Taste of Magic: Ambassador's Voice

When Melina and Alistair returned home, the two servants assigned by the Sinclair family, a middle-aged woman named Daisy and an older man named Henry, were both standing by Mango's evolution cocoon, looking nervous.

"Oh, thank the System, you are back!" Daisy exhaled in relief. "We were about to head home, but then these weird cracks began appearing on Mango's crystal."

"I am sorry," Henry bowed his head. "I might have accidentally bumped into it during the day while cleaning. It didn't even fall over, so I believed it to be fine. Oh, curse this old man! I didn't wish to hurt the tiny fox."

"Henry, calm down!" Melina walked up to the bowing man, gently placing a hand on his shoulder. "Mango is fine. She's just ready to emerge."

The man blinked a few times, then exhaled with relief. "Oh, thank the System. If I had harmed Mango somehow… I don't think I would have been able to live with myself."

"Evolution cocoons are near impossible to break. You bumping into it wouldn't have done anything," Melina assured him.

A loud crack came from the crystal, and the four of them gathered around it. Sienna, who had been napping under the blankets, also peeked its head out and looked curiously in their direction.

"Mango is about to come out!" Alistair said excitedly, urging the wyvern to come closer.

Sienna, realizing that the big moment was here, hurriedly jumped off the couch and ran up to the crystal, watching the crack form in the structure. They were all watching how they spread, and tiny parts of crystal began to fall off.

At some point, Melina had grabbed Alistair's hand, and they were holding them together tightly, watching the crystal with bated breath. At one point, a loud crack echoed through the room, and the crystal fell apart, shards scattering all over the floor.

Mango was coiled up inside it, looking not that much different from before. At least at first glance. But then the fox opened her large, bright orange eyes and unfurled herself. Two tails, longer than the one Mango had before, appeared behind her. Her body also appeared slightly larger and a bit more sleek.

[Your familiar has evolved into .]

[Her level has been reset to 1.]

"Hi, Mango! How are you feeling?" Melina crouched down to be at eye level with the fox.

Mango blinked sleepily, rubbing at her snout with her paw. She then took a deep breath, making an odd expression, and sneezed. In an instant, all of them were covered in a thin layer of snow.

Sienna howled in panic, flapping her wings desperately to get the snow off herself. Most of it melted on impact on her hot scales, but that didn't stop Sienna from running a few frustrated circles around the room and then diving back underneath the covers while snarling menacingly.

"Do forgive her, Sienna. She just evolved," Melina said soothingly to the wyvern.

While irritated, Sienna did understand and stopped growling. However, she didn't leave the safety of her blanket, instead observing the situation from afar.

"How are you feeling, little puffball?" Alistair asked while wiping the snow off himself. Melina and the two servants did the same.

"Yip-yip!" Mango replied, still sleepily, while waving her two tails around. It appeared that she wasn't able to control them very well. Mango glanced at her two tails, looking confused at first. But as they moved, the fox's yips got more excited, and she jumped up and down.

"Yeah, you got two tails now!" Melina cheered, patting the fox. Her fur felt just as cool and soft as before.

"And a clear boost to ice magic," Alistair added.

Sienna let out a dissatisfied hiss at that. Mango's ears drooped, and she walked over to the couch where Sienna was cuddled underneath the cover. The fox jumped up onto the couch and whimpered at Sienna.

The wyvern tried not to look at Mango at first, but her heart soon melted, and she pressed her nuzzle against hers in the end. Mango yipped happily and began zooming across the room, jumping up and down from the couch and leaving a snowflake trail behind her.

"I think Mango will be enjoying the winter weather a lot," Alistair said.

Daisy and Henry, meanwhile, hurried to clean up all the rogue snow with bright smiles on their faces.

The next few days were spent in busy preparations and adjustment to Mango's new form. It turned out that a sudden power boost wasn't necessarily a good thing. Not initially, at least.

Mango couldn't control her cold very well at first. Since it was boosted, she froze the first ice-cream cake they tried to make that morning, completely solid. Even part of the counter got covered in ice.

Adrien was taking furious notes, all too excited to see the changes the fox had gone through. Mango, on the other hand, looked mighty guilty about freezing the dessert. Of course, with the right application of heat, Melina was able to salvage most of the cake.

After that initial incident, they were very careful with how they used Mango's abilities. The fox clearly tried hard to apply her magic slowly, but it was very potent, so a few more things ended up frozen. She also had trouble controlling her two tails.

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It almost seemed like each tail had a mind of its own, going all over the place. At one point, Mango bit into one of her tails in frustration to try to get it under control. Melina suspected it was only a matter of time before she would manage to learn to control them. Sienna had trouble at first, too. Not with the tails, but her new wings.

In the end, Melina managed to get through the day mostly peacefully, but in the afternoon, she had some serious preparations to make. First of all, what would happen to the bakery while Melina was teaching her lessons?

"Grandfather, what do you think I should do?" Melina asked Gilbert.

They were both sitting in the living room, while Melina was buried in a bunch of application papers. Gilbert was leisurely reading a book.

"Do about what?" He asked, not lifting his eyes from the book.

"The bakery and the lessons. I can't exactly leave everything up to Roxie. Not to mention that I don't trust leaving Michael alone with her. He's mellowed out a bit, but he's still rather challenging at times."

"Are you planning your lessons to be at four in the morning?" Gilbert asked.

"No?"

"Then I don't see the problem. Make the pastries and then head off to your lessons. I'm sure Adrien and Roxie can manage the shop just fine as long as they have enough pastries," Gilbert said.

Melina blinked a few times. "Right… I guess I've grown too used to waking up early."

Although this issue was solved, it didn't solve the larger problem at hand. The apprentices. There were so many applications. Some even from the other side of Alemahria.

On the one hand, it was amazing. She could easily spread her recipes throughout the country. On the other hand, all the people needed to get to Sunglow somehow. They would also require lodgings. Although Alistair promised to take care of that, Melina still couldn't accept everyone.

She would have to pick and choose. The sooner the better. She already decided that she would send the reply back using magic to save time. But it would still take time for people to arrive in Sunglow. At the earliest, she could start her lesson in a week. More likely two.

It just felt too slow. Each day, Heiliger was spreading her gospel further and further, turning the populace against the Monster Realm and its inhabitants. She would soon realize that Melina possessed at least one of the Sacred Treasures. It would be a stretch to assume that in her desperation, Heiliger might just mobilize all of the Church's forces, which were currently at her command.

"Girl, are you panicking again?" Gilbert lowered the book to his lap.

Melina tried to force a smile. "No! It's just that it's difficult to pick apprentices out of so many people."

Gilbert gave Melina a significant look. She tried to hold his gaze, but eventually couldn't anymore. It was obvious that he already knew that Melina was panicking internally. She sighed.

"Yes… But can you blame me? Heiliger is going around preaching about how the Monster Realm is bad and urging people to find the Sacred Treasures. It's only a matter of time before—"

"Calm down, girl!" Gilbert said sternly. "For some reason, you envision that because Heiliger is Archbishop now, you've instantly run out of time."

"Have I not?" She asked.

"No! You can't change people within a single day. Sure, there's currently a lot of hubbub about the Sacred Treasures, but her strategy is heavily flawed."

"I mean… It's not perfect, but it is working. After all, a lot of people are afraid of monsters. Understandably so, because many of them do get into the Human Realm and attack. Thinking about it now, it's most likely out of confusion or out of a need to survive rather than any actual malice towards humans. But the fact is that monsters are dangerous."

"Yes, that is true. But Euroa exists. Elves exist. Have you forgotten how elves are treated?" Gilbert asked.

Melina shook her head. "No. Many people treat elves almost like gods, while others outright hate them."

"Exactly! The opinions are very polarizing, but it's not outright hate from everyone. Besides, this opinion has been steadily shifting. Elves are commonplace in Sunglow, and Sunglow gets a lot of visitors. What do you think those visitors think?"

"I suspect they likely think that elves aren't so different after staying here for a bit. But I think we have gone on a tangent now. What does this have to do with Heiliger's plan?" Melina asked, a bit of frustration leaking into her voice.

Gilbert sighed. "My point is that people believe what they see. They witnessed monsters attacking, hence they believe monsters are bad. But when they witness elves living much like humans, then they obviously see them as part of society."

"Heiliger screaming some stories to the world without any physical evidence will not sway the public in their favor. Sure, some will be swayed. But the majority of commonfolk only believe things they witness with their own eyes. So if they see that Monster Realm, elves, and the like aren't bad, they won't suddenly change their view just because some bigshot said so."

"Okay, you're right, and that's why we're doing all this. Trying to introduce Monster Realm ingredients to people as quickly as possible," Melina said.

"Yes, I agree it should be done quickly, but one or two weeks aren't going to change things on the grand scale, neither for us, nor for Heiliger. These kinds of changes will always take time, no matter which side pushes. Also, we have a distinct advantage," Gilbert said.

"What advantage?" Melina asked. She thought that they were currently at a rather big disadvantage.

"We don't need a figurehead. Well, you're kind of taking charge here, but you're not plastering your face on banners and calling it a revolution. You're doing things people recognize. You're giving them food they want and need. You're giving them a chance to make a decision for themselves by showing them the things from the Monster Realm."

"And it's not just you doing the work. There are many people. Count Speziale, Duke and Duchess Sinclair, all of the people of Sunglow, the elves, and even the Monster Lord. We're all doing the work. But what do you think will happen to the Church once it loses its head?" Gilbert said.

Melina realized Gilbert was right. Currently, Heiliger was the one doing all the work. Surely, she had helpers from the Church, but realistically, what would happen if Heiliger just disappeared?

A grim thought crossed Melina's mind for a moment. Maybe if she found Heiliger and…

But Melina didn't allow the thought to linger. She wasn't going to do something like that again. It was not who she was. Not anymore.

"I should just focus on doing what I can without rushing ahead. Or making rash decisions," Melina said, slightly ashamed.

"Exactly. We'll move forward one step at a time. Do what you can, but don't think you have to accomplish it all within a day. Take your time," Gilbert said.

Melina nodded and returned to the letters. She was able to sort through them with a lighter heart now and chose people of all ages and experiences to join her class.

But even though Melina had wanted not to think about it, that one dark thought still refused to leave her mind. What would happen if she cut off the head of the snake?