The dragon's harem

"Do you mind getting down so we can talk?" Arad said, staring at Lola with a passive face.

"I don't. I like to stare down at people while talking with them." She smiled, glaring down at Arad with waves of magic flowing out of her body like a blinding light.

CLACK! CLACK! CLACK! Mary appeared behind Arad and walked past him, staring up with a tired face, "Lola, get down," She sighed.

Arad's eyes shifted toward Mary, ^The metallic queen, since when did she get here? I didn't sense her.^

"I'll never stand on the same level as one of Sofia's descendants, especially not this young brat," Lola replied with a shout, laughing her guts off, "I'm stronger than her,"

"Who's Sofia?" Arad asked with a passive face, confused.

"The chromatic dragon goddess, Tiamat. She's the progenitor of void dragons like yourself," Mary looked at him, "She's your kind' great great grandma,"

"She can't be stronger than Tiamat," Arad sighed, and Chris closed his mouth, "Stop! Don't tick her off,"

Lola growled, "I'm stronger than her,"

Mary smiled, staring at Lola with a grin, "Just admit it, neither of us can beat Sofia. Probably even if both of us joined powers we'll still lose."

"Speak for yourself. I didn't give up yet," Lola laughed, but then a hand with long red nails grabbed her by the head. "You're as noisy as ever, colorful iguana." From behind Lola, a beast woman appeared. A red-eyed, nine-tailed white Fenrir woman, the only one of her kind. The eternal ruler of beastmen.

"Hati," Lola growled, "I don't want to hear that from you,"

"You two! Come down," Mary sighed, "We still have work to do. You can play later,"

"Is this all of you?" Arad looked around, trying to sense if more of them were coming.

"That's all of us. The rest already spoke to us," Chris replied, "We can start the meeting,"

"Please follow me then. The meeting room is inside," Arad walked toward the keep. He blinked, looking inside the keep from the eyes of bugs inside. ^It's well-built.^

Everyone sat around the roundtable of the meeting hall, with Arad taking the host's seat at the front, looking around at everyone. All of them sat around the table except Lola, who sat upside down on a chair hanging to the ceiling with magic.

Arad looked toward Lola. ^How isn't her skirt falling? Gravity magic, probably [Reverse Gravity]^

"I'm not much of a talker," Arad said, "But let's start with hearing everyone's opinions. Keep in mind that I'm not giving Zephyr to anyone,"

"A dragon saying that?" Lola stared down at him from the ceiling, giggling, "Wealth belongs to those strong enough to rob it. That would include the right to protect and free Zephyr,"

"Don't dangle meat in front of her. She's an idiot, so she'll bite it," Hati looked at Arad with a smug face.

"Nobody is taking her," Mary stated, "You won't be fighting Arad. You'll fight me,"

"Don't we fight all the time? Nothing new," Lola smiled, "I don't intend to bully him anyway. It's a disgrace,"

"Bully me? Want to test it out?" Arad said, staring at Lola with a passive face.

"I'll assist you!" Tempo shouted with a smile, "I always wanted to fight a dragon. Can we cut her tails?"

"She has more than one?" Arad stared at Tempo.

"Sometimes she shows up with two, and sometimes with five. No one knows how many tails she has! I want to cut them," Tempo looked at Lola with burning eyes, "Want to fight?"

"Arad!" Chris whispered to him, "Are you an idiot? Leave her alone, she'll kill us all,"

"You younglings are always hot-blooded," Zeus giggled, "Maybe dying in a fight against the dragon queen is a fitting end. My lightning bolts are with you,"

"Don't join in, you old fart!" Christ shouted at him, "You're supposed to be the wise old grandpa,"

"Age is a good way to gauge your strength," Hati looked at Arad with a smile, "Mary and Lola surpassed their twilight. Not even great Wyrm magic dragons have a chance to fight them. They gave birth to those monsters, after all. You're still only a juvenile. It won't even be a fight, just one-sided bullying,"

"That's why I say it's disgraceful," Lola growled, "Also, I smell that her on you," She stared at Arad.

"Smell who?" Arad looked at her.

"She's right," Mary mumbled, "She'll probably come if we start fighting him,"

"Who are you talking about?" Arad sighed.

"That doesn't matter now," Lola sighed, "Let's talk about Zephyr's seal,"

Arad pulled Zephyr's cube out of his stomach and sent it floating in the middle of the table. "As you can see, this tiny cube holds a lot of space and time magic. It also strangely absorbs and releases mana passively,"

"It's one of those things that we used to catch abominations. She got caught in one of them?!" Lola gasped, "Is she an idiot?"

"Said the woman who was caught in them seven times," Mary sighed.

"I broke free on my own," Lola growled.

"Don't compare your damage output to Zephyr. Compare your smartness," Mary glared at her.

"Can't we contact Zephyr inside?" Zeus stared at the cube with glowing blue eyes, "We can use the magic leaking from it,"

"We already tried that, but the cube twists the scripts of magic and turns it back into mana upon crossing. We can't contact Zephyr," Arad replied, "Merlin has been testing that for the past two weeks,"

"The archmage of Alina," Jason turned toward Arad, "Isn't that Lilia's student?"

"Lilia," Arad sighed, remembering that red-haired half-halfling, "The one ruling the mage tower."

"Lilia should be able to break the cube open," Hati waved her hand, staring at them with a thinking face, "But what worries me,"

"The price," Lola growled, "That woman never works for free. And her prices are always unpayable,"

"Can't we just blast it open?" Tempo asked.

"That shows how young you are," Lucifer stared at him.

"Lucifer is right," Gabriel nodded, "You'll harm Zephyr inside, at worst might end up killing her."

"Do you have any plans for the future?" Mary stared at Arad, "I would love for us to work closely on this case,"

"In fact, I have plans for the coming years." Arad looked at her, "As stated before, I'm still too young and inexperienced about the world, its rules, arts, and magic. I barely understand how to use my own powers."

"You aren't going on a pilgrimage or something?" Zeus stared at him.

"No," Arad shook his head, "I'm doing what every kid should," He stared at them, "I'm going to school. The great university of the arts,"

"It'll cause trouble if they knew you're Arad Orion, the one who blasted Vlad's kingdom. I doubt nobles would send their children knowing you're there." Jason sighed, "You'll cause the university to close for the year,"

"Not that many people know how I look, so I'll go in with an alias,"

"Have you decided on a name?" Mary asked.

"I have thought of two cases," Arad looked at them, "The first is that I'll go with how I look now and only change my name. I'll probably pick a generic name and a backstory, probably even get Baltos to pull some strings."

"And what's the second case?" Zeus stared at him.

"This," Arad's body started smoking as magic rushed out of him. His massive body shrunk down, and his hair grew longer, taking on a shade of purple and pink.

[Virgo]

"I'll take this form," Arad's voice shifted into that of a woman, "This disguise would cut any ties I have with my true nature. I bet none could find out who I am even with magic,"

Everyone stared at him, flabbergasted, "Even his magic and aura shifted," Lucifer sighed, "I admit, even I wouldn't be able to tell if I didn't know he's Arad beforehand,"

"I can maintain [Virgo] all day long as it doesn't consume that much magic. But I'll be limited in what power I can output," Arad replied.

"I mean, this is a solution." Mary stared at him, "But can't you just use your natural shapeshifting ability?"

"It's quite hard," Arad looked at her, "I still haven't figured out how to do that,"

"Are you an idiot?" Hati stared at Mary, "Arad is smart, but that doesn't mean he can shift the laws of nature. His void develops alongside aging. It's not something he can rush. Most dragons can't get their shapeshifting ability until they reach the adult stage."

"He's in human form," Mary glared back at Hati.

"I bet that's only a preloaded form his mother made for him. To shapeshift, you need knowledge about bodies. I doubt he studied medicine or the shapeshifting magic," Gabriel stared at Arad then back at Mary, "You metallic dragons have education for decades since you're at the very young stage. Don't expect him who only lived for a few months to be able to use shapeshifting out of the blue."

"That's why I'm going to school," Arad said in the back, "Instead of having a childhood, studying, and figuring my life out, I'm here dealing with crazed vampires and world peace. Give me a break, or do you want me to turn into a destruction monster that only cares about amassing power?"

"You're strangely aware of that," Lucifer looked at him with a pained smile, "I'm sure it was tiring,"

Arad's body shifted back to his original form as he canceled [Virgo]

"I'm no longer a baby. I want power," Arad sighed, "This statement is fundamentally wrong," He glared at them, pulling Zephyr's cube toward him and sucking it back into his stomach. "I don't need more power,"

"I'll change it," He lifted his hand, creating a small [Ho-white Nova] on his palm. "This is my life. I want to live peacefully and raise my children. To maintain that peace, I need knowledge."

The [Ho-white Nova] grew from a pea-sized into a fist-sized ball of pure compressed energy, sending waves of heat through the room.

Mary looked around, ^He's shaking space itself in a radius of 40 km. It's a warning that he's capable of ripping it all to shreds,^

Lola stared at Arad with glowing eyes. ^Defensive magic is useless when the space itself gets ripped apart. Magic dragons are always a pain,^

"I want to study in peace." He growled.

"Nobody is going to take that from you," Hati stared at him with a smile, "The young lion cub finally discovered that he needs to eat meat instead of grass,"

"Your kind is called magic dragons for a reason," Zeus stared at him with a smile, "Calm down. We wouldn't be sitting here if we weren't on your side,"

Arad clenshed his fist, snuffing the [Ho-white Nova]

"So, what do you intend on studying there? A way to free Zephyr?" Jason looked at Arad, "It won't be easy. I doubt you'll find a solution in a year or two,"

"I'm leaving that part to Merlin. What I'm saying is that I'll be focusing on studying what I want instead of what I need to save the kingdom or free Zephyr." Arad replied.

"And what would that be?" Mary stared at him.

"Magic in general, especially gravity, earth, curses, time, and space." He turned his head toward Lola, "Alchemy, crafts, martial arts, bardic arts, and most importantly," His eyes flashed purple, "Medicine and flesh arts,"

"I understand flesh arts, but medicine was dropped as a form of study decades ago and was replaced with alchemy and healing magic. Shouldn't studying those be better?" Chris stared at him.

"Healing magic relies on holy magic and the gods. But I might be able to mix medicine with my blood magic and achieve something," Arad smiled, "You could say it's my own research,"

"So you're already acting like a mage," Mary giggled, "Just make sure not to cause trouble in the university. People there are sensitive."

"Mary already shared what she knows about the seal," Lola stood, "We'll be conducting our own research and work with Merlin."

"You're already leaving?" Hati stared at her.

"My daughter got herself caught in some troubles. I need to go," ZON! Lola disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"That has to be Koi," Hati sighed, "I hope our supply of soap doesn't get affected," She stood, "I'll go check on them as well,"

"Wasn't she with Caledonia?" Mary stood with a deep sigh. "I hope they didn't break anything that can't be fixed," Mary teleported in the blink of an eye.

Hati pulled a long glass-like sword from her palm, "See you soon, Arad Orion," She swung the sword and cut a portal in the air.

^That portal isn't magic...^ Arad immediately noticed.

^[Hati, the queen of beastmen controls eternity. This is probably an application of that power,]^ Doma explained in his head.

"That only leaves us," Arad looked around, "Anyone wants some tea?"