Demonic Dragon: Harem System

Monica was in the middle of three different reports when the door to her office opened without ceremony.

One dealt with the new grain imports, another with the greenhouses built in the western region, and the last was an update on stock distribution among the most populated districts.

After an entire morning discussing prices, railway routes, and purchase limits, she had already accepted that the food crisis would not be solved quickly.

So when Beatrice entered with a strangely calm expression, Monica did not even raise her head at first.

"If you came to tell me another shipment was delayed, put it on the pile to the left."

"Actually, the problem with the crops has been partially solved."

The quill stopped immediately.

Monica slowly raised her eyes.

"Repeat that."

Beatrice approached the desk and handed her a hastily written report.

"The experimental crops in the west are responding much better now. The soil that was dispersing mana has begun stabilizing, moisture has increased, and several crops that were practically dead are recovering. We still don’t know exactly how far the effect reaches, but it seems to be expanding."

Monica took the report and quickly scanned the numbers.

The difference was far too large to be the result of some ordinary alchemical adjustment.

Some areas operating at less than thirty percent of expected capacity had practically doubled their estimated productivity in only a few hours.

She frowned and looked back at Beatrice.

"What did you do?"

"I didn’t do anything."

"Yennifer?"

"Neither did she."

Monica slowly set the document down on the desk.

"Strax."

Beatrice smiled.

Monica closed her eyes.

"Of course it was him."

"To be fair, apparently he wasn’t trying to solve the problem either."

"That doesn’t make it any better."

Beatrice pulled out a chair and sat across from the desk.

"According to what Yennifer explained, Strax was inspecting the land when the Gauntlet of Darkness reacted to something underground. He used the authority he obtained in Tartarus to observe what was beneath the ground and found a gigantic plant structure buried kilometers deep."

Monica remained motionless.

"A plant structure."

"A tree."

"Under Asgard."

"Probably."

Monica slowly rested her elbows on the desk.

"Probably?"

"We can’t see the whole tree. Only one root reached the surface when Strax made contact with it. But the underground extension is enormous. Some branches seem to cross a large part of the western region and may even extend closer to the city."

That erased any relief Monica might have felt at the temporary solution to the shortage.

A plant capable of changing soil fertility would be extremely useful, especially right now, but too much convenience usually meant a problem that had not yet been understood.

Asgard had just dealt with an underground biological network that had nearly transformed an entire region into enemy territory.

The last thing Monica intended to do was look at another colossal structure hidden beneath the kingdom and simply thank it for the gift.

"Is it conscious?"

"We don’t know."

"Hostile?"

"Not so far."

"Any reaction to Strax besides the root growing?"

Beatrice thought for a few seconds.

"His Gauntlet seems to have awakened something. Not necessarily the entire tree. The root reacted to the energy and began transforming the surrounding soil. Yennifer ran a few simple tests and found no toxins, mental influence, or mana corruption."

"Simple tests."

"That was all we had time to do."

Monica leaned back in her chair and looked at the numbers again.

"Too convenient."

Beatrice let out a small laugh.

"That was exactly what I thought."

"We’re facing food shortages, discover that our soil is unsuitable for large-scale agriculture, and on the same day an ancient tree buried beneath the crops wakes up and starts making the land fertile."

"When you put it like that, it sounds suspicious."

"Because it is suspicious."

Monica took another sheet and quickly wrote several orders.

She did not want to interrupt the effect on the crops while it remained stable, but she also would not allow workers to begin farming directly over an unknown entity without supervision.

"Keep someone watching that tree at all times. There’s no need to turn the area into a military installation because that will only cause panic, but I want records of any mana change, growth, underground movement, or reaction to specific people."

Beatrice nodded.

"And don’t let anyone try to tear off a root to study it."

"I already assumed Frieren would do that."

"Especially Frieren."

The two remained silent for a moment.

Then Monica realized something.

"Where is Strax?"

Beatrice shrugged.

"He left."

"Naturally."

"Said he had something else to do."

Monica massaged her forehead.

"Just keep your eyes on that tree. If it does anything strange, even if it looks harmless, tell me immediately."

"Will do."

Beatrice stood and started walking toward the door, but stopped before leaving.

"You know... it’s still possible that this is simply something good."

Monica looked at her.

Beatrice smiled.

"I know. I don’t believe it either."

---

When Strax returned to the underground laboratory a few hours later, he expected to find Frieren and Selene still talking.

He did not expect to find exactly the same scene.

The two were practically in the same places where he had left them, surrounded by magical diagrams, metal plates, notes, and three containers that definitely had not been there before.

Selene had completely abandoned any appearance of a diplomatic Great Witch.

Her hat was still tossed onto a workbench, several orange strands had escaped her hairstyle, and she gestured energetically while drawing a formation in the air.

Frieren was bent over another table, comparing that structure with the diagram of one of the artificial cores.

Strax stood at the entrance for almost a full minute.

Neither noticed.

He raised a hand and knocked twice on the wooden door.

Knock. Knock.

Frieren kept looking at the diagram.

Selene finished a rune before finally noticing something.

Strax raised an eyebrow.

"Do you still need me for anything?"

Selene froze.

Her eyes moved from the magical drawing to Strax, then to the laboratory around them, as if only at that moment she remembered where she was and, more importantly, who had allowed her inside.

"Ah."

Frieren looked at Strax.

"You came back."

"I told you I would."

"I didn’t hear you."

"I noticed."

Selene turned red with embarrassment.

She immediately stepped away from the workbench, smoothed her clothes, and then did something Strax did not expect.

She bowed deeply before him.

"I apologize."

Strax blinked.

"For what?"

"I completely ignored you."

"Yes."

The direct answer made Selene even more embarrassed.

"That was extremely rude, especially after you allowed me to see such an important facility for Asgard."

She straightened again and briefly looked at Frieren.

"It’s just... rare."

"Rare?"

"To meet someone like this."

Frieren raised an eyebrow.

Selene pointed at her.

"Someone knowledgeable enough that I can present an incomplete hypothesis without first needing to explain twenty basic concepts. Aside from a few Witches in the Congregation, it has been a long time since I spoke with someone capable of following certain areas of research."

Frieren seemed to consider that an acceptable compliment.

"She also knows useful things."

Selene smiled immediately.

"Was that a compliment?"

"Yes."

"I liked it."

Strax watched the two and let out a small sigh.

If they were given a few more hours, they would probably start exchanging entire libraries.

"It’s fine. Actually, this makes my decision easier."

Selene immediately became attentive.

Strax entered the laboratory, briefly looked over the homunculi, and then stopped in front of the two.

"Now that you’ve seen a little of Asgard and the kind of things we’re doing here, I want to see the other side."

Selene understood immediately.

"The Congregation."

"Exactly. You want to build a Magic Tower inside my territory. Before I accept six hundred mages coming here, I want to see where you live, how you work, and what kind of structure you intend to bring to Asgard."

"Fair."

Selene retrieved her hat and placed it back on her head.

Then she looked at Frieren, and her smile became almost suspicious.

"Want to come with us?"

Frieren answered immediately.

"Yes."

Strax looked at her.

"You don’t even know how long we’ll be gone."

"Doesn’t matter."

"And the homunculi?"

"The tanks can maintain automated development for several days. If anything goes outside the parameters, the system stops the growth."

"You thought of that quickly."

"I’ve been thinking about it since she mentioned the Congregation’s archives."

Selene looked extremely pleased.

Strax accepted that he had lost that battle before he even knew it existed.

"All right. I’ll ask for some mounts. Depending on the distance, we can take Apocal—"

Selene raised her staff.

A magic circle appeared in front of them.

Strax stopped talking.

The formation appeared so quickly that he did not even see Selene construct the runes individually.

Space simply folded.

A vertical surface of violet light opened in front of the three, surrounded by golden symbols rotating slowly in opposite directions.

On the other side, Strax could only see some kind of blue sky and distant structures.

Selene smiled.

"Oh, we have teleportation. Relax."

"I noticed."

Strax approached to examine the portal.

Selene placed one hand on his back.

"Go."

"And if I want to know where—"

She pushed him.

Strax went through.

"Son of a—"

Frieren was pushed through next.

Selene entered right after her.

The sensation lasted less than a second.

Strax felt space compress his body, his perception vanish momentarily, and then the ground existed beneath his feet again.

He took two steps to regain his balance and immediately turned around to complain to Selene.

He could not.

Because Frieren had just appeared beside him.

And the elf’s mouth practically fell open.

Strax slowly looked forward.

"Ah."

Now he understood.

They were not standing before a Magic Tower.

They were standing before an entire city.

No.

That did not describe it correctly either.

The territory of the Witch Congregation occupied a gigantic natural crater surrounded by mountains, but practically no part of the place obeyed normal rules of architecture.

Towers floated in the sky, connected to one another by bridges made of light.

Entire islands remained suspended hundreds of meters above the ground, each carrying laboratories, gardens, and magical structures of its own.

Rivers flowed upward along the mountain walls before splitting into hundreds of channels that crossed the sky like liquid serpents.

At the center of everything stood a tower.

Strax raised his head.

Kept raising it.

And kept going.

The structure was so tall that it pierced the clouds.

Different sections looked as though they had been built in completely different eras.

Black stone on the lower levels.

Blue crystal in the middle sectors.

Metallic structures farther above.

And enormous magical rings rotating around the regions that disappeared into the clouds.

Every floor seemed to possess hundreds of windows, platforms, and small attached buildings.

Frieren still had not closed her mouth.

Selene watched her reaction with obvious satisfaction.

"Welcome to Feywin Tower."

Frieren finally managed to speak.

"That is a tower?"

Selene tilted her head.

"Originally."

Strax looked at her.

"Originally?"

"We started with one."

He turned his eyes back toward the landscape.

There were at least twenty large secondary structures spread across the crater.

Selene started walking, motioning for them to follow.

"That red island is dedicated to thermal alchemy. The white structure on the left works with spiritual magic. The three floating cylinders are spatial compression laboratories. Don’t go near the lowest one."

Strax immediately looked at it.

"Why?"

"It exploded yesterday."

"It’s still floating."

"It exploded on the inside."

Frieren was already walking faster.

Selene pointed toward another area.

A gigantic creature made of stone slowly walked through the valley, carrying an entire building on its back.

It was more than a hundred meters tall, and every step made the ground tremble.

"Heavy transport golem."

Frieren stopped.

"Is it autonomous?"

"Partially."

"What core?"

"Fifth generation."

"You have a sixth?"

"Three prototypes."

"I want to see them."

"After the homunculi."

"You really have an entire wing?"

"Three."

Frieren turned completely toward her.

"You said one."

"I didn’t want to scare Strax before the negotiation."

Strax looked sideways.

"I’m listening."

"I know."

They continued along a broad avenue built from white stone.

Witches moved in every direction, and quickly began noticing Selene.

Some flew on brooms.

Others simply walked through the air.

There were women accompanied by small golems, magical familiars, spirits, and creatures Strax could not identify.

None seemed surprised by the absurd phenomena happening around them.

A blue explosion erupted high on a distant tower, and no one even turned their head.

Strax noticed something else.

Mana.

There was too much mana in that place.

The air was so saturated that even breathing seemed to slowly feed the body.

Large formations buried beneath the entire crater drew energy from the mountains, the sky, and perhaps places even farther away, distributing it throughout the facilities.

"How long have you been building this?" he asked.

Selene slowed slightly.

"The first Tower is approximately three thousand four hundred years old."

Strax looked again at the colossal structure.

Now he understood the real value of the proposal.

Six hundred Witches were not merely six hundred combatants.

They were thousands of years of accumulated development arriving in Asgard.

Selene pointed ahead.

"But I think you’ll like that part more."

An enormous rounded structure had been built into the mountain.

Metal gates nearly fifty meters tall remained closed, covered in dozens of different magic circles.

Above them were symbols Frieren recognized immediately.

She stopped walking.

Her eyes widened again.

"HOMUNCULI."

Selene smiled.

"Our Artificial Life Department."

The gates began to open.

Frieren moved forward before they were even fully open.

Strax watched the elf practically disappear inside beside Selene and ran a hand over his face.

Then he heard Frieren shout from somewhere ahead:

"STRAX!"

His eyes widened.

Frieren almost never shouted.

"What?!"

There were a few seconds of silence.

Then her voice came again, filled with an excitement Strax might never have heard from her before.

"THEY MADE A DRAGON."

Strax went still.

Selene reappeared at the entrance, smiling as though she had been waiting for exactly that moment.

"A small one."

Strax narrowed his eyes.

"Define small."

Selene thought.

"Forty meters."

Strax sighed deeply.

Perhaps allowing a Magic Tower in Asgard would be the best decision he made that year.

Or the worst.

Probably both.