Sophia decided to tell the merchant they met on the way towards Agola about her portals and how they'd revolutionize the way people travel between major cities. Naturally, he was unable to believe such an impossible thing as magic like that was supposed to exist. Cutting a long explanation short, the tiger simply used a portal to transport the entire group to the outskirts of the beastfolk capital in an instant.

"Is it really okay to leave them on their own?" The group had entered the capital and parted with the merchant and the four adventurers. On their way to the castle, Ari wasn't sure if that was the right course of action and looked at Sophia while tilting her head.

"It's fine~." She smiled at her. "They're all adults, you know?"

"I guess so…"

"You heard them, right? Two of the adventurers have never been here, and the others haven't been to the capital for at least a decade, so everyone had gotten a little excited. Especially our merchant couldn't wait to buy all sorts of things."

"I was more concerned about how you completely broke them and their common sense just prior to that, and them still not having fully recovered from it."

"If I had to wait for everyone to fully recover from my way of doing things, we'd never get anything done." The blonde replied with a surprisingly sound argument.

"I hate it when you make sense for a stupid reason." The jaguar scratched her cheek.

"Though, we have to make sure to pick them up again before returning to the ocean. I'm tracking them with my detection magic, but someone has to remind me later to actually go and pick them up." Sophia looked a little awkward. "It would be suboptimal if we let them be stranded here. After all, it will take a while before the portal in the trade city there becomes operational."

"While I hate it when you make sense for stupid reasons, I really like it when you are thoughtful in a way like this. It's great!"

"Ehehe~."

"And we're back to zero days since they last flirted." Anna only rolled her eyes.

"Back to zero would imply that it ever went past a day, you know?" Maya couldn't agree with her observation.

"Ah, hmm… You've got a point there." The princess had nothing to add there.

"Don't worry, we'll make sure you never have to work with big numbers." The two voices perfectly and scarily overlapped as they smiled at their girlfriends.

"NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!" That was too much for Maya and Anna.

"Hehe."

"Those four are amazing, aren't they?" Trailing a little behind, Chloe smiled at Steph while listening to them.

"Amazing certainly is a description." The dog-girl nodded a few times. "I'm still awaiting the day when we catch them having a foursome or something like that."

"Haha." The fox-girl let out a small chuckle. "I can see it."

"That won't happen!" Ari turned around to glare at them.

"That we catch you or that it happens?" Steph teasingly stuck out her tongue while looking back at her.

"Shush!" She didn't feel like humoring her.

"Stop making me envious!" The dog-girl had her own interpretation of that.

"Oi." This time, Chloe stared at her instead.

"As if you aren't curious." Steph didn't see the issue.

"…" She couldn't find an answer to that, though that was an answer on its own, as well.

Putting that topic aside for the time being, the girls eventually arrived at the royal castle and entered it through the front entrance. The guards were rather surprised about that because no one knew they were around. On top of that, it was even rarer that they didn't just simply appear inside the castle, but they obviously and happily let them inside. After all, questioning how the common-sense-breaking group functions and does things has long since been given up on.

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"Mom!" Entering the castle, Ari spotted Daria, one of her mothers, and immediately ran up to her before tightly hugging her.

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"Ari, my dear!" The gold-haired head-maid hugged her back with even more force. "I'm happy to see you well!"

"Yes, I'm doing great!" Ari smiled at her once she let go. "Where's mom?"

"I'm right here, though?" Daria pointed at herself while cutely sticking out her tongue.

"Haa…" The black-haired jaguar hung her head. "Every single time…"

"We definitely need to agree on different nicknames for each other!" Sophia suddenly looked at Maya. "Like mom and mama or something like that."

"Good idea!" The cat-girl nodded a few times.

"Funnily enough, they did that on purpose and insisted on both being called mom because those two head maids are super playful and like to mess with their daughters, and others, like that." Anna let out a small chuckle.

"That's also a great plan!" The playful cat looked back at the blonde while suddenly having some doubts about Sophia's suggestion.

"Hmm." She didn't seem to be exactly against it.

"Hehe." Daria let out a small chuckle before focusing on her daughter again as she gently patted her head. "Stella went to the market around half an hour ago to accompany Kira and Ellie on an errand. It will probably take a while before she's back. Do you need her for something?"

"I have news about Nina!"

"HUH?!" The maid's eyes opened wide. "How?! Don't tell me you've met her?!"

"Not quite." Ari shook her head. "We somehow ended up on the same path as Nathan and Nina during our travels, though. That way, we learned a lot of things because no one would forget about the group of the prince visiting their city."

"That's amazing news! It's been far too long! I assume she's healthy?"

"It certainly sounded like that!" Ari nodded a few times. "Although, I was quite shocked by what I heard!"

"Why…?" The maid suddenly didn't like the sound of it anymore.

"It seems that she found herself a girlfriend on her travels!"

"What?!" Her mother looked even more surprised. "That's amazing! I was so sure she'd dedicate herself to babysitting the prince! Just without the romance part like you and Anna!" She sent a quick smirk towards the princess at the end.

"…" Anna wasn't sure what to say.

"I was just as shocked!" Ari nodded a couple of times.

"I need details! Who is it?!" Daria got rather excited.

"I don't have any names or details, but a little while ago, a mayor of a city told us that Nathan was traveling together with Nina, a cat-boy, and a reddish-brown or blonde-haired, depending on the angle, puma-girl. Today, a merchant told us that he saw Nina and that puma-girl being all romantic and clingy with each other all the time when they were in his home city!"

"That's big!" Daria happily clapped her hands. "I can't wait to meet her! Also, to see Nina again, of course!"

"Good safe." Ari let out a small chuckle. "But, yes, I also can't wait. We're actually trying to catch up with them because Anna wants to see Nathan again, too!"

"Amazing! You have to bring Nina and that puma-girl here the instant you reunite!"

"I bring them here the instant I'm done questioning them, yes." Her plan was slightly different from what her mother wanted.

"That's my daughter!" It only made Daria proud, though.

"Now that we're here already, should we warn Father about giving him some more work very soon once we arrive in Agola?" Not wanting to interrupt the family meeting of the jaguars, Anna looked at her fellow tiger instead.

"Sure!" Sophia just nodded because she had nothing better to do, anyway.

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Leaving the jaguars behind to catch up on things, and Chloe and Steph wanting to get a snack, Anna and Sophia went to Menzor's office to brief him on their current path.

"Ah, so that's why the castle has seemingly been a lot livelier the past 20 minutes, huh?" The King lazily greeted the two tigers who had stormed through the door.

"Yeah, we were accidentally nearby and decided to say hello." Anna smiled at his father.

"How is one accidentally nearby?" Her reply only confused him.

"Do you really want to know?" Sophia raised an eyebrow in return.

"Know what?" Menzor suddenly tilted his head while looking at the blonde. "I never asked any question, you know?" He instantly reconsidered.

"Hehe."

"Anyway, you say hello, but I assume there's more, right?" Menzor was rather wary of them.

"We have news about Nathan!" Anna happily clapped her hands.

"Ohh?" Hearing that, the King's ears perked up. "Do tell!"

"We're about to reach the trade city Agola, the harbor one on the ocean's shore."

"How are you already there…?" He paused for a second while rubbing his temples. "No, never mind, go on." He then realized he had just asked another question he didn't want to know the answer to.

"It seems like he and his group also spent some time in Agola and only left six or seven months ago, so we're catching up. If we continue to get more information about their route, we might be able to catch up with them really soon!"

"That would be nice." Menzor reacted with a slight nod. "He's definitely been taking his time, so I'd like to see him again."

"So true!" Anna felt the same. "Also, it seems like Nina has gotten herself a girlfriend during their travels."

"Ohh, that's nice. Kira will love to hear that." He then paused for a moment. "She was already worried that Nina would be stuck with babysitting Nathan forever. Just like Ari, but minus the romance part."

"…" The princess didn't like the déjà vu here. "Anyway, before you ask, no, we have no idea yet if Nathan also found someone."

"Well, it's good that your mother is currently out because she wouldn't accept you not knowing more just like that."

"But I really don't!" Anna scratched her cheek.

"And you think your mother would care?"

"Good point." There was nothing she could add there.

"Still, Agola, huh?" As the King wasn't the most interested in romance topics, especially when they were only at the gossip level, he wanted to return to the initial topic and looked at Sophia instead. "It's quite an important city for trade in our kingdom, so if it could get one of your portals, that would be amazing."

"That's the plan." The blonde gave him a thumbs-up. "That's why, get ready for another meeting with a mayor soon~."

"Ah, right." He had forgotten about their arrangement. "Okay, I'll try to keep tomorrow free."

"Perfect!"

Afterward, the duo talked a little longer with Menzor, but eventually headed back to Ari while also picking up Steph and Chloe on the way. Spending some more time with Daria, the girls then decided that it was time to return to their travels. Thanks to Ari, Sophia also remembered to collect the merchant and the adventurers in one of the capital's marketplaces before finally taking a portal back to the coastal road they came from.

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