novelraw Chapter 190 – Not Yet
Chapter 190 – Not Yet
While Melina wanted to retrieve the Codex of Origin as soon as possible, she didn't intend to do it in a reckless manner as she would have before. First, she allowed the buzz from the engagement party to die down. That alone proved to be a formidable task.
She wanted to return to her work in the bakery as soon as possible, but the Duchess wouldn't allow her to work directly. Melina could go to the bakery and direct Roxie and Ygdril on what to make and how to make it. She could help out through her familiars and directions. But she wasn't allowed to do any of the baking herself. Not yet.
This annoyed her. No, that was putting it rather mildly. This infuriated her. Melina hated just standing on the sidelines, letting others handle all the work. She wanted to cook and to help. But as it turned out, the Duchess had been right to forbid Melina from participating in the process.
Two weeks after the party, the nobles of various standings kept visiting her bakery. Apparently, they weren't in a rush to get home and instead decided to prod Melina, each in their own infuriating way.
The most tolerable ones came curiously asking for her recipes and purchasing her cakes and sweets in bulk. Unfortunately, she couldn't provide them in bulk yet, but she did sell them a good deal of pastries and promised to contact them should the business expand.
Some came to butter up to her. These were the lower-ranking nobles, hoping to improve their standing by appealing to someone marrying into the Sinclair family. They were annoying, but Melina tried to remain polite and reply to any of their requests evasively.
Then there were those who were trying to openly antagonize Melina, either by trying to hire her, much like that one noble had before, or just standing around and messing with her business. They were a nuisance, to say the least, and the fastest way of dealing with them was to send them Alistair's way, who would give them a thorough verbal beating.
By far the scariest sort were those who just came to observe. Usually, they didn't do it themselves, as these were high-ranking individuals curious about Melina. They sent servants who pretended to browse around and buy her pastries. But their browsing was very meticulous, and they would often try to peek into the kitchen to observe what was going on there. The fact that you couldn't tell who they were straight away made Melina constantly tense.
Only at home did she feel at ease. While some of the Sinclair servants remained to care for the house, Melina and Alistair had managed to convince the Duchess to keep it to a bare minimum. A single cook, two cleaners, and a gardener.
There were still a lot of people to constantly be around the house, but it was the best compromise they could reach with the Duchess. Thankfully, she was allowed to cook her pastries at home, so Alistair, Sienna, and Mango, as well as the servants, got to enjoy them.
During this time, Melina reached Level 49. She hadn't even realized that she was this close to reaching Level 50, which meant unlocking her Master class. It made her want to grind her skills and gain experience to obtain it faster, but it was better to wait for the things with the nobles to settle down.
[Name: Melina Dufour]
[Level: 49]
[Class: Arcane Baker]
[Familiar: Sienna — Hearthfire Wyvern Level 25; Mango — Ice Kitsune Level 10 (unique)]
[Intelligence: 30]
[Agility: 12]
[Strength: 10]
[Skill: 35]
[Charm: 15]
[Active Skills: 11]
[ [Passive Skills: 5] [ Looking at her Status Screen after so long made her realize just how much progress she had made. Working on the opera cakes had given her a massive amount of experience as well as improved her Her biggest achievement recently was mastering healing puffs and wyvern eclairs. Thanks to that, these and the shimmertarts were always available in the bakery. Ygdril, on the other hand, had taken a liking to cloud muffins, believing their rejuvenating effect to be incredibly useful. The drow also tried making macarons, but didn't quite get them right yet. His brethren poked him about luminfruit macarons nearly every day, huffing and puffing whenever he said that he still needed more time to master them. Once things had finally settled down, Melina decided to call all the important people of Sunglow together and declare her plan to them. Namely, this included those who were aware of the alternate timelines: Elowen, Gilbert, and Arianne. "So what have you called us here for?" Arianne asked, looking around the ornate room. "Although, before we begin, I do have to thank Lord Sinclair. My workload has drastically decreased since you took over the management of the town." If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Melina could see this to be true. Arianne looked far less grouchy than usual, and her face was relaxed. "You never were good at that sort of thing, no matter how much I taught you," Gilbert shook his head. "I'm a fighter first. All this paperwork is not to my taste. It's enough that I still have to manage the Adventurers Guild and all the new adventurers coming in." "We'll have a lot more adventurers and people of other professions arriving in Sunglow soon, but that is not why I called you here," Alistair said and looked at Melina. She nodded and soundproofed the room to make sure that nobody would overhear. "I suspect it has something to do with our mission," Elowen said. "Indeed," Melina nodded. "Before we get to the main topic, Elowen, how are things going between elves and humans at the moment?" "Things are rather delicate at the moment. Some people are very eager to learn more about elves and our culture. Almost overwhelmingly so. It's a bit difficult to keep them under control, so they wouldn't breach any boundaries, but so far we've been able to manage. Leliana is a great help with that." Melina could already imagine a fiery redhead, yelling at anyone who dared to get too friendly with any of the elves. Sometimes, Melina believed that Leliana was the true ambassador between the races, and not Elowen. "There are also some more unpleasant cases, mostly with people who have never met drow before. They freak out and label them as monsters. Obviously, the drow don't accept such insults, but so far, the guards have been able to bring the situation under control by displaying that the drow are part of the community. Etrian is a great help since he's already used to this sort of thing and is great at calming situations down." "The fact that his clothing is famous throughout Alemahria helps," Gilbert added. "Wait, what?" Melina blinked in surprise. "You really think he only sold his clothing to Sunglowers. Have you not seen his style?" Gilbert questioned. "It does look more like something nobles would wear, but would they really buy from a drow?" Melina questioned. "Etrian uses a middleman. The nobles don't know they are buying from a drow. But now that you've stirred the pot, Etrian is ready to reveal himself to them," Gilbert said. "I do hope that goes well…" Elowen drawled out. "I believe our engagement party should have set some seed within the hearts of nobles. Of course, I don't expect them to accept elves and drow tomorrow, but I want them to understand that they are not monsters. My mother is currently working with elves of Euroa to bring their tailors to Fenrora," Alistair said. "That's nice and all, but I don't think that's the real reason why you called us here. Spit it out, girl," Gilbert demanded, crossing his hand over his chest and glaring at Melina. He's too sharp… "Well, the thing is…" she said, somewhat nervously, feeling the heavy stare of her grandfather. "I am thinking about going to Church to go through their program." "WHAT?!" Everyone besides Alistair screamed. "Girl, are you out of your mind!" Gilbert roared. "Have you gone insane?" Elowen yelled. "What are you thinking?" Arianne chastised. "Please hear me out. I know it sounds out of nowhere, but there's a good reason," Melina said. She then told about the Stone of Sacrifice gifted to her and Alistair by Count Speziale. How it made her think of other Sacred Treasures and how crucial they had been in splitting realms apart last time. She explained that by retrieving all three of them, it would be much harder, if not outright impossible, for the Church to do something like that again. "That does make some sense," Gilbert admitted. "But how do you know that the Church even has the Codex of Origin at this point? Let me tell you, when I worked as a Holy Knight, they didn't have it." "That was more than forty years ago, and they did have the Stone of Sacrifice then. It would only be logical that during that time they would have obtained the other two sacred treasures," Melina reasoned. "But you don't have proof of it, do you?" Gilbert countered. "He does have a point. The Sacred Treasures were there once I was a [General] and you were an [Archmage], but we have no way of knowing when they were actually obtained them. In fact, I believe the only time I saw the chalice was during the ritual to split realms apart," Alistair said. Melina racked through her memories. So many things had happened that it was a bit difficult to tell at which point things happened. After all, it wasn't like the Sacred Treasures were displayed at the Church's entrance for everyone to see. They were hidden away. As soon as she became the [Archmage], she was allowed access to the Codex of Origin to help decipher the crucial spell. Of course, she hadn't known what she was deciphering until the King requested her to split the realms apart. But the point was that the Codex was definitely with the Church for years. But Alistair was definitely right about the Chalice of the World. She had only seen it once during the ritual when realms were split apart. It was held by Heiliger herself and supplemented the ritual with the necessary mana. "Yes, I suppose they might not even have them yet. But shouldn't I at least check?" Melina reasoned. "Are you really that eager to go to the Church?" Elowen countered. "No, but it is the only lead I have as to the location of the Sacred Treasures," she said. "I think we should try to figure out where these Sacred Treasures are," Arianne said. "We can assume the Church has them, but there is no proof of that. Melina, I think it would be far wiser for you to remain put and search for a way to locate the treasures, rather than run straight into the viper's nest." "I agree with Arianne. Stay put, girl!" Gilbert said, and Elowen nodded firmly. Alistair exhaled in relief and pulled Melina closer. "Thank you, everyone, for talking her out of this madness. I knew you'd be able to do it, Master Gilbert." "You shouldn't give in to her recklessness so easily, you know. I won't be around forever," Gilbert huffed. "I'm sorry… Maybe the pressure has been getting to me lately. I just want to put an end to all this," Melina said, feeling a bit embarrassed that she almost made a rash decision again. "As we all do," Elowen said. "But you are right to bring up the Sacred Treasures. In fact, I'm mad you haven't brought them up earlier. It is by far the best way to prevent the disaster from repeating itself, even if the world doesn't warm up to the Monster Realm as much as we liked." "No, even if they do, it'll be a slow process that will take decades, no, most likely generations. But obtaining the Sacred Treasures and destroying them is the best method we have at our disposal. Without them, nobody will be able to perform that profane ritual." "But how do we find them?" Melina pondered. "I wish we had some leads." "I believe we need to seek the help of somebody with more knowledge than we. The Architect," Alistair said. "Architect? I thought they were nothing more than myth," Arianne said. "Oh, they are real. But they were hard to find and don't like to meddle in mortal matters," Gilbert explained. "We did manage to find one, and it was very adamant about Lord Sinclair remembering you, Melina," Elowen said. "Indeed. It might be that it is trying to prevent the disaster just as we are. Perhaps we can ask it for a hint if nothing else," Alistair said. Melina thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "You're right. Even if it doesn't reveal anything, it would cause no harm to ask. Let's do that."