Chapter 162 – Meat

The group was still busy turning the crater from the failed magic experiment into a lake. Because they had a lot of time to spare, some interesting conversations came up. Fen and Aura seemed to have gotten a lot closer, but the actual couple was of the greatest interest. As it turned out, thanks to the great hearing of the wolves, they knew about some very intimate details of Sophia's and Maya's love life. Their nightly activities, to be exact. Naturally, the two were beyond embarrassed and sworn to themselves to be more careful. Something that most likely wasn't going to happen.

"Hungry!" It was around noon, and Sophia started complaining about the usual.

"According to my detection magic, animals are migrating closer to the lake again. Perfect time for lunch." Fen, too, was hungry.

"Great! A-Ah..." The tiger looked happy before freezing up. "M-Maya, do you think you can make me a vegetarian alternative...?"

"Ehhh?" The wolf didn't like the sound of that.

"We still have some vegetables at home that I could turn into a stir-fry for you. I could go fetch them with your portals." Maya then tilted her head. "Why, though? You love your meat, after all."

"That's exactly it!" The blonde got loud. "I never had anything against meat, but I never wanted to eat it daily, let alone in such gross amounts like I lately do... I've started to love it waaay too much!"

"Don't fight your carnivore blood; embrace it! The tiger inside you will shrivel and die otherwise!"

"Shut up, Fenny!"

"Aww... Well, I'll still go fetch myself a kow, though." The wolf had no motivation to go along with her abstinence. "Maya, Aura, you still want some, right?"

"Of course."

"I'll eat a little, too." Even Maya betrayed the tiger.

"Great. Most members of our group are cool, after all."

"Hey!" The uncool girl felt bullied.

Fen ignored the blonde and went hunting. In the meanwhile, the couple used the portals to get back to their mansion. While they were catching the ingredients for Sophia's vegetarian alternative, Aura decided to take it easy and simply watched the place.

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"That's a weird kow..." The two were back at the crater and were looking at the animal Fen had caught. The kow in front of the wolves was much bigger, had a lot of fur, paws, and a very menacing face.

"I've detected myself a baer. I kinda wanted that instead, then. As the boring tiger doesn't want any meat, I saw no harm in it."

"Hey!" Sophia complained again. "Wait... weren't baers the one with the super stinky and strong-tasting meat?"

"Yep!" Fen's tail was already wagging in anticipation.

"I'm even happier now that I decided on vegetables!" The blonde still remembered the odor from the last time Fen and Maya ate it on their way to the capital.

"It's been a while since I ate baer. I'm looking forward to it." Aura seemed happy about it.

"I'll really eat just a little. While it tasted interesting, it wasn't my favorite."

"I really am on my own with this, huh?"

"Your fault alone." Fen had no nice words for her.

Afterward, Fen helped Maya prepare the baer while Sophia and Aura got another campfire going.

Once the meat was roasting over the fire, the cat-girl got the tiger's stir-fry ready in a flash, and the group started eating.

"Mhmm..." While Sophia was munching on her veggies, a complicated expression slowly formed on her face.

"What's wrong?" Maya looked at her. "You don't like it?"

"No, it's great! Just... it's a bit boring...? Almost as if something's missing..." She wasn't sure what exactly the problem was.

"Delicious!" Right after her complaint, the wolf spoke up after biting into a massive chunk of meat. "So juicy, and the chew's just perfect!"

"..." Sophia glanced at him with an even more awkward expression.

"Want some?" He gestured at the meat. "Ah, no, I forgot. You wanted to only eat vegetables, right? Sorry for asking~." The wolf knew precisely what he was doing.

"I-I don't like baer, anyway!"

"The old Sophia didn't, yes, but what about the tiger one?"

"T-They're the... same!" She was wavering.

"Is that so~?" Fen wasn't done yet. "So, how does it smell, then?"

"Very strong!"

"In a good or bad way?"

"..." She paused. "I-I choose not to answer this..."

"You want some, don't you?" He gestured at the meat again.

"I absolutely do!" The tiger inside her had won relatively quick.

"Why are you two so... like this?" Maya wasn't sure what to do with them.

"I think it's cute~." Aura liked their bantering.

Afterward, the cat-girl roasted a regular-sized piece of baer meat for the blonde, who then hesitatingly tried it.

"..." She stayed silent after chewing on it for a while.

"It's great, isn't it?" Fen was sure the tiger would love it.

"It... It tastes way better than I want it to be..." Sophia hated that she liked it. "It really is a bit too chewy, but the taste... uuh... I really like it..." She didn't want to admit it, but she had no other choice. "It's good..."

"Hehehe." He sounded incredibly smug.

"Ugh, I hate this..." While saying so, she was already munching on another piece of meat. "I really do..."

"Sure~."

"I-I still love veggies, though!" She wanted to defend herself. "I... I just need some meat to go along with it..."

"Don't worry, we'll fix that, too, soon enough."

"We won't!" Sophia got loud again.

"We absolutely will~." It seemed like the accident brought the duo even closer together in terms of messing with each other.

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Once they finished their rather hectic lunch, in which the tiger managed to go a whole five minutes without meat, the group got back to filling up the crater.

They had mostly run out of magic soon enough, except for Sophia, that is. It was almost impossible for her to deplete her power with water-based magic alone, after all. Because of that, she, very carefully, filled up everyone's magic again. She stopped at 3/4 of their capacity, though, to make extra sure that nothing happens. Everyone, especially Fen, agreed with her precautions, and Maya was incredibly proud of her precautions.

"We're slowly getting there, huh?" A few hours had passed, and Sophia was looking at the gigantic crater that was filled relatively high with water already. "Forget lake; it's starting to look like an ocean. Magic's amazing!"

"Sure is." The wolves agreed with her.

"Considering that the crater, too, was the result of magic... It going catastrophically wrong, that is. It absolutely is. In more ways than one."

"..." The other three became silent after hearing Maya's view on it.

"A-Anyway," The tiger didn't want to talk about it and looked at the crater again. "Even though it's awe-inspiring already, it doesn't seem like we're going to fill it up today, huh? The upper part of such a hole will take the longest, after all, because of the diameter."

"Yeah," Aura nodded. "I misjudged the size of your mishap a little. I guess we should camp another night, and we'll be done by noon tomorrow."

"Sounds fun." Sophia didn't mind camping for another night.

"Should we look for some leaves for our vegetarian tiger, then? I mean, we'll have dinner here, too, right?" Fen loved this topic.

"Y-You..." She didn't know what to say. "When... When did I become the bullying target of this group...?"

"Hmm...?" He tilted his head. "When did we meet again?"

"No, no, no, I definitely remember bullying you a lot, too, Fen!" The blonde didn't accept his sass. "What do you think, Maya... Ah, no, scratch that, you tease everyone unconditionally, after all. Be it a wolf or the princess of a nation. Not a good example."

"Hey!" She didn't like this accusation. "Just because it's true, it doesn't mean you have to say it out loud!" The cat knew her personality.

While Aura was having a great time watching their bickering, the group needed some time to cool off afterward. They spent the next few hours in silence while concentrating on the lake.

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"Err..." The sun was already setting, and it was slowly getting time for dinner. The group was together again, and Maya awkwardly looked at Sophia. "What do you want to eat now...?"

"W-Well..." The tiger paused for a moment. "Is there any, uhh... light meat...?"

"What's that supposed to be...?" She had no idea what the girl meant.

"Basically, the opposite of the baer from earlier...?" Sophia wasn't entirely sure what she wanted, either. "Something like chicken, err... chiken, maybe? That's what you called it before, right? That's pretty mild, I guess?"

"Ahh... I see what you mean now." The cat-girl nodded. "Fen, what does nature has to offer for our light tiger?"

"H-Hey!"

"Good one, cat." He was proud of her. "Let's see... I'm not sensing any chiken-like food running around. When I was hunting, a yackalope tried to attack me, though. Those critters sure are something else. I ignored it, so it should still be alive. I could go and fetch that instead. They're also pretty light in taste."

"A-Ah!" Sophia's ears and tail perked up after hearing that. "You said that they're a delicacy, right, Maya? Back when I got that aggressive guy to test the portals with? You killed it, but we never ate it because we got a little busy afterward."

"Yep, they're super delicious."

"Okay, I want to eat one!" The blonde got motivated.

"Alright, I'll catch one of them, too, for dinner."

"W-Wait!" The tiger stopped him. "I want to hunt the yackalope myself. The last time was a ton of fun! I'm itching to do it again~!" Her instincts were really itchy today.

"Sure~." Everyone just smiled at her.

"Urgh..." It took her a moment to notice what was going on.

Even so, the tiger still needed to hunt it down now. An hour later, a skinned yackalope was being grilled next to many pieces of a kow over their usual campfire. The sun had set entirely by now, and the group was about to enjoy their dinner.

"Looks delicious~." A new voice had suddenly joined their conversation. A male, human-looking individual, who seemed to be in his twenties with a pretty sloppy and unreliable feel to him, had appeared behind Sophia without anyone noticing.