Many things happened, and King Menzor offered Sophia once more to join the royal family, this time without marrying anyone. Though, while she was intrigued to some degree, the tiger wasn't sure if she wanted to because she had other plans for her future. Taking a break for a couple of hours, the couple then went back to the castle and was guided to a conference room, where the maids had already prepared snacks and some drinks. Princess Anna didn't join this time because she had homework to do. This wasn't her idea, but she had no sayings in the matter, which was made very clear by Queen Kira.

"So, you really don't want to become part of the royal family…?" The king hung his head while sitting on one of the sofas in the room, next to his wife. Divided by a table, Sophia and Maya sat on a different one across them.

"Well, it's not like I absolutely don't want to. I mean, being a royal sounds kinda cool, but as I grew up without having any contact with it… no offense, but it doesn't appeal to me that much. If anything, it feels like it would make my life a lot more complicated. I'm simply not sure if it fits with what I had in mind. My plans were rather different."

"What did you plan?"

"Hmm," She thought about it again. "l want to travel. Up until a while ago, I was holed up in the same place the entire time. Now that I'm capable of meeting people, among other things... I want to see the world! I recently met someone who came back from the demon continent, and it sounds super interesting over there, too. While I planned to stay here for a good while, I want to also go there eventually!"

"D-Dear, I think my hearing is deteriorating... I heard this girl saying she met someone from the demon continent just now."

"Weird, I heard the same..." Menzor and the queen couldn't keep up with her.

"Ah, she's not a demon, okay? She just spent a little while there and recently came back."

"T-That's still-" The scale was too big for the king.

"She's the one exploring the capital together with my teacher right now. Although she wants to go dragon hunting with me there, I want to see that continent eventually, though."

"D-Dragon?! Okay, please stop. I'm developing a headache…" He started massaging his temples. "T-Those aside things, just how strong are you really, girl?!"

"Uhh-"

"To bring it into some context, your majesty," Maya finished her sentence. "Griphons are on the level of nuisances to her."

"God, I hate those pesky things!"

"G-Griphons?! T-They're a nation-level threat, you know?!"

"Yeah, well, one of them did manage to destroy my clothes and scratch me, but..."

"M-Maybe a post in our military would be a good idea..." Menzor was getting desperate.

"That sounds pretty restrictive."

"Lead them for all I care!" He broke and gave up. "With your power, no one would bat an eye."

"I'm actually not that much into fighting in the first place, though. More like the annihilate if they attack -type of personality. Maya and Fen would be much better military commanders or whatever."

"I have yet to meet this Fen, but I would take Maya in a heartbeat!"

"Ahaha," She could only laugh. "Oh, how about an ambassador kind of position? I could travel all I want while still being associated with the royal family."

"I don't think you would be a good representative figure of a whole country, Sophia." Maya had her doubts about the idea.

"Urgh." She didn't, couldn't, talk back.

"It also defeats the purpose of you being here so that we could learn from your magic and whatnot."

"I see." Sophia understood his point. "But, if I can't move freely anymore, I'm going to decline the offer. The downsides are far bigger than any fun such a position could possibly bring."

"A-Ah," The king panicked. "H-How about we prepare a mansion for you? You could have a very comfortable life."

"Is that really something a good king should do? Buying someone to get what they want?"

"I'm deeply sorry!" He bowed his head. "I got desperate."

"Besides, I could also just hunt, I don't know, a hundred golems? It would take me half an hour, and I could just buy a villa. I really don't have any problems with money. Despite that, didn't I just mention that I want to travel? What good will a mansion do me?"

"This girl really works on an entirely different level altogether." Menzor was starting to understand that winning her over would be no easy feat. "How long have you planned to stay in the capital?"

"Hmm, that's a good question. I haven't thought about that yet. I could imagine staying for a couple of months and making it my base for the time being." She was in no rush.

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"Excellent!" The king seemed relieved. "I'll find something to convince you during that time!"

"I'll at least listen to those ideas while I'm here, I guess?"

"Great. Where are you staying right now?"

"Uhh, some random inn we came across that looked good when we arrived. No idea what the name was..."

"That, I can't accept! At least during your stay, you, one of the tiger clan without a residence, should live in the castle." He wanted to keep her close. "We'll prepare a more than suitable room for you!"

"I don't particularly mind." Sophia wasn't against the idea. "But only if Maya and my other two friends can stay, as well."

"Also, I don't trust your daughter, Princess Anna." The cat-girl wasn't starting to like her any time soon. "Letting Sophia stay here on her own is NOT an option."

"T-That, well…. ahaha..." He had no reply. "Maya was naturally included in my offer. We need her favor in order for you to stay, too, after all. For your other companions, I would like to meet them first before my final decision."

"Sounds reasonable enough." Sophia agreed. "Alright, how about this? We'll stay another night in the inn, and tomorrow we'll visit again while I bring those two along as well?"

"Yes, let us handle it like this. Alright, on that note… let's end the meeting for the time being. I need to think about a lot of things, and also do something about my headache."

"Fine by me." Immediately after, Sophia jumped off the sofa and did a few stretches. "I'm kinda tired..."

"Indeed." Menzor only nodded. "I'll escort the two of you to the front."

"I'll accompany you, dear." Kira also wanted to move a bit.

Doing as told, the group went to the entrance of the castle together before stopping there.

"When should we meet again tomorrow? I'm pretty much free whenever." Sophia had no other plans yet.

"If possible, the same time as today would be perfect."

"Not a problem. Well then, bye, I guess...?" She had no idea how to say goodbye to a king.

"Y-Yes, I'll await your arrival tomorrow."

With this, Sophia and Maya turned around. They walked along the broad and grandiose road that led away from the castle while the royal couple looked after them.

"T-That was something..." The queen, Kira, didn't know what else to say in this situation.

"To put it lightly, yes. I've never met anyone even remotely as... unique as her..."

"Me neither. Ah-!" Kira suddenly stopped when she looked at the couple that was slowly leaving the castle grounds while walking next to each other, naturally holding hands. "S-Sophia just pulled out a white hat out of thin air and put it on..."

"My head..." The king was rubbing his temples again. "W-We need to bring this girl over to our side. We can't let someone like her slip through our fingers."

"True. We need to be careful, though. There has to be something that makes her want to stay. Forcing is not an option."

"Yes. I need to rest for an hour now, but I'll do some intensive brainstorming afterward."

"A break sounds lovely. I'll join you, dear." Needing to take it easy after the whirlwind called Sophia left, the king and queen went inside the castle again, ordering the maids not to disturb them for a while.

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

The cat-, and tiger-girl eventually arrived back in the non-noble part of the city and quickly ran into their wolf duo. The two stood out, after all, making them easy to find even without using detection magic.

"Fenny, Aura, hello there."

"Oho, Sophia, back home from your audience with the King? Maya, did she behave herself?" Fen greeted them back.

"Err," The cat awkwardly looked away.

"Sophia... What did you do?"

"I'm innocent!" She didn't like to be under general suspicion all the time. "Maya's the one who bullied and attacked the first princess of this nation!"

"Wow, you're pretty wild." Aura was impressed.

"I-It couldn't be helped, okay?!" She tried to defend herself. "The king wanted Sophia to marry the princess! Sophia, overflowing with charm, as usual, the princess totally fell for her and tried to steal her away from me! I couldn't let that happen now, could I?"

"Is she, uhh, is she still alive?" Fen knew how Maya could be when it came to her girlfriend.

"I wouldn't kill a princess!"

"Princess Anna surrendered, and I prevented the, well, catfight by declining the marriage and turning her down.

"She still hasn't given up, though! We'll have to settle this another day!" Maya was still raring to go.

"I told you to be nice to her!"

"Urgh..."

"Sooo," The male wolf tried to come to a conclusion. "You had fun?"

"I did not!" Maya had a clear opinion.

"Hmm, I don't know." The tiger-girl wasn't quite as clear. "M-Marriage thing aside, the king really wants me to join the royal family. I'm not sure how I should feel about this. It does sound a little cool, but he wants me to stay in the capital, and that doesn't seem fun at all. Traveling the world is far more interesting."

"I'm with you, girl." Aura felt the same. "I wouldn't mind staying some years... multiple dozens even, in the same place if it's comfortable, but being tied down sounds like the worst."

"Yeah. Oh, what do you think, Maya?" Sophia turned to her most important opinion on the topic. "So much happened that I only now have the chance to ask. I mean, effectively, you'll also have some sort of connection to the royal family then."

"You're right!" Because she was so busy with Anna before, it only hit her now. "While my home, Raumont, is pretty much self-governed, my parents would still freak out for sure."

"Come to think of, I never met them, did l?"

"There wasn't much of a reason back then, after all."

"That's true."

"Now, though... I look forward to your introduction to them."

"A-Ah! I'll train a lot to not fumble that one up... too badly. I'm not confident about it." It was a high hurdle for her.

"Ehehe~. On a more serious note, ignoring the part where I somehow become a relative to that princess... I think it's a very enticing offer if you ask me."

"I see. I guess I should give it some more thought..."

"Let me finish, Sophia." Maya wasn't done yet. "It is indeed enticing, but I'm with you and the wolf. I've been longing to travel for a long while already, and I don't want it to be over so soon. Also, while Aura's demon country sounds a bit scary, I want to go there because I like the demon's way. Most of them being quite powerful, and how they love to fight all kinds of strong monsters to test their strength… it resonates quite well with me."

"Ohh~." Aura liked the sound of that.

"Once we want to settle down or whatever, it would be a really exciting offer, but right now, I don't see the immediate appeal."

"We're on the same page, huh?" The tiger-girl was happy their feelings were the same. "Uuh... Turning down the king for real will be a major pain. "

"Yeah."

"Oh, but I would like to accept his offer about staying in the castle. We probably won't get a chance like this in the near future. Maybe we should wait for a bit before telling him?"

"You sure are greedy." Maya rolled her eyes. "Well, I'll come with you."

"Protecting me from the princess?"

"Mm-hmm."

"You're staying in the castle?" Fen felt like he missed something along the way.

"Ahh, about that..." Sophia explained the king's offer to live in the castle while they were in the capital. After hearing that the wolves were also invited, the two agreed, as it seemed a little interesting.