NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 115 – The skills of a dog
Maya and Steph went to Mira's domain together to continue their search for the tentacle forest the overseer mentioned existed in her place. Being the perverts they are, they couldn’t just not find it without losing their precious title of being perpetually horny.
“By the way, what does a tentacle forest look like?” The two were still in the middle of a dense broadleaf forest when the cat-girl tilted her head.
“Well, it’s a forest full of tentacles?” Steph looked back at her with a questioning expression.
“I figured as much, but how does it actually look? Like, is it full of normal trees where some tentacle-like vines dangle down from? Is it green? When I think about tentacles, plant colors aren't the first that come to mind."
“True!” The dog-girl nodded. “I’d go with pink! Also, when I think about tentacles, I feel like a cave filled with them to be more natural. Not to mention that their shapes should be more like…” She decided against finishing her sentence. “Green vines dangling down trees sounds more like a regular jungle to me.”
“So, what does that mean?” Maya scratched her cheek. “Is Mira messing with us and is trying to sell some regular vines as tentacles to us, or are we taking the forest part too literally?"
“Well, I doubt Mira would mess with us like that.” Steph shook her head.
“Really? From what I’ve seen so far, Mira loves to mess with people, though?”
“I don’t disagree with that, but she also knows how important being horny is to us. After the Chloe fiasco, she’s sworn not to mess with important things."
“I’m not sure if I would put us being horny and disappointed that there are no tentacles to play with on the same level as Chloe not knowing who her mother was for the longest time." Maya had her doubts about the comparability here.
“I am disappointed in how unenthusiastic you really are about sexy times!"
“I’ll tell Chloe about what you just said.” The cat-girl slowly shook her head. “And how little you think about the probably worst chain of events in her life in this world.”
“I AM DEEPLY SORRY! PLEASE DON’T!” Steph immediately sank to her knees and started pleading with her.
“Fine.”
“Phew!” Looking visibly relieved, she stood up again. “In all seriousness, though, I was just generally speaking. Yes, Mira likes to mess with people, but this doesn’t seem like her style.”
"Alright, let's assume you're right. What are the alternatives?" Maya was still not entirely convinced but at least quite entertained the idea for now. “Should we ignore the forest part and search for a cave or something else below ground instead?”
“I mean, we are in the domain of an overseer, the overseer of magic, to be exact. What are the chances of underground forests being a thing here? A dark tentacle corner and or cave being a part of that doesn’t seem impossible!”
“I hate how that makes sense.”
“Why do you hate it?” The dog-girl disliked her lack of enthusiasm.
“We’re inside an overgrown forest right now. Visibility is low, to say the least.” She gestured all around her while saying so. “How easy do you think it will be to find a hole or cave entrance leading underground in this environment?”
“Ah.” Steph finally understood the issue.
“Already, my dear dog, sniff out a cave for us!”
“Do caves even have a smell?!” Steph got loud. “Okay, maybe a damp or moldy smell, but that’s not something you would notice far away from the entrance!”
“So useless…”
“How about you listen to cave sounds and find an entrance that way?!” She glared at the cat-girl.
“My hearing isn’t that good.”
“You always hear Sophia, Chloe, or me trying to come up with some mischief no matter how far you are away from us!”
“That’s just because the three of you are unable to be secretive and or silent when plotting things.”
“…” Steph had nothing to counter.
“We’re in quite the dilemma, huh?”
“There’s one dog trick that could help us, though.”
“Oh?”
“It’s time to dig!” Steph pointed at the ground in front of her feet. “Let’s dig straight down and see what happens!”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” The cat-girl raised an eyebrow.
“It’s never a good idea to do anything straight, but I’m out of options!”
“Forced to go straight, huh?”
"Exactly!" She nodded. "A horrible fate!”
“You two really are sisters.” Maya had to smile. “Sophia has to make the same joke at least once a week, too.”
“I’m so proud of her!”
“Alright, fine, let’s give it a try. I mean, the worst that could happen is us breaking into a cave and falling, but that’s nothing magic can’t solve.”
"There's no lava close to the surface in real life either, so we’re definitely fine!” Steph energetically raised her arm.
“Lava?” The cat-girl looked confused.
“Don’t worry about it!”
“Okay?”
“Let’s go!” Ignoring her, the dog-girl immediately got to work and began using her magic to instantly create a hole right below them.
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“Ahhhhh!” Roughly ten minutes after Steph started digging, things took a turn. As indicated by Maya’s scream, the two broke through the ceiling of a cave and fell to the bottom of it before even being able to react. Luckily, it wasn't that deep, and there was a little lake right below them.
“I guess there’s a reason why you don’t dig straight down, after all!” A few moments later, the duo swam over to the shore and sat down there. While being dripping wet, the dog-girl awkwardly scratched her cheek. “I knew that nothing good ever comes from anything remotely related to being straight!”
“You should be more like me.” The cat-girl lightly shook her head while looking at her.
“Hmm?”
“I never even thought about giving anything straight a try because I just know it’s of no use for me.”
“You are so wise!” Steph had nothing but admiration for her.
“Ehehe~.”
Once they agreed that anything straight was useless to them and just complicated things, the two dried themselves after having taken an involuntary bath before looking around and getting familiar with their new surroundings.
“It’s surprisingly not that dark in here, huh?” The dog-girl was happy she could see quite well inside the cave.
“Well, the veiling light is certainly helping.” Maya pointed up at the hole they fell through.
“Fair enough.” She nodded before looking around some more. “Although, that tunnel also seems kinda bright, doesn’t it?” The dog-girl pointed to her right, where a passageway was leading away from the cave.
“That is true!” The cat-girl also looked in that direction. "I wonder what it could be."
“Tentacles?!” Her eyes started sparkling.
“That light up?” Maya looked confused.
“There are many glow-in-the-dark toys, so why shouldn’t tentacles glow, too?!” The dog-girl raised her voice.
“THERE ARE?!” Maya got even louder.
“I’ll show you the next time we go shopping in the other world~.”
“Awesome!”
“Alright, let’s go and take a look at what's going on there!" She pointed at the tunnel.
“Sure!” The cat-girl nodded and began walking towards it to find the source of the light.
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“Ohh!” Walking through the passageway for a couple of minutes, the duo eventually found out why it was illuminated the way it was.
“Well, I didn't see that one coming.” Maya looked up towards the source and noticed that the two were at the bottom of a massive ravine. “It was just actual light, huh?”
“Yeah…” Steph hung her head. “The most boring possibility!”
“Miffed about it not being glowing tentacles?”
“ABSOLUTELY!” She nodded a couple of times. “That would’ve been so much more fun!”
“I guess you have a point.” Maya couldn’t blame her. “Do you know what is even worse?”
“Hmm?”
“We were only a few hundred meters away from finding that ravine above ground. The digging and falling into the lake were completely unnecessary.”
“Ah.”
“As the damage is already done, should we continue for a little while longer?” The cat-girl looked at her.
“I won’t let you go before we find the tentacles!”
“Will you let me go when we find them?” Maya raised an eyebrow.
“Of course!” The dog-girl nodded again. “After all, you have to go and get Sophia while I pick up Chloe! They need to be in on the fun, after all!”
“Ah, I see.” She had no objections to her plan. "By the way, should we explore that area a little more?" Maya pointed further down the ravine, where it seemed to be opening up a fair bit. “With the overhang of the rocks, it’s actually starting to look like an underground forest, so we have that going for us. If there’s a tunnel or cave somewhere nearby that area, Mira would’ve been technically correct with her claim.”
“That’s the best type of correct!”
Once they had agreed on a course of action, the two picked up the pace. They explored more of the ravine for the next couple of hours before eventually arriving at a larger cave-in that seemingly had overgrown over a long period of time. It being at the bottom of the ravine and encased by rocks gave off a feeling of an entire ecosystem being below ground.
From there, Maya and Steph checked every corner in the hope of finding anything out of the ordinary, like another cave or tunnel. Eventually, they actually found a promising passageway and promptly decided to follow it. It took them a full hour to find something, and they were about to give up when their entire vision suddenly turned pink.
"OOOHHHH!" Their patience had paid out, and both their eyes were sparkling as they took in the very horny sight all around them. “Let's go!” Steph was especially motivated.
“Not right now, though.”
Stopping the dog-girl, who had already begun lifting her top to strip, Maya grabbed Steph by her neck and dragged her back home to tell Sophia and Chloe the happy news.
