The dragon's harem

Chapter 1540: A Short Respite

After just a few minutes, Eris and Zia walked out of the changing room looking like an affluent noble lady and her commoner servant. To not draw attention, the two of them walked out of the private quartersʼ back doors, into the castle backyard, and sneak their way to the walls.

It didnʼt matter how tight the security was or how many soldiers were patrolling the place; the two were powerful vampires, and not just any vampires, a goddess and a vampire lord.

As the two had a level of stealth that shouldnʼt even be allowed, they managed to get out of the castle without drawing any attention and now found themselves standing on the slope leading down to the main city growing around Aradʼs castle.

The dirt path was long, twisted, and filled with mud and bushes growing on its side. They could already hear people talking down under the slope, the carriages rolled everywhere, carrying supplies and goods to the busy main plaza.

Aradʼs wives werenʼt just famous; they were already known across the lands, their images being drawn and distributed throughout the empire in preparation for the official crowning ceremony.

The people knew Aella well; they knew Isdis, Mira, and Merida far too well because those were either already famous, known well in Alina, or had just helped so many people that local villagers couldnʼt mistake them.

But Eris was a bit different. She was the cityʼs mortician and always wore a black dress and a veil; not many knew what her face looked like or had seen her in anything but morning clothes. Zia was even less known, as she only worked with the vampires and kept her contact with humans minimal.

As the two walked down the slope, evading every mud puddle like the plague, they finally reached the main streets and could smell the clear air, reeking of horse dung.

”We need someone to clean the streets.” Eris frowned.

Right now, all goods were transported by horse-drawn carriages across the city, and horses werenʼt known to hold it in. While being busy trying to get everyoneʼs houses and fed before winter, Isdis and the royal castle seem to have neglected the basic maintenance of the city.

That quickly explained how a plague almost broke out recently, if not for Claugʼs help.

The busy streets were filled to the brim, making them hard to navigate, especially when keeping an eye out for the puddle of mud in the ground. Eris poked Zia with a smug smile, ”See? Serves you right with that fancy dress.” She then looked at herself wearing a brown robe with long boots. She looked ready to work on a farm.

”What kind of queen walks around wearing those rugs?” Zia whispered back, ”What if people mistook you for a common servant?”

”Let them mistake me.” Eris shrugged, ”Itʼs better this way. Do you think weʼll be able to walk around like this if everyone knew Iʼm one of the queens?”

Zia giggled, ”They are just getting their lives together after your ascension. If only you saw their faces when your sun started spinning around the world, flying from east to west and making several tens of days pass in seconds.”

She swung her hand, ”Day, night, day, night, darkness, light, your ascension was seen and heard across the whole world.”

”You know...” Eris looked at Zia, ”My sun wasnʼt moving; itʼs the world that was forced to orbit it.”

Zia grabbed Eris by the cheek, ”Thatʼs even more terrifying! Are you trying to race him to the title of the scariest being in the world?”

Eris never tried to match Aradʼs power or influence, but she would be lying if she said she never thought about growing stronger to be able to beat him, at least once.

Right now, she had stronger gravity magic than he did, so she was thinking about whether she could somehow use that to defeat him. Her chances were decent, but nowhere near making the fight anywhere as easy as she wanted.

But now that she thought about it, Aradʼs power was something strange. How could he, a mortal, hold enough power to slay the gods, to have a stomach large enough to host a whole world with a divine heaven in it?

No, thinking about it that way was wrong. Arad wasnʼt the only one with such powers. Gojo, his brother, had the same level of terrifying power, if not more.

Thinking about Gojo, Lucy was also a goddess now, Isdisʼs little sister.

Eris and Zia quickly found a tavern that had its tables in an open garden with a beautiful view of the endless sea of fields. They ordered two cups of tea, and Eris called Lucy through her link to the divine realm.

It was a strange magic; all of the gods could contact and speak with each other just by thinking about it. From what Eris knew right now, itʼs the Overgodʼs Archon Aria who facilitates that level of communication.

Lucy responded almost immediately, congratulated Eris on her ascension, and quickly started acting like her senior. The little girl couldnʼt let this chance slip by.

Gojo had spent days trying to teach her how to use her divine magic, always referring back to how Eris used it to fight and how Mira could use it to craft weapons and items. He especially made sure to nag on Lucy whenever he got the chance, because even with her divine power, she was nowhere near as powerful as someone would expect from a god.

So when Lucy became a full goddess before Eris and Mira, even she didnʼt believe it.

Eris talked with Lucy for a while and learned some important things.

Like how Lucyʼs divine domain is inside Gojoʼs stomach, and how her power allows her to eat anything and everything.

But the part that Eris focused on more was how Lucy dealt with her believers and followers.

The key to getting as much divine power from believers and followers was to grant them power and spells in exchange for prayers and service.

Lucy was fine with granting them healing spells and miracles that make food more plentiful and lessen hunger, but she didnʼt have much offensive power, except for her wild magic, which was as dangerous as useful.

But that had given Eris an idea about what she should do. She should start granting people healing spells, blood magic, and dark powers of murder.

That had led Eris through a long rabbit hole, trying to figure out a balanced price for her healing spells. As a goddess, whenever a believer of hers casts holy or divine magic, that power is taken from her.

To make sure she isnʼt drained dry by them, she had to give less than she takes. If a believer can generate a certain amount of divine magic a day, she must make sure they uses less than that.

The moment her conversation with Lucy ended, Eris called the angels she had left in her heaven and asked them about it. They informed her that theyʼll be the ones taking care of it, separating Erisʼs believers into normal people, clerics, and paladins, calculating how much each one uses and allowing them divine magic based on that.

As a surprise to absolutely no one, Erisʼs biggest divine magic sinkhole was her husband. He rarely used her divine magic, especially since Kali joined in, but when he does, he almost leaves her dry.

”What are you thinking about?” Zia asked, her cheeks full and inflated like a squirrel with pastries.

”Nothing, just how to deal with all the divine magic.” Eris looked at her mug, and Zia stood, opened her palm, and smacked her on the head.

”Focus, we came here so youʼll have a short break, not think about work all day long.” Zia sighed, ”I know youʼre a divine being, but you canʼt keep stressing yourself like that. Take it slow and steady, one thing after the other.”

Eris smiled, ”I know. What should we do next? I was thinking of paying the market a visit, maybe pick up something new? I heard from Roberta that a whole pack of trading caravans had stopped by last week.”

”Really?” Ziaʼs eyes sparkled. For the past weeks, she had only had a few dresses and her maid and nun outfit, nothing more. She did want to buy a few clothes, but never got the time.

After they finished their drink, the two stood and left, making their way straight to the main plaza. The city around Aradʼs castle had four; the main one was the closest to the castle gate, and the smallest one was on the opposite side of the castle. Considering that Aradʼs castle engulfed two mountains, it would take hours to walk all the way around.

As the two approached the plaza, someone bumped into Zia and rushed back into the crowds. She only gave him a glare and kept walking, not paying more attention than she needed.

The man ran away, made his way to the back alleys behind some houses, and looked at what he got: a fancy leather pocket. It alone was worth several silver coins.

With a grin on his face, he opened the pocket to see how much gold the noble lady had, but his face immediately paled. The pocket only has a few used wine corks, a hair tie, and the empty husks of eaten seeds and nuts.

”What?” He gasped, and he then saw Eris and Zia walking around. His pocket was in Ziaʼs hands.

****

”Poor bastard, only a few silver coins...” Zia sighed and threw the pocket with its coins into the street.