Taste of Magic: Ambassador's Voice

All actions have consequences. Melina had believed that she had learned and understood this. After splitting the Human and Monster Realms apart, she had learned everything there was to know about consequences and how one decision of a single individual could change the course of history. But she had been naive. She had forgotten how delicate the balance between the two realms was.

A week had passed since the incident, the day when they captured Heiliger. The day when the first time in history, Monster Lord had set foot inside the Human Realm. Nobody thought it would make physical changes in the world. Elves and drow came and went from one realm to the next all the time. Elves had established a whole city in the north. Nobody thought that a short visit from the Monster Lord would have much impact.

But it had.

"I can't believe my eyes," Melina said, looking at the Monster Realms fruits Leliana had been working so hard to grow.

She had previously made good progress with scorchvine peppers, growing them to impressive stalks where small pepper bulbs had formed. Feyfruit was also growing nicely into small bushes, albeit much slower than in the Monster Realm. Zephyr root and weeping sapmelon, however, didn't grow even a single sprout.

But the situation had dramatically changed last week. Melina, Alistair, Leliana, and Elowen were all in Leliana's garden observing the unbelievable sight before them. Scorchvine peppers had grown to their full maturity, making Sienna salivate at their sight.

Feyfruit bushes had grown twice their size, and little, white flowers were currently growing on them, attracting bees and bumblebees by the dozen. Zephyr root and sapmelon both have sprouted into healthy little plants, growing noticeably larger by the day.

"All this happened because the Monster Lord visited the Human Realm for half a day. This is insane," Leliana commented, although the smile on her face suggested that she was more than happy about this outcome.

"This is insane," Melina agreed. "Whatever mana he brought into our Realm should have waned by now, but…"

"It doesn't," Elowen finished.

"What does your father think?" Melina asked Alistair.

"He thinks it's temporary. But I believe these plants are proof otherwise. We need to start taking proper measures. Figure out how it will impact the inhabitants," Alistair said with a frown.

"Do you think it could be dangerous?" Leliana asked, voice filled with worry.

"It shouldn't be," Melina said. "Not on its own, at least. Lord Eidranis has brought more mana to our Realm, which, in small quantities, won't really harm anyone. Only being exposed to huge amounts of mana for a long period would be dangerous, but…"

"But?" Leliana asked.

"More mana means that more monsters will be comfortable around here. It might attract even more dangerous creatures to Sunglow," Elowen explained, pointing at whistlewisps who were singing in a nearby tree. "More than just these birds, I'm afraid."

"They are kind of cute," Leliana noted, but shook her head. "Although I get that they are dangerous."

The morning Melina had discovered the first whistlewisp in Sunglow, Alistair had made a town-wide announcement, explaining the danger of these birds. Sunglowers and guests of the town were warned to stay away from them and only watch from afar. It was a good thing at least that whistlewisps weren't aggressive.

"I believe I must report what happened here to the Lord Eidranis," Alistair said, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

"Yes, he should know. I'll talk with the Guildmaster and then go," Elowen nodded.

"Can I come too?" Leliana suddenly asked.

Everyone looked at her in shock, Elowen being the most surprised out of them all.

"You want to go to the Monster Realm? Whatever for? It's very dangerous there, you know," the elf said, narrowing his eyes at the redhead.

She didn't seem bothered by his reaction. "I want to see what it looks like. While it's nice that the plants are growing now, there might be more I can discover about them. Also, I am a bit curious about what it looks like."

"Monster Realm is not a place where you can walk in casually. There are monsters. Dangerous monsters everywhere. How do you intend to protect yourself?" Elowen asked.

"Wouldn't you protect me?" She cocked her head quizzically, catching the elf off guard.

He looked stupefied at first, then shook his head. "Of course I would. But—"

"Then it's settled. I'm going," Leliana said with a firm nod.

Melina felt like she should object. Alistair even raised his finger to say something, but then lowered it as Leliana and Elowen went into a heated argument over why she should or shouldn't go to the Monster Realm.

"I don't think it matters what we say right now…" Melina muttered.

"No. We should leave it up to the Guildmaster. I'm sure she'll be able to talk Leliana out of it," Alistair said, then turned towards the budding feyfruit plant. "I'll go request a meeting with my father. He's been quite busy the past week, but I think he'll manage to spare us a moment if I explain the severity of the situation to him."

"Please do. He is the only one who can do something meaningful in case things get out of hand."

The last week has been hectic for all of Sunglow. Melina, not wanting to keep the bakery closed for any longer, reopened it and focused on selling her more unusual pastries. However, as soon as the bakery was closed, she was whisked away either to the Guild or to the Town Hall.

Duke Sinclair had taken complete charge of it and used it as a base of operation to gather information about the Church's plans in Sunglow. Sinclair soldiers and scholars worked in tandem to gather evidence and present it to the King's court, soliciting the views of every citizen.

Melina, being at the very center of these events, had a lot of information to give about the Church's movements. Although she had to be very careful about how much information she revealed about herself. Obviously, the King will take notice of her the moment these reports reach his ears.

But that was an inevitability she accepted the moment she stopped hiding her powers and pastries from outsiders. However, she couldn't have him figuring that she had lived through a different timeline or, worse yet, that she had been the one to rewind time. The King would then accept only two outcomes: Melina would either do his bidding and work for him, or he'd execute her as a dangerous individual.

So in her reports to Sinclair soldiers, she did her best to avoid talking about herself altogether, focusing on Heiliger's action and the events as they happened from the viewpoint of a more or less regular Sunglow citizen.

Leaving Leliana and Elowen to their own devices, Melina and Alistair returned home, where Charlotte, along with a few Sinclair family servants and guards, was waiting for them.

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"Big brother, Melina, you're back!" Charlotte cheered at their return.

As Melina discovered this past week, the ten-year-old girl was far from following noble etiquette once she got comfortable. She was quite the troublemaker at home, sneaking out into the city to browse the simple stalls and shops nobles normally wouldn't be allowed to visit.

While the Duke was busy doing his work, Melina and Alistair were forced to watch over her as best as they could. Most of this responsibility still fell onto their servants, but they were the ones to enforce rules. For example, she couldn't wander around Sunglow without either Alistair or Melina.

"Look at what Mango and I did," Charlotte announced and eagerly pulled them to the living room.

Hurriedly taking off their shoes, Melina and Alistair went to check and discovered that the living room had been turned into a winter wonderland.

The dining table had a miniature ice city built on top of it. Couch had been turned into a small snow mountain, which clearly had been used as a slide. Not to mention the multiple snowmen littered throughout the place.

"Charlotte, what did you do?" Alistair exclaimed and threw a glare at the head maid.

"My apologies, Young Lord. Lady Sinclair complained about being hot, so the little fox Mango began producing snow. I'm afraid we weren't able to stop her properly, for we lack the proper knowledge of how to deal with creatures like little Mango," the head maid, a round, older woman, bowed her head in apology.

"You can't blame them for not being able to contain Mango. Mango doesn't listen to anyone," Melina said, and with a flick of her wrist, levitated the naughty fox out of a snow burrow she had made under the table. "Mango, you can't do this! Especially when we have guests at home."

"Yip-yip!" Mango replied unapologetically, wagging her tail in delight.

Sienna let out an angry hiss and a small plume of smoke, but the temperature in the room was too cold for her, so she promptly buried herself under Melina's dress, sticking close to her skin to keep warm.

"You little troublemakers!" Alistair chastised, grabbing the fox from the air, roughly patting between her ears.

Mango let out an annoyed yip and tried to gently nab at his fingers, which quickly turned into a game of "Try to bite Alistair's fingers". Melina let out a sigh and concentrated her magic on lifting all the snow off the furniture, floor, and surfaces. She concentrated it together into a large ball and brought it into the bathroom.

She then melted the sizable ball of snow and allowed the water to flow into the bath while controlling the stream. Letting the water loose would just result in the whole bathroom flooding, so she had to let it flow gradually until it was all gone.

"Thank you ever so much, Miss Melina!" The head maid said. "I wasn't sure how we were going to clean all that."

"It was Mango's fault to begin with, so think nothing of it," Melina said, watching how Mango and Alistair were still locked in their little game.

The servants then prepared dinner for everyone. Melina wasn't used to being waited on, not to mention that with all the servants and guards in the house, it was a bit snug. But she couldn't object since Charlotte was with them, and the Duke sometimes came over for dinner.

Melina nervously watched the door while the servants prepared dinner, wondering if today would be one of the days when the Duke came. Mealtimes with him were always nerve-wracking, and Charlotte's cheery attitude was the only thing making it manageable.

The Duke simply didn't speak to Melina during mealtimes. She understood that he was likely mad because of Alistair's proposal. The two men were glowering at each other when their eyes met. But why? She had thought that the two of them had come to an agreement. Alistair said that they had agreed, yet the mood was always tense whenever he appeared.

Knock resounded on the door, startling Melina out of her thoughts. It appeared that this evening the Duke would eat with them yet again. It made sense. Alistair had requested a meeting with him, and this was as good a time as any.

The servants flocked to greet the Duke as he entered the house, looking rather tired. He didn't openly show it, but Melina did notice the dark circles under his eyes. He must be losing some sleep over this whole matter with the Church. Melina could only thank him for actually coming to their aid.

"Good evening, Father," Charlotte greeted him with a curtsy. "How was your day?"

"Busy," he replied curtly. "Will it be long until dinner?"

"It'll be ready momentarily, Your Grace," the head maid said.

"Good," he replied curtly, then raised an eyebrow. "Why is there snow on that upper shelf?"

Everyone glanced up and saw that there indeed was a bit of snow there. Melina hurriedly cleaned the snow off with her magic, melting it and sending it to the nearest sink.

"My apologies, Your Grace. Mango got a bit wild with her powers…"

"It was hardly just the fox's fault. Lady Charlotte encouraged it to produce more snow," the head maid said, shooting a glare in Charlotte's direction.

The Duke looked at Charlotte and at Mango with an assessing gaze, both looking a little bit guilty. But not too much. Melina could sense that her familiar would do it again as soon as the chance presented itself.

The dinner went by as it usually did. Charlotte chatted excitedly with Mango, adding a few yips here and there while the others remained rather tense. The Duke remained deep in thought most of the time, which made Melina wonder if something had happened.

After dinner was concluded, the Duke requested that Charlotte be taken out to enjoy the beautiful evening. The girl resisted at first, sensing that there was an important conversation brewing, but in the end, the head maid managed to convince her.

"You wanted to talk about something, son?" Duke Sinclair asked, sipping on the tea the servants had prepared for all three of them.

"Yes. We went to check on some Monster Realm fruits that were plants at the start of summer, and they had grown considerably during this past week. It is without a doubt that the Monster Lord's short visit has made a significant impact," Alistair explained.

"Wouldn't they have mostly grown during the first day when the Monster Lord was present?" The Duke asked.

"Permission to speak, Your Grace?" Melina asked, doing her best to adhere to noble etiquette.

"Granted," he nodded.

"According to the farmer growing the plants, their growth has been steady since the Monster Lord's arrival, without any sudden spikes or falls," Melina said.

"Hmm…" The Duke scratched his chin. "That means that the mana in the air hasn't dissipated at all."

"No, Your Grace, and I suspect it won't. I'm not sure why, but it appears that Monster Lord's arrival has enriched this area with mana. Enough that monsters previously exclusive to the monster realm find it comfortable here."

Duke Sinclair tapped his finger lightly against the table. "Would this be such a bad thing? It would be able to grow Monster Realm plants here reliably, would it not?"

"If the mana levels remain stable, then yes. But it could also attract new, more powerful monsters to the area," Melina explained.

"Elowen will report these findings to the Monster Lord, but we should take precautions now," Alistair said.

"I'll leave a few dozen soldiers in Sunglow then. Just in case of such an attack. But I'm afraid any long-term solutions will have to be found with Lord Eidranis. Is he not the only one who can control monsters?" The Duke asked.

"That is correct, although control is a strong word. Most monsters acknowledge his strength and obey him, but they are not his puppets or minions as one might imagine," Melina said.

"It's one problem after the next," The Duke said, massaging his temples. After a moment, his gaze sharpened. "Son, I'm going to leave the administrative matters of Sunglow to you."

"What?" Alistair blinked in surprise.

"The mess here is quite large, and it requires constant vigilance. I cannot remain in Sunglow for much longer. Bishop Heiliger is already being transported to the capital, which means that I must follow. The Guildmaster, while a good leader, is not suited for such a burden, nor is she trained for it," the Duke said. "You, as my son, as the son of a duke, should handle this matter."

Alistair nodded. "I'll do my best, Father. But then I'll need—"

"Don't worry. I'll leave soldiers and servants here with you. Your punishment is officially over. It was imposed by the Church, but since we are no longer allied with them, there is no more reason to keep up this charade," the Duke explained.

"Thank you, Father! I won't let you down," Alistair said dutifully.

The Duke nodded, then turned his attention to Melina. "You, Melina Dufour, are currently my son's fiancée; however, do not forget that I shall not accept a commoner in our family so readily. You will assist my son in a manner that is proper for a noble. Your etiquette and mannerisms are too simplistic and rough. You must refine them. I shall not allow you to wed until I deem that you are ready for noble society."

Melina blinked. She hadn't expected that. But it made sense. If she really wanted to marry Alistair, then she couldn't hole up in her bakery and turn her back on the noble society.

"Am I allowed to continue my work in the bakery?"

"Yes, of course. But you must learn how to properly delegate work to others, not just mass-produce everything yourself. If you don't want to be torn to pieces by nobles who wish for your talents, you must make your magical pastries accessible to everyone."

Melina could feel the pressure. She had always been used to doing everything herself. How would she even delegate something like magical pastry-making to others?