The dragon's harem

Chapter 1461: The Four Season Problem

As the four maids found a place to sit beside D, Mathilde, who was relaxing on the opposite side to Arad, looked at them for a while before shifting her attention to Arad.

”What were we talking about? Yes, the divine portfolios.” Mathilde’s eyes shifted toward Cerilla and Jasmine, ”I believe that the gods can’t let you keep those portfolios hidden for a long time without using them. Simply because that weakens the divine order.”

Jasmine frowned, ”And you want him to turn me and Cerilla into gods?”

”Demi-goddess at least. The gods generate divine energy, which can be used to fuel the angels at the frontlines. As you might expect, only the strongest of the gods are obliged to fight, so the weaker ones just support by paying a share of their divine energy. This doesn’t include the demigods who need every drop of their divine magic to ascend.” She stretched her arms.

”That little girl Lucy is already paying a portion of her divine magic. We’ll all die if the gods lose the war, so supporting them as much as possible helps everyone.” She looked at Merida, ”Of course, this means the other gods won’t start any problems with you.”

”So if a lesser god pays taxes, someone like Amaterasu would have to ignore small transgressions against her domain.” This is what Arad thought, but he was wrong about the details.

”It depends on whom you pay the taxes. If the lesser god pays Kali, then they can be sure that Amaterasu would retaliate if they offended her. They can only expect Kali to tolerate them.”

”It depends on who pays whom.” Arad looked up, and Cerilla leaned on him.

”Don’t worry too much about it. Most of the higher gods are reasonable. Amaterasu won’t just attack anyone for a small insult or a mistake; the gods are above petty disputes.”

Mathilde laughed in the back, ”That’s where you’re wrong, Cerilla. Amaterasu is petty, salty as hell. She’ll go above and beyond to fuck someone’s life up because he made her mad once.”

Mathilde sighed, ”The reason they mostly don’t get in trouble is because Amaterasu had raised Kali for a few decades after Asura’s death. She is her first adoptive mother. Before Kayden and Lily picked her up.”

”So it’s more of Kali telling Amaterasu to leave them alone, and the reverse is also true.” He looked around and smiled, ”So I have quite the influence, don’t I?”

”If you just knew. You’ve got more influence than you think. Just marrying Kali is enough to set you apart from the gods. Not to mention that you’re raising several demigods.” She stood and cracked her neck as she walked toward Cerilla and looked at her.

”That’s why I’m saying, turn those two into demigods. You have many portfolios collecting dust, so put them to use.” She then turned toward Arad, ”What are all the portfolios you have now?”

Before Cerilla could reply, Cerilla smacked Mathilde’s butt away, ”Get your cheeks away from my face. Sit down, or get back to your place.”

With one swift step and a spin, Mathilde sat down.

”The four seasons, I can separate them into summer, autumn, winter, and spring. I also have the portfolio of tempest, and the portfolio of war, violence, and fighting.” Arad looked at her, and Mathilde’s eyes opened wide.

”So you can just make eight demigods if you want? That would make it ten, if we counted Eris and Mira.” She sighed and leaned back on the pool’s edge, exhausted. ”One mortal carrying all of that power, this is a first.”

”To be fair, Plum owns the four seasons.” Arad pointed at Plum, who was lying naked on his shoulder.

Plum blinked and looked at him, ”Own them? Because I fought Gelena and basically won?” She looked around, ”Gelena! I saw you around, come here!”

Gelena, the abomination that Plum defeated in the rift, was among the maids in the bath, quietly sitting aside, away from everyone’s attention.

Gelena gasped and looked toward Arad and Plum, ”Yes, did you need anything?”

Plum stood and flew away with a spark of magic, quickly landing on Gelena’s head. ”My winning doesn’t mean I can just steal the portfolios. It’s not like I killed you. What do you say? Who should keep them?”

Gelena shook her head, almost throwing Plum down. ”I never owned them to begin with. If Arad wants to keep them, then he is free to do so.”

Mathilde looked at her with a sharp glare, ”So you’re the abomination who backstabbed the Four Seasons.”

Gelena paled, thinking that Mathilde was about to blast her back into nothing, but no attack came her way.

”What?” Plum barely retained her balance and looked at Mathilde, ”So you aren’t attacking her? I called her here because I had a feeling you’ll want to beat her up, because you flinched when hearing he four seasons.”

”Lady Plum!” Gelena gasped, and Mathilde smiled.

”Well, I would’ve skinned her alive and shoved both of my feet down her eye sockets, if Arad didn’t already get to her. The four seasons weren’t fighters; they were keys to nature’s balance, keeping the world stable. Thanks to her, Amaterasu and Yggdrasil have a lot of work to do to fill in.” Mathilde stood and approached Gelena with measured steps. ”Amaterasu changes the seasons by carefully moving the world around her sun, and Yggdrasil fixes up any mistakes that she leaves.”

Before Gelena and Plum could speak, Mathilde pierced them with a sharp glare, ”I’m going to kick you two out of here if you dare ask me why Amaterasu would make a mistake.”

Gelena crawled back under the divine glare of the archon, but Plum waved her hand with a mocking face. ”Arad! Ask her, I’m sure she won’t mind.”

Plum then looked at Mathilde, ”You’ll reply to him without getting angry, right?”

Mathilde smiled, ”Well played, Spirit Queen Plum. And, Abomination, I’ll tell you one thing.”

”What...” Gelena gasped.

”You better worship the ground that Plum walks on. She only moved to sit on your head so I won’t just rip it off.” Mathilde turned around and headed toward Arad.

”Amaterasu doesn’t just have one sun and world to look over, but billions. She is bound to make some mistakes, especially when she also has to fight in the war. The last thing the mighty sun goddess needs to think about is whether some random village’s harvest would die because winter came a bit late.” She took a seat and looked at Cerilla.

”Yggdrasil fills in for those small mistakes using her power. But all she does is effectively force spring and autumn to come earlier or later as she wishes.”

Cerilla could imagine Yggdrasil ordering all of the trees of the world to endure a bit longer against the cold, or give them enough energy to bloom early.

”Back on track. If Sylph wants me to turn Cerilla and Jasmine into demigoddesses, which portfolio should I give them? You aren’t thinking of the four seasons, right?”

Hearing Arad’s question, Mathilde shook her head, ”I’m but an archon, I don’t know everything that she wants or plans.”

”So, we wait for the goddess to speak.” Arad sighed, leaning back.

Mathilde shook her head, ”No. You don’t have to wait for anyone to speak. Becoming a demigod is the decision of the person involved. What matters here is what Cerilla and Jasmine think and want, and what you’re willing to do, since you’re the one giving them the portfolios.”

”Sylph and Yggdrasil are sure not making it look that way.” Arad smiled, and Mathilde frowned.

”Then I’ll be the first to stand against them if that is the case. NO ONE can make you do anything that you don’t want.”