Sophia showed Doma the portals she had made for him and the oasis city to connect them to the edge of the desert. That way, they could reach the trade hub without needing to traverse the desert whenever they needed to stock up on supplies. Naturally, the horned man was initially overwhelmed, but once he somewhat understood the situation, he was thankful for the amazing gift she had given them.

  “Ohh!" The group walked up the small hill at the edge of the desert, and once they were on its top, the trade city called Barak finally came into view, which made Sophia quite excited. It was bigger than she had anticipated, as the city seemed to have enough housing to provide for thousands of people. The buildings themselves were similar to those of the oasis city and primarily based on sandstone as there was an abundance of materials right next to them. Barak used a lot more wood, mainly in the form of Acacia, in their buildings, though, which gave the city a warm feeling from the yellow, orange, and reddish colors everywhere. In the middle of the city was an enormous plaza with countless stalls and tents with various wares on display.

  “Shopping time!” Maya also got excited. “I think I see some stalls with spices!”

  “Let’s go!” As Ari also liked to cook, her motivation to get going soared, as well.

  “I wonder how this place gets its wares.” While they were getting closer to the city, Sophia wondered how it became a trade hub. "While not in the desert, it’s still not a prime location as it's basically inaccessible from the sandy side.”

  “One of the western main roads of the kingdom starts in Barak," Anna answered while pointing at the massive road leading out of the city and past the horizon that could be seen in the distance from the group’s position. “On top of that, it has a direct road to the coast, as well as the northern territory.” She then gestured at the slightly smaller roads in the north and south. “While its back is against the desert, Barak is quite central.”

  “Alright, seems reasonable to me, then!” The blonde nodded. “I also really like the sound of that road leading to the coast! We’re definitely taking this one next.” Their plan was to head towards the sea, after all. “Unless we get some tangible details on your brother’s course.”

  “Thank you very much!” The princess was glad Sophia was still willing to take a detour for her.

  “You’re welcome~.” Sophia smiled at her. “I like meeting new people! Especially when it’s something as significant as the group of your brother!”

  "Really?" She raised an eyebrow. "Since when do you care about how significant someone is?"

  “When that someone is traveling with a cute jaguar and puma-girl, I care a lot!”

  "I love you." Maya was a fan of her girlfriend's pure and noble intentions.

  “I feel a little bad for Nathan right now, but I can’t blame you there.” While Anna was looking forward to seeing her brother again, she definitely didn’t fail to recognize the allure of cute girls.

  “I want to see my sister, too, but that puma-girl Doma mentioned also caught my interest.” Ari scratched her cheek. “You don’t see pumas all that often, at least not in the capital area.”

  “Ohh, a rare girl!” Sophia liked that even more. “Well, we still have to find them first, so getting excited already might be a little early.”

  “True!” The jaguar agreed with her.

  Wrapping up their conversation about Nathan’s group and their future itinerary, the group finally got closer to the city and made their way toward its nearest entrance.

  ----------------

  “Welcome to my humble city.” Once they entered the place, everyone immediately recognized Anna and Sophia as the tigers they were, and the group was asked to visit the mayor first before doing anything else. Naturally, Fen and Aura decided not to partake in that and quickly parted with the two tigers, Ari, and Maya, to explore on their own. Arriving at the mayor’s place, the girls were promptly greeted by, judging by the streaked black and white hair, combined with the horse-like ears and tail, a zebra woman somewhere in her forties. “I am Darci, mayor of Barak.”

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  “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” The tall tiger entered her formal mode. "I am Anna, the first princess of the nation.” She introduced herself first before gesturing at the other girls. “Those are Ari, Sophia, and Maya, close friends and relatives of the family.”

  “Hello.” The trio in question kept it simple.

  “The pleasure is all mine.” Darci smiled at the princess. “Although, I have to ask why Barak comes to the honor of welcoming another royal member of the royal family with her entourage in a little over a year? This time, it even consists of two tigers.”

  “It might be hard to believe, but it’s actually a complete coincidence." Anna scratched her cheek. "We only discovered yesterday that the prince had also visited Barak.” She was the most surprised about it, after all. “My dear brother left the capital a couple of years ago to get a better understanding of the kingdom. I embarked on a similar journey earlier this year, and it seems like our paths have almost crossed."

  “Fascinating.” The mayor nodded a few times. “Oh, does that mean that you are also intending to learn how I rule my city? The prince followed me for around a month to learn the ropes of being a mayor.”

  “No, not at all.” Anna’s reply was instantaneous. “This is Nathan’s thing. He wanted to get to know the people and learn how to rule. While I'm also interested in our people, I mainly intend to see and learn about the kingdom’s nature, flora, and fauna."

  “Wow, that’s just as commendable.”

  “And a lot less work for you, isn’t it?” Sophia had to take a quick jab after seeing Darci’s relaxed expression.

  “I really like how direct the tiger family is.” She smiled at the blonde. “I am more than happy to serve and teach the ruling family my ways of doing things, but having someone follow you for an entire month while asking one question after another without a single break in between can be a little exhausting. Please pardon me for not being disappointed that I don't need to do that again."

  “Ahaha.” The shorter tiger let out a small chuckle while giving her a thumbs up.

  “Well, I guess I wish you a nice stay in Barak, then.” The mayor scratched her cheek. “Naturally, I’d love to give the nation’s princess and her group a detailed tour of the city. That’s the least I can do."

  “That sounds lovely.” Anna wasn’t against the plan. “Before that, I have a question, though. Do you happen to know where Nathan went after they left Barak? If we have the chance, we’d like to try and catch up with them.”

  "Won't that be a bit hard?” Darci tilted her head. “The prince and his group have a lead of about a year, after all.”

  “That is true.” The tall tiger nodded. "We aren't spending a month or longer in each major city we visit, though. Also, if we know their destination, we might be able to take a shortcut or two.” She didn’t feel the need to go into detail on how their group takes shortcuts.

  “Oh, that’s true.” She could follow her logic. “I don’t have an exact destination, but the prince mentioned that they’d take the coastal road next before deciding on their next course once they reached the sea.”

  “Really?!” Anna raised her voice. “That’s where we planned to go, anyway, so that’s perfect!” She was happy that they were already on the right track.

  "How convenient~." Sophia was glad it was working out so well. “There is a bit of an official side to our visit here, though.” She got a little more serious.

  “Is that so?” Hearing the other tiger mention the word official, the mayor tensed up a little.

  “Right! The big project to change the kingdom from the ground up!”

  “Really?” Her wording didn't make Darci feel any more at ease.

  “Should we make it quick and painless as usual?”

  “Not sure if painless is the right word here.” As Ari knew what the blonde was talking about, she had a hard time agreeing with her choice of words there.

  “As we agreed on before, for me, it is.” The blonde gave the jaguar a cheeky grin before facing the mayor again. A moment later, she raised her arm for extra effect and let a portal with a diameter of two meters appear next to her. “Time for a trip~!”

  “W-What is that?!” To the surprise of no one, the mayor immediately freaked out when she saw the mass of pink and purple particles swirling around after they appeared out of nowhere.

  “Ah, wait a moment, that’s still the old model.” Sophia glanced at the portal and noticed it still had an opaque center rather than being see-through to see what was on the other side. “Is this better?”

  “Not really, no!” Darci heavily shook her head while staring at the portal and the room that was revealed inside.

  “I’m so happy that we moved the portal out of my closet and into a separate room.” Anna was rather glad about the relocation.

  “What am I looking at here?!” The mayor got louder.

  Not wanting to explain it to her because she knew it would take ages, Sophia got behind Darci and pushed her through the portal to let things speak for themselves. Arriving in the castle, they immediately brought her to the king to give him his usual headache, as well.

  - Killam Okami -

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