In the capital of the Pokape Dynasty, a group sat in a thriving tavern called Gathering Moon.
Li Jia had chosen this place specifically because it had the most customers. There was some truth to judging how good the food was by how crowded a place was.
Good food did not necessarily mean a queue, but a deserted tavern was bound to have terrible food.
Hera had different thoughts from Li Jia. This inn stood in the center of the capital. Opening the window and looking out revealed the street vendors and passing crowds, making it the perfect place to gather information.
Places like this were usually expensive, but with Winslow around, that was no issue.
Hera used a little divine power, covering them in a thin layer of red dust that concealed their appearances. Their clothing looked no different from that of passersby, and they appeared to be nothing more than four utterly ordinary women in black robes.
Li Jia began swallowing hungrily as she held the little menu booklet.
There was something to be said for traveling to unwind when work became stressful. She could experience the local customs of different places and try delicious food she had never eaten before.
Only after ordering several unfamiliar snacks and honey milk tea did Li Jia put down the booklet. Propping her cheeks in her hands, she puffed air into her mouth, turning herself into a pufferfish with bulging cheeks.
"What's wrong?"
They had ordered food and drinks, so why did she look so huffy? Hera could not help asking.
Li Jia looked up at her and whispered, "Because waiting is a lonely thing."
"Your Majesty, aren't you lonely?"
Lonely?
Hearing the girl's question stirred a subtle, unfamiliar feeling in Hera's heart.
From the day she was born on Divine Mountain, she had known her mission, fulfilled her divine duties, and maintained order.
In over a thousand years of life, this was the first time anyone had asked whether she was lonely.
Perhaps a little. Otherwise, she would not have brought Winslow and Doreen home from the Northern Territory back then, and they had remained with her for over a thousand years.
"Not particularly. I can endure it."
Now that she had this girl too, Hera did not feel lonely.
"Then I'm relieved. You're good at waiting. You have excellent endurance." Li Jia smiled and teased her.
Just then, the server brought over the snacks and milk tea, and Li Jia beamed.
Li Jia picked up a churro. It looked a little like a fried dough stick, coated in powdered sugar. After finishing something sweet, she picked up a chicken pie. Alternating between savory and sweet like a perpetual motion machine, she ate with great enjoyment.
Doreen had not forgotten their actual business. She sipped the milk tea in her cup and asked the server standing nearby attending to customers, "Young man, we're travelers who came all the way from Fragrant City and Spring Capital. Could you tell me about some interesting local happenings?"
As she spoke, she produced a gold coin between her fingers. The boy standing beside them looked quite young, about twelve or thirteen. With amber eyes and distinctive little freckles on both cheeks, he was very cute.
Hearing Doreen's words and seeing the gold coin in her hand, the boy's eyes lit up.
After checking his surroundings and finding that none of the other servers were watching these customers by the window, Felix gathered his courage and approached Doreen.
Nothing was more tempting than a gold coin.
Except, perhaps, two.
"Beautiful miss, if you're looking for interesting local stories, you've asked the right person." He leaned closer to Doreen, picked up the copper pot, and refilled her half-empty cup of milk tea as he spoke ingratiatingly.
"Oh? Interesting. Tell me a couple first. If I like what I hear, I have plenty more of these."
Sitting beside Doreen, Winslow took a gold-threaded pouch from her sleeve and shook it gently beside his ear. At the clinking and scraping of metal, Felix licked his dry lips.
"I... I understand. I'll make sure you're satisfied!"
Doreen listened attentively, making room for him so he could explain more clearly.
The boy launched into an endless stream of stories: four-headed birds, a couple who had given birth to seven sets of twins in a row, and other such things. But clearly, aside from Li Jia, the other three had no interest in these rumors.
"I've heard all of those before, little fellow. How boring." Winslow waved a hand and sighed.
Realizing that the gold coins were slipping farther and farther away, Felix gritted his teeth. "There's also a secret about the Pokape royal family. Telling it means certain death, but you're foreigners. Once you leave, you're gone, so I'll tell you in secret."
It really takes something strong to get what I want to hear, Winslow thought.
"Have you heard of the evil dragon?" The boy glanced around and spoke haltingly.
"Go on."
The tall woman among the four spoke quietly. The words could not have been more ordinary, yet they left Felix's back drenched in cold sweat.
"The evil dragon came to Polar Night Fortress ten years ago. I was only three then. Actually, I've seen that dragon." Seeing that he had caught the attention of all four women, Felix knew he had gambled on the right bargaining chip.
"The evil dragon isn't necessarily male."
Felix voiced his understanding.
When he was three, he had been washing his wooden rabbit carving beside the Lait River when he happened to see it. A fierce wind had suddenly swept through the sky. He hid in a thicket, enduring the pain of its thorns, and witnessed the most terrifying sight of his life.
It crouched on the riverbank, its scales gleaming like obsidian. Each looked as though it had been polished thousands of times, its edges shimmering like golden velvet-the traces of devoured lightning and flame settling beneath its scales.
Only when it slowly raised its head did its golden eyes truly cut through the gloom. Its narrowed gaze swept over the thicket, and coldness spilled from those golden slits.
Clearly, it disdained directing its anger at a weak human.
With a hint of teasing, the enormous dragon took human form. Red hair covered its entire body, and it was so beautiful that its sex was impossible to distinguish. The reason Felix did not believe it was necessarily male was that he had seen the lower half of its human form.
"You mean this evil dragon doesn't have balls?"
"Yes, beautiful miss. I saw it with my own eyes."
Li Jia's mouth had grown a little dry from eating. She looked into her cup and felt somewhat deflated to find no milk tea left. Suddenly, a brimming cup of milk tea was pushed in front of her.
Slender fingers flashed before her, and the little one's eyes immediately curved into crescents. She said sweetly to Hera, "I knew you were the best."
Someone so straightforward.
Someone she would never meet again in this lifetime.
Hera knew this perfectly well. People revered her, admired her, and desired her, but not one could express their feelings to her without asking for something.
Li Jia picked up the milk tea and drained it.
Doreen continued questioning Felix. "I saw in the marriage register that the union had been formed. Ordinarily, only opposite sexes can enter a marriage contract. Could the evil dragon change its sex and evade the contract barrel's marriage screening?"
"Possibly. Anyway, the one thing I'm certain of is that the evil dragon Mofeiliya isn't male," Felix said firmly.
Having obtained information they had not known, Winslow generously gave the boy the small pouch of gold coins and winked. "I'm buying this secret."
Felix nodded and tactfully left with the coins.
"That's prejudice, you know? Prejudice. Who says a female can't marry another female? Where I come from, men can marry men, and women can marry women. Liking each other is enough."
Li Jia lightly slapped the table and declared this with conviction.
She was part of the Temple of the Goddess of Marriage now. How could she be so old-fashioned?
That made it necessary to teach them a little about marriage law in modern society.
Hera was briefly distracted. She had read the journal recording Li Jia's life. Li Jia had been born in the Northern Territory and returned to her uncle's side in Ollit after her parents passed away.
Have there been additions to the marriage regulations in the Northern Territory and Ollit?
She had neither heard of nor seen any new provisions submitted to her recently.
Hera was the Goddess of Marriage.
Marriage regulations throughout the world fell under her jurisdiction, yet she had never heard of what Li Jia described.
Her homeland...
Is neither the Northern Territory nor Ollit.
Then where did she come from, and where will she go?
Will she leave me...?
She had never sensed an unknown factor like this before, and it left her feeling somewhat restless and uneasy.
"But if men marry men and women marry women, they can't have children or carry on their family lines. Wouldn't humanity have gone extinct long ago? Wouldn't our offerings stop too?" Doreen was not unable to accept Li Jia's view, but her considerations were more rational.
"But there will also be men who fall in love with women, and women who fall in love with men, and they'll have children born of that love. If people of opposite sexes who don't love each other are forced together just to have children, isn't that pitiful? So your argument doesn't hold," Li Jia said without the slightest hesitation.
"I don't think gender should determine my lover."
"My lover should determine my sexual orientation."
Li Jia spoke in complete seriousness, without a trace of joking.
Hearing this, Hera saw the light and smiled. "You're right. It seems you're better suited to being the Goddess of Marriage than Hera."
Li Jia's heart jolted. She could not tell whether Hera meant it or was flattering her.
As a salted fish who had spent years in the workplace, she knew she should say something pleasing at a time like this. "Not at all, not at all. It's all thanks to your teaching, big sister."
Remembering that they were outside and she could not casually address Hera by name, Li Jia caught herself and called her "big sister."
Hera's expression froze for a moment. She murmured, "Big sister?"
When Hera remained motionless for some time, Li Jia inwardly groaned. She had committed a cardinal workplace sin. How could she casually call a woman "big sister" without knowing her age?
For all she knew, she might be older than Hera. She came from thousands of years in the future, and in Li Jia's opinion, thousands of years later was greater than thousands of years earlier.
But calling her "little sister"... was a little hard to get out.
Li Jia would have liked Hera to call her "big sister," but she did not have the nerve.
What could she do now that she had said it? It was not as though she could unsend a voice message. This was not WeChat.
Li Jia began making little calculations. Based on her understanding of this demon, once they got back, letting Hera hold her a few more times that night and saying a few nice things would settle the matter. What god would hold a petty grudge against a human?
Instead, Hera chuckled. "You're too modest, little sister."
Damn it, she's taking advantage of me!
Seeing Hera in a good mood, Li Jia wilted like a little cucumber struck by frost.
I'm so mad, but I still have to smile.
Sometimes she felt Hera was sacred, majestic, and inviolable. At other times, this divine sovereign seemed like an elementary school brat, always teasing her over little things.
"Full?"
Seeing her begin to grow drowsy, Hera asked.
"Yes, I'm full, big sister."
Li Jia had also figured it out. She had always lived with ease, and found it easy to work things out too. Since Hera wanted her to call her big sister, she would. It would not cost her a piece of flesh. Thinking about it, having a connection to the Goddess of Marriage was rather nice.
Hera held out her arms, and Li Jia willingly dove into them. She had eaten too many sweets, her blood sugar had risen, and she was so sleepy.
A human chair was there for the taking. Why not recline on it?
Winslow saw that the bases of Hera's once-fair ears were so red they looked ready to bleed.
What was that saying? A radish for every hole. Everyone has their own karmic retribution, but Her Majesty probably likes this particular retribution.