Teanam
patreon
Chapter 134
🕑 Added 2024-08-18 15:26:56 +0000 UTC--
Chapter 134
The group arrived in Gativa, a beautiful city surrounded by massive lakes, and met Kai, the mayor there, to tell her about the portals and the plan to link her city to the capital. Naturally, she couldn’t believe something as outrageous and even doubted the sanity of the princess. This time, instead of bringing Menzor over to have him explain the situation, the tigers used the portal to bring the mayor to the capital instead. This would make things a lot easier, after all.
“Sophia, my dear~.” Arriving in the castle and exiting Anna’s room, the group was immediately greeted by Kira, who was smiling at the blonde.
“I don’t like the way you’re looking at me.” She had a bad feeling about the situation.
“What did you do to Menzor?”
“What makes you think I did something to him?” Sophia tried to feign innocence.
“Who else but you could’ve made his hair grow all the way down to his waist overnight?” She kept staring at her.
“Okay, fair enough.” There was little she could say there. “Though, I’d probably be able to teach Ellie how to do it in a couple of days.”
“Please don’t.” The queen wasn't a fan of the idea. “Please don’t teach my baby how to alter the body of someone.”
“Don't worry, I won’t! She’s way too young for that.”
“That’s not the only issue!”
“I didn’t alter his body, by the way.” Sophia lightly shook her head. “I only used a little bit of healing magic on his hair roots to have them work at peak efficiency again. His hair being so long only happened because the roots got kickstarted.”
“Why, though?”
“He blamed me for his recent hair loss, so I fixed it~.” The blonde gave the queen a thumbs up.
“He hadn’t thought me about that part.” Kira scratched her cheek.
“I’m not surprised.” The blonde shrugged. “I thought you’d be more into it. I haven’t seen him yet, but I’m sure Menzor looks fabulous right now~.”
“He absolutely does!” The queen reacted with a smile. “I like it a lot, but you can imagine my shock when I woke up next to him this morning, right?”
“Ahaha…” Sophia awkwardly scratched her cheek. “I can see that being rather startling. Especially in the morning.”
“No kidding.”
“I need to see father!” Anna joined the conversation. “I’ll never forgive myself if I can’t see him with luscious hair!”
“That’s my daughter!” Kira was proud of her. “Why are you all here in the first place? Wait a moment! Kai…?” She only then noticed the wolf-girl behind Maya, who was still inside the princess's room. “What are you doing here? Ah, wait, I see! You all arrived in Gativa, huh? Your travel speed is something else! How is that even possible?!” She stared at Sophia again.
“I have my ways~.” Her expression turned smug as she puffed out her chest.
“Welcome to the capital.” The queen greeted the mayor. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it? How are things going? Aside from the recent damage to your common sense, that is.”
“I am INCREDIBLY confused!” She had nothing else to say at the moment.
"A common feeling around Sophia.”
“True.” Anna and Maya nodded.
“Hey!” The blonde didn’t like that. “Well, I confuse even myself all the time, so I guess it’s justified, huh?”
“Alright, anyway, let's head over to Menzor so that our dear Kai can get some insight on what’s going on.” Kira smiled at the bewildered-looking wolf.
“And to see a fabulous king!”
“That!" Anna nodded at her fellow tiger.
----------------
Afterward, Kira guided the group to Menzor’s office and slowly opened the door.
“Dear, you have guests.”
“I don’t think I was expecting anyone anymore today, though.” He tilted his head. “Also, since when do you escort them to my office? On top of that, I told you that I canceled all my meetings before my barber fixed this mess!” He pointed at his head. His hair had grown all the way down to his waist and had enough volume to make him look twice as wide. In fact, his hairstyle was quite similar to Sophia’s fluffy and wavy hair. Only that his was a deep and shiny orange rather than blonde, and it was even more locked and slightly longer, too.
“When they’re important enough, it’s absolutely the job of the queen.” Kira smiled at him. “You look great, dear, so there’s no need for a barber.
“Who would be this important and comes to visit without prior notice…?” The king only got more confused. “Ah.” He then noticed an all-too-familiar blonde tail sticking out behind the door next to his wife. “Sophia, we need to talk.”
"That's why I'm here~." She playfully jumped into the doorframe and showed him a cheeky grin. “My, if you were a girl, there’s a chance I’d fall for you.”
“I’ll end you.” He wasn't quite as happy to see her.
“You get angry and accuse me of being the reason you had hair loss, and when I fix it, you get angry, too.” The blonde shook her head. “That’s unbecoming of a king.”
“What do you mean by fixed?!” He got loud. “You just messed with my hair because you got upset over what I said, did you not?!”
“Absolutely not!” She shook her head. “I used healing magic on your hair roots and made them stronger than ever before!”
“Does that mean my hair will always be that long after a night, no matter how much it gets cut?”
“No, that would be way too much of a pain.”
“That’s why I asked!” The king was aware of her mischievous nature, after all.
“That was just a side-effect of re-activating your roots again. They were basically dead already, after all. I had to use some extra magic to start them again. From now on, they’ll work normally again.”
“They were NOT almost dead!” Menzor didn’t like that accusation.
“Well…” Anna and Kira scratched their cheeks.
“Hey!” He didn’t like that, either.
“Do you want me to reverse it?” The blonde tilted her head.
“Let’s not rush things here.” His entire demeanor suddenly changed.
“Ahaha!” Sophia had to chuckle at that. “Sure thing~.”
“How long will the healing effect last?” He lifted one of his luscious locks while looking at the blonde.
“I’m not sure about the exact time, but they should probably last as long as they did so far again.”
“O-Oh.” Menzor tried his best to hide his smile.
“You’re welcome.” Sophia obviously didn’t fail to miss it, though. “Anyway, I’m not the only guest, you know?”
"You look amazing, father!" Anna appeared next to the blonde and smiled at him. "Don't you dare and cut it! It’s fabulous and makes you look twice as majestic!”
“What she said.” Sophia agreed with her. Kira, too, nodded ever so slightly.
“Haa…” He hung his head.
“They do have a point, your Majesty.” Kai poked her head into the office. “It might be slightly too unkempt at the moment, but it has the potential to boost your aura.”
“And who might you be?” Menzor stared at her for a moment. “Wait, you are the mayor of Gativa, are you not? Kai, if I remember correctly?”
“It’s been a while, your Majesty.” She fully entered the room and gave him a slight nod.
“It really has.” He thought so, too. “Wait, what are you doing here?!”
“That’s an excellent question.” The wolf-girl shrugged while glancing at Sophia.
“Ahh.” That was enough for him to understand the situation.
"In fact, I'd like to get a detailed, in-depth explanation of what, in the name of everything that is holy, is going on!" She raised her voice.
“Well, how about you get comfortable over there?” Menzor pointed at the two sofas in the corner of his office. “This might take a while.”
“Of course.” Doing as told, she moved over to the seating area before everyone else did the same.
“I assume the chances for you explaining the plan is zero?” The king stole a short glance at the blonde.
“Zero at best.” She shook her head.
“I figured as much.” Letting out a sigh, Menzor then focused his attention on Kai. “Well, you already having used the portal should make things a lot easier.”
“What is that, anyway?! How am I in the capital right now?!”
“Long story short, magic.”
“Perfect explanation~.” Sophia smiled at the king.
"That doesn't necessarily explain much, if at all."
“I know, right?!” Menzor agreed with her complaint on many levels. “The purple thing you stepped through to come here is an invention by Sophia, and she calls it a portal. The way she uses magic is on another level, and she's capable of doing things that should be impossible. One of those impossible things are the mentioned portals. This magic allows her to connect two faraway places with each other and allows one to go from one spot to another basically in an instant.”
“Ha.” Kai went silent for a moment. “Impossible is a very fitting word. Was magic even possible to do something like that?”
“Magic can do whatever you want it to do!” The blonde gave her a thumbs up.
“It appears to be.” The wolf-girl scratched her cheek. “Also, while impossible is indeed a perfect description, I experienced it. I stepped through a purple thing and went from Gativa to the royal castle in a mere moment.”
“Having them come over here really simplifies things.” Menzor was glad that the mayor had already accepted the situation.
“We can do it like that every time from now on.” The blonde smiled at him.
“That would be helpful.”
“I still don’t know why I’m here!” Kai got louder again.
“Ahem!” The king cleared his throat. “Sophia graciously allowed us to use her portals.”
“And because of the dividends generated by the taxation of its use.” While the short tiger was definitely happy about being able to better the kingdom, she absolutely had no issues with profiting from it.
“That is also the case, yes.” He nodded. “Anyway, we plan to use this to connect notable cities and other points of interest with a central point just in front of the capital, revolutionizing the way we all travel and transport goods.”
“W-Wow.” Kai wasn’t sure how to respond to that before looking at the princess. “You really weren’t kidding when you said that there’s a plan that will change the kingdom from the ground up.”
“Yes.”
“Wait!” The mayor, once more, raised her voice. “As life-changing as that sounds, isn’t it extremely dangerous to have the whole kingdom accessible by one place? I’m not sure if I could subject my city to such a security risk.”
“I can understand that.” The king nodded. “That’s also the reason we decided to put the hub, where all the portals are located, outside of the city walls.”
“Well, that protects the capital, but what about the places on the other side of the connection?"
“Another valid concern. Further proof that you are an excellent mayor.”
“It fills me with great joy to hear that from you, your Majesty.”
“Yes, to address that concern, the military commanders and I recently decided to relocate the garrisons of the capital's standing army. They were in line for modernization anyway, and so we decided to build them from the ground up in the same area as the portal hub. If anyone wants to reach Gativa, or any other city for that matter, they have to go through my army first.” Menzor’s expression turned serious.
“Okay, that’s quite reassuring.” It was enough to convince Kai.
“Not to mention that this allows us to immediately respond to emergencies.” He looked right at her. “If you send a distress signal that Gativa is under attack, the army will be there to aid you in minutes.” He then looked at Sophia. “This doesn’t violate our agreement, does it.”
“Nope.” She shook her head. “Using my portal to defend the kingdom is okay and encouraged. Attacking other places would be a no-no, though.”
“Perfect.”
“Speaking of our deal, have you forgotten that the portals come with built-in protection against this stuff?” The blonde looked a little confused. “Attacking armies or individuals with extreme malicious intent would cause the portals to shut down.”
“I’m aware of that.” He nodded. “I also don’t want to bet everything on one hand, though.”
“Fair enough.” Sophia couldn’t blame him there.
“You do know how to convince people.” Kai ignored the exchange and stared back at the king. “Alright, I need some more details on the exact plan, but consider Gativa more than interested.”
“Great to hear!”
Afterward, once Sophia had finally gotten too bored of the situation, she decided that it was time to head back to the beautiful lake city while the king would handle the rest with the mayor. She then took Maya, Anna, and Ari, and the girls returned to reunite with the others who were already exploring Gativa.
Comments
ElymMoon
Ellie is surely on her way now. An ICBE... an Inter-Castle Ballistic Ellie if you will
rmhj
This chapter is impossible there is no way Ellie's Soppie perception wasn't triggered by her being there that long.
