The dragon's harem

"You're really meticulous for a slave market, I expected this investigation level from the guards, not here." Arad looked at the handler.

"We're under harsher eyes from His Highness King Baltos than the nobles ruling cities." The handler replied.

"And," The woman approached from the back, "Blowing a kingdom of vampires is bound to stir the powers of the world. It's not for a human to say to a dragon, but be careful."

"The bigger I am, the more attention I'm going to draw." Arad replied, "And it isn't the people's attention that's dangerous."

"You're right," A masked kid said, walking through the front door, a long spear hanging on his back.

Arad froze for a second, "This voice," He turned, "I've seen you before, on our way to the elvish kingdom."

"You know him?" Aella looked at Arad.

"The wind devil, the fourth-ranked," Arad looked at him.

"I'm the third, not that it matters. We aren't ranked by strength but with achievements." The wind devil replied, looking at Aella and the handler.

"I'm Chris, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you," The handler bowed, "What brought you to our establishment?"

"The white tiger Lora, she's supposed to be at sale here." The wind devil asked.

"She indeed is," He looked at him, "But it's rare for someone to ask by name."

The wind devil pulled a necklace made of fangs and showed it to him. "The sign of her tribe. Her parents want to buy her freedom, and I'm just the delivery man."

"I'll bring her at once if she confirms the necklace is genuine, well proceed with a contract that dissolves with her parent's signature." The handler bowed to the wind devil and then to Arad, "Please excuse me for a moment," He then rushed to the back.

"Boy! How are you doing?" Zephyr popped out of Aella's hair and looked at the wind devil with a smile, "You didn't grow a finger."

"Mistress Zephyr, it's been a while," He kneeled, "How have you been,"

"You know him as well?" Aella looked at her.

"She's the one who taught me how to use wind magic and my spear," The wind devil replied, "She's also the one who protected me from the hell gate when I was first born."

"He has an elf body but a devil's soul, the hell gate opened right after he was born to suck him, but I protected him." Zephyr replied, "His mother mated with a man, unknown to her that he was a devil and so this kid was born."

"Wait, so you're..."

"An actual devil, yes, I never tried to hide it, people even know me as the wind devil." He replied. "This mask created by Mistress Zephyr is the only thing hiding me from the hell gate."

"It's a massive bone gate that will open if he takes the mask off, chains will fly out to chain and drag him into hell." Zephyr added, "But worry not, it's just that the world rejects devils from the mortal realm to protect mortals."

"There are no exceptions?"

"The best rules are those without exceptions," The wind devil looked at them, "I'm but a kid, but my power already pushes me to the higher ranks of mortals. I can't imagine the horrors if there was an exception to no one staying here permanently."

"Devils mostly stay in the mortal world until their summoner runs out of mana. This also caps their strength, so it's a good balance." Zephyr smiled.

"Just so you know, my curse is the wind that ruins crops and rips houses off their bases. I'm the typhoon that curses kingdoms into oblivion." The wind devil looked at Arad.

"Well, speaking of kingdoms and nobles." Arad smiled, "I'm officially becoming a noble and marrying soon. Care to attend?"

"I'm a stranger to you."

"The more, the better. Who won't love to have one of the top-ranked adventurers attend their noble party and marriage." Arad smiled, "It's put a good show of power,"

"You're smart," The wind devil giggled, "People might underestimate a lone adventurer no matter how strong they were. But, if they thought he had friends to avenge him, no one would dare stand against him."

"Just like Alcott," Arad smiles, "You mess with him, and the dragons come in ready for war."

"You're the same, aren't you?" The wind devil smiled, "I saw you blow that vampire kingdom. And there are twenty great wyrms in your forest. Currently, your house is one of the safest places in the world."

"I can't be in two places to protect everyone, and even if I could, I won't be able to be in three places. It's better to have people to trust with your back." Arad said, walking toward the couch and taking a seat. "Am I wrong?"

"No. The first star of the night, Uranus." The wind devil giggled, "What a name, it's rare that people give someone a decent nickname."

"The news is spreading fast," Arad scratched his head.

"You blew the kingdom of the vampires to cinder, a threat that the whole world worried about, and you came out of nowhere and blasted them to the sky. It's not just rumors, all the kingdoms of the world are already talking about you, and who should take your power." He stared at Arad.

"No one can steal my power..." Arad stopped, "In the future, give me a week. For now, they could," He didn't learn encryption yet.

"I'm not talking about stealing your powers. It's about who gets to keep you as a weapon living in their kingdom. Offers and threats would start coming toward you soon."

"Let them come," Arad smiled, "I'll just send them back,"

"You would expect the human kingdom or the elves to win," The wind devil looked at Arad, "But, it seems that the free wilds of Beasts' Savanna are the ones taking the lead. A powerful force of nature should be ruled by nature. That's their argument."

"How do you know?" Arad looked at him.

"Unlike you, I have a lot of contacts," The wind devil smiled, "And the meeting happened right after you blew the vampires."

"They're fast."

"And they want to relocate you to the mountainous region of the beasts' savanna to live." The wind devil looked at Arad, "They are treating you like a giant monster that should be given a piece of nature and left alone."

"I'm not moving," Arad sighed.

"To them, you're a wild animal that should return to nature. A red dragon would burn one city after the other. Take hours or days to finish the deed. Yet you dropped a spell, blasting the whole thing at once." Chris stood as he sensed the handler approaching, "Give the dragon enough food and gold, and he'll sleep for centuries on his pile of treasure. For rulers that only live about a century, that's good enough to rid them of the responsibility and the headache of dealing with you."

"They just want to push it to the next generation," Aella mumbled.

"The lion king rules the wilds. The throne is handed by battle, so it's certain he'll one day die fighting for his throne."

Chris nodded, "That's my guess as well. He just doesn't want to deal with a kingdom-blasting dragon,"

"It's kinda sad," Aella looked at Arad.

"Humph," Chirs snorted, "They fell of grace when Maharaja left to her throne in the hells."

Arad blinked. It's Agnar's warlock patron.

"The black Jaguar?"

"Yes, the eater of the gods. Queen of the Rakshasa. Even in the hell, she still stands at the top of the food chain."

"Sounds strong," Arad smiled.