“Well, if you want to be there to see the chefs make breakfast for the emperor and his family we will need to leave pretty soon.”

  Aaron says “I do! Give me five, no ten minutes to go wake up Sarah and tell her. Um, when will I be back?”

  “According to the emperor, you can stay as long as you want. So, however long it will take you to learn everything you can from them, I guess?”

  Aaron says “That will take a couple of days, minimum. You aren’t going to wait around for me to finish, are you?”

  “No. I will be running around a lot, but Lin is going to be there studying. She can return you here when you are done if I am not around.”

  Aaron says “Okay, I will tell Sarah that I will be gone for a few days to a week. Mary, you are going to have to handle things while I am gone.”

  Mary says “Sure, no problem!”

  Aaron runs off as soon as she replies and heads upstairs to wake up Sarah and tell her. While I am waiting for him to come back, Mary gives me a large cup of tea. It has a strange fruity flavor to it that I wasn’t expecting, but it is really delicious.

  “This is great, what is it?”

  Mary says “It is tea, but I add a mix of fruit rings to the tea leaves before I brew it. It is my own creation. I find that it is the perfect drink for the mornings when you aren’t fully awake yet.”

  “I’ve been awake for hours, but it is still a good drink. Is it addictive?”

  Mary says “I don’t think so. Sarah said it wasn’t any worse than something called coffee?”

  “That’s fine then. Would you mind if I added this to my pouch? I can pay you for the recipe if you want.”

  Mary says “I would be honored! I can brag about you liking it to everyone! No, there is no need for money. It is thanks to you that I can live as well as I do.”

  Mary makes me another cup while she explains how Sarah took her in and takes care of her. In her view, Sarah is able to do so because of everything that I have done for her. Mary isn’t a summoned, she is just someone that Sarah got out of a bad situation and hired.

  According to Mary, life has gotten even better for all of the staff since Sarah brought them to my city. Most of them even managed to buy their own houses after moving to the city, something they only dreamed of before. She would have probably told me her life story if Aaron hadn’t come back into the kitchen.

  Aaron says “Sorry to keep you waiting. I am ready now.”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “No worries, I got a delicious new drink to add to my collection.”

  Aaron says “Ah, Mary’s tea? Yeah, we all love it first thing in the morning. Just don’t drink it after lunch or you will have problems sleeping.”

  “In that case, I think I will hide it from my kids, I don’t need them any more hyper.”

  Mary says “That’s probably a good idea!”

  Sarah enters, grabs a mug of tea, and says “It is great stuff. It has about the same effect as a cup of coffee.”

  “Yeah, but it tastes way better!”

  Sarah says “I take it you weren’t a coffee lover?”

  “Nope, couldn’t stand it. This is much more to my taste. I will be drinking this every morning from now on. I can’t wait to introduce Lin to it!”

  Mary says “That’s awesome! I would love it if you could tell me what her opinion of it is as well. If it’s not too much trouble.”

  “Sure. If I can’t tell you myself, I will pass it on through Sarah.”

  Mary says “Thank you!”

  “Alright, ready to go Aaron?”

  Aaron says “Yeah, all set. Let’s go!”

  I open a gate to the Emperor’s palace and then watch as Aaron gives Sarah a kiss before walking through. I smile at Sarah and then follow him through before closing the gate behind me. I have one of the guards guide Aaron to the royal kitchen and then head up to the guest suite.

  Lin is still asleep when I enter, so I slide into the bed and start gently kissing her. She wakes up after a bit, but she is rather grumpy about being woken up so early. She gets even more upset when her grumpy look just makes me chuckle and kiss her again.

  When kissing doesn’t get rid of the grumpy look, I start trying some other things. Eventually, I do manage to find something that cures the grumpiness and we end up having some fun. When we are done, Lin starts looking like she is going to go back to sleep, so I give her some tea.

  Lin says “This is delicious! Why didn’t you start with this?”

  “That wouldn’t have been as fun!”

  Lin starts glaring at me again, but she doesn’t stop drinking the tea and she now looks fully awake. By the time she finishes the mug she is starting to look energetic and fidgeting. As much as I want to take advantage of that, we have things to do, but I hand her another mug.

  Lin says “Based on how I feel right now, I don’t think drinking another is a good idea.”

  “It’s for you to add to your pouch. I don’t plan to share this with the kids, they are hyper enough already.”

  Lin says “Good idea! That would be a nightmare. So, I thought you would have left by now. What happened?”

  “I did leave, I just came back. I thought we could have breakfast with the emperor and then I need to do some shopping. Do you want to join me?”

  Lin says “Yes!”

  “Haha! You didn’t even ask what I was shopping for!”

  Lin says “I don’t care, I like shopping. What are you shopping for?”

  “I need materials for the tattoo guns and ink. I also want to pick up art supplies for all the arts.”

  Lin says “Since when do you have time for art?”

  “I don’t. They are for the kids. I tested them to see who would be interested in tattooing. Mulan and Asuna are going to learn it, but the others seemed to enjoy the test, so I thought they might like another art better.”

  Lin says “That’s great! Even if they don’t find one they like, they should have fun trying everything. I will certainly help you shop for art supplies!”

  With the plan made, we finally get out of bed and head to the emperor’s suite. However, we end up having breakfast with Atesh and Shiro because Amn has already left. Apparently he was up and working over an hour ago, which makes me feel sorry for him.

  Both Atesh and Shiro look like they are only half awake, so I offer them each a mug of tea. After only a few sips, Atesh asks for another mug and sends it with a servant to her husband. It is only a few minutes later when the servant returns with orders to secure a supply of the tea if possible.

  Empress Atesh says “Well, you heard the message from my husband. What are the chances we can get a steady supply?”