Chapter 340 – A sweet gift
Chapter 340 – A sweet gift
On the following day, after the sisters made sure that they were still together and Sophia confirmed that Steph still wanted to be in this world with her and everyone else, the tiger called Canir to get his butt over to them. Literally, as this was precisely what she did. Once he arrived and clarified that it was okay for the shorter blonde to stay, and she also thanked him for saving her older sister, they wanted to start asking him for help to get her ready to stay in the new place.
“As a reward and making up for the seven heart attacks and the emotional damage, I'm sure it's alright to ask for a thing or two, right?” While the girls and Canir were in the mansion’s living room, Sophia stared at him with pleading eyes. She also looked ever so slightly upset because of the events, but that was a different matter.
"Well, it was my fault, and you even solved it without my help, so I guess I can give you a bit of a reward. Also, I seriously wasn’t expecting your portals to still work, and I actually panicked a little because it was impossible for me to get you out of there... In fact, I even only found you again after the contact with Stephanie happened... That's how little influence I have on earth. I even went as far as getting the help of someone else. Then, before anything could be done by us, bam... All three of you were back in this world thanks to the portals... You sure are something...”
“I have my moments.”
“Yeah, sure, let’s keep it at that.” He just rolled his eyes in return. “So, what can I do for you?”
“Can you give Steph the language of this world? Like you gave Maya ours before, and how I learned it? Ah, if preferable, the fixed version. She doesn’t need to know about kows…”
“Kows…?” Chloe tilted her head.
“Ignore that!” The tiger got a little flustered.
“Sure, I can do that.” The overseer smiled at her. “In fact, I already did that when she hugged me. The next time your sister meets anyone outside this group or tries to read something, she'll be able to do that just fine. I might do the same as I did for Maya, for Fen, and the others, too. Even if I gifted Stephanie this language, there will still be a ton of misunderstandings as there are some things that don't translate in that direction. It might help to ease their confusion a little."
“E-Eh?!” Steph looked confused. “I-I learned an alien language just like that?! Seriously?! I didn’t feel anything when I hugged you, though!”
“That hurts to hear…” Canir had to use this chance.
"That's not what I meant! Well, that's also true. You're not my type, but… A-Anyway, I still don’t really get it, but thank you very much!”
“Shot down by both sisters, huh?”
"I-I'll buy you a drink next time to get over it." Sophia tried her best not to break into a full laughter and kept it at a light snickering.
“Don’t worry, I’m fine.” He simply waved his hand. “Drinks still sound fine, though.”
“Great!” She liked his reply. “Then, there’s the question of magic for Steph. You kinda need it in this world, after all. I'll gladly share half of mine with her if it doesn't work out. I won't even bat an eye about it, but…"
“Half?” Canir raised an eyebrow.
“Definitely! She’s my sister, and I love her! I want her to have as much fun as possible here! In a way, she’s here because of me, so I have to take care of her!”
“I see.” Nodding a few times, some sort of pinkish-orange object suddenly appeared in his hand, which he then threw over to Steph. “Here, catch!”
“E-Eh?!” Barely able to react, she still managed to catch it. "A peach…?” The girl tilted her head while looking at the fruit the overseer had thrown at her.
“I love peaches!” Chloe didn’t seem too concerned about it. “Too bad it’s so hard to get them around here…”
“Hmm…” He glanced at the fox-girl for a second before focusing on the shorter blonde again. “Eat it.”
“Why…?” Steph only got more confused.
“The fruit’s infused with a special magic. Once you’ve eaten it, it will become the seed inside of you to use magic to your heart’s content.”
“S-Seriously?!” Steph couldn’t believe it as she stared at the peach with big eyes.
“I don’t remember eating anything when you gave me magic…?” Sophia also looked quite confused over it.
“Because this is not my magic.” Canir pointed at the fruit while looking at the tiger. “After you and Maya disappeared, I asked Mira for help because both of you are also part of her system. Maybe she had an idea to get you back into it and this world, but you had already solved it yourself before we had a chance to.”
“Mira…?” The tiger paused for a moment. “Wait, wasn’t that the name of the goddess of magic…? The shrine we found while shopping?” She looked at Maya for help.
“She also would prefer the overseer title, but she actually governs the magic of this world, so her overseer title is a little… Anyway, we just aren’t the biggest fans of the god and or goddess titles…”
“So… the authority is from the boss of this world’s magic…?” Sophia tried to make sense of it.
“Pretty much.”
“Why…?”
“While we were trying to figure out how to get the two of you back, we ended up watching you three in the other world once we found you. Afterward, we continued to watch all four of you back here for a while. It seems like Mira took a liking to Stephanie and decided that she would like to gift her magic in case she wants to stay."
“Someone that important got interested in me? Why…?” The shorter blonde couldn’t see the reason for that.
“Why not?” Canir just shrugged. “My interest in Sophia also happened mostly on a whim, so…”
“Thank you so much for having that whim!”
“Sure~.” He smiled at the little sister. “Anyway, don’t think too deeply about it and just enjoy the gift.”
“O-Okay!”
“Why the peach, though…?” The taller blonde was still confused.
"She likes fruits, and peaches are one of her favorites, I guess?” The overseer tilted his head. “Her magic is also the one that regulates this world, so she used something from this world as a proxy to relay it to your sister? She's quite busy with some other things right now. Me interrupting her already took some time, so meeting Stephanie wasn't possible right now. Because of that, she used an alternative.”
“I see. I think…” She looked slightly confused still, but she reacted with a few nods.
“Will it, uhh… do me any bad if someone so important is interested in me…?” Steph still wasn’t sure how to feel about it.
“Kiss your privacy goodbye…” Sophia hung her head in response. “Overseers like to peek into the lives of others, after all.”
“Mira has a lot more decency than I have. Also, just as I won't, she would never peek into something truly private, either."
“Sounds like Mira is the better overseer, huh? Though, I'm kinda a fan of how casually you just admitted to being indecent~.”
“I wouldn’t disagree.” Canir felt himself agreeing with the tiger.
“Well, I’m okay with it because you earned some entertainment after everything you’ve done for me.”
"Glad to hear~. Anyway," He then focused his attention on Steph again. "There aren't any downsides to accepting it from her."
“T-That’s good…”
“Now, once you’ve eaten the peach, magic will start to manifest inside of you. I'm not sure how much exactly she's gifting you, but it feels like quite a lot. Magic in this world has multiple effects. One of them is that it also affects your body in general. You'll grow much healthier, and stronger. It also has a direct effect on your life expectancy. The amount you’ll gain most likely will push you over the boundary of being able to die of old age and most other natural deaths.”
“E-Eh?!” The little sister got loud again.
“You will not become immortal, though. That is something else entirely. It can end whenever you want it to end. Also, it means that you will become like the others here. You’ll be able to keep each other company for a looong time if that’s your desire.”
“S-Sophia?!”
“Ah, yeah… I've kinda become ageless… I guess I forgot to mention that, huh…?"
“YES! Yes, you did!”
“We’ll also stay looking like our current age for basically forever, by the way… Well, if you want a change of pace, there’s always magic, so…”
“Okay, that means if I gain the ability to use magic, my body will also change in a way that old age won’t be a thing anymore? The same is also true for Sophia?”
“Pretty much.” Canir just nodded.
“Down it goes!” Saying so, Steph immediately bit into the peach. “Woah, so sweet! It’s super tasty!”
“Now I also want some peaches…” Chloe sounded a little envious. “Why are they so hard to get around here? Most of the places I visited with Feyfey had an abundant amount of them…"
“It’s probably bad if I share some, right?” The eyes of the shorter blonde started to wander between the half-eaten peach, Canir, and the fox-girl next to her.
"Yes, you must eat it all to work properly." The overseer shook his head at her idea.
“Sorry about that, Chloe…”
“Eh? It’s totally fine! Don’t worry about me!”
“By the way,” While the duo was busy with each other, Canir looked at the tiger once more. “I’m not exactly sure what you two did on earth, but when Steph found you, you came out of an electronics store. I also heard some things afterward. You went shopping, right?”
“Yeah, we got lots of stuff. Bad idea?”
“Mhmm...” His eyebrows got a little scrunchy. “Your jaguar and the tiger princess should be fine with a little deceiving, the wolves anyway, but try to keep it contained. Actually, it would be great if you’re able to recreate some of earth’s technology, but based on magic, and not by destroying the planet. Batteries, for example, the stuff they're made of are really no good, after all. There are ways to store magic, so try to go after that. It might be usable as energy~. The same goes for how everything is made out of plastic in your old world. There are alternatives. Go for them. Don’t pollute this planet. Don’t give the humans here weird ideas if they find anything you lost...”
“I-I wasn’t planning to! Thanks for the reminder, though. I will make extra sure that none of the bad stuff spreads!”
“Very good.”
Afterward, once he made sure that Steph had properly absorbed the magic and exchanged some more words with everyone, Canir left again. He apparently also was kind of busy with something, and as quickly as he had arrived, he was gone again, as well.