Roughly a week passed since the group had managed to enchant items with the portal magic and also were able to link them directly to each other without having to take the detour through Sophia’s storage dimension.

Afterward, the blonde also did some experimenting on her own and found out that she was able to overpower the enchanted items. Usually, one has to pour magic into the items on both sides for the portals to connect. However, both portals still opened after she used almost 1/3 of her entire magic at once on one side. She decided to only tell Maya about it, though. Except for her and the wolves, no one has enough power for that, anyway.

Chloe also had become even better friends with Anna and Ari, and the trio was currently out shopping together. The cat-girl made some jabs at them visiting a particular store, but they decided not to comment on the idea. While they were out, Sophia, Maya, and the wolves were relaxing in the mansion’s living room.

“Say,” The tiger eventually faced Fen and Aura. “How much do you know about Feyfey?”

“Before meeting Chloe, I would’ve said a decent amount, but...” Aura wasn’t sure what to say.

“Yes...” Fen agreed. “Our ways crossed a couple of times, and we often spent a few years together with her, but something definitely changed...”

“When did you first meet her? How many years ago?”

“Uhh...” The wolves paused for a moment. “Many years...”

“You mentioned that it was long before Aura had her accident, right? So, some centuries?”

“Many of them.”

“How many? More than four?”

“Much more.” Fen nodded.

“It might even be a millennium already.” Aura added a bit more detail to it.

“W-Wow...” Maya was overwhelmed by the number. “So long ago...”

“Hmm... there goes that theory...” Sophia’s expression turned more and more complicated. “Unless time works differently between the worlds, but that would open a whole different can of worms...”

“What is going on...?” The male wolf had no idea what she was going on about.

“Has anyone ever heard about little red riding hood?”

“The what?” All three had the same reaction.

“It’s a fairy tale that is quite popular in my old world.”

“Okay?” Maya tilted her head. “Why would we know about it, then?”

“Well... Apparently, it's Chloe's favorite fairy tale, and she had Feyfey tell it to her all the time when she was little. I have no idea how Fey knows about it...”

“Eh?” The wolves looked just as confused.

“Admittedly, that fairy tale’s origin is already a couple of hundred years old, but if Fey's already that old, I have no idea why or how she knows about it..."

“Seriously?!” Aura looked quite shocked. “That doesn’t make any sense, though... Maybe she met another otherworldler at some point? Maybe that one’s even Chloe’s other parent? Assuming Feyanis is her real mother. That would make a lot of sense, as well... Our dear pink fox is way too similar to you in many ways. She seems pretty clueless about a lot of things, but it would explain so much if she's related to an otherworldler. Feyanis' knowledge about magic combined with the curiosity you show every day, my dear catastrophe-prone tiger, Chloe seems to be the combination of both.”

“There were actually many occasions where I thought that Chloe was an otherworldler herself because she’s just too similar to Sophia. Still, from what I got from her so far, it seems that she learned everything from Feyanis... Aura’s theory makes a lot of sense, then. Feyanis might really have met an otherworldler and had an offspring, Chloe, with them. She learned all kinds of things from them, and our pink one inherited their quirky personality and ingenuity.”

“E-Eh...?” This was all news to Sophia. “Chloe’s related to an otherworldler? You even thought she might be one herself...? What did I miss?!”

"Come on, you must admit that Chloe's a bit special, right?” Maya also seemed to agree with the wolves. “Something about her is really odd. The way she thinks and how easily the two of you understand each other even though no one else even has a clue about what is going on... It's been bugging me for a while already. The portals, for example, you two are so in tune about that while I still don’t have the slightest idea how they work...”

“Can I let you in a little secret about that...?” Sophia got a little closer and stared right at her. "Neither do I... I just try stuff, and it seems to work out just fine... I don’t see why that would make Chloe anything special... She just likes to experiment? Also, Anna’s the one who successfully enchanted an item with the portal magic. Is she an otherworldler, too?”

“W-Well, that was just a weird accident...”

“So was Chloe’s and mine success of linking the portals together.” The blonde had some very sound arguments. “The princess also did that on her first day of being able to use chantless magic, I want to add. She seems super interested in magic, as well.”

“...” The cat-girl had no comeback for that.

"You have to admit that your personalities and likes line up suspiciously well with hers, right?" Aura also tried to convince her.

“Anna also agreed with most of our quirks, too...” The princess was a formidable ally in her argumentation. “Also, there are so many people around, I doubt it’s that unlikely for people to have similar likes and thoughts.”

“I hate it when you make so much sense...”

“Yeah, it’s unnerving...” The wolves agreed with Maya.

“HEY!”

“I still think my theory makes sense, though.” Aura looked at the tiger again. “There were and or are other otherworldlers beside you. There are a few remnants of them on the demon continent, after all. Many inventions there are inspired by them. They were also described as having a similar personality as you and Chloe. The pink one doesn’t seem to have the same otherworldly knowledge as you, though. That's why it makes sense if she inherited the personality from an actual one who was Feyanis' partner at some point. They maybe also told her about the fairy tale? Or, she was on the demon continent in the past, and those fairy tales are popular there thanks to the previous otherworldlers..."

“The last part suddenly makes a lot more sense!” Sophia didn’t like how she came up with an easy explanation right at the end.

“It’s no fun, though.”

“I can’t fault that!” The blonde couldn’t blame Aura for thinking like that.

“Hehe.” She liked that reaction. “I don’t know your world besides the stuff you told us, but has Chloe ever mentioned anything that could indicate her knowing more about it than she should? More than zero, that is? Maybe she picked up something from Feyanis when she learned about it from her partner. When we’re going with that theory for now.”

“Hmm...” The tiger tilted her head. “I don’t know? I don’t think I would even notice until it’s something super obvious. After all, it would sound totally normal to me unless I give it some actual thought like the fairy tale thingy...”

“Well, there were some instances where I had not the slightest clue what you were talking about... I didn’t even know the words you were using. In retrospect, that’s quite suspicious.” Maya also tried to recall some strange events.

“That didn’t happen anymore after I cleaned your ears, didn’t it? Pretty sure you just misheard.”

“My ears were always clean!” She didn’t like the accusation. “Well, I did understand you after both of you explained it in more detail... Maybe I simply wasn't paying enough attention to the conversation..."

“I guess it’s fair that you wouldn’t notice any subtle hints during a normal conversation when the words are normal for you.” The female wolf understood her reasoning. “You wouldn’t think twice about it, after all.”

“Exactly.”

"It might be worth paying a little more attention to it, though.” Aura was more and more becoming a fan of her idea.

“It can’t hurt, I guess?”

“You could also just ask her~.”

“Sure.” Sophia rolled her eyes. “And if she has no relation to any of the otherworldler business, after all... It’s going to be a lot of fun when I have to explain myself...” She didn’t like the idea.

“There are always sacrifices to be made~.”

“How about no?!” The blonde didn’t seem to be a fan of the plan.

"Aww." Aura didn't look upset and just continued. "Though, it might be for the best if she has no relation to an otherworldler, after all... I'm sure it will be a lot of fun, and I'll learn a lot, but both of you, without a limiter and openly using the knowledge from the outrageous world you came from... I can already smell one disaster after another.”

"And suddenly, I'm much more motivated to find out if she knows about my world!" Sophia started smiling instead. "IT WILL BE SO MUCH FUN! Playing with all the ideas I have with someone who could follow my train of thought!”

“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?” Maya glared at the female wolf.

“I would never~.”

“I’ll make you clean up the mess they create, you know?”

"A-Ah...”

Afterward, as there was no way to continue this train of thought without either Chloe or Fey around, the group decided to put the topic on hold until any new evidence came up.