“To be honest, I could make you a pouch, but I don’t want anyone outside of the family to have one.”

  Lin says “Why not make something else that only produces the tea?”

  “That I could do. Atesh, do you have some mugs made of valuable materials?”

  Empress Atesh says “Of course we do! Do we look poor to you? What do you need specifically?”

  “I just need mugs made of materials that will have enough mana capacity for the enchantments. I will make them create the tea and keep it warm.”

  Atesh turns and orders the servants to bring all the most valuable mugs in the palace. As we are waiting, I notice that Shiro is giving me a look similar to a puppy begging. She keeps it up until I agree to make a mug for her as well, which makes her grin.

  Soon the servants start returning with all sorts of cups and mugs of all shapes and sizes. Some of them are completely ridiculous and totally impractical, but they are made of gold. They are obviously not meant to actually be used, they are just meant to be displayed.

  I quickly take those and all like them out of the consideration, they are useless. Just because the materials are valuable doesn’t mean they have a high mana capacity. Unfortunately, that is the vast majority of them and what’s left isn’t usable either.

  Empress Atesh says “None of them will work?”

  “I’m afraid not. I was going shopping for materials anyway, I will just pick some up and make the mugs instead.”

  Empress Atesh says “In that case, take Shiro with you and we will pay for whatever materials you need.”

  “No need for that. Besides, I want to spend some time with Lin. The materials for three mugs won’t be that expensive, don’t worry about it.”

  Shiro looks disappointed, but Atesh gives us an understanding smile and drops the issue. We finish breakfast and then Lin and I leave the palace arm in arm to go shopping. Of course we aren’t exactly alone, there is a squad of royal guards following us, but we ignore them.

  There are a lot of markets and shopping areas in the capital and we visit all of them. Not only do I find everything that I wanted, but thanks to Lin I end up buying a whole lot more. In fact, the only thing that puts an end to our shopping spree is that I run out of gold.

  It is to the point that Lin is the one who buys our lunch, not that I really mind. After all, a lot of my money went to buy things that she wanted, so it is only fair. Besides, once we are married it is all going to be her money anyway, well hers and Myria’s.

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  At that point I won’t need money anyway, if I need something I will just tell someone and they will get it for me. That’s about the only thing that I am looking forward to when it comes to being the king. There might be a few other perks, but I still don’t think it will be worth the hassle.

  However, it is not something I can avoid anymore, so I stop thinking about it and enjoy the time with Lin. Shortly after lunch we head back to the palace where we split up, with the guards escorting Lin to the mage guild. Surprisingly, from what I was told, the mages weren’t opposed to letting Lin into their library.

  Whether that is true or the mages are just putting on an act for the emperor, I don’t know. I will have to wait and see what Lin can tell me about it later, but I hope it is true. If the mages are smart, they are going to give her full access in exchange for her knowledge.

  During our shopping trip I asked her about the two spells I want to create and she gave me a ton of suggestions. Both spells should be possible, it is just going to take some creative mixing of spells. Well, pieces of spells to be more precise, she suggested some spells I can steal from that should work.

  I won’t know for sure until I get to the tower library and check the spells, but Lin is rarely wrong. Once Lin is gone I head upstairs and find a quiet room to craft and enchant the three mugs. Since they are for royalty I plan to make them nice and ornate so that they don’t need to hide them.

  However, I am not going to make some tiny, fragile cup, I am going to make proper steins. The fancy ones with the lids that you open from the handle, they are the fanciest things I can think of. Not to mention that they hold a lot more liquid than the typical cup or mug.

  Shaping the materials into the shape I want only takes a few seconds, but decorating them takes longer. The royal family has taken a local lion-like creature to represent them, so I am going to use those as decoration. One male and two female lion heads as the front of the steins with gems for eyes.

  The gems are tiny, but they still add a decent amount to the mana capacity of the steins. They are also an important part of my plan for the enchantments, if it works how I hope. I start with the basic enchantments, then move on to the enchantment to create the tea.

  Being a simplified version of the pouch’s enchantment to create things, it is fairly easy. The metal I got to make the steins is rather dull, so I add a small enchantment to make it shiny. After adding all the enchantments that I wanted there is still some space left, but I don’t add more mana.

  Instead, I add some divine power and put two divine enchantments into the steins. One is cure poison and the other is a minor heal, just enough for minor injuries. They will trigger whenever the steins create the tea and imbue their abilities into the tea.

  This way, whoever drinks the tea will be healed and have any poisons cured, at least in theory. I have the stein create some tea and drink it to make sure it works the way I want it to. I also want to make sure that the cure poison doesn’t negate the energy effect of the tea.

  Luckily, it doesn’t, if anything it feels like the energizing effect of the tea is even stronger. Both the healing and the cure effect work properly, but it will only work on regular poisons. Still, it is better than nothing and I am glad that it worked out the way I was hoping.

  Everything is working out the way I wanted, so I put the final enchantment on the steins. It is the locking enchantment to keep anyone from messing with the enchantments on the steins. As such, I make it as complicated as I can and then I tie it into the eyes, making them glow.