The dragon's harem

Aella landed on the street beside the massive plaza where tens of chefs were staring at the sky with terrified faces. A surge of fire had just burned half of the plaza, and they only survived thanks to the present wizards, healers, and the head chef.

As Aella landed beside them, she looked around and asked the closest chef. “The damage, how much did we lose to the fire?”

That man paled as the Queen and Emperor stood in front of him. He took a deep, hoarse breath and spoke, “We lost the flower, and a lot of vegetables. We also lost a lot of our equipment; we might not be able to feed a quarter of our target number.”

Aella frowned and looked at the burned tents and countless charred boxes of produce.

“This is bad, multiple houses burned, and some people won’t find anything to eat… so we’ll need to feed even more people than before.” She then looked at Arad. “Should we call it off? Or just make something simple in bulk?”

Arad thought about it for a while. He could cook, but was nowhere near skilled enough to solve this problem. He could probably find more ingredients, but what about the tools? There weren’t that many large pots and ovens in the capital to begin with, to host this event, Aella had everything gathered here so that over a hundred chefs could feed thousands of citizens in an all-you-can-eat buffet.

They gathered all of their eggs in a single basket and lost most when a stone hit it. What a blunder.

“Don’t worry. I might not know how to fix this, but I know someone who can help. I’ll be back in a second.” Arad teleported away, and seconds after that, Lexi rushed down the wall toward Aella. “My Lady! Are you all right?”

Aella looked at her with a smile. “I’m fine. I should be the one asking about you. You were fighting the goblins and small hydras on the ground. Did you get hurt?”

Lexi blushed. “You don’t need to worry about me. His Majesty saved me before I could get hurt.” She wiggled for a moment, then gasped. “But! Where is he? I saw him here with you from the wall. I wanted to thank him.”

“I don’t know, but he should be back soon. He went to find someone who could help us salvage this…” She looked at the charred plaza and depressed chefs.

“This… what a mess. Should we cancel the feast?”

But at that moment, a massive shadow bloated the sun, and everyone screamed as they pointed up. Aella blinked, and when Lexi looked back, she paled in terror.

“Wha…wha…wha…wha…” Lexi couldn’t even speak; her mouth kept opening and closing like a dying fish, and she slowly lifted a finger up to point at the horror that showed outside the walls.

Ankles, twice as tall as the city’s walls, and the being casting them was so massive that its head towered over mountains with ease.

“WHAT IS THAT!” Lexi screamed and Aella smacked her on the back. “Calm down. That’s a titan.”

Lexi still couldn’t believe her eyes and quickly looked back at Aella. “What is a titan doing here?! No, where did it come from? Why didn’t we see it approaching?”

At that moment, a voice rumbled from the sky and shook the entire city. “Calling me a ’It’ is a bit disrespectful. Don’t you think so, Lass?”

Lexi gasped as her head slowly turned back. “Sorry…”

The titan snorted, then his body started shifting. He became smaller and smaller until his body disappeared behind the walls, and then he teleported inside with Arad standing by his side.

Even in a human-size, the titan was still well-built and almost two meters tall. He looked to be in his mid-forties, had crow-black and silky hair, two sharp golden eyes, and a devilish thin and sharp beard, and he even wore a chef’s outfit.

“Being sorry doesn’t solve anything. I want to hear ’Yes, chef’ and see your hands moving.” He pointed at the chefs with a knife and growled at them. “That burned meat over there! Go bring it to the table, you bunch of fools! Even if it’s charred on the outside, there is no way it’ll cook all the way through with a flash fire like that!”

He then pointed at more people. “And what are you standing for? Go clean some space, push the tables away, and get the pots ready! If we lack equipment, then we don’t have time to wait! People are hungry, and we’re going to feed them even if it kills us!”

“This is Chef Joey from the Storm Titans; I met him when I visited with Tyal. He is a skilled chef with a lot of experience and a heart of steel. I asked if he could help, and he said it was possible.” Arad walked forward and looked at Aella. “He should be able to handle the situation here. Right?”

Aella looked at Joey, and he scratched the back of his head. “Not if those chefs are this soft. They gave up the moment they lost some equipment. What a bunch of softies.” He stared at Arad, “If you’re fighting a monster, then your weapon breaks. Do you just sit there and accept your death, or do you fight to the death with your fists?”

“I’d keep fighting, but for everyone else, I’d say they’d better retreat.” Arad replied, and Aella nodded, only for Joey to laugh.

“Well, we chefs can’t run away. The hungry people must be fed; air alone won’t fill their bellies with anything more than farts. If we need to feed people, then we’ll feed them. The kitchen is our battlefield, and if we don’t perform well, people will starve.”

“LOOK! He is right! It’s raw on the inside!” One of the chefs cried in the back as he cut a massive slab of charred meat in half and found the inside still raw.

“See?” Joey looked at him with a smile. “It’s so alive it could go grazing at any moment. So now, stop wasting time and start getting things prepared.” He then turned toward Arad. “How long was the feast supposed to last?”

“An entire day from dawn to midnight. We had breakfast, lunch, and dinner planned alongside snacks throughout the day.” She looked a bit sad. “Should we change it to just a dinner?”

“Hell no!” Joey gasped. “Arad, what is she thinking? Teach her something or two; a king or queen can’t go back on their word. What would the people think if you promised them a whole day of food, then just gave them a dinner?”

He shook his head. “No offence, but the people are just awful. They are the worst, so we can’t back away.” He rolled his sleeves up. “I’ll change the recipes a bit to use fewer ingredients, and I’ll supplement what we lack with what we have. Like changing regular bread to sour bread or even flat bread, use bones for the broth, and save up on vegetables that most people won’t eat.”

He turned and walked toward the other chefs. “Your chefs might have several decades of experience, but I’ve got centuries. I’ll make this happen. Emperor Arad, leave this to me.”