Taste of Magic: Ambassador's Voice

Next morning was a tense one for Melina as she thought over Duke Sinclair's words. She would have learned not just to act like a proper noblewoman to marry Alistair but also learn to delegate work in her bakery more. But what would be the right way of doing it?

So far she had relied on Roxie to prepare regular breads. The girl was familiar with that and comfortable doing the job as well. She was eager to learn new recipes and has shown interest in learning how to make magical pastries, but during hours the girl would often shut down when it came to making more complex things.

But it was a hurdle both of them would have to overcome. The amount of customers Sunglow Bakery received over time would only increase, so it was best that Melina learned how to increase the pastries they could produce, not just through skills but through new workforce. In other words, she had to properly train Roxie as a magical baker, not just menial help.

"Roxie, you said, you would like to make magical pastries too, right?" Melina asked the girl as they both prepared the kitchen for work ahead.

"Yes! I'd love nothing more than that!" Roxie said excitedly.

"Then why don't we have you make feyfruit tart all on your own this morning," she suggested.

The girl instantly grew nervous, grabbing onto her braids. "I… I don't know if anything I made could ever be sold in the bakery. I… I wouldn't want ingredients to be wasted on my behalf."

"You don't have to make all the feyfruit tarts. Let's start small and expand once you get more comfortable. How about three tarts this morning?" Melina suggested.

"I… I don't know… What if people hate them…"

"Don't be so scared of everything," Gilbert said, suddenly joining the conversation. The old baker was casually sipping tea and eating breakfast, having just woken up.

It appeared that he was actually enjoying his retirement, waking up later than before, tending to the garden and often spending time together with Knight. He still was a frequent visitor of the kitchen, teaching both Melina and Roxie. Although he was a bit too rough for the girl to handle. She needed a gentler teaching approach.

"It's okay to approach things slow," Melina shot back.

"Stop babying her. I know you don't want to appear mean, but she can't be only making bread forever, especially if you're clearly taking this bakery in the direction of magical pastries. Soon nobody will even care for regular bread anymore," Gilbert said.

Roxie's shoulders slumped at the declaration.

"No, they won't. Cakes and fancy pastries are nice, but you can't eat them every day," Melina declared.

"Child, you won't be able to keep this wide spread of pastries forever. The word of Sunglow Bakery will spread. Nobles will, no they already have heard of this place. It is just a matter of time before you clash with somebody like Speziale again, but they might not have a common goal like you two did. If you wish to stay afloat you need to train proper help," Gilbert said sternly.

Melina couldn't deny that.

She would love for Roxie to make magical pastries. Even if she couldn't make them with as potent effects as Melina, Roxie still should be able to draw out the natural properties of Monster Realm ingredients.

"I… I'll try making those three feyfruit tarts today!" Roxie finally said, clenching her fists.

"You don't have to worry about failing. I failed my first few times too. Nobody bought my braided bread," Melina chuckled, remembering the ordeal.

"Not true. Your would be husband bought some," Gilbert retorted.

"You know he would eat anything I make!" Melina said with a huff, feeling that he didn't quite count.

"At that time he barely knew you, so I think it counts," the old baker said, as if having read her mind. "Now, enough talking. Get to work you two."

Melina nodded and beckoned Roxie to join her at the counter. "We'll start slow, but you'll have to make every part of the tart yourself, alright?"

"O-okay…" Roxie stammered.

"What do you think we need to start with?" Melina asked.

"The shell!" She replied confidently. "You've been teaching me how to make it."

"That's right. What kind of pastry is it?"

"Shortcrust pastry."

Melina nodded. She expected Roxie to know this, but it didn't hurt to make sure that the girl was paying attention.

"Go ahead and make enough shortcrust pastry for three tarts."

"How do I know how much ingredients I need for exactly three?" Roxie asked. "Previously you always had me do bigger batches."

"Write down your recipes, Melina. If you want to teach Roxie, your recipes should be readily available to her," Gilbert suggested.

"You never wrote down any recipes," Melina accused. She certainly would have been grateful to have them in the beginning, instead of having to ask Gilbert the proper ratios every few minutes.

"You have . It helps you with things like ratios and the amounts needed," he shrugged.

"Fair enough," Melina muttered.

"I have a few empty notebooks on the living room shelf. Just grab one of them and write down the recipe before you two begin."

Melina did just that. She did have to wonder why he had empty notebooks lying around, but decided that it wasn't the right time to pester him with questions. Instead, she wrote down the recipe for a single shortcrust pastry and put it on the counter. "There. Just multiply everything by three and you'll get the amount you need."

Roxie nodded, and got to work, grabbing a bowl, the magitech scales and measuring out the necessary amount of flour. Melina waited for her to finish, then measured out enough flour for seventeen tarts. Today they'd be selling twenty in total, if Roxie's pastries turned out well. A bit less than usual, but it was necessary to take time to teach the girl.

As Melina worked on the pastry, she made sure to stay just behind Roxie in terms of speed. She wanted to observe how the girl did herself without watching what Melina was doing. wasn't something Roxie could rely on anyway, although shortcrust pastry didn't require as much kneading as bread did.

The girl did seem nervous and she almost dropped the pastry on the floor several times. But she managed to catch the bowl before the disaster, and in the end had three tins lined with shortcrust pastry. It was a bit thicker than it should be, but the consistency of the dough was correct.

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"I did it," Roxie cheered, excitedly looking at the tart shells.

"This is just the first step. Put in the shells in the oven. Sienna will cook them," Melina said as she put her own tart shells in the oven.

The wyrm had already warmed up the oven, ready for action.

"W-What's the next step?" Roxie asked.

"What do you think?" Melina prompted.

The girl thought it over for a minute, unsure, but eventually replied. "Pastry cream?"

"That's right. We're going to do this step by step together since it's so tricky."

Unfortunately, things didn't go as well with the pastry cream as they had with the tart shell. Melina carefully and by hand demonstrated how to prepare pastry cream, emphasizing the need to cook the eggs slowly so they wouldn't curdle.

She wasn't surprised when Roxie messed up her first two batches. The first one was inedible, but the second went straight into Mango's and Sienna's belly. Unfortunately, Roxie messed up the third and fourth batch. How many ingredients could they waste on Roxie's training?

"I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! You can take the price of the ingredients out of my pay," Roxie said, bowing her head profusely.

"I'm not going to take it out of your pay." Melina shook her head, but wondered what she could do in this situation. How could she make Roxie learn?

"I'll show it again. Just don't worry about ruining it. Nobody learns without making a few mistakes. Isn't that right?"

"I suppose…"

Melina showed everything again, even slower than before and Roxie repeated the process step by step. This time, the girl managed to make the pastry cream. It was a bit clumpy in places, but definitely edible.

"I did it!" Roxie cheered, although she slumped down just as quickly. "I'm not sure if I can do that on my own though…"

"It's okay. Today this is all you need. The next step is the most important one. It'll make this into real feyfruit glaze," Melina said, and pulled out a few feyfruits.

"Can I really use such a valuable ingredient? What if I ruin it too?" Roxie twiddled her fingers nervously.

"Then these two gluttons will eat it. Don't worry. Pastry cream was actually harder to make."

Roxie didn't look fully convinced, but in the end took the feyfruit Melina had pushed her way. The girl was actually excited to cut up the magical fruit, peeling it with trembling hands and a small smile on her face.

"Remember, that when you're reducing it into a glaze, you mustn't inhale the mana steam. It might make you feel ill," Melina warned.

"Maybe I should wear a face mask?" The girl mused.

"A cloth wouldn't block mana from passing through. Just keep a safe distance while you're stirring."

The first glaze Roxie prepared ended up too liquidy, but thankfully, it was an easy fix. All she had to do was reduce the mixture on the pot for a bit longer. Once that was complete only the last step remained—the assembly.

"You've seen me do this plenty of times, so I trust you know the order in which to do it."

"I do!" Roxie said.

Melina decided that it was best if she didn't watch her—it always seemed to make the girl more nervous. Instead Melina let her magic loose and prepared the seventeen feyfruit tarts of her own using strawberries and cherries for ten tarts and blackberries and blueberries for the remaining seven. It was in essence the same time but people could choose which fruit they preferred.

[You've made . You've gained + 2 exp.]

[You've made . You've gained + 2 exp.]

Melina didn't pay much mind to notifications as she cooked. Despite the highest rank, the experience she gained from the regular pastries in the bakery was small. But even so, the rate at which she was leveling was still astounding.

[Congratulations! You've reached Level 43.]

Seven more levels and I'll reach my Master class. I never thought I would be able to reach it in less than a year. Compared to the Archmage class which took me eight years to unlock.

This did make Melina wonder—wouldn't it overall be better for System users to do mundane jobs. Becoming a master of any trading and gaining skills unlike any other. It would make them sought after workers, and make their living very easy.

There wouldn't be any reason for them to fight. They could do what they loved and earn a good living with it. It sounded like a much better option in her mind, but the Church didn't allow that. The fact that the Church wouldn't even let System users choose what they wanted for themselves felt so unfair to her.

"M-Melina. I finished," Roxie tugged on her sleeve gently, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"Oh! Yes. Let me check," Melina said, looking at Roxie's tarts.

"They're not as pretty as yours…" the girl muttered shyly.

Melina inspected the tarts using her skill. All three of them were at Rank C and had a slight positive effect. She unfortunately couldn't see the effect as her skill wasn't high enough rank yet, but judging by all the shimmertarts she had made in the past it was safe to assume that they also had the effect of appearing more attractive.

"Good job! I think we can sell these," Melina said, looking carefully over the tarts. She could see the few clumps in the cream and places where girl had been too generous with the glaze. But nonetheless, she was sure that these would sell too.

"A-Are you sure… I don't want to bring shame to the bakery…" Roxie said meekly.

"I am sure. Put them in the refrigerator and once it is time to open be sure to put them on display."

[Congratulations! You've unlocked a new passive skill ]

[Teacher of Arcane Baking – Allows you to better explain and teach those who wish to learn the art of magical baking. The higher the rank of the skill, the easier it will be for your pupils to learn.]

"That's interesting…" Melina muttered, reading over the skill. It had been a while since she had unlocked a new skill.

"Is something wrong?" Roxie asked nervously.

"No, it's just System stuff. Don't worry about it," Melina calmed the girl, and returned to work.

But as she loaded a new batch of bread into the oven, Melina couldn't help but be curious about her Status Screen.

[Name: Melina Dufour]

[Level: 43]

[Class: Arcane Baker]

[Familiar: Sienna — Ember Wyrm Level 49; Mango — Ice Kitsune Level 1 (unique)]

[Intelligence: 26]

[Agility: 12]

[Strength: 10]

[Skill: 32]

[Charm: 15]

[Unassigned skill points: 1]

[Active Skills: 11]

[, , , , , , , , ,

Rank C>,

[Passive Skills: 4]

[, , , ]

Melina had never imagined herself as much of a teacher. She had been teaching magic to Adrien and Leon on Saturdays, but magic felt something she knew very intimately.

Baking was still very new to her. It didn't feel right for her to call herself a teacher. But on the other hand, it wasn't like there was anyone else who was able to make magical pastries. It was just her. She was a pioneer in this new industry, and she wanted for the world to recognize that Church's path wasn't the only right one, so she had to spread her pastries far and wide.

She would need to become a teacher and show others the way. It couldn't stop with Roxie either. Melina had to find those willing to learn, and spread the knowledge she had far and wide instead of hiding it in secret. Perhaps it would be wise to involve elves in this since they were far more open to the idea of having a System user do mundane jobs.

Just as Melina was mulling the best way of approaching Elowen with this idea, she received a new notification.

[Your familiar has reached Rank C in the skill .]

[Your familiar has reached Level 50.]

[Your familiar is ready to evolve.]

Melina's hands went cold as she read the notifications, and she turned to Sienna. The wyrm turned into her large form, startling Roxie and making the girl hide into the kitchen corner.

Crystal-like structures began to grow over her body, encasing her bit by bit until the wyrm had completely disappeared beneath the red crystals.

"Sienna!" Melina gasped, running up to her evolution cocoon. This was bad! She didn't think that Sienna was receiving experience by cooking pastries. She hadn't gained a level in so long after all.

But apparently she had been slowly accumulating experience and had reached the evolutionary threshold. Melina feared what would happen to her beloved familiar once she evolved. Would she still be the same Sienna? What if she went on evolution induced rampage?