The group continued to have a lively chat about this and that, but the topic somehow always returned to the new couple every now and then, much to their embarrassment. Even Chloe now more or less knew what happened as she seems to be quite good at sniffing out such topics. Anna and Ari planned to stay at the mansion for a while, but it didn't seem like they could hide there as long as they wanted. Not only were their birthdays coming up soon, but that of the queen also was in less than a week, and they just couldn’t simply skip on either of those.

“Haa…” After she had finished her cake, Anna just let out a sigh.

“Haa…” Ari followed right after her.

“Hey!” Chloe didn’t seem to like that. “Being depressed after having eating cake is not allowed!”

“Well said!” Sophia agreed with her. “Come on, you two. Yes, the way everyone found out was far from ideal, but everyone was rooting for it to finally happen. You two getting together, that is… Sure, it’ll be embarrassing, but you’ll get over it.”

“…” The jaguar just stared at her for a couple of moments. “What would you have done in our position…?”

“I would be on the demon continent by now.” She didn’t even hesitate for a fraction of a second with her answer.

“Thanks for the encouragement…” She just rolled her eyes.

“Oh, that sounds fun!” The fox-girl jumped on her reply. “I wanted to go there for an eternity already!”

"We actually plan to go there once we're done exploring the continent here."

“Ohh!” She got a little excited after hearing the blonde’s plan. “I’m jealous!”

“My offer to accompany us during our travel still stands~. After all, the more, the merrier!" Sophia just smiled at her.

"Now, I really hope you like Feyfey, and she's okay with the idea!" Chloe showed her an even bigger smile.

“Hehe.”

“Eh?!” Anna raised her voice after hearing that. “It doesn’t feel like Chloe has more magic than I do…? I thought you need more power than that to keep up with your overpowered group…?"

"I'm stronger than I look!" The fox-girl tried to look smug again, but she only ended up looking even cuter once more. “I also have a super strong companion that helps me out!”

“Mh-hmm?” The princess didn’t believe her.

“It’s actually true.” Sophia gave her some backup. “I still have no idea why, but this girl can actually use chantless magic for some reason…”

“Yup!”

“How?!” The princess got even louder. “I want to be able to do that, too! I want it sooo badly!”

“I’m sorry…” She shook her head. “I’ve always had an easy time with magic since I was little, but I’m not really sure why I can use it the way I can…” The group had the feeling that it had something to do with her magic seemingly being more potent than it should, just like Sophia's, but she decided against mentioning that. They didn't know why it was like this either, after all.

“N-No way…” Anna looked devastated.

“Do you want to play with magic, or do you want to travel with us, too…?” The blonde wanted to find out why it was so important to her.

“Yes!”

“I see.” Sophia decided not to say anything about her non-answer reply spreading. “Magic aside, are you okay with leaving the capital? It’s the home of the tigers, after all.”

“Funny you’re saying this.” The tiger princess just stared at her fellow blonde tiger.

"A-Ah.” There was little she could say here. “Y-You’re still the princess, though…”

“So what?" Anna had no intention of backing down. “Nathan also left two years ago to explore the kingdom. I’ll definitely do the same!”

“Well then…” The blonde liked her motivation. “By the way, who’s this Nathan…?”

“My big brother, the first prince.”

"I see…" Sophia nodded a couple of times before looking at Maya with a confused expression while tilting her head. “She has a brother? There’s a prince?”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“She does. You also knew that.”

“I did not!”

“You do. The king told you.”

“I definitely would’ve remembered that!” The tiger didn't like this utterly unfounded accusation.

"You were cuddling with Ellie, and you're terrible at remembering people. Even more so when they’re male.”

“…” She paused for a moment. "I-It doesn't count when I'm cuddling with Ellie. She has my undivided attention during those times!"

“Sure.”

“Will Menzor allow you to leave, though?”

“I’ll bug him until he does!” Anna looked even more determined. “Also, Mother will have the last word on that.”

“I can imagine.” Sophia had the feeling that Kira’s authority was quite a bit above that of the ruler of the kingdom.

“Well, not that it matters when I don’t have enough magic or power for your group…” The princess hung her head again. "Though, the alternative of going on a trip with just Ari and me doesn't sound half-bad, either." She managed to cheer herself up a little.

“Hmm…” The blonde just stared at her for a while. She had already planned to boost her magic to the same level as Ari’s for her birthday. With that, she should be able to use chantless magic and increase her speed and stamina with magic enough to keep up with the group. Sophia didn’t want to spoil the surprise just yet, though.

“Do they know about the, uhh… thing?” Chloe glanced at the blonde.

“What thing…?” There were so many things that she had no idea what exactly the fox-girl meant.

“How we got here.”

“Ahh!” She finally understood her. “I showed them before, yeah. Well, it kinda was on accident, but they know, yes.”

“Wouldn’t that be an alternative?” The fox-girl tilted her head. “They wouldn’t be able to travel with you or maybe us the entire time, but they could join whenever you decide on a leisure pace or when it’s time to explore something.”

“I did think about that before, but I'm not sure if they'd be interested in that…”

“How about you two stop keeping half of it to yourself and include us in the idea?!" Ari stared at them while slowly shaking her head.

“R-Right…” Chloe and Sophia awkwardly looked back at her.

“So?”

“You remember my portals, right?” The blonde scratched her cheek. “It won’t be exactly the same, but just as Chloe said, you could use them to join us whenever we’re not traveling too fast for both of you to keep up. Then again, honestly, except when it was super boring, like traveling through empty plains for days, we didn't run that fast anyway, did we?" She looked at Maya during the last part.

"Well, it did take us some months to end up here even though Fen said it would be a few weeks, so…"

“There you have it~.” Sophia changed her attention to the couple again.

“Ah, Ari and I actually did talk about this before!” Anna answered her. “It definitely sounds like the next best thing!”

“How would that work, though?” The jaguar’s expression looked somewhat questioning. “Are you coming to get us whenever you find something interesting…? What if we aren't nearby or something like that, and you have to find us first?”

“That’s a good question…” She hadn't thought about that yet. “Even if I can teach you how to use those portals, you could only go to my hub with the other portals and use them there… You wouldn’t be able to reach me without me creating a new portal first… hmm…” She got lost in thought afterward.

“Can you enchant things with magic…?” Chloe was also trying to find a solution. “That could help, I think.”

“Oh?” Sophia's interest was instantly piqued. "What's this about?"

“Your portals are seemingly made by pure condensed magic with the properties of connecting two places together…”

“Mh-hmm…” She nodded a few times. Chloe had come up with that theory when she first saw the portals, but it made a lot of sense after the tiger had given it some thought herself. "Well, it connects one place with my storage, but still, yeah."

“So, instead of creating two portals that connect with each other or the storage, you pour the same magic into items instead…”

“Ohh!” The blonde got excited. “If we enchant those items, they could be used as a gateway, couldn't they?!"

“Exactly!” The fox-girl clapped her hands once. "It probably could be used from both sides when you pour some magic into it. Once it's on, you should be able to just switch sides by touching it instead of walking through a portal!"

“Hmm…” She tilted her head after hearing that. “I think that would be a little scary because you don’t know what’s on the other side… Imagine the other item is in a place where isn't enough space for you to arrive..."

“T-That’s true!” Chloe’s expression changed after thinking about it. "Can you even go through the portals if the other side is blocked?"

"A good question... feel free to try it next time."

"I think I'm good." The fox-girl wasn't that eager about it. "Even if it is safe, there are still privacy concerns, I guess. Imagine the enchanted item lies in your bedroom when you and your partner... or with yourself..." Her voice trailed off towards the end.

"Denied!" Ari and Anna weren't a fan of the idea.

"Ahaha..." The blonde let out a small chuckle.

“Maybe use it in a way that both sides need to be fueled with magic?” Chloe changed her approach.

“I see…” Sophia paused for a moment. “If one item gets activated, the other receives something like a signal and…"

“Once the other item also gets fed some magic, a portal on each side opens for one to safely cross over!” The fox-girl finished her sentence.

“That’s brilliant!”

“I think so, too!”

“Uhh…” While the duo was getting excited, Ari faced the cat-girl. “What… Who are those two…?” She looked extremely confused. “I’d be lying if I were to say that I understood even a third of what they’re talking about…”

“Not even close to a third!” Anna looked just as, if not even more confused about their exchange.

“Don’t ask me…” Maya just shook her head. “Sophia’s already super creative when it comes to those things, but our fox here isn’t any less eccentric… Those two together… Nope.” She kept shaking her head. “No idea what they’re on about.”

“It makes perfect sense, though!” Chloe raised her voice after having heard their exchange.

“Exactly!” Sophia agreed with her.

“It does not!” The other three didn’t, though.

As they agreed to disagree on the topic, the duo kept being excited about their idea for quite a while, and the others tried to understand even a sliver of what they were trying to cook up. It didn’t work out in the slightest, though.