The dragon's harem

As Isdis flew on Kory’s back, Arad landed behind her. ”More orcs are coming out of the rift.” He threw a glance at the twisting, flame-like massive gate. ”We got a new plan for them. Instead of just trying to wipe them out here, I want to study them and find a way to permanently neutralize them.”

She looked back at him with a passive face. ”Neutralize, not eradicate?”

”I have a feeling that they’ll just keep coming no matter how many we kill. That’s why we’ll do our best to find a way to pacify them, if possible, lock them away, or change their goals.” He approached her and pointed at the ground. ”They aren’t mindless, and they seem to have a plan. As the army was fighting you, a small team had escaped from the other direction in a metal box.”

”What? I didn’t sense them at all.” Isdis growled. ”Want me to go find them?”

”No, leave them. The entire Arctic North is locked by a wall of ice. Gamond won’t let them out. Let them play in this cage until we learn as much about them as we can. If possible, I’d want to analyse and learn their language first.”

”I know I shouldn’t be the one to suggest that... but shouldn’t we be able to just capture and drain that knowledge out of them, either by force or magic?” As she asked, Arad scratched the back of his head. ”Well, we can, but that might kill our chances for a peaceful resolution. If they were abominations, I would’ve already flown through that rift to kill them all; even Eris could do that.”

”That can’t be the only reason, right?” Kory asked, and Arad sighed. ”Indeed, ever since the goddess of peace died, wars and bloodshed have become easier to start, if Amaterasu is to be trusted. So for now, it’s better to avoid conflict.” He looked at Kory’s massive head.

”For example, if you knew someone that you hate, and that you always ended up in an argument when you met. Right now, it’s easier for that argument to turn into a fight, so it’s better to avoid such situations from the start.”

He looked at the horizon and added. ”Even if I gave the portfolio to someone, it would still take a few years for them to master peace and maintain it.” He then pointed toward the pulsing rift. ”We’ve got a plan to scare those who escaped and hopefully convince them to work with us. So for now, keep wiping everyone that comes out of that rift as they expect.”

”Got it, leave it to me.” As she looked at the coming orcs, Arad jumped off Kory’s back and disappeared. He was out to give Arlo and his companions the worst days of their lives.

Right now, Gamond had enclosed the entire Arctic North, a frozen landmass over three thousand kilometres wide, within an oval wall of glaciers over eight kilometres tall. It was an unescapable cage designed to contain the invasion, and to make matters worse for the orcs, Isdis was now flying around the entire landmass clockwise with a deadly blizzard, freezing everything that got close to her.

In Isdis’s storm, the temperature dropped to over -80c, and the wind was blowing at speeds exceeding 90km/h (55mph), with near-zero visibility. You couldn’t even see your hand in front of you, and just to make it even worse, thanks to Gamond’s magic helping Isdis control her blizzard, Isdis could easily exclude the native monsters and keep them safe.

The result of that was a deadly blizzard for the orcs that was infested with powerful monsters that seemed unaffected by the cold or wind. The Arctic north had now become a closed death trap for the orcs that was under Isdis’s control, and the entire world watched as the Ice Queen of the empire held off an entire invasion that had before caused a mortal dark elf to ascend to godhood.

As expected of a sly dragon that married countless drakainas that were even more cunning than he was. This invasion, which should’ve been a harrowing disaster, had now turned into a propaganda campaign to glaze Isdis and make the entire world see her on the same plane of existence as Eris.

In what kingdom would a queen be flying alone to the front lines against an otherworldly invasion? And in what world would she be winning against untold billions? Some called her a saint, some called her a hero, and some even called her a devil, but what everyone agreed on was that she wasn’t inferior to a natural disaster.

Those who saw Isdis before, those who have spoken to her, or even argued with her, even once, became terrified, remembering that face of hers, and then hearing the news of the northern war, and how she can freeze an entire kingdom if she wanted.

Her father, Balots was immediately drowned in letters asking about her, and since when she was that powerful. Countless nobles and maids who worked at the castle testified that Isdis always held back a lot of her power, and what broke the camel’s back, was when Rey and Ray talked about her, the two maids that served her since she was young.

The story they weaved sent chills down everyone’s spines, and had even managed to paint Arad as an even bigger monster. According to them, Isdis was always powerful, but had feared her own power since there was no one to stop her if she went on a rampage.

They stated that the only reason Isdis went around the previous Ruris kingdom as a knight fighting monsters despite being a bard was to try and master her own power, at which she failed countless times. That had kept going until Arad, the only man who could contain her, appeared in her life.

This explained what seemed to the people to be an explosive growth in Isdis’s power and simply made them believe that she was always this powerful and that she could only safely use that power after Arad showed up.

Rey and Ray’s story had made it seem as if Arad was strong enough to contain Isdis’s blizzard, but they didn’t stop at that. Their goal wasn’t to glaze their queen, but to cement Arad as an eternal, unreachable, overpowered emperor. To achieve that, they added a few sneaky words in.

”This is the case for most of the queens.” Which prompted many nobles to ask for an explanation: are those two maids stating that the rest of Arad’s wives are just as powerful, if not more? And that he can contain them all at once?

To cement their claims as truth, Rey and Ray, who were as crafty as Yog was, had planned for one of Amaterasu’s archons who still resided in the local church to be present, and they asked her a question in front of everyone.

”Archon Prometheos, can you defeat Arad, the emperor?” They knew the archon won’t lie, and they knew what someone like her would answer in this situation.

”I don’t know; I never fought him. But... Her divinity Amaterasu had warned me against starting a fight with him.” That answer, to know that even Amaterasu saw Arad as a powerful and dangerous being, explaining both his standing, why she even bothered to descend to the mortal world, and why she would leave an archon here.

Arad, the emperor, isn’t a god, but he is a being powerful enough to contain multiple god-level powerhouses and is potent enough that even Amaterasu keeps him on her watchlist. He shall rule the empire for a billion years into the future, and not even the gods can save those who are foolish enough to incite his wrath.

The empire had now become something greater than a powerful nation or kingdom; it had ascended, thanks to the emperor’s power, into a new age. With this, the people are more likely to accept what is about to come next, the expansion to other worlds.

The spirits, two goddesses, demons, and now this? The military power of the empire was far greater than anyone expected, and with orcs invading now, the people had one thought in their minds: the emperor would invade them back, and we’ll have twelve more worlds to thrive in. Those who are allied with the empire can have a share in the cake, and those who aren’t are going to be left behind.

This was the start of a new age, and it was then that another truth was exposed. The nobles who had their daughters serve in the private royal quarter as maids already had secret access to another world, an entire planet that supposedly existed within the emperor’s power, and they had already been building their wealth and power there.

Those who didn’t get linked to the emperor through sending maids or servants were already falling behind everyone else, and that gap of power and wealth was only going to grow bigger. It only got even better when some nobles learned that a mere royal guard, an old soldier, had a daughter who managed to join the private maids, and what’s more... she is becoming a mistress, granting her poor family enough wealth and political power to pressure kingdoms.

Of course, some nobles argued that Arad won’t care about the weak maids; they are replaceable servants who won’t live long either way. But that was shot immediately by another noble, who proclaimed that the emperor and queens would react faster the weaker the servant asking get.

Just to prove a point, Rey and Ray were pretty close to Isdis, so their word won’t matter much, and thus, they brought one of the private servants. She was a servant, frail, came from a poor noble family, and her job was to clean the bathrooms. One of the nobles simply asked her to call one of the queens, their powerful angels, or even the emperor himself and see how far her world would reach.

They expected her to write an official letter and wait for a few days to get an audience, so the nobles were ready to wait, but the servant did none of that. She just spoke, ”Ah... Arad!” As she cried, Arad spawned behind, and he wasn’t alone. Eris, who had just woken up, was with him, alongside Mira, and surprisingly, Mora, the dwarf god.

It only takes one word.

Mora, the dwarf god, was training Mira and helping her forge a new weapon for Arad, but when the servant called, he decided to come help. He didn’t know anything about the current situation, so he just glared at everyone and cursed.

”Who the FUCK of Ya fools hurt her? Co’m here, I’ll punch ya new arsehole!” there were some dwarfs and half dwarfs among the nobles, and they fainted the moment Mora appeared.