LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 88 – Staying in the castle
Sophia, together with Maya, decided to turn down the king's offer about joining the royal family in some way or another. Before that, she wanted to stay in the castle for a while, though, so she decided to wait before telling him. They wanted to get something out of the situation, after all.
During the next day, after Sophia finally woke up and changed into her white dress once more, Maya might or might not had thrown her out of the bed to achieve this, the group had a late breakfast together in the inn. Once that was taken care of, they explored the capital a little more before heading over to the royal castle again.
"Welcome back, Lady Sophia and Lady Maya." Arriving there, the maids greeted them. "We've awaited your arrival."
"L-Lady...?" Fen looked at the tiger-girl while trying to stifle his laugh.
"S-Shut it!"
"Might we ask for the names of your two new companions?"
"Of course, the one with the big mouth is called Fen, and the one with the silky-smooth fur is Aura, or Aurora." She thought it would be for the best not to mention Fen's full name.
"Madam Aurora and Sir Fen, alright."
"Pfft... S-Sir!" Sophia wasn't able to stifle her laugh when she looked at the wolf. "Okay, I'm sorry, it is funny."
"You little..."
"His Majesty, King Menzor, is ready to meet you. We shall guide you."
Navigating through a castle for a while, the group eventually arrived at the same huge wooden doors Maya and Sophia were the day before already.
"Sophia, Maya, welcome back." This time, the king greeted them himself. "It's great to have you back here. Oh, are these two full wolves the companions you mentioned, Sophia?"
"Yeah, the nice-looking one is Aurora, and that other one is Fen, my magic teacher, among other things." Aura seemed to be enjoying a much nicer treatment from her.
"I see. It's nice to meet you."
"No, the honor is all on our side."
"Fen, is it?" Menzor looked at the wolf and turned silent.
"..." He looked back at the king.
"..." They stared at each other for a while.
"Yes?" Fen finally tilted his head, trying to find out what he wanted.
"Somehow, I have the feeling I know you from somewhere..." Menzor was slightly suspicious about something.
"T-That must be your imagination!" Sophia really didn't want the king to learn about Fen's alleged real identity and intervened before it was too late.
"You might be right..." Thankfully, he didn't press the issue. "So, you're the one who taught Sophia her magic?"
"I only taught her the basics and things like how to hunt. The crazy stuff is all her own doing. She's a very creative one, on top of being a fast learner. It felt like only a couple of days went by until she could use intermediate magic of every category there is." That was precisely what indeed happened, but it sounded too unbelievable.
"T-That's incredible... Wait, does that mean you, too, can use every type of magic, Fen?"
"Naturally. Just like every other being that's capable of using magic at all."
"That's not how it works, though? You normally can use only one element. If your magic powers are on the high side, you might be able to use two. Like our daughter Anna, for example."
"She had high powers...?" Maya wasn't planning to go easy on her anytime soon.
"Power has next to nothing to do with what kind of magic you can use. In the first place, magic is magic. Such things as hard types or groups don't even exist."
"What do you mean?" The king couldn't follow the wolf.
"People are simply lazy and or stupid. Their thought process is like; 'oh, fire is cool and easy to imagine~', and that's it. They don't even try to learn anything else. Especially if the self-proclaimed wise, or idiots, keep teaching their own stupidity to others because they, too, learned it like that from their teachers. Those who learned magic that way then think it makes no sense to even try. Some, like that daughter of yours, might be interested in more things or didn't bother to listen when they get taught, and once they put in a little bit of effort, o wonder, it suddenly works." Fen was being tired of them misunderstanding how magic works. "The part where magic power is of importance is the scale or flashiness and the way of activating magic. You know, the more power, the bigger the bang."
"T-That can't be!"
"It's true." The cat-girl agreed with Fen's claim. "Since my childhood, I could only use fire and wind, and I was really proud of being able to use two elements. After meeting these two, though... Well, I'm currently about to learn the fifth element, or category, as he likes to call it."
"Impossible!" It was too much for the king.
"This continent really is lagging behind, huh?" Aura had her opinion, as well. "On the demon continent, this much is common sense. There was not one guy who limited themselves to one element. I mean, why would they? Sure, everyone has their favorite and things they aren't too good with, but no one goes out of their way to limit the magic in any way."
"So, it was true. Sophia actually knows someone who was on the demon continent..." This meeting wasn't good for his heart.
"Yeah, it was an accident. Teleportation magic is a fickle thing."
"T-Tele...?!"
"I can't recommend it, though. Very complicated and unforgiving magic."
"Y-Yeah... no... even if I were to gather every court magician, I don't think even in their combined effort, they would even dream of such a thing." Menzor's sanity points were quickly dropping. "Back to the claim about the magic types, please. Is it true? This would change absolutely everything."
"Yes, as long you can use magic at all, it's absolutely possible with a bit of training."
"T-Then, what do I have to give you in order to train our magicians?" The king wanted them to improve.
"Hmm... Aura, can you detect a person capable of using magic with at least around a tenth of Maya's magic power in the capital at the moment?"
"None." Aura quickly shook her head.
"Then, it's impossible." Fen turned down his request. "There's no one powerful enough to use chantless magic around at the moment."
"H-How do you know that?!"
"The three of us can detect the magic power levels of the individuals around us. Those two girls even in a radius of over 50 kilometers."
"Urgh..." He had to hold his head in response.
"That's why I can't do it. I first would have to learn how to use chants or at least activation words to teach them. There's just no way I could be bothered for any reward possible."
"Not really interested in teaching at the moment." Aura only nodded.
"I would rather die before using those embarrassing chants." Sophia had the strongest aversion. "Oh, but Maya could teach the strongest ones because she used to work with activation words."
"I-I'm not sure if I'm confident about teaching someone, though."
"You should try your ability with someone interested in magic." Fen tried to encourage her. "Someone who already can use two categories would be perfect for this matter. That means they're open to the idea of using more and better magic."
"Someone with an interest in magic and being able to use two types already?" King Menzor tilted his head. "A-Ah! Maya, would you please teach my daughter Anna?!"
"Ehhh…?" Her expression made it clear that she really didn't want to.
"I beg you, please." He lowered his head.
"T-That…"
"Please do it, Maya." Sophia tried to convince her, as well.
"B-But Princess Anna and me…? That's impossible."
"Is it really?" The blonde smiled at her. "You can boss her around and be as harsh as you want when teaching her."
"Y-You know me so well." The cat-girl was touched. "A-Alright, I promise nothing, but I'll give it a try."
"As a father, I should be concerned. But, as the king who wants to improve his country, thank you very much!"
"I'm so going to regret this." She already had her doubts about the plan.
"I'll inform her once she's back from school."
"I'm going to enjoy watching this~." The tiger-girl's real intention accidentally leaked out. Her personality can be pretty similar to Maya's in some aspects.
"Now that I've met your entire group, Sophia, my offer about having you stay in the castle still stands."
"Great, I was looking forward to that."
"How about we take a break, and I'II have the maids guide you to the rooms we had prepared for all of you?" The king needed a breather.
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Doing as suggested, the group followed the maids through the many corridors of the castle. Parting with the wolves at some point, the couple eventually arrived and entered their room.
"Wow..." Sophia was looking at the interior with sparkling eyes. The room was enormous and fully equipped. Two huge, red, and comfortable-looking sofas, a big table, a small bar, a door leading to a luxurious bath, and most importantly, a spacious canopy-style bed.
"Okay, that's better than the inn." Maya, too, was impressed.
"The king's really trying his best to win me, or us over, huh?" In her eyes, he was obviously trying to bribe them.
"Well, I'm not going to complain. This most likely also is the standard for rooms in the royal castle?" The cat-girl's eyes were fixed on the comfy and soft-looking bed.
"Want to take a nap?" Sophia noticed her gaze.
"Not at all." She apparently had other plans.
"Ehh?"
"Hehe~." Her expression changed. Then, Maya turned around to face Sophia and placed her hands on the other's shoulders. Immediately after, she guided her a couple of steps before pushing the tiger-girl down on the bed. There, the cat-girl swiftly climbed on top of her and brought her face close.
"Ah, I see~." Sophia was up for it. Wrapping her arms around Maya's neck, she pulled her even closer and gave her a quick kiss on the mouth.
"Someone's thirsty~." They both obviously were, and she eagerly returned the kiss.
Exchanging kiss after kiss, the two rolled around on the bed, trying to top the other. Sophia placed a couple of pecks on the cat-girl's mouth before going for her neck, accidentally being too vigorous and leaving behind more than just traces of lightly glistening saliva.
Maya then turned the tables around and sought revenge. The sweet type. She, too, focused on the tiger-girl's lips for a while before going for the neck, as well. She didn't stop there, though. Maya decided to take full advantage of the slight neckline of Sophia's dress. After showering the girl's nape in kisses, she slowly moved towards her collarbone. From there, Maya made her way towards Sophia's subtle cleavage the dress provided, leaving behind a trail of faint red marks.
Not wanting to be outdone, Sophia went back to the cat-girl's nape and neck, trying to draw a nice pattern there with her kisses alone. Today, they were engaging in a different kind of marking. A more visual one, that is. Almost as if unconsciously wanting to show off who they belong to.
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The two were enjoying their alone time, quite loudly at that, but they were eventually interrupted by a soft yet determined knocking on the door of their room.
"..." There was a short pause after the knock. "... Lady Sophia, Lady Maya, Princess Anna has returned home a little while ago. After being informed about the arrangement his Majesty made in regards to being taught magic, they want to see you." One of the maids explained the reason for the interruption.
"A-Ah..." This was the only sound that could be heard before the room went silent. Nothing happened for around five minutes before the maids heard the rustling of clothes, and two girls with crimson faces finally opened the door with very complicated expressions.
"Please let me guide you." As expected from maids serving in the royal capital, they were professionals and made no remark. The group walked in complete silence towards the king and the princess.
"Ah, Soph-!" Anna's face lit up when she saw her, but it only lasted for a second once she took a better look. The tiger-girl's neck, collarbone, and the visible part of her cleavage were full of small marks, which origins were clear to everyone present. To make matters worse for her, the princess then looked at Maya and saw as many and equally vigorous marks on her.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..." The silence went on for a long while.
"Weeell... About the training we talked about..." King Menzor couldn't read the mood and made things even more awkward. Having his daughter taught advanced magic wasn't off to a good start.