Hidden behind the dense and thick strands of the CreamKelp the newly married couple were having a rather intimate moment.

“I’m sorry.” The Spider King apologised for the umpteenth time already.

He had cleared the misunderstanding with the Mer Princess, but that didn’t solve the consequences he still had to face.

“Please, I understand.” Day Sapphire fluttered her long eyelashes at him. “You don’t have to tell your wife…” She offered suggestively.

This temptress! Mer indeed were naturally charming. And no, he had to tell his wife; she was not perfect, but he still loved her.

“I’m sorry Day, there’s just no way I can take a second wife.”

His words didn’t seem to upset her in the slightest. “Hmm…” She thought for a moment. “If not a wife, then I can be your personal maid, Mer Maid, right?” She blinked at him seductively.

“Hmm…” It was his turn to be thoughtful.

“Spider King,” she addressed pointing at the sweet spot on her lower half, “those do not grow back. You need to take responsibility.” She pointed right at him.

She was referring to the scale she gave him. Yeah, now that he knew the meaning of the scale, it was rather special.

“Of course, I will take responsibility.” He declared like any man should.

“Then it’s settled, from now on, I’m your personal maid.”

“…”

“Don’t worry, my King.” She purred sweetly. “I’ll have a word with your wife in person. I’m sure she will understand.”

Was that really a good idea? – He wondered.

“Actually, don’t tell her anything. Not yet. Let me speak with her first.” Day nodded to herself hatching a plan of some sort.

“Are you sure about this?” He asked with worry.

“It will be fine, trust me.” She reassured. “Why don’t you go and get her.”

“Now?”

“Now is the best.”

Maybe she was right, the longer he kept the misunderstanding going the worse it would get. And if a strange rumour reached the Lamia Queen that he took a second wife, he would be done for…

“I’ll get her right now.” He rushed to the Spider Palace.

…

The Lamia Queen was a surprisingly good swimmer, he had almost forgotten how much they loved water, especially hot springs. Well, this was not hot nor was it a spring, either way, his wife swam towards the Mer Princess and then she greeted her with a wet hug. And a kiss? – Strange.

“Mer Princess, sss,” she hissed happily, “he finally introduces us.”

“Lamia Queen, a pleasure to meet you.” Day smiled at the lamia while still in her embrace.

Yeah… he never introduced the two. In his defence, he was just very busy! And at some point, his wife had gone missing on one of her errands. But hey, this was a good start so far.

Day Sapphire whispered something to the Lamia Queen’s ear.

“I sss-see.” She hissed then looked directly at the Spider King. “It’s time for the girl talk. Sss-shoo!” She waved at him to go away.

The Spider King gave Mer Princess a questioning look, she just blinked with her left eye at him giving a mischievous smile.

“Fine. Keep your secrets.” He swam out of the pond giving the girls the needed space.

But his wife was rather unpredictable, at any moment he feared her turning on the Mer and trying to eat their naughty princess. So he stayed on the shore and observed the two talk animatedly from the distance. One of the mer swam close, pulled herself out of the water and joined him by his side.

He looked at the surprising company, if he remembered the little mer was named Pearl. She was small and cute, her left arm was decorated by an improvised kelp bracelet with the BlackLily on top. Perl just stayed there quiet by his side while making ripples in the water with the slow movements of her tail. She was giving him sideways glances now and then but every time he looked back at her she turned her head away from him. So shy!

The girl talk was taking some time, but by the looks of it, there won’t be any hostilities. While enjoying the company of his quiet companion, he continued to wait for them to finish.

Getting somewhat comfortable by his presence Pearl finally spoke up. “Spider King, what does Evolve? do?”

“Huh?” He looked at her surprised. The way she phrased the question was peculiar. “[Inspect]” His eyes widened in realisation. “It means you can Evolve into something stronger, perhaps a different variant of Mer.” He explained it coolly while being rather excited about it.

The excitement must have rubbed on her too. “What, really?! Does that mean I will grow bigger?”

“In all honesty, I’m not too sure. You’ll be the first Mer to go through…”

“Let’s do it!” She yelled pumping her fists into the air.

“Sure, why not...” It was up to Pearl to decide anyway. “[Evolve].”

[Chaos Blessed activated], oh no, something wild was about to happen.

Pearl shimmered in purple light and her body began to grow and expand, albeit in moderate amounts. The tail got longer and so did her arms and torso. As she grew, she shed all of her sapphire scales dropping them on the pond floor. The light show ended revealing her new body.

“It’s bigger!” She patted her chest with satisfaction.

“…” The Spider King just stared bewildered.

No, not at her chest, at the Pearl; she had changed so much! The sapphire scales were replaced by black obsidian. Her blue skin was now a light shade of grey and her long hair had turned ashen. Her eyes were coloured purple and her mouth was now full of needle-like teeth. He could count them all in that broad grin of hers.

“[Inspect].” He invoked with anticipation.

Monster Race: Mer

Variant: Obsidian Siren

Magic Affinity: Dark

🎆

🎶 🧜‍♀️ 🎶

💧

HP:150

MP:200

STA:100

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Active Perks

[Sonic Scream], [Syren Melody], [Draining Kiss]

Passive Perks

[Obsidian Scales], [Camouflage], [Charming Voice]

Resistances

[Water Resistance: Lesser], [Dark Resistance: Lesser]

“My scales!” Pearl had finally noticed, and her broad grin turned into a worried frown. “They’re all black! I’m ugly now!” Tears began to pool in the corners of her eyes.

In a sense it was his fault: sometimes, no, rather often, his Dark affinity rubbed on the creatures he was evolving, and what was done couldn’t be undone. However…

“Pearl, you’re beautiful. You really are!” He praised to dispel her insecurity. “Obsidian might be black, but it’s still shiny! Believe me, your scales are no less precious.” He nodded. “And your voice… It’s majestic.” Indeed, the sound of it was so good he would end up Charmed if not for his resistances.

“My voice…” She put her palm on her mouth only to remove it in a shout. “My voice! It’s different… It’s nice.”

“It’s charming. Sing me a song.” He encouraged.

“Mmm… Okay.” She smiled at him and began singing:

===

My enchanting voice will bind you tight ♫

Let us swim and play in the pond at night ♫

Don’t try to escape, I’ll give you my kiss ♫

Then you’ll fall in my loving… abyss ♫

You’ll find no escape from my tight embrace ♫

My hands will guide you to the enchanted place ♫

Close your eyes, prepare for the bliss ♫

I’ll take your love with my Draining Kiss ♫

===

If the evolution lightshow wasn’t enough to gather the attention of the nearby Mer, the Charming song did the trick. Mer surrounded the siren to listen to her short, improvised song. And once she was done a thunder of applause shook the pond with demands for more. The shy Perl blushed brightly but granted the Mer their request.

The sudden burst of activity in an otherwise calm pond brought the 'girl talk' to an abrupt conclusion. The two of them swam to the Spider King who was happily singing along to the siren’s song.

“Ahem,” Day cleared her throat to get his attention. She was pouting for some reason. He ought to rename her the princess of pouts; she was doing that frequently.

He looked at the Lamia Queen, her expression was neutral, she was clearly not affected by the song, nor was she overly impressed.

“Sss?” She hissed questioningly at his gaze.

“It’s not fair!” Day Sapphire Interrupted their moment slamming the nearby water with her tail. “Why does she get to evolve first!?”

He could only shrug at that. “Monster System works in mysterious ways…”

“Enough of that, sss, husband, we must discuss sss-something. Come.” She urged him with a thin smile.

Oh no… so he was in trouble, of course he was! On their way to the Spider Palace, the lamia didn’t even hiss a single word. That was until they were in the confines of the palace walls.

“The Mer, sss, I’m very impressed by them. Especially the Mer Princess.”

“Huh?” He gave her a questioning look.

“She understands who is in charge in here, sss, Mer are now my vassals, S-S-S!” She laughed. “Finally, I get vassals for myself!”

“Huh?”

“You have Drow, Kobolds, Centauri and others… SSS! and what do I have? Only Lamia. But not anymore, sss, the Mer now serve me. Me, the Lamia Queen. S-s-s.”

“Is this what you talked about?”

“Yes-sss, the races with body tails sss-should sss-stick together, is what she sss-said.” She gave another smile. “Wise she is-sss. I approved that instant.”

“Was there anything else you talked about?” He asked anxious, this couldn’t just be it.

“Huh?” It was her turn to do that. “Sss… Oh, her only request was for her to be allowed to become your maid. You’re not against that are you?” She glared at him. “I’ve already agreed.”

“…”

“You can’t say no, sss, I don’t need Mer Maids, I have my Lamia Servants. And as my loyal vassals they will serve you right. I’ll make sss-sure of that.”

That was not a problem, no issues at all. All worked out in the end. But thinking about that.

“How are the Mer Maids supposed to serve me, here in the Spider Palace, which is on the ground, and they are in the pond, with no legs…” He just voiced it out curious about the logic of it.

“SSS!” Realisation flashed across her face. “She tricked me!” The Lamia Queen hissed sharply.

“No, no. I take it back. It’s fine. I’ll be fine. I’ll have your Mer Maids.” He jumped to reassure.

“And there is another thing…” he paused steeling himself. “I might have kissed the Mer Princess a few times, involuntarily of course!” He left the part where he enjoyed those accidental kisses.

“Sss!” She hissed sharply. “What of it? That’s how they greet royalty, right? She kissed me later too…” She clearly found that slightly odd. “Mer customs are sss-strange.”

“Oh… they sure are strange.” He remembered how he got accidentally married… twice. “And about that lily flower ceremony.”

“Think nothing of it. Everything was explained, sss, but why are you so fussy about Mer? Is there anything fishy going on?” She asked with narrowed eyes.

“No… not at all. Nothing fishy.”

“Good, sss. Oh, and you are forbidden from eating them. They are under my protection, sss, so keep your choppers to yourself!” She warned him sternly.

Who put that idea in her head? “There is no way I would ever eat any Mer!” He protested.

“Sss? Really? I’m aware why you got them, and I’ve witnessed the way you sss-stare at them with your hungry sss-savage eyes. Dear husband, you’re scaring the Mer Children.”

“…” He couldn’t just go and tell her that he found them simply Beautiful. “I see. I’ll keep my choppers to myself.”

“You better do.” She slithered to one of the nearby cupboards retreating a large container. “Now, help me with that. The recent sss-swim washed it all off.” She handed him the container.

It was filled brim full of KelpCream, no doubt about it.

“Why do you need my help?” He asked nonplussed.

She gave him a naughty look. “There is a lot of tail to cover, sss, and I think it might be fun.”

He scooped a large glob of it and brought it to her back, surely she wanted him to help at the spots where she couldn’t reach.

“Lower.”

He moved down.

“Lower”

Even further down.

“Yes there.”

“But…”

“Rub it in, sss.”

He did.

“S-s-s… SSS!”

Indeed, it was rather fun.

…

Finally, the time arrived to release the Mer into the Dark Lake, it was named so because of its Dark infused waters. The pond near the Spider Palace was connected by a narrow canal to the lake so that Mer could visit him occasionally.

The massive lake was done but that didn’t mean that the work was over. The bottom of it was still rather barren and a lot of aquatic plants needed to be grown and planted. That’s where the Mer came in, or course they will be bringing life to their own home with plants and fish. The goal here was to farm the Sapphire Scales then they shed them, but also to farm fish and CreamKelp.

The cream blew up in popularity among the women in the Monster Realm, it was a necessity they couldn’t do without. There was more demand than supply and it would only grow once it reached the Aurelian Dutchy.

So here he was planting various plants using the indispensable Seed Archive. His diligent maid was right at his side as was her duty. She was rather talkative today.

“I’ve dealt with your wife rather splendidly, didn’t I.”

He was of a different opinion. “You tricked her.”

“No, I didn’t!” She protested.

“Yes, you did.”

“Okay.” She relented. “Just a little bit.”

“Yeah, it's fine. I often have to trick her too; the woman is difficult.”

“Tell me… she demanded a pond full of cream so she can bathe in it.”

Yeah, that was something the Lamia Queen would ask.

“Excessive.” He seeded yet another CreamKelp. “But we’ll get there.”

“…” The Mer Princess went quiet for a moment.

He found her silence strange, she was so talkative just minutes ago, so he gave her a curious look.

“Anything the matter?” He asked.

“I’m doing well in here, don’t I? I’ve got you more Mer, the Spirit Stones will soon follow, and I’ve dealt with a jealous wife…” She gave him a meaningful look. “Shouldn’t the good work be rewarded?”

He couldn’t argue. “It should. What reward should I grant you?” He asked the dangerous question. “Ah, but since you’re the Lamia Queen’s vassals, and not mine, it is she you should ask.” He joked.

“Do I need to tell her about the special scale? The one you keep hidden in your Inventory Space and cherish it dearly.” She looked at him mischievously. “I bet you honour it every day at night or in the morning.”

There was no ‘honouring’ being done with the scale and he kept it only because it was pretty! And this was blackmail!

“No… no you don’t. I was only jesting. So, what is it you want?”

She gave him another mischievous look. “I couldn’t be your first, but I shall be the second!” She declared with unwavering resolve.

“…” He never had anyone come on him this hard.

“Plant your seed in me like you did with your wife!” She demanded.

He turned around to see if there were any other Mer nearby, her words were very dangerous. Huh, strange, the Mer had mysteriously disappeared leaving them alone in the kelp seedling field, as if this was planned.

“I shouldn’t…” He protested.

“Why? Just put that Monster Core inside me…” She pouted.

“Oh! You want that! No problem.” He touched her shoulder. “[Seed Core].”

“Eek!” She yelped swinging her tail.

The deed was done in under a minute.

“Here, you have it.” He smiled at her.

The +100MP increase should have made her happy, however, she was glaring at him with her signature pout.

“That’s not how I expected this to happen. So entirely unromantic! And why the shoulder?”

Well, he could use another neutral spot like a hand. “Should I have done a handshake? My mistake.” He apologised.

“No, a kiss, you dummy!” She stole his lips again.

If anyone asked, there was no fishy business here. This was just a late midday greeting, a part of a strange Mer custom. The loops and hoops he had to jump to be agreeable to various races and their odd traditions.

“My enchanting voice will bind you tight ♫. Let us swim and play in the pond at night ♫.” She began to sing leaning towards him again.

He knew how the rest of the song went; this was becoming rather dangerous. Mer Maids were dangerous girls!