Boosted Continuation

The group had left Raumont and was on its way to the monster country. While walking, Steph decided she wanted to see and maybe fight some monsters, as well as tame and ride a griffin. Naturally, that was met with some mixed reactions, but as more people were in favor, this got added to their list of things to do while traveling.

“Wait, I just noticed an important problem with my plan of riding on a griffin!” The group was slowly walking closer to the monster country when Steph suddenly stopped.

“Just one?” Ari raised an eyebrow in return. “There are at least eleven problems with it.”

“Only eleven?” Maya looked at the jaguar. “Since when did you love her so much that you’re cutting her that much slack?”

“I was just feeling generous.”

“I love you, too~.” Steph cheekily smiled at Ari. “Anyway, no!” She then raised her voice. “I just noticed that it will be basically impossible to find a griffin!”

"You think?" Sophia tilted her head. "I mean, I ran into one on accident, and the other one found me because it was angry."

“I also ran into one without any preparation.” Chloe nodded a few times.

“No, I mean that Fenny said that no monster would get even close to our group because we all radiate so much power that it scared them off. That would apply to griffins, too, right? That means they’ll always keep their distance!”

“Griffins are usually quite overconfident, so they don’t flee until actually seeing the foe. That’s how Sophia, and Chloe together with Fey, were able to get close to them.” Aura tried to reassure her. “I’m not sure if that also applies if it senses our entire group, because it would just be too overwhelming, but it’s still not really a problem.”

“How so?”

“They're one of the strongest beings in the monster country, so Sophia and I could easily sense it with our detection magic long before it notices us. Afterward, we just need to be faster than them, which really won't be an issue."

“LET’S GO!” The dog-girl immediately perked up again. “Okay, that will be my personal goal! We won’t leave the monster country before I’ve ridden a griffin!”

“I like the enthusiasm~.” Sophia smiled at her sister. “Seeing one without getting attacked, or accidentally annihilating it, would be awesome, too! Oh, maybe I could even get some of them into my domain once I can create an adequate place for them!”

“If possible, not in our savanna, okay?” Anna scratched her cheek. “I wanted it to be a relaxing place.”

"Sure thing~." The blonde smiled at her fellow tiger. "What if they're nice once they get used to us, though?"

“Well, they would fit the theme, but... uhh, let’s think about that when and or if that happens.”

“Fair.”

“Wait!” Steph suddenly got loud. “Okay, hear me out, sis!”

“Yes?” The blonde turned to look at her. “I’m all ears.” Her ears actually focused on the dog, as well.

“Let’s make our own monster country in your domain!”

“Ohh!” Sophia clapped her hands. “Tell me more~.”

“We borrow a whole lot of land from deep inside the monster country where no one would care, put it in your place and do the usual.” She gave her a cheeky thumbs-up. “Then, how about you leave a massive see-through portal open that lets animals and monsters pass through it. If they're okay with the permanent white, they might stay. If not, then not. Kind of like you did in that lake back where we got Chloe's big fish from and then left a portal to supply it with fresh fish."

“Greg~.” The fox smiled at her. “He’s doing fine, by the way. I just visited him in Fenfen’s forest lake the other day.”

“Yeah, him!”

“I’m honestly surprised you haven’t eaten him yet.” Hearing that, Aura then looked at her fellow wolf.

“I threatened him with violence if he’d do that.” Chloe smiled at her.

“You’re scared of the fluffy pink one?” The female wolf tried her best to hold back a laugh as she faced Fen.

“My violence in this case is Feyfey.”

“Ahh.” Aura immediately stopped cackling. “A very valid excuse to be intimidated by her.”

“I’m starting to warm up to the idea.” Sophia paused for a moment. “I put the portal in the lake for fish because I thought they wouldn’t really be affected by the whiteness of my domain, but giving animals and monsters the choice sounds interesting! I probably would need to fence off the area in my domain, though. In case they panic and flee into the all-white nothingness.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” Chloe smiled at her. “Any animals and monsters curious enough shouldn’t suffer from doing so.”

“I mean, the fish curious enough to go through the portal in the lake end up being food for your pet sturgeon, soo…” Anna scratched her cheek while looking at the fox.

“T-That are different circumstances. That’s just the nature of things, while them possibly being lost and disoriented in an unnatural place would just be cruel.”

“I guess that’s a decent-enough defense.”

“Speaking of, what do griffins eat?” The topic piqued Steph's interest in learning more about them.

“Pretty much everything that gets too close to them.” Fen sounded rather nonchalant about it. “We have the same preference, though. Cows, that is. They just dive in, scoop them up with their talons, and fly them to their nest."

“Cows are delicious.” No one in their group could blame them for it.

“They have nests?” The dog-girl got even more curious.

“They indeed have.” He nodded along. “They prefer cliffsides and mountains, which isn’t exactly cow territory.”

“Don’t forget about the ruins of the demon city," Aura added her own bits of knowledge. "They love to nest on top of the taller remains.”

“THE WHAT NOW?!” Both sisters got loud.

“Oh, you didn’t know about the ruins of the massive demon city relatively in the middle of the monster country from when they were still on this continent?” She cutely tilted her head to the side.

“NO?!”

“How come Feyfey never told me about that?!” Chloe also got upset.

“Didn’t you say the monster country was boring?!” Steph glared at the two wolves.

“It is.” Fen looked back at her. “Buildings are boring.”

“There aren’t any demons that could be interesting left, after all.” Aura felt the same.

“In my defense, I had no idea that this existed when I called the place boring.” Sophia looked at her sister, knowing that she, too, had unknowingly undersold the place.

“You’re totally fine.” Steph wasn’t going to blame her for that.

“Woah, ruins of a demon city?” Anna’s interest was also piqued. “Are there any plans of going there? I’d love to take a peek.”

“We 100% are going there immediately!” The sisters perfectly synced up.

"Well, it's the easiest way to find a griffin, and it's not much of a detour." Fen could live with the plan.

“Perfect!” Steph clapped her hands. “Not that it would’ve mattered if it was a detour, right?” She looked at Sophia at the end.

"Exploring an interesting-sounding place couldn’t possibly be a detour in the first place.” The blonde shook her head.

“You’re the best!”

“I know~.” Sophia smiled at her sister.

“I didn’t know that there was a demon city inside the monster country.” Judging by her expression, there were many things Ari wanted to say, but she decided to opt for the curious approach.

“We don’t really know about anything that is going on deeper inside there.” Anna scratched her cheek. “Any excursion the kingdom started ended in utter defeat for us looong before we even got close to the center. That’s why it’s been declared off-limits and lost.”

“That’s true.” The jaguar nodded. “If you can’t go there, there won’t be any records.”

“Off-limits?” Sophia tilted her head. “Does that mean people are banned from going there?”

“Kind of?” The princess was looking for the right words. “I mean, it’s not illegal, as in you get fined or something like that if you do. The punishment is a high chance of death when going there. The off-limits part is more of a warning because of the immense danger.”

“Ahh, I see, fair enough.” The blonde could follow that reasoning. “Makes sense that Vivi went in there as a teen. Calling something off-limits makes it only more enticing, after all.”

“True!” Steph and Chloe agreed with her.

“Not true!” Ari shook her head instead before looking at Maya. “Right?”

“…” She just looked away from her.”

“…” She stared at the cat-girl for a moment. “You also did the same when you were younger, didn’t you?”

“No comment.”

"As if you never rebelled by doing the opposite of what you were told." Steph stared at the jaguar.

“Uhh…” Her expression turned awkward.

“Remember when…mpfh!” Anna started talking when Ari suddenly pressed her hand against her mouth faster than the princes could even react. “Don't you dare say anything there!”

“You absolutely have to tell me!” Steph’s eyes started sparkling. “Disobedient and mischievous Ari is best Ari!”

“Never!” She rapidly shook her head.

“Please!”

“No!”

“That’s not how you get secrets out of her.” Sophia shook her head. “You need to trick her when her guard is down and blurts it out before thinking.”

“Ohh!” The dog-girl looked impressed. “As expected from the first reserve girlfriend! You know her much better than I do!”

“I don't agree with that title.” Sophia shook her head.

“Same!” Ari agreed with her.

“And no, not for the reasons you imagine right now.” Then, the voices of the two perfectly overlapped as they saw her developing grin.

“You really can’t make that up.” Chloe couldn’t believe how in sync they were. “By the way, who’s your first reserve girlfriend?” She then looked at Steph.

“Why would I need to have a reserve girlfriend?” She stared right back at her.

“Ehehe~.” She liked that.

“Oi!” Ari glared at Steph. “You’re like the first one who’d jump at the suggestion of group activities.”

“This and that are different.”

“How so?” The jaguar didn't believe a single word she was saying.

“Reserve girlfriend would imply replacing Chloe with someone else. Your suggestion implies adding people.” Her expression turned even smugger than usual.

“Sure.” Ari decided against humoring the dog-girl any further.

The bickering continued for a little longer, but Steph eventually remembered the main topic and urged everyone to get going as she wanted to get to the ruins as fast as possible.