Taste of Magic: Ambassador's Voice

Chapter 189 – The Sacred Treasures

Melina couldn't believe her eyes. The Stone of Sacrifice, which was supposed to be lost somewhere after Gilbert had used it to save Melina, now sat in the box, its black surface reflecting the sheen of the setting sun.

"Where did you get this?" Melina whispered.

Auden looked a bit surprised by her reaction. Did he not know what this was?

"Later," Alistair whispered. "Too many eyes."

Melina hurriedly fixed her expression into a polite smile. "Thank you! It is a truly wonderful gift. I was merely surprised that you managed to find this rare… gemstone."

"I figured you would know what to do with it better than I do," the Count said and retreated to his seat.

The rest of the party went by in a blur. Melina and Alistair danced, inviting other guests to follow. The princess had made a few attempts to approach Melina, but each time Richard stepped in and made conversation with her instead.

The Duchess also made sure to stay close to Melina, and if someone asked about the situation with the princess, she was quick to support Richard's claim that it was all a misunderstanding.

Thankfully, it was accepted quite readily. After all, it was quite believable. Normally, nobles would look to secure the best marriage for their oldest son. In their eyes, it wouldn't make sense why the youngest son, like Alistair, would even be considered to become the princess's husband.

Melina was counting down seconds until the event would end, but she and Alistair had to remain up way into the night. It was more difficult than she thought. She had grown used to going to sleep early, so staying up past midnight was rather exhausting.

At some point, everything began blurring together. She fully relied on Alistair to lead her where they needed to go. At one point, she realized that she was back home in bed.

It appeared that she either had underdressed herself, which she didn't remember, or Alistair had been kind enough to take off her clothes for her. The man himself was sleeping next to her, one hand wrapped around her waist. The sun was already shining high, indicating a new day.

"Alistair… Wake up," she said gently, running her hand through his hair to gently rouse him awake.

"Just five more minutes," he muttered, pulling her closer.

"I'd love to sleep some more, but I have a few questions I'd like to address before our guests leave," Melina said, gently unhooking herself from his grasp.

"Questions," he muttered, prying his eyes up just a sliver. His black hair was a complete mess, sticking up in every direction.

"The Stone," Melina whispered. She saw that the box with the Stone of Sacrifice had been placed on her nightstand.

This perked Alistair up, and he got up to sitting position. Melina reached out for the box and opened it. Within it was the Stone of Sacrifice; there was no mistaking it. Its black, smooth surface made it look like an obsidian, but the amount of mana Melina could feel coming from within more than proved that it was the real deal.

"I saw it evaporate in Master Gilbert's hands with my own two eyes," Alistair said, reaching out and touching the stone. But he quickly pulled his hand back. "It's cold. Unpleasantly so."

"The Stone of Sacrifice never truly disappears. Once a wish is made, it uses up all the mana within, as well as the sacrifice provided by the user to fulfill their wish. For a while, it appears to disappear, but in reality, it is slowly gathering mana, traveling to more dense areas until it has gathered enough to reform itself," Melina explained.

"To think that Speziale found it out of all people," Alistair muttered in distaste.

"We need to ask him where exactly he found it. Actually, I think it's about time he explained where he gets all the Monster Realm ingredients from."

After eating some breakfast prepared by servants, despite Melina's protests that she could make it herself, the two of them sent a messenger to Count Speziale and waited for the reply.

About an hour later, the Count himself came to their home, beaming a radiant smile at Melina.

"Good morning, Melina, Lord Sinclair," he greeted them. "I didn't think you would grace me with your presence so early during the day."

"We have a few questions for you," Alistair said, almost threateningly.

Melina pulled on his sleeve gently to rein in his temper, although the Count didn't look bothered in the slightest.

"Of course. I assume it has to do with the gift I bestowed on you," Auden said.

"That's right. Please, come in and let's discuss it over some tea," Melina offered.

After the servants had prepared the tea and snacks, much to Melina's displeasure, they sent them away to have a private conversation. Melina even set up a privacy ward, just in case. She didn't think any of the Sinclair servants would be malicious. They were very diligent and completely dedicated to their job. But it didn't hurt to be careful.

"So please tell us where you found this stone," Melina said, pulling the box with the Stone of Sacrifice out of her dress pocket and placing it on the table in front of her.

"The Monster Realm, of course," Auden replied nonchalantly. "I couldn't imagine what kind of stone would make you so shocked, but clearly, I have found something valuable. My mages informed me that this stone was filled with mana, so I figured it would be valuable to someone so intricately familiar with magecraft."

"Can you be more specific? You're always finding all these Monster Realm ingredients. How? All the passageways are supposed to be under the Church's control. I can't imagine them letting you wander around and just grabbing whatever you please," Melina said.

Especially not something as valuable as the Stone of Sacrifice. They would definitely recognize it. In fact, I'm certain that they are searching for it. Yet somehow it ended up in Speziale's hands instead.

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The Count took a deep breath and sighed. "I suppose I should have been ready to explain the truth the moment I decided to partner with you. Very well. I'll explain, but in exchange, you must explain what's so valuable about this stone."

Melina thought about it for a moment. "Very well. But I must warn you that I shall not return it."

Auden smiled. "It appears that I have given away quite the treasure. But it's alright. I'm not so couth as to try to take back my gift. Whatever its value, you may keep it."

Melina nodded.

"So, explain. Where did you get it?" Alistair pressed.

"Very well. You see, I have seized control of a passageway to the Monster Realm in my lands without alerting the Church to its existence," the Count said nonchalantly.

Melina and Alistair gaped at him.

"I don't think that's something that can just be hidden from them. You haven't exactly been sneaky in creating your unusual confections and sending rare ingredients to Melina. Surely the Church must have tried to check your lands by now," Alistair said.

"As influential as you are, even someone like Duke Sinclair couldn't stop the Church from inspecting a passageway and taking control of it. It's the right they had been holding onto since the Church's inception," Melina added.

"That is very true. They have taken control of several passageways within my domain," Auden nodded.

"Then how? Are you sneaking inside behind their backs?" Alistair asked.

"No. There was no way I could do so on a regular basis with the number of men I use for my expeditions. No, the truth is much simpler than that. I use a passageway the Church isn't aware of," the Count shrugged.

"What? That's not something you can hide so easily," Melina said. "Monsters come out of the passageway. They would surely cause trouble."

"Yes, when it first appeared about three years after I took over my father's title, a monster came crashing out of it, causing quite a stir in the outskirts of Tuvia. But I managed to get the situation under control and built my summer villa in the location."

"Summer villa? You have a passageway to the Monster Realm in the backyard of your summer villa?" Alistair asked incredulously.

"No, not in the backyard. That would be terribly conspicuous. Monsters appearing out of thin air in the backyard. No, the passageway is in a hidden cave system underground," Auden explained.

Now it made sense. If there was a whole cave system where monsters could disperse, then those above ground would be none the wiser about the passageway's existence.

The Count then went into detail, explaining how he had gathered his best soldiers and mages to quickly take care of monsters. Fighting underground actually turned out to be advantageous, because monsters couldn't gather in large swarms, and bigger monsters effectively couldn't move at all.

By using the terrain advantage, Count Speziale quickly got monsters under control and later travelled into the passageway to the Monster Realm. Apparently, it was a very rich jungle zone where nights were short, and mana, plants, and fruits were abundant. He had even made contact with the elves there, who had no issues with his activities so long as he left their homes untouched and didn't gather too many ingredients.

With rich abundance available in that region, there was no reason for him and the elves to squabble for resources. Instead, he even managed to convince them to show him the most interesting fruits in exchange for goods from the Human Realm.

"To think that you were already conducting trade with the elves. I'm surprised," Melina admitted.

"Elves are people no different from humans. In fact, I believe elves are more similar to us than some southern human races are. They are open-minded and very friendly once you establish that you wish them no harm. I just wish the Church and the rest of Alemahria could see that," Auden said.

"So that's why you were so eager to work with Melina," Alistair hummed in understanding.

"Indeed," he nodded.

"What about the stone?" Melina asked.

"It was found in the cave system where the passageway is located. Its appearance is rather strange, because it wasn't buried or anything like that. One day, it just appeared as if from thin air," the Count said.

"You're not too far away from the truth," Melina said and then explained what the Stone of Sacrifice really was and what it could do.

"Not going to lie, I do regret a little bit that I just gave it away like that," Auden admitted sheepishly.

"It's best that the stone isn't used. If the Church get their hands on it, then we could end up in a whole heap of trouble. Especially with the whole trial ongoing," Melina pointed out.

"Valid point. There's no chance it would reappear in the same location again, is there?" he asked.

"No. It always appears in a different, but mana-rich place. Monster Realm is not off-limits either."

"Yes, I suppose it's best not to use it unless there is absolutely no other way. I shall gladly entrust the Stone of Sacrifice to you, seeing as you don't intend to use it."

"No. My goal is to keep it away from the Church," Melina said.

With their conversation finished, Count Speziale left, promising to send Melina a new batch of Monster Realm ingredients next week.

Having the Stone of Sacrifice in her possession did make Melina feel a bit relieved. But this did raise the question of what was going on with the other two Sacred Treasures. Did the Church have them? And if they did, what were they going to use them for?

The Sacred Treasures had definitely been involved in splitting the realms apart during the last timeline. After all, Melina had learned the spell for separating the realms in the Codex of Origin. The thought that Codex was in Church's possession sent a shiver down Melina's spine.

Of course, it wasn't a book one could just open and poof—end of world, time rewind, do whatever crazy magic that pleased you. No. Each spell was carefully ciphered and filled with riddles. It had taken the Church a decade just to decipher the spell for splitting realms apart. It had taken Melina seven years to decode the ritual for reversing time.

But Heiliger had her memories, too. She had been the one who provided Melina with the spell for splitting realms apart. Heiliger couldn't execute it herself—she simply lacked the magical finesse and knowledge to do that. But she did know how the spell worked.

"We need to get the other Sacred Treasures from the Church," Melina muttered to Alistair once the Count had left.

"Why all of a sudden? Heiliger is about to be put on trial. The Royal Guard has accepted our testimony as true. We don't have to worry about her anymore," Alistair said.

"No… Heiliger is too clever. She knows too much. I just cannot rest easy while I know there's a chance for the worlds to split apart again. If we got hold of the Sacred Treasures, then it would be strong insurance that it couldn't happen."

"While that's true, it's not like we can go to the Church and demand that they hand them over. It's not even known to the public that they have them," Alistair said.

He was right, of course. One didn't just waltz into the Church without a good reason. It was a place for System users to train and learn how to fight against monsters.

"I'm going to go to the Church as a trainee," Melina said.

"What?!" Alistair gasped. "Why now? What about the bakery? Sunglow? And everything that's going on with the nobles?"

"I don't mean to leave the next day," she said, taking his hand gently. "I'll make proper preparations. Teach Roxie my recipes. Perhaps hire Ygdril for a while to replace me in the kitchen. He's very talented. I'll set up so everything can keep running smoothly without me around for a few months."

Alistair looked at her and gently cupped her cheek with his hand. "I don't want you to go. Heading alone into that nest of vipers. You know I'm against it!"

"I know. But the Codex of Origin has to be retrieved. I haven't officially gone through my training. If I said I wish to go through it, then the Church will let me."

"I doubt they'll accept your presence happily. You know they will try to kill you. And what about Mango and Sienna? You can't take them with you."

Melina let out a deep breath. "I know… But I will not allow the tragedy to repeat itself. Not if there is something I can do about it."

Alistair looked at her with a pained expression, then pulled her into a deep hug. "I wish you were more selfish sometimes."