The dragon's harem

“Finally got some quiet time.” Cerilla leaned back on her seat, sipping the tea Dalla just served to everyone.

Jasmine looked at her mug, frowned, and then turned back to Dalla. “What’s in mine?”

“Blood leaf, she got the golden tea.” Dalla looked at her and then at the confused Arad. She knew she had to explain herself. “Blood Leaf is a bone that a monster called Scarlett Roe has. She has bone soup while Cerilla and you got tea.”

While high elves are herbivores, dark elves are carnivores that can’t digest plants. It’ll give them a horrible stomach pain and even a deadly constipation.

What Arad knew before was that there are creatures that only eat plants, like goat. Those who hunt and eat meat like tigers and lions. Those who eat both plants and meat are like humans.

Lastly, dragons like him that eat literally anything that fits and doesn’t fit in their jaws.

“So? I’ve heard your kingdom is a long, coastal one.” Arad looked at Jasmine, and she smiled, taking a big sip out of her cup. “A three-thousand-kilometer-long coast and just nine hundred kilometers deep into the continent. That’s my kingdom. Not a lot of depth, but a lot of beaches, docks, and rocky bays.”

She lifted her legs and rested them on the table. “We’ve even got the Dark Moon Bay. Wait until you see it.”

Arad smiled, “You mean the large one? I can already see it.” While they were sitting inside, Arad’s draconic incarnation was the one carrying the carriage and flying above the clouds.

In the distant horizon, he could see it. One massive bay that’s at least four hundred kilometers wide, worthy of being an inland sea. That was where all of the dark elves’ ships were made, tested, and deployed.

Arad could already count more than four hundred massive vessels, and there were even ten that were titanic in size. How titanic? He could land on one of the large ones.

He probably won’t find any kingdom with a better fleet than the Dark Elves. But what amazed Arad was that their capital stretched on the edges of the bay, surrounding it like a glowing ring of light. The reflection of the moon cast in the center of the bay danced, shifting due to the water’s depth to make it look like an eclipsed full moon, radiating waves of magic across the whole bay.

“I see.” Arad nodded, “Your great magic. What is the purpose of that dark moon?”

“Like I would tell you? That’s the kingdom’s national treasure.” She then smiled. “But, you’re my husband, and now I can say for sure that Cerilla and her high elves aren’t our enemies.”

Jasmine looked at Cerilla, “We made that to destroy your people if they attacked us.”

Cerilla smiled, “Oh? Is that so? I had something ready for you. Speak first, and I’ll speak after.”

Jasmile pointed at Cerilla’s cup, “The dark moon can teleport everything in the bay to any body of water around the world that has the moon’s reflection. It’s aimed at the world tree’s great watering lake.”

Cerilla froze, but Jasmine wasn’t done.

“I’ll take just one order for our whole fleet, with all of its power, to teleport and spawn right in the middle of your kingdom, right at the world tree’s foot, and start blasting your capital.” She leaned toward her, “Do you know what the best part is? I can teleport the fleet back right after they blast your castle and capital.”

Cerilla didn’t know about that; it seems that no matter how much intel she gathered about the dark elves in the past decades, they’ve managed to keep their greatest weapon a secret.

“That would be bad for us.” Cerilla smiled, “But, you’ll suffer more.” She waved her hand, and Jasmine flinched, feeling something crawl beneath her skin.

“What? What are you doing?” Jasmine gasped and suddenly started coughing violently. Seconds later, she spat a few tiny green leaves.

“Green Pollen Disease, a great magic, but it’s probably more akin to a great curse.” Cerilla flicked her fingers, and Jasmine felt better.

“We’ve managed to get most of your population infected, and it’ll take just a simple cast for me to let the disease go crazy. For you, it was quick, but it’ll probably take me ten minutes to activate it for everyone.” She looked at the pale Jasmine with a grin.

“So, it’s who’s faster. Will my naval fleet blast your castle and kill you first? Or will your spell take us before that?” She sighed, sat, and gulped her whole cup to clear her throat.

“I guess we’re lucky the war is over. Otherwise, we might’ve just wiped each other out.” Cerilla looked at Arad, “But, don’t be mistaken. We two aren’t the ones who set those spells up. It’s our predecessors who created them.”

Arad was already thinking, “Well, how can I create one as well? Isn’t it something kingdoms do? Make a super weapon that everyone fears?”

The two looked at Arad silently for a second, and then at Dalla, “Mind telling him?”

Dalla looked at Arad, “You’re that super weapon. In fact, you, Kali, Gamon, Eris, and many more are that super weapon. Each one of you can deal as much damage as what the high elves and dark elves worked for combined.”

Arad was silent, but then nodded, “I know that, but I want something that even Serin could set off. Like, I don’t know, one cast and the whole world explodes.”

“That will be too dangerous.” After a short discussion, they agreed that having such a weapon is just overkill. No one would dare attack Arad’s empire now, and if one dared to, they probably are ready for the world to end.

“Then, what are you going to pick up? It sounded important.” Cerilla asked, looking at Jasmine, who sat beside her.

“You know, the usual. Clothes, trinkets, the Elder Necklace, my skin care cream, my umbrella…” But before Jasmine could finish her list, Cerilla stopped her.

“What would you need the Elder Necklace for? Why even bring that thing?” She looked exhausted and worried, prompting Arad to ask.

“What’s an Elder Necklace?”

“A square black necklace that is a token from the Elvish Goddess herself. It’s not a magical item. The goddess gave one to us, one to the high elves, and one to the wood elves.”

Jasmine then pointed at Cerilla. “Her necklace is an emerald green square surrounded by a golden exterior. Mine is onyx black and surrounded by silver. The wood elves’ necklace should be amber in color and surrounded by a copper exterior.”

“Don’t tell me, you’ll give yours to the goddess? For what?”