Boosted Continuation – A new world

The Sophia Tax has been established, which made everyone who uses her domain pay with a portion of their raw magic they must leave behind when leaving the place. Naturally, this was only to better her domain and make it more fun to play in there. More magic equals more fun, after all. It had no downsides, either, as their full powers would recover during their travels through the regular world. A win-win for everyone.

“Okay, it’s time for exploring!” Back where they left off outside her domain the day before, Sophia energetically raised her arm. “High-speed exploring!”

“Let’s go!” Steph had the exact same reaction.

“High-speed exploring…?” Anna looked confused.

“Punishment for something or another… Kinda forgot why, but I decided that we'll be traveling at full speed today because I was greatly offended by something and or someone yesterday!"

“How offended can you be if you don’t even remember the reason?” Fey rolled her eyes while looking at the blonde.

“VERY!”

“I see.” The full fox didn’t feel like arguing any further.

"Right!" Sophia then clapped her hands. "I was angry at Maya and Ari for being way too sassy to me! Even for their standards! Also, we found out that Chloe is too lazy and prefers to be carried around! Not acceptable! Also, I think Anna was in need of some stamina training!"

“…” The girls in question went silent.

“As Fey actually accompanied me on some of my morning runs in the past, and I know that our wolves love it, too, I assume they’re fine with my decision.”

“Yep.” The trio nodded in agreement.

“Mira, are you fine with it, too? I would assume that you could be the fastest if you want to?”

“Absolutely~.” The overseer smiled at her. “Also, if this helps to make my beloved daughter less lazy, I’m all for it.”

“I’m not… that lazy!” The girl in question started pouting. “Walking, if not too much, is fine, but running is no fun! Too exhausting!”

“Sounds pretty lazy to me.” Multiple voices had to make a retort.

“Ah.” Chloe noticed her mistake a little too late.

“It’s decided then!” Sophia joyfully clapped her hands. “How far should we run? 100km sounds like a nice warm-up, doesn’t it?”

“Seems good to me.” Fen nodded a few times.

“Count me in!” So did Steph.

“That works for me.” Aura and Fey weren’t against it, either.

“SOMEONE STOP THOSE FREAKS!” Chloe's and Anna's opinions on the matter were very different as their voices overlapped.

"What they said! Just in nicer words." Ari, too, wasn't a fan. “Not that any nicer words come to mind right now.”

“Don’t worry, we're going to make a short break at the halfway point." The blonde smiled at the concerned girls.

“THAT ISN’T GOING TO MAKE IT ANY BETTER!” The princess and the pink fox were still in perfect sync. “NOT EVEN A LITTLE, IDIOT!”

“What they said!” The jaguar lagged a little behind still. “Not in nicer words either, idiot!”

“Haa…” Sophia let out a sigh. "Mira, are they just whining, or am I asking for too much? Factoring in their boosted magic and increased physical powers.”

“If we take Anna and Ari as the baseline, as those two have the smallest authority and magically boosted bodies in the group, 200 kilometers should be possible with ease. You have to remember that they paid 50% Sophia Tax today, so their bodies are already a bit tired. Your suggested 100 kilometers are the perfect middle ground here.”

“THEY ARE NOT!” Mira’s popularity was also plummeting.

“Enough excuses!” The blonde finally had enough. “Everyone who keeps complaining will be left behind!”

“Such a tyrant!”

“Tough luck! Everyone made me the leader of the group for whatever reason, so you have to deal with the consequences of such a stupid decision!”

“…”

“Let’s go!”

----------------

As there was absolutely nothing they could do anymore at this point, everyone got ready for today’s exploring slash training session.

“M-Mercy…!” Roughly an hour had passed since the group started running, and the result of it was Sophia having two girls kneeling in front of her while pleading to her with teary eyes. Chloe and Anna had not taken the training session overly well.

“I-I’d like to agree…” Ari, also looking quite tired, agreed with the duo while leaning against Maya next to her for stabilization, as her legs seemed a little shaky.

“I am sooo happy that I’m not the slowest of the group anymore!” The cat-girl was faring a lot better than the three.

“So weak.” Sophia slowly shook her head while looking at the two girls on the floor before her. “There will be lots more training in the future!”

“N-No!” Their despair only grew.

“There are times when Sophia is almost impossible to deal with, and there are days when you just love her. The duality of this girl is something else!” Fey was impressed by the blonde.

“W-Which day is today?” The pink fox looked at her mother with pleading eyes.

“I don’t think you want to know.” The full fox stared right back at her.

“Ah.” She hung her head.

“Anyway,” Fey then faced the blonde. “I applaud, figuratively speaking, your enthusiasm on the matter, and they definitely need more training, but we might should think about finetuning our approach a little.”

“I’m listening.” She looked back at her.

"Pushing them too far too quickly would only make them hate it." The full fox shook her head a couple of times. "Not to mention that, because of the extra breaks we need for them to recover, we actually aren't any faster."

“That’s a good point.” The blonde nodded. “Then again, for half of them, it was a punishment.”

“Fair enough.” Fey could agree with that. “My goal is for my dear lazy daughter to tackle more demanding and straining tasks, though.”

“Valid.”

“Can I remind you that we traveled across half an entire continent already?!” The lazy girl got loud. “I’m pretty sure I’m in the top 1% of distance traveled in this world! There are many people that are way lazier!”

“How much of that was spent walking very leisurely or entirely on my back?”

“Ah.” She had the same reaction as before. “Walking is more fun, anyway! You’re less likely to miss anything important, as well!”

"EXACTLY!" Anna agreed with her new best friend. In that matter, for now, at least.

“It’s hard to fault them for that.” Steph joined the conversation. “I mean, I don’t agree at all, because I love running at high speed, but it’s not something you have to enjoy."

“T-Thank you very much!” Chloe was touched that her girlfriend defended her.

“That being said, you really are quite slow.” Steph awkwardly scratched her cheek.

“Ah.” After having been betrayed by her, the pink fox once again hung her head.

“On top of that, Anna was literally out of breath after not even five minutes.” The dog-girl then glanced at the princess. “No matter how much you prefer a leisure walk, that’s too much.”

“Urgh!” The tall tiger had hoped she’d be spared.

“Mhmm…” Sophia’s expression got a little scrunchy. “Okay, I get it! BUT!”

“But?” Fey tilted her head.

“Today is punishment day! While there will be breaks, we will keep running at max speed until the day is over! Tomorrow will be a lazy one because of sore muscles, and then we'll be doing reasonable training sessions the day after!"

“Sounds good to me.” The full fox liked her plan.

“Good~.”

“NOT GOOD AT ALL!” Anna and Chloe, again, did not. “The two of us, who are suffering the most, didn’t even do anything to warrant a punishment! Ari and Maya were the sassy ones that upset you!”

“I am suffering a bit, though!” The jaguar glared at them. “My legs feel like pudding!”

“Good!” It was a small consolation for them. “Maya’s totally fine, though!”

“I sure am~.” To rub it in even further, she gave them a smug thumbs up.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to punish her this night.” Sophia smiled at them in return.

“Oh?” The cat-girl’s ears perked up.

“THAT’S NOT A PUNISHMENT!” Anna got even louder. “Don’t reward her!”

“Why am I not surprised you’re into that?” Sophia glanced at her fellow tiger before facing Maya. “My punishment will be nothing. We won’t be doing anything tonight!”

“NOOOOO!” The horny cat fell to her knees.

“Well, I guess that’s fair, then.”

“I’d argue that’s an even harsher punishment.” Anna and Chloe started to feel better. “For Maya, at least.”

“…” The cat-girl looked rather upset about this turn of events. “So, it will just be me and my beloved toys…”

“What was that?” Sophia looked right at her.

“N-NOTHING!”

“I see.”

Once that topic was taken care of, the group relaxed for a little longer before Sophia’s punishment run continued. This, running, taking a break, running, taking a break, running, and so on, went all the way until the evening before the blonde called it a day and let them be free.