"If you're still angry, I can call you Mommy as an apology..."
"Huh? N-no, there's no need. Clara should be thanking you and this big sister for saving Clara."
Seeing Clara turn him down, Zhang Xiu couldn't help letting out a disappointed sigh. Yaoshi, standing beside him, couldn't understand his reaction either.
After a few embarrassed coughs, Zhang Xiu put his joking mood aside. "We're going to speak with Svarog, and we need your help to do that, Clara."
"Speak with him? Could Clara ask what exactly you want to talk about?" Clara set Perkins down and looked at the two of them nervously.
"Uh, we want to lift the blockade on the Underworld and find the stellaron." Zhang Xiu noticed her nervousness and felt a little embarrassed. After all, he really had frightened her earlier.
But when she heard the word "stellaron," Clara looked puzzled. "Stellaron?"
So Zhang Xiu gave her a brief explanation of the stellaron and the disaster it had brought upon this world.
"Is that really what happened? But Clara has never heard Mr. Svarog mention it... Still, Mr. Svarog will only accept the results of his own calculations;
if you get into a conflict with Mr. Svarog, someone will definitely get hurt, and innocent people will definitely get caught up in it. So I can't take you to see Mr. Svarog... Sorry."
"...Clara, could you hear me out before deciding whether to take us there?" Zhang Xiu sank onto one knee and gazed gently into Clara's eyes.
"We're travelers from beyond this planet, with powers beyond the ordinary. We're variables that fall outside Svarog's calculations."
"You understand, don't you? Power decides almost everything..."
"From beyond this planet...? P-please don't treat Clara like a little child! Those are all things grown-ups made up. Clara knows..."
"Then this is where my beautiful, gentle wife takes the stage." Zhang Xiu stood with a smile and nodded to Yaoshi.
She immediately understood, and a red prayer bead in her palm burst with golden light.
The phantom image of a seedling sprouted from the prayer bead, then began to grow into a little tree.
Under the three of them's gazes, the little tree steadily swelled, displaying its towering grandeur to the sky as it gradually enveloped the entire Underworld...
No, its yearning for the starry sky still hadn't stopped. Bursting with boundless vitality, it gathered Belobog, the snowy plains outside the city, and even all of Jarilo-VI into its embrace.
Its appearance instantly drew the attention of every being. In both the Overworld and the Underworld, people turned stunned gazes upon the phantom branches surrounding them.
"Is this... a miracle of the Amber Lord?!"
"May the god bless us! Protect Belobog and save our home...!"
"Mighty Qlipoth, have you turned your gaze upon us once more?"
Back in the Fragmentum where Zhang Xiu and the other two stood, Clara had long since been struck speechless by Yaoshi's miracle.
And as the Aeon of Abundance, Yaoshi could naturally do far more than this. Even though her current power fell far short of her true self, still roaming the sea of stars, she could still make this immense tree fill the entire star system.
"...What on earth is this...?" Clara covered her mouth, not knowing what to say.
"That's my wife's power. As for me... uh, I'm just a teensy billion times weaker than her." Zhang Xiu tapped his cheek with his index finger.
After withdrawing the immense tree, Yaoshi chuckled softly. "Do not worry, husband. You will surely leave a bold stroke of color and ink upon the universe."
"Hehe, I really love you so much, honey~" Zhang Xiu grinned foolishly, then turned to Clara. "Well? Clara? What do you think of this variable?"
"Huh? Yes! Th-that's incredible. Big sister... a-are you an incarnation of Qlipoth?" Clara felt her legs going weak.
"No, no, no. How could my wife be that blockhead? Anyway... Clara, are you willing to help us?"
"O-okay, Clara understands. But could we wait until Clara fixes the Energy Supply Device in the Mechanical Settlement before going?"
Although Clara was innocent, she understood that Zhang Xiu and Yaoshi, who possessed such power, had shown tremendous respect for her and Svarog by coming to speak with her properly, and even apologizing for what had happened yesterday.
"Husband, what you just did seemed rather like a threat."
"Uh, if you feel threatened by us, just blink. Even if you don't want to help, we won't force you. Really."
Belatedly realizing what he was doing, Zhang Xiu suddenly grew flustered. Just as Yaoshi had said, that display of strength had looked rather like coercing an innocent young girl...
But Clara shook her head. "No, Clara understands. Since big brother and big sister have this kind of power, Mr. Svarog will definitely agree. I'm only helping things along."
"Wow~ You're so sensible... Shall we go, then? Can you leave now?" Zhang Xiu bent down, admiring the girl before him more and more.
It'd be even better if you didn't show up on my 50/50.
"Yes, Clara can." With that, she turned toward the Traffic Light beside her. "Perkins, sorry for the trouble, but could you notify the other robots to come here and carry back the supplies we found?"
"Command source detected: Clara. Command received. Notifying nearby mechanical constructs."
Seeing that Perkins had sent out the order, Clara nodded to Zhang Xiu and Yaoshi, then followed them back the way they had come.
As the three walked briskly toward the Mechanical Settlement, Zhang Xiu looked at Clara's little bare feet, pink beneath their white skin like freshly steamed eggs, and couldn't help asking curiously:
"By the way, Clara, aren't you cold walking around barefoot all the time?"
"It's actually because Clara isn't used to wearing shoes. It's easy to twist an ankle..."
"So that's why? Hmm, going barefoot is good. They look tastier than they would with shoes on..."
"Tastier? What are you talking about, big brother? How could feet be something to eat?" Clara was utterly baffled.
Zhang Xiu's shameless old face flushed. "Ahem, don't mind that. Don't mind that..."
Yaoshi said nothing. She merely took out her phone and, after searching for the string of bizarre things Zhang Xiu had said earlier, quietly leaned toward his ear. Copying what she had read online, she ventured, "Call me Mommy?"
With such a wonderful opportunity falling into his lap, Zhang Xiu didn't hesitate in the slightest. "Mommy."
"Pfft... Hahaha." Yaoshi beamed with delight. "How very strange, how very strange. Husband, did you learn those expressions from this object?"
"...Yes, it's a very popular expression." Zhang Xiu smiled awkwardly.
"But why do most of them address little girls as 'Mommy'?" Yaoshi looked at Zhang Xiu curiously.
"Well, honey, you know this, right? In the worlds most people live in, even the smartest animals only have the intelligence of a seven- or eight-year-old human child, but they can take very good care of their young;
so that proves even a child can be a capable mother..."
"Like this?"
With that, Yaoshi's body actually began shrinking as she jogged along, until she had turned into a girl a little smaller than Clara.
"Huh? Big sister? Why did you suddenly turn into a little child?" Clara was startled, and even slowed her steps a little.
"That's one of my wife's abilities. Don't worry about it, Clara... Hehehe."
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