For a bit, everyone caught their breaths. Particurly Natalie and Liz, of course, but everyone in the secluded train car was blushing and a bit worked up, after Natalie's thh abuse of the petite royal's throat.

  Afterward, Natalie pulled out her vial of sing liquid and worked on making herself presentable again. That particur escapade hadn't been especially dirty, not by the standards of some events, but the rather eager way Natalie had grabbed Liz's head and used it to her tent had left some stray saliva and cum in a variety of pces. Even if not just to keep their clothes from staining, but for smell too. They were headed for a quest briefing, and she doubted there'd be a ce for a shower in the meahank the heavens they'd gotten the magical sing liquid. It solved a lot of logistical problems.

  Eventually, Liz spoke up. "You weren't kidding, Jordan," she groaned, a haing oomach. "She puts out so much. I feel full. People aren't supposed to cum that much, are they?"

  "Another be of having a goddess as her patron, I guess," Jordan ughed. "But yeah. It's really something."

  "Did it work?" Ana asked, taking the breaking of the silence as an indicator that she could speak herself. "Did the spell take hold?"

  Sofia huffed. "Give her a sed to pose herself, at least, won't you?"

  Ana pursed her lips, eyes meeting Sofia's briefly, then nding ba Liz's. She didn't press, though her obvious i went nowhere.

  Liz ughed at the girl's pin impatience. "Yes, it worked, Ana," she said. "I guess the skill's w was vague for a reason." She blushed, then stammered out her words. "Which means won't have to go even further to cast it. So that's good."

  "Don't sound too disappointed," Jordan ughed.

  "W-What? Why would I be disappointed?"

  "Why would you be sad that Natalie doesn't have to use a different hole to activate her skill? Hmm." Jordan tapped her lips as she feigrying to e up with a reason. "I wonder."

  "S-Shut up. Anyway," Liz choked out. "Um. Yes. It worked." She focused on Ana desperately, talking busio escape Jordan's smirk. "And it's really strong. It'd probably be a lot more noticeable on one of you all, having physical stats boosted, but even I feel it. My spells are going to be way stronger. It's a shame we have to wait to test it."

  "It says it gives a 'massive' boost, so probably a lot," Ana ented.

  "There'll be a towually," Liz said.

  "Sted as a two-to-three day quest, so yeah," Natalie said, deg to spare the pirl by also joining in with the practical discussion. "There's gonna be plenty of downtime."

  "Wonder what the quest is, anyway," Liz said.

  Natalie shrugged. Teeo provide pretty minimal descriptions of the various quests they assigned—rather, they'd be briefed upon arrival to their destination.

  From there, the heated atmosphere of the dissipated. The five of them settled in for a mur sort of friendly bonding—chatting about what the following days might have in store for them, and other idle things. With this being a several hour long train ride, that versation naturally tapered off, and soon the five of them were passing time in whatever ways they wished. Which for everyone except Natalie, and strangely Ana, meant pulling out a textbook to catch up on the academic requirements of Te.

  At some point, Natalie stepped out from the private to head to the restroom, and Sofia followed after her.

  "Nat?"

  Turning around, Natalie gave the girl a curious look. They were alone in the hallway, between private s. Speaking quietly, they wouldn't be overheard by anyone.

  After a moment of chewing her lip, Sofia said, "Thanks for what you did back there, by the way."

  "What I did?" Natalie asked, brow furrowing, not immediately uanding what Sofia meant. "I, uh. Did a lot, 'back there'."

  Sofia blushed and gnced away. "I don't believe that you were … as fast, your first time. You lied about that. Because I was embarrassed by it."

  Natalie briefly hesitated, uaiher she should insist on the point—but she didn't want to lie, especially when pressed. And she thought Sofia's rea had been primarily because of her audience, Ana and Liz, not Natalie.

  She doubly didn't want to lie because it would imply that Sofia's quick finish somehow wasn't okay, or that it was something to embarrassed about. Whiatalie thought was stupid. She'd pnned ing it up herself, holy, if perhaps not so soon.

  "Yeah," Natalie said. "I wasn't. Not that it matters how fast or slow you go." She snorted. "Holy, I think it's cute how quick you finish."

  "Cute?"

  "And hot."

  "Hot?"

  Natalie ughed. "I 't get enough of it. It's insanely hot."

  Sofia stared at her, mouth slightly open, her face fming. "N-Natalie. Don't be disgusting."

  "I'm serious."

  "Really?"

  "Does it sound like I'm joking?"

  Sofia's face reddened by several more shades as she stared at her. Eventually, she gnced away. "Oh. Well. Okay. I guess that's good, since I 't really trol it." She cleared her throat. "Even so, I don't know why I 't," she muttered. "It's not fair. I mean. Really. Was it even a minute?"

  Natalie shrugged. "To be fair, that situation was a bit overwhelming. When I first got mine, I had some time to work into things. Didn't ght to Jordan usio put on a show in front of my friends." She ughed, theated. "We didn't go too far, did we? Too fast?"

  "No, it art of the stupid colr, anyway," Sofia said dismissively, waving her hand. "The only problem was that I couldn't keep trol." She huffed. "Seriously. Less than a minute. Ugh."

  Natalie searched Sofia's face. That brief panic she'd seen had definitely given Natalie some . "I tell when you're having fun," she said slowly, thinking it robably best to broach the subject explicitly, "even when you're doing your whole fake protesting thing." She frowned. "But if I interpret something wrong, I expect you to tell me. You will, right? Don't let me get carried away with something you're not okay with. All the bullshit of our 'bet' and the colr aside. Be serious with me for a sed." She knew Sofia would much rather not be forced into answering a question like that, since she was desperately ging to her excuses for her own sake—something Natalie could sympathize with—but after that hiccup, she'd prefer Sofia say so ht.

  Sofia froze, Natalie's bluntness catg her off guard. She briefly seemed like she was going to protest, to revert to her usual ad demand Natalie expin what in the world she was talking about, but instead, she eventually huffed loudly.

  "As I told Jordan," she said, crossing her arms and not meeting her eyes, "I am perfectly capable of standing up for myself, should I o. Who do you think I am? inion do you have of me? Have I ever been incapable of stating my mind? Much less to you?"

  Definitely not. That was why Natalie liked to tease her so furiously—because she knew Sofia. The only way the prim image-obsessed girl would let Natalie walk over her was uhe guise of 'oh, we have a bet'. Sofia eheir enta, but only secretly.

  heless, Natalie was relieved to have it firmed. As obvious as it was to both of them, maybe she should have aired it out earlier. Just to be certain.

  A different part of what Sofia had said stuck out, though.

  "Jordan? What do you mean, like you told Jordan?" Had the two of them already had a talk like this? When had that happened?

  Sofia froze. She obviously hadn't meant to let that slip—though it didn't seem like some huge secret, either. "Anyway," Sofia coughed, not so subtly sidestepping the question. "Enough of that. I just wao say thank you. It was … siderate of you." She eyed her. "Which is rare."

  Natalie snorted. She wasn't 'siderate' to Sofia for some very iional reasons. And not just because Sofia was annoying and deserved it—but because the pervert obviously got off on it, too.

  "Oh, yeah," Natalie said, remembering something. "By the way, the bet's ing to a close soon. Week's almost over." Right as the quest would be ing to a close, as a matter of fact. "Hope you know what that means."

  "Hm?"

  Natalie grinned.

  "Just be ready," she said, squeezing Sofia's shoulder. "I like to end things with a bang, if you know what I mean. What do you think all the training and lead-up has been for? To not fuck you stupid?"

  Laughing, Natalie left Sofia standing there, sputtering in disbelief.