The door opened, and a petite vampire loli walked in, followed by her maid, the vampire Kāla.
A black ribbon was tied behind her fringed, golden hair, and a black gothic lolita dress that made her skin look pale to the point of being translucent. Her eyes, like red glass, peeked unconfidently at Su Mo, and a slight blush colored her pretty cheeks.
This formal attire was a stark contrast to the valiant knight's uniform she wore when they last met. Even her physique had been deliberately adjusted to a younger state, which took Su Mo slightly by surprise.
"A deliberate change in style?" he asked. He seemed to understand why Leticia had been a bit late this time.
Hearing Su Mo's question, Leticia looked up, slightly nervous. She unconsciously clenched the white lace cuff of her black gothic dress and asked timidly, "...Yes! Miss Jibril said last time that you prefer a younger look, Lord Su Mo. When Kāla heard that, she suggested I change into a style you might like... Wh-what's wrong, do you not approve, Lord Su Mo? Guu... I knew I wasn't suited for this cute style of clothing..."
Towards the end, she bit her lip, her eyes filled with apprehension and even a hint of self-deprecation. It seemed that for all her knightly valor, she had little confidence in her feminine charms.
"That Jibril... I see." So it was that idiot's fault, Su Mo thought, making a mental note of it. He then looked at the vampire loli before him, sizing her up from head to toe.
"No need to worry. This style suits you quite well. Besides, it's good to keep that expression of someone afraid of making a mistake. The moment you worry you're not suited for cute clothes is, paradoxically, the moment you are most suited for them."
The usual Leticia indeed didn't show much of a girlish side, but her current appearance was an exception. To worry over such delicate trifles was the privilege of a young girl.
Hearing Su Mo's assessment, Canary nodded in approval. Behind Leticia, the maid Kāla's eyes lit up.
"As expected of Your Excellency Su Mo, your taste is simply impeccable! To be honest, I also find Lady Leticia's troubled look to be exceptionally cute. I believed that allowing her to maintain this state would earn a higher evaluation, so I deliberately chose not to reassure her. It is wonderful that this point has been appreciated by Your Excellency!"
The vampire maid bowed, both in thanks for Su Mo saving her from the Entertainer before and in gratitude for finding a kindred spirit. Lady Leticia's anxious, fledgling-like appearance is just as cute as the Princess's, you know!
"Kāla!" Hearing this, Leticia stared at her maid, aghast, not expecting that this had all been part of her plan.
Facing her master's glare, Kāla smiled soothingly. "I beg your pardon, my lady. However, to receive praise from His Excellency, the prior preparations were well worth it. Lady Leticia must be very happy as well, no?"
"Well..." Leticia, being honest by nature, couldn't bring herself to lie. But unwilling to be so easily fooled by her maid, she glared at Kāla with her crimson eyes. Evidently, such an attack was ineffective against the maid who had watched her grow up.
Seeing this, Leticia sighed, gave up, and then looked up at Su Mo with utmost seriousness. "You summoned me specifically this time, Lord Su Mo. Is there a mission you wish to assign? Whatever your request, I will carry it out!"
He seemed to have heard similar words once before. Su Mo glanced at the clueless Pale Flame Demon, then nodded at Leticia. "I just wanted to research something. It's about the matter we left unfinished last time."
"Unfinished last time? The continuation of the vampire bloodline... eh, no, wait!" Leticia thought for a moment and immediately remembered. "Are you talking about the origin of our vampire Divinity?"
The last time the two were alone was before the fall of the Son of God. Back then, no one knew Su Mo had the power to fight a god-group on his own. Their Arcadia could only secretly support the Anti-God-Group Alliance, unaware of the mythic, epic-level battle that would unfold the next day.
Leticia clearly remembered that Canary had tricked her, saying she was going on a blind date with Su Mo to revitalize the vampire clan and continue their bloodline.
In reality, it was just a joke. Su Mo's true intention in finding her was to explore the secrets of the vampire Divinity.
However, at that time, they were interrupted halfway through their discussion by Kāla, who was attacking under the orders of the Storyteller.
Having obtained new information, Su Mo began preparing to face the Son of God, and the topic was put on hold. She never expected Su Mo to bring it up again.
With the conversation turning to business, Leticia's demeanor became sharp and competent, no longer as unnatural or awkward as before.
Seeing this change, the maid Kāla looked a little regretful but said nothing, instead bowing to take her leave. "Since His Excellency and Lady Leticia are about to have an important discussion, please allow me to withdraw first!" As someone trained as a royal maid, she knew her place perfectly.
Hearing this, the old fire dragon's wife and Willa also belatedly realized the situation. No matter what, even if Su Mo and Leticia didn't mind, they couldn't just casually listen in on confidential matters.
"No need," Su Mo shook his head, looking at the baby in the old fire dragon's wife's arms. "You can stay here and take care of the infant. Leticia and I have somewhere else to be. We can take a stroll through the festival at the same time."
As he spoke, he glanced past a disappointed Willa and looked at Canary. "Canary, you come too!"
"Eh, me?" Canary pointed at her own nose in surprise, not expecting to be involved. Doesn't this mean the one-on-one time I was trying to create for Leticia is ruined?
"Of course," Su Mo nodded. "You're not completely ignorant about the origin of the vampire clan's Divinity, are you? I'm very interested in your theories."
"Alright, if you say so," Canary didn't resist and obediently came over.
Su Mo glanced at the maid Kāla. "You can attend to us from the side. I don't like to be disturbed. Besides, you are also qualified to learn about the Divinity of the vampire clan."
"Yes, Your Excellency Su Mo!" The maid Kāla naturally had no objection to Su Mo's command, obeying even more seriously than she would an order from Leticia.
---||---
Under the brightly lit bonfire night, the group passed by the fire dragons' banquet.
Amid the aroma of roasted meat and fine wine, the praise for Su Mo himself, and the clamor of people asking who Su Mo was, they stepped into the dense forest beside them.
"Last time, Leticia said that her vampire clan is a branch of the Demon Species among the Phantasmal Species. It's said they were summoned from the distant future, so they are suspected to be some kind of phantasmal form of future human evolution," Su Mo said under the moonlight. "Canary, how must humanity evolve to become a fantastical creature like a vampire?"
Right from the start, Su Mo asked the most critical question. Even Leticia and Kāla themselves didn't know the answer. However, since Su Mo had asked, it meant someone must know. So...
"The Third Stellar Particle," Canary said in a confident tone. "The evolutionary path of the vampire clan is definitely related to the third type of perpetual motion machine, that is, the Third Stellar Particle. I suspect they may possess the Third Stellar Particle within their bodies, possibly even the Original Text."
Don't be fooled by Canary's surprise earlier when she heard about the third perpetual motion machine and Humanity's Final Trial.
In reality, as someone who had been gathering information since the time of the Dystopian Demon Lord, her knowledge of the Third Stellar Particle far surpassed that of most gods.
Otherwise, in the original story, she wouldn't have had the ability to find and nurture a protagonist like Izayoi Sakamaki, who had the potential to overturn the history of Little Garden.
"The Third Stellar Particle... Original Text?" Leticia looked at Canary with a blank expression. I have that inside me? How come I didn't know?
"It's just my guess. After all, given the characteristics of the Third Stellar Particle, this is the most likely explanation for the difference between the vampire royalty and non-royalty," Canary explained immediately.
"Simply put, I believe that humanity will undergo a new evolution after absorbing the Third Stellar Particle, and the vampire form is one possible evolutionary path for humanity. I call the version that can resonate 100% with the host's genes the 'Original Text.' Apart from the holder of the Original Text, no one else's resonance frequency with the Third Stellar Particle can reach its peak, belonging to a type where the activity is degraded."
"The Original Text in a blood-related child born through reproduction does not degrade, which should be the manifestation of the vampire royal bloodline's advantage. If you were willing to try and revitalize the vampire clan by giving birth to a divine daughter for Lord Su Mo, you might be able to prove this point," Canary added her own personal agenda, not giving up and sounding a little regretful.
"Unfortunately, Lord Su Mo said before that the next historical turning point is coming soon. Judging by the change in Maxwell's Demon's Divinity, the Third Stellar Particle is also about to be widely applied in human history. Even if you've come around to the idea and want to try it now, it's too late to bear offspring."