Taste of Magic: Ambassador's Voice

Melina couldn't believe the sudden question. The Duchess had always appeared supportive of her son, and she already called Melina her future daughter-in-law. Was this some sort of test to see how Melina would react? It must have been.

"I don't believe you would do such a thing. You appear to love your children very much, Duchess Sinclair," Melina said.

The Duchess's expression softened a little. "Indeed, I do. But we nobles do have our reputation to think about. Unfortunately, matters of the heart don't always match with what one has to do. My husband especially views his children in a more pragmatic way. Do entertain my question for a moment. What would you do if Alistair got disowned because of his marriage to you?" she persisted.

Melina thought about the question. If they didn't have Duke Sinclair backing them, it would certainly make matters very difficult. The only noble supporting them would be Auden Speziale, who is already regarded as an eccentric. Convincing other nobles to join their cause would be much more difficult.

However, even so, Melina couldn't imagine leaving Alistair for such a petty reason. Even when she had destroyed both realms, Alistair still stuck by her side. He gave up his life for her. Even if he were the poorest man in the world, she would still stick with him. Even if the whole world turned against him, she would remain by his side. That was one thing that would never change, no matter what.

"If he still wished to remain by my side, then I would remain with him. It doesn't matter to me whether he is a nobleman's son or someone without a single penny to his name," Melina said firmly.

"And what if he chose to remain a Sinclair instead of marrying you?" The Duchess asked coldly.

The thought hurt Melina. But at the same time, she didn't hesitate with her answer. "If that is what he wished, then I wouldn't stop him, nor would I hold a grudge against him."

"Interesting. I was sure that you would hold onto him no matter what."

"I can't force my will on Alistair. I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't be hurt if he chose to leave me. But he's already done so, so much for me. I couldn't possibly ever hate him. No matter what he did," she said, looking down at the engagement ring on her finger.

"My, oh my. One would think that you'd known him for a lifetime rather than just a few months," the Duchess chuckled.

Melina let out a nervous chuckle. The Duchess was rather sharp, but had Alistair told her about the previous timeline? Melina wasn't sure, so she decided to dodge the statement. "You aren't actually going to disown Alistair, are you?"

"No. Of course not. We never would have allowed this engagement if that were the case. But there is a lot of work in front of us. Ideally, we would have fabricated your past, making you into a long-lost daughter of some nobleman, but word of you being famous baker Gilbert's granddaughter has already spread too far."

"Is that bad?" Melina asked.

"Yes and no," the Duchess said. "It's bad because we could still fabricate you to have some distant noble relatives, but it won't be as easy. On the other hand, your grandfather already has a good reputation as a baker, which even nobles know about. I doubt anyone from the older generation has forgotten about the commoner who refused the queen and lived. That made quite the stir back in the day."

Melina couldn't help but wonder how Grandfather gotten away with that. It was difficult for a commoner to refuse even a low-standing noble, as was just proven by the Viscount who entered the bakery. Most nobles seek retribution against commoners who reject them. Yet Gilbert got away with rejecting the queen.

"I believe that the best course of action would be for us to take advantage of this reputation your grandfather has built up. Label you as someone just as strong, no, possibly even stronger. In fact, you're already doing a good job at that," the Duchess pointed at Mango, who was eagerly looking through the carriage window, watching the houses pass by.

"Thank you?" Melina said, unsure. "I haven't really been trying to build such a reputation."

"Which means that we still have a lot of room for growth. Normally, it would be unacceptable for a commoner to marry a noble. I'm sure you're already aware of that. So for you to marry my son, you need to reach the level of a noble," the Duchess explained.

"How do I do that?" Melina asked.

"Lessons. We're going to polish your manners, etiquette, appearance, everything. I've already arranged teachers for you, although beware that they will be very skeptical of you at first. They're noblewomen after all, so they will consider teaching a commoner beneath them." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The Duchess then continued explaining everything she had managed to arrange in great detail. Melina could barely keep up with her. The lessons, the tailors, jewelers, and shoe makers. The Duchess's attendants had already made a schedule for them, and it was packed to the brim. Melina had no clue how she was going to do all that in the limited time she had.

Hopefully, Alistair was doing better than she was.

Alistair clutched his head, wondering how he would manage the mountain of paperwork before him. He had been happy when Father had entrusted him with the job of managing Sunglow. It felt like he finally believed in Alistair. He now realized that the Duke had successfully passed a giant part of his workload onto him.

"How can one small town accumulate so many problems…" Alistair muttered, looking at the list of things that require immediate fixes.

Apparently, there was a hole somewhere along the wall. The pier was crumbling away in several places. A dozen old houses needed to be demolished since they were a hazard at this point. Some even had people still living in them, so they had to be rehoused.

On top of all these problems, there was the engagement party to prepare for. Mother had promised to take care of it and guide Melina through the process, but he was still worried. Although his mother was kind, she didn't tolerate incompetence. Not that Melina was incompetent, but she was still a stranger when it came to noble etiquette. She only knew the very basics. How would Mother react to that?

"It has remained without a proper leader for decades. Longer even, if we look at things officially," Mark, the assistant Father had sent to help Alistair, explained as he looked through some papers. "Supposedly, one named Gilbert Backus had managed things in Sunglow for a short while, and all accounts are proper during that time. But as soon as he resigned, the town was basically left unmanaged."

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"Master Gilbert is quite something…" Alistair muttered.

"Are you familiar with this individual?" Mark asked as he adjusted his collar. The man was the embodiment of the word "perfectionist," always adjusting either his clothes or his hair so not a single strand was out of place.

"Yes. He's my fiancée's grandfather," Alistair said, smiling as he thought of Melina.

"Your commoner fiancées, you mean?" The man said with a frown. "Young Lord, surely—"

"No, Mark. I won't hear a word of your arguments. If you have time to spare, then use it to fill out documents," Alistair said.

Mark was the one who was completely against Alistair marrying Melina, and he wasn't afraid to voice it. When Alistair first came to Town Hall, it was what Mark berated him about constantly, saying how improper it was. So he made sure to keep the man busy so he couldn't run his mouth anymore.

"As you wish, Young Lord," Mark said with a sigh and returned to work.

Alistair returned his focus to the papers in front of him, trying to think of a way to solve the issues cost-effectively and with as little man-power as possible. Sunglow was already stretched quite thin. Most likely, he would have no choice but to put off some repairs and focus on new housing so he could attract the workforce necessary to do the repairs.

Currently, Sunglow only has one blacksmith, Etan, whose focus was solely on providing weapons for the adventurers, and one carpenter, Milo, whose real talent was for magitech rather than carpentry. He needed more carpenters, more builders, more blacksmiths to do proper repairs and realize the projects that were necessary for Sunglow to grow.

"Lord Sinclair, an elf by the name of Elowen, is requesting an urgent audience with you," a servant said, coming into the office.

"Let him in," Alistair said, without thinking too much about it. It must be something relating to the Monster Realm.

"My Lord… He has half a dozen drow with him," the servant said nervously.

The scholars in the room tensed, looking at Alistair with a worried expression. People here weren't even used to elves, much less drow. They likely felt very nervous about them walking around casually. But at the same time, Alistair had to display that there was nothing to fear.

"Prepare a guest room for them. I'll meet them all there," Alistair said.

"A-Are you sure, My Lord?" The servant asked nervously.

"Yes, I'm sure. Perhaps Lord Eidranis has figured out exactly what is happening in Sunglow and why the ambient mana levels have increased and remained high ever since his visit. This is not something we can ignore," Alistair explained.

The scholars accepted his reason with quiet nods and returned to their work, but it was clear that they were still tense and uncomfortable. It would likely require time for them to truly accept drow as a normal part of life. Alistair would be lying if he said that he wasn't at least a little bit unnerved. But as a leader, he had to remain strong and not show any doubt.

"Very well. We shall get everything ready," the servant inclined his head and left.

About twenty minutes later, everything was ready, and Alistair went to meet with Elowen and the drow. They sat rather awkwardly in the guest room, looking around the decor, which needed some upgrading.

"I apologize for the wait," Alistair said, sitting down across from Elowen.

"We didn't wait long. It's alright Elowen assured, calmly sipping on the tea that had been brought to him by the servants.

The drow didn't drink the tea, regarding it with suspicion.

"Please, enjoy these local snacks," the servant said, bringing the all too familiar treats to the coffee table. Melina's macarons, cream puffs, and shimmertart. She had prepared a batch specifically for Town Hall in the morning, mostly for Alistair to enjoy.

When the drow saw the macarons, they relaxed and reached out for the treat, eating it without hesitation. It appeared that Melina's plan had worked splendidly. The drow didn't even think twice before eating her cooking.

Alistair grabbed a slice of shimmertart while Elowen grabbed a cream puff. For a moment, there was blissful silence as they all enjoyed Melina's pastries.

"Humans truly have wonderful chefs," one of the drow noted, savoring a luminfruit macaron.

"Thank you. It was prepared by my fiancée," Alistair said.

"You're a lucky man, Lord Sinclair," the drow said.

"Indeed, I am," he nodded in agreement.

"Let's get to the matter at hand," Elowen said and cleared his throat. "These drow here have been sent to the Human Realm to keep watch on things in the Human Realm."

"My name is Izfried, and I'm the commander of this group," the drow who had praised Melina's cooking said. He had short, white hair and eyes in a peculiar shade of pink.

"I see. Does Lord Eidranis have any ideas why mana levels have remained consistently high in the Human Realm?" Alistair asked.

"He suspects that his visitation to this town might have marked this town as part of the Monster Realm," Izfried said.

"Part of the Monster Realm?" Alistair questioned.

"Yes. I have noticed signs to support this theory. The passageway between the realms for one is ever so slightly visible, and I believe it's also gotten shorter," Elowen said.

"Shorter?" Alistair blinked in surprise.

"Yes. I believe previously it took around five minutes to get through the passageway. Now it is around three minutes," the elf said.

"We'll continue monitoring the passageway to see whether it really is getting shorter," Izfried said. "But the fact remains that changes are happening to this town, and we suspect that they cannot be reversed."

"Do you predict any negative consequences?" Alistair asked.

"Increased monster activity. I see that whistlewisps already feel quite at home in this town," the drow pointed out.

"Unfortunately. I had to issue warnings to the citizens not to approach them, but obviously, most people are curious about the beautiful new bird rather than cautious. Especially the children," he sighed.

"Have there been cases of poisoning?" Izfried asked, concerned with a frown on his face.

"Yes. But thanks to Melina's healing waffles, it wasn't an issue," Alistair explained.

"Healing waffles?" The drow cocked his head, while his subordinates looked equally confused.

"Our local baker can make pastries that function similarly to potions. They can heal wounds and remove certain afflictions, like poison or burns," Elowen explained.

"Pastries that heal wounds and even cure afflictions…" the drow drawled out. "Is there a way to learn how to make these?"

Alistair thought about it for a moment. Would Melina want others to learn how to make her magical pastries? She was trying to teach Roxie how to make them, but there was a difference between her apprentice and a drow from the Monster Realm.

"I believe that the baker in question would be open to teaching others," Elowen answered before Alistair could.

Alistair shot him a glare, but the elf just shrugged. "Isn't that true, Lord Sinclair? Your fiancée is always searching for ways to attain peace between the Human and Monster Realm."

"That is true, but she is also currently busy with preparations for a very important event. She won't have any time to spare for lessons. Not on a large scale at least."

"Could one of our drow observe her work?" Izfried asked.

"I'll ask Melina if we can make such an arrangement," Alistair said, although he had a strong suspicion that she would agree without a second thought. He, however, didn't feel so comfortable letting a drow hover over her shoulder while she worked.

There was no knowing whether Lord Eidranis had truly buried his grudge towards Melina. If possible, he would like to remain and guard Melina himself, but with as much work as he had, it was impossible.

Alistair glanced at Elowen, who appeared deep in thought. Perhaps, it would be for the best to leave Melina's safety in his hands. He was by far the strongest fighter in Sunglow and a System user. If Alistair had to entrust Melina's safety to somebody besides himself, it would be him.

He hoped that she would say no, and he wouldn't even have to worry about this problem. But Alistair already knew she wouldn't.