Melina set the bread and pastries on the bakery shelves, her stomach tingling from excitement. She felt foolish and nervous, but apparently, even with experience, one couldn't help but worry about others' thoughts.
This morning, Master Gilbert showed her how to make proper pear and ginger jam by adjusting the ratio of fruit to sugar and adding lemon juice and zest. So with the jam perfected, she could make a ton of her pear rolls, earning her another level and also ranking up her <Haste Bake> skill to Rank E.
What if it turns out the same way as with the braided bread? Perhaps, people have already lost their trust in me from that failed attempt and won't even bother trying the pear rolls.
She was almost tempted to invest her free stat into <Charm> again, but in the end, managed to convince herself that <Intelligence> was far more important, especially if she wanted to create new recipes.
"It'll be alright. Stop shaking like a leaf. You'll scare away the customers," Gilbert grumbled, watching Melina shuffle around the shelf in front of her buns.
"Oh, sorry. It's just after those braided breads…"
"These buns are not braided. They are simple and they look good. Not to mention that these pastries match well with other stuff we sell. People will buy them," Gilbert soothed her while placing the sourdough bread on the shelf. "Now, go on and open the bakery. I think our first customers will arrive soon."
Melina nodded and headed outside, approaching a little switch that sat on the wall next to the sign. By flipping it, the sign lit up, signaling that the bakery was open. It was a convenient mechanism that Milo had come up with, even if the design was still a bit rough. She was sure that the young carpenter would polish the design with time.
As she turned to head back into the bakery, Melina saw the first group of eager customers heading their way. Like clockwork, they came each morning, even if they had to go out of their way before their day started. This knowledge warmed Melina's heart and she greeted the approaching group with a wave. "Good morning and welcome to Sunglow Bakery!"
"Morning, Miss Melina!" Replied a group of adventurers, and she held the door open for them. They came each morning to get lunch to eat during their patrol. Meat buns were their favorite.
"It's such a pleasure to see you as the first thing on this wonderful day," Leon, who was also among the adventurers, said and gave Melina a wide smile.
"The pleasure is all mine," she replied, turning on her most polite persona with a bit of help from <Mask of Deceit>. "What can I get for you all?"
They started calling out their orders, and Melina got into the rhythm of taking their requested bread and pastries and packing them into paper bags. She managed to keep a pleasant smile throughout the whole process and never wavered, despite how busy the bakery got. More customers streamed in, but she kept going.
"Good morning, Miss Melina. I'd like one meat bun and a sweet pastry of some sort," Alistair said, breaking Melina out of her busy trance. She hadn't even noticed at which point he entered the bakery.
"Oh! Good morning, Lord Sinclair. I-I didn't expect to see you here," she replied while grabbing one of the few remaining meat buns and putting it into a paper bag. The other customers in the shop had also grown tense, and even Master Gilbert was eyeing Alistair suspiciously.
After he ate those horrid failures of braided bread, I expected him to never buy anything from here again.
"I quite liked that braided herb bread you gave me before, not to mention how convenient it was to eat during a patrol," he explained, a hint of a smile playing on his lips.
"Oh! I'm glad to hear that…" Melina said, her cheeks flushing a bit red.
I can't believe he actually ate those and liked them. I always thought Alistair was quite picky with his food. To think that I'm still learning new things about him.
"I enjoyed the bread too, Miss Melina!" Leon yelled from across the bakery, where he was waiting for his colleagues. He had this expectant look in his eyes as if he wanted Melina to praise him.
"That's great," she stated flatly, not dropping her polite mask, and turned back to Alistair. "What kind of sweet pastry would you like?"
"How about our new pear rolls? Melina made them herself," Master Gilbert suggested, and all customers suddenly perked up.
"Pear rolls?"
"That sounds interesting!"
"I'd like to try some too."
"The famous rolls that won in the Cooking Competition in Pertia? How could I say no? Three of them please," Alistair said, and the bakery started buzzing with excitement.
"Of course!" Melina hurriedly packaged up her pear rolls and handed the bag to Alistair. He paid for it with a gold coin, for which she quickly counted the change as the customers in line were getting more impatient by the second.
"Thank you," he said as she placed the coins into his palm. "I'll come by tomorrow morning too."
Melina didn't get to reply as the next lady in line began demanding pear rolls by the dozen, and she had to go back into full work mode to manage the customers. However, at the back of her mind a question buzzed around like a fly—would Alistair like her pear rolls? This question plagued her for the rest of the day until the very next morning.
Just as Alistair had promised, he returned, asking for more pear rolls as well as a variety of different pastries. He returned the day after that too, as well as on Friday. Each day he picked a different savory pastry or bread, along with one new sweet pastry. But pear rolls were a must, and Melina couldn't help but feel a bit happy about it each morning.
Oh, I am so foolish. Why am I so happy merely because he picked the pastry that I made? Seriously, this is something teenage girls glee over, not experienced women.
But it was Sunday, which meant that she got a break from all the baking to focus on some other things. The first thing she did in the morning after breakfast was check her status screen.
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[Name: Melina Dufour]
[Level: 19]
[Class: Cook]
[Intelligence: 10]
[Agility: 6]
[Strength: 8]
[Skill: 12]
[Charm: 7]
[Active Skills: 5]
[<Refined Edge – Rank E>, <Rhythmic Kneading – Rank D>, <Mask of Deceit – Rank E>, <Gilded Tongue – Rank E>, <Haste Bake – Rank E>]
[Passive Skills: 2]
[<Archmage's Shadow>, <Chef's Intuition – Rank D>]
I gained three whole levels in a week. Even if all the pastries I make give me a very small amount of experience, the sheer quantity easily makes up for that. This is certainly easier than fighting monsters all day to level up. Not to mention that Gilded Tongue has ranked up as well, helping us earn just a little bit more money.
But despite all that, I still couldn't unlock <Food Manufacturing>, so it is safe to say that making a vast amount of pastries isn't the trigger for unlocking it. If I'm lucky, the System will offer it again once I reach Level 20.
"What did you find in your System Screen that you're staring at for so long?" Gilbert asked as he was sipping his cup of morning coffee.
"Oh, no, I was just checking the progress I've made over the week. Three levels but sadly I did not unlock that manufacturing skill we've talked about," Melina explained, and took a sip of her lukewarm tea.
"Only three? I'd expect you to level up faster after such an intensive week," Gilbert noted.
"Making the same thing gives much less experience than making something new. I hope you'll teach me a new recipe next week. Something using that cocoa that I've won in the competition. Or better yet, we could try to figure out how to use the feyfruit." Melina gave him a meaningful look.
Gilbert scratched his beard in thought, then shook his head. "Feyfruit is too difficult to work with. I'm not sure how to properly incorporate it into a pastry without it being toxic to humans. We'll get to it once we have more time. For now, I'll teach you how to make puff pastry and shortcrust pastry."
"Oh! Those are the kinds you use in tarts, aren't they?" Melina could feel herself filling with excitement, although part of her really wished to work with the feyfruit. It was an ingredient she used often in her potion recipes, especially when making mana potions, so it almost felt like an old friend.
"Not just tarts, but pies and things like cinnamon rolls too. They are rather versatile."
Melina's head began to swirl with possibilities. Gilbert didn't sell tarts and pies in his bakery, instead focusing on bread and smaller pastries that were easy to eat on the go. It was no doubt to accommodate the large number of guards and adventurers that came to get their daily meals here.
But if they started selling tarts and pies, they could attract a completely new type of clientele. Perhaps, some advertising might be required for them to truly take off. Melina didn't know much about such things so perhaps she could consult with Erina. Her inn along with the cafeteria was the most popular place in all of Sunglow after all.
"But we're not doing that today," Gilbert said, breaking Melina's daydream.
"Do you have a different task in mind for me?"
"Yes. I'm going to resupply for next week, but you in the meanwhile will take care of the garden."
Knock resounded on the bakery's door.
"Oh, look at that, your help is here."
"My help? Who is going to help—" Melina trailed off as she remembered a particular conversation at the start of the week. She couldn't help but frown. "Leliana?"
"No need to make that face. She might appear rather arrogant at first, but she's a good girl at heart. Her father is the best farmer in Sunglow, so I'm sure that with her help, our garden will turn into a ripe paradise," Gilbert hummed. Melina narrowed her eyes at the baker suspiciously. "Don't keep her waiting now."
"Alright," Melina drawled, barely masking her annoyance. "Good luck on your supply run."
She got up to open the door and saw Leliana standing there, looking rather exasperated. Her clothes were rather simple, suited for work in the garden and surprisingly enough her minions were nowhere to be seen.
"Good morning, Leliana." Melina put on her polite appearance, using the <Mask of Deceit> to solidify the look.
"Good morning, Melina," Leliana said with an obviously forced smile.
"I came to help with your garden since Master Gilbert asked me."
The meaning behind her words was clear—she only did this because she wanted to remain in Gilbert's good graces and didn't actually want to help Melina in the slightest. Perhaps, Gilbert and her father had a good relationship, and Leliana did this merely not to sour it.
"Thank you for coming! I'm sure he'd really appreciate it," Melina replied, and Leliana's lips pursed into a line. She must have understood the underlying meaning of her words too—I don't really care if you're here or not. I'm only doing this because of Master Gilbert.
"Why don't we get to it then?" Leliana suggested, and Melina nodded. The sooner they got this done, the sooner they'd be rid of each other.
"Of course. Follow me then," Melina said and led Leliana through the bakery and into the backyard. Gilbert was securing Knight to the cart.
"Thank you for coming, Leliana. I appreciate it," Gilbert said when he noticed the two girls. Leliana's disposition softened, and she smiled at the baker.
"Of course. I'd never say no to you, Master Gilbert."
Gilbert nodded. "Be sure to demand some lunch from Melina afterward. You deserve at least that much."
"I'll be sure to treat her well, Master," Melina confirmed.
"I'll leave you two to it then. See you in the evening." Gilbert clambered onto the cart and spurred Knight to get moving. Melina and Leliana both watched him leave, their smiles waning the further away he got.
"Alright, let's get to it. I see you've already started cleaning it. Today we're going to finish thar," Leliana said resolutely, folding up her sleeves.
"In one day? But there's still so much left," Melina pointed at the overgrown part of the garden. It had taken her multiple days and some of her free hours in the evening just to get one-third of the garden more or less cleared out.
"Then we better get started," Leliana said and walked in the other direction of the garden. Melina wondered whether she would just walk away, but after a moment she returned with a whole bunch of gardening tools in tow—scythe, hoe, shovel, even a small axe. "I'll show you how to properly clean the fields, because what you've done so far… well, let's just say that you won't be growing anything besides weeds in soil like this."
"What? Really? I thought I did an alright job." Melina narrowed her eyes at Leliana who walked up to a bit of the cleaned-up garden and grabbed a handful of soil with her gloved hand. The redhead frowned, staring into the soil and then picking out a few large rocks out of it.
"As I suspected, this soil is filled with rocks. Vegetables and fruits will have a hard time growing here. If you want to grow anything good here, then you'll have to clear those out."
"I didn't think about that…" Melina admitted, then assessed the garden as a whole again. "Would I even be able to tend to a garden this large? Maybe it'd be better to clear out just a small part of it properly instead of trying to tackle the whole thing at once."
Leliana stood up and also measured the garden, taking an occasional step left and right to truly grasp its proportion. "I'd be able to do it and then another two fields like this, if I had an ox to work the soil properly. However, you are a newbie who has never grown anything right?"
Melina didn't want to admit it, especially not to this girl who would no doubt use her incompetence to make fun of her later, but when it came to growing things, she was indeed a beginner, unless you counted growing a few potion ingredients on the windowsill. Although even those more often than not, withered and died. "No, I have not."
"Your suggestion is very reasonable then. I'll teach you how to properly till the soil, how to use fertilizer, and how to sow seeds and plant seedlings, but don't expect me to come here every day and babysit your plants. You'll have to take care of them on your own."
"Sounds fair," Melina nodded.
"Good, now grab that shovel and follow me."
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