"Eee... ah..."
The baby's fair, tender fingers kept exploring upwards, as if trying to grab Su Mo's hand.
"How cute. Is this what a dragon hatchling is like?" Canary reached out curiously, only to have her hand swatted away by the red-eyed infant in disdain.
Canary pouted, a little dissatisfied.
"Miss Canary, you can't be impatient with children! Jack said that children are the future and hope of this world!" Seeing her snubbed, Willa shook her head, recalling Pumpkin Jack's teachings. "Besides, this child just likes Lord Su Mo. If we're a little more patient..."
With that, she also reached out towards the newborn baby. However...
Slap!
The baby, nestled in her mother's arms, still unceremoniously pushed away the Pale Flame Grand Demon's hand.
"Guu... why?!" the buxom, baby-faced girl cried out in confusion. I'm not scary, so why does this little one only smile at Lord Su Mo?
Seeing Willa's dejection, Canary didn't laugh. Instead, she explained leisurely, "It's probably because Su Mo is Sala-chan's Divinity bestower. With this kind of Divinity kinship, it wouldn't be strange for her to call Lord Su Mo 'Father God' or 'Lord God'. She was born as a pure-blooded dragon in human form, likely for the same reason!"
Hearing this, the fire dragon lady holding the child, far from being angry, broke into a delighted smile.
Her own biological daughter was calling someone else Father God, and her wife was beaming with pride, as if sharing in the honor. In any other context, one would have to question the color of the old fire dragon's hat. [T/N: In China, "wearing a green hat" is an idiom for being cuckolded.]
However, this was Little Garden.
Forget about jokes between acquaintances; even if the old fire dragon were standing right here, hearing Canary say this, he wouldn't be the least bit angry. On the contrary, he would surely be grinning from ear to ear, just like his wife.
More than having a pure-blooded dragon descendant as the next leader, the relationship between this descendant and the master of the Christian church was actually more precious.
Although they were affiliated with a branch of Taoism and wouldn't change their allegiance because of this, having more connections was always a good thing.
Having a connection with Su Mo was a good thing no matter how you looked at it.
As for Divinity kinship, it was nothing special in Little Garden.
Compared to the conventional sense of blood inheritance, Su Mo's blessing was more akin to a couple praying to a god for a child and being blessed with one.
According to the rules of Little Garden, a child born through prayer to a god has three sources of Divinity: the father, the mother, and the god.
In a sense, this child could be considered the child of the god. Most of the children of the great father god Zeus in Greek mythology came about this way, and Sala-chan's situation was similar.
"Eh... Sala-chan is so lucky!" Hearing this, Willa was a little envious.
Seeing the innocent look on the buxom demon girl's face, Canary gave a wicked smile. "If Miss Willa is willing to work hard, maybe you can have the same luck!"
"Really? Big Sister Canary, what should I do?!" Willa's eyes immediately lit up, blinking rapidly as she looked at Canary, her tone becoming sweeter without her even realizing it.
After asking, she blinked and said in a troubled voice, "I've already been born. I can't be born again, can I?"
Seeing the girl's expectant look, Canary smiled slightly. "Of course not. It's too late to sign up to be Lord Su Mo's daughter now."
"Then what do you mean?" Willa tilted her head, a little confused.
"You could try giving birth to a daughter for Lord Su Mo!" Canary said, revealing her true intentions. "Instead of being his daughter, isn't it more convenient to become Lord Su Mo's woman?"
"Th-this..." Hearing such blunt words, Willa's small face flushed red, as if steam were rising from her head.
"Anyway, when you prayed to Lord Su Mo before, didn't you say you'd do anything? You're not going to go back on your word, are you? Deceiving a god is a serious crime, you know!" Canary pressed on playfully.
"I... I..." Willa was at a loss for words, her head bowed as she looked at her own snow-white, massive chest, and stole glances at Su Mo.
Out of shyness, her eyes turned into swirls.
"I didn't mean to go back on my word..." she finally muttered in a very low voice.
It wasn't that she had truly fallen for Su Mo, but because of the Maxwell's Demon incident, her favorability towards him was extremely high, to the point where she wouldn't be opposed to doing as Canary said.
Faced with this scene of a pimp forcing a girl, Sala-chan's mother watched with a smile, saying nothing.
After all, in her eyes, this was a good thing for Willa. Finding a home in Little Garden was no simple matter.
It just so happened that Willa wasn't opposed to it, and was even quite willing. Wasn't this a great opportunity?
In fact, considering Su Mo's status, it was Willa who was the one with delusional fantasies, the toad wanting to eat swan meat.
Although, this clueless girl probably didn't understand Su Mo's status.
Unfortunately, Su Mo had no enthusiasm for Canary's habitual matchmaking.
"The old fire dragon let you stay, not for you to play Cupid," he said with a sigh.
"How did you know I once studied under Cupid?" This wasn't actually a joke. During the Dystopian Demon Lord period, she had studied under various gods and had extensive connections in Greek mythology.
Hearing her say this, Su Mo raised an eyebrow and retorted, "Oh? Then why are you still single?"
"..." With one sentence, Su Mo killed the conversation, leaving Canary speechless.
Thinking about it carefully, as a single woman of over a thousand years, she had done a lot of matchmaking—the Kasukabe couple was her introduction—but when it came to herself, she seemed to be insulated from such things.
If anyone else had said that, Canary could have stopped them with a terrifying female glare. But against Su Mo, she didn't have the guts. She could only say with a pained face, "Don't say it, don't say it, that's hitting below the belt... If I said I had sworn to serve the Heavenly Lord for life, and therefore would not be tainted by the mortal world, would you believe me?"
She looked at Su Mo eagerly, her usually fox-like, cunning eyes making it hard to tell if she was joking or testing something.
The "Heavenly Lord" in this sentence naturally referred to Su Mo.
"If you're just saying it's your wish, then I'm willing to believe it," Su Mo nodded, noticing Canary's eyes subconsciously light up.
"But if you're saying you have faith in me, then I haven't received a single bit of it." How could such a lawless person truly have any pious faith?
"Hehe, maybe I just haven't been enlightened by you yet!" Canary blinked, bluffing her way through.
At this moment, a fervent sound rose from outside, accompanied by the old fire dragon's impassioned speech.
Thousands of fire dragons cheered in unison with grand ceremony.
"Hallelujah! Praise be to the supreme god Su Mo!"
"..."
"This guy is really making a scene," Canary commented, glancing at the grand spectacle outside the window.
The reason the scene had become like this, with the old fire dragon absent and only his wife and daughter entertaining Su Mo, Canary, and the others, was because the Fire Dragon's Birth Festival had begun.
As the leader, the old fire dragon had to coordinate all parties, pass on Su Mo's grace, show it to everyone, boost morale, and reveal the hope for the future.
These were the things a qualified leader had to do.
With Su Mo here, Pumpkin Jack felt at ease to go and participate in the festival, representing Willa to thank them for their previous assistance.
As for Su Mo himself, with his status, he naturally did not need to, nor should he, appear at a festival of this scale.
Even if the main object of gratitude was him, he only needed to receive the offerings from afar.
None of this was a problem. The problem was...
"How come that guy Croix isn't back yet? What's taking him so long to run an errand?" Canary muttered, looking at the bonfires burning and swaying in the night.
After Pumpkin Jack left, Croix had also wanted to take his leave.
When Sala was born, she had eaten her entire eggshell, so a disappointed Croix had wanted to use the festival time to sneak into the bedrooms of other fire dragon clan members and peek at their hatched eggshells to satisfy his twisted fetish.
Unfortunately, before he could act, he was assigned a new task by Su Mo and Canary: to act as a messenger and inform Leticia to come for an audience.
Leticia usually stayed at the Arcadia headquarters and rarely went out unless there was a reason. Even if she did, she would leave a message with Kāla.
With the convenience of the Boundary Gate, he should have already delivered the message by now...
Knock, knock, knock!
Suddenly, a polite knock came from the door outside. Not too light, not too heavy, three consecutive knocks.
As the host, the old fire dragon wouldn't be so reserved. Croix didn't have such habits.
In Canary's mind, there were only two people who would so seriously and rigidly adhere to international etiquette.
One was the Queen of Halloween, who paid extreme attention to detail. As for the other, it was her trusted companion.
"Lord Su Mo, the vampire affiliated with Arcadia..."
"Come in!" Before the person could finish introducing herself, Su Mo spoke, granting her an audience.