The dragon's harem

Merida hated fancy clothes and the noble way. If that lifestyle were a person, she would’ve already killed them without hesitation. Strict, cumbersome, expensive, and mostly theatrical without any substance or actual usefulness. In a world mostly dominated by power due to the constant threat of monsters, nobles are finding themselves trying to hold society together with something that goes against the nature of existence itself.

In this world where a moment of hesitation or a second of wasted time could lead to an entire city being overrun by monsters, the nobles only proved to be a hindrance. If a city is facing a powerful monster, the strongest person should be taking the lead because they have the best chance against that monster, they are the ones with experience and who understand the risks.

She cannot understand why a city hires Alcott to deal with a dragon, then does not give him command at that time. Why, when he asks them to do something, do they always come up with a way to create a problem? She can remember a record that read about a city that had a blue dragon problem, and Alcott asked them to prepare two carriages of gold coins to use as bait, only for the fools to give him two carriages of fake coins, causing him to lie in ambush for a month in the forest without the dragon showing up.

Merida could also remember the endless bureaucratic bullshit the adventurers’ guild and the city lords have, and how much of a pain it is to deal with them. Nothing gets done with any measure of efficiency, and she hated that.

Merida didn’t care about her look, as long as her clothes were decent and clean; why should they matter? As long as she can slay any monster that shows up and protect the empire and Arad, then that’s all that should matter.

But of course, Merida didn’t hate the people; she hated the system. That’s why she was working tirelessly with Isdis to reform everything and set it so that merits matter more than birth or social standing. The ultimate goal is to put everyone in the position where they can do their best and to lessen the bureaucratic burden, especially during times of crisis.

Looking at her hand as she walked through the hallways, Merida could feel the pulse of her demonic power all across the world. Her fungus had spread far and wide, and if she wanted, she could start the change on her own, but that would go against everything they worked for until this point.

She, Arad, Isdis, and everyone else had spent months working to make this empire better, stronger, and more powerful than any other. “I really hate those clothes. They are tight, hard to move in, and far too restricting.”

Hearing her speak, and hearing the quiet rumble buried deep within her voice, the maids stopped walking by her side and looked at the back of her head with terrified faces. They knew what it meant, and the two of them were ready to run away.

“Lady Merida… did something happen?” One of the maids asked, and Merida looked at her.

“Yes, but it isn’t that important. A necromancer is raising the dead in the capital’s ruins. I already sent people to deal with it, so it should be fine.” She sighed, “I would’ve gone myself, but those clothes are just too annoying to move in.”

Far away in the capital’s ruins, the necromancer waved his staff above a corpse and started chanting his magic, pulling the lifeforce out of the corpse and replacing it with necrotic magic. He wanted a small army of undead to do his bidding, and he was lucky enough to find enough corpses.

But then suddenly, his magic stopped working; it failed to penetrate the corpse and take hold. But what he felt next was horrifying. The magic didn’t fail because he made a mistake or because the corpse was resistant to it. The magic failed because this corpse was already controlled by another type of necromancy.

He backed away as the corpse twitched, and fungus started growing on its skin. Its eyes burst open, and the body jolted to life with an agonized moan. The necromancer was shaking as he pointed at the corpse with his staff. “Demonic arts! I knew it! Show yourself, monster!”

As he cried, the corpse glared at him, and then, all of his zombies suddenly stopped being his. Their bodies were overrun by fungus, and when the remaining corpses all arose, the necromancer found himself fully surrounded by nearly sixty demonic fungal zombies.

“Men, women, the elderly, children, even animals and monsters… You demon, I knew it!” The necromancer growled, conjuring a massive ball of flame. “I shall burn you…” But before he could even finish speaking, all of the zombies swarmed and tore him apart.

Merida was never a passive actor; she always took the initiative. What the necromancer had noticed was the horrifying truth of her power and the extent of mayhem she could cause. Right now, Merida had won the war against the mortal world; she had already destroyed all life on it.

Her fungus had been spreading across the world ever since she became a demon, and now, having achieved the title of demon lord, she had become the first to fully invade and conquer the mortal world. Four-fifths of the world’s population was already infected by her fungus, albeit it remains dormant.

Merida looked back at the maids. “It is over; let’s move.” As she started walking, the two maids rushed to follow her.

“Lady Merida, are you sure it is over?” One of them asked with a worried face, and Merida smiled. “Yeah, he wasn’t that powerful, just average. My power wouldn’t work if he were someone of Poppy’s calibre.”

When they arrived at Merida’s workshop, the two maids standing guard at the door greeted them and opened the door. “Lady Merida, Lady Isabelle is working inside with the seamstresses. She wanted to talk to you about your ceremony dress.”

Merida sighed, “She knows that I don’t want anything fancy.” She walked into the workshop and waved her hand, giving the seamstresses a smile. “How are the orders going?”

Hearing Merida, one of the seamstresses replied as she quickly stood and bowed. “Going smoothly. We lack the western hard silk, but those orders are months away, so we can wait a bit longer.”

Merida walked by her desk and snatched a few papers. “The hard silk would take a few more months to arrive due to the snowstorm blocking the mountains. I might find another way to get it quickly, but for now, good work.”

Isabelle approached Merida’s desk and jumped, landing on it. “We need to get your fit sorted out first. I know you find it annoying, but think of it like an official duty.”

Merida sighed, “I know… Let’s review the plan.” She reached beneath the desk and pulled a massive sketch of what they were going to make.

“I would rather something easy to move in.” Merida said as she threw a glance at Isabelle, and she got a sigh in response. “You really don’t want to wear a nice dress, do you?”

“I run, jump, and do a lot of high kicks when fighting. I kinda don’t want my bits showing up.” Merida leaned back on her chair, and Isabelle shrugged. “Wear short pants underneath then. At your speed, I doubt there is any human who could sneak a peek.”