The dragon's harem

"Now that's a problem," Selica stared at the contract in Sena's hand, "Cosmically obliged to deliver this to her." Sena sighed, "It'll take me a while to figure a way out of this thing,"

"What do you suggest?" Selica approached and sat on the chair facing Sena's desk, pouring tea for the both of them.

"I'll call her and show her the contract," Sena replied, taking a sip. ^She brewed it with holy water?! A prank may be, but it's enough to tell the devil he isn't welcome here.^

"Then what? You keep it?" Selica looked at the contract, reading it.

"I'll need to give it several deep reads and try and figure some loopholes. At least from one glance, I see none." She shook her head, "We're in a pickle here,"

"I suspect killing the devil is out of the question, and so is burning the contract," Selica gave the contract back to Sena, "We have to play with the rules this time."

"We can play by the rules, but I'm worried about what Arad would do if he knew about the contract," Sena put the contract aside and started reading the other papers and signing them to finish her work.

"Arad is scary," Selica said, wiggling in place.

"You know what he is, so can you stop acting?" Sena stared at her, "He won't harm you or us,"

"I mean, I'm a mere pebble half eaten by a slime's slime," Selica replied, lifting her hands with a confused face, "I'll die if he just sneezed at me,"

Sena stared at her, "You're right, but if you thought that, what normal people should think? Last I checked, one punch from you and they'll die in an explosion,"

Selica licked her arm from the elbow to the tip of her fingers, her spit turning into green slime as she clenched her fists. "You made me like this. If you had just washed me down by the river before turning me into a human,"

"I wanted a guard maid that could handle humans well, not a powerful monster of destruction," Sena smiled, swirling the tea in her cup.

"I don't know whether to call you a benevolent mistress for granting me life or a cruel one for making me like this. But back to the contract, what should we do?"

"Go and call Roberta. I'll think of something in the meantime,"

Selica stood with a smile, the green slime on her arm crackling with tiny explosions as it burned into ash, getting washed by the wind. "I'll be back soon,"

"Don't explode it here. It leaves dust everywhere," Sena sighed.

"I'm the one cleaning, so it doesn't matter," Selica turned to leave.

"Have your weapons?" Sena said, looking at Selica's back.

"I have them with me," Selica replied, "You worry a lot about me,"

"You aren't that much stronger than an average to a high-rank adventurer. It only takes a few people ganging up on you to lose,"

"Fair enough," Selica smiled, "I'm more of a servant than a fighter," She walked out of the office and headed to the changing room, taking her work uniform out and wearing a casual, ankle-length, brown tunic belted at the waist.

She tied her hair into a ball and covered it with a long scarf that she wrapped around her neck to ward off the winter's cold, finishing her outfit with a large hide cloak and a pair of knee-high leather boots.

She left the office and locked the door after herself, taking one step after another in the freezing winter, heading down toward Alina, which was just down the hill.

"Where are ya going!" An old man shoveling the snow off his house's entrance waved his hand to her, "It's cold for you, isn't it?"

"I have some things to take care of. It's you who should be inside. You're too old to work like that," Selica replied, waving her hand back to him.

"Gotta keep moving those old bones, lest they crumble," The old man tapped his back and went back to shoveling the snow as Selica made her way to the city gate.

The guards saw her approaching and recognized her immediately, opening the gate without her even asking.

"Thank you!" She waved her hand to them as she saw the gate open.

"It's cold. We won't let you wait in the snow." A guard replied with a smile, warming his hands on a torch hanged to the walls.

Selica walked into the city, not finding a single trace of the snow or cold. Merlin's heater was already working and doing its job, warming the whole place and warding off the cold.

Selica took her cap off and removed the scarf off her hair, only wrapping it around her neck as she took a deep breath, "This heater almost became a disaster, but who cares if it's working perfectly now?" She smiled, strolling through the streets as she approached Roberta's shop.

"Who said that?" She heard a man scream and sighed, "No again," She looked, seeing Roberta standing in front of her shop, facing a bunch of thugs. "Why does it have to happen this often?" She approached with a tired face.

"Roberta, you alone today?" Selica asked, and all the thugs turned toward her.

"Selica? Father got a cold, and those idiots are taking the chance to start troubles!" Roberta shouted, "Call the guards!"

Selica pushed her hand into her tunic's cleavage, pulling a double-barrel musket. Just like Merlin, she had a storage spell inscribed right in front of her heart, between her breasts as a magic circle.

"Where did you pull that?" One of the thugs giggled, "Think that weird musket would stop us?"

They surrounded her, "You look like a nice..." One of them approached, looking closer at her face.

Tuf! Selica spat on his face, causing him to recoil back, "You b..." The spit on his face turned green, crackling before bursting into a fiery explosion, sending him rolling back.

Selica pointed the musket at him. BANG! BAMG! She emptied the two barrels on his back end, burning a hole in his clothes and leaving him smoking, unconscious.

"Don't worry, they are false shells. They'll burn and break bones, but you won't die," She opened the musket like a double-barrel shotgun, spitting inside the shell champer to fuel it, then closed it back.

"This woman!" The other thugs pulled their swords and crossbows, "You won't get away with it,"

"Too much, but I'll manage the cleaning," Selica stared around at them, her eyes glowing red.

"Ah! Selica!" Mira walked around the corner, waving her hand, "What's going on here?" She looked around, seeing about twenty thugs there.

"Bring the hammer," Selica smiled, "Care to help?"

"Can't be helped," Mira pulled a sledgehammer from her pocket, "This'll hurt," The hammer crackled with an electric spart. Mira already upgraded her lighting hammer to be more compact.