Everyone put Vivi's theory that Sophia might be an overseer in training on hold, mainly because Menzor didn't want it to be true, or at least didn't want to think about it, and the group instead talked some more about Nathan and his group’s plan to further explore the kingdom after spending a little while in the capital first.

  “Are we ready?” Nathan and his group weren’t the only ones to make travel plans. Sophia was doing the same, but she was a practical girl and decided to just go. At the same time, she also decided to use this chance to take the dogs on a walk.

  “Let’s go!” Steph energetically raised her arm high in the air while her tail turned into a blurry mess from the speed at which it was wagging from side to side.

  “Sure!” Aura was almost as enthusiastic as her.

  “What was the plan again?” Fen looked around a bit before focusing on the blonde. The four were currently on the ocean road where Sophia had picked up Nathan and the others the other day.

  “We’re heading back to Maya’s hometown before entering the monster country once more!” Sophia smiled at him.

  “Right, there was that idea.” Fen nodded lightly. “Why are only we four here, then? It's a rather odd combination, is it not?"

  “I want to get there quickly, but I also want to have fun~.”

  “I’m going to tell Maya and the others that you think they aren’t fun!” Steph smirked at her sister.

  “They’ll thank me!” The blonde wasn’t intimidated. “I chose to get you three because you’re the fastest in our group, as well as the ones who love to run around. We traveled a lot lately, but it was mostly just regular walking, as well as a lot of portal skipping. I haven’t gotten in a good run in forever!”

  “Ohh!” The dog-girl clapped her hands. “I’m liking this even more now! What are we going to do?”

  “The first to reach Maya’s hometown wins!”

  “Let’s go!”

  “Do you even know where that is?” Aura looked at Steph. “I don’t really do, and I joined the group before you, after all.”

  “Minor details!” She didn’t see an issue and just gave her a thumbs-up.

  “And I’d love to see you find it.” Fen just stared at the blonde with a hefty dose of sarcasm in his voice. "Even if you do know where it is, which I doubt, there’s just no way you’d ever be able to navigate there! You can barely walk a kilometer in a straight line without getting lost.”

  “I can barely walk a meter in a straight line!” Sophia let out a small chuckle. “I can very much see the issue, though. How about we do it in stages?” She then paused for a moment while looking around before pointing at a range of trees a couple of kilometers away from them, at the other end of the plain they were next to. “Like the first one to reach those trees gets a point. The one who got the most points by the time we reach Maya’s home wins!”

  “That sounds like fun!” Aura quickly warmed up to the idea.

  "That range of trees would get us further away from the place where we picked up your cat-girl, though." Fen lightly shook his head while he was looking in the direction the tiger was pointing in. “Ignoring the ocean, that's like the worst direction we could head to reach the place you want."

  “…” Sophia went silent for a moment. “T-That was just an example!” A slight blush appeared on her cheeks.

  “Sure~.” The three definitely believed her.

  “Grr!” She didn’t like that. “Then, mister I know everything better, which way should we go instead?”

  “That way.” Fen gestured at a few big rocks quite far away from the trees from before.

  “How do you even know that?!” Sophia raised her voice.

  “I’m not directionally challenged, and I know how to determine the cardinal directions based on the surroundings and the sky.” Fen tried to sound extra smug while replying.

  “…” Sophia, once more, had nothing to say in her defense.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “Oh, by the way!" Steph then seemed to remember something and faced Fen with sparkling eyes. “I’ve been wanting to learn your detection magic for a long time already! After all, it seems super useful! If it's okay, could you teach me how to use it, too?"

  “Hmm.” Fen pretended to think about it. “Alright, how about I teach you if you beat me in a race to those rocks?”

  “You’re on!” Not wasting any time, the dog-girl immediately started sprinting in the direction he was gesturing at before the wolf quickly followed after her.

  “There’s simply no way that Steph could ever beat him.” Aura lightly shook her head as she watched the duo dash away before looking at Sophia. “Your sister is fast, sure, but nowhere even close to us.”

  “Do you really think Uncle Fenny would make her lose and not teach her magic?” Sophia smiled at her. “Look, he hasn’t even transformed back to his regular form.” She pointed at the roughly one-meter-tall wolf. “He’s like three times as fast in his regular form. I’m sure he’s going to blame his loss on having forgotten about that because he got caught in Steph’s rhythm, but will reluctantly agree to teach her because a promise is a promise, even though it wasn’t his fault.”

  “Hah.” The female wolf let out a small laugh. “I can see that happening! Fen’s become such a softie! He’s so cute~.”

  “So, things are going well between you two, huh?”

  “Absolutely!” There was an extra amount of glee in Aura’s voice.

  “Great to hear!” Sophia was happy for them.

  “Fen and I were also planning to make our biome with a nice lair together soon." She sounded extra happy when she said so. "Though, both of us got a little distracted playing with Kel, so that got a little delayed.”

  “Ohh!” The blonde happily clapped her hands. “I’ve been wanting to do something with Maya as well, but the whole meeting the siblings thing distracted us! What are you two going to do?”

  “That’s, uhh… still up for debate.” Aura sounded a little awkward. “While I don’t mind the heat, and sleeping in front of a running fireplace is indeed quite comfortable, I do prefer slightly more temperate climates on the colder end, while Fen…”

  “Does not.” Sophia finished her sentence. “One of the many things I like about him, too~.”

  “Yes, that’s the issue.” The wolf stared right at her. “That’s also why I went for the pine forest while Fen made his warm broadleaf forest, while also skipping on the deciduous part of it, as there are no seasons in your domain.”

  “I wonder if those are possible?!” The blonde scratched her cheek. “Well, I still can’t get an actual sky working, so that might be a bit of a stretch at the moment…" She paused for a second. “Anyway, a mixed forest should work pretty well, shouldn’t it? You can get your pines while Fen has his broadleaf trees. The temperature range in those kinds of forests is also something even Steph and I could arrange with each other, and our feelings on the matter differ way more than yours and Fen's.”

  “I think we’re going to do something like that.” Aura liked the suggestion. “It also should be a bit mountainous with lots of caves. We’re still wolves, after all, and we like a good lair~!”

  “To raise puppies?” Sophia had to do it.

  “Shush!”

  “Come on! They’ll be adorable!”

  “I think we had this conversation before, did we not?” The wolf stared at her again. “Just like back then, let’s have this conversation again when you and Maya are ready for cubs, so we can raise and let them grow up together.”

  “…” There was little the tiger could say there.

  “Hehe.” Aura liked making her speechless. “The lair that we’re going to make in the domain will be cub-friendly, though.” She could agree to that much at least. “Just don't tell Fenny about that part because he isn’t going to be aware of that.”

  “You’re the best!” Sophia was a big fan of her cunning and shrewd side.

  “I know~.”

  “Well, I guess better having but not needing it, compared to needing but not having it, huh? The cub den, that is.”

  “Something like that, yes.” The wolf reacted with a light nod. “Also, knowing you and Maya, your cubs will be there before we realize. So, if we’re going to have this talk again, I’m also ready if the time is right. Fenny being ready is a topic for a later date~.”

  “It will be a few more years before Maya and I are at that point, you know?” Sophia shook her head. “Probably…”

  “With my perception of time, thanks to my age, a couple of years basically equates to next week for someone as young as you.”

  "I'm not sure how I feel about this." The blonde scratched her cheek. "For various reasons."

  “Let’s have this talk again in a couple hundreds of years to see if you’ve sorted out your feelings on the matter by then~.” Aura’s voice turned playful again.

  “That doesn’t help as much as you think it does.”

  “I wasn’t planning to help, so I think I was spot on.”

  “Hah.”

  “Ehehe~.”

  “I have much to learn from you when it comes to mental fortitude.” Sophia once more noticed how different the two were. “That, and how good you are at messing with others.”

  “I take great pride in that, too.” Her voice turned playful again before looking in the direction Fen and Steph had run off into to change the topic. “There’s no way we’re going to beat either of them at this point, but we still have to get there eventually.”

  “Not with that attitude, we won’t.” It was finally Sophia’s time to be smug as she snapped her fingers. Immediately after, everything around them froze in position. Clouds, leaves, even the birds in the sky stopped moving. “We have all the time in the world to catch up with them, you know?”

  “I’m pretty sure stopping time would be considered cheating in a race.” Aura looked around in fascination for a moment before focusing on the tiger once more.

  “I don’t remember that being in the rules.” The tiger shrugged.

  “You’re quite shrewd yourself.” The wolf sounded just a little bit proud.

  “Thank you very much~.” She smiled at her. “So, how about it? How about our own little race? I’ll even hold back a little for you.”

  “I’ll destroy you!” Aura happily accepted the challenge and transformed into her taller original form, or at least close to it. She, in fact, looked even taller than usual.

  Afterward, the two got into position to start their own race, completely separate from Fen and Steph, as time was still stopped for them.

  - HeroGob -

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