The dragon's harem

While the maid made her way back to the castle, Arad’s incarnation that was in the Divine Hall of Mira looked in her direction. He never expected this to happen, but someone was actually trailing behind her and plotting something.

All nobles, adventurers, and even criminals around these parts knew well how powerful Arad is, so none of them should dare attack one of his maids in broad daylight. Of course, unless they don’t know she is his maid, which was quite possible.

No, while inside the guild, the adventurer had no way of telling she was one of Arad’s maids; no one could mistake her on the road because she was riding one of the castle’s horses. The saddle literally has the castle’s embroilment and flag.

All of the castle horses wore those special saddles to make them easier to tell apart, so the guards at the gate won’t stop any messengers or soldiers, and so the knights could tell which of the horses were trained and which were not war-ready.

The horse the maid rode on was the same horse Isdis picked for Aella’s ceremony, the gallant and beautiful white steed, which got its role stolen by Mc. He was now back to his work as a regular castle horse, which was far below what he was fated for.

Right now, Arad could sense fifteen people slowly trailing behind the maid, silently following her from the shadows. All of them were armed, but Eris didn’t call him about any possible murderous intent, which means they weren’t intending on killing the maid.

Most likely, they were here to kidnap her for ransom, which wasn’t any better. Arad could use the fly he had on her back to keep her safe, but his help seemed to be unneeded. While those thugs followed the maid from the shadows, another person was keeping an eye on them from the shopping district.

It was someone whom even Arad didn’t dare disrespect.

“Yo! Care to give us a moment?” As the maid exited the city and was riding her horse among the countless barns and stables outside Alina, two men cut her path and pointed toward the empty alleyway between two large barns where hay was stored.

Just by their look and how scared the horse looked, the maid knew those two were powerful. It takes a real monster to scare a trained warhorse. She couldn’t tell what their level was, but she was certain they were above fifty.

Arad, who watched from afar, sighed. Mc was right; that warhorse is a disappointment. Arad was certain that if the maid rode Mc, one of those thugs would’ve already lost an arm and the other would’ve been getting stomped.

The maid started sweating, and she slowly pulled on the horse’s harness. She wanted to bolt away, but one of the two men had already pulled a knife out and gave her a smile. That was a clear threat. If she tried to run away, he would maim the horse and capture her.

“Come on,” He pointed with his finger and started walking. The maid followed him on horseback, and the other thug walked behind her, making sure she had no way to escape.

One in the shadows between the two massive barns, the maid found herself surrounded by more than six people on each side, and all of them were well armed.

“Nothing from you, young lady. Our guys were killed yesterday, and we’re investigating the castle. Don’t worry, as long as they give us the bastard in the dungeon who did that, we’ll give you back.” They were a small offshoot of the thugs Abel killed at night, and at this time in the morning, he wasn’t released yet.

The maid didn’t know anything about the incident, so she looked confused for a moment, then glared at them. “The castle’s soldiers? The ones working under General Alcott?” She giggled. “Do you know what he’ll do once he learns of this?”

“If we were going to ask for a normal ransom, yeah. He would probably come hunt us instead, but we’re asking for a criminal who is probably sentenced to the rope anyway. So why won’t they just give him to us and avoid the trouble?” The thug smiled, and another laughed.

“You work at the castle; don’t tell us you don’t know how they operate. It’s all about cost and goals.” He pointed at the maid. “Your life isn’t worth that much, but that criminal is only a liability in the castle. We’re basically ransoming you for doing their work and saving them money.”

At that moment, the maid’s eyes opened wide, and the thugs who looked at her from the front were confused, while the ones standing behind her looked as baffled as she was. The thug who just spoke felt a hand grab him from the nuts, and he heard an old, hoarse voice mumble behind his back.

“Small…”

The one standing behind and grabbing him from below was an old lady who looked to be in her late seventies, had a hunched back, and wore hide clothes that no regular woman would dare put on in public.

The maid recognized her and immediately pulled on the horse’s harness, bolting away through the bandits and never looking back. All of the thugs chased after her, only leaving the one man grabbed by the old lady behind. For some reason, they expected him to kick the frail-looking hag away and follow, but he couldn’t move an inch. Her fingers felt like a vice, and his treasured marbles were slowly getting twisted between her slender and bony fingers.

“You hag!” He growled, and the woman munched on air, licking her toothless jaws. “Scrawny.” She clenched her fist and ripped his jewels and meat stick out.

As the man’s howling roar filled the sky, the maid was already on the road, going at full speed, and the thugs were just meters behind her. Some of them were on horseback as well, and some were running on their feet; those were the skilled and powerful fighters.

“GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” They heard the scream and looked back. Almost immediately, one of them cried as he saw the old lady bolt out of the alley, land on the walls of a nearby house, and then jump toward them, running faster than any horse could ever hope to achieve.

“That hunch-back is after us! Who the hell is she?!”

The maid smiled, as expected of Nina’s grandmother, she is terrifying. Even at her old age, she was still a barbarian who once upon a time hunted giant monsters with nothing but her bare hands.

While Nina’s grandmother looked like she was in her late seventies, she told people that she was probably eighty; in reality, the barbarians never kept a clean record of their age. She was already a dozen decades old, and Nina’s parents were the ones in their late seventies. It was the same with how Nina was pushing forty and looked twenty; almost all barbarians looked half their real age due to their power and strong bodies.

“She is catching up!” The last of the thugs cried as Nina’s grandmother quickly outran him and grabbed one of the thugs’ horses by the tail, and pulled it back with ease, like it was a cat. The thug riding the horse ate a foot to the face, and the ones behind him were crushed by the tumbling horse, only for the old lady to ignore their cries and rush forward to finish the rest of them.

One of the thugs turned around and threw a dagger at her. He wanted to at least slow her down, but his plan backfired immediately as she caught the dagger in her mouth and spat it away.

“Porcupine…” She growled, took a deep breath, and then screamed her lungs out, letting a roar more akin to that of a banshee or a dying wraith. At that moment, a stone came flying through the air and ripped the head of one of the thugs clean off.

Right after, a rain of spears fell from the sky, killing or wounding half of the thugs in the blink of an eye. As the surviving thugs looked in the horizon, they saw a cloud of dust, then a bunch of half-naked, muscular men and women in hide clothes running toward them with clubs and battle axes.

When Nina’s grandmother called for help, the entire clan responded, and its warriors who lived nearby immediately moved. Due to their light equipment and lifestyle, they deployed faster than any armed battalion, since they were always armed and ready to fight.