The group mostly finished up getting their new mansion ready. Fen dug up a basement, and possibly more, for Sophia to use her last travel magic in. The couple put up a few curtains and rearranged some of the furniture while also filling the kitchen with supplies. Aura went out to buy a gigantic, snow-white sheebskin rug to place in front of the fireplace in the living room. The two cats loved it so much that both of them comfortably curled up on it and took an afternoon nap there after having lost to their feline instincts.

"Those two..." Fen looked at the couple napping next to each other on the rug with a satisfied expression. Occasionally, their tails swished around, or their ears twitched, and it seemed like they were having a good time.

"And, how much do you want to join them, my dear Fen?" Aura looked at him with a judging expression.

"..." He didn't answer, but his tail stopped wagging as he looked away.

"I see~." She didn't need more of an answer. "You sure have mellowed down."

"Oh, shut up. This continent has become pretty boring, so it's only natural that I calmed down, as well."

"Was this continent ever interesting, though? After the demons left, I mean? The humans... well," Aura didn't even finish. "The beastfolk are good people, but they don't pack that much of a punch. Resident oddballs aside. And the other races are drastically underrepresented."

"You're not wrong."

"So, what's the difference between now and the past?"

"You." He looked at the female wolf. "You were here with me."

"..." She needed a moment. "Were... Were you always this smooth...?"

"I've been traveling with those two flirty idiots for some months now." Fen glanced at the sleeping couple. "Some of their sappiness might've rubbed off on me. "

"Well, I like it. You were a little stiff in the past."

"You have to thank Sophia for that. Though, I'm not entirely sure how I should feel about that." Fen had conflicting emotions about her compliment.

"She did a great job." She enjoyed the new wolf. "I might miss seeing your wild side after inventing a new type of attack magic and testing it out, though."

"That side's still alive, but it's strangely enticing to leisurely travel around. I like it a lot."

"True. I haven't been part of this little group for too long, but it's fun." Aura agreed with his assessment. "We should still visit the demon continent at some point. I really enjoyed it there."

"I planned to go there a long time ago. Sophia's also interested, so we'll most likely end up there before long."

"Maya seems to be against it, though?"

"Don't worry about her. She's only cautious because she still hasn't fully realized just how powerful she is. She's also trying to keep Sophia in check. That's why she's a little stern from time to time. That cat actually loves to fight and play around with magic."

"Oh, then she'll love it there. Maya's still more powerful than the demons, but they know how to use their strength perfectly. They put up a good fight."

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The two wolves chatted for a while longer until the couple finally woke up from their nap. Stretching themselves after letting out a yawn, both of them still looked sleepy.

"Haa... This rug's dangerous, Aura." Sophia had to put in a lot of effort to get up.

"You just lack self-discipline." Fen had a better explanation.

"That's not... entirely untrue." She had no way to defend herself. "W-Well, Maya also fell asleep, so... I do still have a point!"

"It-, It is very comfy." The cat-girl was slightly ashamed about having given in to the temptation.

"By the way," Sophia held her stomach while facing Maya. "How are the chances of you giving the kitchen a test run? All the working... and napping made me really hungry."

"I was just about to suggest that." Luckily, she had the same idea.

"Perfect! Thank you!"

"Fen, Aura, we got a lot of meat that Sophia put on ice inside her storage to keep it fresh. Should I prepare all of it, and we have some sort of housewarming dinner?"

"I like the sound of that!" The male wolf supported the idea.

"If it's not too much work." Both wolves did.

"Not at all. I'm going to show this kitchen who's its new boss!" Maya was very motivated. After letting Sophia give her the meat, she banned everyone from the kitchen and got to work.

"Ahh~, I'm looking forward to it." The tiger-girl was with the wolves while showing an expectant expression. "Alright, while we wait, my dear Fenny~,"

"I don't like this new way of addressing me." When Aura and Maya used it earlier, it wasn't any fun for him, so he had become wary.

"I do, though."

"So do I." Unfortunately, the two girls didn't agree. "Anyway, now that Maya's busy, could you show me the real basement?"

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"W-What do you mean?"

"Don't worry. Whenever Maya's cooking, nothing that's going on around her, enters her mind."

"Really?"

"Come on, you started building one, right? A dungeon."

"There is no dungeon." He stopped for a moment. "It's a maze."

"Seriously?! Awesome!" Sophia's eyes were sparkling again. "Show me!"

"Fine." After glancing into the kitchen and making sure the cat-girl was indeed in her own little world, he guided them into the basement again. While Fen was indeed much stronger than Maya, it didn't mean he wasn't afraid of her. As Aura was interested, she tagged along, as well.

"So?" The group was back in the basement that seemed to be chiseled out of black marble, and the tiger-girl was looking around. "I can't see anything, but I assume there's another hidden door?"

"You're standing right next to it." He gestured at the wall she was looking at.

"Ehh...?" Sophia touched the wall and poured a little of her magic power into it. A moment later, a hole opened there, and a dark corridor became visible. "I love those hidden doors!"

"Ehe~." Fen was slightly proud of himself. "There isn't anything to explore yet, though. I've only created a couple of passageways, some turns, bends, and the likes."

"I like it! Say, are there any underground structures in the capital? I want this maze to span below everything eventually!"

"As always, I love the scale your brain works on." Not few would say that the meeting of Fen and Sophia better shouldn't have happened. When chaos meets chaos, disaster often isn't far away.

"Maya will kill you if she finds out." Aura recalled the conversation she had about this very topic with her. "Both of you."

"A-Ah!" The chaos duo froze up.

"Are you... going to tell her?" Sophia looked scared.

"Why would I?" She shook her head. "I want to get in on the fun!" After all, they weren't a duo. It was a chaos trio.

They talked about their plans for the maze for a while before eventually leaving the basement again. Back in the living room, Sophia threw herself onto one of the sofas to relax. She preferred the sheebskin rug, but there was a high risk of oversleeping their dinner. Instead, the two wolves laid down there for the time being. Fen tried really hard to not let it show on his face, but that made it only more evident. He had found his favorite spot in the mansion.

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The three lounged around for another hour before Maya announced that dinner was ready. They got together in the dining room adjacent to the living room and stared at the feast. There were a couple of big cuts of seared meat, obviously made for the wolves. There were many normal-sized roasts, a big bowl of a salad, and stir-fried veggies for the couple, along with various other sides.

"Maya, I love you." The sight made Sophia emotional.

"Ehehe~."

"Me, too." The wolves also fell for her, trying to hold back their drool while staring at the big chunks of perfectly seared meat.

"Let's eat." The cat-girl rolled her eyes at the group of dorks that surrounded her.

Around an hour later, not a lick of food was left, and the group was back in the living room. The wolves on the sheebskin rug, trying their best not to fall into a food-induced coma, while the couple sat on one of the sofas.

"Uggh..." A groan from Sophia echoed through the room. While resting her head on Maya's lap, she held her stomach with a slightly pained expression. "I ate waaay too much~." It didn't sound like she was regretting anything, though.

"It's your own fault for tackling one of the slabs of meat I roasted for the wolves." Maya placed one of her hands on the tiger's head and gently rubbed it.

"B-But... it looked so good... that gigantic piece of meat... and once I tried it, I couldn't stop because your cooking's too good!"

"Sweet talking won't make you feel better but thank you."

"Hehe... ugh..."

"Still, your meat consumption is steadily going up, isn't it?" As their cook, Maya naturally noticed such changes.

"Because it's sooo delicious... Ah." She suddenly stopped talking.

"She's finally fully awakening to her carnivore self!" The group's biggest carnivore, Fen, seemed to be overjoyed by this revelation.

"Uggh..." This time, Sophia didn't groan just from having overeaten. "I-I still like vegetables... s-so it's fine!"

"For now~."

"M-Maya, he's bullying me..."

"Then stop being such an idiot." She had little sympathy.

"Uggh..." The list of things that made Sophia groan kept getting longer. "Now I just want to sleep and leave the day behind me..." Saying so, she nuzzled her head against Maya's thighs and closed her eyes. "Good night~."

"You'll get fat if you fall asleep right after eating so much."

"Very unlikely. I burn so many calories every day that I actually have trouble keeping my weight up. I don't think it's possible for me to get fat."

"I hate you."

"Huh...?! W-Why?" She was shocked. "It's not like you have even one gram too much on you."

"Thank you... But, as a girl, hearing that someone is unable to gain weight, this reaction happens on instinct."

"That's... fair." Sophia had nothing to add. "Anyway, good night~." She closed her eyes again while once more getting comfortable on Maya's lap.

"Not so fast, I still want to take a bath."

"Uggh..." She complained a lot today. "Sure, have fun. I'll be here, sleeping."

"No, you're coming with me."

"Ehh... but I don't want to get up. I'm also not sure if I can keep the food in if I move around too much now..."

"I guess you'll have to power through it, then." It didn't seem like Maya planned to take a bath on her own. She pushed Sophia away from her lap and got up from the sofa. Then, she grabbed the tiger's hand and dragged her off and out of the living room.

"Uggh..." Yet another groan escaped her lips as she was forcefully made to leave the room.

"Well then... good night." Fen had enough of the fooling around. Still on the white sheepskin rug in front of the fireplace, he placed his head on his paws before closing his eyes.

"That's a good idea." Aura, next to him, did the same. "Good night." They were living the blonde's dream.

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In the meanwhile, after a lot of complaining from Sophia on the way, the couple had reached the upstairs bath. As it was much smaller and more comfortable, in Maya's eyes, she chose this one. As it usually would take a while to get it ready, the cat-girl simply used magic to fill the tub with hot water. Once everything was ready and the two undressed, Maya noticed something else, and she intently stared at the tiger.

"W-What...?" She noticed the game and turned her body away. "I-I still get embarrassed if you do that... I'm also not in the mood, n-not a good idea when I feel like throwing up..."

"No, that's not why I'm looking. Well, okay... it's not my main motivation. This time." She didn't entirely deny having ulterior motives. "Are you sure you can't gain weight?" The cat-girl pointed at the other's stomach.

"Hmm?" Sophia looked down at herself and noticed that her stomach was sticking out a bit. "Wow..." she placed a hand on it and gave it a quick squeeze. "Well, the food has to stay somewhere before it, uhh… gets out again… Okay, I think I'll go on an extra-long run tomorrow to make sure... Your food's too good."

"Thanks."

"Still..." She glanced at her stomach again and gently patted it. "What would that be? Around the third month? Not quite, I guess?"

"W-What?!" Maya froze up.

"Wow, I never overate so badly that my belly sticks out from it. Anyway, let's take a bath already. I want to go to bed!" As she hadn't put any thoughts in her question, she didn't notice the cat-girl's reaction and simply entered the tub. "Oh, the water's perfect~."

"Eh...?" The topic had come up way too often for Maya's liking lately, so she needed another moment to restart before joining Sophia in the bath.

After they finished their bath, which had a slightly awkward mood for some reason the tiger-girl never found out, the two went to their bedroom in the mansion. There, they closed their new curtains and entered the bed. As it was comfortable beyond belief, the couple fell asleep in an instant, even though Sophia was still feeling bloated from overeating and Maya's mind being overloaded from the conversation in the bath.