The dragon's harem

“Fine…but you’ll have to stop her.” Mesharra didn’t look that happy as she turned toward the smug Echidna and waved her hand. The shackles clicked on their own, falling to the ground as if they were never attached to begin with.

Echidna rubbed her painful wrists, twisting and turning them as she approached a chair and sat down, looking down at her feet. The marks of the shackles were still clear on her ankles, they probably wouldn’t go away anytime soon.

Her eyes shifted toward Arad with a faint smile on her lips. Her nails and toenails flashed dark green with curses as her robe started flapping, “Now I’m free.” Black chains of curses engulfed everyone, coiling around them like vipers.

“I don’t care about what Yog wants, so what prevents me from killing all of you now?” Unlike the rest, she couldn’t care less, if fact, killing all of them and running now would be the best case for her. Even Mesharra can’t stop her now that they are in the middle of a city with a lot of civilians.

“HEY!” Plum growled at her with an annoyed face, “Stop getting me involved, and my Arad, and Mary she feeds me… Don’t care that much about Mesharra…but leave her alone as well!” She struggled a bit and the chains around her cracked, almost shattering.

Echidna was surprised that Plum could even resist her curses at this range, she must be a real monster. Considering the plant magic she showed them before, Echidna was certain Plum could break the chains if she was motivated.

Mesharra glared at her, “You know you can’t kill. Harm anyone and I’ll chase you to the end of the earth and skin you alive.” Her eyes flashed golden, “Like Valorina.”

Echidna burst laughing, “Haven’t heard about her for years. Her ranged curses were something to behold.” Valorina was a witch that Echidna knew, they weren’t close, but at least had a peace treaty between them. Her ranged curses could kill anyone from any distance by using blood and a sacrifice, she took down countless nobles and royals. The mark of her curse was a body full of gashes and scares that would cause the victim to bleed to a slow painful death.

Mesharra had tracked Valorina down, dragged her to the capital’s plaza, stripped her naked in front of everyone, and skinned her alive until she died.

“I’m sure you’ll do it. But you know I’m not one to care about threats.” Her gaze shifted to Arad. “Now, what about you? Our not-so-little pilgrim of Yog.”

The chains around Arad’s body grew longer and turned into thorns, digging into his skin as they crackled with a strange curse. “I would love to take you as my slave. I’m sure you’ll be a treat to have, in more than one way.” She stood and approached him, running her fingers on his chest. “What do you say?”

Arad’s glowing purple eyes glared down at her. He didn’t say a word, but Echidna moved back on her own and flicked her fingers, releasing him from her thorns. “Now that I took a closer look at you…I’ve changed my mind.”

Arad looked at his wounds and then at her, “That was quick, and I didn’t say anything.”

Echidna giggled, “You don’t need to speak. I now know you’re already cursed.” She waved her finger and several runes appeared on her hand, “A curse that I’ve never seen before, or at least its mark.”

Echidna could tell that Arad was cursed at some point with a powerful curse, but all she could see now was the empty shape of that curse, it wasn’t inside his body anymore. Just by looking at the shape and size, that wasn’t just any powerful curse, but something even bigger, thousands of times bigger than any curse she could’ve ever created.

“How much?” Echidna’s eyes flickered.

“For what?” Arad approached her.

“To let me see what that curse, who cast it.” She leaned back, “Wait, don’t tell me, was she that Doma you spoke of before?”

“Doma isn’t with me now. Won’t see her again until I clear this world and go back to my previous world.” Arad replied, “If you want to talk to her, help me get out first.”

Echidna waved her fingers and a thorny chain wrapped around her neck, tightening around her body for a second. The chains then extended to Arad’s hand, piercing his palm. “How about this?”

“A slave contract?” Arad noticed the magic being somewhat similar to the one Aella had, but this one was based on curses.

“It’s more than just a slave contract.” She looked at her nails, no magic nor curses were surging through them. Her body felt weak, but at least she could sit and talk. “It’s a complete contract. You have the total power in it and I have nothing, on the catch is that I must see this Doma once she’s accessible to you.”

Mesharra glared at her, “What are you playing at, witch!”

“Unlike you, I know when to suck someone. You might’ve heard of his power, but I doubt you can imagine its scope. I can see it, how large that curse Doma is and how is she serving him.” Echidna giggled, “I can’t even guess how he managed to get her that obedient.”

Everyone else got released as Echidna’s curses waned now that she was enslaved to Arad, but none of them moved, waiting to see what Arad would do. “You can fully use your curses. Leaving you like this is worse than being chained.”

Echidna’s curses returned to her in the blink of an eye and she giggled.

“Arad, be careful. That’s witch schemes a lot. Trust her and you’ll be crying at the end.” Mesharra was right, Echidna isn’t stupid, she had lived for decades and conjured many powerful curses. She was smiling even on her execution day and had just used curses while chained with anti-magic chains. She had a way to break the contract any time she wanted, no one doubted that for even a second.

Arad pulled a chair and sat down facing Echidna, “Vampirism and lycanthropy, do you know those two curses? I want a barrier that allows them to coexist in one body without interfering with each other, or at least reduce the backlash.”

Echidna looked puzzled for a second, those two curses can’t merge as far as she know, they are direct opposites of each other in terms of their construction. “I don’t know if it’s possible to even get them both in one body. If your Doma could teach me how to harness such a power, I’ll gladly suck her toes for a year.” She giggled.

“Vampirism as a curse starts like a disease, it resides in the blood and spreads through it. Lycanthropy on the other hand mainly stays in the flesh. You can’t separate them as the flesh needs the blood to remain alive.” Arad explained, “A curse barrier can’t separate them, and if left alone they’ll tear the body apart.”

Arad lifted his hand, “So you oil them up, allow them to slip over one another. Reduce the friction instead of trying to separate them. The curses would slowly learn to live with each

other with time.”

“Still can’t do it.” Echidna sighed, how is this man now asking her to lube curses? She had never even heard of such a thing, let alone tried it. “My nails would snap out of their place if I tried. It’s like asking a man to dig a hole through stone with their nails.”

Arad’s head turned toward Mary, “Can you get me some things? A barrel of goat blood, black squid ink, magic stones, hair from a corpse that was dead for at least ten years, desecrated holy sigils, blood, and tears of a virgin, and what else…” He thought about it for a second, “A brush and several sharp nails.”

Mary blinked for a second, “What will you use all of those things?” She then quickly shook her head, “No, I don’t care. I’ll bring everything, I’m sadly a virgin so we can use my blood and

tears, right?”

“Witchcraft?” Mesharra gasped and Echidna giggled, “Didn’t expect you know witchcraft, where did you learn it, was it that Doma?”

“Doma is my wife, and I’ve got another wife named Eris who needed this to enchant her nails.

I’ll rewrite your nails to empower your curses, it’ll be a painful process, but a must if I want you to be able to oil the two curses.” Arad leaned back, “This one is even stronger than what Eris got. Doma advised against it since it’ll be too painful.”

Echidna looked at him with a curious gaze, “Already making me stronger, I wonder what’ll you do if we got a tad bit closer.”

“This is a risky move.” Mesharra approached him, “What will you do in case she turns against

us?”

Echidna sighed in the back, “Come on! You can’t trust me even when enslaved like this? Well, I won’t even trust myself.” She giggled, “What should I do to make you trust me?”

“Die, I’ll trust your cold dead corpse.” Mesharra glared at her with burning eyes, clenching on

her sword.

Arad looked at Mesharra for a moment, weirded by her glare. She didn’t look like a good person, for some reason her words and expression tingled his back, as if something was off about her. It only took him a minute of staring and a weirded Mesharra to guess what it was. Mesharra stepped away from him, “Why are you so strongly glaring at me?” She was confused, “You’re creeping me out.”

“I see! So that’s how you are.” Arad smiled, “This whole thing would’ve been easier had you told me directly.” She waved his hand to her, “Come, kneel down.”

“What’s gotten into you?” Mesharra got weirded even more and started to feel in danger, but Arad’s innocent smile was somewhat alluring. “Give me your sword.”

Hesitant, Mesharra knelt before him and handed him her trusty sword. Echidna had burst laughing in the back and started moving her, saying she was in quite the position to serve.

Arad tapped the sword on Mesharra’s shoulder, “I, Arad Orion hereby permit you to use force anywhere. Collateral damage both in objects, lives, or wealth are to be ignored.”

Mesharra’s eyes opened wide. freewёbnoνel.com

“From this day you shall serve me and me alone as my sword, you answer to no one but me.

Rip and tear until it’s done.” He flipped the sword and handed it back to her. She took it with shaking hands, looked at Arad’s wide smile, and could feel her legs losing their strength. Arad had figured it out, Mesharra wasn’t a good person, she’s a lawful one. He’s granted true freedom by Yog, the goddess of this world so he’s above the law, and now has to use that authority to grant Mesharra’s legal freedom as long as she follows him.