The dragon's harem

Not having anything else to talk about, Arad and Eris returned to the mortal moon, where he should be able to go back to sleep. Eris made her way back to her heaven, and Merlin was about to go bald from sheer exhaustion, as opening the portal leading to the Elemental Plane of Fire alongside all of her other duties had almost drained her dry.

Luckily, her job was almost done, and she could finally relax a bit. The orcs on DelTaDa’s land territory had given up their batteries after being persuaded by him, and all other orc groups, totalling nine, had also been caught and had their batteries confiscated. Out of them all, only two groups actively fought back, and the result was as expected.

When any of those poor orcs tried to fight back and resist, Alcott alone was enough to handle them on his own. The others didn’t even have a chance to fight. But even with that, the orcs’ deaths were kept at zero. It was really horrifying to see how fast and precise Alcott’s moves were when he got serious. He could easily read the orcs’ movements and even slash bullets with ease, and before they could even know what happened, they found their wrists slashed off and their ankles shattered.

Looking at the fat pile of batteries, Merlin sighed as she packaged them all in a box, sealed them inside several layers of prismatic barriers, and then sent them to Arad on the moon to consume. Even though they were literally food for him, Merlin still felt like she was treating Arad like a trash can where she could throw anything that she wanted to get rid of.

Arad could indeed consume pretty much everything and anything, so eating a few fusion reactors and even dead gods didn’t seem like that much of a problem. But even if it was just for looks, Merlin made sure those batteries weren’t sent alone, and she had already ordered the maids in the private quarter to prepare a few roasted bison for Arad. Specifically, a whole fifty of them alongside two whales and ten titanic monsters, all grilled on open fire.

When the maids saw the giant and absurd order, they almost died on the spot, if not for the very tiny footnote that says they only need to support the Storm Titans’ Royal chefs. That was right; the servants that Tyal brought with her could cook, but not to the same level of skill as the maids.

"I didn’t get to do anything..." Lucy puffed her cheeks and sat curled into a ball on her golden throne. "I wanted to blast divine magic from the sky." Moby was there, patting her on the shoulder with a wry smile. "Come on, don’t worry about it. We can always try that somewhere else."

"I didn’t just want to try it; I wanted to use divine magic to help. But Uncle Alcott got rid of those orcs too quickly... How is a human allowed to move like that?" As Lucy complained, Moby giggled. "Sir Alcott isn’t a mere human; he is a former hero, a werewolf, and a vampire. He is quite the seasoned fighter."

Lucy looked at her with a sad face. "That isn’t my point. If Uncle Alcott and I were to fight, he would behead me before I could even move, and I’m a divine goddess. He can read the opponent’s moves just by the smallest twitches in their eyes or muscles, determine patterns, study facial expressions, and even breathing to easily counter even races that he never faced before, like the orcs."

"You saw all of that?" Moby gasped, and Lucy hugged her knees. "I can feel his hunger, and he isn’t hungry for food. Uncle Alcott is starved for stability and serenity. He doesn’t see the orcs as invaders, but as new variables into the greater function of what we call global stability."

Moby sighed. "You’re right, Sir Alcott once was the hero of the Human God Chad, and his main goal was to ensure the safety and stability of the Mortal World by preventing the Chromatic and Metallic war." Moby sat on the throne’s side. "Even if his job was already done ages ago, he still has the spark."

Lucy stood. "I’m going home for now... I want to take a bath and rest a bit." Moby stood right beside her. "I already asked for permission, and Her Divinity Isdis said I could stay with you for a while." She looked at her with a smile. "How about we have a hunting trip after you’re done resting? We’ve spotted a few large monsters moving south from the far north."

Moby was right: the blast Samantha caused had scared a lot of monsters and forced them to migrate far away, and they are now a moving danger to all of the cities in Gojo’s domain. She immediately cheered up. "Yeah! Let’s help Gojo a bit. I’m certain he would need me."

"Lucy’s great Divine Airstrike would be an invaluable asset, especially if we need to snipe monsters from above the clouds." Hearing Moby’s words, Lucy could feel her energy coming back as she rushed toward Merlin.

"Aunty Merlin, can I have this golden throne, pretty please!" Before she could even start begging, Merlin sighed. "Don’t even start your games. I’ll send it to your heaven, but you’ll have to maintain it yourself."

Lucy started jumping around and celebrating, but Moby approached Merlin. "Games?"

"Teary eyes, begging, trying to look cute, and if all of those failed, she would resort to trickery and even blackmail. Keep in mind this little girl is a highly educated Royal Princess that was expected to fight in a war of succession." Crossing her arms, Merlin sighed. "She is as nasty as innocent as she looks."

Lucy giggled. "Come on, Aunty Merlin. I’m not that bad..."

Merlin wasn’t taking any of her lies. "Yeah, I’ve investigated the royal family and found several suspicious records... You’ve been preparing for many things, like what would you do if any of your siblings tried to assassinate you."

"You’re giving me more credit than I deserve; I’m not that smart." Trying to play dumb wasn’t going to help, as Merlin probably knew Lucy better than she knew herself. "Said the brat who saw Arad and Gojo then immediately decided that her best way of surviving a royal succession war was to stick with one of them. At the start, you only wanted to get close to Gojo because you thought Isdis, who got close to Arad, would try to kill you. Pitting Gojo against Arad was your insurance against Isdis turning against you."

Lucy finally dropped the act and sighed. "Come on, you’re too smart for your own good. You’re right, I saw Sister pull up to the palace with Arad in tow, and I knew she would use his power to take the throne. To make sure she can’t kill me, I got Gojo by my side. To our luck, Sister wasn’t about to murder anyone."

"You’re one scary little girl..." Merlin sighed, then smiled. "But I don’t hate you; no one does. Just don’t get Gojo wrapped up in any nasty scheme."

Lucy faded away alongside Moby. "Don’t worry, we’re already busy enough."