Melina spent the better part of the afternoon talking to Gilbert. It was an awkward feeling, suddenly referring to him as grandfather, instead of Master. But she learned about her family. For example, she discovered that her father was a merchant from Tuvia who met Melina's mother during his travels. The two hit it off almost immediately, married less than half a year later, and then two years after that, Melina was born.

It gave her conflicting feelings. She was happy to learn more about them, but also bitter. Not just because they had been taken from her. But because they were still young, barely in their mid-twenties, when the Church killed them. Melina's life would have been very different if they had survived.

For a moment, a dark thought crossed her mind—what if she were to rewind time and prevent their death? But she quickly dismissed it. One shouldn't mess with time unless there is absolutely no other choice. Not to mention that as a five-year-old, there wouldn't be much she could do to save her parents and grandmother anyway.

So instead, Melina switched the topic to things she could do, namely, the bakery. She and Gilbert discussed whether it would even be possible for Melina to prepare enough bread and pastries to open the bakery, and concluded that—no, she would not. Not without dramatically reducing the amount of products sold.

"I think we need to change the approach," Melina muttered thoughtfully. "Traditional methods will not work."

"What exactly do you have in mind?" Gilbert questioned.

Melina smiled. "I just regained my magic. I will put it to good use."

Gilbert cocked his head quizzically when a knock resounded on the door. Alistair and Sienna, who had been napping through their conversation, stirred, glancing at the door with groggy eyes.

"Seems you have a visitor. I've been here for too long anyway. I'll return to the bakery. Got to check on that monster egg of yours. Knight must also be anxious, waiting for me. He's been somewhat restless since I gave up the System," Gilbert said.

"Will everything be alright with Knight?" Melina asked.

"Eventually. Not like he is a freshly tamed monster. We've been together for years. Even if the System doesn't link us anymore, it doesn't change the fact that we're lifelong friends," Gilbert said, and after bidding Melina and Alistair goodbye, left the infirmary.

As Gilbert left, Leliana peeked inside the infirmary.

"Hey, Melina," she greeted her with a wave of her hand, but didn't step inside.

"Hello, Leliana. Come in," Melina said.

"I would, but I brought somebody else with me. Can he come in, too?" Redhead asked, eying Alistair nervously.

It didn't take much to conclude that she had brought Elowen with her. Alistair's eyes narrowed and his fists clenched.

"It's alright. He can come," Melina said, shaking her head at Alistair.

He slumped back in his chair, but kept a close eye on the situation.

Leliana nodded and opened the door wider to let Elowen inside. The elf looked sullen, his pristine appearance messed up–a few stray hairs, slight bags under his eyes, and a few wrinkles in his clothes. But knowing how tidy elves usually were, this instantly stood out.

Elowen looked at Alistair, and the two men stared at each other for a while. Leliana and Melina observed them nervously, wondering whether a fight would break out again. But Alistair remained seated, even if his expression grew rather sour. Sienna also looked at the elf with judgmental eyes. That seemed to resonate with the elf more, and he hung his head in shame.

"Melina… I have come to apologize for my actions. I was too hasty in my judgment and didn't trust you or Alistair to make the right decisions. I see that my rashness has nearly brought about a tragedy. While I don't expect your forgiveness, and I do hope you will not think poorly of my kin because of this incident," Elowen said and bowed deeply before Melina.

Melina and Alistair blinked in surprise. They'd never seen Elowen apologize for anything. Elves in general were rather proud, and Elowen was the prime example of that. She never expected that he'd come and apologize for what had happened.

"See, that wasn't so hard," Leliana said smugly.

Did Leliana convince him to do this? But why would he listen to her? This is rather odd. The other day, he was also asking whether we knew Leliana from before. What is her role in all this?

Melina glanced at the satisfied redhead, then at Elowen, but couldn't understand it. Was it all because of Leliana's charm? She could also be rather insistent on the things that she wanted.

"I never intended to hold this incident over other elves, nor did I hate you for it. However, I do ask that in the future, you trust Alistair and me, instead of reaching for the most extreme solution," Melina said.

"I promise," Elowen said firmly.

She wasn't sure if the elf would keep his word. Elowen never hesitated to act according to what he believed to be right. But perhaps, if he was willing to listen to Leliana, she could leverage that to keep him somewhat in check.

"Good. Would you please let me rest now? I still haven't recovered fully," Melina said.

Elowen opened his mouth, his eyebrows twisting in confusion. However, he closed it, glancing at Leliana. It was likely that he wanted to ask Melina something about her magic returning or something else related to their mission. She'd explain it some other time, when the redhead wasn't around.

"See, everything turned out all right. Thanks, Melina. I knew you'd understand. I'll take him back to his room," Leliana said with a satisfied smile, and then left the room together with Elowen.

"I don't trust him…" Alistair grumbled, glaring at the door.

"I think he won't be as rash in the future anymore," Melina said.

"I don't know… I'd prefer if we could work with a different elf."

"But he's the one who has <Ambassador's Voice>. I'm sure there's a reason for it," Melina said. "Also, something is going on with him and Lelina."

"Yeah, that was odd. When did those two become so close?"

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Melina had to spend another four days in the infirmary to recover. It was absolute torture. There were many things she needed to do. Sunglow was currently left without its bakery—meaning that the townspeople had to switch to more expensive and less fresh bread that either came from the ships or Pertia. She wanted to get back to work as soon as possible.

But there was no way for her to wriggle free of Alistair's stern gaze. Whenever he wasn't on patrol, he'd stay with her. He even went as far as bringing a couch into the infirmary where he could sleep. Whenever he was on patrol, he had somebody from the town watch observe her. She was forbidden from leaving the infirmary room.

Worst of all, it was the same with everyone else in Sunglow. Neither Gilbert, nor Remi, nor Erina allowed her to leave, insisting that she needed to rest. When Melina brought up the point that there was no bread in Sunglow, she was promptly shot down and told to rest.

But finally, finally, excruciating time off sitting in the bed and staring at the ceiling all day was over. It was time to return home. Melina felt giddy as she dressed in her clothes, instead of the patient's pajamas, which she had been forced to wear.

"Let's go home, Sienna!" Melina said excitedly.

Sienna chittered in response, running a few circles around her. The wyrm must have been quite tired of staying in the tiny infirmary the whole time.

There was a sense of nervousness within Melina, too. While she was recovering, it felt like the bigger problems had been pushed aside, but with her returning to the bakery, it felt like those, too, would return full force.

As if sensing her apprehension, Alistair took her hand. "It'll be alright. We've been patrolling around the passageway with double intensity. There has been no unusual monster activity."

Melina nodded. "I thought there wouldn't be. I doubt Monster Lord will approach me carelessly since he's seen me use magic. He will undoubtedly use subtle tactics to get to me."

"Would it be too much to hope that he might consider talking to us?" Alistair gave Melina a strained smile.

She sighed, and he nodded. They both wished it could be that easy, but it was safe to say that it wouldn't happen. It was more likely that they would face both the Church and the Monster Lord in the future.

"We just have to be careful and slowly build our forces. Do everything we can to be ready for both the monsters and the Church," Melina said, but the heaviness of the burden made her stomach churn uncomfortably.

"For now, let's worry about more immediate problems. Like getting you back home," Alistair said, and Melina nodded.

As it turned out, her body had suffered far more damage than she had initially thought. Halfway through the town, she felt herself feeling faint. Melina was grateful for her connection to Sienna; otherwise, the heat would have made it even worse.

"Take it slow. You did lose a lot of blood. Heilia said you need to eat a lot of meat and things like spinach, broccoli, and beans," Alistair said, holding her hand firmly.

"I'll manage, don't worry," Melina said with a smile.

She tried not to show her discomfort, since that would only cause her to worry. Sienna was not alright with that. The wyrm took her large form right in the middle of town, scaring some people half to death, and lay down in front of Melina, motioning her to get on her back.

"I can walk back to the bakery," Melina said stubbornly.

"Up you go!" Alistair grabbed her and put her straight on Sienna's back.

The tourists stared at them in shock, wondering whether they should scream or run, while Sunglowers chuckled at the sight and wished Melina a fast recovery. Some even went out of their way to say that she didn't need to hurry with the bakery and instead take her time.

In the end, Sienna carried her on her the whole remaining way, scaring the tourists and gathering a small crowd to follow her. The wyrm deliberately teased them with her tail, flicking it left and right, and occasionally poking a few children with it. The kids loved it, squealing with delight whenever Sienna would poke them.

The kids dispersed when they neared the old bakery. It looked just like the last time she saw it, but felt so much emptier. This was the time when it was supposed to be filled with customers, but the sign was dark, as was the shop.

I'm going to set things straight as soon as possible.

As they came into the backyard, they were greeted by Gilbert, who was pulling some weeds. Melina noticed that strawberries were filled with white blossoms and small green berries. It wouldn't be long before the first berries are ready.

Knight came running in a happy gallop when he saw them approaching.

"Hey, Knight! That's an unusually warm welcome from—" Melina stopped mid-sentence as the nightmare strode past her and did circles around Alistair, occasionally nuzzling against him. "—from you…"

"Don't take it personally, girl. Nightmares value physical strength over other qualities," Gilbert said.

"You could have at least acknowledged my existence. Who is the one giving you all the tasty stuff?" Melina chastised the beast.

He did look at her and inclined his head ever so slightly. She supposed that for someone as proud as Knight, that was great praise. But the way he treated Alistair was so different that she couldn't help but feel unappreciated.

"Don't worry about it. You'll have a different critter vying for your attention soon, no?" Alistair said, lifting Melina off Sienna's back.

The wyrm wasted no time and retreated to her enclosure, settling herself on the warm rocks.

"I suppose. How's the egg, Mast—, I mean, Grandfather," Melina stuttered.

"I've been keeping it in that chill box during the day and taking it out at night, but I have no clue how it's doing," Gilbert said, shaking his head.

"I suppose I'm going to check on it first," Melina said, and went inside to the storage room.

The glass egg was sitting in the chill box, which felt more like a lukewarm box at this point. It was barely chilling anything anymore. Melina touched it and gently prodded the growing life within with her mana. She felt a little jolt in response—cautious but also curious. The creature was growing stronger and stronger.

"It seems to be doing well. Maybe lacking a bit of mana since there's not so much of it in the Human Realm," Melina said and carefully poured mana into the chill box.

Since there was no dough resting there, she didn't have to worry about any weird pastry side effects. The egg, however, will benefit greatly from the mana, slowly absorbing it through its shell.

"Here you go, little one. Grow strong," Melina patted the egg, and closed the chill box.

After that, she went into the kitchen, closely followed by Alistair. She could feel his eyes on the back of her skull.

"Just because you're back in the bakery, it doesn't mean that you're allowed to work tomorrow," Alistair said sternly.

"Don't worry. I deliberately didn't get any fresh ingredients after I used them up. She won't be able to do anything even if she wanted to," Gilbert said as he hobbled into the kitchen.

"Master!" Melina whined.

"Shush, girl. You couldn't even walk back here on your own. Eat some strawberries and calm down," Gilbert said, and presented a few ripe strawberries in his palm.

"They're ready?" Melina peered at them in awe and took two, giving one to Alistair.

Taking a bite of it, she felt sweet juiciness spread on her tongue. It was far better than the strawberries they bought from the market.

"Nothing like a fresh strawberry straight from the garden?" Gilbert said, a small smile appearing behind his beard.

"It is quite delicious," Alistair confirmed.

"Oh, I wish we could make our pastries with these, but you won't even let me open the bakery," Melina whined.

"Instead of rushing headlong into something, why don't you slow down and think things through. You wanted to make some changes to the bakery, no? Expand it?" Gilbert said.

"Yes," Melina nodded.

"Then this is the perfect opportunity to do so. It's not often you'll be able to close the bakery for such a long time, and thanks to all your hard work during the festival and your magical pastries, we've got a good amount of gold saved up," Gilbert said.

"Oh!" Melina's mind lit up with ideas. "We could do some renovations! I could make some healing waffles for the Guild to get some more funds. Master, do you know if Milo is still in Sunglow?"

"He came in a few days ago to greet me. Why do you ask?" Gilbert looked at Melina suspiciously.

"That is perfect! Because I'm going to need his help," Melina said excitedly. Despite her body feeling tired, her mind was more than ready to begin working. There would be a lot of things to plan out.

"Master Gilbert, I think you just accidentally caused an avalanche…" Alistair sighed, knowing all too well that Melina wouldn't listen to their protests no matter what.

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