The dragon's harem

Several days had passed, and Arad’s convoy was ready to depart. The group he decided to take had changed at the last moment by a decision that Zephyr made. She’ll be hiding inside his stomach and will only show up if they need her. Zephyr wasn’t known for taking sides or putting herself in the middle of a civil war, but she could come to stop the titans from senseless slaughter.

A large metallic carriage rested in the castle’s courtyard. The carriage was decorated with gold, had no wheels, and was several times larger on the inside than it was on the outside. It was a magic item made by Merlin, but now Alice controls it.

Inside the main chamber of the carriage, four people sat, but it was wrong to call them people. There were two dragons and two titans. Arad and Claug sat on a large sofa facing Alice and Tyal as they shared a drink on a small table between them. Zephyr and Zeus were hiding inside Arad’s stomach, playing cards and reminiscing about the good old decades.

This carriage, which was created by Merlin to transport several people comfortably, had been modified even further by Alice. The old titans didn’t shy away from showing the result of over a thousand years of magic research and refinement. While Alice lacked Merlin’s innate talent, she had spent several times more time studying magic, and unlike her, she was a devoted follower of Yog, which gave her an even bigger edge.

The carriage is now separated into the three sections. The passenger room, the servant room, and the mounts room. From what Tyal told everyone, the Storm Titans are really particular about their mounts and use them as a sign to show wealth and power. That meant even if the four of them didn’t really need mounts, they had to at least bring something.

Claug had brought a massive green drake with her. The muscular monster looked like an overgrown alligator with long legs and a massive head. The monster was quite powerful and an S-rank disaster level, able to demolish a whole small army on its own. She used the beast as a guard for her layer, alongside nine other of its kind, but now she brought it here. She was going to use her guard dog as a mount.

Tyal was proud to show her massive thunder tiger. A ten-meter-long white tiger engulfed in lightning that she received as a gift from her father years ago. Those monsters were quite rare, expensive to get, and powerful. And the tiger could run on air and clouds, which was a rare ability and a sight to behold.

Alice strangely did have an elusive and mysterious creature with her, a ghostly steed of pure magic and spiritual energy. Upon a closer look, it was the soul of a long-dead unicorn that she managed to preserve and free into the world.

The poor unicorn was cursed to lose its mind to madness and descend into hell, but Alice did manage to save it from an eternity of suffering. The cost was that the unicorn lost all of its sentience due to the damage caused by madness. The unicorn’s spirit ended up with as much intelligence as a normal horse, and those remained to serve Alice.

Not even Tyal could believe that such a mount existed, and she was sure that among all of the Storm Titans, Alice Dagon would stand out like a celebrity when she pulled that mount out.

This had left one person without a mount, the most important of them all, Arad. Tyal was both terrified and appalled when Gamond suggested that she would be his mount. But Arad luckily rejected her. She couldn’t understand what that drakaina was thinking.

But Arad had a lot of powerful monsters in his land that could serve as mounts. Alice even joked that Arad should use himself as a mount. While they were drinking with him inside the carriage, another clone of him was carrying the carriage through the air.

Arad considered several options, but ended up picking something that made everyone freeze. Out of all the monsters he had access to, Arad’s mount looked really out of place, especially when it stood in the stables among the other mounts.

Arad’s mount was a large, muscular, and egotistical moose called MC. The animal seemed to fear no man nor god, glaring menacingly at all other mounts and fliping the white of its eyes on them.

Tyal might’ve pulled her hair out if she wasn’t shocked as she saw Arad riding the moose across the night sky, clad in onyx armor and his long, indigo cloak flapping through the wind. And while the moose itself was a mundane animal, it seems to have lived long enough in Arad’s territory to slowly start turning into a monster influenced by Arad’s draconic presence.

Arad was even able to use his gravity magic to allow the moose to run on air like Tyal’s tiger, breathe void magic, or even shake the ground with its hooves.

From what Aella told her, the moose had been Arad’s mount since the days when he wasn’t stronger than s-rank adventurers. Since those days, the moose had been living peacefully and grazing around Arad’s land. The brave beast rarely got to carry its master into battle, but now a day came for it to race again.

Tyal held her head between her hands, wanting to cry. While everyone were going to ride in on majestic beasts, the man she was supposed to marry is going to be in the front, on a damned moose. She could already hear the other titans gossiping about the bizarre scene.

But Arad made a point, he did say that while mounts serve as a show of power and wealth for the storm titans, they should be ready to accept how other races show their power as well.

She had to agree. Humans flaunt their clothes and houses to show power and wealth, titans show their mounts, the great beasts that can carry their heavy bodies. But how did dragons show their power?

“How do dragons show their power…” Claug took a sip of her drink. “That’s a good question. Want me to show you?”

“Of course.” Tyal replied with a smile.

Claug remained silent for a few seconds and slowly put her wine glass down. She then looked at Tyal, her eyes shifted into those of a dragon and narrowed, “KNEEL!”

Tyal’s whole body shook, and her muscles clenched. Her lungs stopped breathing, and all of her senses screamed in terror. She could feel her body struggling to move, wanting to kneel down. Not out of magic or curses, but from sheer fear and terror. If she doesn’t kneel, something bad, very bad, is going to happen to her.

Claug then sighed, “Relax. That was just my frightful presence. Like how a human would jump in fear when a large, powerful dog barks at them.” She giggled, “You’re already shaking from my presence, and I’m just an ancient green drakaina. What will happen if Arad is the one to unleash his presence?”

Tyal gulped and looked at Arad.

“I’m not going to use it, at least not the frightful presence.” He looked at the glass of wine, “But… I’ll use the awe presence if needed.”

While the frightful presence instills fear and dread into the hearts of those that feel it, the awe presence does the opposite. It instills a sense of safety and admiration. It makes people want to listen to him, heed his words, and see him as a trusted being.