The girls had finished their bath, but instead of making Sophia more confident by raising her limits, it backfired on Maya. The cat-girl ended up being the most embarrassed one because she accidentally presented herself fully in the nude to the other girl and gave her a nice close-up view of her body.

While relaxing at their campsite afterward, the group was chatting about their plans for the following days.

"How far is the sea again?" Sophia was leaning against Fen as usual when she looked at the cat-girl sitting next to her.

"Hmm... We already made way more progress than I thought we would. If we get up early tomorrow and continue like that for the rest of the way, we might be able to reach it in under a week."

"So, we need a week at the very least, huh?" The chance of her getting up early was near zero.

"Ahaha... Yeah, we can take it easy." Maya was in absolutely no rush, either. If anything, it actually helped with her master plan. After she said this while trying to get more comfortable, she began to shift around her body to find a better position and kept glancing at Sophia for some reason.

"Is something the matter?" She tilted her head, not understanding the cat-girl's behavior.

"N-Not at all!" Feeling caught in the act, her entire body, including her tail, twitched in response. Even so, she kept glancing at the girl regardless.

"Seriously, what's going on- Ah." Sophia followed her line of sight and ended up in her lap. "Is... Is that what you want...?" With a light blush on her cheeks, she patted her lap.

"Y-Yeah." Maya slightly nodded while her tail made a couple of nervous movements. Her immunity against Sophia's charm had worn off during their bath.

"Geez~. Well, it can't be helped." Trying not to grin at how cute the cat-girl was in her eyes right now, she repositioned her legs a bit. Her boosts seemed to be working very well at the moment, and she unconsciously decided to take advantage of them.

"T-Thanks..." Still red in her face, she placed her head onto the girl's lap while facing the fire in front of them. Trying to find the perfect spot, she wiggled around for a good while, causing her hair and cat-ear to brush against Sophia's thighs multiple times.

"S-Stop that!" Feeling ticklish, she placed her hand on Maya's head to keep her from moving around.

"Fine..." She was disappointed that she couldn't finish her marking, but Sophia's hand on her head was nice on its own, so she settled for that.

"Good girl." Sophia ruffled through her hair. "Is it just me... or have our roles changed a bit? Turned, even." She was confused about how she, of all people, seemed the more emotionally stable person right now.

"F-Funny, I was just thinking the same."

"Did something happen? A-Ah, did I do something again without realizing, for you to be so out of it?!"

"Kind of... somehow yes, but also no..." Maya had become like that because of Sophia, but the girl wasn't actively trying to make her life more complicated for a change.

"Ehh? What am I supposed to do with that answer?"

"Don't worry about it... It may be your fault, but you did nothing wrong."

"Okay the- wait, what?! Huh? I-If it's my fault, please tell me, or else I can't fix it!" She only got more confused.

"You don't have to fix anyth- Actually, I don't want you to fix it, so I'm not telling you." The problem was that Maya was falling hard for her, or already did so. Fixing that wouldn't make her happy at all. "A-Anyway, your hand..."

"What about my hand?" Thankfully, Sophia's attention was really easy to divert most of the time. "Ah..." She noticed that she had stopped petting the cat-girl. "Haa~, what am I going to do with you? So spoiled." Heaving a sigh, the girl ruffled Maya's hair again. "Well, not that I mind, not at all."

"Mhmm~." With a cheerful, purr-like sound, she further rubbed her head against the girl's hand. While she did so, one of her ears was brushing against Sophia's thighs again.

"I-I told you to stop that!" She pushed her head down again, stopping the cat-girl from moving. "W-While I don't, uhh, dislike the feeling... as it turns out, m-my legs are kinda, no, super ticklish..." Sophia never knew about that until Maya first used them as a lap pillow the other day because that was the first time someone came in contact with her legs in such a way.

"Hoo?" The cat-girl got her hands on some very valuable information.

"A-Ah!" She immediately regretted her slip-up.

"I'll put that to good use eventually." Not wanting to ruin the mood, Maya decided not to try it out immediately.

"Uuh... I need to learn to shut up."

"No, feel free to tell me more about you." She wanted to know everything about her, after all.

"I have the feeling that would end badly for me..." Sophia had become wary of her. To end the topic, she entirely focussed on the cat-girl's head, picking up the pace and intensity of her petting. She kept her hands away from her ears this time, though, because she still had a slightly guilty feeling from the last time.

"Mhhmm~." Even so, from the sound of her delighted humming, Maya was enjoying it, not to mention how her tail was twitching from time to time whenever Sophia apparently hit a good spot.

The two spend their evening like that until Maya had become so relaxed from having her head pet that she eventually fell asleep. Sophia watched the peaceful cat-girl for a while before deciding to end the day as well, and she snuggled against Fen behind her, who had dozed off a while ago already.

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The following days were basically a repeat of the same routine. The group kept advancing towards the sea all day, and the two girls were in their own little world during the evening. Sophia had gotten quite used to Maya's advances, as much as it was possible for her, at least, and the cat-girl managed to regain her posture to some degree. After around a week and a half, things finally began to change, though.

"Hmm? Oh, I think I can smell the sea!" Sophia was sniffing the air as she said so.

"Yes, you're right." Fen had noticed the smell as well.

"Really?" Maya didn't. "Then again, while my nose is decent, it's more useful for nearby smells. I take more pride in my eyes. That being said, the sea should be half a day away at most, so you might be right about the smell. We should be able to see it once we pass that forest over there." She pointed to her right, where trees filled their vision.

"Ohh? I can sense some monsters in there." Sophia focussed her attention on her forest. "Not terribly strong, but no small fries, either."

"The place's filled with all sorts of baers." Fen was able to give some more details.

"Baers? what's that?"

"You don't know them, Sophia?" Maya tilled her head. "They're big, carnivorous mammals."

"Hmm?" She looked at Fen in response because he fits that description as well.

"Let her finish, girl."

"Most of them are either brown or black, but some of them, primarily in cold regions, can be white as well. They have large bodies, while normal baers are between two and three meters tall, really powerful ones can get much bigger. They have stocky legs, long snouts, small round ears, shaggy hair, and seriously huge paws."

"I see..." Sophia went silent while mentally forming an image. "Oh, they're bears! Come on, simply swapping two letters is way too lazy!"

"What is she talking about?" Maya looked confused as she glanced at Fen.

"Don't mind her. She does that from time to time." The wolf was used to it already.

"Okay?"

"Do they put up a decent fight?." Sophia had become interested in the monsters.

"They're tasty." His answer was slightly beside the point.

"Err..."

"The strong ones should be above the rock golems from back then. At least in raw power. The baers have more weak points, though, as they, well, burn, for example."

"Oh, they should be good for some experiments then. What about you, Maya? Want to fight some?"

"Yes, please!" One of the main reasons for the cat-girl to come here was to fight strong monsters. "I want to have some fun as well!"

"Alright then! Let's get going! For experiments!"

"For fun!"

"For lunch!" While the three's motivations couldn't be more different, they were all looking forward to it when Sophia led them into the forest.

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"You really eat those, Fen...?" Sophia was pointing at a particularity healthy and ferocious-looking black-baer, being way past four-meter tall.

"Of course! While I admit it's a bit chewy, it has a nice and strong taste. I like that."

"Yeah, I pass on that." While she didn't dislike meat, the girl wasn't fond enough of it to even eat strong-tasting baer meat.

"I... might want to try a bite." Maya likes vegetables, but she was a little intrigued by it because, after all, a part of her is of feline origins.

"At least someone gets it!" Fen was happy about having found a comrade.

"Please don't bond over something like that..." Sophia lacked the enthusiasm of the two.

"Can I give it a go?" Slightly excited, the cat-girl was looking at the colossal baer, itching for a fight.

"Sure, be our guest."

"Great! Let's see..." With a great smile, Maya walked towards the monster.

"Grrraarrr!" The baer greeted her with a very low-sounding growl to warn her.

"Oho, feeling confident, are we? Too bad for you, I've been practicing. Not to mention I really need this!" She had accumulated a lot of stress lately. While she said so, compressed air, somewhat resembling a thin saw-blade, formed in front of the cat-girl before it launched towards the monster. Compared to the first tries in the dungeon a while back, she had completely refined her chantless air magic.

"G-GraAAhhHH!" Somewhat pained sounding, the baer released another cry after his chest started to bleed from a big wound that appeared in an instant. Identifying Maya as the culprit, it began to dash towards her.

"A-Ah-" Not expecting it to survive the attack, the cat-girl was surprised for a moment. Still, she has excellent reflexes and effortlessly managed to dodge the huge beast. Rolling to the side, she instantly turned around and shot two more air blades. They cut deep into the baer's right arm and leg, rendering it immobile.

"Grrhhh." Still growling, the blood-covered monster was approaching its end.

"Now, for the finale~." Maya walked closer to the baer and finished it with a blade directed at the monster's neck.

"Not bad." The wolf was impressed by her improvements.

"Ehehe~, that was fun! Where's the next one?!" She was far from being done.

"Calm down, muscle brain..." Sophia approached her. "Good job at, well, keeping your clothes clean, but, uh..." She pointed at her face that was sprinkled with the blood of the baer. "You might want to clean that."

"Oh, thanks! Maybe I should change my approach. I don't want to ruin another outfit with bloodstains, huh?" She remembered Sophia's griphon incident.

"That would be wise. Buying new clothes around here might be difficult." She had no plans to stop the cat-girl from having fun but warned her about the possible issues.

"Yeah, blood on white doesn't wash out no matter what one tries..." She sounded like she had some experience with that, from more than one incident. "Too bad I like white too much to ditch it for something more convenient."

"Yeah, it looks good on you. It perfectly matches your snow-white hair." Sophia smiled at her while saying so.

"T-Thank you..." Not having expected a compliment out of nowhere, Maya got slightly flustered and didn't know how to react. "A-Anyway... I guess I'll try fire magic then... S-So, where's the next baer? If possible, a stronger one..."

Primarily for fun, the muscle brain of a cat-girl continued to leave a severe impact on the baer population of the forest they were in. Fighting off the slight embarrassment from Sophia's sudden attack was a small part of her eagerness as well, though.