The dragon's harem

Chapter 1711: Don’t Be Either

Arad was asleep with Haru right when he felt it, the portfolios of war, fighting, and violence escaping his inner soul. They didn’t fly out, get stolen, or sealed. They just disappeared and slipped through reality, reaching toward someone else.

Arad wasn’t that attuned to divinity, but even he could understand what that meant. Someone had managed to become a demigod, and those portfolios had found their new master.

That meant that he couldn’t stockpile portfolios and hoard them. That was both bad and good. It meant that even though Arad can’t hoard that power, no one else could hoard it either. All that someone could do was hold onto the portfolios until a demigod was born.

Inside Mira’s soul, she rolled back and saw her father standing between her and Jordan.

”Girl, back away.” Her father took a step forward, and Jordan backed away.

There was a clear and massive wall of power between them, and Greed wasn’t stupid enough to ignore it. While Greed was just that, a Portfolio of Greed, Mira’s father had the portfolios of War, Fighting, and Violence.

It was three portfolios against one, and this wasn’t a fight Greed wanted to ever face. As a demigod, Mira’s father had a baseline far higher than any other demigod, for several reasons.

He was already a soldier and a powerful fighter in his life; he didn’t survive hell, but that experience itself had value. The portfolios chose him, and he had three portfolios instead of just one. But the one thing making him far more powerful than any other demigod is the very nature of his portfolios.

War, Fighting, and Violence weren’t inherently evil or harmful, even though all of them could be used for vile goals. They were relatively easy to control due to their nature, especially if their wielder was any kind of fighter or adventurer with a goal.

”You... her father?” Jordan smiled. He knew that Mira’s father wasn’t a demigod before, so he must’ve gotten that power just recently. Jordan would rather never face such a demigod, but if he had to, he’d choose to fight him now.

Mira’s father couldn’t possibly be used to his divine power, and this was Mira’s inner world, meaning that his form here is just a mental projection. Greed has all the advantages, and victory shouldn’t be impossible.

In the blink of an eye, he flew at Mira’s father, swinging a fist. He must finish him quickly and get Mira before she recovers.

Jordan’s fist flew at Mira’s father like a burning meteor. The ground cracked, and the air burned as it approached, but the old man lifted his guitar axe, blocking the strike.

With one hand, Mira’s father grabbed Jordan by the neck and smacked him in the nose with a headbutt, then kicked him back with enough force to crack his ribs.

Jordan flew through several boulders, dug a trench in the ground, and finally came to a halt in a pool of his blood. Something was off; Mira’s father didn’t move like a newborn demigod.

Slowly trying to get up, he looked over his bloodied body and saw Mira’s father walking toward him, resting his guitar axe on his shoulder. That wasn’t a demigod, but an old soldier.

”You... old ghost.” Jordan stood and healed. ”You’re one annoying...” But before he could finish, he saw Mira’s hammer flying toward his head. He lifted his arms to block, but still got hit and was sent flying once more.

”Dad, what are you doing here?” She turned around, and her father glared at her, looking really pissed off and disappointed.

”Girl, didn’t I teach you how to fight ages ago?” He pointed at the bloodied Jordan, then approached her.

”You’ve grown soft, naive, wistful, and a bit disappointing.” He stared at her for a second, then slapped her. ”Wake up, girl. I’m not real, and this world is yours to command. Don’t let that bastard run wild here.”

Mira held her cheek, looking at her father with a shocked face, and only then could she notice the shimmering in his body. This... wasn’t her father, but a vestige of him pulled out of the depths of her soul. Her real father is outside, playing the same tunes he played when she was young, trying to reach her mind, and he did trigger something.

This entire world was the inner sanctuary of her mind, not Greed’s mind, which meant that the portfolio shouldn’t hold any power here. So why can’t she just win?

She froze; and then slowly turned back, glaring at Jordan with burning golden eyes. Her father was right; she could remember those old days clearly. When she came back home crying, saying that some kid hit her, her father laughed at her and asked why she didn’t slap the bastard back, why didn’t she fight.

”If you always come crying to daddy, then what would you do when I’m not around? I’m a soldier, and I sometimes spend months out.” Those were her father’s words.

When she said she couldn’t fight, he put her through months of training to teach her to break people down, and make a grown man cry. All of his military training, he had drilled right back into her.

And he was right. Eventually, he went to war and never came back, leaving her and her mother alone to struggle.

She hated those days as the training was nothing but torture, but she could also remember the day that kid tried to hit her again, and she broke his arm. From that day onward, no one dared bully her again because she was no longer an easy prey; she would fight back, and when they realized that, no one took a risk with her ever again.

”But...” She gasped. ”This is a mental fight. Beating him would solve nothing; I have to fight Greed with something else, generosity or something else.”

Her father laughed, ”Generosity on its own is a bad quality, not a good one.” As she looked at him, she could remember her days as a kid even clearly. Whenever she tried to share something with the kids, they would take everything and leave her with nothing.

Mira did complain to her father at that time, and he also laughed at her, asking why she started giving them things in the first place. He told her to hold her things dearly and never share, and if anyone tried to take anything from her by force, she should hit them.

When Mira realized it. The world around them started shaking. ”Wait a minute. This is my body, what do you think you’re doing, taking control from me?” She turned around and started walking toward Jordan.

”Besides, why do I have to follow your rules? You’re just a thing, a portfolio.” She reached the knocked Jordan and grabbed him by the neck.

Clenching her fist, she started beating him down, and after each punch, she could feel the world around them expand.

Greed is bad; get consumed by it, and you’ll live a miserable life, hated and shunned by everyone.

Generosity is just as bad; give people too much, and they’ll see you as easy prey and ride you for the rest of your life. You’ll find yourself a slave, and soon, your generosity will be their right.

So if Mira had to choose between the two, she would rather not choose at all.

What is hers is hers, and she doesn’t need to give out a dime. And what belongs to others isn’t hers, and she doesn’t care about it in the slightest. She already got all she wants, and this portfolio, this Greed, is the last disease trying to eat away at her mind.

After several punches, a steel hammer appeared in Mira’s hand, and Jordan’s body had turned into a stream of dancing light. Looking at it, she understood that she never needed to fight greed with generosity; she just needed to be normal, and that wasn’t so hard to do.

She was already content with her life, and now, she will fight to protect that peace and normalcy.

Mira opened her eyes, and her entire body was burning with divine magic. She still felt the burning desire for wealth and everything she ever wanted, but that feeling had been tempered with her own will, turning into a driving force, motivation, and an endless well of longing.