The dragon’s harem

When Merida’s aura faded away and she walked out of the blood-soaked castle yard, she marched with Arad at her side. They walked past the drawbridge, and the people who were there saw her. They all froze in place, both terrified and in awe.

Merida’s body was boiling with both demonic and divine magic, which looked both strange and impressive. To have mastery over the holy and unholy at the same time… it wasn’t a feat any of them could fathom, and they understood that she had more going on than she told them.

What the people knew was that no god would ever grant their power to someone who would bring great harm. They aren’t experts, but they’ve already learned to associate holy magic with being a good person to an extent.

The clerics and paladins, on the other hand, saw her divine magic and immediately realised that it was geared toward destruction and ruin. While to most normal people that might’ve sounded bad, the paladins and clerics knew better. Destruction wasn’t inherently evil; it was neutral.

Everything naturally flows toward destruction, and no one can stop or deny that. Lives are born to die, castles are built to fall, and gods are created to destroy evil. This had made it easier for them to understand how Merida could maintain both demon and divine magic in her body.

Some of those clerics and paladins asked their gods about her, and they all got the same answer. “Do not antagonize her; she follows a stronger, more ancient divine.”

Those who were under Amaterasu got a similar warning, but instead of calling those who supported Merida just an ancient divine, Amaterasu referred to Kali as a being of equal power, and one that she raised as her daughter for a time.

That had immediately caused a huge shift as it was implied that Amaterasu herself is aligned with Merida’s divine patron. Those who wanted to criticize Merida’s demonic side were immediately faced with the titanic arrogance of Amaterasu, and if such a goddess said it was fine, no mortal could argue with her.

The demons who could recognize Kali’s magic didn’t speak a word of it, since none of them wanted her to come knocking at their doors. If their goddess didn’t want to be named, then none of them would dare mention her in the mortal world.

As Arad and Merida walked out of the drawbridge and headed through the streets, the second stage of Merida’s plan to get credibility started. The only person in the city who could speak against Merida and the emperor, the only one crazy enough to match their power, walked into the street.

That one person was Lydia, and when she took a step into the street wearing her full plate armor and cracked the pavement, many thought that she was going to fight. It was already known that Lydia, like Merida, didn’t ask questions before swinging her sword.

As the two stood face to face, the people who stood on the sidewalks all ran away, hiding inside the homes and shops, watching with both fear and anticipating in their eyes.

“A military coat? That doesn’t fit you at all. I thought you’d come out with something fancier.” Lydia approached, and Merida left Arad’s side as she walked forward. “Imagine me talking about being the empire’s bloodhound and then wearing a fancy, cute pink dress…”

The two remained silent for a second, and then Lydia giggled. “The contrast would’ve been even more scary.” She approached even further, “So, congratulations, Queen Merida.”

Merida stared at her for a second with a grin. “You won’t kneel to your queen?”

Lydia smiled. “I don’t even kneel to Amaterasu anymore. I only kneel to my husband.” She crossed her arms and then pointed back at Arad, who was already with Jack. “Just look at him.”

Jack had brought with him a barrel of beer for Arad. “Got you a little gift.” Jack handed the barrel to Arad and looked back at the people watching from their houses with a grin. “What are you all hiding for? We came to greet our friends; we’re not going to start a fight.”

The reason for this quick meeting was to simply align Lydia with Merida and set them on the same plane in the people’s eyes. As they trusted Lydia’s power and good nature, that good will should help them stomach Merida’s demonic side.

After spending a few moments talking with Lydia and Jack, Arad and Merida headed deeper into the city to finish their tour. As they walked, Merida could see countless noblewomen wearing the clothes she made and designed, and all of them had complicated expressions on their faces.

Some of them had even seen her at the workshop. The reason those noble ladies were baffled wasn’t because of the clothes they wore right now on the streets; it was because of all the steamy outfits they had secretly ordered from her workshop. At this moment, those secret orders are the only thing that allows someone to be let into Merida’s workshop for precise measurements.

Among those women, Merida noticed one noble lady, the older sister of one of the maids in the private quarters. “Arad, can you get me the order number 167 from the workshop? It should be sealed in a black bag.”

Since Merida’s workshop was in the private quarter, Arad immediately sent one of his incarnations to pick up the order and teleported it to his palm. “This one?”

“Yeah.” She took the bag from him and started walking toward the crowd, causing them all to flee. Of course, the noble ladies didn’t flee as they all noticed the strange bag in Merida’s hand, which looked more like the deliveries they got.

“Yennefer, this should be yours.” As Merida spoke, the black-haired woman approached with steady steps and then stared at the bag. “Isn’t it a tad bit tiny?”

Merida smiled, “It’s intentional. It’ll get back to size when you open it.” She approached, “You aren’t as scared as I thought you’d be.”

Yennefer smiled as she whispered. “Well, I can fight a bit, unlike the others. And it’ll be a lie to say that I’m not scared a bit.” She stood beside Merida, grabbed her arm, and waved at the crowd.

“If you’re going to use me in front of a crowd like this, you don’t mind me using you as well.” As the noblewoman Yennefer said, Merida was indeed using her to gain points with the people and show that her relationships with the nobles are as solid as they were before today’s reveal. She intentionally didn’t send Yennefer’s package before for this.

“Your sister is already a private royal maid.” Merida smiled as she waved at the crowd with Yennefer. “What use you’ve got for this?”

“You scaring the people like this would help me a lot, my Queen.” Yennefer smiled as she whispered back. “Now that they’ve seen me with you, the merchants are going to stop trying to pull fast ones on me.”

“Don’t use the merchants if you’re going to order something nasty; come to me instead. I guess you already figured out that there are more witches in the royal quarter than in the wild.” As Merida looked at her, Yennefer gave her a deep bow. “I know, but if I can, I’d rather not deal with other witches.”

Merida patted her shoulder. “You can deal with me or the emperor if you want.” She whispered in her ear, and Yennefer giggled. “That might be even worse for me.”

With those words, she took her package and returned to the crowd, leaving Merida to walk back toward Arad alone.

“We’re dealing with witches?” He asked and Merida smiled.

“She supplies the magical nail polish to us. Without her, we won’t be able to enchant witch’s nails.” She grabbed his hand. “I’m sure you love Eris’s polished black nails.”

“I like yours too.” He replied, and the two of them kept walking across the capital.