The dragon's harem

When Zephyr faced the fairies, they all came down and landed on the rooftops of the capital’s countless houses. For centuries, Zephyr had stayed away from the politics of the mortal world. Even though she had been the leader among the Spirit Queens, and even though she helped all of the world’s kingdoms and races many times. Zephyr had never once tried to influence the countless civilizations of the mortal world.

But today, and for the first time, she had sided with someone; she had publicly declared that Aella, one of Arad’s empire queens, is her herald. This was a clear declaration that if anyone dared mess with Arad’s empire, and especially with Aella, they would have Zephyr and the fairies after them.

“Mom! Look, little people!” A kid pointed at one of the fairies, and his mother dragged him back into their home before he could offend them. While fairies are rare, people knew a few things about them.

Out of everything known about them, the fairies were famous for their extreme sensitivity about their own size. They had an even worse complex than the halflings, and could go on a rampage the moment someone called them tiny, and that complex was the one thing that drove them into developing size magic.

It is said that while halflings would laugh and joke about their height and size, they would later stop talking with whoever insulted them. The fairies are known to prank and sometimes even attack anyone who dares bring their size.

As the kid was sent into his room, he found that a fairy was sitting on his desk. “Who are you calling little, you little brat?” The fairy waved his arm, and then a burst of light burst from his fingers. The kid screamed and stumbled back, only to fall and suddenly find himself having turned into a hamster.

Back on the streets, Zephyr had finally finished talking with the fairies and got them to behave a bit. She can’t send them back because that would be a bad look, but she also can’t let them just overrun the capital.

“MOM! Why are they all here?” As Zephyr landed on Aella’s head, a voice called from among the crowds, and they all looked there. A beautiful woman stood waving her hands. That was Yuwaku.

The guards standing at the side of the street gave her a stare, then pointed their spears at her. They couldn’t recognize her because they never got the chance to see her before, and it was already too hard to recognize Yuwaku while she was actively trying to keep her beauty in check.

“Who are you? Back away, and watch your words.”

Agnar was standing beside her, and he sighed. The guard was either a fool or unlucky; either way, Agnar had to stop him before he got hurt. While Yuwaku won’t attack him, and Agnar himself was more civilized, they had someone with them who wouldn’t hesitate to catch a body.

Everyone now stared at Yuwaku and the guards, and the first ones to notice that something was off were the fairies, who all went silent and paled like snow.

“Stop it, and you too, Yuwaku, don’t just…” Agnar was about to get between them when another beat him to the act. A tiny hand grabbed the guard’s spear.

A little girl with red hair and glowing golden eyes glared at the guard as she opened her mouth wide and swallowed the tip of the spear whole. The guard cried and let go of the spear as his palm burned, and the spear’s steel shaft turned bright red. Everyone watched as the little girl munched on the spear and took it whole into her mouth, before spitting it out as a blob of molten metal.

“Ignis! What are you doing?!” Agnar growled at her, and soon he heard his father scream from afar and call him. It seems that his parents were present at the parade as well and saw them.

Arad quickly called the guards and ordered them to let Yuwaku and her group approach. He didn’t invite them to stand in the parade with them because Zephyr wanted to hold out on telling the world about her daughter until she gathers all of the fairies, but since they are all here anyway, this might be the best time to introduce her.

As Yuwaku approached, she stared at Arad. “The fairies weren’t invited, right?” She asked, and Arad shook his head. “No, they came on their own. Your magic is shaking.”

She nodded. “Well, their magic is interfering with mine; it feels strange.”

Aella smiled. “I can feel it too. Spirits use a special kind of magic tailored to themselves, and we can feel it. It’s not that big of a deal for me, but I’m certain someone like you would feel it more.”

While Aella was just an elf who used spirit magic, Yuwaku was a Nymph born to Arad’s beauty and Zephyr’s magic, which is spirit magic. So, having all of those spirits around dumping their mana into the air must’ve felt strange.

Zephyr waved her hand. “Don’t worry, their presences enchant your power. You rely on spirit magic as a part of your very being, so having them around makes you stronger. That is why you now find it harder to control your powers.”

As they talked, Arad could hear the people whispering, thinking that Yuwaku was Aella’s child, but that didn’t make sense. Yuwaku looked a lot like Arad, but she looked old, at least old enough that she wasn’t born recently.

Agnar approached Arad, “Sorry for this. I couldn’t stop her.” He then threw a glance at Ignis, “I couldn’t stop her either. I hope that the guard’s hand is okay.”

Arad shook his head. “It’s his fault. I ordered them to never point their weapons at the citizens unless directly attacked. He disobeyed that and got burned.” Arad reached forward and patted Ignis on the head. “You’ve grown well. For a red to get a humanoid form while they are still your age, it’s quite rare.”

Isdis giggled. To her, Arad was like her adoptive father. He took her in when she was stranded and gave her a place to call home. If she had met any other dragon, they would’ve killed her on the spot to eliminate a future threat.

Unlike the Metallic dragons, the chromatic dragons were more barbaric and were known to spawnkill potential threats, even the wyrmlings of their own kind.

As they talked, a spirit floated down from the sky with a fearful face and approached Zephyr. “Your highness… May I ask, who is this spirit born?”

Zephyr looked at the fairy with a smile. “You can tell? You’re a talented one. What is your name?” The fairy cried and stood tall, straightening her back. “Ashley of the house of Tempest, your royal court advisors….” She looked a bit sad. “Did you forget about us?”

Zephyr’s eyes flashed for a moment as she gasped with a smile. “AH! Little Jimmy’s daughter! When did he get you?”

The fairy sighed. “Father returned two centuries ago, and you have abandoned your castle for over a thousand years. But we kept the place clean and maintained order.” She then stared at her. “All while you were out doing whatever the hell you wanted.”

Zephyr giggled and scratched the back of her head. “Sorry about that, I had many things to keep in check.”

The fairy stared at her and growled. “Anyway, answer my question. Why does she have your spirit magic?”

Zephyr looked away. “Well… I found a tree, and Arad was there. We took a nap, and she popped out later. It was an accident.”

All of the spirits screamed, and the humanoids remained silent as they had to process what they heard. Yuwaku wasn’t Arad and Aella’s daughter, but Arad and Zephyr’s daughter?!

“Wait! Wait! Wait a minute?! Is she your daughter? That is impossible, you can’t have children!” The fairy violently scratched her hair, trying to think.

“She is mine. You can see it yourself.” Zephyr patted her on the shoulder.

“No! No! No! You know what I’m talking about! Lord Focalor, and Mei! You can’t have children; the lineage has ended. The spirit line cannot be extended further. How did… wait…”

She turned around, and her eyes met Arad’s. She stared at him for a second, feeling her heart racing.

“You are… it can’t be…” But before she could finish speaking, she fell on the ground dead. Zephyr stared at the dead fairy, and sighed. “You’re too smart for your own good.”

She flew down, carried the corpse, and looked at Arad. “I’ll handle this. You don’t need to interrupt the ceremony.”

“What did happen to her? Where are you going?” Arad called and Zephyr looked at him.

“She died out of fear. I’m taking her back to father’s castle in the Elemental Plane of wind. I haven’t been there for several thousand years. It’s a hassle, so I’ll tell you about it later.” As Zephyr flew away, she stared at Ashley’s corpse with a sad smile.

Since the spirit lineage ended with Zephyr, she is impotent and cannot have children with her magic in any shape or form. But since Yuwaku was born, it means that Arad had something that could even overpower that limitation. It didn’t take Ashley a lot to put two and one together to figure out that Arad had to be an overgod. She probably figured out that he was AO and thus died.

“This is why I wanted time to prepare.”