The dragon's harem

Arad’s carriage stopped right after the city of Domiros. Unlike the previous village, this was a much larger urban area with tall five-story buildings made of stone and steel, flying carriages going everywhere and countless magical lights illuminating the streets.

Domiros looked like a modern city that had evolved with magic instead of science. What Arad thought was a large village appears to have been nothing but a tiny undeveloped rural village of farmers and shepherds.

The carriage stopped by the massive gate and several battalions of knights surrounded it. All of them were riding on brooms and flying carriages armored with steel, pointing staves, wands, and swords at the carriage. “Unregistered carriage, the entry must be announced a day before, explain yourself!”

Balon who was driving looked worried, turned toward the back seats, and knocked on the window. “Excuse me…what am I supposed to do? My men are held at blade point.”

Mesharra slowly opened the door and looked out, her eyes flickering with magic, “Is there a problem?” As the captain of the knights saw her and sensed the magic coming from her, his expression immediately changed.

“Inquisitor Mesharra! Please forgive us, this is just a routine inspection of suspected carriages.” He rushed to greet her.

“I know. I’ve got a VIP in the carriage, prepare us a path straight to the lord’s mansion.”

The captain of the guards saluted her and rushed to order his men to back away. Balon looked relieved and he looked back at Mesharra, “As expected of Lady Inquisitor, one word and they were all shaking in their boots.”

Mesharra gave him a cold look and went back into the carriage. Balon sighed, she was always distant and reclusive, like a lone wolf, or a bear more likely.

“Stright to the lord’s mansion?” Echidna looked at her, “Can’t we walk around, smell the roses, and have some fun first?”

“Work is work, the lord’s servant would provide us with anything we might need. The most important thing to Sir Arad is reaching the goddess’s tower as quickly and efficiently as possible.” Mesharra replied, glancing toward Arad who was immersed in a book, reading about the basics of illusion magic. Mary was asleep with her head on his lap and Plum had found a comfortable bed in his silky hair.

The carriage scooted through the city’s busy street guarded by the knights until it stopped in the middle of the lord’s mansion garden. Balon and his hunter group were given paid tickets for the best Inn in the city while Arad and his group were greeted by the lord’s headmaid, a woman in her late forties wearing round glasses and with two long braids behind her head.

Mesharra walked first out of the carriage, followed by Echidna and then the sleepy Mary. Arad could finally stand with Mary’s head off his thigh, she left a large dent in his leg. He walked out of the carriage and looked forward, seeing the maid giving him a gentle bow.

The movements, the stance, the sharp eyes, overly large breasts, strange and slow bow, her voice, and where she was looking. As if he was seeing her naked, Arad immediately spotted over fifty weapons hiding in her uniform. She reminds him of Rey and Ray or Dalla, cute- looking maids who are assassins ready to protect their master.

“Inquisitor Mesharra.” The headmaid approached Mesharra and bowed even deeper, “I am Rosaline Citros, headmaid of the Cumalot household. Welcome to our humble abode, you and your guests.” She lifted her eyes, looking straight at Mesharra, “May I inquire what brought you to us? So I can inform the master while you rest from your long tiring trip.”

“I am here for…” Mesharra was about to speak but Arad walked between her and Rosaline, a smile on his face. “Inquire? Now that’s funny, isn’t it?” He looked at Rosaline’s eyes. “The lord was informed by the knights that Inquisitor Mesharra was coming to his mansion and hid away. He sent you here to prey on Mesharra’s reasons and attack if anything were to harm him, right?”

She glared at him with bloodthirsty eyes and Arad returned the grin, “Hit it, right? Of course, he’ll fear fire having a stack of hey inside his mansion.”

“Shut up, stranger.” Rosaline growled at him, not moving an inch but Arad could notice she was getting ready to attack.

“Seen people like you, maid. Give up, a master who won’t stand in the front line to fight isn’t worth serving.” He towered over her, “Where is he? The mansion’s lord, I came here to sort his problem, whatever it was.” Arad wasn’t sure if the lord himself had a problem, or if that lord was the problem itself that this city suffers from.

^Judjing by the maid’s reaction; he is indeed hiding something bad enough that someone like Mesharra would target him.^ But just when Arad was thinking that a voice came from the second floor of the building, “I’m coming down, wait for me for a bit.”

Roseline backed away and stood, keeping a sharp glare on Arad until the city lord came out, walking on his own. He was an old man in his late sixties, yet still stood like he was in his early twenties. White hair and a thin beard decorated his jawline, his sharp green eyes glowed with magic and his deep voice hummed through the air.

“I am Arthur Cumalot, young man, you seem to have called me, didn’t you?” He patted Roseline on the shoulder so she wouldn’t interfere and approached Arad, giving him a close look. “Not bad for a young man, not every day you see someone blessed with such a body. Are you a hunter…no, a slayer inquisitor training under Lady Mesharra?”

“We must speak inside, a private room.” Mesharra looked at the city lord and he nodded. “Roseline, is the room ready?” Arthur asked and Roseline nodded with closed eyes, “Always is, please follow me.”

Sitting inside the large room, Arad looked forward to seeing Arthur sitting on the couch with Roseline standing beside him. “What are we waiting for?” He asked.

Arthur looked at the door, “My wife, she should be here soon enough.” Just as he finished his words, the door opened up and a beautiful blond woman walked into the room followed by two maids. Her blue eyes glared at Arad for a second and she sat beside her husband. The two maids joined Roseline and stood behind the couch. Arad could tell that all of the maids were armed to the teeth and ready to attack at a moment’s notice.

“Short story long,” Plum flew from Arad’s hair and looked at Arthur, “That’s Arad Orion, the one the goddess spoke about. We were told you have a problem that needs fixing, and we came for that.” She floated to the table, lifted a large juicy apple, and sat on Arad’s lap,

munching on it.

“I see…” He looked at Mesharra, “Is the fairy’s words true?”

“They are indeed true. This is the priestess from our village and this one is that witch Echidna, you must’ve heard of her. And that fairy used to live in the great forest.” She quickly introduced everyone.

“We’re all stuck with him for now. Just tell us what is your problem so we can get it fixed and move on.” Echidna’s eyes were scanning the room for anything worth her time, but sadly

nothing was of value.

“The goddess instructed us to help fix your problem, we’ll do everything in our power so please explain as much as you can.” Mary looked at him with a smile.

Arthur looked at one of the maids that came with his wife, “What do you say?”

“They are saying the truth.” She nodded.

“I see…well, my problem is quite simple. My sons are fighting over my realm even though I’m still alive. At this rate, they’ll tear the city apart the moment I die.” He looked at Arad, “Not that I intend to die any time soon, but seeing them fight all day long is quite draining.” “So it’s just like that? Where are they?” Arad leaned forward, “Mesharra, what do you say?” “It’s a simple problem, inheritance has laws. Bring them all here and I’ll fix the problem in an hour.” Mesharra nodded, happy that the problem could be fixed with ease.

“Well, I might not be able to gather them all at the same time.” Arthur looked a bit worried. “Why? Are they out?” Mary looked at him with a smile, “We can wait for them.” “Well, some of them are indeed out, but I can’t call them all at once, they won’t fit. There are too many of them.” His words took a few seconds to sink in and Arad finally asked.

“How many?”

“Around seventy-one sons,” Arthur looked extremely worried.

“Seventy-one?” Echidna gasped and Plum spat the apple she was chewing, “Where did they

all come from!” She glared at Arthur’s wife.

“I have four sons and two daughters with him. The other wives got some too…” She replied with a smile, “The rest are with the maids, servants, and mistresses.” She looked strangely

happy.

Arthur has eleven wives, twenty-two mistresses, fifty-five maids, and twenty-three servants all of which he has an active relationship with and are living in this mansion. As his wife was explaining, Arthur corrected her, “This week the maids would become fifty-six.”

“Yeah, we should prepare a party for her.” His wife suggested.

Arad poked Mesharra, “Is this normal here?”

“As long as the involved parties are okay with it, the law doesn’t care about how many are

married or who. But I’ve never seen such a case, at most I saw four.” She whispered to Arad.

Arthur looked at Arad, “I can call them in groups, will that be okay to start working on the

problem?”

“We have a bigger problem at hand.” Arad sighed.

“Yeah…but…not like we can do anything about it.” Mesharra was already getting exhausted.

Echidna laughed, “Well, I want to see how deep this runs.”

“First, I like to stop it from spreading.” Plum was already holding a pair of scissors. “Chop! Chop! Time to harvest some nuts.”