The dragon's harem

SPLASH! Jack shouted, “I got it!” Pulling a catfish out of the river with the pole Mira made.

Liliana jumped into the water, catching the catfish and stabbing its head with a dagger. “Stay down, little whiskers. You’re our dinner,” she smiled, waving her hand to Jack, “Pull it over.”

“Girls!” Sofia called, “They caught a fish. Bring a bucket of water, and get ready,” She pulled a knife out of the carriage and got ready for work.

On top of one of the trees around the camp, Zephyr sat surrounded by flowers. “They are working, working,” She smiled, sipping on nectar from the blossoming roses, her eyes quickly shifting to the training ground.

***

SWOSH! Agnar swung his wooden sword, sweat dripping through his face. He was near the limit of his body, and his legs started giving up and shaking.

“Sh-shall we rest?” He looked at Arad, who still didn’t even look bothered by training for over an hour.

Arad nodded, “This is the end of moves training,” He turned toward Agnar, and the kid shivered.

SWOSH! As if time slowed for him, Agnar saw his life flash ahead of him as Arad swung his sword at him. A terrifying whistle filled the air as his mind panicked.

^Move! Move!^ He screamed at his body, and his arms slowly lifted up, blocking Arad’s swing with his wooden sword.

CLAP! Upon impact, a shockwave spread from his arms to his spine, sending him flying back. ^Heavy!^ He gasped, the air knocked out of his chest as his back smacked into a tree.

Upon blinking, Agnar saw Arad’s body shifting, taking a stance with his sword pointed toward the back.

^He’s coming, should I transform? No, he would kill me if I did that.^

BAM! Arad lunged forward so fast he seemed to disappear from Agnar’s vision.

Out of instinct, Agnar lifted his sword up, blocking Arad’s attack once again. He might not have transformed, but the blood of Maharaja still floods through his veins. All his previous transformations have left him with sharper instincts and senses.

He tried to stand and run, but his legs gave up. Too exhausted to move, his vision slowly turned black as he looked back, seeing the demon with red glowing eyes ready to lung at him.

[Focus, he’s testing your will. Humans always stop when exhausted, but that’s only a limitation to protect your body, not a real one.] Maharaja’s voice boomed in his head.

Agnar tried to calm his breathing down and focus all of his remaining power into one counterattack. ^I can do it,^

CLANG! With how fast Arad’s moves were, his efforts were in vain and he was smacked back like a ball, rolling on the ground.

^I can’t,^ Agnar gasped, unable to move his legs or arms, feeling as if his heart would jump out of his chest at any moment as the scent of blood rose through his nose.

CLACK! Arad shifted his stance, lunging at Agnar’s mother instead of him, swinging his blade down at her head.

Time froze for Angar, his eyes dilating and shifting to be catlike. The muscles on his limbs ate themselves to generate power and snapped into action.

CLAP! With one leap, Agnar covered the distance between him and Arad, hitting his sword as hard as possible.

Agnar didn’t have enough strength to deflect Arad’s attack, and his wooden sword shattered upon impact.

Arad stopped his attack before it hit Agnar’s mother.

Agnar fell on his knees, puking. Each of his limbs screamed in pain, but he was alert.

“See? You still had some in you,” Arad said.

“You’re going overboard!” Sofia screamed.

“Alcott and Nina’s words, not mine. Humans are weak, fragile, and easily give up. Most of them train until exhaustion. That’s fine for most and sure is enough for them to gain muscles and strength to carry out daily tasks.” Arad sucked his sword back to his stomach. “But that isn’t enough for adventurers dancing with death. I might be a bad example by being a dragon, but that’s a fact.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Sofia cried.

“Humans doesn’t make sense.” Arad replied, “Those are Alcott’s words. It doesn’t make sense that my body limits my strength to protect itself when I need that strength to run away from the monster trying to eat me alive.”

Sofia froze as Arad glared at her, “Nina’s words. If you want to be special, how about not stopping when normal people would? My head was once cut off, but my body kept fighting. I didn’t lose consciousness. Because if I did, I would have died. That is why people fear me. They can’t see me dying by regular means even though I’m a human,”

CLACK! Angar stood, supporting himself with his broken sword, “That’s…annoying,” He growled.

Arad nodded, “You can rest. When breaking your limits like this becomes second nature, you will notice that your limits will shift back to something else. Then break that as well, and keep pushing the limits to grow stronger than other people in ways they can’t even try to achieve.” Arad pointed his hand toward the fireplace, pulling a whole butchered bison from his stomach.

“Only call Maharaja as a trump card, now go eat and rest.” He walked back to his training.

“YES! MASTER!” Agnar shouted with a smile, almost falling on his face.

****

Gojo stared at Arad and Agnar’s fight, and then looked at Lucy with a sad face, “Come on, I’ve been waiting for an hour.” He sighed.

“I can’t cast it!” Lucy cried.

“Maybe I should try killing you like Arad did with that brat,” He glared at her.

“No! I will cast it!” She extended her hands, focusing so hard that veins bulged on her forehead, but no spell came out.

“That’s enough, enough.” Gojo clapped his hand, “You’re a spell caster, and your limits lie when you run out of mana, not in casting spells. You’re akin to a swordsman who can’t swing a blade. We have to fix that first.”

“What should I do?” She asked.

“Cast and repeat until you succeed. Then we can start the real training to shorten your cast time and increase your speed and mana capacity.” Gojo looked back, “Stop when the food is ready, eat, sleep, and keep studying tomorrow in the carriage.”