After a lot of experimenting and some collateral damage in their garden, the couple eventually found the right mixture to turn the heating ore into a mass that can be safely used to heat up their floor. Afterward, Sophia and Maya went to their basement to test it out. It worked out even better than expected, and the duo lazed around on the heated floor until the wolves eventually showed up.

“What are you doing…?” Fen and Aura had just come back from working on the maze and ran into the couple lazing around on the floor of the portal room while cuddling with each other.

“More importantly, why is the floor made out of wood now…?” The female wolf was just as confused. More about the changes to the basement, though. Running into the two cuddling somewhere wasn’t anything unusual, after all.

“Err…” The couple got up from the floor, and Sophia awkwardly scratched her cheek. “Why don’t you step on the wood and tell me what you think?”

“Hmm?” Fen had no idea what was going on but still did as the tiger suggested. “It’s warm…?” His confusion only grew.

“Ohhh, it feels nice!” Aura’s reaction was much more direct. “What did you two do?”

“Winterproofing the mansion.”

“Okay…?” He walked around on the floor some more. “Did you get your hands on some heating ore?”

“A lot of it.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t blow up the basement. Good job, Sophia.” Aura sounded strangely proud.

“You should see the craters in the garden. It looks like a battlefield there…” The tiger awkwardly scratched her cheek again.

“Ahh… I praised you too early, huh?”

“Maya blew it up!”

“Urgh…” The cat-girl turned her head away. “It’s not my day, okay?!”

“Ahaha.”

“Still, how did you come up with putting it below the floor? Assuming that’s what you did under the wood.”

“My old world had heated floors, and I tried to recreate it with resources from here. It worked out way better than I had ever hoped for.”

“Is that so? Good job.” Fen lightly praised her before walking around on the heated wooden floor some more.

“You like it, too, don’t you?” Sophia quickly saw through him.

“I… don’t necessarily care either way…”

“Really?” The tiger naturally didn’t buy it for even a second. “Well, I guess I don’t have to put the heated floor in the living room then, huh? With an extra generous amount of the ore right below where the sheebskin rug is, huh?”

“Sheep.” Maya corrected her.

“Same difference!” The new, old naming scheme hasn’t fully settled in with her yet after having learned the wrong names before.

“T-That’s-!” The was a slight hint of panic in his voice.

“Don’t bully our dear Fen so much.” Aura stepped in for him.

“T-Thank you…”

“It’s clear as a day that he desperately wants.” She wasn’t on his side, though.

“Hey!”

“And how much do you want to have it?” The tiger had seen through her, as well.

“I don’t want to have it.” Aura paused for a moment. “I need it.”

“Now that’s honest.” Sophia liked her reply. “Fenny, you should learn from her.”

“S-Shut up…” He sounded slightly pouty as he turned his head away.

“Alright, because Fenny wants it so much, we’ll change the floor in the living room, as well.”

“On behalf of our dear Fen, I thank you very much.”

“Which side are you on, Aura?!” He got loud.

“Sophia’s.” She didn’t hesitate for even a second. “Obviously.”

“Urgh…”

“But don’t look forward to it too much, Fen!” Maya also couldn’t miss this opportunity. “Our bedroom will be the first to get renovated!”

“Haa…” He needed a moment before giving up. “All… All that aside, I know that the two of you are the textbook examples of cats, but it’s probably going to stay somewhat warm for a bit longer, you know?”

“Our bedrooms not on the direct sun-side, though! It’s not heating up that much during the day compared to the toasty living room!” The tiger started complaining.

“Sounds like an excuse to me.”

“Of course, it is! It’s also true, though!” Sophia had no reason to hide it.

“I see. Well, whatever…” Fen didn’t want to deal with it, her anymore.

“Hehe.” She felt like having won the argument. “Maya, we’re going to revisit the store tomorrow.”

“Absolutely!”

The group kept bickering for a little longer before eventually going back to the living room, where everyone felt like freezing for some reason.

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The rest of the day went by without anything happening, and even Sophia managed to get up relatively early the following morning. The couple was on an important mission, after all. The two went shopping for some, or a lot, more of the heating ore. While they were at it, the tiger also got a little more of the insulation. Most of it was scheduled to be delivered somewhere in the afternoon, but Sophia decided to carry some of the ore on hand because the girls wanted to get started with their bedroom right away.

“Alright!” The couple was back in the mansion, and Sophia energetically raised her fist once the two had entered their bedroom. “Let’s get rid of all the stuff!”

“Yes!” Maya was as motivated as the tiger.

“Well, it’s not really any work, so… Oh, let me try something~.”

“Do I like the sound of that…?” The cat-girl wasn’t sure how to feel right now.

“Err…” She scratched her cheek. “Debatable… Please leave the room.”

“Okay, no, I don’t like the sound of it. What are you planning?”

“I’ll try teleporting the entire inside of our room into my storage dimension.”

“Uhh…” Hearing that, Maya gladly left the room and even went down the hallway to ensure she wouldn’t end up as collateral. “Please don’t destroy the bed. I’ve come to like it quite a bit.”

“There’s no need to worry about that.” Sophia sounded really confident. “I would protect this bed with my life. There’s no way I’d ever destroy it.”

“I-I see…”

“Carefully…” Sophia started to concentrate, and a few moments later, their entire bedroom was shrouded in the same pinkish distortions as her usual portals. Afterward, once those disappeared again, the room was completely empty. Even the wooden floor was gone, revealing a marble-like stone layer. The attached bathroom, too, had been emptied out.

“Maybe you should rethink your opinion about joining the carpentry business.” The cat-girl came closer again and was visibly impressed. “You could revolutionize the industry.”

“Ehh… Maybe, I’ll put it on the list of retirement ideas.”

“Sure, go for it.” It was pretty easy to tell from the tone of their voices that the couple was just messing around. “Why did you even clean out the bathroom?”

“Hello?” The tiger tilted her head. “Heated floors when going in and out the tub when naked?”

“Why are you so perfect…?” Maya fell even more for her.

“I try my best~.”

“Hehe.” She let out a chuckle. “So, what now?”

“We’ll destroy the nice-looking marble floor of our bedroom.”

“Uhh… This mansion is ours, right…? Not just like the king is letting us rent it for free…?”

“The contract the Minister of Housing gave me mentioned that it’s my property now, so we should be fine?”

“Right… Good to know.” She sounded relieved about it.

“Even if, no matter how nice the marble looks, heated floors are a definite upgrade.”

“True.” Maya saw no error in her claim.

“Wait a moment…” Sophia’s expression suddenly changed, and she let a portal appear in front of her.

“What’s wrong?”

“I want to take a look at something…” Saying so, she grabbed the cat-girl’s hand, and both stepped through the portal.

“Well…” Maya looked slightly awkward while she was scratching her cheek. “That’s something…” The duo was looking at an exact replication of their bedroom inside the storage dimension. Safe for any walls, that is.

“I knew it… We could totally live in here.”

“I don’t think I ever doubted that we could, but I don’t think we should.” There was a subtle difference in those claims. “There’s no need for it anymore, either, because we have the mansion to return to now, too.”

“That’s fair…” The tiger sounded a little disappointed. “I still think it would be fun to place a house inside here.”

“Sure…” With a roll of her eyes, Maya grabbed her hand again and dragged the overambitious tiger out of the storage dimension.

Half an hour and the usage of earth-related magic later, the floor in the couple’s bedroom, including the bath, was now carved out by 15 to 20cm. Afterward, the duo placed an extra thick layer of insulation on the floor by doubling the sheets. They apparently act as soundproofing, too, after all. Something of great interest for the two.

“Alright, time to mix the heating ore. How much of it do you want in our bedroom?”

“That depends on how much we have.”

“I like the way you think.” Sophia started smiling. “We used around 3 kilograms of it in the basement, which is roughly the same size if we include the bathroom, I guess? Hard to tell with the different layouts. If we factor in how the basement is much colder in the first place and how… Long story short, I have five kilograms in my storage right now… How does five kilograms sound to you?” She cut her explanation short.

“Flawless logic.” Maya also began to smile. “Let’s do it like that!”

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Another hour later, the couple’s bedroom was back to its original look only with the floor being heated now.

“I still need to think about a way to use the conductivity ore for us to remotely heat it up, but for now… Let’s test it!”

“Let’s!”

“Okay!” The tiger placed a hand on the floor and started pouring her magic into it. She continued doing so for around a minute until it felt like the heating ore was saturated.

“Ohh~.” Another minute or two passed, and the cat-girl started to feel something. “It’s getting warmer! It’s working~!” Her voice was full of joy.

“I think this is my favorite site of yours, Maya.” Sophia didn’t care about the heated floor right now and started right at her.

“Mmh? What do you mean?” She innocently looked at her while happily patting down the warm floor. “This is sooo great~.”

“You just being you.” The blonde had an incredibly soft expression. “It’s like when we first met or when we play around. I love every part of you, but when you don’t have to look after me, being all playful and giddy… It’s the best."

“Hehe.” She only let out another chuckle while showing her a cheeky smile.

“I love you.” Some switch had flipped inside of Sophia, and she got closer to Maya while still kneeling down on the floor in front of her. Then, she lifted up her chin and gave her cat-girl a kiss on the lips.

“Oh?” Her ears perked up while she parted from the tiger. “I love you, too.” Maya forgot about the floor, as well, and returned the kiss with one of her own. “I think bold Sophia’s one of my favorites~.” Her voice turned playful, and she pointed at her lips. “I want another one~.”

“Hmm…” It seemed like the blonde had a different plan. She got up before grabbing the cat-girl’s hand to help her up. Afterward, Sophia guided her towards the bed and pushed her down there.

No time at all had passed since the tiger got bold, and the couple, after having had a quick shower to freshen up after having done a lot of work, went back downstairs. Even though they had gotten sidetracked, the two still had some more construction left to do.