"You went to sleep late last night didn't you?" Gilbert noted in the morning. Melina was barely able to hold her eyes open. She couldn't help but experiment with the crystalized ooze she managed to create. Unfortunately, no matter how she tried to incorporate it into the pastry itself, the cream, or even arrange it on top of the fruit, in the end, the crystallized ooze was too hard to chew and remained last, leaving a mildly bitter aftertaste in the mouth.

It was a vast improvement over the first healing pastry Melina made, but she hadn't really incorporated the ooze. It merely hung on top of the pastry, resembling a random, rogue element rather than a part of the dish. She knew that she could achieve a better result.

By the time Melina gave up her experiments, it was already way past midnight and she still had to spend a substantial amount of time cleaning the kitchen. Overall, she had gotten maybe three hours of sleep.

"I might have gotten carried away with my experiments," she admitted, arranging strawberries on the tart. Melina was relieved that she was so accustomed to making the pastries they sold that she could do it half-awake. Her eyes were very heavy this morning and she barely even registered what she was doing.

"And the result? You managed to make something edible?"

"Sort of?" Melina said and retrieved a jar that she had filled with little crystalized ooze.

Gilbert looked at it skeptically. "What in the blue blazes is that?"

"Crystallized sapmelon ooze. It has strong healing properties, but… I've had no luck incorporating it in a dish."

The old baker took one of the balls out of the jar and inspected it with a scrutinizing gaze. Melina suspected that he was using one of his skills to see its effect. After a moment, he popped it into his mouth, tasting it. "Oh, that's some potent stuff. I can feel the aches in my joints disappear right away."

Melina smiled. "Yes, the effect is good… but the flavor."

"It's not so bad, but it does have a medicinal quality to it. Interesting how it melts just like sugar. Perhaps it could be made into caramel."

"Caramel?" She looked at the crystalized ooze in mild disbelief. "Master, you have to teach me how to make caramel!"

"Yes, yes, of course, I will. But we need to finish our work first."

Melina groaned. It felt like she was just a step away from creating the perfect healing pastry, yet these mundane things were blocking her path. Maybe it was the lack of sleep that made her feel a bit irritable, but she also knew that the bakery was important too. Every coin they made was important, especially since Melina wanted to expand and improve their business.

"Let's get to it then!" Melina nodded resolutely and returned to work.

Making pastries was easy and very rewarding. Since Melina's level had reset after equipping [Arcane Baker] class, she could watch how her levels steadily went up. She started the morning at Level 2 and ended up with Level 5. As an added bonus <Haste Bake> also ranked up, reaching rank D, and decreasing the cooldown to six hours.

At the end of the morning, after Melina invested her unspent skill points in <Intelligence> and <Skill>, she opened her status screen.

[Name: Melina Dufour]

[Level: 5]

[Class: Arcane Baker]

[Familiar: Sienna — Ember Wyrm Level 48]

[Intelligence: 15]

[Agility: 8]

[Strength: 9]

[Skill: 18]

[Charm: 7]

[Active Skills: 8]

[<Refined Edge – Rank D>, <Rhythmic Kneading – Rank C>, <Mask of Deceit – Rank C>, <Gilded Tongue – Rank E>, <Haste Bake – Rank D>, <Arcane Infusion – Rank E>, <Familiar Sense – Rank F>, <Ingredient Appraisal – Rank E>]

[Passive Skills: 3]

[<Archmage's Shadow>, <Chef's Intuition – Rank D>, <Food Manufacturing – Rank D>]

Wait a minute… Sienna leveled up?

Melina looked carefully at the screen, not quite believing her eyes. She wondered when it happened, but then remembered how after Sienna had killed the nightstalker Melina had received a notification about level up. But Alistair had been injured at the time, so she had dismissed it right away and turned her attention to him.

"Master… Sienna leveled up," Melina told the old baker as they arranged the prepared pastries on the shelves.

"So?"

"It's just that her level is rather high. She's currently at level 48. What if she evolves?" Melina asked.

Gilbert paused and looked at the wyrm who was sticking to the shop's windows and gazing at the birds outside. A perfect picture of innocence.

"Yeah… that'd be troublesome…" Gilbert noted and they both gave Sienna a long look. Monster evolution was a… messy process. It involved them going into a crystallized sort of cocoon and staying there for days, maybe even weeks before their bodies fully underwent evolution.

The worst part, however, was after they emerged from their cocoon. All of their energy would be spent on evolution, and they'd usually be cranky and extremely hungry, attacking and eating everything even remotely edible. Sometimes a newly evolved monster was far more dangerous than the one of higher levels.

"It would be for the best if we didn't have to go through that. Who knows what she'll evolve into? I wouldn't be surprised if it was a draconic species. And I certainly wouldn't want to see one of those things raging through Sunglow."

"Neither would I," Melina agreed. She shuddered to imagine what townspeople would do if Sienna went on a hungry rampage through the town. They might not forgive Melina then.

With the pastries all set on their shelves and the sign turned on, people once again flooded the bakery in a steady stream. Unfortunately for Melina, everyone had already heard of her trip to the Monster Realm—information traveled really fast around here. So she was bombarded with questions first thing in the morning.

"What was the Monster Realm like?"

"Did you get attacked?"

"What did you find?"

"What was in that bag that was dripping slime everywhere?"

Melina tried to answer their questions with a smile while being mindful of how much she could reveal. For example, she didn't mind describing the colorful beauty of the Monster Realm even if it slowed the service to a snail's pace. However, she did not mention the verdant grasps dragging multiple people to the ground.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

She also didn't mention the nightstalker attack or any attack whatsoever, instead evading the questions about monsters. Sometime during the service, Alistair also came for his morning pastries and added to her story. He was also mindful to avoid any mentions of attacks and instead focused on the feyfruit and sapmelons that they found.

Another person who made an appearance during the shop hours and made everything even more difficult was none other than Leliana. She of course, instantly stuck to Alistair and asked him every question imaginable with big starry eyes.

"Oh, so that nasty slime I saw in the town yesterday was from a sapmelon?" Leliana asked in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. "Why even carry such a nasty thing back?"

This raised a murmur of questions as other customers also pondered what could Melina possibly do with the nasty fruit. She couldn't just openly tell them that she was trying to make into healing pastries. Could she?

"One of my skills discovered that the melons have healing properties. Melina will try to make them into pastries," Alistair said and winked at her. The customers buzzed with excitement at the prospect of healing pastries, cheering for Melina's success.

"I'm not sure if I can do it. I'm still a novice," she said.

"I'm sure that Gilbert will help you figure it out, won't you?" Missis Veilcroft urged him.

"I make no promises," he grumbled in response, but everyone laughed, already familiar with Gilbert's icy attitude. Everyone except for Leliana who looked like she was fuming. The red-head stormed out without anyone noticing, and Melina got a strange foreboding feeling.

The afternoon couldn't have come any sooner. Melina eagerly returned to her experiments. Gilbert had suggested she incorporate her crystalized ooze into caramel sauce and given her the recipe for regular caramel sauce. It was surprisingly simple.

All Melina had to do was carefully melt the sugar, then add butter to it, and finally whisk in a bit of cream. The result was a deliciously sweet gooey substance that Melina could barely keep Sienna away from. Wyrm managed to nab a bit of it while it was still hot, and she only managed to dissuade her from pursuing the rest by promising her feyfruit tarts later on.

With the first batch of caramel being a success, Melina set off to make the second batch but this time she added crystallized ooze along with the sugar and melted them together. The start was promising as the ooze melted and mixed with sugar producing a sweet herby scent. After that, she added butter and whisked everything together with cream. It resulted in a lighter-looking caramel that smelled very mildly of herbs.

"Let's see…" Melina muttered and activated <Ingredient Appraisal> on the caramel.

[Sapmelon Caramel Sauce – Rank C: deliciously sweet and pleasantly gooey, this caramel will make any sweet lover beg for more.

Effect: Heals minor injuries.]

It appears the healing effect got diluted during the cooking process. I need to figure out the proportion for maximum healing effect while retaining the pleasant flavor. Perhaps, it would be best if I asked Master Gilbert to do the taste testing. My tastebuds are already worn down by all this sweetness.

Melina continued making various batches of sapmelon caramel, altering the amount of sugar, butter, and cream added. A few times she didn't have enough butter or cream which resulted in a mixture that partially hardened and wasn't pleasant to eat. Other times, she added too little sugar and the herby smell became too pungent.

In the end, she was left with four samples with varying degrees of healing effectiveness and sweetness. She was about to go and call Master Gilbert downstairs to help with the taste testing when a knock resounded on the backdoor.

Melina instantly tensed remembering how last time it had been Heiliger who had come knocking on the backdoor.

Don't be ridiculous. She has already long since left Sunglow. Maybe it's Alistair. Perhaps, he'd be willing to taste the caramel sauce.

She liked that idea very much and headed to the back door with a spring in her step. Much to her disappointment, it wasn't Alistair who had come, but rather Leliana. Melina barely managed to suppress a frown.

Melina was sure that during their brief chat, Leliana told Heiliger about this back entrance. She considered just slamming the door shut in her face, but there was a flicker of uncertainty in Leliana's face which stilled Melina's hand.

"Hello, Leliana. How may I help?" she asked.

Leliana had an uncomfortable smile on her lips which she tempered into her pleasant mask. "You know this morning I heard about those unusual melons you found in the Monster Realm, so I got curious about them. As a farmer, I am extremely interested in new fruits. Perhaps, we could find them useful. Would it be alright if I inspected one?"

Melina doubted that it was the melons that Leliana had come to see. She had called them gross just this morning. For a moment, she contemplated just rejecting her request and sending her away. But the girl would no doubt use it to her advantage, telling everyone how Melina was too greedy to show the spoils from the Monster Realm to others. Or something like that.

She suppressed a sigh and smiled. "Of course. Come in."

Melina led Leliana into the kitchen and put one of the melons that had been oozing into one of the larger bowls the whole night on the table. The redhead scrunched up her nose in disgust. The ooze did not smell nice in such large quantities—it was an overwhelming, almost sickening smell of bitter herbs.

"Why does it smell so bad? Is it rotten?" Leliana covered her nose, some of her prim facade slipping away.

"No, that's just how it is."

"Shouldn't you wash the slime off?"

"No, that's the most useful part. The innards turn nasty when cooked but are toxic in their raw form," Melina explained.

"Toxic?" Leliana recoiled from the bowl, taking a few steps back. "And you're putting it into food?"

Melina smiled. Leliana's mask was slipping. The girl felt far more reasonable when she wasn't pretending to be pleasant, so Melina hoped she'd drop the facade completely.

"It's safe to eat when cooked properly," Melina assured, then looked at the four bowls that held her experimental caramel. For a moment, she pondered whether she should ask Leliana to taste it. She needed to know the honest opinion.

But this was Leliana. If the caramel was bad, then she could use that to weave some new rumors, possibly even ruining the bakery's reputation. However, Melina remembered how Leliana had spoken about Master Gilbert and how much she enjoyed his cooking.

No, I don't think she'd do anything that would harm Master Gilbert or the bakery. She just doesn't like me.

"Would you like to taste some?" Melina offered.

"What? No way!" Leliana shook her head fervently.

"It's safe, I promise! Look," Melina said and put a bit of the caramel sauce in her mouth. It was sweet and herby, pleasant in her opinion, but at the same time, her taste buds had already gone numb from all the sweetest. "It's tasty, but I've eaten so much of it that I can't make sense of which tastes the best."

Leliana gave her an appraising look. "Alright. But if you want my honest opinion, I want something in return."

"What do you want?"

"A few of those fruits you got from the Monster Realm."

That was the last thing Melina had expected from the girl. She thought she'd ask Melina to stay away from Alistair again or something equally ridiculous. "What are you going to do with them?"

"I'll try to grow them."

"Grow them?"

"These fruits can only be found in the Monster Realm right?" Leliana prompted with a mischievous sort of grin.

"That's what I've heard."

"Imagine if someone would be able to grow them in the Human Realm. What kind of profit they'd be able to make from them," Leliana explained.

"So you're after money?"

"I want a better life for myself and my sisters. Do you know how hard it is working on the field day in and day out, only for all of your hard work to be thwarted by droughts or monsters attacking you on the way to Pertia, forcing you to abandon most of what you've worked so hard to grow?" Leliana snarled.

Melina softened. She knew all too well the hardships of poverty and things outside her control. After all, there was nothing wrong with hoping for a better life. That was the whole reason Melina rewound time—to give this world another chance for happiness.

"Only if you promise not to sell them," Melina said.

"Of course I won't! I'm not stupid enough to dig a hole for our town."

"Then I'll give you a few of those fruits. Just don't expect that growing them will be easy. Especially these melons."

"I enjoy a challenge," Leliana said.

Melina nodded and at that moment there was almost a friendly feeling in the room. She retrieved her caramel samples and set them in front of Leliana.

"But you must tell me which one you think is better first."

The redhead glanced at the caramel dubiously, then looked at the ooze in the bowl. "That slime is in this caramel?"

"Yes!"

Leliana grimaced but took the teaspoon Melina offered, dipping it into the first sample. Tentatively she brought it to her lips, exhaled, and then swiftly put it in her mouth. Her eyes widened in surprise. "This is… actually good."

"Yes, I told you. I just need to figure out which one is the best," Melina nodded excitedly, seeing how her caramel was a success.

Leliana looked down at her palms for a moment. "Now I'm even more excited to get these things to grow in the Human Realm."

"It would certainly be amazing if you could do that," Melina said, although she was almost certain it couldn't be done. The conditions for growing these melons were just too finicky. But she won't stop Leliana from trying. "Now taste the other ones. I need to know which one tastes the best."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.