The dragon's harem

Arad returned to the carriage with the horses and Aella asked, “What took you so long?”

“I’ve met Abel on the way, nothing too important.” He looked at them with a smile.

He strapped the horses and started driving the carriage toward the university, passing by Croc City.

As they passed by, the girls could see Abel waving to Arad while walking at the side of the street. “The sly bastard. I bet he’s up to no good.” Sena growled.

She had heard from her mother that a peculiar devil have been snooping around the hells, looking for power and influence, and that he’s doing pretty well at it. He laid several contracts with many people to the point he’s becoming infamous for it, even among the devils, he’s known for trickery and wit.

“Considering his job, yes.” Eris giggled, “Both he and Jack could be reliable but always use shady methods.”

“I’m not talking about that.” Sena sighed. “He’ll get us in trouble.”

****

Arad managed to drop the girls by the dorm and took the horses back to Abel’s brothel in the city. “Abel! I got the horses.” He called from the outside.

“Good!” Abel stared at him from the window. “If you’re free, can you escort sister back to the dorms? I don’t trust the streets with her.”

“Sara is here?!” Arad walked inside finding her sitting in the guests’ room beside several boxes of potions and herbs. “Arad, it’s been a while.” She looked at him with a smile.

“What are you doing here?”

“Brother asked for a shipment of stamina potion, aphrodisiacs, and some medical herbs and I was making sure he got them.” She smiled approaching him with slow steps.

“He asked me to escort you back to the dorms. How did you come here?” Arad looked around seeing no one.

“I’ve got several guards, but I’ll be leaving them here if you’re around.” She smiled. “I’m not a fighter as you can see. I do need protection,” She pulled a small bag from her pocket and showed the content to Arad, it was jam-packed full of platinum coins.

“How much is there?!”

“About two hundred coins.” She said with a smile and Arad started counting on his fingers, “That’s over twenty thousand gold coins! What are you selling?!” He gasped.

“The stamina potions are relatively cheap, but the aphrodisiacs and those herbs are pretty expensive.” She picked one of the leaves. “Those prevent pregnancy and the aphrodisiac is the diluted Gracie’s spit. Nobles would pay a pretty penny for them.”

Abel walked down the stairs. “The average a girl here could make a night is around three gold coins. The best ones could pull upward of a single platinum coin a night depending on what their client wants and what extras he’s buying.”

He looked at the pile of goods. “Buying one herb, aphrodisiac bottle, and stamina potion would allow a client to pay for a full open night as long as the girl approves.” He smiled.

“I don’t care about knowing how your business works.” Arad sighed. “I’ll be talking Sara to the dorms. Good luck.”

Sara stopped Arad as he was heading toward the main door. “Arad, could you do me a favor?”

“What is it?” He looked at her.

“Can transform into a horse. I want to ride you back to the dorms.” She said with a smile.

“Don’t want to walk?”

“No, I want to look alone.” She looked at the door with a grin.

“Catching birds. I see.” He shifted into a large, muscular black steed with glowing purple eyes and a majestic mane.

“Is this good enough?” Since Arad is a druid, he was able to transform into small animals like rats and birds, but now he can shift to large creatures if needed. But as expected, he does still stand out a lot.

“This looks far stronger than any warhorse I’ve ever seen.” Abel gasped. “People might mistake you for a bull.”

“He’s Arad after all.” Sara patted his neck. “What else did you expect? This is a true dragon, not a horse.” She jumped on Arad’s back.

“Wait. I’ve got a saddle here.” Abel rushed to the back rooms and brought one.

Sara jumped down and they installed the saddle before she rode Arad again.

“We’re heading out. As I told you before, I might catch some idiots so you’ll help me later.” She waved her hand to Abel as they left.

Arad slowly trotted across the streets, making sure not to make any sudden moves. He knew that Sara was as delicate as Mira, she wasn’t a fighter, and not she’ll be able to keep up with a wild horse.

“Slow down… I’m certain we’re being followed. I want to catch them, not escape.” She patted his neck, whispering into his ear.

^So not here to be just a bodyguard.^ After a few minutes and as they were about to get out of the city, Arad noticed several suspicious movements among the crowd and he could hear several people rushing out of the village a few meters to their side.

^I thought Jack killed all of them. So there are still more thugs around here…no, those must’ve moved here when the previous gang was taken down. Don’t they know that meant something dangerous is here?^

Arad and Sara rushed out of the gate and headed up the field as he picked up speed, pretending to be trying to leave as fast as possible. But as he expected, several armed people cut their road with a large tree.

“Hold up, blond lady. We’ve got a few questions. Our master asked to bring you to him.” They pulled their swords and surrounded her.

Arad stopped and Sara stared at the thugs with a smile on her face, sitting calmly on Arad’s back as the red sun of the morning rose behind her.

“Strange faces, you don’t belong here. Who sent you to me? I bet it’s an heir. When the thugs around here lost, he’s coming to pick crumbs; I can’t imagine someone like that being a sir.” She stared at them with a smile, an eldritch flame burning in her eyes.

“Boss, I don’t like her stare. I feel like she’s looking directly at my soul.”

“Take her down; we’ll sell the horse in the city. It’ll be worth a decent bag of gold.” The boss giggled, “She belongs to our lord. We can’t have fun. We’ll use the horse’s money to hit the brothels afterward.”

The boss approached them and extended his hand to grab Sara by the leg and drag her down from Arad’s back.

Arad turned his neck and bites the boss’s forearm, cracking the bones. As the boss screamed, all of the thugs gasped. Arad turned around without letting go of the boss’s arm and swung a powerful backkick at the boss’s face, ripping his arm off.

Sara gasped as she almost fell. “What was that?!” She didn’t expect Arad to make such a sudden move.

The thugs stared in terror as Arad chewed the boss’s arm and swallowed it.

“What’s up with that horse?!” The thugs screamed as their boss lay on the ground bleeding with his lower jaw ripped off from Arad’s kick.

“Kill it!” One of them shouted as he swung his sword, sending a [Wind Blade] at Arad’s neck.

Arad dodged the spell and jumped forward, landing with his front legs on the thug, crushing him to the ground.

A man rushed from the back swinging a dagger at Arad’s butt, trying to stab his back thighs and drop him down. He had already protected himself with a simple barrier spell so he expected to be able to tank Arad’s kick.

CRACK! It wasn’t a kick from Arad that smacked his face, but instead the tail.

All of the bandits charged simultaneously, some thrusting with spears and some casting spells.

Arad’s tail started spinning like a propeller and smacked the thug again, sending his head flying. As blood splashed, Arad’s body started lifting up, with gravity magic, but the tail kept spinning. 𝓯𝘸ℴ𝘷.

“What the hell is that thing?!” The mages gasped as their spells failed to harm Arad.

Arad started cackling as his eyes burned with an eldritch red flame of blood magic, a pair of massive wings burst from his sides as two black horns emerged from his head and he glared at them with a body burning with magic.

“That’s a bicorn!” One of the mages cried.

“Bicorn doesn’t have wings!” Another mage screamed.

“Who gives a fuck? It has two horns, if it’s anything related to a unicorn then we’re fucked! Run!” The mage waved his staff to cast [Fly] and escape, but Arad landed on him with a bite to the neck.

“You damned monster! How did that bitch tame you?!” One of the fighters lunged forward swinging his great sword, trying to cleave Arad’s neck in two.

Arad stood on his hind legs to avoid the slash and then swung the front hooves at the fighter’s face like a double hook punch.

The fighter spat blood. “What?” He quickly fixed his stance, baffled at getting punched by a damned horse.

Arad kept Sara stuck to his back with gravity magic as he started hopping back and forth, ready to throw punches. “Neigh!”

“I see…” The fighter smiled, taking a stance. “You must be a disguised druid. Just what kind of monster did she bring as a bodyguard.”