The dragon's harem

Arad and Gojo returned early, and the two of them were loaded with crab meat. For days they’ve eaten nothing but fish and the monster’s tough meat, which was soon getting stale and boring.

When Liliana saw the crab meat, she smiled. “An Emperor crab? Where did you find it?” She quickly jumped in and stared at the frozen crab meat Gojo carried.

“By the beach.” He pointed at Arad, who carried several white bear hides. “We also fought some ice bears. Those are the hides.”

Arad threw the four sets of hide away and sat beside the flame. “I’m getting used to Eris’s divine magic quite well. I should be able to fight better now.”

Haru approached him with a smile. “I know. I could feel you pulling a flood of divine magic through me. I have never seen a cleric use that much power.”

Arad looked worried for a second. “I wasn’t even trying. Don’t tell me that was near your limit.”

She shook her head. “No, it was nowhere near what I can endure. I just said it was far higher than what a normal cleric can use.” She then frowned. “A normal cleric… I saw that woman called Lydia, and to be honest, she can probably pull seven times more divine magic than I could.”

Arad stirred the flames. “Then your info is old. She can pull far more than that. From what Eris knows, if Lydia is to die, she’ll immediately resurrect as an angel at least, if not a whole archon.”

Haru sat beside the flames as well and reached to warm her hands. “I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing, but I hope she doesn’t take it as a free get-out-of-death card.”

“Yeah…” Arad sighed. “Knowing Lydia, if she faced someone far stronger than her, she might just pull a suicidal move and count on that to keep her alive.”

“You two!” Liliana came in and pointed at the flames. “Move back a bit. I got some crab to cook.” Arad himself had never cooked crab before, and the last time he ate it, he swallowed the entire thing whole at the bottom of the sea.

Thinking about that, Arad realized that with the world inside his stomach, he shouldn’t need to hunt for food anymore and could just eat from there.

Explains why his mother can’t be defeated in the mortal world, as that is inside her stomach, and everything within it is just a whim away from being digested in the blink of an eye.

Usually, he would’ve been worried about leaving his wives behind, but with his mother there, he can rest easy. If anything could beat her, then even he wouldn’t be able to do a thing to help.

“I’m going to the hot spring.” Gojo walked past Arad, “Want to go?”

Arad stood and stretched his arms. “Yeah, I’m drenched in crab juices, and not the edible ones.” He walked behind his brother as the two headed deeper and deeper into the cave until they reached the Yetis’ cavern. In there, Gojo had built a large building, split it in two, and turned it into a pseudo-spa.

This hot spring was almost magical; it was hot, helped them recover, and was a blessing in the frigid land. And it explained why the Yetis decided to live in this cavern, even though it smells like farts thanks to all the sulfur.

An hour later, both Arad and Gojo were relaxing in the hot water, accompanied by seven Yetis who decided to join in. “You know, monsters are fine when they aren’t trying to bite your face off.” Gojo looked at the Yetis with a smile.

“Yeah, but only because those ones never saw a human before. If they did and were attacked, they would’ve recognized us as enemies.” Arad looked at the boiling water. “From what Alcott once told me, the entire reason monsters and humans have a kill-on-sight relationship, unlike the one with animals, is that humans are always aggressive.”

“Of course, they would be aggressive.” Gojo waved a hand. “Like how a small dog that can’t bite always acts aggressively, humans, humanoids in general, are much weaker than monsters and see them as a threat thanks to all the fangs, teeth, claws, and terrifying magic.”

Looking at the hot spring water, Arad sighed. “If humans lived here, they would’ve come here and exterminated the Yetis to get this spring.”

Arad and Gojo were right. It was a reality that monsters are dangerous, but it was also a reality that humans are the ones starting most of the fights. Are monsters at fault for killing humans who enter the forest? No, humans are at fault for hunting in the monster’s land and stepping in uninvited. You can’t jump into a tiger’s den and then complain after getting bitten.

That also explained how druids and witches could live in the monster-infested forests and wilderness without getting attacked endlessly. They just had to learn how monsters work and adapt.

So, could humanoids and monsters coexist and live in harmony? Absolutely not. The relationship between them is that of an opportunistic predator and an unlucky prey. But that meant the rare, strong few of humanoids who have enough raw power to back themselves up could survive among monsters, and even thrive.

That was the same lifestyle Nina’s barbarian clan lived, and how Arad and Gojo could live in this world and prosper. Even as humans, the two of them were still dragons, and dragons are born to dominate and rule.

“Say, this is the last time we can return here.” Arad looked at Gojo, “How about your teleportation? Can we use it to come back from the city?”

Gojo thought about it for a second, and it was clear he couldn’t. “Two problems: the longer the distance, the more expensive the spell is. At a hundred meters, I’ll already be using all of my mana reserve.” He then looked at Arad. “Besides, I won’t be able to teleport through the city’s barrier.”

Arad then smiled. “Then, how about we take another day to prepare?” He pointed at the spa’s wall. “And dig us a tunnel, all the way to the forest. We can ever dig right into the city.”

Gojo shook his head. “Digging to the forest is possible using magic. But to the city, I don’t think so. If the barrier is spherical, then only the sewer pipe is allowed in, and maybe a secret escape route for the royal family, but we aren’t finding that.”

Arad nodded. “Then, we just dig a tunnel to the forest?”

“Half points.” Gojo pointed at one of the Yetis resting with them in the bath. “We need two days. One to go and find the sewer entrance, and the second day to dig a proper, straight line, tunnel that is wide enough for the Yetis to march through, or at least crawl.”

Arad smiled. “It’ll give us a direct path to move them. I know that having the Yetis march through the snow is going to be a pain, so this would make it far easier.”