Taste of Magic: Ambassador's Voice

Melina's heart thundered the whole time she was making pastries in the morning. The more she thought about it, the more holes she found in her plan. Her hands trembled while she kneaded the dough and she dropped several pastries to the floor when pulling them out of the oven. Sienna had made short work of them, but she still berated herself for her clumsiness.

Despite that, Gilbert wasn't angry. He could probably sense her nervousness and continued working in silence, letting her mull over her feelings. But they never seemed to settle, as Melina's mind came up with new ways of things going wrong. She was also becoming more certain that Heiliger would not let things go, simply because Melina's level had been reduced to one.

"Why don't you just stay in your room for today? I'll tell everyone you've fallen sick," Gilbert said after they had finished making everything. Melina's hands still shook as she carried the bread into the shop.

"No, it'll only make her more suspicious."

"How do you intend to deal with her once she checks your status screen?" Gilbert asked dubiously.

"I'm going to accept the [Arcane Baker] class and reset my level to 1," Melina said, but this plan sounded even worse when said aloud.

Gilbert gave her an unamused look. "So she can question how some apprentice has a more impressive, completely unheard class than her supposed master?"

"It's an advanced class. I'm sure it's not more impressive than your master class," Melina noted.

"I've never got a master class."

"Wait, really? So you're just a [Baker]?" Melina asked in shock. She had expected him to be a [Patissier] or [Master Baker] or whatever other class the System deemed worthy to bestow Gilbert.

"I didn't want to attract more attention. I'm already able to apply effects and buffs on my bread and pastries. I didn't want it to become a norm in my cooking," he explained.

Melina realized that she should be doing the same. Keep toiling as a [Cook] if the System wasn't willing to give her a simple class. That would be the safe choice. Or the safer choice at least. Her status screen would be suspicious to Heiliger no matter what she did. Reverting it to Level 1 wouldn't save her, even though she desperately wanted it to save her.

"But just because I didn't take that path, doesn't mean that you can't," Gilbert said.

"But Master, if I do that, then this won't be just a normal bakery. If I accept the [Arcane Baker], I don't think I'll be able to keep making regular bread and pastries."

"I know. But would you be satisfied being a simple baker?" He questioned.

"I should be," Melina protested.

"Girl, you have a wyrm familiar, you can do magic and you rewound time which I didn't even think was possible. Your life will be anything but simple."

Her intention from the very start was to remain a small baker hidden far away in the most forgotten corner of the Alemahria. But what Gilbert said was true. How could she expect that her life could be normal? It had already deviated far away from normal the moment the System screen appeared before her.

[Archmage's Shadow: Once an archmage, now bound to never use magic again. However, the past cannot be fully erased.]

Past cannot be fully erased. So this is what the skill meant? I'll never be just a normal girl.

"Just accept who you are and live your life in strides. Remember that I'm here to help you. I'll help you deal with the Church," Gilbert assured her.

"But what about you, Master? You wanted to live in peace, yet I've come and basically broken that."

Gilbert hobbled over to Melina and gently flicked her forehead. She stared at him incredulously. "What was that for?"

"Worry about yourself first, not an old bag of bones like me. Besides, I'd be lying if I said that this bakery was what I wanted to achieve in life. I've always wanted to see much more than this."

Melina thought about his words for a moment.

"I… I'm going to equip [Arcane Baker] class," she said after a long pause. She had wanted to do so from the start, yet at the same time, Melina clung to a sense of normalcy. But Gilbert was right, any semblance of normal life she could have had was already long gone.

Gilbert nodded in approval. "You do that. I'm sure that you'll be able to do much good for Sunglow."

Melina willed the System to equip her new class.

[Class equipped. Your level has been reset to Level 1.]

[New skill obtained: Ingredient Appraisal – Rank F.]

[Ingredient Appraisal – Rank F: Allows you to analyze any ingredient, discerning its magical properties at a glance.]

"I've unlocked an appraisal skill," Melina said in surprise. "It can discern magical properties of ingredients."

Gilbert nodded. "Sounds logical. If you're making unusual pastries you need to be able to find unusual ingredients."

Melina then checked her status screen.

[Name: Melina Dufour]

[Level: 1]

[Class: Arcane Baker]

[Familiar: Sienna — Ember Wyrm Level 47]

[Intelligence: 13]

[Agility: 8]

[Strength: 9]

[Skill: 16]

[Charm: 7]

[Active Skills: 8]

[, , , , , , , ]

[Passive Skills: 3]

[, , ]

"I'm ready, Master. Let's open the bakery," she said resolutely.

"Are you sure you're not going to hide in your room?"

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"No. I'm done running and hiding. Not to mention, that Heiliger wouldn't leave without seeing me first. Once something catches her interest, she doesn't give up until she has investigated it. I should face her head-on and deal with her now," Melina noted, arranging lamb pastry bundles on the shelf.

"Very well. But this might get messy," Gilbert warned.

"I figured it might," Melina replied cheekily and headed outside to turn on the sign. It was a dark morning and a large mass of clouds was approaching from the west. Storm was brewing, but she felt it was a good sign. It was necessary for the wildlife to properly wake up. She also had to accept the brewing storm to keep moving forward.

Melina turned on the sign, which easily illuminated the surrounding area with its light. She then looked towards the end of the street, wondering whether the first customers were already on their way. Who knew? Knowing her luck, Heiliger would come to the bakery first thing in the morning to investigate the rumors.

Just as she expected, there was a small mass of people heading toward the bakery. But unlike on a normal morning, when it was just the adventurers and town watch that came at the opening hours, there were far more people. A whole stream of townsfolk trickled to the bakery, chattering among themselves.

At the front of this large group were Erina and Remi, both looking very smug.

"Good morning, Melina," Remi waved enthusiastically.

"Good morning," Erina said, a hint of mischief playing in her features.

"Good morning? What is going on?" Melina asked, looking at the seemingly never-ending stream of people behind them. All of the people there looked equally smug, although some of them seemed sleepier than the others. As if they had been woken up forcibly before their normal waking hours.

"Going on? Nothing. We're all just here to buy bread. As we do each morning," Erina said. "Would you let us in before the rain starts? It'd be a shame if we all got wet."

"I don't think we can fit this many people in the bakery," Melina said nervously, her mind spinning at the thought of dealing with so many customers at once.

"We could wait in the living room, couldn't we? There's space there, isn't there?" Erina said with a confident smile.

Melina gave the innkeeper a suspicious look. "Seriously, what is going on?"

"We just heard that the Bishop was snooping her nose around the bakery. Asking questions about you and Master Gilbert so we decided to… hide the tracks so to speak," Remi chuckled, looking very pleased.

"Hide the tracks?"

"You'll understand soon enough. Don't you worry about anything. We, Sunglowers, are masters at getting rid of unwanted Church visitors," Erina said confidently and went inside the bakery.

"Bah, I've never liked them. Always so judgemental towards elves when we haven't done anything. Bastards have been cursing us out each time we went to eat in the cafeteria. High time they headed home," Remi grumbled and headed inside too.

"Don't worry, Miss Melina. Everything will be taken care of. All we need is your cooperation," Barrett said and waved the group of adventurers to head inside with him, not waiting for her reply.

"Amazing people aren't they?" Alistair said, emerging from among the crowd.

"Did you do this?" Melina asked. She could imagine him exercising his authority to gather the crowd. She suspected that they were planning to buy everything in the bakery, so Melina and Gilbert could close it before Heiliger arrived.

But how did he gather everyone this quickly in the morning? Can I even serve everyone so quickly? Usually, I'm busy the whole time during the opening hours without much time for respite.

"No. Erina and Remi organized it last evening, although people were really quick to join. Everyone's eager to send the Church back where they came from," Alistair explained, a twinge of sadness crossing his expression. "Although I only found out about it this morning on my way here."

"A-Are you alright with that? Sending the Church away, I mean," she asked cautiously. He requested help from the Church to understand his skill. That was actually quite a troubling issue on its own. If other people remember the time before the rewind, then this could paint a target on Alistair's back. They might start searching for other people who remembered the past. But Melina didn't have enough mental capacity to worry about that.

"Yes. I already spoke with the Bishop about my problem. I'm more than happy to see her leave," Alistair noted. "Now, I believe customers are waiting for you."

Melina nodded and hurried inside, gently squeezing herself through the sea of people. She expected the service to be very hectic with her rushing to fulfill the orders. The people were already pushing and complaining about stepping on each other's feet.

"Master Gilbert, do you mind if we borrow your kitchen?" Erina chirped, not bothered by the slowly growing mayhem. "I'd like to brew some tea while we wait."

"Go ahead. Do what you must," he grumbled, not at all surprised by the surge of people.

"Master Gilbert, do you have any extra chairs or stools?" Barrett asked.

"There are some in the shed. Take however much you need," Gilbert said. Alistair, Barrett, and a few more men from the Guild hurried over to get the chairs. There was some scuffling from the living room as they tried to arrange them, and Melina wondered whether she should help.

"No, Melina, leave this to us. It was our idea so we'll take care of it. You worry only about selling pastries," Remi said resolutely and guided the stream of people away from the shop and into the living room. There was plenty of confusion as she did that.

Some people came to the bakery just to buy their bread and were unaware of this secret plan. They complained when somebody tried to move them into the living room, so the shop was deafeningly loud as people tried to sort out their place. Melina nearly had to scream to talk to the person in front of her.

At some point, Leliana also came into the bakery together with her sisters. When Melina's and Leliana's eyes met, the redhead flushed and looked to the side. "Don't misunderstand. I didn't come here to help you. I came to help Master Gilbert and to get rid of those Church goons. They always bring trouble along with them."

"You couldn't have said it better, Miss Leliana," the men around the shop cheered at her. It became clear to Melina that they were trying to block the Church out with sheer numbers.

It seemed ludicrous. It would rely on people remaining in this cramped space for hours until Melina and Gilbert would finally be done with service. But despite the shouting and occasional child crying and lots of arguing, somehow things were moving along without turning into complete chaos.

"I'm not going to lie, I didn't expect this, but I'm not surprised either," Gilbert noted.

"You're not?"

"Let's just say that we in Sunglow are always eager to find new ways of getting rid of the Church," Erina said smugly, carrying a pot of tea into the living room. "Who wants tea?"

Melina nervously watched as Amaris Heiliger along with a few priests stood by the entrance of the bakery but were utterly unable to get in. The sheer amount of people inside was so large that there wasn't enough space. The shop wasn't very large to begin with so it didn't take that many people to fill it up.

The largest number of people were situated in their living room. Erina together with Remi and a few other women from Guild had turned into an impromptu cafe of sorts, where people would sit down and eat the pastries they bought with some coffee or tea.

Once they were done, they'd head back into the shop while those who were standing for the longest would go to the living room and rest. It wasn't a perfect system as there were plenty of scuffles about who would get to sit in the living room, but Erina somehow managed to keep everything under control. This made the shop full and inaccessible at all times, so Heiliger had no choice but to stand outside and fume.

"I can't believe this is actually working," Melina said to Gilbert, her hands never stopping as she packaged pastries for eager customers.

"I'm surprised everyone is being so peaceful. I expected them to start harassing the priests," Gilbert said, thoughtfully scratching his beard.

"We could do that," Remi said as she passed by, holding a pot of tea in her hands.

"Perhaps, we could collectively trample them to the ground. Show the Church that nobody in Sunglow can be messed with," Missis Veilcroft, the sapling vendor said. Melina had to wonder where such a peaceful-looking lady got such bloodlust.

"Let me through," Heiliger's determined voice resounded from the entrance as she tried to force herself inside. She was greeted by a swarm of angry chatter as people bickered at the entrance.

"I am sorry, Miss Bishop, but there's no space here."

"You're going have to wait for someone to leave."

"Plenty of people have already left. How come it's still so full?"

Melina had never actually seen the Bishop so frustrated. She had always seemed like a picture of grace and serenity. But as it turned out, Heiliger was a human capable of showing anger just like anybody else.

Melina did get nervous, seeing Heiliger so close, but the woman had absolutely no chance of actually getting to Melina, not to mention looking at her System screen. No matter how much Heiliger tried to convince people to move, she wasn't able to get inside.

Eventually, the rain started pouring buckets, drenching her and the priests in a matter of minutes. Nonetheless, she did not give up, determined to get inside even while the rain poured down on her.

Ten minutes passed, then twenty. People were getting more irritated from being cramped together. The air was getting increasingly stuffier. It was almost like a war of attrition. But then Leliana walked outside and spoke to Heiliger. After less than a minute, the stubborn Bishop left.

What did she say to get Heiliger to leave so quickly?