Chapter 128 – Busted

Around a week passed since Maya got over her sore muscles when she tried to match Sophia's running speed. She was as good as new after two days and continued to run with the tiger-girl, just at a pace that wasn't too much for her. None of that was of importance right now, though, as the group was going through a severe crisis right now.

"Sooo..." Maya and the two wolves were currently in the living room, and neither Fen nor Aura were able to look the cat-girl in the eyes and turned their heads away. "Here, I felt like taking a look at the basement because I liked the black surface of the walls and wanted to recreate it with my own earth magic, and guess what I found? A door leading to something that looks like a maze. Care to explain?"

"Uhh... W-Who would've thought that the beastfolk capital's built on a dungeon, huh?" Aura tried her luck but immediately stopped once she saw the cat-girl's expression. "F-Fen, why didn't you close the door when you finished up earlier?!"

"It wasn't me! Y-You left it open!"

"I left before you, though." The female wolf wasn't going to take the blame.

"A-Ah."

"Alright, my dear Fen, I'm waiting for an explanation."

"I still don't like that way of addressing me..."

"I'm waiting." Maya didn't care about that.

"Uhh..." He didn't know what to say. "Where's Sophia when you need her?!"

"She went out shopping a while ago. "

"Ugh, why's that idiot always so lucky?!" Fen wanted her to suffer, too.

"Don't worry, I'll have a chat later with her, as well."

"Well," He gave up. "What do you want to hear? It's exactly as it looks like, I helped Aura build a maze."

"Hey! I helped you! It wasn't my idea, okay?!"

"I wasn't absolutely sure, but you did help out, huh?" Maya looked at her.

"A-Ah..." Aura noticed her mistake.

"Fen, what did I tell you about a dungeon underneath our house?"

"Actually, it's a maze, soo-"

"Do you think that makes a difference?"

"A-Also, technically, only the entrance is below the house. The maze itself is more, uhh, besides or around the property..." The male wolf was trying to find a loophole in Maya's demands about not building anything here.

"How much around us are we talking? How big is it?"

"Is there-, Is there an answer that gets me out of this situation?"

"Surprise me." The cat-girl wasn't planning to let him out.

"Well, we- Oh?" Fen suddenly stopped talking and looked towards the door that led to the hallway.

"Hmm?" Maya's ears twitched and then turned towards the door as well. She, too, had heard something. "Sophia?"

"Err, yes?" Her voice echoed how the hallway. "I'm back~."

"Would you mind coming to the living room? There's something we need to talk about."

"I really don't like the sound of that, though?" The tiger instantly became wavy.

"Run!" As Aura liked her, she had to warn the girl.

"Uhh..." Naturally, her feeling about it got even worse.

"If you run now, you can sleep on the sofa for quite a while."

"I'II take the rug, okay? That one's more comfortable to sleep on." Sophia instinctively felt that entering the living room was the worse alternative.

"Get in here, idiot."

"F-Fine..." She was already halfway through the front door before the tiger turned around and closed it again. Resigning to her fate, she then, very reluctantly, entered the living room. There, the girl met eyes with the wolves. "W-What happened?"

"D-Do something about your girlfriend!" Fen was getting desperate.

"She, uhh, found out about the maze..." Aura averted her eyes.

"O-Oh..." She wanted to turn around again.

"Please sit down." Maya simply gestured at the sofa opposite of her.

"Yes..." There was nothing Sophia could do. "W-What happened?" She glanced at the female wolf while sitting down.

"Fen forget to close the door behind him."

"You idiot!"

"I know... "

"So, you knew about it, too, huh?" The cat-girl focused her gaze on her girlfriend.

"A-Ah." Sophia walked into the same trap as Aura before.

"Okay, the first one to talk will get a milder pun-"

"It was all Fen's idea!" The two girls immediately sold him out before Maya could even finish her sentence.

"H-Hey!"

"I know that already. I was present when he had the idea. After all, that was when I said you shouldn't do that."

"R-Right..." Unfortunately, Sophia and Aura's efforts to save themselves were for naught.

"So?" She gave them another chance.

"Say," The tiger tried a different approach. "What's actually the problem?"

"Besides building a gigantic maze below the capital of the beastfolk?"

"Uhh..." She needed a moment. "Y-Yes."

"What if something happens? All those tunnels can't be good for the foundation."

"Unlikely," Fen disagreed. "The maze's pretty deep underground, and we strengthened the soil around it."

"Still..."

"Actually, while digging, Aura and I found a cave caused by groundwater erosion. In a year or two, it most likely would've collapsed and, at the very least, destroyed a street. We took the liberty to fix it."

"S-Seriously" Maya was losing her arguments.

"See? We even saved the city! Wait, that happened?" It was the first time Sophia had heard about it, too.

"Yes," Aura nodded. "A couple of days ago. We strengthened the soil above the cave and decided to use the place as something like a rest stop in the maze. It looks a bit like an underground lake there, very pretty, and the ambiance is amazing."

"I can't wait to explore all that!"

"Urgh."

"Do you dislike mazes that much?" The female wolf looked at the cat.

"No... they sound quite fun, even."

"Maya, is this about having to be the voice of reason for us again?" Sophia remembered the conversation where she wanted to have another companion, so she could play around with the rest of the group.

"What's this about?" Aura tilted her head.

"Our cat here decided to play the role of the reasonable one in our group because all of us have to be kept in check."

"Ohh." The wolves knew precisely what she meant.

"Maya hates it, though. She much rather would like to play around with us but fears we could destroy the world if nobody holds us back."

"Ahhh." The two nodded again.

"I never went that fa-, Hey, don't just agree to that, you two!"

"Ahaha~." Everyone except the cat had a good laugh.

"Anyway," Sophia continued. "Maya wants to find another member for our group to take over that job. Someone who enjoys having a serious personality, so she can be stupid with us. The requirements for that person's just a bit high, as they would have to keep up with at least Maya during our travels."

"Good luck with that." Fen didn't sound overly hopeful. "Hard would be an understatement for that."

"Yeah..." The couple agreed.

"Should we, uhh, try to hold back a little?" Sophia glanced at the wolves before facing Maya.

"Thanks for suggesting it, but we all know that won't happen. You are physically unable to hold back."

"Ahhh." The tiger had the same reaction as the other two before.

"Should I help out a bit for the time being?" Aura addressed the cat-girl.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I like to play around and all that, but I can be serious if the situation calls for it. I might be able to lessen the burden by keeping an eye on Fen and not playing along with everything."

"Hmm... Thanks, but I don't want to ruin your fun. If I can blow up on you all every once in a while, like earlier, I should be fine."

"You enjoyed scolding us, didn't you?" Sophia saw through her.

"A little~." Her voice sounded much lighter all of a sudden.

"This girl..." Everyone sounded relieved by her answer.

"Anyway!" The tiger seemed to have a new idea. "Fenny, how big is the maze by now?"

"Massive." He only needed one word to describe its size.

"Oho, I like the sound of that! Maya, let's go explore it!"

"Eh?" She hadn't seen that suggestion coming.

"It sounds like fun, doesn't it? Also, as there are no enemies, there's no reason for me to do anything stupid and cause a catastrophe."

"Since when do you need a reason for that?"

"Ah." Sophia had no counter for that. "Come on, don't be like that~. Let's go and play!"

"I don't remember saying no." Maya had nothing against the idea itself.

"Really? Yay!" She was very happy about her answer. "Oh, but let's have lunch first, okay? I'm pretty hungry."

"I'm shocked."

"Ahaha."

Afterward, the cat-girl had released the wolves and allowed them to finally leave the living room again. Then, the couple went to have lunch together. Once that was taken care of, the two got ready to explore the underground maze Fen and Aura had been building for the last one and a half weeks.