The dragon's harem

When Alicia opened her eyes, she found herself on the warm sand, looking at the blue sky with a massive glacier at the edge of her vision. She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and quickly remembered the fall, unable to recollect when she landed or how she survived such a thing.

“Hey! You! You’re finally awake.” Beside her, a tall woman with grey hair and silver eyes sat. She only wore a simple robe, but with one glance, Alicia could tell there were scales on the woman’s skin, a sign of inhumanity.

“Who are you?” She asked, and the woman gave her a gentle bow. “The name is Val-Mo-Ris, a white wyrm. Worry not, Lady Isdis is over there.”

Val pointed toward one boulder, where Isdis stood, slowly wearing her under armor. Beneath her heavy steel armor, Isdis wore several layers of cloth, gambeson, and chainmail, which took a while to put on.

She would start by wearing her underwear, then put on a leather and cloth suit similar to spandex before covering that with gambeson, and finally a layer of chainmail, and only then would she put the heavy plate armor on.

“Did you save us?” Alicia asked, and Val shook her head. “No, I just watched. Lady Isdis created that glacier to use as a slide and kill the force of your fall.”

Alicia stared at the titanic glacier with a pale face. That thing was bigger than the capital; it was a full-fledged mountain, and that was just the part sticking out of the sea. If Isdis made that, then she could topple an entire city if she wanted to.

“I never seen such a thing before. Isn’t she stronger than the emperor?” As Alicia gasped, the drakaina laughed until tears started falling down her cheek. She stared at Alicia with a smile and exhaled. “Haaa, I never heard such a thing before. Even though you’re a maid, didn’t you learn anything about his power?” She then threw a glance at Isdis. “Lady Isdis, what is her deal? She thinks you’re stronger than Arad.”

Isdis looked at them with a smile and laughed. “What? No way I’m anywhere near him in power. He’ll defeat a hundred of me with a sneeze.” She had finished wearing her armor and was approaching. “He was here a second ago. If you woke a bit earlier, you might’ve seen him.”

“What?!” Alicia cried.

In another place, Lara stared at the naked Roana, “What are you waiting for?” The two of them were in a completely white room with a single black door in front of them. From inside it, the slithering and crunching of bugs crawling and eating each other could be heard.

“Do… I really have to do it?” She threw a glance back at Lara and only got a smile.

“This is both a test and a punishment for trying to harm Lady Mira. You won’t die, but you’ll suffer a bit and be done with it. A better deal than years in jail, or facing Arad’s wrath.” She waved her palm. “Dalla taught him how to use his hands, and I’m sure you’ve heard of her. The woman whose slaps hurt more than death.”

Dalla was well known far and wide; she was the weakest of the S-rank adventurers, but still one of the most feared due to her martial arts. Years ago, she disappeared from the adventuring scenes and was only recently spotted working as Cerilla, the High Elvish Queen’s personal maid and bodyguard.

Roana could barely imagine the massive emperor slapping her so hard that her skin peels off and her bones shatter to dust. Yes, going through this room might be better than feeling that pain.

Lara opened her palm and large cockroach appeared on her hand. She approached Roana and threw it at her, “Here, catch!”

Roana stared silently as the cockroach landed on her bare chest, tried crawl up, but she calmly grabbed him with her hand, threw him on the ground, then kicked him as far as she could.

“Hoo, you aren’t scared?” Lara asked, and Roana sighed. “I won’t get scared by one or two. I’m going to work as a maid; cleaning is my job… But going in naked inside a room filled with them is nasty.” She looked back at the door, feeling her lunch going up her throat.

“FINE! FINE! Open that door, I’ll bolt right through!” As she growled, Lara smiled and lifted her hand. “Then go, I’ll make sure you cry a bit.”

The door burst open, and Roana closed her eyes as she rushed in, taking a leap into the cockroach-filled pit. Her plan was simple: Ignore all sense and make a run for the exit on the other side of the room. It was the same as quickly waving her palm over a fire; if she did it quickly enough, she wouldn’t feel it.

But that is where she had made a mistake. Lara wasn’t just any random maid; she felt no pain, no pleasure, and had no empathy for anyone. She was the torturer of the castle, and now, had her hands on someone who tried to kill Mira.

The door closed, and Roana found herself in complete darkness, sensing the countless cockroaches engulfing her whole body, and trying to crawl into her every hole. There were so many of them that she felt like she was swimming in water, and her stomach was quickly turning as the smell pierced her nose.

Where is the exit? Where is the door? There was only darkness around her, and the cockroaches were starting to nibble on her skin. “You can relax inside. I’ll keep you locked for an hour.” Hearing Lara’s voice, Roana’s heart dropped, and she screamed. “What?! Get me out of here!”

“No, don’t speak to me again. Scream if you want, but I’m not letting you out until an hour past.” She stood there, waiting, “Isdis didn’t say to torture you, but it is the rules. I can’t let anyone who tried to harm the wives go unpunished. They entrusted this job to me because I don’t care.”

“NO WAY! They are biting me!” Roana screamed and Lara sighed.

“If Lady Isdis tried to kill Lady Mira, I would’ve thrown her here as well. I only care about orders from the emperor or Headmaid Tina.”

Time slowly passed, and Roana screamed inside. There were too many cockroaches to kill, and she was drowning in them. Her feet couldn’t touch the ground, and each breath she took threatened to let one of the vile bugs into her throat.

When an hour passed, all the cockroaches disappeared, and Roana fell to the ground, shaking and trembling as all resemblance of life faded away from her face. Lara walked into the room, grabbed her by the hair, and dragged her outside.

“You’re still conscious? Most people passed out in seconds.” She threw her on the ground, then kicked her in the guts. “Stand up! Next is a room full of centipedes.” As Lara clapped her hands, the room filled to the brim with the multi-legged crawlers, and Roana looked at them in absolute horror.

Lara approached her, then smiled. “Now, go in.”

Roana stared at her for a second, then stood and started walking toward the room full of centipedes. Lara smiled.

As Roana jumped into the second room, all of the centipedes disappeared, and she hit the ground face-first. She growled in pain and looked to her side only to see Lara standing there. “You still followed my order to jump into the second room.”

“The test was… to do everything you say… no matter what.” Roana growled. She had understood from the start that Lara would follow Isdis’s orders, since they wouldn’t have passed their test if that wasn’t the case, which meant her situation was calculated and not Lara acting on her own.

There was no way they could gather all of those cockroaches and keep them alive, so it was clear this was a test created by magic, either illusion or something similar. They felt real, the horror was painful even though she knew she would be safe, but that is why she could endure.