The dragon's harem

Arad sighed, sitting in the boiling bathwater with Eris by his side. "How did it end up like this?" They were in his castle's main bath, a large one able to serve tens of people that was made for the staff of the place, for the maids and workers. It was separated into sections, a women's bath, and a men's bath.

With Arad being the landlord and the king of this castle even though Baltos is using it as a base for the kingdom's royal court, the girls manage to reserve the whole bath for them and Arad. Now they were in the woman's bath, with him joining in.

He looked at the ceiling, "The marble is nice, but doesn't this place need a bit more lighting?" He turned to look at Mira who was walking toward the hot pool.

"We're prioritizing vital structures, this light is good enough." She looked at the light crystals hanging from the ceiling. "The need to make sure the basic needs are met first, like enough rooms to sleep in, water sources, supply routes, and a place to wire toilets into." She entered the water and sat beside Arad.

"This is still better than anything in Alina." Merlin approached them with a smile, "I bet some maids would want to work here just to have access to this bath."

Betty teleported to Arad's head. Standing on him like she always does. "A dragon loves to flaunt his wealth. This castle is a part of Arad's hoard, his pride. Make it larger, fancier, and flashier, and make sure anyone who sees it has to gasp. This Arad person is rich, is what they must think."

Arad grabbed her by the ankle and slammed her into the water face fist. "I said no magic inside the bath. You aren't an exception." She floated to the surface, motionless.

"Be gentle with her. She's an important asset to the kingdom." Isdis said with a smile, sitting at the edge of the pool. She started slapping the water with her feet and using a wooden basin as a drum.

"Everything is an instrument to you." Arad stared at her. She was indeed making a sweet tune.

Aella approached Isdis, "Nice tune. Been a while since I heard it last."

"Elves have forgotten it." Isdis turned toward her.

"They've got other things on their minds." Aella replied, sitting beside her.

Arad looked at them. "Is there another conflict between the elves and humans?"

Isdis giggled, "The elvish queen sent a messenger to my father. She says he can't monopolize Arad."

Aella looked at Arad, "You're power is too great to be under one kingdom. The elves are afraid you might turn on them."

"How about you pay them a visit?" Amber looked at him with a smile as she slowly went into the water, which she felt was a bit too cold for her, she liked it boiling hot.

"Queen Cerilla Zylphyra and Dalla Brown…" Arad looked up, "It's been a while…"

Betty flipped herself out and looked at Arad, "You know, I went to grandma this morning and she asked me to help two people here." She pointed at the door, and just then, Cerilla and Dalla made their way in.

"They are here?!" Isdis gasped.

"Her Highness?!" Aella almost jumped.

Arad looked at Betty, "Why…"

"How sad, you aren't happy to see me?" Cerilla looked at Arad with a smile. "I might be old, but I do still retain my young appearance."

"I'm happy to see Dalla, but I don't know about you." He replied, looking at Dalla with a smile. "Welcome to my land. I hope you like it."

Dalla sighed, "I'm only her maid, you know? Shouldn't those words be directed to her?" She pointed at Cerilla.

"Don't mind him, Dalla." Cerilla sighed, "This idiot loves women who can fight him. Someone like me won't catch his interest."

"I do indeed. Her art has helped me countless times," He smiled.

Aella pointed at Arad, "Your slapping has been his main unarmed martial style."

"It was made so the weak could conquer the strong." Dalla looked at him.

"And I do just that. No matter how strong I am, I'll end up facing people stronger than me. I mean, if they were weaker, there would be no reason to fight." He looked at her.

"That's true…" The two walked toward the shower to wash before coming to the pool.

Lord Arad, "Rey and Ray approached him. "We've been teaching Meryem how to do massage lately, care to test it?" Rey said, showing Arad that Meryem was sitting beside the massage table, waiting for him.

"Meryem? You two can't do it?" He looked at them.

Ray approached him, "If you excuse me." She lifted her foot and kicked him in the back as hard as she could, and then cried, her foot throbbing in pain. "We're…" She gasped, "Too weak to be able to massage you. Someone stronger must do it,"

Arad nodded. If he couldn't feel a serious kick from one of them, there was no way they could massage him. Even before evolving, Mira did need a whole sledgehammer to massage him. Technique did cover the gap, but ultimately, he grew too tough for them.

Arad stood and walked toward the massage table. "Let's give it a try." He looked at Meryem.

She smiled, "Leave it to me." As Meryem tried to massage Arad under Rey and Ray's instructions, Merida was doing stretches in the corner with Nina she also got invited and came.

"Flexibility is just as important as raw strength." Nina said, doing a split. "You've built a nice muscular structure, but I say your muscles are small and compact, they are made for quick and rapid releases of power. Unlike mine, I'm slow and have a lot of strength so I need to rely on compact release to accelerate."

Merida did a split like Nina. "I agree, using tendons to store elastic energy to jump or charge forward is nice, but my body works differently. My muscles can only output strength at a human level, but I get the extra kick from what's in my body, the fungus."

"So it reinforces your muscles and bones." Nina stared at her. "Have you tried using heavy weapons?"

"I did, but I don't have the weight to lift them. I always get off balance when using a great sword, so I opted for an extra-long blade." Merida clenched the muscles of her back, dislocating her shoulder to turn her arm backward.

"So the fungus dulls pain and can force your muscles and joints to move beyond their limit." Nina looked at her, "But how far gone are you?"

"I did try this with Arad." Merida looked around, "Arad, Send Zia to help me here."

Zia, the vampire maid that was with Vlad emerged from Arad's body and started walking toward Merida. "Again…" She sighed.

"Arad is busy, so you'll help me. The other always refuses." Merida glared at her.

Zia walked behind Merida and twisted her neck in place. Even Nina could feel a shiver down her spine as she saw Merida's head take a 360-degree turn.

"It is hard to speak…but my spine is protected by the fungus and made more flexible. The mycelium neural network in my body can also transmit neural signals from my brain so even if my spine got severed, I can still move." Merida explained and Zia snapped her head back to place.

"Sorry to say this, but I doubt you're human anymore." Nina shook her head.

"I didn't even get to the best part." Merida lifted her hand and thin threads of fungus jumped out of her palm and connected to her neck. "Did you see it? How fast was it?"

"Too fast, I didn't see them move." Nina shook her head.

"Even if someone severed my head, the fungus would jump out like this and connect back to my body. I'm indeed no more a human. I would say I'm closer to demons now." Merida giggled.

"You're still human." Zia stared at her, "Demons are much more durable than this. You're merely a human enchanted with a demonic life form."

Merida smiled, "I hope I'm still a bit human at least."

"She didn't get to the part about controlling corpses." Sena said as she approached. Selica walked behind her

"Yeah… I can create an army of fungus zombies under my control." Merida sighed, "I'm indeed a demon."

"Demons aren't to be hated." Sena smiled, "They are separated into two, those who are good and those who are evil, just like humans."

In the other corner of the bath, Tina was brushing Ignis's back with a large brush. "Your scales are quite hard to clean." She said.

Ignis lifted her head, speaking in draconic.

"She says that her scales are clean, she always burns dirt with fire." Arad translated as Meryem was doing her best to snap his back.

"That's why she needs a bath." Tina replied, "She smells like sulfur and pumice."