Chapter 227 – Long weekend

It was the second day Sophia and Maya visited the magic academy Anna and Ari attended. Just like before, it ended in a slight catastrophe for the second time, as well. On the first day, the troublemaker duo consisting of a blonde tiger and a jaguar had flooded the school training grounds, and on the second day, Sophia had turned the same area into a winter wonderland.

“Haa…” The lessons had ended a bit early today because everyone in the academy needed to nurse their broken common sense, and the girls decided to head over to the royal castle. There, in Anna’s room, Sophia sat down on a sofa while letting out a long sigh.

“You can say that again…” Ari had the same reaction as she sat down next to her.

“You two be silent!” Maya and Anna got a little loud.

“…” The duo immediately stopped talking.

“Good.” The two started smiling and also sat down next to their girls. Four of them on the same sofa was a little snug, but no one of them cared about that at the moment.

“Why is your girlfriend so like this, Maya?” The princess leaned forward the look at the cat-girl at the other end on the sofa.

“No idea, she was like this when we met already…” She had no answer. “What about your… maid? It’s not like she’s any better.” It sounded like she wanted to use a different word while looking back at the princess.

“Yeah, it seems like she’s pretty easily influenced.”

“Hey!” The two in the middle didn’t like this conversation.

“We don’t want any comments from either of you!”

“…” They turned silent again.

“It’s good that there are no lessons for the rest of the week. Maybe everything… everyone calms down a bit thanks to that…”

“Eh?” Sophia didn’t stay silent for long as she looked at Anna. “There’s no more school?”

“Yeah, Eluna used our class as an, uhh… test. Starting tomorrow, she will give a presentation to the rest of the school. We’re free to attend, but it’s not going to be anything new compared to the last two days, and she doesn’t need any of us to do any sort of demonstration. That one didn’t work out quite as anticipated, after all…” The princess gave her fellow tiger a short explanation.

“That’s great!” Sophia’s face lit up.

“Absolutely!” So did Ari’s.

“Any sort of bonding between the two of you is forbidden today!” Anna and Maya got loud again.

“Aww…” The two still didn’t like their treatment.

“Wait… If there’s no more school… Long weekend!” The blonde got even more cheerful. “Maya, let’s go and visit the elven village!”

“Sure, why not?” The cat-girl had nothing against the idea.

“Yay! I also sensed that Fenny and Aura were back in my detection range a little while ago, so we can go together with them later!”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

“Uhh… what?” Anna scratched one of her ears to make sure it was working while looking at the couple. “You’re going to visit a what now?”

“Fenny and Aura sniffed out a nearby elven village a little while ago, and the two of us want to take a look at it.”

“There are elves near the capital?!” The princess got loud.

“Relatively far, but no, it’s just an abandoned village they left behind.”

“Ah, I see…” Anna paused for a moment. “Wait, that’s still plenty outrageous! Not even father ever mentioned anything about remains of the elven race!”

“Well, what can I say?” Sophia tilted her head. “The wolves found it when taking a walk or on a date or whatever… According to them, a group of the fox beastfolk lives there now.”

“Foxes?!” The fellow tiger didn’t seem like calming down yet. “Okay, they’re not nearly as rare, but they’re even better!”

“Why…?”

“Have you never seen one of them?” Ari looked at the blonde. “They have the by far fluffiest tails of any member of the beastfolk. They’re adorable.”

“Alright!” Sophia suddenly jumped up from the sofa. “Maya, we’re going!” She sounded very motivated.

“Is it really alright for you to get this excited about the tails of other girls right in front of your own girlfriend…?” The jaguar was still looking at her, but her expression turned to a rather disapproving one.

“I like how you automatically assumed I’m only interested in the tails of the fox-girls~. Also, Maya’s the one who wanted to touch them.”

“Really?” Ari and her princess focused their attention on the cat-girl. “That’s not good.”

“You two…” There were many things she wanted to say right now, but she decided to keep it to herself for the time being. “It was just a misunderstanding.”

“So, you don’t want to touch the fluffy?” Sophia now also looked at her.

“Shut up already.” She decided not to answer the question.

“I kinda want to go there, too…” Anna seemed a little envious.

“Eh?” Ari didn’t like the sound of that.

“Visiting an elven village sounds really interesting, doesn’t it?! Even without elves themselves, that is!”

“Ohh…” The jaguar’s expression immediately relaxed again. “Y-Yeah, that does sound interesting…”

“How far from here is it?”

“Not really sure.” Sophia shook her head. “From what the wolves told us, I’d guess that it’s around 100km away, give or take something.”

“That’s not nearby at all!” Anna got loud again.

“That really depends on how fast you can run~.”

“Wow…” She wasn’t sure how to reply to that.

“Are you planning to go there immediately… Now that you’re here already…” Ari seemed to have some different plans for the blonde.

“Hmm?”

“Well… There was this topic about those lovely heated floors in your mansion, and…”

“Ah!” Anna also jumped up from the sofa. “Sophia, please install them here in my room now that you’re here already!”

“Hey!” The jaguar glared at her tiger. “No cutting in line!”

“Ahaha…” The blonde awkwardly scratched her cheek in response. “I don’t have any materials left, though.”

“That’s no problem! After I told mother that you might be willing to install it for us before the company gets around it, she immediately let everything be delivered. It’s in one of the storage rooms in the castle.”

“Cats really do anything to get warm, huh…?” Sophia paused for a moment. “Very relatable. Alright, fine, why not?”

“Yay!” The duo sounded happy.

“I’ll start with Ellie’s room first, though.”

“Why?!” They liked this decision much less.

“Because she’s Ellie, and I love her.” The tiger had a very easy explanation for it.

“Unfair!” The duo didn’t support this favoritism.

“Well, there’s nothing you can do about that~.”

“Urgh… Ellie’s not even in the castle right now… Mother told me yesterday that the two are doing something together.”

“I know that Ellie isn’t here. Actually, thanks to my detection magic, I even know where in the capital she is right now, but I still want to do her room first as a surprise!”

“You’d make for a fine stalker.” Ari rolled her eyes while looking at her.

“A-Ah…” Sophia had very complicated feelings about this accusation. The image of Canir flashing through her head didn’t help in the slightest, either.

“Fine…” Anna caved in. “My room’s next, though.”

“Nope.” The blonde shook her head again. “Ari asked first when she found out about it.”

“Yes!”

“For a princess to be the last… No respect…” She wasn’t entirely serious, but Anna still started pouting.

“Why?” Sophia looked smug instead. “I’m starting with a princess, though?”

“Urgh…”

“You might also want to clean up your room a bit beforehand.” The blonde had no plans to spare her fellow tiger as she looked around in her room. “The more you have lying around, the longer it takes me to get rid of your furniture.”

“I-I see…” Anna had lost every argument she possibly had.

“I told you that would bite you eventually.” Ari smiled at her princess. “Well, my room’s squeaky clean, so we can start as soon as you’re done with Ellie’s.”

“Uhh…”

“Anyway, with that taken care of, where is this storage room?”

“No idea…” Anna shook her head. “I only heard that it’s stored in one of them.”

“I know, though.” The jaguar raised her hand. “I saw them delivering it and all.”

“Perfect!”

“Should I guide you?”

“Great idea!” Sophia knew that she needed more than a bit of help to navigate through the gigantic castle.

“Wait!” Maya and the princess stopped the duo.

“What…?”

“Both of you caused enough catastrophes the last few days.” Maya didn’t like the plan.

“We don’t think it’s a good idea to let the troublemaker duo roam around alone together.”

“Shut up.” Said duo didn’t like their treatment and decided to leave anyway. While lightly sticking out their tongues, Sophia and Ari then left the room to get on with their plan while leaving Maya and Anna behind in her room.

“Well, that went about as expected, huh?” The cat-girl watched them leaving with a smug expression while looking at the princess.

“Sophia really is a bad influence…”

“Come on, is it really bad influence?” Maya focused her attention on Anna. “I, too, think Ari changed compared to the first few times I spent time with her. Sophia likes to overdo it, but I have a thing for playful girls, so… Current Ari’s definitely an amazing girl.”

“Yes, you’re right. She is great. Okay, bad influence might’ve been the wrong word. Still, I don’t want Sophia to get all the glory! I want to be the one to have such an influence on my Ari!”

“Then get together with her already!” Maya also got loud. “If you’re her girlfriend, she’ll naturally take pick up on all kinds of quirks you have. Well, I bet she already a lot from you. Sophia, another easygoing tiger, just enhanced those quirks even more. Start dating her, and you’ll be the main reason she’ll be doing stupid things in the future.”

“S-Stop making it sounds so easy!”

“It is, though!”

As the topic around the jaguar had somehow started off somewhat heated, primarily thanks to the tiger being beyond dense and the cat being frustrated about this very issue, the two first took a short break before picking up the topic again.