Taste of Magic: Ambassador's Voice

"Two loaves of pumpkin seed bread, three pear rolls, and one Sunglow cream puff," an elderly woman, one of the bakery's regulars said, then added in a whisper. "My husband accidentally burned himself this morning."

Melina pondered for a moment. Burns was a nasty type of injury which in essence destroyed cells completely. Even potions struggled to completely heal more serious burns, leaving behind nasty scars.

"How bad is his burn?" Melina asked. If the injury was more serious, the healing cream puffs might not be enough.

"Oh, it's not that bad. He grabbed a hot skillet with his bare palm. Silly old coot decided to cook me breakfast for the first time in years, but he's already forgotten how his kitchen endeavors always end in disaster," the woman chuckled heartily. It was clear that she appreciated the gesture even if it didn't quite end up as planned.

"Give me one moment to get your cream puff," Melina said and hurried to the storage. It sounded like the burn wasn't too serious, so her healing cream puffs should do the job. But what if somebody came in with more serious burns? Fire-breathing monsters like Sienna weren't exactly rare, although perhaps not quite that common around these parts.

But who knows what else lurked on the other side of the passageway. They merely dipped their small toe in it, hardly learning anything of possible threats. It wasn't so farfetched to assume that a fire-breathing monster or two could live in the near vicinity.

"Here you go," Melina gave the order to the elderly woman, everything wrapped up neatly in a paper bag.

"Thank you, dear! You're a blessing upon our small town," the woman said and hobbled away. Melina appreciated her compliment but felt it was undeserved. She might still bring a lot of trouble for Sunglow, especially when Heiliger returns and the word spreads about her healing pastries.

The best I can do is make it worthwhile for the Sunglowers to side with me if any conflict arises. Oh, how I wish I could start working on those waffles already.

But much to Melina's chagrin, after her duties in the bakery were done, she'd have to head to the smithy. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"That was the last one for today," Gilbert noted, breathing a sigh of relief. The morning had been busy despite the steady rain outside. But it wasn't a depressing sort of rain that forced you to remain indoors. Rather it was a refreshing spring shower, meant to water the parched seeds and saplings. Melina was eager to see how her plants would react to it.

"I'll get to clean up right away," Melina said, heading outside and turning off the sign. The raindrops that hit her didn't feel cold at all, but somewhat lukewarm. The air also felt a bit thick. Perhaps, the first spring thunderstorm was brewing.

"Oh, right, today you have to go to Etan don't you?" Gilbert grumbled. When Melina had told him about the deal she struck with the man, he had been furious. He even called her a little traitor. Only when she showed him the immaculate waffle iron, did he concede. He had wanted a new one for a long time.

"I promise that I'll be back soon to prepare everything needed for tomorrow," she assured him, grabbing a cloth from the cleaning cupboard and wiping the surfaces.

Gilbert snorted. "You think he's going to let you go easily? I guarantee you won't be able to lift your hands tomorrow."

"It'll be fine. It's mostly Sienna he needs. I'm just supervising."

"Don't tell me that I didn't warn you."

Once Melina was done with cleaning in the bakery, she decided to make a few batches of dough for tomorrow, just in case she was held up in the smithy for too long. She doubted it would happen, but Melina decided not to take the risk, especially when Gilbert had already warned her.

[Your skill has ranked up. It is now Rank D.]

[Food Manufacturing: Increases the yield of dishes you can cook from ingredients without reducing the size of the dish.

Effect at Rank D: One extra dish per 8 dishes made.]

Melina hummed at the notification. had helped them immensely to keep up with customer demand. At higher ranks perhaps it could even serve as well as if they had another worker. She was really glad to have picked up this skill.

I wonder what new skills the System will offer me at Level 15. All advanced classes get to choose skills then. Since I'm an [Arcane Baker], then it must have tailored some skills that could be useful for me. I'm actually looking forward to it.

The dough prepared, Melina grabbed an umbrella and headed toward the direction of the sea. Sienna was not enjoying the weather at all, occasionally hissing at the rain from underneath her dress. But Melina was not bothered by a bit of wetness and neither were the townsfolk.

They carried on with their activities, not giving much mind to the rain. The children actually were taking advantage of the puddles forming in the streets, jumping and splashing around in them eagerly. The sight brought a smile to Melina's lips. Even rain couldn't ruin their happiness.

By the time she reached the smithy, Melina's feet were somewhat wet as was the bottom of her dress. Sienna jumped off of her at the first opportunity, trying to avoid the raindrops dripping from the umbrella.

"You've come rather late," Etan grumbled.

"Sorry, I had to prepare some dough for tomorrow," she apologized, setting the wet umbrella by the entrance.

"Better late than never, I suppose. I expect none of this tardiness during weekends, you got it?" The blacksmith warned.

"Understood."

"Good. Then let's get to work."

The first thing that they did was test Sienna's fire capabilities. Melina would have expected the man to be more wary of a fire-breathing monster, but no, he wasn't bothered in the slightest. In fact, he gaped in awe when Sienna launched her fireball into the furnace, instantly lighting the coals aflame.

"Astounding. Such powerful fire from such a small creature," the blacksmith praised. "Let's see which metals you can melt."

Etan proceeded to set various metals in front of Sienna, ordering her to melt them. He didn't bother explaining to Melina which metal was which, and when she asked him, the blacksmith just reprimanded her not to interfere. It left her a bit peeved, but she supposed it couldn't be helped. Not like she really needed to understand the melting points of various metals.

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At one point, Sienna began to struggle, unable to melt whatever metal was set in front of her.

"So wrought iron is a bit too difficult already," Etan mused, writing something down in a notebook.

"I think she just can't produce such high heat in her smaller form. Her flames are more powerful in her large form," Melina explained, and Sienna chittered approvingly.

"Interesting. Have her transform then."

Melina paused. "Are you sure? She's quite large…"

"Is there not enough space here?"

The smithy was rather large–there would be plenty of space for Sienna. But what Melina feared was the blacksmith's reaction. Most people would probably freak out seeing Sienna in her large, battle-ready form. "There is, but she's quite… fearsome."

"Of course. I'd expect nothing less from a fire-breathing monster. Go ahead then," Etan urged.

Melina glanced at Sienna, then at Etan. The blacksmith was unlikely to give up. Oh well. She had warned him. "Sienna, transform."

She reached out to their familiar bond. Sienna understood her message and shifted into her large form in the blink of an eye. The wyrm then eagerly stretched out her long limbs, and Melina felt relief echoing through the bond.

I need to make that enclosure soon. Sienna seems more comfortable in her large form. That'll be the first thing I'll do once I finish my healing waffles.

"Oh, you weren't joking. She's big," Etan let out a chuckle, looking impressed by Sienna's large form.

"You're not afraid?"

"No. Why should I be? She hasn't shown any signs of aggression," he shrugged.

Melina wasn't going to complain about that. If he's not afraid, then so be it.

"Let's try this again," Etan said, pointing towards the wrought iron Sienna had struggled with before. She let out a puff of smoke and unleashed a small concentrated flame at the metal. Within a few seconds, it had completely melted within the confines of the mold.

"Amazing! Now it's not an issue whatsoever. Let's move on to the next samples."

Etan made Sienna melt a few more samples all of which she melted without issue. Only the very last sample—tungsten as Melina gleaned from Etan's muttering—gave Sienna any real trouble. But even that melted in the end.

The blacksmith was over the moon, not at all bothered by the heat permeating the smithy. Even Melina was beginning to sweat, although she had higher resistance to heat, thanks to her connection with Sienna.

With the experiments done, Etan set to work. Melina had expected him to involve her in the smelting process in some way. She didn't know how since she didn't have much physical strength. However, being forced on the sidelines to clean all his equipment was nothing she had wanted to do.

It made sense. She couldn't work the bellows which were largely unneeded with Sienna around anyway. She couldn't swing the forge hammer repeatedly since she was weak. But being forced to clean felt somewhat humiliating. It wasn't easy to clean soot off the tools that seemed to have grown a decade-old layer of it.

Melina had only managed to clean a few tools when she noticed that the darkness had already descended upon the town. Her stomach also growled at her, reminding her that she hadn't even had dinner.

"It's this late! I need to hurry back to the bakery!" Melina exclaimed.

"You haven't even finished cleaning all the tools," Etan complained.

"I know, I know. I'll come back to finish tomorrow," she pleaded.

"Very well. You may go," the blacksmith relented. Looking at Sienna, Melina saw that the wyrm looked exhausted. She let out a tired puff of smoke and turned back into her small wyrm form.

I'm sorry, Sienna. I'll make something really tasty at home for all the hard work you've done. Odd that she'd even push herself this far, but I'll make sure that it was worth her while. But… I get a feeling I won't get a chance to make those waffles anytime soon.

Things were not going according to Alistair's plan. He had wanted to obtain the location of the Wyrm's Peak from elves and be on his merry and probably danger-filled way to the Architect. But no matter how much gold or jewels he promised, the elves would not budge. They insisted that Elowen had to go with him.

In the end, he was forced to concede, otherwise the elves weren't willing to give him the information. The magical oath that followed wasn't exactly as painless as he had suspected. Alistair had to stand in some ritual circle along with all of the elders and Elowen.

At first, he wondered if it was some ruse to get rid of him by removing his memories of the Architect or manipulating him into obeying them. He even considered that they might try to build some magical link with him so they could see through his eyes.

But Elowen demonstrated that the ritual circle was indeed meant for an oath. He swore the same oath that was demanded of Alistair—promising to not reveal the location of the Architect to anyone who didn't already know of it. Only once Alistair was certain that the ritual circle was safe did he swear an oath.

"You must say the oath with every intention of upkeeping it. If you lie, then the ritual will backfire and you might get injured," the white elder warned once he stepped into the ritual circle.

"Backfire?" Alistair asked nervously.

"It will not happen if you intend to keep your word," the blue elder said firmly.

Alistair wasn't quite happy with this possibility. But since he never intended to reveal the location of the Architect to anyone anyway, he swore it. The elders chanted some sort of words he couldn't understand until the white elder turned towards him.

"Repeat after me—I, Alistair Sinclair, son of Duke Sinclair, swear an oath."

"I, Alistair Sinclair, son of Duke Sinclair, swear an oath."

"An oath to keep a secret which I shall take to my grave."

"An oath to keep a secret which I shall take to my grave."

"I will never reveal the location of the Architect I encounter."

"I will never reveal the location of the Architect I encounter."

"Unless the person already knows their location."

"Unless the person already knows their location."

The circle lit up and Alistair felt something heavy descend upon his being. As if he was wrapped in invisible chains. But soon that bright glow disappeared so did the heaviness, and he found himself gasping for air.

"The oath is complete. You may set out on your journey together with Elowen now," the white elder said.

"Thank you," Alistair bowed, and then looked at the silver. He didn't look pleased by the situation but motioned with his head to follow.

"We'll prepare for the journey and depart immediately," Elowen said to the elders.

"May the magic carry you down the right path," the elders muttered as one.

"Thank you, honored elders."

Alistair and Elowen bowed and set out on their way. The preparations were made at lightning speed. Some other elves gave Elowen a backpack with necessary supplies and dressed him in light armor. Alistair's belongings were also returned to him, and before long the two of them left the city of Euroa behind.

"Is Wyrm's Peak far from here?" Alistair asked after they had walked in silence for some while.

"It's about half a day's walk from here. If we hurry we might make it there before nightfall," the elf replied. That was the end of their conversation for a good while. Alistair didn't feel like asking any more questions and Elowen didn't seem to be in the mood for chatter either. So they continued their way in heavy silence.

After we reach Wyrm's Peak, I'm going to have to watch the scenery very carefully. The instructions in the letters said that first I need to find the tallest peak in the area which means that Wyrm's Peak is actually a collection of peaks. After that, they'd have to climb and look for a small stream.

That could pose somewhat of a challenge if the water levels are low. This spring has been rather dry in Sunglow, so hopefully this area has had more rain.

After finding the stream, we'll have to follow it and search for "entrance into the underworld". I suspect it refers to a cave of some sort which could be difficult to find.

"We're getting close," Elowen said, startling Alistair out of contemplation. The sun was setting and dusk was slowly creeping into the forest so he was relieved to hear that.

Much to Alistair's surprise Elowen withdrew his sword. "Prepare to get attacked at any point. There is a passageway to the Monster Realm nearby with high-level monsters coming out on a regular basis. Some of them like to ambush their prey.

Oh, great… I hope it's not another one of those invisible bugs.