NOVEL NEXT Chapter 242 – Boat time
Steph and Maya found the perfect boat for the group while the tigers and Ari were in the capital to introduce the mayor of Agola to the king. The seller of the boat didn't want to sell it to them at first because a bunch of greenhorns wouldn't be able to operate it, but once the tigers saw it and wanted to get it as well, the seller was unable to refuse the striped girls, and the group got a new boat to play with.
"Well, this sure wasn't how I expected to spend my afternoon." Sophia and the others relaxed on the upper deck of their new boat while floating near the shore on the ocean. After they had bought the boat, the seller gave them a detailed instruction on how to use it, only for the blonde to completely ignore everything and simply use air magic to get them out on the water and away from the city. "Not that I'm complaining, though." She then leaned back on the comfy integrated sofa-like bench there.
"True!" Steph nodded a few times. "Wait, are we done with the city already? What about the mayor?"
"I briefly explained my portals to him, and then we dropped him off in the capital to let Menzor handle the rest. I also gave him one of the portal stones linked to the capital and showed him how to use it once they're ready. If I'm concerned, we're done." The blonde looked at her.
"The mayor also told me more about Nathan's route, so I didn't have any more questions, either." Anna felt the same as her fellow tiger.
"I have more questions than before, but I need to find Nina to get answers, so we're good on that, too." Ari reacted with a slight shrug.
"Great!" Steph clapped her hands. "So, what's the plan? Do we keep sailing near the shore until we find something?"
"That would work the best to find Nathan." The princess liked the plan. "According to the mayor, he and his group are also traveling alongside the coast."
"Sounds good to me." Sophia had nothing against the suggestion. "There's also something quite important about Nathan's group that the mayor told us, which is going to make things a lot easier for us."
"Seriously?!" Anna raised her voice. "Was there anything special Noah mentioned besides their route?"
"Absolutely! Something that will make finding them incredibly easy~." The blonde gave her a thumbs-up. "He said that the cat and the puma and their group have noticeably more magic than the average beastfolk. Still a lot less than you and Ari, but if I filter out every regular amount of magic with my detection magic, not much will be left, and I can easily search for them!"
"No way?!" The tall tiger hadn't even realized that bit when she was listening to the mayor.
"Yup~." Sophia smiled at her. "I want to play some more with our new boat today, but if I get to it tomorrow, and the group is near the shore like the mayor said, we'll find them before the sun sets tomorrow."
"Seriously!?" The princess got even louder.
"Well, okay, I'm not going to guarantee it because we all love to get sidetracked, but if we stick close to the shore, the same they hopefully did, I could potentially cover a few thousand kilometers in a day by using my portals and using my detection magic every hundred or so kilometers.
"That would be so amazing!" Anna's eyes were sparkling.
"By the way, do you mind if I turn Nathan into an errand boy for me?" Sophia looked at the princess with a mischievous smile.
"Absolutely not." She shook her head. "In fact, I welcome it, so please do!"
"Nathan also was Anna's errand boy back when he was still in the capital." Ari glanced at the other girls.
"I couldn't have guessed." Maya let out a small chuckle.
"What do you want him to do?" Even though she had already given her permission, the tall tiger was still curious about the reason.
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"I want to get to the demon continent as soon as possible once we've found your brother. The only place I still really want to visit is Maya's hometown. After exploring the demon place, I'm sure we'll come back every now and then to go on adventures here, but I'm itching to see something fully new!" Sophia clapped her hands in anticipation. "I also still want to have more portals placed all over the place to make life easier for the beastfolk, though."
"You want to push that to Nathan, huh?" Anna took a wild guess. "He's walking around and visiting all the bigger cities, anyway, so he might as well do that, too."
"Exactly~." The blonde nodded a few times.
"That definitely makes sense." The princess could follow her reasoning. "I also would love to get to the demon continent, though I also would be okay with seeing more of my kingdom. However, would Nathan even be able to distribute the portals? You're the only one who can create them, right?"
"I'd need to change up things a little and add some extra steps, but if I give him a bunch of the portal stones, it should work out." She scratched her cheek. "Though, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to use something other than stones for it. To make it look more professional or whatever."
"Oh, I see! Right, you also gave us our own personal portals we can use that aren't enchanted stones."
"Like my hairpin!" Chloe pointed at the cherry blossom pin in her hair. "That's where I put the personal one. Together with the one inside my tail to transport magic, that is."
"Something like that, yes." Sophia nodded. "Maybe something like a key to unlock the portal to the capital, so it makes some resemblance of sense, I guess. Best would probably be going over it together with your brother."
"Well, Nathan loves this country, so once he hears your plan, he'll agree with whatever you make him do, so go wild!"
"You love to hear it~."
"Hehe."
As there was nothing left to discuss regarding the topic for the time being, the girls decided to take a closer look at their new boat.
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"I know I didn't, but did anyone else pay attention to how to operate this when the seller explained everything?" Sophia walked around on the deck and looked up at the empty mast before glancing at the wrapped-up sail attached to the lower beam. "Using wind magic probably is much easier and more efficient, but I bet it would look cool, and looking cool is just as important."
"I was too busy looking around when he was explaining things."
"Same!" Anna and Chloe just shook their heads.
"I did pay attention, but I can't say I understood much, if at all." Maya shrugged.
"I'm pretty sure I can manage to deploy the sail!" Steph puffed out her chest.
"I probably need some help, but I think I could do it, too." Though not sounding that confident, Ari also nodded a few times.
"Let's go!" Steph grabbed the jaguar's hand, and the two tried to free the massive sail from its wrapping. Once everything was ready, Steph began pulling on the long rope that went up the mast to hoist the sail. It was pure white and about half as wide as the boat was long at the base, and roughly 20 meters high in total. After it was entirely up, the dog-girl tied the rope to the mast, so the sail stayed up. "There's a second, smaller sail at the front of the boat, but it gets in the way of the sitting area and is more used for speed, so we really don't need to use it if we have magic to go forward. Same with pitching the sail in the correct direction to catch wind if it's mostly for decoration."
"Looks like my sister has the talent to become a sailor, huh?" Sophia seemed quite proud of her.
"You can never have enough sub-classes!" The dog-girl gave her a thumbs-up.
"Very true." The older sister agreed with her. "Okay, time to take a better look at the cabin again!" The blonde energetically raised her arm before descending the short stairs to the inside of the boat.
"I absolutely adore this kitchen!" The others also followed her, and Maya immediately became infatuated with the U-shaped kitchen inside again.
"Yes!" Ari, right next to her, felt the exact same. "I'm really looking forward to cooking here, and I'm super curious how that's going to work out when we're on the ocean and everything is shuffling around for the movement and the waves."
"True, I hadn't even thought about that!" Maya just now noticed that everything was a little wobbly. "I mean, it has to work somehow, right? Else, there wouldn't be such a fancy kitchen in here."
"Yeah."
"I love the sitting area~." Saying so, Sophia threw herself on the comfy-looking sofa that was integrated into the side of the ship. "It's going to be so nice relaxing here while watching the ocean and eating some snacks!"
"I can't wait, either." Anna sat down on a free spot next to the blonde and looked out of the window at the ocean. "I also like the slight swinging. It's super relaxing."
"Absolutely!" Steph felt the same, too. "Also, I never had sex on a boat before, so I'm looking forward to finding out if the swinging makes it better or worse!" She gave Chloe, who was next to her, a little nudge while saying so.
"My bet is on a yes for making it better." Maya nodded a few times. "I suppose intensive testing is required to make sure, though."
"Exactly!" Steph approved of her scientific approach.
Afterward, the girls explored and lounged around for a good while longer to get to know their new boat while chatting about their next steps to find Nathan and his group.