The dragon's harem

As Tina did her best to get the smell off Ignis, Arad stat up from the massage table and cracked his back. "Still a few spots left, but it's good." He looked at Meryem with a smile. "Thank you."

"Next time I'll get them all." She stared at him with glowing eyes. "So, with this can we…"

"Any answer won't change, get mana first."

She looked down, "I'm trying. The kids still didn't bring enough mana stones."

Arad walked toward the pool and slowly sat down beside Merlin, "So, did you think it off? You labyrinth magic."

"It's too dangerous to use. You saw what happened last time." She refused, shaking her head.

"How about this? Created the largest and most dangerous labyrinth you can, and I'll burn it to the ground." He smiled.

"You aren't even listening to me. It's dangerous, even you might die based on the rules." The last labyrinth had him robbed of all of his draconic, vampiric, and lycanthropic powers. If he was to be limited again in a larger labyrinth, only death would await.

Arad smiled. "Since the last time, I've been thinking of a way to break a labyrinth's rules."

"Don't tell me, you found a way?"

"A labyrinth is an expansion of magic, to counter I just need to set an expansion of my own. Then the most refined one would dominate." He smiled.

"If you're already in the labyrinth, you might be unable to cast your expansion." She stared at him.

"But I could still use the items in my stomach. That means that space isn't affected by the labyrinth." Arad lifted his hands, "I'll start the expansion from my stomach and push out to cover my whole body, this would allow me to cast my expansion and challenge the labyrinth even if I was limited from the start."

"That sounds impossible to pull out, you'll have to cast your expansion the moment you walk into the labyrinth." She leaned on the pool's edge and stretched, "I'll have to see you try it on my own. Fine, I prepare a labyrinth to test it out. I too wouldn't mind if I could control my labyrinth magic."

"Arad!" Sena walked toward the pool and slowly sat inside facing Arad, "See, we ended up taking a bath together."

"I don't get why anyone besides my wives is here. But I'll leave the complaining to them." He stared at her with a passive face.

"Why would they complain? I for once won't mind you getting more wives if I were your wife. It's a sign of power and a part of the dragon's nature. You're the lions of monsters." She giggled.

"I might be a dragon, but I'm trying to live as a human. Or at least compromise between the two, just as Zephyr said." He stared at Sena with glowing purple eyes. "Relationships are compromises. Each involved party gives up something for the other's sake, this is how they can build a family together."

"I wouldn't say that wrong, but what are you compromising?" Sena asked.

"I seek stability and comfort, in exchange; I have to give up my draconic aggression and tendencies. If I were to act like a true dragon…"

"You'll kill and eat everyone here except me, Eris, Betty, and probably Merida. You're throwing away your draconic nature for the sake of your wives. I see that's indeed something you'll do." She giggled.

"And I'm the weakest." Mira who sat beside him smiled, "I'm the opposite of what dragons seek."

"Idiot!" Betty appeared beside Arad's head and kicked him. "What did I tell you before? You aren't a dragon, you're half a dragon whether you love or hate it. Most void dragons are born to a void dragon and a humanoid." She sat on his shoulder.

"If you have a void dragon mother then that means your father was a human. Even if your blood is that of a pure dragon your soul stillborn from them both, you'll never shake that human side."

"You might be right." He giggled and so did Mira. "Arad is Arad, he can be either a dragon or a human, and he'll remain himself."

After the bath Arad went to visit Baltos in the newly built keep, it was already past dusk so the maids were running everywhere lighting torches in the main hall, light crystals were too expensive and rare to find, even the combined effort of Sara and Baltos failed to yield enough to illuminate the whole place. What little crystals they managed to buy were directed toward the important parts that would require light, those are the kitchen, baths and restrooms, and main offices that Baltos and the ministers use.

One of the maids there was running across the hallway when she spotted Arad walking inside. She gasped, falling on her but and crawling back, "W-wait! Lord Arad is here?!" The moment she screamed, all of the maids heard and they scrambled everywhere to prepare.

Baltos has told them several times that he doesn't own the place nor has a right to it. They are merely occupying Baron Arad's newly emerging castle as a temporary measure after the capital's destruction.

If one thing came to the maid's mind it was that Arad was the one to slay Vlad and the white dragon that attacked before. "This way, lord Arad. We have the best seat prepared." The head maid rushed toward Arad to escort him inside.

"Don't worry about that. Isdis told me that Baltos wanted to see me, is he available?" Arad asked.

"The princess said… His Majesty, Lord Baltos sent Prince Charlie with the queens to deliver them to their families to stay for this duration. I believe he wanted to speak with you about that." She replied as they reached the throne room. The two guards stared at them, "Head maid Roberta, who is that?"

"Baron Arad." The moment she replied, their faces paled. "Please, this way." They quickly pushed the door open.

"What happened to Kin and Gin?"

"They went with Prince Charlie as escorts. His majesty couldn't send the queens without proper protection." She smiled.

Arad could see Baltos sitting on the throne talking with one of his ministers, exhausted. "Baltos, what's going on? You look drained." Arad said, walking past the gathered nobles as if he owned the place, which he does.

The minister who was talking with Baltos turned around with a twisting angry face, "Who… Ah! Isn't it Baron Arad, welcome, please come, talk with his majesty." The noble's expression changed the moment he saw Arad's face, and he moved out of the way with a gentle bow.

"Arad! You won't believe how happy I am to see you here, at last…" He stood and approached Arad with a rush in his steps.

"I guess something is going pretty badly to want to see me here." Arad looked at the nobles. It was clear on their faces that they weren't happy with something. Either they don't want to be living in the land of a small Baron or something has gotten beneath their skin.

"Yeah, it's bad… It's embarrassing me to ask you, but are you knowledgeable about economics?" He looked at him.

Arad shook his head, "Not a single idea. All I know is that I need to hunt monsters and give them to the guild, and they pay me."

"We're in a bit of a problem here." Baltos waved his hand, "This land is owned by you. You do know that?"

"Of course."

"Well, we can't tax people here because of that. Taxes from the entire kingdom are currently suspended due to the lack of infrastructure to get them to the royal treasury. We have the gold, but can't get it here safely." Baltos looked behind Arad's shoulder and pointed at several nobles. "You, you, you, and you three over there. Bring all the papers and follow us." He called and then turned toward Roberta, "Get us some tea, a lot of it in fact." He then turned toward, "It won't impact your sleep, would it? You're in school after all."

"I doubt it." Arad turned toward Roberta, "This seems exhausting, count me to have a larger mug."

Roberta bowed, "I've already informed the maids to prepare a barrel of tea for Sir Arad when they first spotted him. That won't be a problem."

As everyone went into the meeting room, Baltos started explaining how the royal family gets its money, how to run the capital, and how to spend said money on farms, construction, and so on… he kept talking for almost two hours with Arad just sitting there, listening.

"Baltos…" Arad cut him off, "It's been almost two hours…what I got from all of this is that none of those income methods or whatever you call them can't work here, either due to the region being poorly developed, or due to that I own it and I should get that money."

"That's indeed the case, leading us to the current situation." Baltos looked at the nobles, "With us only having the money from the royal treasury, we'll quickly run dry if we start spending as we did before. I had to cut the pay of all the nobles and those who work here. We don't have a renewing income. I did intend to find a way around Alina, but as cities go, sadly it can't help support a royal castle."

"So we don't have money to buy hay for the horses, pay the builders, nobles, maids, and everyone that works here, even the money for food will soon run dry…" Arad scratched his head.

"Is there a way to work this out?" Baltos stared at him.

"I'm not letting you start taxing my village, it's was just built and the people there probably won't eat dinner if they ate lunch." Arad scratched his head, "But I might just have the solution."

"And what could that be?" Baltos gasped.

"But I'll give you some advice from the start." Arad stared at him. "Hands off, the woman is mine." He smiled, "Roberta, I believe she could figure this out."