The dragon's harem

“Two drakainas, in fact, I’m surprised you didn’t sense them. They are hiding in the castle.” Alcott stared at her, and Merlin frowned.

“Two got past my barriers? You know I’ve got over twenty barriers observing the whole castle. None farts without me knowing about it, let alone two drakainas hiding between us.” She glared at him, her fists resting on her hips. Alcott should know her skills well. His claim that she couldn’t detect someone felt outrageous.

“Well, they got past those barriers. Or, they might’ve been polymorphed for years now without ever trying to act like dragons.” Alcott started thinking. “That might work for them, immersing themselves in their roles to the point of even forgetting their past self. That would’ve taken their polymorph to a whole new level.”

“But they won’t be able to use their draconic powers. If they are there looking for a mate, then they would want their powers to remain active.” Ginger looked at them, “They are magic dragons, and Mana dragons on top of that. It won’t be strange for them to sneak past Merlin’s barriers.”

Alcott furiously rubbed his face and growled, “Nothing is worse than a dragon skilled with magic. They’ll be a pain to catch unless they make a move first.” He looked back at the bartender, “Bring me a large mug of beer, the strongest you have, and ice cold!”

The bartender flinched and ran to the cellar where he kept the oldest and best barrels of beer frozen in waves of ice magic generated by several glowing pale crystals that looked like cloudy ice. He grabbed the largest mug he had, which was one step away from being a full bucket, and filled it to the brim.

The heavy mug was too much for the old man’s frail arms, but he had never served this in the past years, so he was also a bit happy about it. Finally, the bucket mug would get used. He barely managed to climb the stairs and rushed toward the counter, tripping at the last moment.

It was as if time slowed. Arad’s eyes shifted toward the tripping bartender as he activated his gravity magic to catch him. If such an old man fell, he might break more than one bone.

Ginger only shifted slightly, not batting an eye at the old man. Merlin, on the other hand, shifted her gaze toward Arad’s magic. She always loved to see his powerful and crackling magic in action.

Alcott, on the other hand, was charging forth in a stance, his sword already above his head and whistling through the air.

Two spears of pure compressed magic were already inside the guild, having slipped through the windows unnoticed. One burned with a vibrant blue color, while the other flared as red as blood.

Alcott’s sword dropped down like a guillotine and slashed the blue spear in half, and without even stopping, the sword flew upward and slashed the other spear in half as well.

It was now that everyone’s attention started to shift toward Alcott and the spears, but it was already too late. Alcott had already flown out of the guild, producing a shockwave that rattled the whole building and caused Nina to scream, “CAREFUL!”

Alcott ran through the city, moving more wind than a hurricane, causing both people and their stalls to fly away and scatter all over the streets. If he wanted to catch the two drakainas who had just attacked, he must hurry. He doubts they’ll run away, but they’ll hide their magic and try to blend into the servants. If he arrives quickly enough, he’ll be able to trace the magic back to them before it dissipates.

They attacked, which meant they were observing them and listening from afar. Those two drakainas must be quite old. But that wasn’t what worried Alcott. This attack was one-to-one, the same as the first time a dragon attacked him in the royal capital in the past.

At the time, Alcott was in the bar talking with a group of adventurers about how to hunt the dragon, only for the dragon to launch a fire spear at him from the mountains. This was the only reason he managed to react faster than everyone. That is why he already knew what to do. This had happened to him before.

This whole situation was just a taunt, a message to Alcott that says, “We know a lot.”

To get such information, they have to either know the dragon that attacked Alcott in the past, but that dragon didn’t live more than a few days after the attack. Or, those two drakainas must have access to royal court documents where all the missions of the guild that happened in the capital are registered.

Alcott reached the walls of Arad’s village, and he jumped over them with one leap. Now, Merlin’s countless barriers stood in front of him like an impregnable wall. At the speed he was moving, all the barriers would try to stop him as they wouldn’t have time to recognize him.

It was simple. The magic would automatically stop anything moving past a certain speed so it wouldn’t be wasting its energy trying to identify arrows and cannon balls. Like, who’s the idiot who’ll jump into Arad’s village moving faster than sound? Alcott probably.

Alcott pulled a black sword and slashed forward, cutting the first barrier and slipping through the crack. And before he could fully pass, his other hand had already pulled another blade. The second one was red and vibrant, and it quickly slashed the next barrier open.

For each type of magic, Alcott already had a weapon that specialized in destroying it. So, one barrier after the other, Alcott blasted through all of them faster than sound and flew through the air at Arad’s castle, entering through one of the great windows legs first like a cannonball.

Alcott landed on one of the walls of the central kitchen of the castle. The maids blissfully cooking inside still didn’t notice him since not even a fraction of a second had passed.

Alcott’s eyes flashed red, moving faster than his body ever could as they glanced at each of the maids and every living being in the kitchen, identifying all of them and tracking the magic.

There was no drakaina in sight. The two targets had already left the kitchen, and the mana traces led through the kitchen’s door, so he flew right through it, and the door shattering was what the maids noticed.

Alcott must hurry. He had already wasted enough time tracking the magic inside the kitchen.