The dragon's harem

Right after settling into their room, Arad went out with everyone else to look around the castle while Lucifer dealt with some internal matters. It seems that having him here and Kali on top of that had put a lot of nobles on edge, especially since their strongest paladin got beaten to a pulp and a divine punishment failed to kill Arad.

For all they know, both Arad, Kali, and Diana are monsters beyond their ability to handle. Not to mention that Kali and Diana are running around playing tag, not causing trouble but certainly not helping everyone calm down.

The half-angel maid, named Jina, was now walking around with Aella, Tina, Mira, and Arad, who carried Serin on his shoulder, letting her play with his hair.

She looked back at them. A holy child and her mother, a demi-goddess, then Arad himself, Aella was the only one who looked normal and approachable.

Jina slowed her walking a bit to get closer to Aella and whispered, “Got any food in mind? So I can tip the cooks for dinner.”

“Arad’ll eat anything. Tina prefers something light. Mira, on the other hand, won’t be satisfied without something healthy and filling. For me, I’m an elf, so anything that only has plants and greens.” Aella looked at her with a smile and then turned to Arad.

“What do you think? About dinner?”

Jina never wanted to drag Arad into this conversation. Based on what she had seen so far and how reserved Lucifer was, she knew that talking with either Arad or Kali too much might lead her to learn something that she shouldn’t and then get silenced.

As long as Arad’s meat stick isn’t elbow-deep inside her, she probably shouldn’t put too much hope that he’ll spare her if she messed something up.

Arad looked at them, and he lifted an eyebrow. For some reason, Jina was sweating buckets, and he could smell her fear. “What Aella said will do. But if something didn’t work, no worries. I’ve got enough food for weeks.”

Arad’s reply seemed to make her more terrified, which confused Arad. He then decided that it was probably best to remain silent and let her relax a bit. She is probably just nervous around strangers.

Mira looked at them with a smile. “Jina, that was your name, right? Aella over there is the first wife, so you could ask her for anything you need. Unlike us, she has a silver tongue.”

Aella looked back at Mira with a smile, “Me? But I guess Isdis has a golden tongue. She is far better with words than I would ever be.”

Tina looked at them for a few seconds and then at Arad, “By the way, where are we going? I’ll need to feed Serin soon.”

Arad looked at Jina, and she gasped, “The archery range, the tournament is up today. Lord Lucifer got you a seat in the VIP room.”

Arad smiled, “I just hope it is a quiet place.”

Tina looked at him with a worried face. “Serin can do with milk, but it’s better for her to eat something solid now. I usually give her some mashed vegetables and eggs.” She looked around, “Problem, doubt the VIP room has a stove or what I need.”

Before Jina could speak, Arad already pulled a whole stone stove out of his pocket, including the firewood, a large pot, and the vegetables.

Jina froze in place, staring at the heavy object that had just spawned in the middle of the hallway out of nowhere. She tried to speak, but her lips only flapped like a dying fish.

“You can’t build a kitchen in their VIP room. I doubt they’ll allow it. Even here, put that thing away!” Tina rushed at Arad and tapped on the stove. He sighed and pulled it back to his stomach with everything. “Sorry, then how about you cook inside?”

“Em…there is a small kitchen linked to the VIP room. It even has a chef who works there to serve the VIPs.” She approached, and both Arad and Tina stared at her. “Should’ve said that from the start.”

She wanted to say that they didn’t give her time to speak, but who is she kidding? It wasn’t worth risking her head. Better keep quiet for now, then find a way to get on their good side later.

It didn’t take them long to reach the VIP room. It was a single apartment above the massive arena stadium where the angels held all of their tournaments. Unlike the Storm Titans, who fought monsters and themselves in deadly battles to prove their might, the half-angels preferred a more modern form of entertainment: Sports and gambling.

Today was the shooting day, where archers from the whole kingdom came to prove their skill and accuracy. Right now, they were still just counting the participants, registering them while people placed their bets.

Inside the VIP room were four more maids waiting to serve the group. Lucifer seemed adamant about making sure that everything went smoothly to the point that he gave each of those four a spatial ring with almost anything that they might need. Arad could sense the space magic packed into their rings, and it wasn’t something easy to create, not cheap. He probably pulled national treasures out of his vault.

Arad approached the balcony with Aella as Mira, Tina, and Serin went to the small kitchen to get the little girl’s meal ready.

“Accuracy, fire rate, and lastly, direct conflict. Testing every bit, aren’t they?” Arad smiled, and Aella nodded.

“To an archer, accuracy across several ranges of fire is crucial. Fire rate isn’t that important, but it’ll make a great difference in wars. The faster your archers can shoot, the more volleys of arrows an army can rain down on their enemies before they approach.” Aella frowned at the last challenge.

“But for archers, having the enemy get close to you is already a failure. Trying to use your bow in close range is even worse. The last one is stupid. How do they expect archers to fight with their bows up close?” She sighed, and Arad shrugged.

“I don’t know, smack them with the bow and put an arrow in their necks? But you’re right. To most archers, having a melee figure get that close to you is a deadly mistake.”

****

Minutes later, the registrations were ending.

“Name and Surname, please.” The receptionist asked with a smile, but the large man before her flinched.

“I’d rather not give them. Can I use something else?”

She cleared her throat and looked at him with a smile, “Name and Surname, please.”

“A-O… just, AO. put it like that, okay?”

The woman looked at Arad for a second, almost as if admiring his massive figure, and then sighed, “Fine, AO is it. But you owe me once, boss is going to nag until my ears fall off.”

“Next. Lady, Name and Surname, please.” She smiled.

“Like him, A-D, just AD is fine.”