The dragon's harem

As Loci finally got a body, Arad found himself sitting back on the table of the Spirit Queen meeting. Gaia had returned as well, so they got busy discussing the new Queens. His body back underground had to deal with Nina and Loci arguing, and that was just the start of the trouble.

The Earth Spirit Queen needed to merge with the planet, and the Wind Spirit Queen needed to be powerful enough to engulf the entire atmosphere with her magic. There weren’t a lot of candidates that satisfied both those conditions while still being decent enough for the post.

Both Arad and Merlin could easily empower any spirit enough to become a queen, but doing that would harm their natural development of power. That’s why, after a long discussion, they decided to hold a spirit tournament.

But unlike what Arad expected, the tournament itself was short and quick, consisting of just the current Spirit Queens naming their candidates, calling them to the table, and having them display the density of their spirit magic.

There was no single perfect candidate, so instead, the Spirit Queens decided to leave the two spots empty for now and have multiple spirits work together to fill the role.

While checking all of those spirits, Arad discovered that the Spirit Queens he knew were really special, as their power far surpassed that of everyone else. "How does a spirit even become a Spirit Queen?"

"Every spirit has something inside them we call a spirit seed. Getting it is the reason a fairy evolves into a spirit. That seed can then mature, and if there is no queen in the world, that spirit would become the queen." Zephyr sighed, "Even those spirits have matured seeds and are living in your inner world. They still aren’t powerful enough to get the world to approve of them."

Arad lifted an eyebrow. "If they have the magic, the matured seed, and the spot is empty, then why?" As he asked, Gaia shrugged. "To put it simply, the world has decided they aren’t good enough. To explain it in details, we need to go over their spirit magic amount, age, will, goals, personality, and far more."

Gaia clapped her hands, and an earth spirit appeared standing on the table. "Say, your name was Tarissa, right?" The spirit nodded and knelt down. "It is as you say, My Queen."

"Tarissa, I want to use you as an example to study the spirit queen evolution path. But it’ll get a bit too personal for your liking. If you don’t want to do it, you can leave and I’ll call someone else." As Gaia smiled, Tarissa shook her head.

"My queen, you can do whatever you like with me. I swore your service." Hearing that, Gaia just frowned. She didn’t believe the spirit understood the situation she was in, so she decided to give her a very good reason to leave.

"Then I’ll start by having you shift to live inside one of Arad’s human maids. Sadly, once you’re there, you won’t be able to shift back." To a spirit, getting to live inside something that isn’t a fully fledged world was the ultimate insult, and almost all spirits would rather die than do it.

This was only meant to get the spirit to leave, but to Gaia’s surprise, the spirit nodded in agreement. "Then so be it."

Gaia sighed. "I was joking about that part, but I can now see that you’re quite determined. Care tell us why?"

The spirit closed her eyes and sat down. "I want to become a spirit queen and become someone powerful enough to carry the world I reside in. To achieve that, I’ll use any method I can and take any chance I get my hands on. Sitting here between you all, I feel closer to that goal than ever."

Arad smiled. "We’re discussing the positions of Earth and Wind spirit queens that are empty in my inner world. You could indeed become a Spirit Queen, but that isn’t something that is under our control."

Her eyes opened wide. "I’ve heard about that, and I hope I’ll be worthy." She then shifted her attention back to Gaia. "Please, let’s get started." She then waved her hand. "First, can you show us your matured spirit seed?"

Lifting both of her hands, Tarissa formed a burning ball of earth magic above her palms and smiled. "This is my fully matured spirit seed."

It was powerful and ready to bloom into its final form, but it was held back for some reason. Then it was a long series of questions about when she got her seed, when the seed fully matured, what she does in her empty time, what her feelings are toward her Queen Gaia, and much more. Tarissa answered everything truthfully, even the things that could get her into hot water. One of those truths was that she was behind a rebellion that happened decades ago, where she tried to take Gaia down using subterfuge.

"You know, I’ve spent five years looking for the bitch behind it and I swore to skin her alive when I find her. To think it was you..." Gaia glared at her with a horrifying smile. "Why admit that now?"

"I told you that I won’t lie or hide anything. This could be the day I become a queen, and I won’t ruin it just to protect myself." Hearing that reply, Gaia snarled. "I’m going to have a lot of fun with you after this."

When everything was done and the questions ended, Arad already developed a good idea about how a spirit could become a Spirit Queen, which made it all the weirder that none of them spawned in his inner world with all of the power spirits running around.

Tarissa here was basically a genius with a willingness to do everything to achieve her goal, but the very laws of the universe and the world she lived in worked against her.

But as Gaia was about to send her back, Tarissa addressed Arad. "Can I ask you a few questions?"

Arad smiled. "Ask away."

"The world inside your stomach. Are you its owner?" As she looked at his eyes, he nodded. "Yes, I made it from scratch. The sun is Eris, but you can say I own everything."

She gulped as sweat started forming all over her body. She had a guess as to what was preventing everyone from becoming a Spirit Queen inside Arad’s world, but saying or doing it here could get her killed instantly.

After a few seconds of silence, she decided to give it a try anyway. She started stripping, and Gaia growled at her. "What are you doing?" Tarissa didn’t reply and kept going until she was fully naked, and only then did she approach Gaia.

All of the other Spirit Queens looked, but none interfered. Tarissa was only alive by relying on their tolerance and knew that she should’ve been killed the moment she didn’t leave.

With shaking hands and legs, Tarissa made her move, and that move caused even Arad to audibly gasp, "What?" She spread her legs a bit apart and started pissing on Gaia’s head.

No one was angry, all of them were just bewildered and confused, even Gaia. She sat there, letting Tarissa do her thing with dumbfounded face.

When Tarissa finished her business, she jumped down from the table and knelt in front of Arad. "I denounce Gaia and all other Spirit Queens. Arad Orion, ruler of the inner world. I declare myself as nothing more than a tool in your hand to serve, build, and maintain that inner world."

"What are you even trying to do?" As Arad asked with a confused face, Tarissa’s seed bloomed and her wings grew even bigger. She had been accepted by Arad’s inner world as its Earth Spirit Queen.

Tarissa smiled. "My Lord, it seems that your inner world absolutely refuses to give authority to anyone with a shred of reverence in their heart for anyone else besides you." She stood and looked back at Gaia. "I had to show it that I’m not going to show you any respect anymore. Otherwise, it would have never approved of me."

Gaia stood with a smile on her face. "I see... I’m certain you could’ve gone about it in a different way, but..." With a swing, she smacked her in the face and drilled her head into the ground. "Now that you’re a Spirit Queen, I’ll take my time making you cry a bit."

Zephyr mumbled in the back. "So... it can’t be a spirit that is loyal to me or anyone else. If that spirit has any ties to a higher power, she has to cut them first..." She smiled. "Or become a spirit queen outside Arad’s inner world and then enter it."