Chapter 716 The Dragon''s House
??"Did you make that?" Eris stared at Arad with a smile.
"You asked for it," Arad replied as he approached the couch and looked at it. He then slowly sat down in fear of breaking it again.
Eris sighed, "I didn''t ask for you to go make the whole thing from scratch. Did Aisha help?"
Arad waved his hand, and Aisha appeared in his hand, "She did. Alchemy is used for more than poisons," He patted Aisha''s head, "Making those and perfume is probably just the tip of the art,"
"It is indeed," Aisha growled, her head fully encased in Arad''s massive palm, "Can you not break my neck?"
"It won''t break," Arad replied with a smile, "Can''t you teach me how to make soap?"
"I don''t know how to make it. Since pink dragons are supplying all demand at cheap, there was never a need for alchemists to bother thinking about soap." Aisha exined, "I''m sure there is a way to make it, but it''ll require some research and experiments, and I don''t have the tools for that,"
"So, you''ll try if I brought you all the equipment you need?" Arad lifted her, looking at her face with a smile.
"We can research that in the university when we get there. But you''ll have to help and learn," Aisha replied.
"Good, good," Arad patted her head again, "You''re teaching me too much. Alchemy might be the best thing I''ve learned."
"I said..." Aisha growled, "Stop patting my head like that. You''ll break my delicate wooden neck."
"You returned." Merida walked into the living room with a smile, "I thought you''d take longer. I barely finished doing my hair."
Arad turned toward her, "AH, but you aren''t ready, are you?" He asked with a smile, "It''s cold outside. You better wear a heavy coat."
Merida gasped, "We''re going out? Really?"
"Told you," Ae stared at her from the kitchen, "Don''t forget the soft padding for the leather saddle. He''s a rough ride... Both ways." She smiled at her.
"Keep this at hand," Eris threw her a healing potion, "I don''t know how much that fungus holds your body, but it''ll be nothing, believe me."
"Hold what?" As Merida gasped in confusion, Eris approached Arad, "Gin sent a letter. We''ll be holding the royal family funeral tomorrow."
"We''re burying them here in the graveyard?" Arad looked at her, "Don''t they have a royal graveyard or something, tradition?"
"To avoid their bodies being used in witchcraft or resurrected as zombie dummies for stunts. All the deceased royal family members are cremated and held at the current ruler''s residence." Eris approached the door and put on her coat.
"I''m going to prepare for the cremation now. Baltos asked if you could provide me with certain nobles who are rted to the royal family so those can be embalmed and buried regrly tomorrow. Themoners would followter," She looked at Arad.
Arad stood, "Isn''t that too much work?"
"It''s nothing, I''m used to it. In Rita, I sometimes get orders in the hundreds when a massive gang of bandits or mafia get destroyed." She smiled.
Ae looked at her, "Even criminals can''t let corpses lying around. It''ll attract diseases."
"And due to theck ofnd to bury them in, my business soared through the roof." Eris patted her chest, "And we had a lot of necromancers, so it was quite a bad idea to bury someone intact unless you wanted to see them as zombie fodder."
"I''ll give the corpses I have stored to them. Get ready before then," Arad teleported away with Eris.
Merida stared at Ae, "Is it going to be that Hard?"
"Depends, but I can say it won''t be easy." Ae shook her head.
"Arad..." Mira walked into the room right after Arad left, "He''s gone!"
"You''re a few secondste," Ae replied, "Did you want something from him?"
"I wanted to ask him if he can move some logs that we cut in the forest," She looked at them, "I asked Sebas if he can do it, but it seems that Arad asked him to guard some noble prisoners or something."
"Even if he wasn''t busy," Rey walked from behind Mira, "Sebas''s ape form isn''trge enough to move those massive trees,"
"Sister," Ray walked in, "I''m sure he''s stronger than his side. All monsters are."
"We''ll need those cut to make the castle''s bridge and build the siege weapons for towers. It doesn''t matter who moves them, but Arad would be the fastest." Mira stared at the twin maids.
"He''ll be back soon," Rey looked at Ae.
Ae nodded.
Ray pulled Mira by the arm, "Let''s go. That bedframe still needs some work,"
"I''m exhausted. Can''t we make them out of steel?" Mira cried as the two maids dragged her away.
"You''ve been the one who said it''ll be hard and expensive to get a supply of iron and coal for steel at this time of the year." Rey stared at her.
"We should use it for weapons even if we got it. Don''t waste resources on beds," Ray added.
"But...Arad keeps breaking the beds. He''ll be too heavy for wood."
****
Ae and Merida stared at each other, "It''s that bad?" Merida asked with a worried face.
"Arad weighs over four hundred pounds of raw muscles. That''s four hundred priestesses gone in one pound." She stared at Merida with a grin, "Be ready."
"Hmph, He''s two hundred kilos if I remember? I bet the bed breaks as the force shifts to them," She stared at Ae with a suspicious stare, "I''m sure Arad can exert more than four hundred pounds of force,"
TAP! Ae patted Merida''s back, "Go and change before hees back. You''ll understand by tomorrow."
Merida walked to her room to change, worried about theing night.
Ae closed her nose with a cloth peg and turned toward therge boiling pot, "Now, time to add the meat." She looked at therge cowleg that was on the table. "This one for Arad and the others would have some ribs,"
She lifted the cow leg and slowly lowered it into the pot, "Zephyr, get me the..." She called but then remembered that Zephyr wasn''t there anymore and looked back with a sad face.
"I miss her already," She extended her hand and pulled thergedle with a gust of wind. Remembering how Zephyr would''ve been buzzing around the kitchen and helping her.
****
Knock! Knock! Ae heard knocking on the door, so she looked out of the window and saw Roberta standing outside. "It''s open, hurry in."
"Ah!" Roberta gasped, "Thanks," She pushed the door open and walked inside.N?v(el)B\\jnn
Ae stirred the pot for a few seconds then let it slowly cook. She washed her hands and walked to the living room as she dried them, trying to get the faint smell of meat out of them.
"It''s been a while. How is your father doing?" She asked.
"He got better," Roberta replied as she sat on the couch, "I heard that Arad returned."
"That was fast. How did you know?" Ae sat facing her.
"I met Grandma Shir in the vige, and she told me that she saw Arad flying around. I''ve also seen Nina on my way here," Roberta replied, "I came to deliver the payment. Is he in the house?"
"Sadly, he just left." Ae shook her head, "He shoulde back in a few minutes though." She turned around, "Merida! Tell Arad toe down if he teleported to you directly!" She shouted.
"Got it!" Merida replied.
"But really," Roberta stared at her, "Can''t you ept the payment for him? You''re his wife and the first one..."
"I rather not ept such arge amount without him being present. I''ll happily ept a few gold coins for him, but not what you have." Ae shook her head.
"It includes Sara''s part..." Roberta scratched her head, "The ck market pulls in a lot of money,"
"Who would''ve expected it to sell like that," Ae poured two cups of tea, one for herself and one for Roberta.
"I did tell you," Roberta replied, "No matter how much Arad has, that jewelry will sell out. And since there are strictws about reselling gold and precious gems, the ck market is where people who didn''t get them a piece would flood into."
"And you kept twenty percent of Arad''s jewelry stock to sell in the ck market''s auction for massive profit." Ae stared at her.
"To be fair, I put the restriction that it''s only one piece of jewelry per person to make sure everyone gets some. Most of those I saw in the auctions were nobles wanting to buy extra and those seeking to resell theirs for profit." Roberta smiled, "I''m not the one to say, but Arad is spending a lot on building, right?"
"Isdis is putting a lot of her money into the castle to help," Ae replied, "But Arad is also putting a lot, and he''s also prone to spend a lot. I wish he bes a bit reserved." She sighed, "He just spent a hundred gold coins on binding oil,"
Roberta coughed, almost spitting her drink, "A hundred coin? What will he do with a whole barrel?"
"He made pine perfume for himself. And he bought a hundred barrels, not one,"
"That can''t be. Did he get scammed?"
"No, the binding oil worked, so it''s not fake." Ae shook her head.
"I gotta learn some of his ways," Roberta sighed, "He keeps finding rare opportunities like that. Where did he even buy the oil?"
"Ask him when he gets back..."
"I was told to never ask someone directly about their sources. [ZON! In the background] Can you ask him for me?" Roberta sighed.
Ae pointed toward the door.
"Ask me about what?" Arad said, standing at the entrance.