Taste of Magic: Ambassador's Voice

Things weren't going as Amaris had expected. It has already been a month since she became the Archbishop, yet it felt like she hasn't gotten any closer to her goal. The public was much slower on uptake than she had imagined.

She released her tale about the Sacred Treasures and rallied the whole Church behind her cause. Some were resistant, but most came to see the reason in her words. The worst cases got what was coming to them, but the smartest ones relied on Amaris' knowledge and were looking forward to her guidance.

But even so, nothing seemed to be moving forward. Amaris even went as far as displaying the Chalice of the World for the general public. Big risk, because who knew when the Archmage or one of her lackeys decided to strike. Thankfully, the woman had remained in the backwater town of Sunglow.

Nonetheless, Amaris had no intention of letting her guard down. One could never be too careful. She had already gotten in contact with the mage from Su Xien and invited him to Alemahria to see the Chalice of the World. If all went well, she would be able to convince the man to join her cause. He would be able to stand on equal footing with that pastry-obsessed archmage.

But his arrival would take time, as would everything else. Why weren't people more eager to find the Sacred Treasures? They seemed very invested in the problem initially, fervently screaming that they would find the remaining two treasures.

Less than a week later, it seemed like everyone had already forgotten and returned to their regular activities. Even the Church members seemed more invested in their daily healing duties, System user training, and expeditions to the Monster Realm.

Nobody understood the importance of the Sacred Treasures. This couldn't go on.

"Cardinal!" Amaris called from atop her Archbishop's chair.

"Yes, Archbishop," the middle-aged man came up to her, bowing low to show his reverence. Whether the emotion was honest or not, Amaris didn't care. As long as he obeyed.

"Is there any progress in the search for the Sacred Treasures?" She demanded, looking down on him from her seat.

"I'm afraid not, Archbishop. We can't find a single trace of them," he said calmly. Far too calmly. The man knew something but was withholding information from her.

"Is that so? What is being done to find them?" She asked in a bored tone, as if the topic was nothing more than a mere afterthought for her.

"For the Stone of Sacrifice, we're looking for traces of where it could have reformed itself; however, so far we haven't found anything. After the retired Holy Knight Gilbert used it on his granddaughter, we haven't had any luck locating it. We suspect it might have materialized in the Monster Realm," the cardinal said with an unreadable expression.

It seemed possible. However, Amaris' gut feeling was telling her otherwise. Something wasn't right. "What about the Codex?"

"Last we've heard, it had fallen into the possession of some drow in the Monster Realm. Reaching it might prove difficult."

"Which region of the Monster Realm was it in?"

"One near the Monster Lord's tower. Retrieving it would require considerable effort and resources," the cardinal replied.

Amaris' fists clenched around the armrest of her seat. It was all clear to her now. Why had she been feeling so uneasy this whole time? She laughed.

For the first time, the cardinal looked at her with a look of concern on his face. "Archbishop? Is everything alright?"

"How did I not realize it before? It's the Archmage again. She has it," Amaris muttered.

"Archmage? I'm sorry, but the current Archmage is a man. Do you believe him to possess the Sacred Treasures?" He asked.

"No, not that old fool. He couldn't even light a candle, much less procure the Treasures. It's that damnable girl. Melina. She must have obtained the Treasures from right underneath our noses. I should have known. She knows far too much to just sit on the sidelines and bake her pastries peacefully."

"Are you talking about Melina Dufour, the peasant about to marry into the Sinclair family?" The cardinal asked.

"The very same. Prepare our forces. We're going to head to Sunglow," Amaris announced.

"Sunglow?" The cardinal looked at her in surprise. "With our forces? Are we heading into the passageway there?

"No. I believe it's time we dealt with those non-believers. Haven't there been reports for centuries now of their resistance to our cause and support towards everything relating to the Monster Realm?" She questioned.

The cardinal looked uncomfortable. "That is true, but just openly forcing ourselves…"

"It must be done. They are hiding the Sacred Treasures and conspiring with the Monster Lord. They are a danger to the whole Human Realm and must be dealt with," she said firmly. "How long would it take to bolster forces?"

"Uh… It might take a while. There's an Adventurer's Guild in Sunglow, as well as many elves," the cardinal said.

Amaris narrowed her eyes, making the older man flinch back a step. She would have loved to get rid of this man and replace him with somebody else. But she couldn't cull the Church in its entirety. If there had been more time, Amaris could have rebuilt the inner structure of the organization properly, but she was short on time, which is why she had to deal with these kinds of men.

She knew he held no true loyalty for her, but at the same time, he was knowledgeable and just cowardly enough to be kept in check.

"Whatever forces you think Sunglow has, double them, no triple them. The Archmage alone is a considerable threat, along with her familiars."

"Triple, Your Holiness?" The cardinal gaped.

"Yes. I believe we have to bring our full force on their heads to obtain victory."

"B-But, Archbishop Heiliger, it is a small town… We can't bring all of our forces—"

"Are you disobeying a direct order?" Her cold gaze snapped to him.

"NO! I would never."

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"Then do as you're told. How long will it take to prepare everyone?" Heiliger asked.

"It might take a month or two," The cardinal replied nervously.

Amaris tapped the armrest in thought. At that rate, she might as well wait for the mage to arrive and then strike at full force, not giving the Archmage time to prepare or retaliate properly.

"Very well. Go!" She commanded.

The cardinal scampered away instantly, nearly tripping over his shoes.

Amaris smiled. She needed to wait just a little longer. Soon, the paradise she had experienced once before would be within her reach again.

Melina's heart was hammering in her chest. Today was the first day of her cooking classes in the building constructed by Milo and the drow builders. It had taken a considerable amount of preparation to get it ready for the lessons, but with the help of Alistair, Count Speziale, and the drow, they got the interior ready in record time.

Duchess Sinclair helped Melina sort through the applicants and choose the best candidates among them. At least when it came to the candidates sent by the noblemen. The Duchess instructed Melina to accept anyone sent by the duchies. As a future member of the Sinclair family, she couldn't reject them.

After that, the Duchess sorted through the lower houses, choosing those who were politically aligned with House Sinclair or in a neutral position. One would think that Melina wouldn't need to worry about noble politics yet. But it was actually in her own interest to align herself with Sinclair's views.

After all, House Sinclair was the most open-minded when it came to things relating to the Monster Realm. They had allowed elves to build Euroa in their forests after all. Houses aligned with Sinclair had a similar view and didn't support the Church's viewpoint.

But the nobles aligned with the Church were usually in a different faction than the Sinclairs. Coincidentally, the Sinclair faction—as Melina called it—was more supportive of the Crown while the opposing faction was more supportive of the Church.

Aside from that, Melina also had to decide which commoners would join the class. Here, she relied on Roxie's knowledge as the daughter of the Bakers Guild guildmaster. She explained about the various Bakers Guilds throughout Alemahria and what roles they played.

This wasn't nearly as hard as dealing with the nobles. The Bakers Guild merely wanted the knowledge in order to gain more profit for themselves. Aside from one of the Guilds, which was working directly for the Church for some reason, Melina saw no reason to reject anyone from them.

Of course, she couldn't accept everyone. Priority went to the allies of the Sinclair family. Then the neutral standing nobles. After that came the candidates from the Bakers Guilds. All in all, Melina ended up with 30 students in her class who had arrived in Sunglow sometime during the last week.

More established guests would be sleeping in the accommodations within the Town Hall, meant precisely for such guests. The rest would remain in Erina's inn. It was a good thing that the tourist season was now well and truly over because otherwise there might not have been enough space in the inn.

Erina was more than pleased to have guests filling out her rooms even during the colder months of the year. Winter was nearly upon them after all.

"I'm not sure if I can do this…" Melina muttered at the breakfast table, keenly aware of the task ahead of her.

Alistair smiled at her. "Of course you can. There's nobody else in Sunglow who could do what you can. It's the same as your magic lessons."

"It's not, though. That was just with Adrien and Leon. There's a difference between teaching two people and teaching thirty. Many of which are sent by the nobles. What if they are like Michael?"

"Hasn't Michael been rather obedient in the kitchen lately? To my understanding, you're leaving him and Roxie to take care of things in the bakery in your absence," Alistair noted.

"I'm still doing all the special orders, but the bulk stuff I've entrusted to them. Mostly Roxie, really," Melina said.

"I think it'll be fine," he reached out and cupped her cheek, gently rubbing it with his thumb. "Just be yourself, and everything will be fine. Besides, you got all the Sinclair guards with you and Mango."

The two-tailed kitsune let out a happy yip. Sienna, however, refused to leave the home. She basically lived by the hearth now. Getting her out was an ordeal, so lately the bakery has been operating without the wyvern. Admittedly, Alistair also secured a magitech oven for Melina's classes and the bakery, so she wouldn't have to worry about Sienna's absence. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"I think you'll have to go to the Monster Realm soon… It's just too cold for you here," Melina noted sadly.

The wyvern ran up to her, rubbing her chin against Melina. Sienna looked sad about the thought of leaving for a few months, but it was clear that cold weather was not something she could handle. It would be cruel to keep her in Sunglow during winter.

"Let's worry about that another time. For today, leave Sienna up to Dairy and Henry," Alistair said.

"Don't worry! We'll make sure Sienna is nice and warm," the woman assured her as she collected their dirty breakfast dishes.

"Thank you, Daisy. It means a lot," Melina bowed gratefully towards the woman.

"Don't worry about it. It's my pleasure."

With Sienna being taken care of, Melina could leave the class with a much lighter heart. Mango trudged after her dutifully, proudly displaying her two tails. She hadn't learned to control them fully yet, but most of the time, the tails were in sync. Mango's control over magic had also vastly improved as she didn't freeze over everything she touched, much to Sienna's delight.

Once Melina and Sienna arrived at the Baking Hall, as it has been dubbed for the time being, she saw that her students were already arriving. There was a special dressing room where they could leave their coats and outdoor shoes. As a rule, Melina had ordered them to bring a clean pair of shoes into the kitchen.

Since there would be so many people, trying to keep things tidy was important. Gloves and aprons were another requirement that she had sent to all the students. Going into the dressing room, Melina was pleased to see that everyone had indeed brought a pair of indoor shoes, gloves, and an apron.

What surprised her more was that nobody was really paying any attention to her initially, likely assuming that she was another student. However, once they noticed the confidence with which Melina strode into the kitchen, and Mango followed behind her, their gazes began to shift in her direction.

"Is that Melina?" Somebody whispered.

"It must be… That fox is a monster, isn't it?" Another whisper.

"But she seems so… young…" The voice didn't sound very confident.

Melina nodded to herself as she walked to the front of the kitchen. This was expected. These people didn't know her ability in the kitchen, nor had they tasted her pastries. That was alright. Melina had already planned how to show people that she can be trusted in the kitchen.

In a way, she had to thank Michael for his bratty attitude upon arrival. It confirmed that Melina first had to portray her abilities instead of just jumping into teaching and hoping that everyone would blindly follow her direction.

She also wanted to assess how well these people worked with unfamiliar ingredients. A test to check their abilities during the first lesson would serve well for that purpose.

Melina waited for everyone to arrive, indicating to them to choose one of the many work stations set up in the large room. Once all the spaces were taken, she hummed in approval and began.

"Good morning, everyone! I'm Melina Dufour, and you must be wondering, why is this young girl the one teaching us how to make magical pastries? The simple answer is… I just know how to do it. I'm a System user and acquainted with magic," she said, and for emphasis had a bowl float to her own work station.

A wave of gasps echoed in the room.

"But don't worry. You don't need to have the System in order to make magical pastries. You can make them using proper Monster Realm ingredients. I'm going to show you all how to," she continued, and saw more than one skeptical glance in the audience.

"But first, I would like you all to demonstrate how you cook. I'm going to give you a single Monster Realm ingredient and allow you to cook with it," she said and waved her hands. In response, the sparkleafs, which she had prepared for this class, floated onto each work station.

"Aren't Monster Realm ingredients dangerous?" A middle-aged man asked, looking at the sparkleaves suspiciously.

"Sparkleaves are completely safe, no matter how you prepare them. They lose their flavor easily unless handled with care, but there's no chance of anyone hurting themselves with them," Melina said. "I'm going to be cooking alongside you, also using sparkleaves. At the end of the class, I'll let you all taste the dish I prepare while I also taste what you have prepared."

Fire lit up in the eyes of many more experienced-looking cooks. It was the same look Michael had had in his eyes.

Excellent, let them fall first before I actually try teaching them anything.