The dragon's harem

Even though Arad didn’t need to eat breakfast, since a few plates of food meant nothing to his titanic draconic body, he still went to the dining hall to eat. It was more like a single sip of water to him in the morning. Something to wash his mouth down and get rid of the strange, slightly minty taste of Zephyr’s rear end.

Not that he minds that. But indeed, he still prefers the bitter taste of coffee.

Right after breakfast, Arad went with Isdis to the castle’s office for his royal duties and sent most of his power to his other incarnations. At all times, Arad was using four copies of himself to achieve all of his goals at once.

Right now, one is in the castle doing office work, one is in the Abyss following a black rooster, one is in another world guarding Tina, and the last one is now free to roam the capital. Since Mira’s crowning ceremony was coming next, he had to inspect several parts of the city and make sure they were all up to standard.

Unlike most of Arad’s wives, Mira is a demigoddess, and they can’t just parade her in the streets like it’s nothing. They’ll be showing a divine being to the people, and he’d better do a good job at presenting her.

First, inside the capital, there were three main churches, four if he counted the newly built shrine of Kali in Alina. There was the Great Cathedral of the Sun, where Amaterasu is holed up. The Church of Sol, where Eris is worshipped. And the last one is the Divine Hall of Mira, a smaller church where she blesses the craftsmen and merchants.

Arad had to check on the Divine Hall of Mira and make sure everyone there was doing their job, as that would be where the ceremony starts and where it ends. He didn’t want the people to just see Mira as a carpenter or a lesser demigoddess, but he wanted them to know well that her power isn’t something to be underestimated.

Mira is the divine demigoddess of Greed, but at the same time, she had started her career as a carpenter turned artificer, and now she was focusing on making magical items and artifacts alongside her regular carpentry work.

The reason Arad and Isdis wanted Mira to be known as a goddess far and wide was simple: to kill two birds with a single stone. Anything made by a goddess would sell at an extremely high price, rapidly skyrocketing the value of anything she makes, or has made before. That would both bring a lot of wealth to the capital and quench Mira’s greed and thirst for wealth without the need for scamming people out of their money.

The grand plan for the future was to eventually turn Mira’s future church into a trading hall of artifacts, weapons, and magical tools made by her or her followers.

As Arad approached the Divine Hall of Mira, one of the nuns, who was wearing the clothes of a blacksmith, approached him with a terrified face. “Your Majesty!”

“Sorry for the sudden visit, I came to check on the place and see how things are going? Is everything in place for the grand opening?”

That was right, Mira’s ceremony would take the form of a massive trade show that spans across the entire capital. She had already made a boatload of furniture and weapons to sell, and even had her followers, who were all craftsmen, do their best to make things they could sell as well.

The event would be held once a year and called MAS, Mira’s Artificing Show.

The nun looked back. “While most have their stuff ready, many are still working right now. But you don’t have to worry, the show won’t be empty.” She smiled. “Even I got a few special trinkets that are sure to catch someone’s eye.”

Arad smiled. “Hoo, would you mind showing me? On the way, we can also see if anyone needs anything. Like materials or working hands.”

The nun froze in her place and started sweating. The last thing she had ever expected was to have Arad himself take a look at her creations. While what she made could be considered masterful by regular means, this was a man whom even Mira has a hard time creating anything that could suit him.

Her showing him what she made would be like showing a real soldier toy weapons made by a kid and expecting them to be impressed. She had to make clear that everything she made was designed for the common people to use, not the castle.

She can’t start bragging about a sword she made, and then have Arad break it with a single swing. From what she heard from Mira, Arad barely uses weapons because there aren’t many of them that he could use without damaging or breaking.

As she slowly led Arad through the Divine Hall, all the other craftsmen looked at her; some were terrified, some were jealous, but most were just surprised to see that Arad himself had arrived.

Her shop was small, but it was packed to the brim with a wide array of weapons and tools. Swords, axes, scissors, crossbows, and even sets of armor and bear traps. She seemed to be good with anything that has steel.

“This explains why the blacksmith armor.” Arad smiled as he started looking at the swords first. Most were nonmagical, but there were a few that had effects. A blade that is lighter than normal, a blade that takes a bit longer to lose its edge, and one that glows in the presence of danger.

For the armors, there was only one magical set, and it was a heavy armor that weighed as much as a light armor due to enchantments.

“Those with the lightweight enchantment, how many of them can you make?” As Arad asked, she flinched.

“It depends. A set of heavy armor can take three weeks, and a single sword might be done in two days if I’m feeling well. But what limits me more is the quality and price of mana stones. We still don’t have a steady supply of those.” She walked toward the back of the shop and then brought Arad a small white stone the size of a peanut.

“This stone costs fifty silver coins, and it can only be used on smaller objects. It won’t affect anything heavier than a kilo, and a bit of change.” She pointed to the side and showed Arad a rapier. “Like that one, its blade has such a stone.”

“I see…” Arad nodded, and back in the castle, he immediately asked Isdis, who was sitting beside him, about the supply routes for magic stones.

“Depends, some come from mines, some come from monsters, and some are artificially made by wizards and sold. We have two mines, one two-month carriage drive away, and one four months away. So, our main supply here is the adventurers’ guild and the monster hunting quests.”

Arad leaned back. “But we can’t just put a hundred quests, and overhunting monsters would definitely become a problem. But then, how are we supposed to fuel an industrial revolution with hundreds of craftsmen and artificers?”

“Wizards can make those stones, so how about we open a small magic stone workshop where we hire wizards to create magic stones? Let’s say you’re an apprentice wizard and didn’t fully expand your mana for the day, you should be able to go there, make a few stones, and sell them for a couple of coins.”

Hearing her, Arad smiled. “So, we need wizards, and a lot of them. How about we build a tower for them?”

“That sounds great, and we can put Merlin as the Great Archmage.” Isdis smiled, “Well, I’ll add it to the list. But for now, we can ask Merlin to make a quick batch of mana stones for the craftsmen on her own first.”

Isdis pulled a clean scroll, scribbled a few things, rolled it, and gave it to the maid standing by her side. “Take this to Merlin in the private quarter. It isn’t urgent, but it would be best if we finish this three days before Mira’s crowning so they can make something.”

The maid nodded, grabbed the scroll, and bolted away.