After Sophia had shared some of her magic with Anna to bring her to an equal level to Ari, she also finally explained what kinds of side effects that much magic has. After all, one's life expectancy directly relates to the amount of magic one has. Thanks to the significant increase, the couple will now grow much older than they were ever supposed to.

Obviously, this was a shocking revelation, and the two needed to process this information first. During the explanation, they also found out that Chloe actually met elves, another long-lived race before, which made the blonde very excited because she still really wanted to meet them.

“Chloe, details!” Sophia still was very looking forward to hearing more about the elves the fox-girl had run into before.

“Hmm…” She tilted her head in response. “I wonder what there is to tell… You already know their villages… So more about the elves themselves…?”

“YES!”

“Let’s see… Their pointy ears are pretty cute, but other than that, remarkably unremarkable, I guess?” Chloe paused for a moment. “They’re pretty tight with nature, and I got the idea of growing a tree with my magic after being with them for a while. They had some activation words that did something similar, though on a much smaller scale.”

“Their pointy ears are on the sides of their head, right? Also, human-like in one way or another, aren’t they?”

“Pretty much.”

“Hmmn…” The blonde looked a little conflicted. “I do want to see them, but I already know that I’ll prefer the fluffy type of pointy ears. The ones on yours and Maya’s head, that is.” She alternatingly looked at the two. “Fluff is justice!”

"Well, it's not like I disagree. I very much agree with you, but… This and that is something different. We have animal ears while they have, well… elven ears?”

“And I just stated what I prefer in this situation.” Sophia didn’t see a problem with her claim.

“Fair enough…”

“Well, how are their characters and stuff?”

“Surprisingly, really sociable and not high-and-mighty at all!” Chloe sounded surprised for some reason. “Well, some are, but that’s the same with every folk, I guess?”

“Really?” The blonde’s voice had the same surprised tone.

“Totally unexpected, right?!”

“Right!” She nodded a few times. “Sounds much better, though.”

“Absolutely!”

“Why are elves supposed to be high-and-mighty…?” Maya looked a little confused while she was trying to follow their conversation.

"Because they're elves!" The two raised their voices while staring right at her.

“And…?” She just tilted her head even more.

“That’s how elves are supposed to be, right?” The duo was in perfect sync.

“Are they…?” The cat-girl’s confusion grew.

“Yes!”

“I've obviously never met any elves before, but I never heard them being described like that, either… They’re close to nature, yes, but they’re said to be calm, collected, friendly, and generally very balanced with a neutral stance on most things.”

“They are exactly like that…” The fox-girl nodded a few times. “It completely shattered my images of elves…”

“Mine, too, is shattered!” The blonde agreed with her.

“Where did that weird knowledge of the two of you even come from…?”

“No idea…” They shook their heads. In Sophia’s case, she also couldn’t mention how that description of elves was relatively common in fictional works in her old world. “It’s just that elves equal that.”

“Well, it doesn't, though.”

“Yeah…” The two nodded. “It’s better this way, though, so all’s fine~.” The duo was entirely on the same page.

“You are sooo weird…” Today, Maya learned nothing new.

“Yes…” They had no other choice but to agree.

“Okay, whatever…” Sophia paused for a moment. “What else is there to know about them?”

“Hmm… They have great alcohol, I guess?”

“Do we have a drinking problem, my dear?”

“E-Eh…? Can you have a drinking problem if the actual alcohol part doesn’t work on you? I just like how sweet it is~. I don’t like the stuff that just burns or tastes bitter! Not at all!”

“Good point. The sweet stuff really is delicious~.”

“Other than that, let’s see…” Chloe tilted her head while thinking about the elves she met. “Oh, they basically don’t use chants unless the situation calls for it. All of them know how to use activation words. About half of them even have a good level of understanding of chantless magic."

“Oho!”

“They're also not limiting themselves to certain elements like it’s custom here for some reason…”

“I like them already!”

"Although, they are especially fond of nature-related stuff and aren't the biggest fans of everything around fire.”

“Well, those two are kinda incompatible in some ways… Especially if your folk loves the forest and lives in self-made houses made of wood and or built on trees." Sophia saw the connection in their preferences.

“Yes.” Chloe nodded. “Not a good combination.”

“Okay,” Sophia then clapped her hands. “They’re not exactly what I expected, but they sound better than I thought! Do you still know where you met them?"

“Feyfey definitely does!”

“Good enough!” The blonde didn't care about such details as long as someone could show her the way. "Maya, add that to the list of places I want to visit once winter is over!”

“Sure thing!” Her secretary just gave her an affirmative nod.

“I can’t wait!” Sophia showed everyone a big smile. “Once it’s spring, we’re going to have sooo much fun~.”

"…" Hearing that, the ears of the princess, who was busy whispering with Ari until now, to process their current situation, twitched a couple of times. "Sophia… before that, we'll have you take responsibility for what you've done to Ari and me."

“E-Eh?!” Her expression changed instantly. “Y-You have to deal with Maya first for that, though… Also, I’m not exactly in favor of the idea, either… Looking and being a little horny at times aside, at the end of the day, while I can't deny being slightly curious, I'm a supporter of monogamy… Not that I disapprove of other lifestyles, but…” The blonde looked a little conflicted about her suggestion. “Not to mention, you two just got together… Is that really the right time for wanting a third party…?”

"T-That's not what I meant!" Anna's face turned red.

“Really?” The other tiger tilted her head. “Sure sounded like it, though.”

“Mh-hmm.” Maya just nodded.

“YES!” She got loud again. “I’m going to make you take responsibility for giving us so much magic that it messed with our age by promising to take us with you on your travels and that you wait until we graduate in spring!” Anna’s face still was slightly red after the misunderstanding, but her voice was full of determination. “I’m not sure if our magic now is enough to be with you all the time, but you have to PROMISE us that you will perfect the portal thingy so that Ari and I can explore the world with you and the others at ANY time we want!”

“…” The blonde paused for a moment before eventually looking at Maya and Chloe. “Uhh… didn’t I do that already…?”

“I thought so, too?” The fox-girl also was somewhat confused. “I mean, I want to play with the portals and hope to enchant items with that magic because I’m EXTREMELY curious about it, but our main motivation was to take those two with us, right…?"

“No, it was just a suggestion from you after Ari and I exclaimed our interest in coming with you all… Now, I want an actual promise from you to us.” She looked right at the blonde while grabbing the jaguar’s hand.

“I see… Well, that was always my idea when I made the suggestion, but now I will promise to take you with us. Either by putting you through intense training to keep up with us or when Chloe and I manage to modify the portals. One way or another, you two will come with us.” She showed them a determined expression.

“C-Chloe, please manage to get the portals working…” Anna suddenly had a bad feeling about it.

"Of course!"

“Give me your hand on that.” Ari then suddenly showed hers to Sophia.

“Sure.” Saying so, the blonde stood up to get closer to the jaguar. “I promise to-” The moment she started shaking her hand, Ari spoke up again.

“You’re also going to explain all of this to our parents and also tell them that we’re going with you.” The jaguar added a little bit to their promise.

“H-Huh?!” Her expression changed.

“That’s a brilliant idea!” The princess was a big fan of that plan.,

“I AM NOT!” Sophia got loud. “I never promised that part!”

“You just shook my hand, though.” The jaguar just grinned at her.

“Yup, I saw that, too.” Maya nodded.

“I did, too.” Chloe did the same.

“THAT DOESN’T COUNT!” The blonde really didn't want to do that.

“That’s what you get for messing with our bodies. After what you did to us, you have to take responsibility for your actions!” Ari was enjoying the situation a little bit.

“WORDING!” Sophia wasn’t. “You’re doing that on purpose, aren’t you…?”

“Yup~.”

“Urgh…” She had to take a small break. “Well… It’s great that you two are feeling better after the revelation, but why do I have to suffer so much… I just wanted to do both of you a favor…”

“Thank you very much!” The two smiled at her. “We’re not going to forgive you about the other side that easily, though…”

“Haa…”

“You totally did that to yourself by not telling them first.” Maya looked at her tiger. “Ari was an accident, but you knew full well what you were doing with Anna.”

“I totally would’ve accepted it, anyway, for the fact to match Ari and stay the same age as her, but some information about it would’ve been nice beforehand.” Anna also looked at her.

“Fine… I get it…” She hung her head. “I’ll do it... Maya and I will tell them.”

“Thank you!”

“Good gir-, Wait, what?” The cat-girl needed a second before noticing that she suddenly was included in her promise.

“Did you really think I would do that without you?”

"A-Ah…”

Afterward, the girls discussed the topic a little more because Sophia needed to get all the help she could because such a conversation would be far from easy. Especially for her.

 

 

 

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