The dragon's harem

Arad appeared in the private quarters, having returned after being away for a long while. His eyes wandered around the massive living room, and he quickly noticed the countless faint smells filling the room. He could identify each one of his wives and all the maids individually, and quickly concluded that they had just had a meeting before he arrived.

He could think of several things they might’ve been talking about, but the answer didn’t matter. Merlin was just there on the couch, relaxing as one of her personal maids painted her nails. Upon a closer inspection, Arad could tell that it wasn’t just any regular nail polish, but witch’s nail polish, and a special one at that. Merlin had made that with her own blood and infused it with Eldritch magic to make casting Eldritch spells easier.

Now that he has his human soul back, he could notice three things that are different about her. The first was that she felt closer to what Yog is than what she used to be. Merlin had become an eldritch horror of pure knowledge and magical knowledge, a being with an alien mind that operates in a whole different realm than all mortals.

Arad might’ve even felt a bit scared of her. He knew for a fact that he wouldn’t be able to understand a tenth of her spells, and that most of them could easily blink him out of reality before he could even know it. It was just like trying to fight a lesser, weaker version of Yog.

Then there was this insidious, twisting feeling in his stomach linked right to Merlin. She already had her tendrils spread all inside his stomach like an infection, taking control of all the mana inside and even spreading her eldritch magic to stand alongside his.

All of the eldritch abominations allowed inside his stomach were directly under his control, except her. She existed in her own self-controlled matrix of magic, allowing her to even interfere with his magic as she will.

Then there was the creepy part, and it was that her conscious thoughts were mixing with his own mind, and he could clearly understand that while she just relaxed here, her mind was already analysing his own magic to recreate and make it stronger.

Arad looked at Altair by his side and then approached Merlin to sit on the couch. The maids immediately cleared a spot of him, and he sat, throwing a glance at Merlin. ”What are you doing?”

Merlin slowly turned her head and looked at him. ”Getting my nails done, which color do you prefer? Black, dark purple, or pinkish purple?” Showing him her nails, Arad smiled. ”All look good on you. I’m talking about your magic.”

Merlin smiled. ”I’m trying to mix both eldritch magic and regular magic into a massive labyrinth inside your stomach. The ultimate goal is to see if we can build a world there and give people a tolerance for eldritch magic. The only problem is that I can’t fathom all of that on my own.” With one finger, she pointed at her own head. ”This brain of mine just isn’t powerful enough, and so the process is really slow.”

Arad relaxed on the couch. ”That’s why you’re spreading your own consciousness to mine. Can you do it?” Closing his eyes, he could easily read her thoughts, which was faster and more efficient than talking. Merlin’s plan was simple in theory, yet utterly impossible in practice. She wanted to separate her own soul from her body and plant it inside Arad’s stomach, so she could act both as an independent existence and as a part of him. That would allow her access to his endless pool of eldritch magic, the processing capability of his mind, and even the authority he holds as AO.

Even though Arad himself was stronger, had more magic, and could use stronger eldritch magic, Merlin far surpassed him in actual skill, trained precision, and innovative spells. He didn’t mind her living inside his head, but his consciousness was already getting crammed.

Merlin, Baal, Ten Nyar avatars, Doma, Damnation, Mom, and all of the vampires living and whispering into his ears whenever he asked a question. But it was then it clicked in his mind.

If he already has a world inside his stomach, why doesn’t he just treat Merlin as a goddess, one that uses eldritch magic there instead of divine magic? At that very moment, Merlin had become the Eldritch goddess of magic with direct authority over the space inside his stomach, and all of the people living there could access eldritch magic if they worshipped her.

In one second, and before even Merlin herself could realize the change, Yog herself appeared standing on the maid’s head. ”Now, this is something, isn’t it?” The maid blinked, knowing that someone was standing on her head but still didn’t feel any weight. Merlin, on the other hand, glared directly at Yog, and Arad did the same.

”Why are you here?” Merlin growled, and Yog shrugged. ”Nothing important; he just gave you full authority over the magic inside his stomach, so you’re now like a goddess here. It is the same effect you have inside your labyrinth.” She pointed at her. ”Meaning, my authority cannot reach this space any longer.”

Flicking her fingers, she summoned a black book and threw it to Merlin. Reading the time, Merlin couldn’t help but gasp in confusion as it read [Beginner Guide for the Novice Goddesses of Magic]. ”What is this?”

Yog already knew that, with her being the goddess of magic in the universe, she could not be the goddess in Arad’s new universe at the same time. Just as Plum is replacing Yggdrasil, Merlin would do Yog’s work. The trend was already showing, and it wasn’t going to slow down any time soon.

Mira replacing Mora, Eris replacing Amaterasu, Plum replacing Yog, Isdis replacing Stillness, and far more. This was just the beginning, and so Yog had already prepared this guide to make Merlin’s job easier.

”Wait! I’m not a goddess; what is the meaning of this?” Merlin gasped, looked inside Arad’s mind, and he too didn’t know anything. But when she checked the link between her soul and his, and then her link with this world, her own authority had become clear.

”Wait! I meant that I wanted to have similar authority to a divine, not become one. I don’t even have a portfolio...” She threw a sharp glare at Yog. ”Did you do something?”

”The cute me? No, I’m innocent this time. You’re the one who was mixing her labyrinth with his stomach all this time, and even tried to replace my authority with hers. What else did you expect?” Yog’s clothes changed into ragged robes as she started walking on the air, and the entire living room switched to look like a regular dirt road in the hills.

Yog walked through that road, pretending to be exhausted and hungry, before she stopped to take shelter from the rain beneath the branches of a tree. ”Imagine yourself as a poor and hungry peasant who found herself in a forsaken wilderness, so she built a primitive house for herself just to survive.” Yog showed a timelapse of herself building a really messy hut of sticks, branches, and mud.

She then showed several beggars and travellers coming in, building houses around hers as she ordered them around as if she owned the place. Eventually, the poor peasant girl had more than a few hundred people working under her in a developing village.

Then the peasant looked horrified as a royal envoy came to her with a deed making her a noble and the one responsible for the entire region, because she was already doing that job.

Yog then made that entire skit disappear and looked at Merlin with a smile. ”Act like a god long enough, amass power, and you’ll find yourself becoming one. Even if you don’t have a portfolio, you’re basically the goddess of magic inside Arad’s stomach now. Congratulation.”

Arad looked at her on the side and then asked in an even tone. ”So? Merlin can now freely use magic inside my stomach, whatever she wants?”

”Yes, but I gave her that book for a reason.” She then shifted her gaze toward Merlin. ”Believe me, you don’t want to find out how hard it is to deal with a dragon suffering from diarrhea or stomach pain.”

Merlin had to take a second to wrap her head around everything that had just happened without warning, and Arad threw another sharp glare toward Yog. ”Can she really handle that without a divine portfolio? She can’t just repair the fabric of mana, or can she?”

Yog stared at him for a second, then flicked her fingers, making the maid and the entire living room fade into an endless whiteness. When only Arad, Merlin, and she were left, she stared directly at Arad’s soul.

”Of course, she can. Lilia had been doing it for ages.”