The sisters met the wolves, and once they finished explaining what happened, the topic drifted toward the magic of Steph. The new dog-girl showed extraordinary prowess when it came to using her powers, but Sophia would like for her to learn the basics, as well, and asked the wolves for help. Fen was a little skeptical, but Aura was a big fan. She knew how her partner had shaped the tiger in one way or another, and she wanted to have a positive influence on the little sister, so that she would also get a mention in future history books, where the duo would inevitably end up in sooner or later.

“Alright, with that being dealt with, do you want to explore a little more of the village before we head back, Steph?” Sophia smiled at her sister once they finished their chat about magic with the wolves.

“Sounds fun!” She liked the plan.

"Fen, Aura, will you also return to the mansion soon? Depending on how long it will take today, I’d like to try out some of the things we got in our old world in the evening.”

“I definitely won’t miss that!” Aura seemed to be looking forward to it.

“We’ll be there.” Fen, too, wanted to see it.

“Perfect! Okay, shall we head out for a bit?”

“Yep!” Brimming with motivation, the dog-girl grabbed the tiger's hand, and the two left the treehouse together. “Bye!”

"Bye~." Aura watched them leave before looking at her partner. “Shouldn’t we have told Sophia about our giant trees and what happened to the forest?”

“Ah, I forgot about that...” Fen made a slight pause. “Eh, it’s fine. She’ll find out about it soon enough.”

“True, but... Well, they'll probably run into Alex, and he will surely tell them."

“Yeah, I like that plan better.”

Afterward, the wolves relaxed for a little longer before eventually returning to the mansion.

----------------

“Wow, it’s sooo cozy here!” Walking around in the village, Steph was taking everything in while her eyes were sparkling.

“Yup, it’s a great place.” The blonde nodded a few times. “In the middle of a forest makes for such great scenery. I love my treehouse. There even are some hot springs.”

“Ohh!”

“They’re currently under renovation, though...”

“Aww...”

“The renovations are as good as done, though.” A male voice suddenly entered their conversation.

“Alex!” Hearing him, Sophia turned around and showed him a big smile. “It’s been a while, huh? I think, at least... I’ve lost all sense of time lately...”

“Well, I’m sure you’re busy. You’re a tiger, after all.”

“S-Something like that, yeah...” She awkwardly scratched her cheek. She definitely was busy lately, but being a tiger had nothing to do with that. “Anyway, the hot springs are opening soon again? That’s great! I can’t wait!”

“If you can hold out another week or two, it will be ready and better than ever!”

“Yay!”

“Hmm...” The fox-man then glanced at the dog-girl, who was still holding Sophia’s hand. “Admittedly, I haven’t spent the most time with Maya, but I would’ve bet a lot of money that she’s the monopolizing kind. I seriously wasn’t expecting you to have another partner. She’s quite a cutie, though, so it’s hard to blame you.”

“Ehehe~.” Steph liked the last part. “We are sisters, though... So, none of that other business. Just familiar clinginess~.”

“Ohh!” Alex’s expression became a lot less complicated. “That’s great! I didn’t know you had a sister, Sophia.”

“It’s, uhh... a little complicated...”

“That’s putting it very lightly.” The little sister nodded a few times. “We kinda lost contact for a while, but now we’re together again.”

“I see! Good for you two!”

“Yes!” The sisters felt the same.

“Oh, but it’s good that you’re here, Sophia.” Alex focused on the tiger again. “Do you remember those huge trees I discovered?”

“…” She froze up for a moment. “T-The ones you imagined after having drunk too much…?"

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“I didn’t imagine them, and I haven’t drunk too much back then!” He got loud.

“Really?”

“REALLY!” He raised his voice even more. “I now have witnesses! Most of the village was there by now and confirmed it!”

“Everyone here likes to drink, though…”

“This and that are unrelated!” The fox-man couldn’t exactly deny that, either. "A-N-Y-W-A-Y! They are real!”

“Giant trees…?” Steph looked a bit confused.

“MASSIVE trees! The tallest ones are over a kilometer high!”

“Over a kilometer?!” She also got loud. “How’s that possible? That’s not how plants work.”

“Exactly!” Alex agreed with her. “It seems like those aren’t regular trees, though. They have magical abilities. They even seem to radiate excess magic to their surroundings as the whole flora around them has changed ever since they appeared. Everything there has turned completely overgrown. You can even feel and taste the magic in the air. It feels amazing, but also a little scary…”

“That sounds fun!”

“Wait, what…?” Sophia didn’t share the immediate enthusiasm of her little sister.

“I want to see it!” The dog-girl was getting excited again. “Let’s go and look at it!”

“The plan was to show it to Sophia. I heard that she’s incredibly talented when it comes to magic, and her knowledge of the kingdom as a tiger might be helpful, too.”

“…” The girl in question looked incredibly awkward. “I-I mean, I also am curious, but I’m not sure if I can help…”

“Good enough!” The fox could live with that. "Can we head over there right now, or are you two busy with something else?"

“We were busy with looking at interesting things!” Steph smiled at him. “This will fit right into that!”

“Perfect!”

“I have a bad feeling about this…” While Sophia mumbled these words to herself, Alex guided Steph into the forest while she was energetically dragging the tiger with her.

----------------

"W-Woah!" Arriving at the place in question inside the forest, Steph's eyes immediately started sparkling once again. “This is amazing!” The area had significantly changed since the group played around with the trees. Every plant, be it other trees, vines, moss, ferns, or everything else, had turned into an utterly overgrown version of themselves. One could barely walk around because there was almost no space left. The close one got to the original trees of the group, the denser the plants got.

"…" The tiger's expression had turned the most complicated yet. “The air also feels so different… Much cleaner, and it even has a bit of a taste…? It's somehow easier to breathe, and I feel a little more powerful with every breath."

“The air’s full of purple sparkly stuff, as well!” The dog-girl was still looking around. “It’s soo pretty! What is that stuff?”

“Sparkly stuff…?” Alex seemed slightly confused. “I see nothing like that. I agree with Sophia’s description of the air, though. It’s exactly like that for me, too.”

“I see that, as well.” Sophia shook her head before facing her sister. “The purple stuff is raw magic. It seems like the density of it around here is so high that you can actually see it with the naked eye. That usually only happens when you use your own magic on the environment.”

“Ohh!”

“Eh?” The fox couldn’t follow. “I don’t see anything, though?”

“Ahh…” The blonde scratched her cheek. “I recently learned that not everyone can see raw magic. One of the reasons we can see it might be because Steph and I have so much magic power inside of us.”

“Fascinating!” Alex had no plans to question her further. “That means it’s a confirmation that this place is brimming with magic, right? Way more than it should.”

“Yes.” Sophia nodded. “I have never seen or felt something like that.”

“So, does that mean you have no idea what the cause could be…?”

“Uhh…” The tiger’s eyes started swimming. Naturally, she had a pretty good theory about the cause, but there was no way she wanted to admit that. She probably was part of the cause, after all.

“It gets even more interesting!” The fox wasn’t done yet. “We fell a tree to see if the plants had changed in any other way other than the size, and they absolutely did! Not only did the cutting go on forever because the wood had turned so much harder, but the tree had also regrown to its full glory the next day!"

“S-Seriously?!” The blonde had a strong reaction to that. “W-Wait, the hardness aside, it’s probably strengthened by the excess magic… It actually completely regrew?! Overnight, at that?!”

“That’s not how trees work! If you cut them, it’s over!”

“I know how trees work!” Alex looked at Steph before continuing. “It’s back, though!”

“Are you sure it’s not just a different tree?” Sophia tilted her head. “I mean, everything is so dense and overgrown here that I can barely tell right from up apart! Maybe you just thought it was regrown, but it actually was an entirely different tree?”

“The tree we fell was still lying next to it.”

"A-Ah.” The tiger’s hope of an easy way out was gone.

"What's more, the leaves of the cut tree were still fresh and not the slightest bit limp or withered. It seems like it's still alive.”

“Can plants live on magic?” Steph was trying to understand it. “As a replacement for water and nutrients, I mean. It’s pretty obvious that those gigantic trees wouldn’t be able to exist with just that. It would never reach the crown or even close to that because the way up is so long. Impossible. Even if it were possible, trees of this size would suck out the nutrients of the entire ground around them in no time. Everyone around them would die before they do so themselves. But it’s the complete opposite! I’ve never seen a forest this healthy!”

“What a curious sister!” The fox seemed to like her. "Did I already mention how all this happened in a few weeks? Last month, those gigantic trees weren’t there yet, and the forest was completely normal!”

“For real?!”

“For real.”

“Wow!” The dog-girl was having a great time. “It has to be magic, then! Right, sis?”

“Err…” Sophia was still trying to come up with an explanation that didn't include her or her group. "I-It seems like magic is influencing the forest here… It, uhh… might even created the giant trees, which then supply the environment with excess magic or something like that…"

“Sounds like an explanation to me!” Alex nodded a few times. “How and why, though?”

“…” She needed a second. "T-That's an excellent question…"

“Fair.”

"By the way," Being more than happy that Alex interpreted her reply as not knowing what was going on, the tiger just continued. “Is this effect spreading, or…”

“It doesn’t seem this way.” He shook his head. “The further away from the giant trees, the less pronounced the effect gets. Around 500 meters away, everything is back to normal. Even the air itself has no excess magic anymore. It’s been like that ever since we discovered the phenomenon, so it doesn’t seem like it’s spreading.”

“That’s good…”

“Absolutely! It would be terrible if it had spread all the way to the village!" The fox agreed with her.

Afterward, the trio chatted a little longer about the topic, while Alex also mentioned that they were thinking about using the wood in the renovation of the hot springs as it had excellent properties for it. Before long, the sisters decided to head back, though.