Why Mundus doesn't have Dark Lords... or Dark Ladies

Short stories are challenging to write, however Tales of Mundus doesn't work as anything else. Stories are about conflict, and Leon and Celebramar just don't do epic quests.

I've TRIED to create longer plots, really. (Writer's block should not involve my own characters forming a picket line around the imagination part of my brain.) The closest thing Mundus has to an antagonist is a Fey queen with a grudge against the dragon. However, she just isn't 'wicked' enough to be a re-according problem.

Mundus refuses to have Big Bads. It's not a utopia or even a violence free world. Nevertheless, I just can't work an Dark Lord into current events.

There were Evil Empresses and Mad Sorcerers, but they got vanquished at least thirty to forty years before Leon was born. I also don't see the people of Mundus letting more take root. (You try setting up a dictatorship when a nosy fairy-godmother can wander though and befriend your serfs.)

Also, the whole point of Mundus was to watch how wizards and dragons live when there's NOT an epic quest. What do they do with all that extra time? Do they have hobbies, steady jobs? Order groceries, homestead? (Plus, the thought of Celebramar trying to visit a butcher shop is much more interesting than him fighting a frost giant or whatever.)

Tales of Mundus feels right as a semi-connected short story anthology. The only way I think it will every be a long plot with a set villain is if Disney manages trick me into a contract -_-;