"What do you think, Miss Melina? A chance to work at the main branch of the Bakers Guild. You'll be taught all of our baking secrets and techniques, and you'll be treated as a full-fledged member of the Guild and not just an apprentice," Lord Speziale said.

The crowd let out a gasp of awe. This kind of offer didn't come every day. Apprentices didn't get promoted to baker overnight. From the perspective of any young apprentice, this was a golden opportunity to get ahead in life. Only a fool wouldn't accept it.

Yet Melina was thinking her hardest about how to reject it. She had no intention of leaving Sunglow and heading back to Tuvia. She had already established a good, strong reputation here, not to mention that her views were much aligned with those of locals. In Tuvia, she didn't know a single person.

Aside from people in the orphanage and Lord Speziale, who had promised her protection from the Church. He clearly was capable of providing it. After all, he was one of the rare widely known System users who hadn't equipped a battle class, and the head of the Speziale household. As a Count, he had considerable power to his name.

But even so, I would rather struggle on my own than take the easy way out. Especially if it would mean leaving Sunglow and all the people here behind. I can't even imagine opening the bakery and not having the adventurers come first thing in the morning.

"I…" Melina began, pondering her words. How could she politely reject him?

"Count Speziale, why are you trying to take Grenardian talent away to your own region?" Duke Sinclair suddenly spoke up.

"Yeah, that's sneaky! If anything, I'm ready to make the same offer to Miss Melina in our branch in Pertia," Tobias said with a wide grin on his face.

"HEY, you can't take Melina away! She's a Sunglower!" Remi screamed from the crowd.

"That's right! She's our baker!" Erina added, and soon the whole crowd was hollering and booing at Lord Speziale.

"Hahaha! It appears I have been busted!" He said playfully. "Regardless, Miss Melina is the winner of today's Baking Competition. Give her a round of applause, folks!"

Melina noticed that he never retracted his offer, meaning that it was still on the table. He had likely hoped to use the public space to leverage Melina into agreeing, but he hadn't accounted for how vocal Sunglowers were. Master Gilbert was glaring at the Count so hard, Melina thought the man might just drop dead.

The crowd slowly began to disperse, and Alistair, along with Charlotte, made their way up on the stage.

"That was amazing! You've actually won!" Charlotte praised and returned Sienna to her.

The wyrm chittered excitedly over her victory, appearing very smug and proud about it. As if she had been the one to win.

"Melina, you don't have to feel pressured to follow Lord Speziale to Tuvia," Alistair said, giving the Count the same death glare Master Gilbert had given him before. Gilbert, meanwhile, hobbled his way to up them.

"He's right! That was just something a bully would do."

"So you're Miss Melina Dufour," a cold voice resounded from behind, and Melina instantly curtsied at the approaching person.

It was Duke Sinclair, looking at her with a cold expression. Melina didn't dare to look the man in the eye.

"Your Grace! It is an honor that you speak on my behalf. I thank you deeply," she said, keeping her head low.

Gilbert bowed as well, as much as his old bones allowed him, and said, "Thank you for looking out for my apprentice, Your Grace."

"At ease," the Duke raised his hand, and Melina dared to straighten. She still felt quite small underneath his scrutinizing gaze. "It is in my own best interests to keep Miss Melina in Sunglow. I would like to discuss this matter in a more private setting with you."

"Father!" Alistair frowned.

"Of course, Your Grace! I'd be honored to," Melina said and inclined her head.

"Father, you cannot bully her!" Charlotte said, glaring at the Duke.

This actually made the man soften, if only for a moment. "I had no intention of bullying her, Charlotte. I wish to know more about Miss Melina and her future plans. I'm quite interested in young talents in our region."

Young talents? The Duke has always put the development and prosperity of Grenardia above everything else. He achieved quite a lot in this region before the time rewind, but I get a feeling he was always restricted by the Church. Would it be possible to steer him away from them this time? Especially since Alistair doesn't support them anymore.

If I could get the Duke to work separately from the Church instead of together with them, then it would be far more valuable than whatever protection Count Speziale could provide.

As if to prove that point, Melina noticed Lord Speziale frowning at their group from afar. It was quickly replaced with one of his charming smiles, but it was clear that his plans had gone awry.

"I appreciate the time you're giving my apprentice, Your Grace," Master Gilbert said.

The Duke looked at Gilbert in earnest, and recognition dawned on his face. He knew the old baker. His eyebrows creased in thought for a moment, but in the end, he didn't comment on the matter. "We'll meet tomorrow afternoon. How about 5 pm at my son's house. I'm sure he'll be able to provide us with a place where to discuss matters."

"Of course," Alistair said, but he looked tense.

Is he worried about what his father will say to me? I know Alistair worries for me a lot, but this seems a bit much. It's not like I've done anything to warrant the Duke's scrutiny. Have I?

As the Duke turned to leave with his two guards following him, Melina realized that there had been a lot of things for him to scrutinize. He hadn't commented on it, but Sienna was an ember wyrm, and she was sitting on Melina's shoulder. And previously, it was his daughter who was holding the supposed monster.

Nobody had complained about Sienna for so long that Melina completely forgot that keeping a monster pet wasn't the norm at all.

Wait, is the Duke also a System user, just like Alistair? I'm pretty sure that Sparkle Meringue Pie should have the same effect as the Sparkleaf. The boost to lightning attacks would no doubt appear on his profile too.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Melina realized that she was likely in deep trouble.

"Miss Melina, are you alright? You suddenly looked very pale," Charlotte asked curiously.

"Don't worry, Young Lady. The girl just realized what kind of trouble she's in," Master Gilbert said.

"Melina, I could convince my father to—"

"No… I have to face him. Running away isn't going to solve anything," Melina said firmly. She needed to convince the Duke that having her around Sunglow was more worthwhile than having her join the ranks of the Church. It won't be easy, but Melina believes that she has enough arguments to sway him. Or at least so she hoped.

Alistair and other adventurers helped Melina get her prize to the bakery. After that, Alistair excused himself, along with Charlotte. Melina returned to the beachside along with other Sunglowers.

The rest of the evening passed by in a blur as more competitions took place. Leon and a few of the other adventurers participated in the fishing competition. Initially, the mage was winning by a landslide, catching fish left and right. But it was soon discovered that he was chilling the water near himself, making the fish lethargic from the cold and thus easier to catch.

He was disqualified, and in the end, Barrett won the fishing competition. The prize, a special freezer for keeping fish, Barrett gave to Erina, who looked incredibly touched by the gesture. Melina could sense that lately their relationship was growing closer.

The swimming competition had a lot of elves participating, so in the end, the judge made two rounds for it, one for humans, one for elves. Among humans, the winner was a performer from a circus who specialized in aquatic tricks. She would be putting on a show tomorrow evening.

But among the elves, Elowen had managed to secure a victory. Melina was surprised to see that he even participated in a human festival. She guessed that he was trying to connect more with humans to understand his <Ambassador's Voice> skill and trigger his memories.

"Melina, who is he?!" Leliana suddenly pulled her arm, appearing next to her out of nowhere.

"Leliana, you scared me!" Melina exhaled.

"Who is he? You seem to know him, but I've never seen this elf man in Sunglow." Leliana shook Melina's hand, not taking her eyes away from Elowen.

Only then did Melina realize why the girl was so mesmerized. The silver elf was only wearing a tight-fitting swimsuit. His muscle definition could be seen through the thin fabric. Most women had a similar reaction to Leliana, not being able to look away from the elf men, just like men weren't able to look away from the elf women.

"That's Elowen. He recently came to Sunglow and joined the Guild. Apparently, he wants to learn more about humans," Melina explained.

"How do you know him?" The redhead asked suspiciously.

"He came to the bakery together with Alistair," she said, hoping that the girl wouldn't catch the nervous hint in her voice. But the usually sharp Leliana was too focused on the elf to notice.

"He's gorgeous! You must introduce me to him," she said, shaking Melina's hand again.

"Hey, weren't you interested in Alistair?"

"You can have him! But you must introduce me to this elf! YOU MUST!" Leliana didn't relent.

"Okay, okay! Fine! After the festival!" Melina said. She was glad that Alistair wasn't here to hear this.

"I'll keep you to that promise!" Leliana warned, continuing to oggle the elf. Melina couldn't help but think that all of their reactions were way out of proportion. Alistair had a much nicer physique, in her opinion.

It's a shame he didn't participate in the swimming competition.

The next morning went much like the first with Melina selling her pastries, along with a few Spark Meringue Pies. After yesterday's competition, people were swarming by her stall since early morning. By lunchtime, she was already sold out of everything, despite the amount of pastries she had managed to prepare.

People were also curious about Sienna, but in a good way. They asked whether she was a real monster. Melina said yes and explained to them how she helped them in the bakery by always getting the fire going. It was essentially Sienna who was cooking all the pastries.

This worked wonders as people expressed interest in getting an ember wyrm of their own. Of course, they didn't know how large Sienna actually was or that she had initially attacked Sunglow. But there was no need to mention that bit.

Sienna was certainly doing a great job of appearing harmless, chittering happily from Melina's shoulder. She didn't allow anyone to hold her, making exceptions only for Erina and Remi, who stopped by the stall.

But selling out quickly came with its benefits. Melina could go and explore the market herself. Not to mention that all those magical pastries had given her a nice bit of profit. After she and Leon cleaned up the stall, she gave him his pay and then set off to look through the other stalls.

In reality, her mind was already set on what she wanted to see. It was the magitech display in the market area, away from the regular food stalls in the promenade. She knew exactly what she wanted.

"Sienna, we're going to get that new refrigerator. The best model, too!" Melina muttered, feeling the rather heavy money pouch by her side.

When she entered the market square, her eyes gaped in awe. There were so many amazing things. As it turned out, it wasn't just a magitech market, but rather everything magical—protective amulets, enhanced equipment and jewelry, potions of all kinds.

Melina felt like she was in paradise. There was even a full alchemist set available for sale.

"Are you interested in learning the craft of alchemy, young miss? This set would be a great starting point. Just five gold coins and it could be yours!" The vendor called out to her when her eyes lingered for a second too long.

"Just five?!" Melina asked. She remembered how her alchemist set had cost her easily over twenty gold. Granted, it was a much more advanced version, but even so, five gold was an absolute bargain.

"Melina?" A familiar voice snapped Melina out of her reverie. She turned and saw Milo waving at her from the other side of the market.

"Milo! It's so nice to see you!" She said, walking up to the young carpenter, leaving the poor vendor behind.

"It's really nice to see you, too. I saw your victory yesterday, by the way. Congratulations!"

"Thank you! I assume you've come here for the magitech market," Melina chuckled.

"Of course! All of the best and newest magitech are displayed here. There was no way I was going to miss it," Milo said eagerly. "What about you?"

"I was hoping to get a new magitech refrigerator for the bakery. All we have is a sad little chill box. The new refrigerator would really do wonders for us," she explained.

"Why don't we go browse together? I could make sure they don't scam you," Milo said.

"Yes, I'd certainly love a more professional opinion."

So they went deeper into the market, admiring and looking at all the various magitech on display. Melina was blown away by the variety available. There was everything, from simple lamps to a special machine that could harvest crops in your stead.

Melina and Milo both shuddered at the possible price of that contraption, but it wasn't even displayed. Instead, it was available for farmers to rent for the season.

There was no shortage of magitech refrigerators; apparently, they were becoming more popular among middle-class citizens, not just the nobility and merchants. Some of them were quite affordable, and Melina was seriously considering buying one.

"Why don't we look around for some more stuff? I need to think about it a little bit," Melina suggested. While she could buy the refrigerator, it would cost her almost all of the money she made during the festival.

Then again, wasn't it the main goal anyway? With the refrigerator, we could easily expand our business.

But just as she thought that, Melina's eyes fell upon a rather unusual stall with a sizable crowd of people gathered around it.

"I wonder what's going on there?" Milo asked curiously.

They walked over closer to the stall, where an old man was waving his arms around in a dramatic fashion.

"Gather round, folks! You're never going to find a magical item rarer than this. The power it possesses is immeasurable!"

Melina tried to see the said item, but couldn't over the crowd. She was a bit too short.

"What is that weird thing? Looks like a giant glass egg," Milo pondered.

"I can't see," Melina whined.

"Oh, let me help you get to the front."

Milo gently proceeded to push people aside to get Melina closer. He was stronger than he looked, but then again, as a carpenter, he should have considerable strength in those arms.

Before long, Melina had reached the front of the crowd. She gasped as she saw the clearly monster egg put on display. Its glassy, or rather icy, surface shimmering in the sunlight. Sienna stirred underneath Melina's dress—she could feel its presence.

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