The dragon's harem

Arad returned an hour later, almost frozen to the bones. But he didn’t return empty-handed, and instead, he had nine whole trees dragged beside the cave’s entrance for them to cut for firewood. That should last them for the whole night.

At first, Arad rushed in, dragging just one of the trees with him. He was too cold to chop them all right away. Even Arad had his limits, and his body had its rights of rest and respite.

Right now, it wasn’t just cold outside; it was frigid. The night had fallen, and the Blizzard Monster was out hunting, so just being outside for a few seconds without moving would be enough to turn a man into a statue.

Arad could only survive there for a short time thanks to his massive body that could retain a lot of heat, and to cutting trees to keep generating heat.

Sitting beside the fire, he looked at the still sleeping Haru with a smile. She looked relaxed and fine, sleeping beside the flames. He had expected to come and see her shivering and shaking beside the flames and didn’t know how to act then, but now, he was glad she was feeling better.

This had given him a real scare. Arad knew that if Haru died, she would just resurrect back in hell, but he would rather burn this entire world before letting any of his wives die in front of him like that.

Looking beside Haru, Liliana was already busy cooking something for dinner, and Gojo was looking at his newly made wall that blocked the cave’s entrance. He wanted it to be tight enough that cold won’t seep in, but still have a decent vent for the smoke.

This made Gojo realize a troubling fact. Hot air rises just like smoke, and the cold air stays close to the ground, which made his work that much harder.

How is he supposed to make a decent vent? A regular chimney would work, but he already did that before and now wanted something better, without using a magic barrier filter.

“Did you check the insides of the cave?” Arad asked, and Gojo looked back at him with a smile. Arad knew that Gojo could just make a regular chimney instead of re-inventing the wheel. So he asked about the more important matter, the security of their shelter.

“What? Do I look like an idiot to you?” He pointed back with his thumb. “Of course, I’m not getting anywhere deep there alone. I blocked the deeper sections with walls instead.”

He was a wizard and mostly preferred a ranged fight, which wasn’t possible inside the cave. So the best role for him was support, and for that, he needed someone to do the fighting. So blocking it looked like the best option until Arad returned.

Gojo was right and wise. Those stone walls should be able to trap any bear or medium monster, and they will prove a decent hurdle for bigger monsters, giving Gojo and his group a chance to run away.

“Once you rest and eat, we’ll go inside and make sure it’s relatively safe here.” He smiled. “It’s not like we would have anything else to do tonight.”

Arad shrugged; they indeed didn’t have anything better to do tonight.

“Yeah.” He reached into the sledge and pulled a large slab of frozen bison meat and threw it right on the coals.

Liliana stared at him. “I’m cooking dinner.” Since she had to stay beside Haru and the fire, she immediately started preparing their dinner. With how the day was, and the fact that they couldn’t eat lunch, eating now was of most importance.

Arad smiled. “I just need a little snack before we go out.” He was starving after being in the cold for so long and wanted something to eat. Arad’s massive body helped him resist the cold better than anyone, but that also came at the cost of needing to eat more food, because he barely had any fat on his frame.

“Besides, he did cook something earlier, didn’t he?” He pointed at Gojo with a smirk.

The smell of roasted meat still lingered in the air, and Arad did notice that some of the meat was missing, especially one fatty cut that he was hiding inside the pack.

Gojo looked away. “By any chance, were you saving that piece?” He had seen it tucked behind the other rations and had an inkling that Arad was saving it, but ate it anyway. Surprisingly, Gojo loved fat more than meat itself.

Arad laughed. “Of course. I don’t mind lean meat, but I love fat more.” The two were brothers after all, and the two of them seemed to love similar things.

Arad quickly flipped the piece of meat he had on the coals before it could burn. While roasting meat directly on the coal, the meat could burn easily, so Arad had to keep flipping it.

Arad hated no food, but he had one nice spot in hell for burnt meat. As a dragon, he loved it raw the most, and the more it got cooked, the less he wanted to eat it. That’s why he rarely eats anything more cooked than medium rare or rare.

Gojo walked toward the fire and sat beside Arad, pulling a smaller piece of meat to cook as well. He ate before, but since Arad was going to eat, he would get an extra.

Seeing them both starting to grill some meat, Liliana frowned.

“I’m cooking dinner, and if any of you two didn’t eat it, I’ll make sure you’ll both sleep on the cold stone.” As she pointed at them with a knife, Gojo poked Arad. “She isn’t joking. I bet you she’ll put the brider’s poison in our food or water.”

Arad poked him back. “Can’t you keep her in line?”

And Gojo laughed. “She keeps me in line!”

After a quick meal, Arad and Gojo were finally ready to explore the cave for the night and make sure they could sleep in peace. There were still several hours before bedtime, so the two could take their time and explore a good chunk of the cave.

As they walked into the darkness, with only Gojo carrying a light spell on his palm to illuminate their path, Arad asked with a worried face.

“Since this cave exists in the Arctic Lands, did it have a name?”

Gojo froze for a second, and looked away. “It does. But its a stupid name.” He scratched his head.

“What is it called?” Arad stared at him.

“Beelzebub’s Hairy Ringpiece.”

Arad froze in place. “Ah… hell no… Why?” and Gojo could just shrug. “Hell if I know. That’s just what it was named, and I wasn’t able to change the name because that’s what everyone called it.”

He sighed. “Rumor is that there is a cavern inside covered in green moss and bugs that caused the cave to get this name. A fully ecosystem hiding deep in the earth and away from the frozen land above.”

Arad looked at the darkness. “So, we’ll probably find more bugs than monsters.” He was still worried. “Let’s move carefully, and give me that light. I’ll walk in the front.”