Sophia had ended the war against the humans with a total victory and decided to do sothing way more important, getting sothing to eat in the nearby city together with Maya. They found a lovely bakery and sohow forgot about ti while chatting with the owner, an older horse-lady.
"Hmm..."
"What's wrong?" Maya noticed that Sophia was staring out of the window of the bakery while overlooking the street.
"You'll see in 3- 2- 1-"
"Haa… Hello, granny, I've co... eh?!" A familiar, orange-haired tiger-girl, Princess Anna, flew into the bakery and energetically greeted the owner while catching her breath before spotting the couple.
"Eh...?" The cat-girl was as surprised.
"There goes the quiet ti... How long did it last?" Sophia looked at an imaginary watch on her wrist while asking.
"There you are! I've been looking all over the place to find the two of you! Father asked to find you after you simply disappeared once everything was over... Do you have any idea how hard this was?!" The events of the war apparently had blown away the awkwardness between Anna and the couple for the ti being.
"Sorry." Maya had nothing to say in her defense.
"And now I run into you by chance because I needed a break because I'm no good at running for long and wanted to visit granny here!"
"You know each other?" Sophia ignored all the fuss as she faced the owner.
"I've lived in the capital for a long ti and t her once in a while, yes."
"Why are you downplaying it? Granny here worked in the castle before she decided to have a quiet life here! She was one of the most powerful magic instructors we had."
"Oh?" This piqued the blonde's interest.
"Princess, there was no need to tell them that. Wait, how did you even know the princess was arriving with such precision, Sophia?"
"I can sense the magic power of everyone around and noticed a familiar one zooming around through the city before coming here."
"So, you knew I was running all over the place?!" Anna got upset.
"Wait a mont!" The owner got loud, as well. "Most of us can sense how strong an individual is if they're in front of us, but how can you sense it from all over the city?!"
"So original magic a friend ca up with. It lets visualize the magic power of everyone in a radius around . It doesn't work that well on humans, though, because they have the sa power levels as insects."
"Is this girl serious...?" The granny looked at the princess for help.
"I always am!"
"That's not even the tip of the iceberg... trust ..." Her eyes looked dead for so reason as Anna ignored Sophia's protest.
"W-Wow."
"Wait a mont..." Sophia wasn't overly hurt. "Anna said you were a magic instructor at the castle? I don't want to be rude... but it doesn't seem like you're exceptional powerful. Your magic seems perfectly average. Not that that's a bad thing."
"That's on purpose. I'm masking my true magic power because being average makes for an easier, less eventful life."
"That's possible?!" Sophia almost jumped off her chair. "I've gotten involved in tons of stuff because people sensed my magic… Sothing like this would be very handy!"
"We're mainly only here together because I got curious about your magic, though..." Maya got a little grumpy.
"T-That's true... but it might prevent so other people from getting interested in in the future."
"Please teach her, granny!" From ti to ti, the cat-girl was extrely easy to please.
"Listen here, this is my masterpiece. It took years to create!"
"Don't worry, I'm a fast learner."
"Haa..." The horse-lady seed like getting a headache.
"Well, you don't have to if it's a secret. I just thought it would be helpful to know."
"It's great to be curious and wanting to learn new things, but..." She struggled to decide. "Actually, I'm not even sure you want to learn it."
"Why?"
"In a way, it's the opposite of magic. Let's say, if you want to mask all your magic power, it makes you unable to use magic."
"Oh..." The enthusiasm in Sophia's voice was gone. "I'm using magic literally the entire ti. Even when sleeping, I'm passively using it... Seems like this isn't the way for ."
"Huh... hold on! Did you just say you're constantly using magic? Even with the power I can feel from you, shouldn't you run out of it eventually? Especially sothing grand like sensing the magic of everyone around you should be very taxing."
"People keep saying that, but aside from the one ti I did it on purpose, my magic regenerates faster than I could possibly spend it reasonably. It's a complete nonissue for ."
"Seriously?!" Both the princess, as well as the bakery owner were shocked by her nonchalant answer.
"Yeah, it's quite convenient."
"You don't say!" Now even Maya joined the two.
"Hehe. But, well, now I know it's at least possible to hide your magic power. It's not a priority, but I might find a way without sacrificing my magic."
"I wish you the best of luck. I sadly couldn't figure it out."
"I have two friends who are very good at making original magic. Maybe they have an idea."
"Really, just who are you...?" The granny was at a loss. "As the princess said, I was a magic instructor at the royal castle... I'm able to use 3 different elental types, all on an activation words basis. With the wind-type, I even had so success in chantless. I never cared much, but people called a miracle among prodigies. Most experts are even doubting that original magic or magic not grouped into elents even exists... and here you are, talking about it like it's nothing. Total magic capacity aside, just how big is the gap between us?"
"Yeah... Well, my teacher never taught chants or activation words, so all I know is chantless magic. Also, magic isn't limited, so I naturally know all of it, every elent-type, including nature, light and dark, as well as things that can't be categorized."
"W-Wow... the gap's even big-! Wait, what do you an with magic isn't limited?! Of course, it is! It's a fact that people can only use a limited amount."
"No, it's not." Maya and Anna denied her claim.
"What does that even- Huh, princess...?!"
"I couldn't believe it either, but it's true, granny... Do you still rember how I was able to use wind and earth magic?"
"Of course, even that's rare, after all."
"Well, I have still to master it, but after training with Maya, I was able to use fire-based magic."
"R-Really...?"
"It's the sa for ." The cat-girl chid in. "Ever since I was little, I was treated as a prodigy because of my large magic power and being able to use more than one elent. I'm traveling with Sophia and her teacher for only a couple of months now, and now I'm able to use every elent besides nature and dark. All of them are chantless, as well."
"This can't be... Princess, does his Majesty already know about this? This is beyond huge. If it's true, it will change everything!"
"Yes, father also was shocked. He had them test it out on , which, as I said, worked. Afterward, the thing with the humans here ca up, so he hadn't had the chance to talk more about it."
"Is he coming to this city before going back to the capital?"
"Yes, he sent beforehand to look for these two troublemakers, but he'll arrive in the evening with the rest of his commanders. Why?"
"I'd like to have an audience with his Majesty. I'm coming back to the capital."
"What about the bakery?" Sophia's interest lay in the food, as usual.
"My granddaughter's been helping recently. She can take over. I want, no need to see what this revolutionary revelation will cause."
"I'll gladly tell father. I'm sure he'll be overjoyed because he's still lanting over how big of a loss it was letting you resign."
"Why... Why does it feel like I'm going to have to teach a bunch of people stuff I don't even know how it works, either?"
"Because you have no situational awareness and keep destroying people's common sense on a daily basis." Maya had no sympathy for Sophia.
"Hmm... Well, I'll just force it on Fenny instead. He knows what he's doing, and he's also the one responsible for being who I am."
"That's... actually a sound argunt." The cat-girl had to give it to her.
"Anyway, enough of that!" Sophia wanted to change the topic. "More importantly, Anna, you ca with an envoy, right? Well, the first princess is probably one of her own, though."
"Yes, father sent a commander and a couple of soldiers with to inform the city beforehand."
"Great! That ans the city will beco lively again, right? Maya and I wanted to go shopping, but everything's closed..."
"T-That's the most important thing to you?! Even after the magic bombshell you dropped?!" The bakery granny looked at her in shock.
"Of course, for , my magic's not that exciting because I've never done it in any other way, but a shopping date with Maya, that's very exciting."
"…" Anna needed a mont after that. Having recovered a little thanks to the events of the war or not, Sophia openly bragging about a date was still hard on her.
"Sorry to disappoint, but the stores won't open again until tomorrow." The horse-lady crushed her dreams.
"Aww..." She looked visibly disappointed.
"A-Also, father wants to speak with you the mont he arrives."
"Urgh... I think I'll pretend I never got this mo." The blonde tiger-girl had no intention to deal with any of that.
"What mo?" As usual, Maya played along.
"Exactly!"
"Do you really think you can run from father after what you did on the battlefield? There's no way that's going to happen!"
"What... did she do?" The granny sounded curious.
"Listen to this, Eluna!" Apparently, this was the na of the bakery owner. "You'll never believe this, but this girl beat the entire human army all on her own in like half an hour!"
"Did it really take half an hour?" Sophia focused on the most irrelevant part. "Well, I did ss around a lot."
"What...?" Eluna joked about it before, but she obviously never thought it actually happened like that. "You're kidding, aren't you...?"
"No, I saw it with my own eyes."
"I got a little angry at them, okay? They got on my nerves, and I needed to teach them a lesson."
"I-I see..." Eluna noticed the slight coldness in her voice and took that as a warning to not pry any further.
"Besides, it was only a couple thousand of humans... Maya wouldn't have had any problems with it, either."
"Hey, leave out of it!" The cat-girl in question didn't want to be involved in any of this.
"Am I wrong, though?"
"I-It would definitely take longer than half an hour!" She ultimately didn't deny it. "I would need at least four tis as long."
"Two hours... what have I been doing my entire life?" It wasn't any less shocking for the granny.
"Don't be down. Everyone had the sa reaction when they saw the two in action." Anna knew exactly how she felt.
"Who knew that I, with my age, would co across sothing like this... Even though it seems like I wasted a lot of ti, this is getting excited."
"Absolutely! I also got all jumpy when I used fire magic for the first ti! I never thought it would be possible!" The princess shared her excitent.
The group talked a bit longer, but Sophia eventually seed to be getting a little shifty for so reason.
----------------
"A-Ah..."
"What is it now?!" The cat-girl imdiately reacted. "It never ans anything good if you go Ah all of a sudden!"
"W-Well... I just rembered that we have sothing to do. Maya, I think it's ti to leave."
"Did sothing happen...?" Anna also looked confused.
"N-No, it's fine..."
"Hmm?" Maya stared at her. "You just sensed the king arriving in the city and want to run away, right?"
"How do you know so well?!"
"I want to say because I love you, but it's really not hard to read you."
"Urgh..."
"Father's already here? Great! Let's go et him imdiately!" The princess didn't want to waste any ti.
"I don't wanna~!"
Unfortunately, the blonde tiger-girl was in the minority and eventually gave up. She obediently ca with the princess and the others to et the king. She never stopped complaining, though.
Reviews
All reviews (0)