Chapter 173 – Delivery boy

Sophia had spent the morning writing letters to her family she had to leave behind in her old world. Naturally, things had gotten quite emotional. Especially the letter to her sister was packed with emotions. Maya had read them, too, and it made her sad enough to shed tears while missing her own family. Her feelings were nothing compared to Sophia's, though. Their situations weren't even comparable, after all.

Afterward, the couple needed a while alone with each other to sort their emotions. It had affected them, especially the tiger, quite a bit, and the two needed to calm down first.

"Say..." The couple had mostly recovered, and the two still sat at the makeshift table when Sophia looked at her cat-girl. "Do you think I should actually let my family get those letters...?"

"What do you mean?"

"I think I can get some... some closure with that, but... as Canir also said, aren't I going to make it much worse for them...?"

"Ohh..." Maya started to see the issue. Afterward, she grabbed Sophia's hand and gently held it to support the slightly quivering girl.

"I... I think the letter for my mom is... fine. I've caused her a lot of trouble, and I hope she can forgive me. I've... apologized now, told her that I love her and... and said goodbye." She had her troubles staying on top of her emotions.

"Y-Yes... I think she could get some sort of closure with that letter, too."

"My sister, though... Steph... Don't you think I went too far...?"

"Well..." The cat-girl wasn't sure what to say. "You poured a lot of, and I mean a lot of feelings into her letter. It made me tear up, and I don't even know her..."

"S-So... too much...?"

"I don't know." Maya couldn't decide that for her. "I'm sure you'll make her suffer, though. A lot."

"N-Not helping..."

"It'll also eventually heal. How goes the saying again? It'll get worse before it becomes better…? You've let her know that you love and miss her. You told her how happy she made you, how much Steph helped you out, and much more. If I had a sister that suddenly disappeared, and I got such a letter after many months. I would cry. I would cry for a solid week. No questions there. It would make me happy, too, though. I now know that my sister that I loved so much, is still alive. Even better, she seems to be doing well. My stupid sister is finally doing well. She managed to have friends again and even scored a super cute girlfriend~." The cat-girl was a big fan of her description in the letter.

"Idiot..." Sophia had to let out a small chuckle.

"Ehehe~." Maya couldn't help it and gave the tiger's hand that she was still holding a gentle squeeze. "You'll hurt Steph with this letter. You'll make her cry a lot."

"Uuh..."

"How much was she hurting before, though? How much did she cry already?"

"I-I don't need even more guilt, Maya..." Sophia didn't like this conversation even a bit.

"I'm sorry. Still, this letter means closure. She'll be sad for a while, but knowing that you're alright, Steph will... well, maybe not get over it, but she'll be able to deal with it eventually."

"I-I see..."

"Let Canir deliver those letters. It'll hurt, but it's for the best."

"Thank you..." The blonde forced a smile while she placed her second hand on top of Maya's. "I don't know what I'd do without you..."

"I'm more than happy to help~."

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The two needed a while longer, and once Sophia was feeling well enough again, the two called over Canir.

"Have you decided on the letters?" He first looked at the table and then at the blonde.

"Y-Yes..." She, too, glanced at the letters with a complicated expression. "It hurts, but I want mom and Steph to get them."

"I see. Alright, I get it."

"Thank you..." Sophia went silent for another minute. "Wait, how will you even be able to give them to my family?"

"No idea."

"Ehh...?" Any type of somber mood that the tiger had was gone. All the tension had left her, as well.

"I can't directly interact with Earth... "

"Even though teleported me away...?" She found that to be rather interactive, all things considered.

"Ahh... Well, whisking people away is limited to those that are nearing death and I deem worthy of reincarnating."

"Oh... T-Thanks for deeming me worthy."

"No problem~." He flashed her a smile. "I already got a lot of value in terms of entertainment out of it, and you just got here. "

"Soo... About my letters..."

"Right, I can't interact with people without meeting them in my dimension, but I can place items on Earth."

"Ah, so that's how it is."

"Yes. Once I find them, I'll be able to simply place the letters into their homes."

"I wonder what they'll think if they see a letter that appears without it actually being delivered... Oh!" Sophia's face suddenly lit up while her tail seemed excited, as well. "Say, Canir, could you put things into postboxes? Not the ones in your place for receiving letters, but those to send them?"

"The ones on the streets where people throw in their letters?"

"Yeah!"

"I can place stuff wherever I want, yes."

"Perfect!" Sophia seemed happy about something.

"What's wrong?" He tilted his head.

"I still know the addresses of mom and Steph. Granted they haven't moved since I left, that is. You put the letters in a postbox, and they'll get mailed right to them! You could also track the letters and find the two that way!"

"Doesn't the postage system in your old world works with stamps? You need some of those to send letters, right?"

"A-Ah." Her plan suffered from a slight setback. "Wait! I remember reading that the post either returns unstamped letters to the sender or forwards it to the recipient and collects the fee from them! As there is no sender here, they have to deliver it. If I put my name on the envelope somewhere, there's no way that mom or Steph will refuse to pay the fee!"

"I always get confused when you have a logical plan..." Canir wasn't sure how to react.

"It gives you a weird feeling, doesn't it?" Maya hadn't understood a whole lot of their conversation because there were many words she hadn't heard before, but she still roughly got what was going on.

"H-Hey..." The tiger didn't like the sound of that. As there was little to say in her defense, she couldn't complain overly much, though.

"Alright, sure, we can try that." Canir agreed with Sophia's plan. "Well, I'll make a copy of your letters in case it doesn't work out. We'll have a backup to deliver, then."

"Thank you very much!"

Afterward, Sophia spent the next half hour creating some envelopes with her name added to the side. For most of the time, she simply made sure to have remembered the correct address of her mom and sister. She wanted to make absolutely sure to be 100% right on them, after all.

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"Okay, is everything in order?" Canir glanced at the two letters he received from Sophia.

"Yes!" She gave him a big nod. "I've made absolutely sure that I used the right addresses. The letters should reach them."

"Good to hear. Alright..." He looked at the couple and then at the wolves who were also with them again. "I'd say it's time. I've stayed for way longer than I had planned already."

"There was a lot to talk about..."

"True." He agreed with the blonde. "Well, it was fun."

"Feel free to swing by again if you're free." Fen had also enjoyed it.

"In theory, sure..." Canir looked a bit conflicted. "This area gets way too cold for my liking during fall and winter, though... I'm not a fan of drinking outside in such weather. Even I get cold, you know?"

"Seriously?! It gets this cold here?!" Sophia really didn't like the sound of that.

"Yep." He gave her a light answer. "Well, magic can get you around that, but it also kind of kills the mood."

"Urgh... Oh, speaking of a good mood. We have this nice mansion in the capital. Comfy sofas, and a fireplace I can't wait to give a try. Sounds like a good place to drink, doesn't it?"

"Enticing." The overseer wasn't against the idea.

"Great!" Sophia seemed happy.

"Alright. Yeah, we'll definitely see each other sooner rather than later. Fen, Aura, it was great to see you again, not to mention the two of you being together once more."

"Likewise." The wolves agreed. "We look forward to the next time."

"Hehe. Maya, it was nice to finally meet you in person."

"Y-Yes... It was a little overwhelming at first, but I'm glad I was able to thank the person who gave me Sophia, too."

"Take care of the tiger when I can't watch her, okay?"

"Always." The cat-girl didn't hesitate for a second.

"Good answer." Canir showed her a smile. "Sophia, I'll play delivery boy for you, but it'll take me a little while to place those letters. I'll get back to you once there are some news."

"Thank you... Thank you so much for helping me. I can't put into words how grateful I am for that..."

"Stop that." The overseer got goosebumps from her reply. "I don't like it when you're this earnest and serious."

"Should I punch you instead?" She didn't want to be like this, either.

"How about something in between?"

"I can give that a try, sure."

"Good." Canir looked relieved. Afterward, he glanced at the lake that was almost done. "Only a couple of meters left for the waterline to be perfect, huh?"

"Yeah," Aura nodded. "We should be done in a few hours."

"I see. Well, goodbye for now." He nodded, and the area was suddenly bathed in white light. Once the group could see something again, Canir was gone, but that wasn't the only thing that had changed. The crater, or lake, was now filled to the brim with crystal-clear water. Even fishes could be seen swimming around that seemingly came out of nowhere. That still wasn't everything, though. At least as far as they could see, the entire shoreline had turned into a beach with almost pure white sand. Adding to it, the destroyed nature further away from the crater all had returned to normal, as well. Actually, the area looked way greener than it ever did.

"Wow..." Maya had no other words.

"Couldn't he have done that earlier...?" Aura wasn't sure how to feel about it.

"Yeah..." Sophia and Fen looked, and sounded, extremely tired all of a sudden.

A little while later, the group finally decided to head back to the capital using the blonde's portal. No matter how nice the area was looking now, everyone had seen more than enough of it.