The dragon's harem

Chapter 1585: You’re Better Than Them

As Arad expected, Linda was just like all other drakainas. Even more, she was far more rigid and ancient. She preferred to take her time, stick to her nature, and stay away from anything that contradicted that.

The night didn’t happen anywhere in Arad’s private quarter, or even outside. Everything ended up taking place inside the endless darkness of his limitless stomach.

Arad’s whole inner world could fit within her draconic jaw like an egg in a human mouth. She wasn’t just massive; she was gargantuan, having lived for a collective eternity.

And to Arad’s harrowing surprise, Linda looked nothing like a normal dragon. Opal white, emerald green, and obsidian black scales covered her whole body, which extended for thousands of kilometers like a serpent.

As time dragons age, their bodies shift and change; some grow larger and retain a draconic form, while others instead turn into those serpentine dragons after living for hundreds of thousands of years.

Some even suspect that Asgorath, the first dragon, called them wyrms as a play on worms.

Seeing Linda in that form made even Arad’s titanic draconic form look insignificantly small. It only showed how the fight between them would’ve ended if Linda wanted to kill him.

It made Arad shudder, thinking that such a massive and harrowing monster that could swallow any world it wanted would be so petty to travel in time and kill its enemies when they were born and weak. A time drakaina like Linda could fight and defeat anyone in the present; if she turned into her true draconic form, not many could stand against her. But even with that power, she would still go all out and use all of her time magic, tricks, and plans just to make sure her enemies’ zero chance of winning gets smaller.

The only thing that Arad could imagine being bigger is Kali’s golden statue. That thing could probably catch Linda in one hand like a small snake.

Just to put in a picture what kind of horror was running through Alina’s streets, playing with the other kids.

As Arad was thinking about that, Linda shrank and soon became no longer than he. The fairies’ size magic is probably one of the most useful spells in the entire world, and many of the powerful beings had already made sure to learn it, especially time dragons who had more than enough time to learn.

Linda wasn’t a fan of doing anything in her humanoid form, which was a sentiment vaguely shared by most drakainas among Arad’s wives. That is why on this night, one of the incarnations would be here, busy getting Linda set up, while another one handled the others in a different place.

This was probably one of the very few things that drained Arad to the bones, making him feel true exhaustion.

Back at the castle of Alina, his third incarnation lay alone on a bed, not having much energy to spare besides being a regular human. The maids who sat beside the walls all looked at him, and Isdis, who lay beside him on the bed, was already snorting.

”Can’t sleep?” Beside him was Roberta, still looking at a sheet of paper with countless numbers and names on it.

”What about you? Working even now?” Arad looked at her and she smiled, ”Well, I too can’t sleep.”

Isdis and Roberta were at the core of the entire empire. One dealt with the political matters, and the other handled all of the financial issues. Without them, the entire empire might collapse in a few months.

Roberta here, even though being a concubine for Isdis, probably held more power over the castle than all of the queens combined. Because she is the one in control of all funds.

The paychecks of everyone, the allowance of the queens, the funds for projects, and even the money Arad uses have to go through her first. Even passively, Arad’s wealth and draconic hoard keep growing rapidly. Gold, silver, artifacts, and an endless mass of land inside his stomach.

Roberta leaned over and put the sheet of paper on the bedside table and looked at Arad, ”So? Want to go for another round?”

Arad looked down; Rey and Ray were both asleep, leaning on him like a pillow. ”Probably not. You need to sleep for tomorrow.” He pulled her closer.

Roberta looked a bit disappointed, but still understood that she had a mountain of work waiting for her the next morning. Unlike Arad’s other wives, she didn’t have anywhere near their stamina and durability, so she had to be careful.

”Not just me, I’m sure they are putting a massive strain on you.” She leaned on Arad and took a deep breath, ”But, isn’t that all of your incarnations? Who is with Tina?”

Arad had four incarnations. Right now, one was with Linda, one with the other drakainas, one was here in Alina, and the last one is heading toward Gojo’s kingdom.

Arad smiled, ”Tina, she has a lot of protection.”

In a faraway world, Tina walked toward a massive mountain accompanied by over a hundred of her peers and teachers. Their mission was to gather crystals, slay monsters, and survive. She was undoubtedly the weakest of them all, but on her right ear rested one dark jewel.

The earring looked cheap, as if it were crafted from a random rock that she found on the ground, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The dark jewel was not a rock, but a condensed ball of tar. A small, microscopic eye opened on the jewel and looked forward with interest.

Into Tina’s ear, the jewel whispered. ”There is a large monster living in this mountain. It’s powerful enough to wipe out everyone in this expedition.”

Doma giggled, ”But worry not. Not even your elders can defeat me, let alone this lost pup.”

Tina looked forward, noticing the masters slowing their march, looking around the forest with worried eyes. Doma was right, something bad is about to happen.

”Everyone! Halt!” One of the masters shouted, and everyone came to a halt, looking around with confused expressions.

”Master Han, what’s the problem?” One of the disciples asked, taking a step forward and approaching Han.

”Set camp and build a defensive wall. The stronger ten would guard outside the wall, and everyone else would stand behind it and be ready for a violent clash. Those who can’t fight are to take care of the wounded.”

Han turned around alongside all of the other seven masters, ”We’ll deal with the big one.”

The disciple didn’t waste any time and started cutting trees. Tina looked at them, both amazed and terrified. Her peers were already powerful enough to chop small trees with their palms, carry massive boulders, and jump several meters high. She, on the other hand, could barely carry a bucket full of water up a hill without losing her breath.

But even with how difficult it was for her, she kept working, running down to the river, filling a bucket of water, and rushing back up to water the base of the wall where the stronger disciples were building it.

But doing her best wasn’t enough; a little girl shorter than her was carrying two full barrels and sprinting at full speed.

The disciples managed to fortify the entire area in just over an hour, and the masters were already standing guard in their place. At this point, only they and Tina knew what was going on.

Finally, master Han decided to speak. She shouted, her voice reaching everyone, even those who were busy hammering more logs into the ground in the far back of the fort.

”We’re facing a whole pack of thunder wolves, around sixty of them led by a Dire Storm Wolf duo.” She looked at the strongest ten disciples who were already ready to fight outside the fort.

”The plan is simple. We masters will deal with the Dire Storm Wolf duo; you must fight everyone else. I know that’s a lot, so that is why you have the fort’s walls behind you. If anyone gets injured, jump back to get treated. Everyone inside will cover you up with arrows and ranged attacks.”

Han started explaining the plan, but Doma whispered in Tina’s ear. ”There are four Dire Storm wolves, not two. The masters would get surrounded and wiped out. Get ready, once the fight starts, we’ll run away.”

Tina froze in place for a few seconds, then whispered back, ”We can’t let them die.”

”We can’t save them without me jumping out and killing those wolves. Even if you tell them that there are four wolves, that would do nothing but make the situation even more desperate. Besides, they’ll never believe you.”

Tina took a deep breath. Among everyone here, she is the weakest. In fact, even a random girl from a farm would be stronger than her. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t do anything.

She reached into her supply bag and pulled a long musket that Mira had made for her.

The musket itself was simple, one-shot, fed like a shotgun, and looked more like a hunting rifle than a weapon for war. But under that mundane look was a vast and intricate pattern of power.

Usually, firearms were frowned upon here; the disciples and masters preferred swords and melee weapons that directly transfer the power of their trained bodies and souls.

But no one minded Tina pulling one, because everyone here knew how weak and useless she was without such a weapon. She could neither fight nor heal people; the best she could do was wrap them in bandages.

Tina climbed one of the walls and sat at the top of the makeshift watch tower, aiming her musket at the forest. Sweat started dripping across her forehead as she loaded one dark bullet in.

”You want to save them, fine.” Doma’s voice rang in her head.

”What’s Arad doing?”

”Pounding some dragons. Forget about him for now, eyes on the forest. Just focus, you’re better than them.”