Sophia took Luca to their new boat, where he also reunited with his sister. Naturally, Maya was rather surprised about suddenly meeting her brother. Still, the two immediately started bantering with each other like all good siblings were supposed to be, meaning they really missed each other. Once the initial surprise calmed down, the two wanted to catch up with each other, as well as telling Luca more about their ridiculous group.

  “How did you even meet the prince?” Before Sophia could tell them more about their group, Maya wanted to know more about what her brother had been up to.

  “Vivi and I were just setting up camp for the night when he and Nina suddenly showed up, looking for a place on their own.” He just shrugged. “We were surprised, to say the least, to suddenly camp with a tiger and his jaguar maid, but it was fun. Since we had the same destination back then, we decided to travel together the day after and never split up again, since we enjoyed each other's company, and Vivi and I didn’t have a goal in mind, anyway. Not to mention that she and Nina were already inseparable at that point.”

  “Wait, who’s Vivi?” It didn’t take Maya long to get confused.

  "She's the puma-girl Ari's sister is dating," Sophia answered her. "You're going to like her!"

  “I will?”

  “She’s amazingly pretty!”

  “I like her already!” The cat-girl wasn’t hard to please. “Wait, how did you meet her?”

  “How did I meet her again?” He tilted his head. “Right, it wasn’t actually too long after I left home. I was having a good time in a tavern when she showed up and completely drank me under the table. I’m not exactly sure anymore how it led to that, though.” Luca scratched his cheek. “On the next day, with both of us recovering from a hangover, we had a bit of a chat and got to know each other a little. Turns out she was also on her first great adventure and eager to explore. Both of us thought it would be kind of lonely to travel alone, so once we were able to walk without falling over again, we continued our adventure together and became fast friends.”

  “Ohh, that’s so cool!” Maya liked the story. “I definitely have to thank her for putting up with you for so long~.”

  “Thank you for putting up with her for so long.” Smirking at his sister first, Luca then smiled at Sophia as he said that.

  “It’s been tiring, so these words mean a lot.” The blonde smiled back at him.

  “I should’ve seen that one coming.” Maya wasn’t even mad about it. “Though, that was definitely a good choice to travel with her. I don’t think I would’ve had any fun traveling on my own!”

  “So true! What’s even the point?!” Sophia strongly agreed with her. “Our group has become so big by now that everyone always has someone to play with, and I wouldn't want to have it any other way!”

  “I absolutely agree.” Luca nodded. “It has become a lot more enjoyable after I started traveling with Vivi, and it got exponentially better when Nathan and Nina joined on top!”

  "Friends mean fun~." The blonde looked pretty happy about that.

  “I still can’t believe both of us ended up in a group with a tiger, or two in your case." The cat-boy looked at his sister again. “I’m so happy that you had to explain that to mom and dad already. I can’t even imagine how much of a pain it was to tell them that you’re friends with the royal family.”

  “It certainly didn’t help that I’m dating one, either.” Maya let out a sigh. “Or the part where her being more or less royalty makes me the same by proxy, too.”

  “Congrats…?” Luca didn’t even want to touch that subject.

  “Thanks…” The cat-girl looked tired. "On the plus side, mom and dad adore Sophia, probably more than they like even me, so that helped a lot with making them warm up to the situation.”

  “Eve and Theo are great~.” Sophia gave him a thumbs-up.

  “Though, I could do without them pestering us about grandchildren whenever they can…”

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  “Grandchildren?” The cat-boy looked confused before looking at Sophia. “They really love you, huh?”

  “Ehehe~.”

  "Are you two planning to…?" He only tilted his head.

  “I definitely want kids!” The tiger’s energetic reply was instantaneous.

  “When the time is right.” Maya was also in favor, but not before they settled down to some degree. “There’s no need to hurry.”

  “Wow.” Luca wasn’t sure what to say. “I seriously wasn’t expecting you to be interested in having children.” He looked at his sister. “In my memories, I still only remember you as the little menace who only loves magic and fighting people. I don't remember you ever having any actual interest in entering a relationship, and you were already more than old enough for that when I left, so that definitely wasn’t the issue. Going from that to thinking about children is quite the leap.”

  “Well, that hadn’t really changed for a couple of years after you left, either.” The cat-girl couldn’t blame him for thinking that way. “Romance only really entered my radar after meeting Sophia. I guess it was a matter of finding the right person.”

  “Hehe.” The right person in question let out another chuckle. “She’s still a menace, though.”

  “Says the queen of being a menace.” Maya just looked back at her.

  “You two really go well together.” Luca was happy for his sister.

  “Thanks!”

  “On a completely different note, I guess it’s good that you found us before I reached our hometown again, huh?” Luca tilted his head while looking at Maya. "We would've gotten there somewhat soon-ish, and I would've been pretty sad to find out that neither you nor mom and dad were still there.”

  “We were actually planning to go there, too, and put a portal to connect the place with the capital.” Sophia smiled at her.

  “I don’t know if mom and dad already did, but I’m sure they did, and I definitely would've put a note for you in our house to tell you what’s going on, too.”

  “That’s nice.” He was glad that his family hadn't forgotten about him. “Though, why do you all want to go there? Nathan wanted to see and study the outpost city bordering the monster country, but there isn’t really much to see there, or have I gotten blind over its appeal as I grew up there?”

  “We’re headed for the monster country itself, so visiting your home before doing so made sense as it’s on the way and I wanted to say hello to some people again that I befriended there when I first met Maya.”

  “Come again?!” He heard something rather concerning in Sophia’s reply. “Going into the monster country is suicide! It has its name for a reason!”

  “Ahh, this is going to be fun.” Knowing that they entered the part of the conversation where Luca’s mind is going to be broken, Maya leaned back on the sofa while crossing her legs to get comfortable.

  “I’ve been there before, and it really isn’t all that bad. Everyone in our group is stronger than the so-called monsters that live in the area.” The blonde shrugged. “If you’re concerned about your sister here, there’s absolutely no need. Aside from our group, there aren't many, if any, individuals or things that could outmatch or even harm her. Maya’s insanely powerful, after all.”

  “You’re insane.” He had no better words.

  “Monsters won’t even try to attack us because they can sense magic and simply know they have no chance of leaving a fight alive. They’re really only a threat to regular people with regular magic power. The most hostile part about the monster country for us is the lack of food because so many plants and stuff are poisonous in there.” Sophia was only concerned about that part. “Thankfully, that doesn’t matter all that much for us, though. We can just take a portal to somewhere else to eat when we get hungry and continue like normal afterward. At the end of the day, it’s actually a little boring there.”

  "You girls really live in a completely different world than the rest of us do." Luca was utterly overwhelmed.

  “Ahaha…” Maya let out an awkward chuckle as they more or less live in Sophia’s domain, which technically actually is a different world.

  “Why do you even want to go to the monster country if it’s boring and has no good food?! Seems super pointless to me!” He still didn’t like the idea.

  “We’re planning to go to the demon continent, and the coast of the monster country apparently is the closest to it, so there’s less ocean to cross.”

  "Eh…?" He stared at the tiger for a bit while blinking a couple of times before looking at his sister with a dumbfounded expression.

  “You heard her right.” Maya knew why he was having the expression he had.

  “Also part of the reason why we got this boat~.”

  “This is not a boat you can use to cross an ocean!” Luca glared at Sophia. “Not to mention that the route to the demon continent is supposedly blocked by sea-monsters, and no one ever made it to the other side alive!”

  “Or, the theory that I like much more, the demon continent is so much more fun that just no one wanted to come back, and that's how this myth came to be."

  “How does someone even get the idea of going there?!” The cat-boy had a hard time with everything he was hearing.

  “One of our friends had been there before and told us so many amazing things!” The tiger smiled at him. “That’s also how we know that passing the ocean is possible and that actually quite a few members of the beastfolk do live there.”

  “There’s just no way you also know someone who had been there before!” He rapidly shook his head because Luca was hearing too many unbelievable things in rapid succession.

  “Alright, let’s go and introduce you to her~.” Sophia jumped off the sofa while clapping her hands. "She should be at our home right now and can tell you herself."

  Not giving him a chance to complain more, the tiger simply transported him to the cottage in her domain while taking Maya with them, as well. Suddenly being alone on the boat, Steph immediately used her chance and dragged Chloe to the bedroom as she had called first dibs on that, but that’s a different story.

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