The dragon's harem

The first week slowly passed by, and the day of Aella’s crowning was near. The city around Arad’s castle had to be prepared, and so, the first thing was to give it a proper name. Many were suggested, but in the end, it was decided that they would follow the usual methodology they used to name each city.

The city would take the family name of its first ruler, so the City around Arad’s castle was now the new Capital of the Empire, Orion. The Great Capital of Orion was born that day, and with it, the empire began to rapidly grow. As sad as it was, it was only a matter of time before Alina got absorbed into the thriving new capital.

But unlike what Arad expected, Lord Alina was excited for the change. His daughter was now one of the queens, making him a member of the royal family, and with his city getting absorbed into the capital, he was about to be promoted from just a city lord to a marquise and given jurisdiction over a great district of the capital.

Even if the capital absorbed Alina, Arad wasn’t going to erase it. Instead, all of its land would now be named a district, and the only change would be getting it covered by the capital’s great wall.

In a meeting with King Baltos, the local nobles, and Lord Alina, Arad was asked a question about the current state of the Great Capital of Orion, and it was about taxes. Their question was simple: Even though people are suffering after relocating, isn’t it counterproductive to not tax them? How is the capital supposed to grow without funds? How does he plan on building the infrastructure needed for such massive capital?

To Arad, that question sounded a bit stupid coming from nobles, and he had almost had them all demoted to commoners. He only spared them because some of them had daughters among the maids.

The answer to their question was simple. Even if Arad isn’t taxing the capital itself, the empire still has countless cities, kingdoms, and powerful dragons under his rule that are paying. The treasury was almost bursting open with gold.

Of course, as much as Arad wanted to have infinite wealth, those funds were finite. Roberta would kill him if he started wasting that money. While he was the emperor, he couldn’t act on his own, and the idea of dropping taxes for the people of the capital was Isdis’s idea. She said it’ll help them show goodwill, generosity, and care for the people.

Isdis even wanted to have Arad capitalize on his power and freely walk through the streets, show his face to the people, and socialize with them as one of the people, not an unreachable and all-powerful draconic emperor.

After informing the nobles, Arad found out that Lord Alina already expected that. Unlike the nobles, he looked to be smarter, more reliable, and had a deeper care for the well-being of people.

“We can’t let the people suffer, a king without his people isn’t a king.” Lord Alina looked at Arad with a smile. “Or do you want to be known as The Emperor of Nothing?”

He must’ve heard that name from his daughter, Sara. The King of Nothing was the name the devils of hell started calling Arad after his showing in the ninth layer while saving Mira’s father.

“Let’s leave it at that.” Arad sighed, and Lord Alina laughed. The nobles gave him a stare, and some of them frowned. Unlike them, who at best had a maid in the royal family, Lord Alina had a queen, his daughter Sara had married Arad, and what’s more, his undisciplined and shameless son Abel was even Arad’s friend.

“Then, can we focus on more pressing matters?” Lord Alina smiled. “Winter isn’t close yet, but shouldn’t we start thinking about firewood? And I’ve heard Queen Mira is already consuming a lot of wood, so we’d better start a new forest soon.”

“Sara seems to have informed you beforehand.” Arad smiled and then looked at the door. “Let’s discuss that. I called two experts in all things wood, so we should listen to them.”

As the door opened up, no one seemed to be walking into the throne room. That was the case until one of the nobles looked down and saw a little fairy riding a beaver. The nobles were shocked at first, but then quickly remembered that among Arad’s wives, among the queens was a Plant Spirit Queen. This had to be one of her servants or emissaries.

As the fairy and beaver approached the throne, they didn’t stop, bow, or even slow down. Instead, the fairy flapped her wings, flew with the beaver, and the two of them landed on Arad’s lap.

Arad waved his hand with a smile. “This is Plum, the Plant Spirit Queen and one of this Empire’s many queens. This one here is Flatail, the hero of the beavers. Today, they’ll be the ones explaining how we shall create a new forest.”

Plum looked at the nobles. “As long as I’ve got land, I can make as many trees grow as needed. But I won’t be doing that for free. Those trees aren’t to be wasted or misused, so I’ll be putting a similar price on wood as it was before anything happened. The market shouldn’t change, and you will be able to buy the same quality wood at the same price it was.” Her gaze shifted to Lord Alina. “I’m sure you’ve already got a request for details about wood pricing in the past five years.”

Lord Alina nodded. “I’ve already sent you the report of the past ten years. Seven years ago, the price of wood was just good, at the sweet spot. It wasn’t too cheap that the merchants made no money, and it wasn’t too expensive that the people couldn’t afford it for the winter. I would love it if you used that price instead.”

“I’ll check with Roberta. I’m sure she’ll be able to give that matter a better look than I.” Plum then pointed at Flatail. “Now, I’ll be providing the wood, and his people are the ones chopping it up for you.”

“Ahoo! ha Hoo Ah Aiii Hi Hooi!” As the Flatail spoke, none could understand him except Arad and Plum. He was indeed just an animal with a bit more intelligence than his peers, but they were nowhere near humanoids.

After a moment of silence, the nobles couldn’t help but stare at Arad, unable to understand why he brought an animal to this room. This was a beaver, a regular, furry, and stinky beaver. It knew no better than the wild beasts of the forest.

“Arad…” Plum looked back. “I think he forgot to bring Merlin’s necklace. Can you ask her to find and send it to us?” Arad nodded.

After a minute, a necklace appeared in Arad’s palm, and he put it around Flatail’s neck, finally allowing the nobles to understand his words.

“You can talk now; they can understand you.” Plum tapped Flatail’s shoulder, and his head jolted as he looked at all the nobles, a bit nervous.

“Hello! I hope your wood is hard!” He waved his tiny, fluffy arm, watching in horror as the nobles paled and sweat rolled down their faces.

After a long moment of silence, he rapidly turned toward Plum and whispered. “No way, I bet their wood is soft! Look at them, terrified as a sapling beside a roaring river!”

“They couldn’t endure your magnificence, Flatail; they are impressed. Now, tell them about the plan.” Plum replied with a grin, and Flatail puffed his chest. “Got it! Lady Plum!”

He looked at the nobles, licking his two sharp teeth, and smiled. “Operation Wet Wood! This shall be the greatest beaver invention since the inception of the timber tech!”

One of the nobles wanted to say, “Are we really talking with a beaver?” But then kept his mouth closed because the last thing he wanted was to end up kissing Arad’s fist and saying hello to his ancestors.

“We, the beavers, love wood, hard, girthy, vigorous, and nice wood! Cutting it won’t be a problem, but we’ll need motivation. Nothing gets our wood urges going than something wet and flowing, a river!” He tapped on Arad’s thigh with his tail.

“That is where our greatest Timber Tech invention comes! We’ve discovered a way to move wood great distances without spending any energy!” He waved his tiny hands, and Plum added.

“He is right. No magic, no carriages, no boats, and not a single soul working. Transporting wood will be free and workless.” Hearing her speak, one of the nobles finally got the courage to open his mouth.

“Is there really such a way? Trees are heavy, and I don’t believe it is possible to move them or anything without spending energy. Whether that energy takes the form of magic, a horse-drawn carriage, or people.”

“Ku! Ku! Ku!” Flatail laughed. “That is why your wood is soft. You’ll never match us. Beavers’ Timber Tech is the best in the world!”