The couple was back in their mansion and happily teasing each other about the meaningless secrets they share with the princess and Ari while also talking about visiting their school soon. Maya was a bit concerned about Sophia wanting to find some friends in a pool of teenage girls, but as long as it really stays with friends, there was nothing she had against it. She wanted her to have more friends, too, after all. Once it was time for dinner, the duo reunited with the wolves, who were busy expanding their underground maze until then.

After having eaten together, the group relaxed in their living room which had become an evening ritual for them already.

"How's the maze coming along, big guy?" Sophia was currently busy playing with Maya's hair after the cat-girl had gotten comfortable on her lap while the two were on one of the sofas. After a while, she faced Fen to get an update on their little project.

"Pretty good. We've created a couple of new paths and also started working on a new room to play in."

"Oh~." The tiger liked the sound of that.

"What kind of room is it?" Maya also got interested in it. She, too, had a lot of fun in the maze. She wasn't interested enough to get up from Sophia's lap and listen to the wolf in an upright position, though. Something possibly world-ending has to happen for that, after all.

"Where would the fun in that be?" Fen had no intention to answer them. "Aura and I'll polish everything some more, and the two of you can have another go in exploring the maze."

"I like that plan!" The blonde was already looking forward to it.

"Yep, finding it on our own seems like the better idea, yeah." So did the cat-girl.

"I can't wait! Please hurry with the building!" Sophia got excited.

"Do you want it fast, or do you want it to be amazing?" Fen didn't want to be rushed.

"Yes!"

The group chatted for a while longer before they split up. The wolves stayed in the living room while the other two got ready for their bath. Once that was taken care of, the couple went to their room and got slowly prepared to sleep.

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"Haa~." The two had just gotten comfortable under the blanket on their bed when Sophia let out a satisfied sigh. "This is heaven~." While saying so, she cuddled closer towards Maya next to her and nuzzled against her side.

"Sure is." The cat-girl returned the movement, and the two got even closer. She wasn't necessarily speaking about the bed, though. "It's starting to feel pretty chilly, though. I think it's a little colder here compared to the area where we created the lake."

"I was just thinking about that, too!" The blonde seemed to have observed the same thing. "The living room was still toasty, but up here… Maybe the bedroom's position isn't the best for catching sun during the day to heat up? Good during the summer…"

"Less good for every other season…" Maya finished her sentence.

"Exactly! Why did the tiger family settle down in such a cold climate…? Did they forget that we're actually just fancy cats…?" She disappeared deeper under the blanket while making her claim.

"Fancier cats, huh…?" She wasn't sure how to feel about that.

"Well, you're the fanciest cat of us all, but you know what I mean…" Feeling cold apparently made the blonde smoother, as well.

"Wow, that was good." Maya was more than happy with the answer.

"Hehe. Still, how does the winter inside houses work in this world…?" The tiger sounded slightly cryptic. "I mean, the living room and maybe some other floor downstairs will be heated by the fireplace, but what about upstairs? The warmth of it won't reach all the way to here, will it?"

"Not sure… Our house back in Raumont was much smaller, and the winters never were all that cold. We had a central fireplace, too, and it was, more or less, okay for most rooms."

"I don't want it to be okay in here. I want it to be toasty!" Sophia's living standard included central heating in her old world, so that wasn't an option for her.

"Well, I'm not sure if the warmth will reach all the way up to here in the first place… I kinda doubt it, too, actually…"

"I don't like the sound of that!" To further prove her point, Sophia fully disappeared beneath the blanket while wrapping her arms around Maya to tightly hug and clung to her. She also remembered her chat with Ari and buried her face into the cat-girl's chest. No one could see it, but her expression was one of pure bliss.

"Come on, it's not nearly that cold yet, idiot." She didn't sound upset in the slightest, though.

"Shhould I stophh…?" Her voice was slightly muffled as her face was still covered by the blanket, and two other things.

"Nah, I don't want you to catch a cold, after all."

"Ish that sho~?" There was a hint of sarcasm in the tiger's voice. However, she still happily stayed under the blanket while also tightening the hug around Maya's body. A little while later, though, she stuck out her head again because it was getting too stuffy for her liking. "Haa…" She took a deep breath while also looking slightly pouty. "Stupid need for oxygen…"

"Having trouble breathing down there?"

"Yeah…"

"Weird, you normally have a lot more endurance when it comes to that."

"To what…?" Sophia sounded a little confused.

"Going down."

"Hmm… Ah!" She needed a moment to understand the cat-girl's implication. "W-Well this, and that are two completely different things!"

"Hehe." She let out a chuckle.

"I wonder how long you'd last, then."

"With what?" Maya tried to sound as innocent as possible.

"Under the blanket. I'm aware of your performance for the other thing already."

"True enough."

"Pervert." Sophia could only come to one conclusion after this conversation.

"Why?!"

"…"

"Okay, I get it. You perfectly played along, though, pervert."

"…" The blonde still didn't answer.

"Anyway, let's get to that later~. There was still something else to talk about, right?"

"Sure…" Sophia didn't disagree with her suggestion. "Wait, where were we again?" She needed a moment to sort her thoughts. "Ah, right, the heating issue. Are there any alternatives to a fireplace? We can't really install another one in the bedroom, can we? Wait, can we…?"

"Well, it's our place, so I guess we could…?" Maya wasn't sure about it, either. "Still, I'm not sure if I would want an open fire near our bed. It could get a bit stuffy and smelly in here. Not to mention that I feel like the flames would be super distracting when you try to sleep."

"Oh, you might be right about that. There's also the dirt from the wood and a bit of ash… Yeah, we probably shouldn't do that." She reconsidered her idea. "So, what else is there besides a fireplace?"

"Let's see… I haven't seen them in person because we never needed them, but I heard that there are devices that work like the magic ovens. You pour your power or authority or whatever into it, and it heats up. Although, instead of using it for cooking, it radiates heat and warms up to the room."

"Ohh, I like the sound of that!" It slightly reminded her of the heaters of her old world.

"I've heard that they're quite expensive and use a lot of your magic, though."

"So?" The tiger didn't see the issue.

"Right… We have more than enough of both, huh…?" Maya still forgot about their situation every now and then.

"Let's get 17!"

"Ahaha…" There was not even a hint of her being against the idea in her voice.

"They work with the same material as these ovens, right? Some kind of ore or whatever that magic likes, according to our dear Canir."

"Probably, yeah. Maybe some that doesn't heat quite as much, though. It would get way too hot, after all. Or it uses less magic?"

"I wonder if I can get my hands on the raw material." Sophia's eyes started to sparkle for some reason.

"Why?"

"I want to play with it and do some experiments."

"Aren't these heaters not enough…?"

"That's not it. You see, my old world had something we called floor heating. As the name implies, we had warm floors that heated up the rooms. I repeat, warm floors. You could run around barefoot all day long while always having toasty feet."

"I want that!" Maya sounded extremely excited.

"Now I know what the pet cat at my mom's place would've said if she was able to talk. I had her over for a week at my place with heated floors, and that cat had become completely useless because she spent the entire week lazing around on the floor."

"S-Shut up…" Maya's face turned slightly red.

"I look forward to becoming useless!" Sophia, on the other hand, wasn't ashamed of her inner cat anymore. "I always loved my heated floors, but something about it, me, makes me look forward to it even more~."

"Dork." Her voice sounded really warm and gentle during her reply.

"You should be used to that by now."

"Did it seem to you like I was complaining?"

"Hehe." The blonde was a fan of her answer. "I really wonder if I could infuse our floor with the heating material stuff or whatever it is."

"Me, too!" Maya had taken a real liking to the idea. "Where could we get our hands on the material, though? It seems like it could be hard to get the raw ore."

"Yeah… Thankfully, we have some rather good connections in the capital, don't we?"

"Fair point. Sooo… back to the castle tomorrow?"

"Back to the castle!" Sophia sounded highly motivated.

"I'm in!" So was the cat-girl.

"Seems like I'll be trying to recreate some stuff of my old world sooner than I thought. I bet Canir will be happy. Though, he might've been hoping for something with a bigger… bang."

"Don't care, I want heated floors!" Maya's priorities were clear to everyone.

"Dork." Sophia reacted the same way she did earlier.

"Yep~."

The two chatted, flirted, cuddled for a while longer before focusing on something else before the day eventually came to an end. On the following one, once the couple was awake and ready to go, the two directly headed to the castle to find out how and where they could get their hands on the material that's used to build magic heaters and ovens.

 

 

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