Melina knew that Alistair wouldn't allow her to do any real work that day, so instead she took a notebook, the ledger documenting all their income, and set out to work. If she were given this chance to renovate, then she would do her best to make the renovations worthwhile.

The first thing she jotted down was the need for a fresh coat of paint. She had wanted to do that since the very beginning, but never found a good time to do it. This wouldn't be expensive; however, she would like to apply paint both inside and outside.

Luckily, the front door and sign were already new, so that was a big burden off her shoulders. To improve the outside look of the bakery, she'd also buy some new curtains and a display case for pastries.

This is where her first real challenge began. She would have to order the display case from Milo, and preferably, not just for the front window but also within the bakery. Currently, they kept their pastries on the shelves, which meant that customers could only look at them from a distance. With a glass case, they could display the beautiful pastries more readily, while less colorful things like bread were on shelves.

The shelves in the bakery had also served their time, so ideally, those should be replaced too, although that wasn't so urgent and could be done later if need be. The more urgent issue was the magitech refrigerator for the kitchen; however, the biggest concern here was the cost. If she hadn't bought that monster egg, then she'd likely have enough for one.

Then again, the creature inside is most definitely an ice monster. I wonder if I could perhaps use them to cool down dough and pastries. Perhaps I should request that Milo design a refrigerator base—something that can sustain the cold, but not necessarily produce it.

With the big changes planned out, Melina began thinking of smaller things she could improve—decorations, menu, and other little knick-knacks. Perhaps, a flower vase here or there, and some decor portraying Monster Realm ingredients. She had no intention of hiding her magical pastries anymore. She'd announce it to the world.

That made her remember a certain individual—Auden Speziale. He was a sly man who tried to get Melina to work for him using trickery. But their goals were largely aligned, not to mention that he was the only individual who was openly going against the Church's rules. How was he doing it?

Melina pulled out a fresh sheet of paper and decided to write him a letter. If he wanted the Monster Realm ingredients to be used more openly, then she'd entertain him. When it was finished, Melina couldn't help but linger on the words. It was only a letter, but at the same time, she could feel the weight of its importance. Would Count Speziale even hear her out after she had already rejected him?

There was no way to know, so she put it in an envelope and hurried downstairs, where Gilbert, with Alistair's help, was making dinner. She had offered to make it at first, but both men rejected her, saying that she still needed to rest. Alistair offered to make it initially, but nobody would trust a nobleman who had never cooked anything in their life to make a meal.

"Hey, how are you two doing?" Melina asked, looking at how Alistair was stirring the pot with a deep crease in his forehead. He hadn't even noticed her approach.

"For somebody who hasn't even boiled an egg before, this boy is doing surprisingly well. As long as he's given precise and detailed directions, he'll do it right. Although I'm admittedly not used to such hand-holding," Gilbert grumbled.

"Should have let me make dinner," Melina retorted, although she was enjoying the sight of Alistair cooking.

He was even wearing her blue apron. There was something very cute about seeing a man wearing a woman's apron and cooking soup. Especially since she knew he was doing it for her sake.

"You need to rest. I bet you weren't sitting still anyway," Gilbert grumbled.

"I was just planning a few things," Melina said, holding up the letter.

Alistair finally noticed that Melina was in the kitchen and turned towards her with an apologetic smile, "Soup should be ready soon. I'm sorry if it's not too great."

"What are you talking about? It was made by the amazing Alistair Sinclair. There is no way it could be bad," Melina said, and reached up to place a gentle kiss on his cheek.

"Not in my kitchen," Gilbert rolled his eyes.

"Sorry, Grandfather. I did want to ask a favor of you, Alistair," Melina said, showing the letter to him.

"Anything for you. What is it?" He said, curiously looking at the envelope.

"A letter for Auden Speziale. I'd like to send it to him, but I don't think a letter from a commoner would ever make its way to him, so I would like you to send it in your name. They can't reject a letter from a duke's son," she explained.

Alistair frowned. "Why are you sending a letter to him?"

"Because he's the only one who has avoided Church's clutches. He'd be a valuable ally. I don't want to hide my pastries anymore. I'm going to show everyone that we should value our connection to the Monster Realm. He has the same goal."

"I don't like that guy. He tried to manipulate you," Alistair muttered.

"Stir the soup," Gilbert commanded, and Alistair hurriedly returned to his task. "Are you sure about working with that fox? I feel that he's the kind of person who only cares about his own profit."

"If he wants to manipulate us, then we can just manipulate him. Use him to our maximum advantage," Melina said slyly.

"This is a noble we're talking about," Gilbert narrowed his eyes.

"And we have a noble cooking our soup right now," Melina pointed out.

Alistair turned around and winked at her. "Anything for you!"

"So you'll send the letter to Count Speziale?"

Alistair's frown returned, his face scrunching up as he thought about the matter. Eventually, he sighed and nodded. "Yes. I'll send the letter."

"Thank you!"

"What have you gotten yourself into?" Gilbert grumbled.

"Nothing," Melina frowned.

"Not you. Him," the old baker pointed at Alistair.

"She can be a handful," he chuckled, and took a sip of the soup. "I think it's ready."

Melina felt a bit peeved at being called a handful by Gilbert and Alistair, but she couldn't really object. She really has caused them quite a lot of trouble. But she was determined to repay them. Starting by eating all of Alistair's soup. It was difficult not to wince when she bit into a crunchy onion or an overly large piece of garlic, but she did her best.

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It was still miles and leaps better than Leliana's cooking.

A few more days passed as Melina recovered from her injuries. Gilbert watched over her so that she wouldn't be doing anything too strenuous, but in the end, she managed to convince him that wiping dust off the bakery shelves wasn't exactly hard work. Barrett or Illitran were assigned as her guards whenever Alistair wasn't around. The Guildmaster knew that it was the Monster Lord that they had encountered and had tightened the security around the whole town.

Melina didn't want to think about the Monster Lord or the impending end of the world, and instead focused on the thing she wanted to change in the bakery. It was a bit difficult to maintain a cheerful attitude with Illitran hovering over her shoulder. But there was no arguing against Guildmaster and Alistair on this matter.

The biggest change would, without a doubt, be the large counter in the middle. It separated the customers from the kitchen and the pastry shelves, but Melina believed it would be better to remove the old counter entirely and replace its glass display cases. She still remembered how beautiful pastries were in Elenor's pastry shop.

The window would definitely benefit from some light curtains, as currently, the bakery looks quite rustic. It was fine for Sunglowers as they were used to that, but to attract tourists, Melina needed to make this place a bit prettier.

Just as she was wondering which color of curtains would look best, she saw Leon walking outside the bakery. He noticed her looking at him and waved sheepishly.

"Hello, Leon," Melina greeted him, opening the bakery door.

"Good day, Miss Melina, Sir Illitran," he said, earning a slight nod of acknowledgement from the elf.

"Is there something I can help you with?" She asked.

Leon looked nervously at Melina and then leaned closer. "I was wondering about our magic lessons."

"Sir Leon, I can hear you just fine even if you whisper," Illitran said. "You need to learn that elves have excellent hearing. If your goal is to keep Miss Melina's secrets, then you mustn't speak of such matters even in a whisper."

Leon yelped and jumped back. "I'm so s-sorry! I didn't mean to."

"It's fine. Soon enough, everyone will know anyway," Melina said nonchalantly.

Illitran raised his eyebrow. "Are you sure, Miss Melina? The Church…"

"They already know. It's a miracle they haven't sent anyone after me already. Likely because they plan to collect during their expedition."

"W-What are you going to do?" Leon asked fearfully.

"Same thing I've always been doing—making pastries," Melina said with a smile. "As for the magic lessons…"

"Don't you even think about it!" Gilbert's warning voice resounded from the kitchen.

"As you see, I've been branded an invalid for the time being. However, I think I'll be able to return to our lessons next week."

"Wonderful. I wanted to say that I think I understand mana flow a bit better now. I've been fishing a lot, and it feels like I'm more in tune with magic," Leon said.

Melina obviously couldn't judge his progress without seeing it, but if he really felt like he was improving, then it wouldn't hurt to give him a few exercises.

"Why don't you try moving the water while you are fishing. It doesn't have to be anything big, just trying to make a small ball of water around while you're fishing could help to improve your understanding of mana," Melina instructed.

"Yes, I shall try that right away!" Leon said enthusiastically and bolted away before she could say anything else.

"Was such a small tip really enough to warrant such a reaction?" Melina asked curiously.

"Leon has always been quite obsessed with magic. Any little breakthrough he had, he bragged about relentlessly," Illitran explained.

I doubt he's really progressed that much since I hadn't even had the chance to oversee his progress. I really feel bad about not being able to help when I promised him would do that. But Grandfather is right about magic—it's a bit too early for me to start casually using it. I need to recover some more.

So Melina decided to do something productive, but at the same time, something that wouldn't put any strain on her body. After a bit of back and forth with Gilbert, she convinced him to let her make a shimmertart—just one and without using any of her skills or magic.

Reason for it—she was going to visit Milo at his new carpenter's shop. It felt wrong to go empty-handed when he's just moved into Sunglow. She also felt bad that she missed him when he came to the bakery. He probably got quite worried to hear that Melina was sleeping unconscious in the Guild Infirmary.

Milo's shop was actually not too far from the bakery, located a few blocks away in a rather small wooden house. It was one of the older houses in Sunglow, judging by the paint that was peeling off the walls. However, Milo's touch could be seen from a large distance as an illuminated sign saying "Milo's Workshop" hung by the house.

The front door had also been replaced by a much larger door, which currently stood open. Inside, she could see Milo bustling around with tools, setting them in shelves, and trying to figure out the best place for them.

"Hello, Milo!" Melina greeted him with a smile.

"Melina! So nice to see that you're alright. I was shocked to hear that you got injured in the Monster Realm," Milo said in horror. "To be honest, I was horrified to hear that you went into the Monster Realm in the first place. It sounds like a scary place."

"There were some… complications. But I'm alright now," Melina said cheerfully, and offered the box with shimmertart to Milo. "I brought you a shimmertart to properly welcome you to Sunglow."

"Thank you! You have no clue how much I've been craving it," he took the box eagerly and peered inside with a smile. "I'm going to be buying these every day now."

Melina chuckled awkwardly. "It might be a while until the bakery is open again."

"Aww, that's a shame. Your injuries were that bad?"

"No, it's not that. Master Gilbert decided to retire."

"Retire? How come? He didn't look like the type to retire. Just like Master Declan—he'd retire on the day he'd die," Milo chuckled.

"Well… After digging through some documentation, it turned out that I'm his granddaughter," Melina said.

This would be the story they'd tell to people who are not familiar with their situation. Gilbert accepted Melina as an apprentice because she resembled his wife—anyone who has seen Jasmine could confirm this fact. As they spent more time together, Gilbert began to realize that similarities extended beyond just looks, so he began digging through some records and, in the end, discovered that Melina was, in fact, his granddaughter.

"Wow, really?! That sounds like something straight out of a novel," Milo gasped.

"Yeah, I couldn't believe it either. But my parents died when I was very young, so I couldn't have known," she said, activating <Mask of Deceit>. She felt a nasty ick activating this skill after so long.

"Hmm… Small world, I suppose. But what does it have to do with him retiring?"

"He always searched for an apprentice to have a successor, since his health isn't what it used to be. When he found out that I'm his granddaughter, he had no qualms about just giving the bakery to me," Melina explained.

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense. Congrats! We'll both be owners of our own shops," Milo said cheerfully, then sighed. "Although I haven't had a single customer yet. Nobody really trusts the new kid…"

"Then it's good that I've come here on business," Melina said.

Milo's eyes lit up. "Really? What do you need? I'm itching for work."

"Glass display cases, shelves, and perhaps something that would appeal to your hobby more than your job," Melina said.

"My hobby?" Milo cocked his head quizzically.

"I need something like a refrigerator, but it doesn't really have to produce cold. I just need to stay cold. I'm going to provide the cold myself," Melina said.

"Yourself?" Milo asked quizzically.

"I have an ice monster ready to hatch any day now. Remember?" She said.

Milo's eyes lit up. "Oh, right! Oh my god! That is so exciting. I have one hundred and twelve ideas of how to make it work! Except…"

"What?"

"I don't really have any such strong isolating material…" He deflated.

Melina thought about it for a moment. Perhaps metal could be used for refrigeration, but she wasn't sure which one was the best, not to mention that Milo was a carpenter, not a smith. Normal wood certainly wouldn't do the trick of isolating the cold temperature inside.

"What about Glittershale bark?" Illitran suddenly spoke up, having remained quiet throughout the whole conversation.

Milo flinched, likely not even noticing the elf before.

"Who's that?" He asked nervously.

"Illitran. He's… watching over me while I recover," she said dismissively, not wanting to deal with the lengthy explanation of why she has bodyguards. "Could you explain what you mean, Illitran?"

"Glittershale is often used to build houses in more extreme climates in the Monster Realm. It is an excellent material for repelling heat while keeping the inside of the house cool. Using it in thicker layers can be used to create special storage spaces for keeping food cool," Illitran explained.

Melina couldn't believe her luck. To think that they already had what they needed in Sunglow. All she had to do was negotiate for the material with the Guildmaster.

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