The dragon's harem

Chapter 775 Goddess of Destruction and Orphans

”I donʼt know about this…” Lala stared at Zul with a worried face. ”As Lydia and Eris said, holy magic canʼt heal whatʼs a part of her body. It doesnʼt recognize it as a disease.”

”Is there nothing we can do besides cutting it off?” Arad looked at Zul.

”The draconic fundamentum is the source of a dragonʼs magic as it is as sensitive as their brain. Unless we cleanly cut all of that growth and heal it up, she could end up crippled in the best case.” Lala looked at Arad. ”Iʼm not an expert in dragons but I know a bit. A dragonʼs muscles need more than just nutrients to work, they require mana processed by the fundamentum, without that organ, she might never be able to fly again. Sheʼll find it hard to even stand in her draconic form.”

”Donʼt worry about me.” Zul turned toward Arad, ”Iʼll find a solution in a century or two. We dragons have all the time we want.”

”I guess thatʼs true.”

”If your case doesnʼt get worse.” Lala glared at her. ”If anything felt off, call me. Iʼm a succubus so I should be still alive in the coming centuries.”

”You succubi feed off the life of your victims. Youʼll be alive in a thousand years,” Zul glared at her.

”Trying to throw shade on me? Iʼll let you know that wonʼt work, we high priestess of Gracie are like monks. You might not believe me, but Iʼm still a pure maiden. Refraining from our carnal hunger is what her lordship rewards us with power for.” Lala waved her hand with a grin. ”I might tease people though.” She turned toward Arad with a grin.

”Iʼll kill you!” Eris growled at her, hissing as she stood her and Arad. ”He my husband.”

”[Our husband…]” Doma and Merida corrected her.

”Hoho…” Lala stared at them. ”Is a fight about to start? A catfight, I see.” She started watching. ”The duality of sun and vampire magic, the queen of curses, and the demonic blade, shall we call the spirit herald and artificer to join the fight?”

”They arenʼt fighting. I would love to see them get along.” Arad said as he glared at Lala.

”Hoo! The destroyer Uranus is trying to quell the storm, how unexpected. Dragons usually love nothing more than watching their drakainas fight to prove their strength.”

”All of you. Donʼt fight.” Arad glared at the girls.

”We arenʼt going to fight. Weʼre just horsing around.” Eris sighed.

”[I too have no intention of harming them. Iʼm getting to be the closest to you after all,]” Doma giggled.

Merida stared at her sword with a disappointed face. ”I wanted to fight them…”

Eris smiled, ”We can play a bit later, but not around here, weʼll destroy the place.”

”Iʼll check on you at the end of the week.” Lala approached Zul. ”For now, take care of your health.”

Days quickly passed by, and the weekend approached. Arad had left back to Alina with his wives, leaving the rest in the university. Jack and Lydia made their way down to the city on a date, walking side by side.

”Itʼs been a while since we had time like this.” Lydia said, walking beside Jack.

”Itʼs because you keep getting in trouble.” Jack replied, ”Whenever I tried to take you on a date you ended up starting a fight with the first thug we see.”

”Itʼs a paladinʼs duty to keep peace.” Lydia replied to him.

”What about our peace? I honestly wonʼt mind if we two could spend our time peacefully on a farm. Iʼll go out hunting and farming while you help me. Wonʼt such a life be a dream?” He stared at her.

”That would be ideal if this world wasnʼt riddled with evil. Itʼs a paladinʼs job to deal with that, I canʼt just ignore it.” She glared at him with glowing golden eyes. ”And youʼre the hero, arenʼt you? Wonʼt it be good to show some excitement about saving the world, restoring balance, and riding the world of evil?”

Jack looked at the sky with a troubled face, ”Hero you say? I donʼt think Iʼm fit for the job.” He pulled the wakizashi and stared at it.”

”The blade of the ancient hero Daraku. Am I really up to hold such a manʼs legacy?” Jack sighed, ”I looked through all the books of the university and found nothing. The only lead I had was Kinryuuʼs words.”

”Daraku, the hero that revitalized Amaterasuʼs religion by feeding the orphaned priestess that resided in one of the goddessʼs shrines.” Lydia stared at the sun. ”It takes a valiant hero to kick start a whole religion.”

”See? That isnʼt the kind of task you entrust to a rogue.” Jack cried, staring at her with a sad face. ”I only want to live my life in peace. I grew up on the streets and only survived due to my sister Lilianaʼs help. She was a thief, but did her best to feed us.”

”You sister…” She looked at Jack, ”When I was studying in the church, she was an infamous criminal. You donʼt know how many paladins would cut her head on sight.”

”They would cut mine as well.” Jack looked at Lydia, ”Even you tried to kill me at one time. Why the change of heart?”

Lydia stared at him for a second, ”I canʼt find an answer. I know that what you and she did is a crime, but I canʼt criticize you until I find a solution to the starving children in the city. Killing you or her is the same as forcing those kids to starve to death, or freeze in the winter.” She sighed.

”People need to survive.” Jack replied.

”That doesnʼt excuse your crimes, but since the first time I met you, I began to wonder. The life in front of me wouldʼve starved to death if Liliana wasnʼt stealing. Was it really worth it? And now that you became the hero, I canʼt help but feel that everything the paladins did was wrong.” She looked at him with a sad face.

”It wasnʼt wrong. You know that sister is a tiefling, but there is something about her you might not know.” Jack looked at Lydia, ”Didnʼt you wonder why not a single paladin or priest could detect her even with the demonic blood running through her veins?”

”Now that you mentioned it. Tiefling appears in holy barriers like the sun in the sky, how could she have been slipping through their hands all those years? As if the gods didnʼt want her to be captured.”

”Youʼre close. Sheʼs a priestess of Kali, the goddess of demons, and destruction, and guardian deity of orphans. You couldnʼt detect her because sheʼs like you, a user of holy magic.”

”Wait… I didnʼt sense any holy magic from her when we met. We wouldʼve known if someone was from the holy order or not.”

”She rarely prayed or used holy magic. Kali doesnʼt particularly care if you do or not, what she wants is either the destruction of evil demons that taint her peopleʼs name or the protection of children. Sister always said, Kali would smite her if she wasted time praying instead of getting food for us.” Jack giggled, ”But she did heal us with holy magic when we got sick.”

”No wonder we never got a sick kid from the slums… We even suspected that people from the church were healing your brothers in secret.” She stared at him with a surprised face.

”You wouldʼve used us to capture sister. We would rather die sick than come to your church, luckily for us, sister could keep us alive.”

”A goddess that requests no prayers. Only a noble creed to be followed.” Lydia mumbled. ”I doubt she has any statues or churches, does she?”

”Sister said that Kali is popular in the demon continent and in the abyss. She would depict her as a tall blue-skinned woman with red palms and feet, she has six arms, and three heads and only wears a skirt made of severed arms and a large necklace of heads.” Jack smiled.

”Thatʼs a horrifying image for the protector of children.” Lydia stared at him with a worried face.

”Thatʼs her destruction form. Itʼs what those who harm children and the demonʼs reputation see before they are torn to shreds. She usually takes the form of an orphaned little girl with pink hair when dealing with children. Some even claim that she guided them to the slums when they lost their parents.” Jack looked at the buildings. ”When some new kids showed up in the slums, they always claimed that a cheerful pink-haired girl led them to us and then disappeared.”

”Gods canʼt walk the mortal world. And I never heard of them sending visions like that. Are you sure it wasnʼt someone throwing the responsibility at your sister?” Lydia stopped walking and looked to the side, a large bakery was there with countless people lined up to buy bread and todayʼs special, apple pie with honey cream and ginger. She quickly pulled Jack to wait with her.

”Sisterʼs parents got killed by bandits when they were traveling toward the demon continent. And before the bandits could land a hand on her, the goddess appeared in her destruction form and burned them to the ground.” Jack stared at Lydia, ”I bet Kali is far more active than Amaterasu.”

”The sun is her grace.” She pointed at the sun. ”Sheʼs better.”

”Kali is better.”

”No, Amaterasu is the best one.”

The two started fighting inside the bakery, and they got kicked out.