The dragon's harem

Sitting between the elves, Arad had to think about how to solve this big problem quickly. The hatred that the war had caused was now the fuel for conflict, and Arad couldn’t just erase that. His draconic mind immediately told him to kill all of the older elves and let the new generation prosper in peace, but his human side immediately shot that idea down.

That quick thinking didn’t prevent Cerilla from immediately sensing what he was thinking about, so she asked with a pout. "You thought of something scary just now. I can see the faint glow in your eyes."

Arad closed his eyes, sighed, and looked at her. "I thought that maybe I should just kill all of the older elves and let the younger ones prosper in a peaceful world. That way, all of the hatred would be forgotten."

All of the elvish guards paled, and one of them even pissed herself the moment she heard him speak. Out of everyone in the entire existence, Arad is the only one ruthless enough and with the power to do such a thing. She saw him fight Eris and how easily he started killing civilians just to draw her out.

"That would just get the new generation to hate you, right?" As Cerilla shook her head, Arad nodded. "True, that’s why I shot that idea down." He threw a glance at the elvish guards, especially the one who pissed herself. "No one will die."

Hearing this, all of the elves sighed in relief, and Arad was already thinking about the second possible solution. What if he just teleports all of the younger elves to live inside his inner world? Won’t that create a civilization of peaceful elves devoid of their hatred?

No... the kids would want to live with their parents, and since elves take decades to grow, the mental damage resulting from depriving them of parental love would be disastrous. Arad is a father now, and he also understands that the parents would want to live with their kids... even then, who would take care of the kids?

Separating the old and new generations is impossible. That was the conclusion that Arad reached.

"That..." Jasmine stared at him with a smile. "Probably another horrifying draconic thought." she then giggled. "Care to tell us?"

Arad shrugged. "I thought that I could just snatch the kids and lock them in my inner world." He then looked at the horrified elves. "If the new generation and the old one got separated, we could break the cycle of hatred immediately."

He immediately waved his hand. "I know what won’t work, so I scrapped it immediately." Seeing him like that, Dalla couldn’t help but giggle. "You’re like Queen Merida, but unlike her, you don’t act upon your first thought."

Arad smiled. "Well... Eris and Kossuth saw what happens when I act based on those first thoughts." Indeed. When he went to the Elemental Plane of Fire, he didn’t have his human soul to put the brakes on his draconic mind, so he ended up charging right through a whole divine heaven.

D shook her head. "And they call me nuts for having a bit of a sharp temper." Immediately, Noel threw a glare toward her. "No, you’re nuts." Dalla also nodded. "Yeah, D is nuts."

Li lifted her hand. "Can I talk?" Arad immediately looked at her. "If anyone here dares tell you to shut up, then I’ll skin them myself." Hearing that, everyone paled for a second but then shook their heads.

Li gulped. "Then... how about we just limit the interactions between the Dark Elves and High Elves? We can establish clear borders and screen everyone going in and out, the same way we wood elves make sure no strange and shady people get into our forest."

"That is possible." Cerilla nodded. "And it would be our best choice for now. But it won’t necessary stop people from asking for war, or spreading more hatred for no reason. Right now, the Dark Elves are living deep underground, far away from the High Elves, yet people still complain."

"We can also just prevent wars for a few centuries and wait for the hatred to fade on its own. But I don’t think that’ll happen any time quickly." Jasmine leaned back on her chair. "We’ll go through multiple generations. That’ll be at least a few thousand years."

Arad closed his eyes as he started thinking. "We can’t just implement one solution. We need many. Let’s do them all at once. We’ll set strict borders, limit interaction, and create several elvish colonies inside my inner world with the restriction that only young and newlywed elves are allowed to move there."

It was then that Noel spoke. "I know this might sound weird... but how about we fix the hatred with the power of love?" She looked at Arad. "Encourage marriages between the Dark Elves and High Elves to build connections between them. With that, people won’t want to start a war so easily."

"Won’t that eventually mix the two races?" Isdis asked, and D laughed in the back. "No, not at all. Yggdrasil had forgave us ages ago, so now, True Dark Elves are extinct in this world." She looked at herself. "We’re more like Tanned Elves."

All of the Dark Elves nodded, and so did Arad. "True... then we’ll add that in as well. Stop war with the power of love..." He smiled. "That should be fun to test." His purple eyes then shifted to look at everyone in the room. "Any more ideas?"

One of the guards lifted her hand, and he gave her permission to speak. "What if you just walked out and told them directly? Don’t beat around the bush. The dark elves didn’t bring the bugs, and the war will never start again. If any of you think of shedding more blood, I’ll gladly help them bleed." She swung her fist with a puffed chest and stern pout, trying to mimic Arad’s imposing presence, only to end up looking adorable to everyone else.

"Won’t that scare them?" He looked at her. "How about I try it on you?" The moment she heard those words, she froze and looked at Arad with a worried expression. "Ah... please don’t. I’m certain I’ll end up wetting myself." Just him staring and talking with her directly was scary enough.

She threw a glance toward the elvish guard who had pissed herself earlier and was now silently wiping the floor with a face blushed red as a tomato. Arad wasn’t just scary. He was absolutely horrifying, as they fully knew and understood just how powerful he was. This was a dragon who violated the heaven of the Fire Goddess. Their poor mortal bodies could not endure even a single snarl from him.

Arad smiled. "I get it, I won’t scare you." He then cracked his neck. I’ll keep your idea as a last resort." He then shifted his attention toward Cerilla. "You’re the next elvish goddess. How about you deliver that speech and make it clear that the divine will is against war?"

Cerilla smiled, "Leave it to me." For some reason, her smug grin looked even scarier than that of Arad’s.