Melina didn't know what she had expected to see beyond the locked doors—a storage room, a library, or maybe even some equipment for Gilbert's secret hobby. One could never know who secretly harbored a passion for art, wood carving, or some other creative pursuit.

But she certainly had not expected this in a bakery. The room beyond the locked door was filled with what could only be described as treasure. Three beautifully polished sets of armor were displayed right across the entrance, each different in style and utility but enhanced with magic. Swords lay displayed on large glass shelves further inside and halberd stood in a rack further ahead.

Melina was struck with awe as she slowly stepped inside, gazing around the room. A dragon skeleton was secured to the ceiling, while various other monster parts and enhanced necklaces, rings, and bracelets were displayed in glass cases. She saw a necklace made from the teeth of a hellhound, a ring with a jewel mole core, and a necklace weaved from kelpie hair.

But the most amazing were the books that were carefully organized at the deepest part of the room, away from windows. Looking at the title she saw tomes and historical records from very long ago. Every book was a hidden treasure in its own right.

"Master… What is all this?" She gaped at the books, quickly finding rare tomes that she would have killed to get her hands on while she was Archmage. Well, maybe not kill, but severely cripple. Many of them had been thought to be lost to time.

"Spoils of my youth, I suppose," he said nonchalantly.

"Spoils of your youth?" Melina repeated in disbelief. "Do you know what the Church would do to get their hands on just one of these books?"

"Oh, I'm aware. They tried to take them from me many times before."

Melina couldn't believe that he was saying it so nonchalantly. If the Church was aware of these treasures then why weren't they trying to pursue them with more ferocity? Or perhaps, they simply didn't know where he was before. "Master, this is bad! They know you live here, they'll come and take these."

"Oh, calm down. They won't do such a thing. Not while the current Archbishop lives. That was our agreement."

"What agreement?"

Gilbert turned away from Melina and hobbled over to the armor that stood in the very center. It was made from mana metal, a material found only in the Monster Realm, which was excellent at conducting mana to either increase the potency of magical skills or decrease the power of incoming magical attacks. The symbol of the white dove on the pauldrons indicated the affiliation to the Holy Knight Order.

"I think a young girl such as yourself shouldn't hear such horrible stories," he muttered.

Melina wanted to object that she had already seen her fair share of horrors but decided to approach the matter slowly. "Master, please do explain. How did you become a Holy Knight? How come you are now living in Sunglow, hidden away like a hermit when you should be living in the capital, enjoying praise and luxury life while the servants fulfill your every wish? Why are you a baker?"

Gilbert brushed off a speck of dust that had landed on the armor, gazing at it for a long moment. It was clear that he treasured the things in this room—everything was clean and polished, and the weapons on display looked like they could be used at any moment if necessary.

"I believe your story and mine might not be so different. When I was eighteen, I saw my first System message. It surprised me greatly, but I was elated. I mean who wouldn't be? I bet you were happy the first time around too, weren't you?"

Melina nodded. She had been mostly confused when she first awoke to the System. As an orphan, she had never expected that a rare power like that would choose a little girl like her.

"I went to the Church immediately and I learned everything they taught me with vigor. But I didn't want to be just another System user. No, my foolish young self wanted to reach for the sun. So I trained hard, beat monsters, unlocked skills, and even tamed a nightmare to become my familiar. Before long, I was appointed as the youngest member of the Holy Knight Order."

Then Gilbert shook his head and grasped at his leg. "But I got too close to the sun and burned."

Melina wanted to ask for details on what exactly happened, but the pained expression on the old baker's face stopped her. "So you left the Church? They just allowed you to leave?"

"No, of course they didn't. Nobody gets to leave the Holy Knight Order, but I forced my way to freedom. I may have been crippled, but I had Knight by my side. Together with him as well as a few friends, I managed to escape to Sunglow and establish a foothold here."

"And they just left you alone?"

"No! Of course, they didn't. The Church is stubborn—it doesn't give up easily. But I kept gathering allies and strengthening this town. We built a wall to protect ourselves and established the Guild."

"Wait… you established the Guild in Sunglow?" Melina asked in shock.

"Yes, why do you think Arianne always agrees to my requests? She was my best apprentice," Gilbert said somewhat proudly. "But even so, it wasn't enough. I knew that eventually the Church would get its way, so I made a deal with them."

"What kind of a deal?"

"I would give up my Holy Knight class and step down as the Guild leader and also provide the Church with the artifact they so desperately wanted to obtain. In exchange, they would leave me and Sunglow alone."

Melina frowned. What kind of artifact would the Church be willing to trade off to agree to such a deal? As far as Melina knew, somebody like Gilbert would be named a heretic and promptly executed. Yet whatever this artifact was, forced them to reconsider and leave Gilbert alone.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Ever since then, they've mostly left me be, aside from a few small priests sent here to check up on me from time to time."

"Master, what kind of—"

"No, don't even ask me that," he cut her off before Melina could even ask about the artifact.

"Very well," Melina conceded. He had already told her a lot—it'll take a while to process the new information. "So that's why you weren't scared of showing yourself in front of Heiliger. The Church is already aware of your identity."

"That Bishop was named Heiliger? How are you familiar with her?"

"Let's just say that I had a few run-ins with her while I was an [Archmage]," Melina muttered.

Gilbert let out an annoyed huff. "Quite honestly, this thing where you are an Archmage that came from the future is more confusing than anything I've told today. Any chance you would tell me more about it?"

Melina contemplated the idea for a moment. She didn't want to tell anyone about the future that she had lived through. It was a past that would never be repeated, so what was the point of telling it? If anything it could only trouble the old man. "I believe you'll sleep better at night if you didn't know."

Gilbert let out a derisive snort. "Girl, did you even listen to what I told you? I was a Holy Knight. I've fought monsters, gone into the Monster Realm, fought against the Church itself. Yet you believe that your tale would make me lose sleep?"

"Yes," Melina said seriously.

Gilbert paused, staring at her for a moment. The old baker had realized that her story was even worse than his. "Even so, I would like to know."

Melina thought about it for a moment. Gilbert took Melina under his wing, repeatedly protected her System user status, and revealed his past to her. If he wanted to know the truth then Melina would tell him the truth. It was only right. "Very well. But let's go downstairs. It might take a while to explain everything."

Melina told him how the future she came from was slowly dying. That the Monster Realm had been separated from the Human Realm thus cutting off all magic. As it turned out Human Realm had grown reliant on the rich mana coming from the Monster Realm and without it, plants, animals as well and people were dying.

She told him about the famines and plagues that raged across the world, killing thousands, no, millions of people. She told him how she traveled from one continent to the other, searching for a way to fix the disaster. Melina also admitted that she had rewound time.

"But I don't understand," Gilbert said once she had finished her story. Sienna was also staring at Melina with wide eyes as if she had not quite believed what she had said. "If the world was dying, then why did you run away here instead of searching for a way to prevent the disaster? Won't it all happen again?"

Melina looked into her teacup, a deep sense of guilt overtaking her. Her hands trembled—she was afraid of admitting the truth. Sienna noticed her trembling and put her little feet on Melina, letting out a little chirp to encourage her. Melina gently patted the wyrm, grateful for her support. "No, it won't. Because I was the cause of the disaster."

Gilbert stared at her in disbelief. Melina began to worry about the old man's health with how much shocking news she kept dropping on him. "What do you mean?"

"I was the one who severed the connection between realms," she admitted, staring intently at the lukewarm tea in her cup. She couldn't bring herself to look at Gilbert.

"Why?"

"It seemed like the right thing to do at the time… Monsters kept coming into the Human Realm more and more, attacks were becoming more common. I didn't want to do it at first, but the King asked me to do it, the Church asked me to do it, and the people kept begging me to do it. I know it's a poor excuse, I shouldn't have given into the pressure, but I eventually did as they asked." Hot tears were building in the corners of Melina's eyes and her eyesight fogged.

She remembered all the times people blamed her for her mistakes. How they had chased after her, demanding her death as atonement for her crimes. But even so, she kept fighting back stubbornly. Worst of all, Alistair had stuck with her and died to protect her.

Tears kept pouring out of her as if some dam had broken within her. Melina realized that she had carried these feelings deep inside her for years. They were eating at her, gnawing at her soul everywhere she went.

Suddenly she felt warm hands wrap around her shoulders. "It's alright, lass. We all make mistakes."

Tears keep streaming down Melina's cheeks for a long time. She didn't know how long she cried, but Gilbert and Sienna stood by her side the whole time.

With her eyes red and puffy from all the crying, Melina lay in her bed, Sienna dozing on her stomach. Melina stroked her back gently and stared at the ceiling. She never expected that it would be so difficult to talk about her past. She had never intended to tell anyone about it but even so, they should have been nothing but memories now. Remnants of reality that would never come to pass.

Yet speaking, no, even thinking of those remnants had been so painful. She had been the one to lead the world to its doom. Yet Master Gilbert, just like Elanor had before, accepted it. He consoled her while she cried like a child. It was embarrassing to think that she had acted that way.

Perhaps, the old baker did that simply because he could relate to Melina. After all, his past wasn't that much different from her own. Both became heroes, loved and admired by everyone, only to reach too far and then come crashing down. The only difference was that Gilbert's mistake hadn't caused the world to end.

Melina let out a sigh and closed her eyes. Her mind continued untangling the past events, thinking about them properly for the first time in years. Some things were still too painful to recall, but perhaps in time, she would be able to face those as well. Oddly enough it didn't take long for Melina to fall asleep.

She woke up in the morning feeling refreshed—as if some of the heavy burdens that she had been carrying for years had lessened if only a little. The sun was barely peeking beyond the horizon, and her room was mostly covered in darkness. Despite that, everything seemed very clear to Melina. She got out of bed, ready to tackle the difficult day ahead.

Heiliger had promised to come back, so it was without a doubt that she would do it during the bakery work hours. She could just hide in her room and wait for the work hours to end. But she didn't want to leave Gilbert on his own, not to mention that her hiding from Heiliger would only make things more suspicious.

"Can I show my face to her yet not arouse any suspicion?" She asked Sienna who was lazily stretching out her limbs in her trough. The wyrm didn't understand her, instead just quizzically cocking her head.

No, that is impossible. One look at my status screen would show her everything she needs to know. <Identify> would show her my level, class, and stats. Heiliger might not be able to see my skills and the connection to Sienna yet since I know for a fact that those unlock only at the highest rank. There is actually a decent chance she hasn't reached it yet.

An idea struck her mind. It was a gamble and a huge one at that. However, if Heiliger hadn't unlocked the highest rank of <Identify> then she might just weasel her way out of trouble. At least for the time being.

I'll finish making today's pastries and then I'll equip the Arcane Baker class. With it my level will be reset to 1, meaning that I can feign ignorance much more easily if Heiliger questions me. Higher levels are far more suspicious than a class. If Heiliger asks about it, I'll just pretend to be a fool.

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