The couple noticed that the colder weather also affected their bedroom as it was getting slightly chilly there. Neither of the cats liked this development overly much. Sophia then thought about the magic ovens and heaters Maya told her about and remembered the heated floors from her old world and wanted to recreate them. The cat-girl liked this idea very much, and the two got really motivated about the idea. The two then decided to visit the castle to find out where to get the material the ovens and heaters are made with.

“Haaa~…” The tiger let out a long yawn while the two were walking towards the castle. “Still sooo tired….”

“Yeah, it’s gotten quite late last night.”

“You were the one who wanted to go for an extra round!”

“I didn’t hear you complaining yesterday.” The cat-girl sounded rather smug.

“S-Shut up…” Sophia had nothing to defend herself with. “Wait, it actually didn’t get late at all because we remembered to stop time… Why am I still so tired?!”

“Replace late with exhausting, and the result’s still the same.”

“Fair… Hmm…” She suddenly tilted her head while seemingly haven had a genius thought.

“No, that’s a stupid idea.” Maya stopped her before the tiger could say anything.

“You don’t even know what I was thinking about!”

“You were wondering if you could sleep while time’s stopped to get some extra hours on top.”

“Get out of my head!” Sophia didn’t like how well the cat-girl knew her.

“Ehehe…” She had to chuckle at her reaction.

The couple bickered for a while longer until the two reached the castle. There, they were greeted by the usual head maids, which seemed to be in charge of Sophia’s group, as well by now. The jaguar-maids then escorted them to Menzor. The heated floor was of such significant importance that the duo wanted to go straight to the nation’s king for intel.

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“Oh, what brings the two of you here?” Naturally, Menzor wasn’t expecting the couple. “Did something happen? Or is it to plan the visit of Anna’s school together with Eluna?”

“Nah, we don’t care about that at the moment.” Sophia had bigger plans, after all.

“I see… So, how can I help you, then?”

“Well…” The blonde wasn’t sure where to start. “I actually don’t know if you’re the right person to ask. You might be a little, uhh… overqualified for it.” She had no better word to use instead.

“Get it out already.” He wasn’t a fan of beating around the bush.

“We’re looking to get our hand on the raw material that’s used to build magic ovens and heaters.”

“Okay… I might actually be a bit overqualified for that.”

“Ahaha…” Sophia let out a dry laugh. “Does that mean we can just buy it somewhere?”

“It’s not quite that easy.” The king shook his head. “The raw material is a bit unstable, and only manufacturers authorized by the government are allowed to handle it. If you pour too much magic into the unrefined material, a huge explosion is the most likely outcome.”

“Oh, I’m good with those.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing!” The blonde put her hands on her mouth. “So, how can I get it?”

“What do you need it for?”

“Experiments.”

“I don’t like the sound of that.” Menzor got wary of her.

“Ahh…” She couldn’t blame him. “I had an idea I want to test out. I’m trying to invent a new kind of heater.”

“What’s the difference to the already existing ones?”

“That’s a secret~. It will heat up the rooms in your house, as well, but it’s going to work fundamentally different.”

“I see… How dangerous is it going to be?” He knew how the blonde works by now.

“Not at all.”

“That’s reassuring…”

“Well, I promise nothing, though.”

“Hey!”

“You were the one who said the raw material’s prone to exploding. I didn’t know about that.” This was news to her, after all. “I still want it, though.”

“Fine… It’ll only end badly for me if I refuse you…” He gave up before his head started to hurt.

“Yay!”

“I’ll write you a permit for it. With that, you can go to the manufacturers of the ovens and heaters to buy some of the material from them. They naturally can’t give it to you for free.”

“Thank you very much! Sure, I have enough money.”

“Good. There’s a condition for the permit, though.”

“And that is?” Sophia tilted her head.

“I want to see the result of your experiment if it’s successful.”

“Sure, if I manage to invent what I, uhh, want to invent, it’ll become super popular, and there’s no reason to hide it. Sharing will be subjected to royalties, though~.” The tiger had no problems with making her invention public. Giving it away for free was a different story, though.

“Of course. How else do you think inventions work?” Menzor wasn’t the slightest bit offended by her own condition. “Still, you sound confident that your idea will be a hit, huh?”

“It’s even better than she makes it out to be!” Maya answered for her. She really liked the idea, after all. “It’s the best thing ever!”

“Is that so…? Well, I look forward to whatever it is.” Saying so, the king then prepared a letter for the blonde with his seal on it to permit her to buy whatever she needed from the manufacturers. Once he gave them the address of the biggest place to get the material from, the duo immediately left.

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The couple walked through the capital for a while and eventually arrived in a corner they hadn’t been to before. The two mostly visited the resident and shopping areas in the outer layers, but the industrial area was new to them. There were fewer normal-sized houses, and instead, many large-scale buildings and small to medium-sized warehouses dominated the place.

“Ah, there it is.” Looking around for a bit, Maya eventually found the place Menzor had noted down for them.

“Good. I was completely lost already…” Sophia’s sense of direction was as useful as it had always been. “Let’s go!” She energetically marched forward and entered the building.

“Welcome to… Oh?” A middle-aged guy with slightly gray hair and tall, wolf-like ears on top of his head, together with a somewhat sharp expression, greeted the duo before noticing Sophia’s tigerness. “You’re the new one, aren’t you?”

“W-Well, not sure if I’m still new… I’m in the capital for a while already, after all, but I’m the newest one, yeah…” The blonde was slowly getting used to it.

“To be blessed by the mysterious one. How do we come to the honor?”

“Mysterious one…?” Sophia tilted her head.

“Just a nickname because so little’s known about the blonde tiger.”

“I see…”

“Oh, are you taking over for inspecting our production around the heating ore?”

“No, that’ll be left to the people who know what they’re doing.” Having Sophia inspect things to make sure everything’s handled correctly was a bad idea, to put it lightly. “We actually came to buy some of the raw material.”

“Is that so?” He stared at her for a moment. “Tiger and all, we still aren’t allowed to sell it without an authorization of the Minister of Industry and or the Security and Regulatory one.”

“What about the king?”

“His Majesty? Of course. He can authorize whatever he wants.”

“Perfect!” With a cheerful voice, the blonde handed over the letter Menzor wrote for them.

“So, that’s how it is, huh?” The wolf-man read through it. “Blondie here is a special one, isn’t she?”

“Sure is.” Maya gave him a nod.

“Why do I feel like I’m being ridiculed right now…?”

“Just your imagination.” The cat-girl waved her hand.

“Hrmn…” She didn’t believe her.

“How much of the heating ore do you need?” He got the conversation back on track.

“No idea.” Sophia only shrugged her shoulders. “How much is usually used in a heater big enough for a larger room?”

“That depends on how warm you want it to get. Usually, it’s around one to two kilograms for the bigger heating units.”

“I see… How about five kilograms for starters?” The tiger wanted her bedroom to be toasty.

“Alright.” As the girl had a written authorization by the king himself, he had no intention of questioning her. “Anything else you need?”

“Hmm… Oh, do you have any material that insulates and or reflects warmth?”

“To guide the heat into a certain direction?”

“Exactly!”

“Yes. We use that in our ovens to keep the heat inside of it.”

“Perfect! I need a lot of that. A lot.”

“How much is a lot?” The wolf-man tilted his head.

“How much of it do you need for an oven?”

“Around two square meters, give or take some.”

“Okay… a hundred ovens worth of insulation, then.” Their bedroom wasn’t that big, but she wanted to insulate the floor really well.

“That is a lot. Quite the expensive order you’re cooking up here.”

“Don’t worry, money’s not a problem.”

“I like the sound of that!” He sounded much more motivated all of a sudden. “Anything else?”

“Hrmm…” Sophia thought about it for a second. “Are there any other materials with magical properties?”

“There’s the conductivity ore. As the name implies, it conducts magic. You can infuse a string with it to remotely operate the heater. That way, you can pour your magic into it without having to touch it directly.”

“I want that!” The blonde got highly excited. It sounded very similar to how cables are used in her old world, and that would be perfect for a lot of things she eventually wants to try recreating here.”

“Sure… How much?”

“Maybe 30 meters worth of that material for starters. I’ll be getting more in the future, though. Lots of it.”

“Of course. You’re in luck, too. We’ve just restocked our warehouse and have lots of everything at our immediate disposal. We could even arrange delivery as soon as the afternoon of today.”

“Sure, sounds perfect.” The tiger thought about stuffing everything into her storage dimension, but she opted against it as it would be way too flashy. Also, a same-day delivery works just as well.

“Great!”

Afterward, the three went over the contract, which included the materials, delivery time and place, and some other minor details, including the arrangement to pay on the delivery. Once everything was taken care of, the couple decided to explore the industrial area a little more while their delivery was getting ready. They went back home a few hours later, just in time to greet the delivery guys with many horse-drawn carts packed with the magic ores and a ton of the insulation Sophia wanted. The blonde instructed them to unload everything in the barn behind the mansion, and everything was good to go once she paid for the delivery.