Chapter 97 – Camping with the princess

The convoy made its second break on their way towards Talaga, a beastfolk city that's about to be attacked by humans. As it was getting dark already, it was planned to spend a night inside the carriages as traveling through the night was needlessly dangerous. Together with the princess, the couple had other plans, though, because they wanted to camp outside.

"Haa..." Lightly stretching herself during their walk after sitting for so long, Sophia let out a soft yawn. "How is it possible to be more tired after doing absolutely nothing compared to walking on your own...?"

"Being bored is exhausting." Maya felt the same.

"You two sure are whiny. Well, not that I disagree. "

"Oh, out for another walk?" Once the girls were closer to the carriages again, they promptly ran into Menzor once more.

"Yeah, you should invest in some better carriages, father." In the end, the princess was also complaining.

"They're carriages made for the royal family. They're more than alright. Stop whining."

"S-So unfair... "

"By the way," Sophia faced the king. "Am I right to assume we're around 50 kilometers away from Tanaga?"

"Talaga." Maya corrected her.

"Same difference." The blonde still wasn't good with names.

"Wow, that's a good guess." The king ignored the other part.

"Not really. I just started feeling the presence of the citizens there before we stopped here. 50 kilometers are roughly the range I can detect magic power around me."

"Has... Has anyone ever told you that you're kind of a monster, Sophia?" He was baffled about her skills.

"..." The mood turned awkward because it was only a couple of hours ago when his daughter implied the same.

"A-Anyway," She didn't want to answer that. "You might be interested to hear that I can only detect the power levels of beast people. There's no response on the insect, err... human level as of now."

"Really? That's reassuring. "

"I can't feel a second group that would be our army either, though..."

"Yes, going from here, they're stationed behind the city. Around ten kilometers, to be exact."

"Ah, then we first have to get a little closer. What's the direction of the humans?"

"The same, our troop's placed between them and the city. "

"Oh, of course... makes sense. Should I go and take a look? The ten kilometers to detect our army won't take long, and five more to see if anyone's approaching is no problem, either. I'm also in serious need to properly move my body after sitting for so long!"

"Can I ask that of you?"

"I'm already getting nervous and twitchy from being so idle! Please do!"

"Well then... "

"Alright! Okay, Maya, watch the place for me~!" Sophia was suddenly very motivated.

"S-Sure..." The moment the cat-girl agreed, the blonde broke into a sprint. "And she's gone..."

"S-So fast!" The king quickly lost sight of her.

"You know... I always thought that Sophia's... quirky, but I imagined her to be more on the lazy side..." Anna was also confused.

"She's surely not." Maya corrected her. "While sleep is probably the most important thing for her, she's by far the sportiest girl I've ever met."

"Really now?"

"Yep. A little while ago, she, uhh… had an accident that... let's say, handicapped her for a while." The cat-girl had no better idea how to describe it when Sophia turned herself into a tiger-girl. "A-Anyway, during that time, she was unable to run. Even walking was hard for her in the beginning." She had to learn how to use her tail, after all. "So, because of this, that idiot couldn't power herself out. She was so twitchy and whiny during that time it actually became annoying. Once Sophia was... healed, she just kept running and running to get rid of her excess energy all day long... Not being able to move is her, one of her worst nightmares."

"T-That's unexpected... Also, what happened to her? It sounds really serious?" The princess got worried.

"One of her magic experiments went... wrong, and it had some, uhh, lasting effect on her body. But don't worry, everything's fine now. As you can see... or saw, she's the very picture of health." Sophia loves her new body, after all.

"G-Good..."

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

Not even half an hour passed since the blonde tiger-girl left for her reconnaissance mission, but she already arrived back at the resting place of the convoy.

"I'm back! Sorry it took so long... I got a little distracted."

"L-Long?!" The king held his head. "A-Anyway, how did it go?"

"I found a river and caught some fish!" She looked at Anna and the cat-girl. "Let's grill them later."

"Sophia..." Maya warned her. "His Majesty didn't want to know why you got distracted."

"A-Ah, right... Everything seems to be in order. Just like you said, I spotted the army around ten kilometers behind the city. There were no suspicious movements that would indicate that humans are anywhere close to the troops."

"That's great news." Menzor looked relieved. "It seems there's still enough time to form a proper formation once we arrive."

"Just give me 15 minutes at the front, and we can go back home. There's no need to invest so much time in those things... humans, I mean." The air around Sophia suddenly changed again.

"I... I'll decide on that once I get a proper overview of the situation at hand." He flinched upon hearing her cold voice.

"Fine." It took a moment for her mood to return to normal. "Anyway, I'm hungry... Let's have dinner!"

"So jumpy... "

"Maya, can you prepare the fish I caught?"

"Sure."

"Oh, I forgot..." Anna jumped in. "The two told me about their camping outings, including campfires, barbeque, and sleeping under the stars... I got interested and wanted to try it out. Would that be alright, father?"

"Is that so? Hmm, as long as you stay within sight... Yes, I think it would be a valuable experience."

"Thank you!"

Having gotten the permission, the three girls distanced themselves a little from the rest of the group and prepared everything for their camping.

"Let's see..." Sophia looked at the mountain of firewood they had gathered. "Well then, start the fire for us, princess."

"H-Huh?! Why me?! I can't even use fire magic!"

"Of course you can. You attacked Maya with it, after all. "

"I defended myself!" She felt the need to correct the blonde tiger-girl.

"Basically the same. Just imagine what you did back then and put your feelings into it."

"My feelings... What did I feel? Riiight... Fireball!" For some reason, the princess' expression darkened before she shot a perfectly shaped ball of fire towards the pile of wood and effortlessly ignited it.

"Not bad. How did you do it?"

"W-Well… When I first used it... Maya teased me about how you're only for her and... I got a little jea-, angry!"

"Seriously...?" The cat-girl stared at her in disbelief. "So, you were... literally burning with envy?!"

"Pfft!" Sophia couldn't hold it in. "S-Somehow... sorry."

"Urgh..."

"I-I'll try to be a little nicer in the future..." The cat-girl, too, felt a little bad.

"Being pitied, especially by you, only makes it worse, Maya!" Anna took even more damage.

"I think that calls for a reward." The blonde tiger-girl wanted to cheer up the princess. "Also, to make up for this cat's rudeness."

"H-Hey..."

"I want a head-pat!" Anna immediately jumped on the opportunity.

"A head-pat?"

"Yes! It's not too intimate for Maya to raise any meaningful protest, but it would still be a sign of affection for me!" She actually had planned it out.

"Y-You..." The protestant was speechless. "Just the head, okay?! No touching of the ears is allowed!" She gave in.

"O-Of course!" Anna agreed. "I'm still a princess! Not just a common pervert!" She obviously knew the meaning behind it.

"Urgh..." The couple couldn't look at each other.

"It's way too early for that..." Anna slightly reworded her reply.

"That's not the issue!" Maya snapped. "Sophia's ears are mine, and mine only to touch!"

"Now, now, stay calm you two..."

"You stay out of this!" Their voices overlapped again.

"Ehh...?" The owner of the aforementioned ears had no idea what was going on anymore.

"You're so unfair, Maya." The princess kept going. "Is it so wrong for me wanting to get closer?"

"It's not, technically speaking. I totally understand you, but as her partner, that's a big no. I obviously don't want anyone to get too close to my girlfriend, especially when the person in question has such obvious motives!"

"W-Which motives would these be?" Anna feigned ignorance.

"Well~," The cat-girl's expression changed. In the next moment, she pulled Sophia closer and surprised her with a kiss on the lips before parting again while grinning at the princess. "This kind."

"A-Ah..."

"Don't use me to prove your point!" The blonde girl didn't seem too angry about it, though, as she couldn't hide her smile.

"Ehehe."

"Uuh... y-you don't have to rub it in like that..." The royal tiger-girl took a lot of damage from this display.

"Meaning I was right, huh?" She was very smug.

"Y-You're not... wrong..."

"And that's why I'm so defensive! There's no way I could relax when the two of you are together! "

"Urgh... s-so no head pat for me...?"

"Just get over here already..." Sophia had enough. Once the princess was within reach, she gently placed her hand on the girl's head. Softly caressing it in a circular motion, the blonde enjoyed the incredibly smooth feel of Anna's hair while taking care not to accidentally touch her ears. This was reserved for her partner, after all, because they're so sensitive in the sensual kind of way. Once Sophia thought it was enough, she slowly removed her hand again.

"Mmm..." With a low, almost purr-like sound, Anna followed her hand for a second before she stopped her head.

"..." Maya did her best to stay silent.

"l-, I hope this was sufficient. I won't be doing any more than that." After actually petting her, Sophia also felt this was somewhat borderline in terms of showing innocent affection.

"Y-Yesh... Thank you very much!" She bit her tongue.

"By the way, what kind of hair care products are you using, princess? Your hair's so silky and nice to the touch."

"So, I really have no chance, huh...?" Noticing that Sophia was only interested in her haircare even after a somewhat intimate contact, Anna looked downwards while mumbling her reply. "I, uhh... There's a really nice shop in the capital that sells all kinds of beauty products. I'll show it to you when we get back..."

"Thanks, I haven't found anything good until now~. Alright, let's get dinner done already. I'm about to starve!" She got the topic finally back on track.

"Yeah..." As the mood was a little awkward, the other two readily agreed.

As Maya has the only one with meaningful cooking skills, she was in charge of preparing the food. Using the fishes Sophia had caught earlier, together with some other side dishes from their pantry, the cat-girl effortlessly created a delicious meal.

"As usual, your cooking's great, Maya. I'm so happy to get to eat it almost every day."

"Y-Yes, it's good..." The princess had to agree, painfully so.

"I'm happy to hear that."

After the girls finished dinner, they chatted for a while longer while watching the starry sky. After a while, much to the envy of the princess, Maya had made herself comfortable on Sophia's lap. Partly to show Anna her place, but mostly because she simply wanted to. But, because the day was mentally exhausting for her, combined with being really comfortable, the cat-girl was the first to fall asleep for a rare change.

This gave Anna and Sophia the chance to have an uninterrupted chat for the first time since they met. The princess definitely didn't want to waste this opportunity. The other tiger-girl, too, wanted to ask a thing or two and get to know her better without the cat-girl interfering.