The dragon's harem

Arad and Selica were on their way to Sena’s house in Croc when they met a familiar face in the street. Sara looked to be heading to Sena’s place as well.

Sara stopped and looked back. She then approached Arad and Selica with a smile and greeted them.

Arad didn’t need to ask why she was heading to Sena’s house; Selica had already told him.

Sara got invited by Sena to join her tonight in a long discussion about hell. She needed someone in the ninth layer to give her access to sinner souls without her mother knowing.

Sara was Sena’s contact in the ninth layer of hell, using her connections there, she managed to procure some sinners for Sara to use in her magic.

Sara might’ve been against using sinners from the upper layers in a magical experiment since that might be a bit too cruel for them, but sinners from the ninth layer.

That was like a vacation for them.

The reason Sena’s mother, or the queen of hell, would be against her taking sinners from the ninth layer in use in her magic is because they won’t suffer as much as they should be. The worst evil souls were sent to the ninth layer of hell, and none deserved a moment of respite.

Of course, the last two people who should be asked about morals are the devil, Sara, and the eldritch monster Sena. Neither of them really cared about much besides practicality, even if it left a sour taste in Sara’s mouth.

Arad didn’t find it hard to understand when Selica told him. He had been to the ninth layer of hell and saw the sinners himself. What Sena is doing isn’t that different from him taking souls and turning them into void creatures.

What Arad cared about now is understanding Sena and the extent of her power. She was with him almost from the beginning. She had sold him his house, helped him on many occasions, and even introduced him to her father.

And speaking of old man Cain, Arad now wants to have a lengthy conversation with him to understand what’s up with him and Sara and why everything about them seems a bit foggy, muddled, and uncertain.

Arad, Selica, and Sara stood outside Sena’s house. The two women walked toward the door while Arad stood still, glaring at the house with a serious face.

Sara looked at him, “What’s the matter?” She didn’t notice what he noticed.

“AH!” Selica gasped, “Please, don’t worry. It doesn’t bite, unless Sena wants it to bite.” She giggled and looked back at the house.

Sara took a step back, made her way to Arad, and whispered. “What is it? Now I’m scared.”

“The whole house is a monster, probably a type of mimic. And the problem is that it’s not a normal mimic. This one is probably as strong as a wyrm, if not more.” Arad could see the magic flowing through the walls, the beast’s massive soul, and the radiant binding magic keeping the horror under control.

Sara looked at the house and squinted. Soon, her face paled, and she took a fearful step back. She finally noticed the mimic, and the monster is powerful enough to swallow her in a single bite.

“See the porch?” Arad pointed. “That’s its maw. The windows are countless eyes, and the attic’s round window is its nose. This monster has twenty humanoid legs buried in the ground that act like its anchors.”

“I said it won’t bite.” Sena kicked the porch. “See? It’s as tame as a pet, you can think of it as the house’s guard dog.”

Sara looked at her with an appalled face. “Hells! Guard dogs are supposed to be dangerous.” She approached Arad and jumped into his arms. “Now I feel safer.” She finally smiled.

Arad looked at her with a troubled face. “Sure, that mimic can’t harm me, but do you think Sena would set it on you?”

“No, no. But I don’t trust the monster itself.” She shook her head. “You see, we devils are hated by both humans and monsters alike. It’s more wary of my presence.”

Arad sighed and put Sara down. “Walk on your own. But if you don’t want to, you can use this.” He opened his hand, and a black orb of the void started floating between his fingers.

“What is this?” Sara and Selica both approached and looked at the tiny ball of void.

“You see.” Arad looked at the mimic. The monster clearly was also looking at the void sphere with a nervous soul. It must’ve felt it.

“This is a Genius Loci that one of my Void Creatures, they are like servants, defeated. And I’ve turned into a Void Creature as well. So this should be a Void Genius Loci.” Arad pushed the void sphere at Sara’s chest, and it flooded around her body like slime, soon hardening into a suit of crimson armor.

“Thanks to having a void body, this Genius Loci isn’t bound by being massive and can now change her form just like a mimic.” As Arad spoke, a bug-like fairy flew out of the armor’s cracks and started flying around Sara with a happy face. She then flew to Arad and floated in front of him.

“This is the Genius Loci’s spirit. Usually, only children can see and talk with her, but since it’s a void creature, she could cut a part of her body and use it as a physical body for her spirit.”

While the spirit couldn’t speak as she wasn’t as powerful as Loci in Alina, she could still communicate telepathically with people. Sara could feel a surge of strange emotions coming from the spirit.

Confusion, fear, awe, worry, and longing. “She wants a name,” Sara mumbled, and the fairy flew toward her with a happy buzz.

While Sara and Selica were busy thinking about a name for the Genius Loci, Arad looked at Sena’s house with a smug face. “What do you think, big boy? Mine is bigger than you are.”

And while they were fooling around, Sena had already set her dining room, turned the lights off, and only left a couple of candles burning as she sat beside the fireplace in her nightgown, sipping wine and waiting to make a dramatic show for when Arad arrives.