seems to notice you as you follow her.

“Is everything okay?” you ask. “Are Yuya and Chrysalis okay?” You feel a knot in your stomach, but it quickly fades as she smiles at you.

“They’re fine. The humans seem to be treating them well.” She smiles, long tail swaying back and forth as she looks out a nearby window. 

You follow her gaze, and the people are partying outside. It’s like some kind of fair. You’re shocked people were able to set this all up so soon after the problem was solved, but maybe the Demis helping had a hand in setting things up.

Still, you can tell why Mica is so happy. “This is the kind of world us Gargoyles fought for, you know. “

“A big party?” you joke, and she actually chuckles. 

‘Unity. Love. Acceptance. Everyone getting along and being happy and having fun. I just want everyone to get along and be happy…” 

“You should be down there,” you suggest. “Joining in the festivities. It’s only possible because of you.” 

You meant well, but your words seem to strike a nerve for Mica. She doesn’t say anything, merely staring out the window to the crowd below, before she looks at you. There’s a sad, forlorn smile on her face. 

“Take my hand?” she holds her clawed fingers out to you, and you glance at them. 

You wanted to talk to her. You wanted to make sure she was okay… You place your hand in hers and she pulls you close. 

“Hold onto me,” she orders, placing your hand behind her head. You follow her command, wrapping your arms around her head. “Wow. You’re pretty light,” she teases, and you blush, before gasping as she starts climbing out the window, holding your body against hers. 

“W-whoa! What are you doing?” you ask, and she laughs as presses her wings against her back. 

It’s a tight fit, but she manages as you hold onto her. “I want to be on the roof,” she explains. “Us Gargoyles just feel a natural joy in being in the out and open. Besides, we’re meant to be on the top of buildings, not in them.”

You raise your brow as she climbs up the inn with ease, digging her claws into the walls as you hold onto her. You can feel her breasts against your chest, and you blush as you realize she’s almost as big as Yuya. Certainly bigger than most human girls you know. 

You’re just thankful she’s at least wearing clothes. A thin, black top that barely hides her breasts, but it’s something. That and a small loincloth for her womanhood are the only things hiding her body as she carries you to the top of the inn. 

She lets you go as you stand on top of the small building together, and you watch her stretch out her wings and arms with a wide grin.

“Ahh! That’s better! The wide open spaces! Oh, how I’ve missed you!” You smile at her joy, and she turns her head to look at you, flashing her sharp teeth in the light of the moon. “I heard you’re a merchant. A traveler, right? Then you understand what I’m feeling, right?”

You blink as she rolls her shoulders. “The freedom of the great outdoors.” She motions down to the festival below you. “Seeing the diverse cultures and traditions of the land around you. Just being alive…”

“It sounds like you’re happy to be free,” you comment, though you blush slightly. Of course she’s happy…

“I wasn’t awake during my imprisonment, but I wasn’t asleep either,” she explained. “I was something in between. Sometimes I could hear the world around me, other times I was left in a void of nothingness, just… drifting.”

Her smile fades for a moment, before she pulls on the corners of her lips. You can tell her smile isn’t completely genuine as she beams. “But now I get to make up for lost time. I’m going to travel New Borealis, see how much the world has changed since I was imprisoned.”

“Wait, really?” you blink. “But aren’t you supposed to be protecting the town?” 

“Look around. I think Undercliff already has a few protectors in my stead.” You follow her eyes back down to the party, and you watch as a large, lizard-like woman breaks up a small fight between two drunks. “I already spoke to some of the Demis. They’re going to make a home here. Protect it. Make up for all they did under that Succubus’ control.”

“But not you?”

The Gargoyle shakes her head, and she’s quiet for a moment. She steps back, away from the ledge and you follow her as she looks to the full moon above. 

“No. Not me.” She hides her face from you as her confidence and energetic nature vanishes. She sighs, shaking her head. “I’m sorry. I must seem so… emotional to you. So unstable.”

She lost her family, you reason. No, not just her family. Years of her life and her entire race. She very well could be the last of her kind… A bit of emotional instability is expected, honestly, right? 

“No. I mean, you’ve been through a lot. You have a lot to process.” You reach a hand out to her, but you hesitate. “I was actually looking for you.”

“Really?” she blinks.

“Yeah. I wanted to make sure you were okay,” you admit, your eyes meet. Her emerald eyes sparkle in the moonlight as she stares at you. “You’ve been through a lot,” you explain. “You deserve to have someone to talk to. I know we don’t know each other, but I wanted to see how you were doing.”

Mica doesn’t say anything for a while. She just stares at you, and you glance away. Did you say something wrong? Is she upset? Did-? “Can I… Can I tell you something? Just between us?” Mica inquires. 

“Sure, Mica.”

She leans closer, and you can see the conflict in her eyes. She keeps looking away, then back to you, then away again. You can see how her eyes shimmer in the light. She looks like she’s on the verge of tears as she sucks in air through her sharp teeth. 

“I… I hate it here.”

“T-that makes sense. You were impris-”

“No, I mean, I don’t want to be here. Being here… scares me.” You step back as she steps forward, and you can’t believe how terrified this mighty Gargoyle is. This vulnerability that she shows you, and only you. 

“I was never a leader amongst my people. I’m not some great scholar, or an icon, or anything like that. I was a grunt who saw a monster hurting people and I tried to stop her. I was stupid and foolish, and because of that, I was trapped in stone for decades.” 

She combs her hair with her fingers. She let out a shaky breath as she sucked in air again. “You want me to fight a monster? I can do that. Guard a building? Easy. Protect humanity? I can do that with my wings tied, but after you fell asleep, people asked me to bless them. To cure their wounded. To bring about miracles.” 

Mica falls, sitting on the ground as she sighs. “And I can’t do that. A couple wanted me to bless their unborn child, and I can’t do it. I was made by Angels, but I’m far from them. I’m a hammer. I break stuff, I smash things. I don’t bring about miracles. I don’t fix things.”

You open your mouth, but before you can say anything, she cups her face in her hands. “I know a hammer fixes things. Bad analogy… I’m not good at talking either.”

“You convinced the people and Demi to work together.”

“That was mostly just me saying the first thing that came to my mind. I don’t know how to talk to people. I was never a diplomat!” Mica sighs, and she looks at you as you sit next to her. “I can’t make crops grow. I can’t cure the sick. I couldn’t even save the people already captured! When the Demis led me to their old hideout, everything was gone.” 

Her hand hits the ground… and the roof of the inn is broken open as your eyes widen. Mica doesn’t even seem to realize as she scowls. 

“I couldn’t even save those people! Entire families are still broken apart, and I… I can’t do anything to fix it.” She brings her knees to her chest and sighs. “I hate being powerless.”

“You aren’t powerless,” you tell her. “You’re strong. You helped save the town.”

“Yeah, well… I didn’t do it alone. Couldn’t have done it without you and your big dick.” She elbows you, and you blush as she laughs. She wipes her eyes, brushing away tears as quickly as she can. 

She sniffles, trying to compose herself, but you know a tear or two must have fallen. “That’s why I can’t stay in this town. I’m no priestess or mage. I’m a glorified thug. Besides, it’s like you said.” Mica glances at you as you blink. 

“People thought the Gargoyles were extinct. If I lived, maybe others did too.”

“Yeah,” you agree, nodding your head as she closes her eyes. 

“I know you probably just told me that to keep me sane. I mean, having a breakdown wouldn’t have helped either of us right then, huh?” she chuckled, and you’re shocked at her ability to treat her own life as some kind of joke… “But you’re right. I mean, maybe someone else is out there. Another Gargoyle, wondering if they’re the last piece of a broken puzzle…”

“Mica... “ You whisper her name, leaning closer. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. You didn’t do this,” she mutters, before a smile forms on her face. “In fact, I owe you a lot, cutie.” She lifts her arm and places on your shoulder opposite of her. She pulls you in close as you blush, staring into her emerald eyes.

You remember just how… big she is. She’s a tall woman, brimming with muscle and power. You know that even if you tried to fight her grip, you know you couldn’t.  She’s stronger than you, no doubt there, but she leans in close, her warm breath on your ear. 

“Do you want to fuck me?” Your eyes almost pop right out of your skull as her voice tickles your ear. “I’d let you, but… Gargoyles are attracted to the strong. You’d have to show me you can take control of me. Hold me down. Control me.”

Her words paint an image in your head. You never considered yourself perverted, but considering recent events, sex has been on your mind. Her hands falls on your chest, gently pawing at your chest as her tongue licks your ear.

“But if you can bed me… you own me. You would have a holy symbol as your little fuck toy. You could fuck me before the people of this town, and I would make sure no one would stop you. All of my strength would be yours. I’d be your little. Dirty. Slut.”

Her hand goes under your shirt, feeling your skin. She gently drags her claws against your skin as your find it hard to breathe. You feel your cock rising, making a tent as her lips kiss your cheek and move down to your neck.

“I would be yours if you just fucked my tight little pussy. Showed me who was in charge. What do you say? Can you make the big, strong Gargoyle your little slave?” 

She kisses you. Your eyes widen as she slips her tongue into your mouth, exploring your mouth, stretching her long tongue down your throat as you moan. Her other arm grabs you by the back of your head, holding you against her as moves her tongue down your throat.

You wonder what it’d be like to have that tongue on your cock…

And then the kiss is broken. She pulls back, saliva linking your mouths. Mica licks it up as she pants and stares into your eyes… and she giggles.

“And there’s your reward. You. Are. Welcome.” She gently pokes the back of your head as she chuckles, pulling away and leaving you short of breath.

“W-what?” 

Mica just smiles, standing up suddenly. “What?” she teases. “Did you really think I meant what I said?” she asks, a toothy grin on her face as pretends to be embarrassed. She brings her fingers to her lips and laughs. “How perverted. I guess being with that Succubus has really messed with your mind.”  

She leans closer as she stands over you, and you can get a good look down her cleavage as she grins. “I mean, there’s only one way to find out if I was being honest or not.” Mica winks at you, before she starts to walk away, walking right past you as you blush. 

Your face is hot and red, but when she mentions Yuya, you can’t help but ask a small question plaguing your mind. “H-hey, wait.”

“Hm?” She stops, turning her head to glance at you.

“Yuya. The Succubus. Y-you’re not going to hurt her, right?” You have to know. You have to be sure. She stares at you, eyes wide, before she chuckles. 

“Why would I? Because she’s a Succubus? She saved my life. I’m not out to destroy an entire species. I’m here to bring the evil ones to justice. I’ll always owe you and her my life.” She grins again, snickering. “By the way, did she ever give you a direct translation of that spell? The one that imprisoned me?”

“No. She just said she needed me to… cum… in her,” you mutter, blushing once more as you recount that particular incident. Mica chuckles, before she spreads her wings and lets a cold breeze pick her up.

Mica the Gargoyle. A unique woman. She’s… strange. Silly at times. You imagine its all just a mask to hide her pain...

She glides on the wind, leaving you alone, with questions and answers and-

Wait.

“How the hell am I supposed to get down from here?” you sigh.

---

You eventually climb down from the roof of the inn, not exactly an easy task, but you manage. You fall to the ground, groaning as your feet ache from the landing. You walk around the festival, trying to find another member of your group.

One member in particular. 

You ask some of the locals, and it isn’t hard for them to point the way.

Walking, talking caterpillars aren’t exactly common. Just one is enough to draw a crowd… 

Your investigation ends quickly as you find Chrysalis exactly where you were told she would be at. Hiding at the stall you were selling your goods at. You find her hidden behind the stall, cuddled up with the robe you gave her to hide her appearance. 

“Chrysalis?”

“Huh?! What?” The Greenworm looks around, blushing a dark shade of green as she finds you staring at her. “I-I… Hi, friend…”

“What are you doing out here, Chrysalis?” You hop down and sit beside her, and she buries her face in your robe as she sighs. She doesn’t give an answer, so you take a shot in the dark. 

“Did someone say something? Did you feel threatened?” 

“People said stuff, but I didn’t… It wasn’t meant to be-” she sighs, burying her face deeper in your robe. “I had to get away, a-and you were asleep and too far away to get to, so I just wanted to hide with your smell.” She sniffles, sniffing your clothes as you blink.

“Ah. Okay. Well, can I ask what they said?”

She groans into the fabric. “ A bunch of human infants asked if I wanted to play with them.”

“...Huh?” 

“All my life, I didn’t want to be alone. I wanted someone to hold me, to care about me, and to tell me they loved me.” She pulls her face out of your clothes and she looks at you. “Then I met you, friend, and I thought I finally had everything I wanted.”

You smile at her, and you place a hand on her head. You pet her head, your hand right between her antenna. 

“But after that winged lady told all the humans we weren’t bad, all the humans started talking to me and being nice. Nicer than anyone ever did before I met you.”

You nod your head. Chrysalis was often treated like a monster by other people. People ran away in fear of her. 

“So what’s the problem?” you ask, tilting your head. 

“When it was just friend being nice, it felt good. It felt right. You’re my friend. N-not just a friend, but THE Friend. You were the first person to love me, despite what I am, and… and…” There are tears in her eyes as she wipes her face against the robe. 

“But having all those people staring at me? Knowing what I am? I-it’s scary. I-I don’t know if I can trust them. I don’t know if they won’t just turn around and hate me again. They seem nice, but every time I look at them, all I can think about is when I was yelled at or shun for being ugly…”

“Hey. You are not ugly.” You place a hand on her side and you pull her close. She falls against you, and she presses her body against yours as she sniffles. “Chrysalis, it’s okay to be scared. That’s normal. You can take it slow.”

“It’s… it’s not just that…”

“Huh?” 

“Friend and Yuya saved the day with the winged lady. What did I do?” She cuddles up against you, sighing. “I got caught. I almost got hurt. They used me as a hostage, and if you hadn’t saved me, it would have been my fault you got hurt.”

“Chrysalis…” You place a hand on her, pulling her closer as she hiccups quietly, fighting back tears. You can feel her shaking. 

“I’m ugly. I’m weak. I’m useless. Why does friend even want me around, I-?”

“Hey, hey. Chrysalis, I want you around for so many reasons. I don’t think you’re ugly, or weak, or useless.” You hold her close, and she begins to cry against you, rubbing her tears against your body. 

“But why? I-I’m worthless. I-”

“You are not worthless. You’re beautiful, and do you remember when we first came to this town?” You smile, placing a hand under her chin to make her look at you. “You saved Yuya. That was all you. You fought by my side, even when things were at their worst.”

“But I got captured…”

“And Yuya got drugged, and I almost died. No one is perfect, Chrysalis. We all have to look out for one another. The three of us are a-”

“Family?” Chrysalis suggests, a wide smile on her face. 

“Oh, uh…”

“I-I always wanted a family!” Her tiny, black nubs scratch at your chest, gently poking you as she beams. “You’re like my dad and my brother all rolled up into one!”

“Okay, that’s-” You blush at comment, turning red. You think about Chrysalis’ blowjobs, groaning slightly. “Let’s just stick with Friend. I’m your Friend first and foremost.”

“Okay.” She snuggles against you again. “Friend?”

“Hm?”

“What do you do when you don’t feel like you’re good enough…?” You tilt your head a bit, and ponder that question. You pet her body as you begin to speak.

“I work hard to improve. I try to be better,” you shrug. 

“Is that why your penis tastes so good? Cause you worked on it?” 

“What? N-no-!” Your blush burns hotter as Chrysalis giggles, wiping her tears on your body. 

“I made a joke…” She looks at you, beaming with pride, and you smile back at her. “Friend, do you really think I’m not useless?”

“Of course! You’re not useless, Chrysalis.”

“But… I could be more useful? Like Yuya! Or that winged lady!” You blink, and you see the gears turning in Chrysalis’ mind. “What I learned how to fight? Like them?”

“Fight?” You glance at her tiny nub hand things. Poor girl doesn’t even have fingers. “Chrysalis, you can’t fight.”

“Then I’ll learn to sneak around! I-I’m small! And my butt looks like a giant snake! I can learn to camouflage. I-I lived in the forest my whole life! I’m good at sneaking around!”

“The first time I met you, you were caught in a web.”

“But I lived for years sneaking around! I-I could learn that!”

You raise your brow at her attitude change. She presses her body against yours, nuzzling you again and again as she beams. 

“I can be like your little scout! Your secret spy! I can be super useful!” 

“Chrysalis.”

“Or I can learn magic!” Well, that’s an ambitious idea.

Magic is a powerful weapon. Using rituals, or spoken words, or hand gestures to control one’s environment, to make the impossible possible. 

It’s something that people talk about with awe and amazement. It’s a legendary, spectacular thing. Beyond anything imaginable.

At least, that’s what you hear.

You actually haven’t seen magic in your life. You’ve just heard the stories of mages moving mountains and witches poisoning rivers. Magic is kept only for the rich and elite, and anything more powerful than that is kept under lock and key by the kingdom.

This is pretty much a global rule, as far as you know. PRetty much every human kingdom is scared of magic becoming too widespread. Considering what you’ve seen of Succubus magic, you can see why…

“I heard stories of magic from passing travelers! I could learn it!” 

“Chrysalis, magic is incredibly hard to learn about. We’d have to look at black markets, a-and it’d be breaking the law to even try and learn! Only the really rich can even afford a spellbook!”

“Oh.” Chrysalis pouts and she cuddles against you again to comfort herself. She rubs her cheek against your leg as she stares at the ground. “I don’t want you to get in trouble for me. I just… I want to help.”

You pet her head, holding her as neither of you say anything. You get it. Chrysalis wants to help, but learning magic? Learning how to fight? That’s insane… Right?

You can’t endanger her life like that, but...

You sigh quietly. 

Chrysalis wants to help. She wants to be a warrior, be your spy, or even learn magic. All kind of insane things. You don’t know how you’re supposed to help her do that, but you can feel her frustration. 

She wants to be better…. Maybe you can teach her how to be a better merchant. Teach her how to better sell your wares. It might not be the improvement she wanted at first, but it would help. It would give her an explicit purpose, a mission. 

You play with Chrysalis was you consider your options. 

You could also just tell her that she doesn’t need to try to be something she’s not. She doesn’t need to be a warrior, or know magic for you. You just need her to be her…

So, what are you going to tell her?