Chapter 76: Ch 76: Gaining a Kid - Part 1

Sasha felt a pang in her chest at those words.

She already knew that the god she was supposed to serve held no affection for her, nor did he consider her a follower. She was just someone that existed for him...no, she was likely an eyesore.

But her faith and devotion had been real, even if they were exhausting.

"I-"

"Don’t think of this as my orders. This is more of an...exchange of sorts. I will provide you with food, lodging and a place to stay. In return, I need you to do something for me."

Goddess Apophis changed her words, which Sasha immediately noticed. She changed her offer from what Sasha wanted to what she needed, and Sasha flinched at the offer.

She knew that this was not something she could ignore.

But still...

"I don’t think I can come to worship you as my god-"

"That’s fine. Worshiping me is just an excuse to bring you over. Rather, I need you for another purpose."

"Another purpose?"

"Yeah! To keep the pests away. Keep people away from my Aiden when I am not there. Honestly, I would rather stick beside Aiden to keep all the pests away, but I don’t like anyone other than Aiden looking at my human form, and he prefers the same. So you need to act as a barrier between him and everyone else."

Sasha could only look at the snake goddess with her mouth held open.

Out of everything she could have heard, this was the last thing she expected to come out of Goddess Apophis’s mouth.

"You want...me to guard Noah...from other...humans?"

It was hard for Sasha to compute in her mind, but Goddess Apophis sighed and nodded.

"Tsk, how dare those low-lives try and get close to my Aiden? Do they think they deserve to live? I should pluck the eyes out of anyone who comes too close or looks disrespectfully, and even then-"

Sasha had a feeling that the goddess was not acting. She was actually annoyed, and she might do something bad if she was not stopped.

And while Sasha had no love for humanity...she was also not cruel enough to allow them to suffer.

"I-I will help."

Besides, the idea of having a home to come back to sounded nice. She might not be able to abandon her faith, but as long as she was not being made to do that...

’This might work out just fine. I might finally find a place to belong to.’

Sasha felt a sense of happiness and belonging. But it did not take a whole minute before she felt danger lurking around her.

Her first instinct was to look around and find the source of this power, only to flinch once she noticed that it was Goddess Apophis.

Sasha also looked at the thing that had angered the goddess enough to make her aura visible, only to have her eyes fall on Aiden, who was currently being approached by all kinds of people.

"Ah, it looks like these pests are already starting to crawl around my Aiden. Sasha, it’s time to earn your keep. Help me drive those insects away from Aiden."

The Goddess was smiling, but it looked more like she was cursing all those people trying to approach Aiden.

Sasha’s instincts told her to reject this request for her own safety. But just thinking about it also made her instincts tell her no.

In the end, all she could do was move her head in a mechanical manner to show that she was willing to do it.

"Of course, Goddess Apophis. I will follow your will. Drive people away from Aiden! That should be easy. But is there any restriction on what method I can use?"

Sasha asked, and the goddess let out a chuckle of annoyance.

"You can choose any method you like...as long as Aiden does not get hurt. The others don’t matter at all."

Sasha had the Goddess’s permission, so it was time for her to continue the act.

"I understand. In that case, here I go."

Sasha took a deep breath before she changed her body language once more and rushed toward Aiden.

"Papaaaa! What are you doing? Are these people bothering you? Mother said to call her if you feel overwhelmed outside."

Aiden’s look of bewilderment was worth watching, and so was the shocked expression of everyone else watching.

It was so fun, in fact, that Sasha ended up clinging even harder to Aiden and leaning more into the role of his daughter.

She looked up to give Aiden a look to follow along, and he nodded after a few seconds after letting out a sigh.

"Ah, it looks like my daughter is here. I still need to resolve the issue of her entry into the tournament. Sir, I will be withdrawing her admission."

"But I thought you said she was not your daughter-"

"I said she will be withdrawing. As for Caelion, please register his entry."

Aiden did not allow the registrar to speak up. He kept stressing what he wanted, and the other man was forced to relent and make the change, just as Aiden wanted him to.

...

Aiden wanted to say that he was confused about what was happening, but one look at his Goddess’s face told him that Sasha’s act had her approval.

He was not sure if this was fine, but since this was something his goddess wanted, Aiden was willing to play along this time.

He glared the registrar into submission, and the people who wanted to approach him shrunk into themselves, pretending they could not even see him now. This was exactly what Aiden wanted.

"Shall we head back now, Aiden?"

Goddess Apophis approached Aiden as well, and she fit into his side naturally while Sasha took his other hand.

From the outside, they looked like a harmonious family, which made people turn their heads back to look at him. Aiden knew that they were attracting more attention than needed, and he breathed a sigh of relief once they reached their inn.

They quickly headed to Aiden’s room and decided to have a talk.