The dragon's harem

Chapter 833: One More Thing! Money...

Claug flew through the clouds, shifting her scales into light blue to blend with the sky and clouds. Upon reaching her lair she soared down, silently landing, and rushed inside. ”Youʼre back.” Aella approached her. ”What was all of that?”

”No time to talk. Sheʼs coming, we need to leave.” Claug waved her claw and all of her hoard disappeared into a magical pocket that she swallowed. ”Weʼre starting the second half of my plan. Get on my back.” She looked at the crystal, ”Vollirin managed to avoid Glalorin who was on a hunt so sheʼs arriving quite early.”

As everyone climbed on her back, Eris asked. ”Canʼt we just beat her?”

”I can defeat her easily, but that wonʼt be any fun.” As everyone got on her back, she waved her claws and changed the layout of her lair, turning it into a strange maze. Getting into the inner room was easy and straightforward, but getting out was almost impossible.

Claug flew out of the lair with everyone else and headed to an empty second lair that she had prepared beforehand; she caught several monsters on her way as snacks for the coming show. When they reached the second lair, Claug sat and took a large crystal from her magic pocket. ”Time to have fun,” she giggled, spying on her empty lair as everyone watched with her. Vollirin arrived at Claugʼs lair and roared into it. ”Claug! Iʼve come to raid your hoard!” She immediately unleashed a powerful poison breath trying to choke her inside.

As the whole lair got filled with her poison, Vollirin felt safe to walk inside so she ran as fast as she could, charging straight toward the hoard room to kill Claug but was surprised with an empty cavern.

”Claug! You coward! Where are you?!” She roared in rage, ”Where did you go?” But no reply came. All while Claug laughed her ass off watching from afar, ”Stupid fool. Get ready, the main surprise is coming for you.”

Vollirin spent hours running around Claugʼs maze-like a confused rat, only managing to escape by luck. But, some could say that was bad luck.

As Vollirin walked outside, she saw the whole kingdomʼs army stationed right outside the lair. ”The hell?” she gasped.

”That her! A green dragon, sheʼs Claug, kill her!” The armyʼs commander shouted at the top of his lungs and everyone lunged at her. Mages blasted her with everything they got and even the fighters started cutting her up.

The kingdomʼs army was already stationed nearby to raid the desert, and when they heard that Claug violated a whole noble house, destroying them to the core by wrecking their land and pushing them into crippling debt, and on top of everything, kidnapping the nobleʼs wife. The armyʼs general decided to kill her on their way to the desert, they were about to face the desert monster, so he thought of it as a warm-up and practice.

Vollirin fought them for the whole day until the sun dropped behind the mountains. Due to how prepared they were, they managed to push her to the grave to the point she gave up and pretended to be dead, but not after killing six-tenths of the army and crippling the rest with her powerful poison breath and magic.

Claug and the girls had fun watching the glorious day-long battle of a whole army trying to slay a dragon, and that only made them think of one thing. ”How in the hell could Alcott slay dragons alone?” Eris asked.

”Alcott is both strong and understands how to fight dragons from experience. Heʼll probably slay ten of Vollirin with an arm behind his back.” Claug replied, ”All dragons rather stay low and avoid troubles around him in the first place. No one wants to end up fighting him.”

As the fight ended, the army retreated the moment they thought Claug died. Everyone there needed urgent care and antidotes or theyʼd all die from the poison.

Vollirin waited for a bit, letting them all retreat before she stood to run away, injured to the point itʼd take her decades to recover. ”Claug you bitch...what was this?” She growled.

”You danced well, green dragon of oak forest Vollirin.” Claug said, standing above the mountain and glaring down at the injured drakaina.

”You coward! You donʼt dare to fight me head-on.” Vollirin growled.

”I can defeat you with ease. Thatʼs why it isnʼt fun anymore.” Claug smiled as she soared down, landing beside her. ”I wanted some fun; Setting this scheme and watching you struggle against those humans was quite entertaining.” She giggled.

Vollirin swung her tail at Claugʼs head, ”Die!”

Claug bit Vollirin by the tail and swung her in the air like a doll, smacking her on the ground with enough force to knock the air out of her.

”I came to finish you off.” Claug lifted her claw.

”Glad I got this ready.” Vollirin smiled, her eyes flashing green.

”NO!” Claug gasped. All dragons used to explode with elemental energy upon dying, but it had been long since removed from their bloodline. It could only be gained again with a large ritual. Itʼs like a fighter strapping bombs on him before going into a fight, hoping to at least die with his enemy.

Vollirin had come resolved to at least die with Claug.

”Aradʼs wives are nearby...” Claug wasnʼt worried about herself, but about the girls, she just returned to her lair.

SWOSH! A stone came flying out of nowhere and blasted Vollirinʼs head off, halting her magic. With a terrified face, Claug stared at the stone and Vollirinʼs corpse beneath her, ”That was...” She noticed Aradʼs magic on the stone. ”From this distance?” She stared at the desert with a smile, ”Youʼre a monster.”

Arad was sitting above his mountain, munching on a large desert scorpion while watching what was happening. ”It was a good decision to throw a stone just in case.” He smiled.

Claug giggled, ”I hope you werenʼt trying to save me you cheeky brat. Think of your wives first.” She waved her claws and stored Vollirinʼs corpse. Sheʼll sell her later and give a part of that money to Aradʼs wives, his share for dealing the finishing blow.

She then turned toward the corpses of the soldiers. ”There are thousands of them.” She smiled and stood on her hind legs. ”Iʼll sell their armor and equipment, and Iʼll ransom the corpses back to the kingdom. If they refuse to pay, Iʼll see them to a necromancer, they pay

good money.”

After cleaning, Claug returned to her lair. ”You can rest for tonight. Iʼll head to the capital tomorrow to mess with them a bit. Iʼm sure I can milk a bit more money out of them.”

Claug spent the night studying Vollirinʼs poison and made an antidote using the vast knowledge that she gathered over the centuries. She also made sure to include some rare materials in the antidote, for a specific reason.

Right after dawn, what remained of the army reached the kingdomʼs capital, all injured and poisoned. The guards panicked and the whole capital went into emergency protocol. What the knights didnʼt know when they were returning was that Vollirin poison could infect other people, which caused them to put the whole capital in danger by returning.

As the capitalʼs healers and Alchemists twisted their brains to find an antidote, Claug came to them flying with the sunrise. ”Hello, good folks.” He giggled, ”You fucked me well last night, didnʼt you? Iʼve come back to collect my reimbursement.” She laughed, landing on the large tower of the royal castle.

The whole capital went silent. Army assured them that they killed Claug, how come sheʼs perfectly fine? It was then that Jeffryʼs words came back to them, the gold drakaina killed Claug, but she returned from the dead hours after. The same thing happened again. ”It canʼt be...” The armyʼs general mumbled. ”Sheʼs immortal?”

”Took you long enough to figure it out.” Claug glared at him with an evil grin on his face. ”You fools really thought you could measure to me? This is my land, and youʼll be paying me

to live here.”

What remained of the army joined forces with the royal guards to try and drive her away. But their bodies refused to fight. The poison had weakened them beyond belief. If nothing is done about it, the whole capital would be a ghost city by nightfall.

”What do you want?” The king walked out, staring at her. ”Reimbursement for attacking me of course, I want ten thousand platinum coins now or Iʼll make sure not a single human lives in this kingdom. You arenʼt worth anything if you canʼt make me money, are you?” she landed before him. ”And, I have an antidote for the poison. Either buy it for one platinum coin per bottle OR buy the formula for five thousand platinum

coins.”

”First...” The king looked back, ”Iʼll pay for the reimbursement, this was a decision made by the armyʼs general alone and wasnʼt ordered by me, but Iʼll take responsibility.” He glared at

his consorts to rush and bring the money.

”Then the matter of the antidote.” He looked at her and at the city.

”Feel free to choose the best offer the cheaper for you. A single bottle heals one person.” Claug explained as the alchemists of the city all gathered together.

The capital had a population of over a hundred thousand, and buying a bottle for each one would be too expensive. That means theyʼll need to buy the formula and scramble to make it

themselves.

The head of the alchemists stared at Claug, ”Can we make enough for a hundred thousand in a

day?” He asked.

”Itʼs possible, but will be exhausting.” Claug smiled, ”I promise on my pride as a dragon, youʼll be able to make enough for a hundred thousand people in a day.”

”You majesty, weʼll buy the formula and make the antidote ourselves. Thatʼll be a reasonable price compared to everything else.” He nodded and the king paid Claug five thousand platinum coins for the formula. She now had made a total of fifteen thousand platinum coins.

Claug gave the formula and waited for them to read it.

”This seems to make sense as an alchemical recipe.” The head of the alchemists smiled, but soon his face turned pale. ”But...Floran Root? Shimi flower? Those are too rare; we canʼt get enough for everyone.” He glared at Claug; she promised they could make it.

”They grow in the mountains over there. There is enough. If you mobilize the entire citizen to work, theyʼll get you what you need.” She smiled, it was technically possible. She rubbed her claws together, ”Money, pay and Iʼll sell the ingredients to you if you want.”

”Wait... our mana wonʼt be enough to make the magic water needed for everyone.” Another alchemist looked at the king.

Claug was rubbing her claws again, ”Money...you can pay me to make that water for you as

well.” She had a large smirk on her face.

”Even with that...” Another alchemist looked at everyone with a terrified face. ”Itʼs impossible to make enough in time, everyone would be dead.”

The head of the alchemist growled, he had enough of Claugʼs tricks. ”You said we can make it

in time, and even swore on your pride as a dragon.”

”I did.” She looked at him with an exhilarated evil smile on her face. ”You asked if you could

make it within a day. A day is twenty-four hours, and you can indeed make enough for a

hundred thousand people in that time.”

”We barely have enough time to sunset!”

”I donʼt care. You asked about a day, and I replied for that.” She already knew how many

people lived in the capital and made her calculation beforehand. Everything is going

according to her plans.

She laughed, ”And...Money...you can pay me to make the antidote for you. But since youʼre overworking my old bones, youʼll pay me a premium.”

”This will be...” the king looked down, ”You had everything planned, didnʼt you?” ”Not at all. I didnʼt have everything planned.” Claug smiled, ”She did have parts planned, and

some just happened to happen on their own, like Vollirin poison spreading and Arad

interfering. She wasnʼt lying.

”How much is everything?” He sighed.

”Your gross total, without counting what you already paid me is thirty thousand platinum coins, but Iʼm willing to cut you off five thousand if you did one thing.” She smiled. ”What is it?” The king stared at her. Thirty thousand is enough to bring the kingdom to its knees at the moment, if he can save five thousand, heʼll do that.

”Letʼs talk somewhere else.” Claug grabbed the king and flew away, leaving everyone

panicking.

”Now we can talk in peace.” She dropped him on the peak of a mountain.

”What do you want?” ”Jamile, son of the noble family of Glamond. I want him dead in secret.” She said with a smile.

”Why?” The king asked.

”Heʼs too much of an annoyance and a pain in the butt. Get rid of him and Iʼll cut you five

thousand platinum coins and as long as you donʼt bother me, I wonʼt attack your capital for a decade.” She currently was interested in watching the kingʼs eldest daughterʼs romantic life, and Jamile was ruining the show by getting between her and the two forging princes fighting

over her, so she wanted to get rid of him.

”Fine.” The king agreed without asking any more questions, if he didnʼt do it, everyone

would end up dead anyway, either from the poison or a forging invasion. ”I hope you keep

your end of the promise without any tricks.” Claug nodded and flew him back to the royal castle. ”Weʼve got a deal, bring her the money.” The king said with a tired face.

After Claug got paid, she lifted a finger. ”One more thing!” Acting like a certain old man with

a yellow jacket.

”Iʼve got the corpses of your dead soldiers, care to get them back.” She smiled, rubbing her claws again, ”Of course, not for free.”

In the end, she got paid a total of forty-nine thousand and five hundred platinum coins in

total. That was enough money to build a small kingdom from scratch.

On her way back, she sold Vollirinʼs corpse to another kingdom and the soldierʼs equipment to

another kingdom, which increased her total earnings to fifty-five thousand platinum coins. All because Vollirinʼs corpse was damaged a lot.

When she returned to her lair, everyone stared at her with shocked faces. ”We thought two thousand platinum coins was a good payday...”

She giggled, ”Iʼm not done yet.” She lifted a finger, ”There is one more thing!”

She flew out and returned to them a day later, she had cleared Vollirinʼs hoard which held far more wealth, amounting to almost a hundred thousand platinum coins in gold, fifty thousand in jewelry, another a hundred thousand in magic items, and a pile of art pieces with unknown

value until sold at an auction.

Claug sat on the pile of three hundred and seven thousand platinum coins like a chicken on her eggs, laughing her lungs off with her heartbeats beating like drums. ”Thatʼs why people donʼt mess with dragons, especially her.” Isdis sighed.

”Now the army wonʼt bother you. This kingdom wonʼt have enough militaristic power to go

to the desert even if they want it.” Claug smiled, ”You can consider it done with.”

”Youʼre really something.” Aella looked at her with a wry smile.

”Tell Arad to visit me later. Youʼre also invited; this is a cause of celebration.” She giggled,

”And the real money is still to come.” She rubbed her claws. ”You still arenʼt done yet?” Everyone stared at her, stunned. ”Well, they donʼt have an army yet. If another kingdom attacked, theyʼd have to pay me to

protect them.” She wasnʼt joking, she intended to make another country attack to profit from protecting the kingdom. But thatʼll be in the coming years, she needs to plan for that. ”Here,” Claug handed the girls a bag with a hundred platinum coins, ”To help you with travel

expenses.” ”Iʼm not taking that.” Aella refused, fearing Claug might want interest later. ”We already have enough money, and even though a hundred platinum coins is a ton of money...” She looked at Claugʼs pile of gold. ”It seems nothing to you.”

”Dragons are stingy; we donʼt even give a copper coin out without a reason.” Claug giggled,

”But youʼre special friends, I promise. Iʼm not trying to make money off you. I donʼt want a single dime back from you.”

Aella looked at the money bag. ”Still not taking it without Alcott being here.” They left for the next kingdom without taking a single copper coin from Claug.