Chapter 373 – More participants
Sophia and Maya had a fun night, where they tested out the toys they got in the blonde’s original world during their trip. As the cat-girl was very excited and horny, she decided that she wanted to test out everything. This had taken quite the toll on her, to the point where she had completely overslept, was beyond exhausted, and even had trouble standing on her legs, let alone walking on the following day once she eventually did manage to leave the bed. She regretted nothing, though. Far from it.
Once Maya had recovered from her impressive night with her tiger, well, recovered enough, the group went to the fox village where they found Chloe because her mother, Fey, was about to return, and they wanted to greet her there. While they were at it, the girls also had the idea to test out the hot springs and also play around with the forest there to create a pleasant and magical scenery around the bath to enjoy while taking a dip in it.
“Alright, any idea how we turn those trees and stuff more autumn-like?” Sophia was looking at the leafless forest while tilting her head.
“Weren’t you the one who came up with the idea…?” Chloe just looked at her.
“Exactly!” She nodded. “And now I need someone to explain it to me!”
“Your idea…?”
“Yes!”
“Alright, let me think…”
“Wait, she’s actually going to try…?” Steph looked at Maya while she was watching their exchange.
“Those two enter their own little world when it comes to magic. Don’t worry about it.”
“I see…?”
“Okay!” Chloe faced the tiger again. “If the trees we grew with magic function on it now, and the ample ambient magic sustains everything around them, we might be able to pour some of our authority into a few surrounding trees around here. Only much less, though. Just enough to let them regrow their leaves and then take back some authority until they turn red and orange. With a little bit of luck, it spreads and stays that way for every plant.”
“Makes sense!” The blonde nodded a few times.
“Does it…?” The dog-girl looked at the cat again.
“Nothing those two ever say does…”
“Ahh… Anyway, I don’t get it, but let’s go!” Steph raised her fist in anticipation.
“That’s the spirit!” Sophia and Chloe liked her enthusiasm.
“Ah, right, she’s on their side…” Maya had forgotten about that for a moment.
“Alright, can I try to grow a tree?!” The dog-girl sounded really excited.
“Do you even know how?” Sophia stared at her sister.
“From what I’ve gathered so far, that’s not a requirement, isn’t it?”
“…” Chloe and the blonde looked at each other. “She wins that round.”
“Oi!” The cat-girl didn’t like that.
“So, teach me how to do it!” The dog-girl didn’t care about her complaints.
“Hmm…” The tiger tilted her head. “In theory, sure, I’m all for experiments, but… If you mess up even a little, you might destroy this whole village…”
“I promise that I’ll take care!”
“Y-You are actually sensible when it comes to experimenting…?” Maya looked extremely confused. “Wait, are you trying to be responsible older sister now…? Great!”
“If she destroys the place, we won’t be able to go in the hot springs with everyone tonight!”
“Ah.” The cat-girl hung her head. “Well, okay, that would be a tragedy… By the way, on an unrelated note, are we going to invite Anna and Ari, as well?”
“Of course!”
“…” Steph paused for a moment. “That would be a travesty, yeah…”
“The destruction of the village or not being able to take a bath with everyone?” In some ways, Maya and the little sister were quite alike.
“Yes.” She just nodded.
“She, uhh… really fits in quite nicely in the group, huh?” Chloe smiled at the blonde.
“You, of all people, would know, huh?" Sophia smiled back at the girlfriend of her little sister.
“Yes!”
“Alright, fine…” The dog-girl scratched her cheek. “I’ll sit this one out… Still! I want to see how it works to be able to test it out in some other place soon!”
“Sounds like a plan!” The tiger liked the sound of that. “Chloe, should we start by pouring some of our authority into a tree and see what happens?"
“Best would be slowly increasing it, though. I feel like we only need a tiny bit…”
“…” She went silent for a moment. “My dear fox, would you like to start…? I’m not the best when it comes to using a tiny bit.”
“Good thing Feyfey taught me how to finely control my magic~.” Luckily, the pink girl was exceptionally talented when it came to that. Afterward, she walked closer to the next tree before looking at Steph. “When we grew the big trees, we bathed a few saplings with our magic authority and let them soak it up. Immediately after, you can literally watch them grow.”
“Fenny’s and Aura’s trees, which are over a kilometer tall, took like 10 minutes to reach that size! It was amazing!” Sophia added her own bit.
“Woah!”
“We don’t want that to happen here, though.” Maya just started at the sisters.
“Exactly.” The fox-girl nodded a few times before continuing. Afterward, she released some of her magic around the tree in front of her, and it quickly sucked it in. “And now we wait.”
“I wonder why trees aren’t doing that all the time...?” While watching the magic going into them, the blonde tilted her head. “Normal trees aren’t any bigger than everything I’m used to.”
“It probably needs a certain level of magic for it to become an alternative?” Chloe tried to come up with an explanation. “In Mira’s domain, where ambient magic was more than abundant, not a single plant was normal-sized.”
“Sounds like it would make sense. If they’d react to normal levels of ambient magic, the entire world would be overgrown, huh?”
“That sounds fun!” Steph liked the idea.
“I don’t necessarily disagree, but...” Chloe tilted her head. “I also think it would get boring after a while.”
“Ah, that’s true!” The dog-girl saw the issue in her idea. “Oh, wait! I think something is happening!” She then pointed at the tree where little green spots had started to appear on the twig’s buds. Soon after, leaves formed out of them, and before they fully realized it, a perfectly lush green tree appeared in front of them. “So cool!”
“It really is!” Even Maya had to agree.
“Though, now I really wonder...” Sophia had a confused expression. “It’s so very easy to influence plants and stuff... Why has no one ever thought about that before? Forget trees and stuff. Imagine what an influence this would have on farming and all that! Maya, explain!"
“Uhh...” The cat-girl looked back at her. “Before meeting any of you, I had no idea that ambient magic is a thing, let alone that you can control or generate it on your own. It’s common sense that magic only works when you use some sort of words or similar intents. No one even dreamed about directly manipulating magic.”
“What kind of boring common sense is that...?” Steph didn’t like the sound of that. “Where’s the passion? The love for experimenting?!”
“Exactly!” Chloe and the blonde heartily agreed.
“Well, what can I say... I-I even got as far as getting further with magic than 99.6% of everyone else, but still...” She was able to learn chantless magic on her own, after all.
“Looks like I now have an ace up my sleeve when I make Menzor angry again~. This could change everything, and there are only positives!”
“You’re right!” The fox-girl nodded at Sophia. “I hadn’t thought about it, either, but farming crops would never be the same with this!”
“That’s nice and all, seriously, but can we change to the really important things for now?" Steph looked at the two. “Getting a great view in the bath and also having a nice background?" She pointed at the tree.
"I have mixed feelings about your wording, but I don't disagree, so I can't really complain…" Slightly rolling her eyes, Chloe then put her hand on the green tree. Soon after, the leaves on the tree quickly turned orange, yellow, and red. “Wow, it actually works! I just simply sucked out a bit of magic.”
"The question now is whether the tree stays like this or will start losing its leaves soon.” Sophia took a better look at their creation.
"While I am interested in that, too, I think that's a question for another day!" The dog-girl seemed to have different priorities. “For now, it means we can have a nice background while being in the hot springs with everyone!”
“Fair enough!” The older sister could get behind that logic. “Alright, Chloe, could you give the other trees the same treatment to make everything look nice? I’ll go get Anna and Ari in the meanwhile.”
“Okay!”
“I’ll stay and keep her from experimenting.” Maya just focused her stare on the fox-girl.
“Ahaha... Steph, do you want to come with me?”
“Sure!”
Afterward, the sisters left for the castle to collect the couple there.
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“Alright, who wants to go on a trip?!” The two arrived in Anna’s room while seemingly being in an excellent mood.
"Clothes are optional!" Steph paused for a moment. "Wait, no! Clothes are banned!"
“I like the sound of that!” The princess was immediately in.
“I’m not so sure about the part Steph mentioned there.” Ari had some mixed feelings about it. "What's going on?"
“Remember Chloe’s elven or fox village?” The blonde tried to add some details. “There’s a hot spring we want to visit today after they finished renovating, and we want you two to come, too."
“Ohh!” Anna became an even bigger fan of the idea.
"Ahh, is that why clothes are optional...?" The jaguar was starting to understand.
“Well, I also wanna see lots of goodies, but it’s definitely about the bath, yeah!” The dog-girl was pretty shameless, after all.
“Why are both sisters so massive perverts...?”
"We are sisters, after all!"
“Hey!” The blonde pervert didn’t like that accusation.
“Well, a hot spring does sound like a lot of fun, though.” Ari was warming up to the idea.
“Yay!” The sisters liked her reply a lot.
“No watching Ari, though! She’s mine!”
"Ehh...? What's wrong with looking?" Steph faced her. “As long as it’s just watching, I have no issues with you looking at Chloe, either~. It would be a crime to forbid it!”
“B-But Ari is my girlfriend! T-This and that are different!”
“And Chloe’s mine, so it changes nothing.”
“Oh, I see...”
“Also,” Sophia glanced at her fellow tiger friend. "What happened when you two stayed in the mansion when we all showed off a bit more than usual? I do remember being watched a lot by a certain someone.”
"A-Ah...” The princess’ face turned a little red. “O-Only looking, okay?!” She then sheepishly faced the little sister again.
“Sure! No motivation for anything else, anyway!”
“Good...”
“Wait, what...?” Ari suddenly looked a little confused before she changed her attention to Steph. “Chloe’s your girlfriend...?”
“Yup!” She nodded.
“When did that happen?!”
“Yesterday!”
“Ehh...?” The jaguar couldn’t follow her. “Didn’t you just meet each other like a week ago?"
“It hasn’t even been a week yet since Steph found me...” Sophia shook her head.
“And you’re dating her already?!” The princess joined the questioning.
“I do!” She kept nodding. “You know Chloe, right? With her looks and even more so personality, you can’t afford to waste time, you know!”
“I mean...” Ari paused for a moment. “The lack of common sense aside, Chloe really is someone special, so I guess?"
“That’s one of the best parts!” Steph disagreed with her assessment.
“...” She ignored her reply. “Still, isn’t that a little, no... very fast? Shouldn’t you get to know each other better first?”
"Really, who decided you can't do that while dating?" The dog-girl stared at her. "It's not like, just because you start dating, you directly have to jump into bed with each other! You can still take it easy! We just confirmed our developing feelings and want to explore more of them!”
“...” The couple immediately turned silent.
“Maya would be so proud of you.” Sophia loved her answer. “Anyway, hot springs?”
“Let’s go!”
After the couple recovered, the sisters took the two to the fox village using the blonde’s portals.