Chapter 169 – Fine-tuning

Sophia had found out that the new world she had been living in for so long already was using an entirely different language. She also learned that Canir made her able to understand and converse in it as a gift. There happened to be a slight error, though. The strangely familiar but different sounding words like kow or harse were actually a mistranslation in her brain. Thankfully, Canir fixed that bug for the tiger, and the strange names were gone.

"What a twist..." The tiger still couldn't believe it. "There will be a lot less of me rolling my eyes when being confronted with something new."

"And a lot less of you sounding stupid to us."

"Urgh..." Sophia took some damage from Fen's jab. "A-And I thought you all were the stupid ones..."

"Nope, it was you all along." Maya joined in on the teasing. "You did sound kind of cute when coming up with all those names, though."

"Uuh..." Strangely enough, the cat's second remark didn't make her feel any better.

"Ehehe~."

"Still... kinda weird to think that everyone around me was… is using a language I didn't actually learn. Even the stuff I read and wrote looked perfectly normal... You're way too powerful, Canir."

"It's great, isn't it?"

"Scary, too." Sophia had mixed feelings about it. "Just don't think about taking the language skill away from me as a prank! I wouldn't just punch you back to your place, but all the way to my old world! Still, thank you very much for the gift." She was all over the place.

"D-Don't worry, I wouldn't do that. In the first place, I can't. I'm able to bless you with stuff, like fixing your language error, but I can't take things away from you anymore."

"That's good... Wait, anymore?" She got a little confused over his wording.

"Some loopholes aside, I can't negatively affect the residents native to this world. It's part of being an overseer, and this world here is actually my main place to oversee."

"I'm not a native, though?" Sophia didn't see the connection.

"Are you sure about that, my dear tiger?"

"A-Ah, I see..."

"Yeah, you're no different from your cat in that regard anymore."

"Not bad, me." There was a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "Well, no, it's a good thing. Does that mean you can't change my boosts anymore, either?"

"I still can improve things, like adjusting the boosts of your negative emotions, but that's about it."

"Good to know. Well, I want them to stay as is, anyway. Some boosts are still bothersome, but I've become more than attached to most of them. Maya loves my boosts, as well. Especially at night when it comes to my increased-."

"H-Hey!" The cat-girl stopped her with a red face. "There's no need to mention that! C-Canir, could you please boost her ability to keep things to herself?!"

"Aww, where would the fun in that be?" He didn't want to grant her wish.

"Ugh..."

"There are some other things I can do to you now, though, Sophia." He focused his attention on the tiger again.

"I really don't like the sound of that."

"I'm able to bring you back to your old world again. Normally, I can only return people to their original world during the duration while time is initially stopped. Afterward, it becomes impossible. Now, though, as you've become a resident of this world, you can hop again."

"Seriously?!"

"Eh?!" Maya was now the one who didn't like the sound of that.

"You could accompany her, too, cat."

"H-Huh...? Me, to a different world...?"

"Sounds fun, doesn't it? It would be a one-way ride, though, because I can't bring you back here again, then."

"Don't tell her anything stupid, Canir!" Sophia stopped him. "This world is sooo much more fun. I'm going to stay here!"

"G-Good..." Maya sounded relieved.

"Boring."

"Sooo..." The tiger stared at Canir. "If you can't negatively affect me or whatever anymore, you probably can't adjust that one boost that makes me unable to get drunk either, right? In a way, that's something positive, isn't it?"

"It's not quite a boost. Actually, it's part of your poison resistance."

"I have poison resistance?!" Sophia didn't know about that.

"Yep. I thought that would be handy."

"Absolutely! Thank you very much!" She sounded genuinely thankful. "You're the best!"

"You really can be cute if you want to, huh?"

"Shut up!" The blonde didn't like his reaction.

"Hehe. Still, is there a reason you want to get drunk?"

"Y-Yeah..." Her voice turned a little somber. "Maya keeps asking me to tell her more about my old world and... family. I understand that, and I'm glad she wants to know... but... I can't do that sober..."

"Ahh, I see." Canir nodded. "Alcohol would definitely make that easier. Let me think... Well, I can't take away your poison resistance, and I doubt you want to, either."

"Yes, though I just found out about it, I never want to let go of it!"

"Hmm... I could try one of my loopholes."

"Okay?" The tiger tilted her head.

"I could by boosting the enjoyable side of alcohol for you. An improved enjoyment could reactivate the fun side-effects of it."

"Sounds like a good way to get an addiction to me." Sophia came up with a surprisingly reasonable argument.

"Fair point, actually..." He hadn't thought that far. "Oh, I could trick your brain into thinking to get drunk by boosting your imagination. You'll feel like you're drunk, but you aren't actually."

"And by telling me that, you made it impossible for me not to think about that while drinking. Also, my imagination's boosted way more than enough already."

"Why are you such a pain?" Canir stared at her.

"Because you made me like that."

"I'm pretty sure you always were one."

"That point goes to you." Sophia couldn't fight back.

"Well, maybe we should try boosting your enjoyment for alcohol, after all." Canir had no better idea. "I can simply boost your resistance of getting addicted to it by the same amount. That way, it'll cancel each other out."

"You can boost such specific things?"

"I could boost you in such a way that your mood increases by 5% during the evening of every second Thursday of the month."

"Are you serious...?" The tiger couldn't believe him.

"Yep, not a problem for me."

"Then why... Why did you boost EVERYTHING of me with a stupid FLAT multiplier?!" She got angry.

"A-Ah..." He retreated a couple of steps from her. "I-It's a lot of work to finely adjust every single detail... L-Less entertaining, too."

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Around 30 minutes had passed since Canir made this statement, and no one had seen him since then. Sophia was still applying healing magic to her own hand, which, even now, hadn't stopped hurting yet. Judging by the remains of blood on her knuckles and how her hand looked almost deformed for a while, it seemed like she accidentally had broken a few bones when her fist connected with a hard surface of sorts.

"Urgh..." The tiger finished up healing her hand and blew on it. "I-It still feels all tingly and numb... Why is his face so damn hard?!"

"Because the face you punched belongs to a god...?" Maya wasn't sure what to say.

"Overseer." Sophia corrected her. She really didn't want to be compared to a god after discovering that she's using the same powers.

"Or that." It didn't make that much of a difference to the cat-girl.

"I wonder if he could boost the bones in my fist, too. I took way too much damage this time..."

"Y-Yeah... I'm fairly sure you broke one or two bones..." Maya slightly grimaced while remembering the sight of the blonde's red, bruised, bloody, and swelling hand before Sophia started applying healing magic to it.

"How about no?!" A male voice eventually joined their conversation.

"Welcome back~." The wolves lightly greeted Canir.

"Haa..." The overseer rubbed his still red and bruised nose.

"Wait," Sophia noticed that, too. "Did I actually do some lasting damage? Sorry about that, but your remark made me actually angry."

"Yes..." He paused for a moment. "I needed some time to recover. Yeah, I've earned that one."

"I maybe wouldn't go that far..." The blonde sounded slightly apologetic after she calmed down. "After all, you saved me, and that excuses a lot... but playing with my life, me, was a bit much."

"Yeah... My offer still stands regarding that. If you want to, I'll readjust the negative parts of your boosts to make up for it."

"Nah, it's alright. I was actually glad that I was able to get that angry earlier. Though my hand still hurts, it feels incredibly refreshing. It's not bad to have such an outlet, actually."

"I beg to differ!" Canir, who was used as an outlet this time, naturally had a different opinion.

"Well, that's your responsibility to take now. You're the one who made me able to reach this level of anger, after all~."

"I don't want this kind of responsibility!"

"Too late for that~." Sophia was having fun. "Alright, let's get me drunk!"

"Fine..." He gave up. "So, you'd like me to bless your enjoyment of alcohol and boost your resistance to its addictive side?"

"Pretty please! Ah, are there any downsides?"

"Your poison resistance will still be working. As a result of that, you won't be able to throw up or get a hangover."

"Sounds like an absolute victory to me." She liked the sound of that.

"I want that, too!" Fen suddenly got loud.

"Sure, why not? Anyone else?"

"Thank you very much!" The wolf's tail started wagging.

"I'm good."

"Me, too…" Maya and Aura didn't feel like messing with their bodies right now.

"Ah, could I get a trial period of those new boosts? Maybe something along the lines of them automatically running out after a week or two?" The tiger started to second-guess it. "I want to make sure they work the way they're supposed to be before being stuck with it."

"Oh, me, too!" Fen joined in on the idea.

"Where's the faith in me?!"

"..." The duo only stared at him.

"Fine... I'll make it that they're automatically run out after two weeks. If you like them, I can reactivate the boosts the next time we meet."

"Perfect! Ah, do I need to get another forehead flick? I have to prepare myself for that first. I  don't want to punch you on instinct again."

"Thank you very much for your consideration." Canir sounded relieved. "Yeah, it has to have some impact or strong contact. Oh, something like a kiss would also work, but..."

"Yeah, if you kiss me, I might get angry again." Sophia didn't like the idea at all. Maya, too, flinched when she heard it but soon relaxed again after seeing her blonde's reaction.

"Yeah, don't worry, I have no motivation for that, either. That's not how we work."

"Good. Feel free to kiss our wolf, though. I bet it would be fun, and I'm very interested to see how that would work~." Her voice sounded really playful.

"Ohh?" Maya's ears perked up.

"How about no?!" The boys didn't seem to like the idea.

"Aww..." The couple looked disappointed.

Afterward, Canir got ready and gave the duo a hearty flick on their foreheads to activate the boosts. Sophia's fist twitched once in response, but she was able to hold back her instinct. An exciting night seemed to be starting.

Teanam

Time for another illustration? Well, no, not really... It has nothing to do with the chapter, but I still wanted to get it out~. I'm trying out some different artists for additional art, and I have to get out the results every now and then.

It's a tiny bit more suggestive as it's more than obvious where this scene is leading to, but I doubt anyone minds. We even have Sophia being the one initiating things here for a change (there will be more of that, too). Not that it seems like Maya's becoming a bottom anytime soon, though. (Or rather, ever).

The illustration's also a bit of a bribe being placed in this chapter. To keep the mood of for the upcoming chapters... Sophia getting drunk sounds like fun, yeah?

Well, she's an emotional drunk, so it's more feels than fun.

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Once again, a gigantic THANK YOU to everyone supporting the story on Patreon for making those illustrations possible!