The group was still chatting about all kinds of things, and the topic was slowly shifting towards the travels of Sophia and her group. After hearing that the blonde had invited Chloe to join them, Anna and Ari also announced their interest in doing something similar. As they, mainly the princess, didn't have enough magic to keep up with them, Sophia tried to come up with an alternative plan.

With the help of the fox-girl, the duo got quite excited about experimenting with their portals and using the same magic to enchant things to use them as a makeshift gate. The two got so engrossed with it that they ended up in their own little creative world where none of the other girls could understand, let alone follow a word they were saying.

“We definitely have to test this out as soon as possible!”

“We absolutely do!” Sophia and Chloe were still excited about their idea of enchanting items to add a portal functionality to them and had just finished their brainstorming about it.

“Just under supervision, though.” Ari had a bad feeling about this. “It sounds like a catastrophe waiting to happen for some reason. Probably because I have no idea what you were talking about. Judging by my previous experiences with Sophia, that’s never a good thing.”

“Thank you so much…” Maya looked incredibly happy that the jaguar was on her side.

“Absolutely!” Chloe nodded a couple of times.

“Yup, no problem whatsoever.” So did the blonde.

“Wow, that was surprisingly easy…” Ari hadn’t expected this.

“Thanks for volunteering, by the way.” Sophia then started smiling at her.

“Yep!” So was the fox-girl. “We need a third person to test it, after all.”

“E-Eh…?”

“I’m the one who’s going to enchant the items, so I need someone else to actually test it.” The blonde tried to explain it to her. “Chloe’s on one side, so we need someone for the second item. Also, we’re doing that just because I want you to travel with us.”

"You're just doing that because you and your fox got excited over something that makes no sense, and no one besides you two even remotely understands it!” Ari didn’t buy it.

"A-Ah.” They paused for a moment while awkwardly scratching their cheeks. “You got us there…”

“I knew it!”

“It’s still true, though!” Sophia pouted for a second. “We got the idea because we want you and Anna to join us whenever we or you want!”

“Urgh…” There was little she could say here. "A-Anna…?” Looking at her with big eyes, she was secretly hoping she’d volunteer.

“Sure!” The princess was immediately onboard. “I don’t get it even in the slightest, but it sounds like it could be fun!” She was of the easygoing sort, as well.

“Yay!” The duo got happy again.

“Also, from the small tidbits I did hear, and how they're talking about portals connecting two places with each other, there's the chance that I end up somewhere far away from here. I’d actually have an excuse for not being in the castle!”

“I’m going to help too, after all!” Ari had changed her mind in an instant.

"Not entirely sure how I feel about the motivation, but the more, the merrier!"

“Yes!” The duo was glad to get the help.

“I’ll stick to watching the chaos unfold.” Maya had no intention of participating. "From a safe distance, that is."

“So, how far away can you accidentally send me with those portals?” Anna took a liking to the idea.

“Accidentally or on purpose…?” Sophia just looked at her with one of her eyebrows slightly raised.

“Whatever you’re going to tell father and mother is fine for me.”

“Ah, I see.”

“So?”

“Hmm… I don’t have any really far places on sale right now. At the moment, the furthest would be Chloe's village or the not suspicious lake. Both are a little over 100 kilometers away from here.”

“Suspicious lake, you mean?” Ari corrected her.

“I do NOT!”

“Suspicious.” Anna squinted her eyes while looking back at the blonde.

“I’m not bringing you there, then!”

“Chloe’s village is the elven one you mentioned a little while ago, didn’t you?” The princess didn’t seem to care much about the lake. “I want to go there much more, anyway!”

“By the way,” Chloe eventually interrupted the princess. “We’re trying to open portals with the help of enchanting items while we’re maybe in two different rooms at first… There’s next to no chance for you to end up in my village.”

"A-Ah.” She didn’t like the sound of that.

"If I learned one thing about Sophia, it's that when there's a next to no chance, it's almost guaranteed to happen." The jaguar glanced at her disaster-prone friend.

“H-Hey!” Said girl didn’t like this accusation. “Just because that is true, it doesn’t mean that you have to say it out loud.”

“Hehe.”

“Where are those portals at those places, anyway?” Ari tilted her head. “You can’t just put them wherever, can you? If someone finds it, they could wander in, couldn’t they? Worse, imagine some kind of vicious animal or monster!”

“Ehe, I actually thought of that!” The blonde looked quite smug. “The portals in the dungeon are safe because there are no monsters and no one else knows the place. The one in Chloe’s village is in my new elven treehouse~, and the ones outside are actually underground in a small room I made with earth magic. I hardened the soil around it to such a degree that no one that isn’t at least as strong as Maya could break through it.”

“Wow, I’m impressed.” The jaguar seemed honestly proud of her. “Wait, your elven treehouse…? How did that happen?”

“I won it in a drinking competition against the mayor there. I destroyed him, emptied his wallet because the loser had to pay for the alcohol, and got the treehouse on top of that~."

“Don’t do that!” Ari got loud. “Don’t challenge a mayor!”

“He challenged me, though…? I wanted to buy or rent it, but he said he had a better idea. It’s not my fault that he lost now, is it?”

“Hmm…” She wasn’t sure how to feel about her justification.

“Also, Chloe helped me!”

“The alcohol in the bar there is delicious~.” The fox-girl only smiled at them.

“That sounds like so much fun!” Anna got excited again. “So free and easygoing! Let’s go and try those portal item things right now! I don’t want to miss the next event!”

“In theory, sure…” Sophia sounded ever so slightly hesitant about it. “I first would like to sleep a night over it, though. It’s actually quite complex and might even be dangerous.”

“Yep.” Chloe nodded a few times. “Giving it some more thought first might be for the best.”

“Who are and what have you done to Sophia?!” Ari was more than just a little shocked by her reply.

“C-Come on…” The blonde sounded ever so slightly hurt. “Doing something stupid on my own is one thing, but potentially harming others is a different topic.”

"I don't like either of those, though! You getting hurt just as bad if worse!" Maya also had her own part to add.

“Sorry…” After all, she had made her cat go through a lot already.

“I guess that’s fair. It might’ve been a little too harsh.” The jaguar decided to apologize. “You do tend to act first think ne-, later, though.”

“…” Sophia had little to say here.

“Fine…” From its looks, Anna wasn't the biggest fan of the decision, but she could understand it regardless. “But no longer than tomorrow!”

“Yep!” Sophia and Chloe also were quite eager about it, after all.

“Anyway,” Maya seemed like she had enough of that topic. “From the sound of it, the two of you want to stay here until the next weekend?” She looked at the couple.

“Want might not be the right word here…” Ari let out a small sigh.

“It’s more like the longest time before we have to show our faces in the capital again…” The princess hung her head. “I have to be there on mother’s birthday…”

“Okay, circumstances aside, still roughly a week.” She decided to ignore the details for the time being. “What about you, Chloe?”

“Hmm…” The fox-girl tilted her head in response. “You know, now that you mention it… I haven't actually thought about that yet. I mean, I just came with you on a whim, after all… Do you need that guest room soon?”

“Not at all.” Maya shook her head. "You can move in there for good if you want to.”

“Oh, I like the sound of that!” Sophia started smiling. “More people means it gets livelier here~!”

“Well, I’m not sure about moving in, but staying here for a while does sound like a lot of fun! I’d need to go home and get some stuff and leave a note for Feyfey, though. Then again, with those portals, it’s basically the same as going next doors, so…” It was pretty much a non-issue.

“Stay as long as you want.” The cat-girl didn’t mind her being here. “We need to do some groceries, though. I doubt our wolves will be coming back home today as I feel like Fen doesn't want to deal with six girls at once, but we’re still five here. We'll need some fresh veggies, meat, and whatever else.”

“Nothing a quick shopping trip can't solve!”

“Sure.” Maya nodded at her overly ambitious-sounding tiger. “Anyone any suggestions for dinner while we’re at it?”

“Pizza!” Sophia and Chloe immediately raised their voices.

“After we talked about it yesterday, I really want some now!”

“Me, too!” The duo got very excited in an instant.

“Well, that certainly is delicious, and I’ve been meaning to try and bake it myself, so… If we can get the ingredients, why not?”

“Yay!” They got even happier.

“I roughly know the ingredients, but…” Sophia suddenly glanced at Ari. “I might need the help of someone who knows all the food-related stores in the capital to get one or two special ingredients. A maid from the royal castle might be the perfect guide here~."

“I mean, sure, I know all the important places…” The jaguar paused for a second. “I have no clue what this pizza dish is, though…” She wasn't sure if she would be of any help.

“That's alright. If I tell you what we need, you simply have to guide me to the place that carries it.”

“Fair point.” Ari nodded. “A dish I don’t know sounds interesting, too! Alright, let’s go shopping!”

“Great!”

“Just shopping together, no flirting!” Anna just had complain.

“We’ll try.” The two simply smiled back at her.

“H-Hey!”

“Wait, those two have a past…?” Chloe glanced at Sophia and Ari before looking at Maya.

“No, but both are naturally flirty and have absolutely no awareness of what they do and say…”

“Ahh…” She could see how that might lead to problems.

“…” The duo in question had nothing to say in their defense.

“Sophia and Anna are the ones with a past.”

“Eh?!” The fox-girl wasn't any less shocked after hearing that from the cat-girl.

And so, for the next hour, the two in question had to explain themselves to Chloe and tell her everything that happened between them. Or rather, what didn't happen because it was just the princess having had somewhat of a crush on her, and the king being slightly overambitious for a while, after all.