The dragon's harem

"I don't know about this…" Lala stared at Zul with a worried face. "As Lydia and Eris said, holy magic can't heal what's a part of her body. It doesn't recognize it as a disease."

"Is there nothing we can do besides cutting it off?" Arad looked at Zul.

"The draconic fundamentum is the source of a dragon's magic as it is as sensitive as their brain. Unless we cleanly cut all of that growth and heal it up, she could end up crippled in the best case." Lala looked at Arad. "I'm not an expert in dragons but I know a bit. A dragon's muscles need more than just nutrients to work, they require mana processed by the fundamentum, without that organ, she might never be able to fly again. She'll find it hard to even stand in her draconic form."

"Don't worry about me." Zul turned toward Arad, "I'll find a solution in a century or two. We dragons have all the time we want."

"I guess that's true."

"If your case doesn't get worse." Lala glared at her. "If anything felt off, call me. I'm a succubus so I should be still alive in the coming centuries."

"You succubi feed off the life of your victims. You'll be alive in a thousand years," Zul glared at her.

"Trying to throw shade on me? I'll let you know that won't work, we high priestess of Gracie are like monks. You might not believe me, but I'm still a pure maiden. Refraining from our carnal hunger is what her lordship rewards us with power for." Lala waved her hand with a grin. "I might tease people though." She turned toward Arad with a grin.

"I'll kill you!" Eris growled at her, hissing as she stood her and Arad. "He my husband."

"[Our husband…]" Doma and Merida corrected her.

"Hoho…" Lala stared at them. "Is a fight about to start? A catfight, I see." She started watching. "The duality of sun and vampire magic, the queen of curses, and the demonic blade, shall we call the spirit herald and artificer to join the fight?"

"They aren't fighting. I would love to see them get along." Arad said as he glared at Lala.

"Hoo! The destroyer Uranus is trying to quell the storm, how unexpected. Dragons usually love nothing more than watching their drakainas fight to prove their strength."

"All of you. Don't fight." Arad glared at the girls.

"We aren't going to fight. We're just horsing around." Eris sighed.

"[I too have no intention of harming them. I'm getting to be the closest to you after all,]" Doma giggled.

Merida stared at her sword with a disappointed face. "I wanted to fight them…"

Eris smiled, "We can play a bit later, but not around here, we'll destroy the place."

"I'll check on you at the end of the week." Lala approached Zul. "For now, take care of your health."

Days quickly passed by, and the weekend approached. Arad had left back to Alina with his wives, leaving the rest in the university. Jack and Lydia made their way down to the city on a date, walking side by side.

"It's been a while since we had time like this." Lydia said, walking beside Jack.

"It's because you keep getting in trouble." Jack replied, "Whenever I tried to take you on a date you ended up starting a fight with the first thug we see."

"It's a paladin's duty to keep peace." Lydia replied to him.

"What about our peace? I honestly won't mind if we two could spend our time peacefully on a farm. I'll go out hunting and farming while you help me. Won't such a life be a dream?" He stared at her.

"That would be ideal if this world wasn't riddled with evil. It's a paladin's job to deal with that, I can't just ignore it." She glared at him with glowing golden eyes. "And you're the hero, aren't you? Won't it be good to show some excitement about saving the world, restoring balance, and riding the world of evil?"

Jack looked at the sky with a troubled face, "Hero you say? I don't think I'm fit for the job." He pulled the wakizashi and stared at it."

"The blade of the ancient hero Daraku. Am I really up to hold such a man's legacy?" Jack sighed, "I looked through all the books of the university and found nothing. The only lead I had was Kinryuu's words."

"Daraku, the hero that revitalized Amaterasu's religion by feeding the orphaned priestess that resided in one of the goddess's shrines." Lydia stared at the sun. "It takes a valiant hero to kick start a whole religion."

"See? That isn't the kind of task you entrust to a rogue." Jack cried, staring at her with a sad face. "I only want to live my life in peace. I grew up on the streets and only survived due to my sister Liliana's help. She was a thief, but did her best to feed us."

"You sister…" She looked at Jack, "When I was studying in the church, she was an infamous criminal. You don't know how many paladins would cut her head on sight."

"They would cut mine as well." Jack looked at Lydia, "Even you tried to kill me at one time. Why the change of heart?"

Lydia stared at him for a second, "I can't find an answer. I know that what you and she did is a crime, but I can't criticize you until I find a solution to the starving children in the city. Killing you or her is the same as forcing those kids to starve to death, or freeze in the winter." She sighed.

"People need to survive." Jack replied.

"That doesn't excuse your crimes, but since the first time I met you, I began to wonder. The life in front of me would've starved to death if Liliana wasn't stealing. Was it really worth it? And now that you became the hero, I can't help but feel that everything the paladins did was wrong." She looked at him with a sad face.

"It wasn't wrong. You know that sister is a tiefling, but there is something about her you might not know." Jack looked at Lydia, "Didn't you wonder why not a single paladin or priest could detect her even with the demonic blood running through her veins?"

"Now that you mentioned it. Tiefling appears in holy barriers like the sun in the sky, how could she have been slipping through their hands all those years? As if the gods didn't want her to be captured."

"You're close. She's a priestess of Kali, the goddess of demons, and destruction, and guardian deity of orphans. You couldn't detect her because she's like you, a user of holy magic."

"Wait… I didn't sense any holy magic from her when we met. We would've known if someone was from the holy order or not."

"She rarely prayed or used holy magic. Kali doesn't particularly care if you do or not, what she wants is either the destruction of evil demons that taint her people's name or the protection of children. Sister always said, Kali would smite her if she wasted time praying instead of getting food for us." Jack giggled, "But she did heal us with holy magic when we got sick."

"No wonder we never got a sick kid from the slums… We even suspected that people from the church were healing your brothers in secret." She stared at him with a surprised face.

"You would've used us to capture sister. We would rather die sick than come to your church, luckily for us, sister could keep us alive."

"A goddess that requests no prayers. Only a noble creed to be followed." Lydia mumbled. "I doubt she has any statues or churches, does she?"

"Sister said that Kali is popular in the demon continent and in the abyss. She would depict her as a tall blue-skinned woman with red palms and feet, she has six arms, and three heads and only wears a skirt made of severed arms and a large necklace of heads." Jack smiled.

"That's a horrifying image for the protector of children." Lydia stared at him with a worried face.

"That's her destruction form. It's what those who harm children and the demon's reputation see before they are torn to shreds. She usually takes the form of an orphaned little girl with pink hair when dealing with children. Some even claim that she guided them to the slums when they lost their parents." Jack looked at the buildings. "When some new kids showed up in the slums, they always claimed that a cheerful pink-haired girl led them to us and then disappeared."

"Gods can't walk the mortal world. And I never heard of them sending visions like that. Are you sure it wasn't someone throwing the responsibility at your sister?" Lydia stopped walking and looked to the side, a large bakery was there with countless people lined up to buy bread and today's special, apple pie with honey cream and ginger. She quickly pulled Jack to wait with her.

"Sister's parents got killed by bandits when they were traveling toward the demon continent. And before the bandits could land a hand on her, the goddess appeared in her destruction form and burned them to the ground." Jack stared at Lydia, "I bet Kali is far more active than Amaterasu."

"The sun is her grace." She pointed at the sun. "She's better."

"Kali is better."

"No, Amaterasu is the best one."

The two started fighting inside the bakery, and they got kicked out.