Chapter 018 – Domain base changes
The morning after their partner-swapped sleepover started on a somewhat hectic note, as all six girls weren't exactly known for being calm and composed. All the suggestiveness and innuendos didn’t really make it any easier, either.
"Seriously, what did Ari do?!" While having breakfast together, Anna was getting loud again while staring at Maya the entire time.
“Do you really want to know?” She smirked back at her.
“YES!”
“Really~?” The cat-girl’s expression turned even more mischievous.
“Uhh…” The tall tiger backed off a little. “I-I don’t like the way you’re looking at me!”
“Also, earlier, you openly admitted having enjoyed Steph’s tail being all over your face the last night. Are you really in any position to be upset and or jealous?”
“Ah.” Anna went silent rather quickly.
“Don’t worry, Ari didn't do anything that would be above you munching on Steph’s fur~.”
“C-Could you word it any worse?!” The princess started to blush.
“I’m sure I could.” The cat-girl was up for the challenge. "Do you want me to try?"
"No!"
“It’s alright,” Steph then also smiled at the tall tiger. “There is no fur you could munch on in the area Maya's trying to make an innuendo here."
“You’re not helping!” Anna glared at her.
“I wasn’t trying to~.” The dog-girl gave her a thumbs up. “I just wanted to clarify the fur situation on my body.”
“No one asked!” She got even louder. “Also, we know because of all the time we spent in the hot springs together!”
“And where were you looking when we did that?” Ari joined the conversation.
“Ah.”
“Oh, that’s true!” Steph tilted her head. “I guess that clarification was unnecessary, then.”
“It was!” More than one girl retorted. For more than one reason, too.
"Anyway," Maya's smile turned somewhat gentle when she faced the orange tiger again. “I was mostly teasing you. Really, nothing much happened with Ari. Her tail is quite active when she sleeps, and it’s surprisingly fluffy, but that’s about it.”
“Every duo got some tail action, huh?” Steph gave another unasked-for summarization.
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Once the girls finished their peaceful breakfast, they decided to leave the cottage as Sophia eventually noticed that the wolves had been outside for a while.
“What are you two up- Ah.” Sophia addressed Fen and Aura, who were just outside the cottage but quickly turned silent when she glanced in the same direction they were looking.
“Ah.” Ari and Maya had the same reaction. For a very special reason, too.
“WOW!” The eyes of Steph and Chloe immediately started sparkling when they saw the massively overgrown rainforest, with an uncountable number of trees that made one's neck hurt trying to look at their crowns, that stopped just around a hundred meters short of the cottage.
“Someone really did a thorough job on empowering the jungle I gifted Sophia." After a little while, Mira and Fey appeared behind the group and exited the cottage while looking at the creation. "Well, it’s closer to a general rainforest, I guess? With all the high-grown trees.”
“And here I thought you two were the reasonable ones.” The full fox glanced at Ari and Maya before shaking her head. “I guess I was wrong.”
“…” The duo had nothing to say in their defense.
"It actually supersedes my expectations of how it would turn out to be." The many-tailed fox tilted her head. “I assume the traces of Canir’s magic inside of you, from the times Sophia boosted your own powers, had a greater effect than I had anticipated. It's most interesting!”
“Most concerning, you mean.” Fey corrected her.
“I do not.” The overseer reacted with a cheeky smile.
“Uhh, is the cottage going to be okay?” Sophia looked at Mira while pointing at the nature in front of them. “If it got that far overnight, this place will be swallowed soon, too, right? I can see and feel more magic than ever radiating from it, so the forest will definitely grow even more!”
“How much do you like the cottage?” The teal fox awkwardly scratched her cheek.
“I love it!”
“The room you can’t sleep in sucks, though.” Anna felt the need to add her own evaluation.
“That aside, yeah.” The blonde agreed with her fellow tiger. “Other than that, it’s most amazing!”
“You might add some precautions, then.”
“I knew it!” She raised her voice. “You totally overdid it!” Sophia then glared at Maya and Ari. “I’ll go and create a whole mountain range right in front of the capital if your forest destroys my cozy cottage! I don’t care about your three times payback! I’ll get 20 times as crazy in return!”
“She really loves that house, huh?” Chloe nudged Steph’s side while saying so. “Well, it is a great place, so I can understand it.”
“Except for that stupid room, I do agree.” The dog-girl felt the same as Anna.
“Is there anything we can do about it?”
“Yeah, I don’t want to have to explain to the king why the view out of his capital has changed!” Maya and Ari faced Mira with troubled expressions.
“Sophia’s the only one who can do anything at this point.” She lightly shook her head.
“What can I do?” The blonde also looked at her. “And how?”
“It’s rather complicated, and I'm unsure if you're ready for such advanced magic yet.”
“I have to try!” She took the overseer’s challenge.
“Sure thing, my dear~.” Mira smiled at her. “Alright, close your eyes and imagine the perimeter around the cottage that should be exempt from magic-accelerated growth and generally be a neutral zone.”
“Okay!” Doing just that, the tiger closed her eyes and seemingly concentrated for a few moments. “What now?”
“That’s about it.”
“Ehh…?” Sophia looked confused. “What about complicated or advanced?”
“That was a good one, wasn’t it?” She just chuckled in response.
“Fair enough.” The blonde wasn’t upset in the slightest. “Alrighty, with this having been taken care of surprisingly easily, how about we return to the normal
world and continue with our travels?”“YES!” Steph seemed to be a big fan of the suggestion. “Let’s go!”
“Time to- WAIT!” It seemed like Sophia suddenly remembered something.
“No, it’s not time to wait!” The dog-girl raised her voice. “It’s time to go!”
“In five minutes, okay?” She smiled at her little sister before focusing on Mira. “You said that it’s best to empty our magic into my domain before leaving so that the saturation of it in here increases, right?"
“I didn’t say you should, but that it would help the development of your domain.” The overseer slightly corrected her.
“Same difference!” She didn’t accept the correction. “Alright, girls, it's time to pay the fee for staying in my place! Dish out some spare magic!”
“It’s a good thing I’m not staying here.” Fey sounded a little smug. “Mira and I spent the night in her domain, after all.”
“You’re still here right now!”
“…”
“It’s a good thing I’m not a girl.” Fen also decided to talk back.
"Don't worry, you're our honorary girl." She didn’t let his excuse count, either.
“That’s not a title I want!” He wasn’t happy about his honorary position.
"Tough luck!"
“What is this about?” Chloe interrupted the bickering duo and addressed the blonde.
“Ah, right, you all weren’t there when Mira explained to basics about domains to me. Basically, right now, I have to do everything I can to increase the concentration of raw magic in here before I can do the really fun stuff. Like weather and climate, or even be able to make a replica of the sky, just like Mira has in her domain!”
“Ohh!” The pink fox liked the sound of that. "Like the magic forest that sponges up and increases the magic?"
“Exactly.” She nodded. "Releasing our own authority in the form of raw magic also would be a tremendous help to get an ever-growing baseline the plants could feed on in the beginning until a self-sustaining ecosystem forms… Or something like that!” Sophia still wasn’t entirely sure about the details.
“Close enough.” Mira nodded a few times. “The… raw magic you release inside Sophia’s domain will stay here for good when you recover to your usual power outside in the regular world.”
“I see!” Chloe kept nodding. “I’ll just pretend I understood how all this works, okay?”
“Story of my life!” The blonde saw no fault in her words. “Anyway, with that being explained, it’s time to pay!”
“Isn’t that a bit selfish?” Ari wasn’t sure how to feel about it.
“Of course!” Sophia gave her a thumbs up. “I am selfish, after all! That aside, think about just how much fun we can have in here once the magic levels are adequate! Optimal temperature and weather whenever we want, hot springs under a starry sky only limited by our imagination are but a few things we’d be able to play with!”
“…” The jaguar paused for a moment. “Well, it does sound not not fun…” She wasn’t able to fully admit it. “Especially when the regular world stays unaffected.”
“Perfect!”
Afterward, everyone except Mira and Fey decided to pay the Sophia Tax to increase the magic inside her domain. The blonde went all out and left basically all of her magic while the others donated roughly half of theirs before the group finally returned to the regular world to continue their travels.