The dragon's harem

Chapter 2343: Paige Isabelle Nex

Pin stood on the dirt road, looking up at the two armored devil guards standing at the city’s titanic black walls. The two glared down at her and quickly frowned. "The city is closed with the Terror roaming around. Official business only, and no, you can’t take shelter here."

Her left hand tingled, and it was whispering for her to just blast her way through, as by the time she’d escaped to the second layer, Tiamat wouldn’t bother chasing her anymore. But there was a huge problem with that. She isn’t used to her new body yet, and fighting her way through this city is impossible. She had no doubt that the Lord’s Left Forearm could make it, but that didn’t mean she should rely on it.

"I’m just passing by. I seek entrance to the second layer. I won’t be staying in the city for long." As she shouted back, the two guards looked at each other, and then one of them sighed. "For what reason do you wish to head down there? The First Layer is the safest."

"I do not seek safety. What I seek is power and wider reach. Mortals rarely need to contract the devils of the First Layer. If possible, I want to at least reach the Third Layer." She replied, and one of the two guards laughed. "The Layer of swamps and poisons? Are you going to deal with some hags down there?" He then shook his head. "Fine, we’ll let you in, but first. What’s your curse and name? We want to make sure everyone is accounted for."

"Paige Isabelle Nex, and my curse is that of flames." She lifted her arm, and her entire right forearm burst into crimson flames. Since Eris is a purple dragon, she could use both fire and lightning, which meant it wasn’t that difficult for her to grant Pin just the flame part. "The flames burn hot, but they hurt me as well, which is the price of the curse."

As the guards started writing that down, Pin urged them to hurry, looking annoyed. Of course, all of that was an act. Everything she told them was a lie. Her name was just Pin, which in itself was just a nickname. Her curse was that of Terror, and its price was the hatred and isolation associated with being such a terrifying creature.

"Okay, we’re almost done." One of the devils looked down at her and lifted a golden necklace. "The Information you provided us was it real or a lie. This necklace can detect lies using a curse, and the price is that the target must fully know that they are being tested."

Pin smiled. "Of course, I didn’t lie. Everything I told you was true and honest. I just want to pass, nothing more, nothing less... well, that might be a lie. I do need to buy supplies and maybe rest for a night or two before going down." As she spoke, the necklace didn’t trigger, making the two guards sigh in relief.

"We really thought you were the Terror we’ve been hearing about. Everyone says it’s a red-skinned devil with long ears and black hair that travels alone..." One of the guards smiled. "Glad it’s not you. We’ll open the door; hold on for a few minutes while the sinners get to work."

As they disappeared from the battlements, Pin looked down, found a rock, and sat to wait. ^That worked.^ She was speaking with Eris, and got a giggle back as a reply. ^You’ll have to thank Merlin later. To think she could modify memories that fast.^

Through Eris, Pin sent a request to Merlin for help. She wanted her to change her memories about what she said earlier so she wouldn’t be lying and get exposed by the necklace. It seems that being a willing subject allowed Merlin to work fast and get it done.

As the gate opened up, Pin stood and walked in. As she looked to the side, she could see more than a hundred naked sinners pulling on red-hot steel chains, their hands burning as they screamed. Those were the ones that pulled the gate up, and she could even see the two devil guards from earlier whipping them from behind.

She walked past everything and headed to the nearest inn. The establishment looked massive, like a huge building with nine floors and walls built out of carved black basalt. Standing beside the door were several sinners chained to the walls, shouting and begging people to come inside. For every minute that no one entered, a devil would shove a burning hot shiv between their ribs.

As she approached, the sinners eyes glowed, and many of them started begging her to go in. As Pin walked toward the door, she pointed at the sinner closest to her. "That one got me in."

The devil stabbing the sinners’ smiled, looking at the lucky bastard. "You got an hour off. Lucky you." He then looked at Pin. "Welcome to the Black Shiv Inn. I won’t call it the best in the whole city, but it’s up there. If you need a sinner to help carry stuff or be used, you can hire one from the counter. Besides that, enjoy."

She smiled. "Aren’t you a bit too nice for a devil?" She asked, and the devil laughed. "I have a curse that allows me to tell how dangerous someone is." He looked at her for a second. "You’re not that threatening, but you’re backed up by people that’ll fuck my ass if I dare anger you. Do you by any chance work for Tiamat? Or some powerful devil?"

"No, but I do know one or two powerful people." She smiled. "And one of them specializes in murder and putting people underground." She walked inside, and the devil sat back down, going back to stabbing the sinners as he was doing before.

The inside of the inn was surprisingly nice, clean, and well organized. Looking at the tables, she could see many devils sitting there eating and drinking, with sinners running around as servants. Here in hell, the lowest service you could get is through sinners, which means this place isn’t all that fancy. Hopefully, she won’t need to pay a lot for a room.

She approached the counter and looked at the man standing behind it. "I want a room. I’ll be staying for a few days, and I don’t need meals." She spoke, and he finally looked at her with a bored and tired face. "That’ll be a soul coin a day, and acid is included. You can hire sinners for a soul coin an hour, but you’ll pay more if you damage them more than they could be healed."

She pulled a few coins from beneath her cloak and put them on the table. "Fine by me. Just the room for three days." Taking her key, she headed up to her room and called Eris immediately when she was inside.

Arad is growing rapidly now, so they expect him to come out any day. His bones, flesh, blood, and organs have formed, but he still didn’t fully mature inside the black hole, so they have no idea how long it’ll take him.