(MC POV)
I looked to my left where little Cai Hong was bouncing happily on my thigh.
Noticing my gaze, she looked up and giggled at me, "Papa!"
I then turned my head to the right where little Iris was also bouncing happily on my other thigh.
She also noticed my gaze and squealed, "Papa!"
I tried asking omniscience why this happened but the only reason I got from it was 'incomprehensible'. What the hell does that even mean? Why are you so useless at times like this?
I then tried asking Iris what happened but she simply tilted her head, sucked on her finger and said, "Papa huggies?"
Of course I had to give her all the huggies she wanted.
One of the good things was that the universe did not stop from the hug which I have no doubt would have happened if she was in her original form.
I'm guessing it's because I've already grown used to Cai Hong's extraordinary cuteness, so I could still handle Iris's perfect cuteness without too much trouble.
She suddenly looked up at me and her eyes sparkled, "Papa! Papa! Pat! Head pat!"
Oh my, look at this absolute cute little thing. Here's all the head pats you want!
Now she's making "kyuu kyuu~" noises and I just had to pat her even more.
I felt a tug on my shirt and I turned to see Cai Hong looking up at me with a similar expression.
"Papa… Pat pwease?"
Well, now I have to head pat two absolutely cute girls at the same time.
"Uuuu… Master's love…" I heard Lian Li whine at the side, my golden haired disciple looking here with envy.
I'm sorry, but there was no way I would have let Lian Li and Elaria continue with these two little girls here. I'll let them sleep with me tonight at least.
In the meantime, I have to deal with pampering these two little girls who are clinging on to me, which I absolutely have no problems with, mind you.
When the sun was beginning to set, we stopped on a hill by the side of the road to make camp.
While the others were busy with setting up for the night, I took Cai Hong and Iris out for a stroll on the crest of the hill.
From here, we could see our destination in the distance on the hill opposite ours. If we were to set off in the morning tomorrow, we should reach there by midday or so before meeting the king.
I certainly have a few bones to pick with him, especially with that group of soldiers he sent to ambush us which we still have piled up on the cart. I have a good guess as to why he did that, but I'll see what kind of excuse he could give when I confront him about it.
Cai Hong pointed to the city with excitement on her face, "Papa! Papa! Bwig city! Bwig city!"
"Yes, it's a really big city. That is the capital of Sun where we are going to meet their king," I chuckled.
"Papa going to meet king?"
"Yes, Cai Hong. Papa is going to meet the king there."
"Muuu… Cai Hong eat?"
I patted my little dragon on the head, "Haha, yes, yes, we'll find time to eat there as well."
"Yayyy~"
It's a little regretful that I didn't manage to bring the rest of the girls to the dessert store, but I'm sure the capital would have something similar so we can go to that one instead.
Noticing that Iris had been quiet for a while, I peeked in her direction to see the aforementioned girl staring at Cai Hong with unblinking eyes.
That stare was also quite intense too...
Huh… Was she really jealous of Cai Hong that she changed herself to this form just to get me to spoil her?
Wait… Doesn't that mean she had her powers all along? Was she only pretending to have turned herself mortal?
Iris, if you can hear me, tell me the truth right now.
…
No answer huh? Maybe it's really just her desire to be pampered and her powers activated on instinct to transform both her physical and mental state to a child like Cai Hong?
This lousy omniscience isn't giving me any answers either.
Realising I was watching her, Iris tilted her head to look up at me, "Papa? Wrong?"
I patted her head, "Nothing's wrong. Shall we take a walk?"
The two little girls cheered when they heard that, both of them immediately grabbing one of my hands each.
Without a destination in mind, the three of us simply strolled around the area and enjoyed the scenery around us.
Funny that this is basically the mother and father bringing their kid to stroll around except the mother had become as small as the daughter herself.
"Papa! Play!" Cai Hong called out suddenly, as if she just had an epiphany.
"Hmmm? What shall we play then?" I asked.
She pointed to a nearby tree, "Climb, climb!"
I took a moment to inspect the tree she pointed out, it looked relatively safe for them to climb with its thick trunk and relatively strong branches so it shouldn't be a problem.
On the off chance that they actually fell off or something, my protection inscriptions on them would have made sure they would be fine anyway and that's assuming I don't catch them first which I would.
I picked her up and boosted her to the closest tree branch, letting Cai Hong sat there comfortably to wait for me to join her.
I turned to Iris to see her stretching her arms out at me and making grabbing motions with her hands just like what Cai Hong would do. Yep, this girl definitely wanted to be pampered like Cai Hong.
I picked her up and lifted her onto the same branch, letting her sit beside Cai Hong.
I then climbed up the tree to join them, prompting the two girls to start climbing higher as well. With me supporting them, it didn't take long for the three of us to reach the top where we could see the entire area from.
"Papa! High! High!" Cai Hong squealed, hugging me.
"Yes, we are very high. Be careful not to fall ok?"
"Okies~ Cai Hong careful!"
I turned to see Iris reaching out for me, most probably wanting a hug too since she saw Cai Hong hugging me.
I was about to reach for her when her foot slipped off the branch she had been standing on, sending her falling towards the ground.
I was prepared for such a thing to happen so my hand had flashed out in an instant to catch her, pulling her into my embrace to cradle her protectively.
"Are you ok, Iris?" I asked, looking at her with concern.
She blinked before reaching up to hug my face.
"Papa… I wuv you…"
And she kissed me on the cheek.
Smoke exploded out from her and in the next instant, she was back in her adult form.
Her face changed from confusion to surprise and then to embarrassment before she hid her face in my chest.
"Auuuuu!! Don't look, Master!! I'm so embarrassed!!"
I don't suppose you have an answer to this, omniscience?
…
Yeah, I didn't think so.
Oh well… She's cute like this too.