The dragon's harem

“Let’s start with the thieves’ guild. Do you have any ideas?” Arad looked at Jack, who had his head on the table, trying to catch a nap.

Right after the clash with Nyar inside Merlin’s labyrinth ended, Jack and Lydia retreated back to their home beside the castle. Jack himself was drained just from the stress of sneaking on Nyar, but even Lydia did all of the heavy lifting on her own; she was burning with energy.

Thanks to that, Jack never got a moment of rest ever since, and he wasn’t complaining. It was just that dealing with a ten-foot-tall athletic woman was as exhausting as it was exciting. Especially when he found out what Lydia’s true form is.

He had never thought that his wife could get more beautiful than when she became an angel, but that form really surprised him.

“Boss, why me? Start with someone else, I want to rest a bit.” Jack growled. He would’ve expected Arad to understand how he feels, but once again, Arad may have too many powerful wives, but he is powerful enough to take them on. Poor Jack isn’t, and Lydia almost cracked him open.

Arad smiled. He had heard from Eris about Lydia’s true form, and even he was surprised. But it also made him feel a bit sorry for Jack.

“So, you can finish early and go home.” Arad said that, but he knew Jack might not want to return home so quickly. Taking a nap here might be his best option.

Jack barely managed to lift his head, looked at Arad, then at everyone else. Rubbing his eyes, he yawned and then slapped his face to wake up a bit. He needs to get this done quickly so he can go back home. Even as exhausted as he was, he couldn’t help but want to return to Lydia as quickly as possible.

“All nobles work directly for the empire, so the thieves’ guild would target those who show corruption. The gained wealth would go to maintain the guild, support the thieves, and the rest would be distributed among the poorer sides of the people.” Jack put his head back on the table. “As good as you are, Boss, I don’t think you’ll be able to abolish poverty.”

It was simple, steal from the rich and give to the poor, but with a catch, only steal from the rich who are breaking the system and making their people suffer.

“If poverty were a man, I would’ve killed him.” Arad smiled, “But sadly, that isn’t how it works. People would always do bad things, and there is nothing I can do about that besides putting measures in place to either stop or circumvent their actions. I’ll be counting on you for the reports.”

He smiled.

“My rule is to make sure nothing goes to waste. If a noble embezzles money, I want the thieves to steal that money and give it to his people. If he raises taxes behind my back, the thieves’ job is to make sure whatever he took by no right, is sent right back to the hands of those he took it from, with interest, of course.”

Jack lifted one finger. “Another thing, I’ll have the guild spread to all kingdoms under the empire, so the elves, titans, the half-angels, everyone. So, I do need support to get things under control there.”

Usually, such a thing would be impossible. But thanks to Arad and his wives, it is doable. Jack doesn’t need to do any work to sneak thieves into the elvish kingdom, for example, and displace their thieves; he just needs to get Arad to ask Cerilla to make a place for them.

Arad nodded, “That shouldn’t be a problem. But I believe each kingdom should have its own guild, even if only in name.” The only reason for that was that Arad wanted the workload to be separated into smaller and manageable pieces. He had already seen what five stacks of paper can do to someone.

“Don’t worry, I’m on that.” Jack already planned on separating the guild and delegating leaders for each kingdom. Especially since normal thieves can’t operate in certain kingdoms. In the Dark Elves kingdom, for example, there were no thieves, there were only pirates.

With Jack’s thieves’ guild on the way, Arad turned his attention to Abel, who smiled back with a grin. “I know some people here wouldn’t approve of the red district, but believe me, it’s integral for the prosperity of the kingdom.”

As everyone stared at him, Abel had a lot on his shoulders. He now has to convince everyone here that they should back, not just one brothel, but a whole chain of them across every kingdom.

Arad took a deep breath, feeling Eris’s glares burning his side. But he had to wonder, how did murder end up looking tamer than a brothel? She still didn’t speak about the assassins’ guild, but she had told him about it before.

“How is that?” Now, Arad himself couldn’t argue, so he left everything to Abel. It is his responsibility to make his case.

“Listen, I don’t make the rules. Women would die to ride a minotaur, and I’ve seen many men bend like paper for a red-skinned devil mommy with a great body and a sadistic attitude.” He leaned on the table. “Humanoids would fear the demons and devils, until they can smash them.”

“And if you’re worried about the church coming after me, they won’t.” He smiled like the devil he was.

He suddenly burst laughing, “I’ve got holy people coming in to spread the good word of their gods all over a demoness’s back.” He smiled, “What I’m doing here is just acting as a mediator, that’s all the district would do. I’ll make sure no party can harm the other.”

Abel’s job was simple: if a human man wanted to get in with a devil lady from hell, he would get between them to make sure the guy doesn’t get scammed in the contract, and that she won’t be opening her legs to a divine smite.

Arad nodded. “So, I’ll leave it to you. Hopefully, it’ll make the transition easier.” He wanted the humans, elves, dwarves, fairies, demons, and devils, all of them, to get along. He wasn’t naïve, so he won’t ask them to live together or even coexist. The demons can stay in the Abyss, and the devils have the Hells, but he would be happy if he could get them friendly enough so he can open the trade routes and secure resources from other planes.

But Arad’s only reason is that he wanted to be able to let Kali walk among the people in her demonic form without causing mass panic. Even with all she did for the orphans and the people taking care of them, humanoids would still fear and curse her for being a demon.

“Sara, your turn.” Arad looked at her, and she smiled. “Ho, me? The black market is already set and running; I only need to expand it to the other kingdoms and unify all of the trade. I’ve already sent my full report to Isdis so she can go over it.” She looked at Jack with a smile. “Of course, I’ll expect everyone else to use the black market.”

Jack didn’t look back; he was already asleep, dreaming of his beautiful wife.

“Of course.” Eris spoke. “The assassins would get their weapons and poisons from you, and I believe the thieves should also work closely with you. Same for Abel’s district and Sir Ross’s trade.” She leaned on the table.

While everyone else was fine, Ross started sweating buckets. Even now, he couldn’t believe he was sitting at the same table as an actual goddess. This woman in front of him can grab the entire mortal world and throw it like a paper ball; she had the backing of Amaterasu and Arad as well.

But that wasn’t what scared him.

“Everyone knows me as Sol, a goddess of the sun under Amaterasu. But in reality, I’m Los, the divine goddess of murder. My churches are being built all over the empire, and they’ll be bases of the assassins. Of course, the common nuns and holy servants might not even know what’s going on in the shadows.” She smiled, showing them her fangs.

Yes, she was Eris, the Butcher of Rita. She is a half-elf, half-plasma-drakaina and a vampire to boot. In the past, she worked as a murderer in the city of criminals of Rita, killing people for fun, then getting paid to cremate their remains in her funeral parlor.

Of course, her legacy came to an end when she met Arad, but who would’ve guessed that she would end up as a divine goddess with so much power over the mortals? Ross knew she wouldn’t bat an eye when killing someone, and that was scary.

“The higher-ups of the assassin guild and churches would be vampires.” She smiled, clapping her hands. “But don’t be scared of them. They won’t harm you, but if a vampire tries to do so, pray to me, and I’ll stop them right away.”

Abel stared at her. “Gods don’t work for free, what would you get?”

She shrugged. “Blood or prayers. One feeds my vampire power, the other feeds my divine power, so I’m winning either way.” She licked her lips. “Of course, a murder would be best.”

Abel laughed, “So, if a vampire tried to kill someone, you’ll have the poor bastard murder someone else to be saved?”

Sara smacked him on the head. “Shut up. She means to murder the vampire.” She turned toward Eris. “If a vampire tries to attack someone unjustly, you’ll give that person the power to fight back. If they win, you get power; if they lose and die a horrible death, you still get power. It’s a win-win for you no matter what.”

Eris smiled. “Trying to look smart, but I explained this to you last night, didn’t I?” Before those two could start talking about last night, Arad called Ross to cut them off and finish off this meeting.

“Ross, your turn.”

Ross coughed, “Your Majesty, I’m but a humble servant. I’ll trade based on whatever rules you set.”