Just like the previous day, she and Sienna made it to the bakery early. Gilbert and Roxie weren't even awake yet when Melina already began preparing her first cakes. She kept them simple—sponge cake biscuits with fresh strawberries and whipped cream with her shimmerglaze on top for increased appeal and shelf-life.
It was tricky to make a large batch of the sponge cake batter—she suspected that without her careful stirring using magic, she'd have lost the airiness of the batter. In fact, she was sure that she had lost some, so she sneakily inserted tiny air bubbles in it.
Sienna was up to her task of cooking the sponge cake. Melina started with just one, just so the wyrm could get a feel for the right temperature. But she had gotten it right on the first try, so Melina loaded the rest of the sponges in without worries, letting Sienna take care of it.
"You're up early today," Gilbert said as he hobbled into the kitchen.
"I couldn't sleep knowing how many things there were to do this morning."
"Have you eaten yet?" He asked.
"No."
"I'll make some waffles. Sienna, would you mind lighting the stove for me?" Gilbert asked.
The wyrm carefully manoeuvred to the stove and shot a fireball inside to heat it. Gilbert then placed a few logs inside, and she set a gentle flame to them. He then began his breakfast preparations while Melina prepared the buttercream for the cakes.
At some point, Roxie also came downstairs, looking a bit embarrassed. "I'm sorry I'm up so late."
"No, don't apologize. I'm just up early."
"Wait at the table. I'll have waffles ready in a few minutes," Gilbert instructed.
The whole kitchen was already filled with various pleasant scents. With the oven and stove running simultaneously, it was also becoming increasingly hotter. It didn't bother Melina, but she saw sweat forming on Gilbert's and Roxie's foreheads.
"Let me cool down this place a little," Melina said and concentrated on the air in the kitchen. She tried to lower the temperature by applying a bit of ice magic to the air. It was a bit difficult—her natural affinity had always been fire, and her bond with Sienna had only strengthened that.
Perhaps, once Mango's ice magic was stronger, she'd be able to grasp ice magic a bit better. But currently, she managed to lower the temperature just enough so that it wasn't overbearingly hot.
The sponge cakes, with the help of
[Your skill has ranked up.
Melina left the sponges to cool and quickly tucked into her waffles.
"Where are you rushing?" Gilbert asked.
"There are still many things to make. I want as many things available on the opening day as possible. I'll be working on choux next."
Her waffles disappeared in record time, and she was back to work in no time while Gilbert and Roxie continued their breakfast. Gilbert obviously didn't hurry, but Roxie looked nervous.
"Don't mind her, lass. Eat slowly," Gilbert told Roxie.
She nodded, her mouth filled with waffles. She hurriedly chewed and swallowed them. "I'll help out as much as I can."
"I'd be grateful if you could retrieve the bread dough from the storage," Melina instructed Roxie once she was done eating.
The girl obeyed. Melina worried she wouldn't be able to lift the heavy tubs, but she managed, if with a little difficulty.
"What do I do?" Roxie asked.
"Shape them into equally sized loaves," Melina said, and showed her the size of the loaf. It was a bit regretful that she couldn't pass her
"The wyrm is going to cook them?" Roxie asked in disbelief, pointing at Sienna.
"Yeah. She already cooked the sponge cakes," Melina shrugged.
"This has got to be the most unusual but also the most amazing bakery ever," Roxie exclaimed.
"Most troublesome too…" Gilbert added.
Roxie flinched at his words, appearing nervous.
"Don't worry. He means me. But I can't bottle up who I am. You saw me try."
"I wouldn't really call it trying. You melted the moment that boy appeared," he pointed out.
Melina didn't reply and instead turned back to work. He wasn't exactly wrong, but she'd rather not admit it aloud.
"Should I score something on the loaves?" Roxie asked.
"Score?" Melina cocked her head at the unfamiliar term.
"Scoring is the last cut we make in the bread, so it wouldn't explode into a mess. I have always done just simple X, but you can always score in a more interesting fashion."
"Hmm… I certainly wouldn't mind, but it's not like it can be anything too complicated, otherwise we'll be spending too much time scoring bread."
"How about a sun? It's simple, and this is Sunglow Bakery," Roxie suggested.
"Sure, that sounds great," Melina nodded.
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Roxie turned out to be rather quick at making loaves and scoring suns on top of them. It was clear that she had done this a lot as more and more loaves made their way into the oven. Once it was full, Sienna used her
Meanwhile, Melina had prepared a batch of choux pastry and was piping them into shape. It was a very busy morning. Melina wished she could involve Roxie more in her magical recipes, but the girl was plenty busy with bread alone. Not to mention, when Melina asked her to fill out the choux with healing caramel, the girl grew visibly tense.
She tried filling a few, and it was then that Melina realized that Roxie was indeed clumsy. Somehow, she got the caramel everywhere, except inside the pastry itself.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She apologized profusely.
"Don't worry about it! There's still plenty of other work to be done. Why don't you cut up the strawberries for the cake?"
The work continued at a steady pace. At some point, Adrien woke up and began helping out where he could. Mostly taking care of dirty dishes and carrying the finished goods into the store.
The closer it came to the opening hour, the more nervous Melina grew. Would anyone even come? Would people enjoy the new selection of pastries? Looking at the bakery now, with displays filled with shimmertarts, strawberry cakes, eclairs, and spark pies, it was completely different from before.
Breads that didn't look as impressive were put on the shelves in the back, while the colorful pastries were put in the display cases. Adrien took care to display the nicest pastries at the window case, turning them at the nicest angle. As expected of a son of a merchant.
"We're ready!" Adrien announced proudly.
"It looks really great!" Roxie stared at the bakery with an admiring look.
"It's certainly more colorful…" Gilbert noted.
"Is that bad?" Melina asked nervously. Perhaps, she had strayed too far from Gilbert's original vision of selling simple breads and pastries.
"No. You did well," he said, gently patting her head. "I think your first customers are here."
Alistair was waving at her from the window, Mango clutched in his arm. He was also holding a large bouquet with various colorful summer flowers.
Melina went to open the bakery's front door. "Good morning!"
Mango yipped at Melina happily while Alistair handed her the bouquet. "Morning, and congratulations on your grand reopening!"
"Thank you." She said, accepting the beautiful flowers.
"Many are already heading this way," Alistair said and pointed to the end of the street.
Melina saw the familiar group of adventurers chatting among themselves as they came towards the bakery. Among them, she saw Remi, Barrett, and Illitran. Remi was waving at her enthusiastically. A little distance behind them came Elowen, who appeared a bit uncomfortable, likely because Leliana had attached herself to him.
"I suppose it's time to turn on the sign," Melina chuckled.
Sienna darted out of the bakery and pressed the button, which turned on the sign, chittering excitedly.
"Sienna! Melina was supposed to do that," Alistair huffed.
"That's alright. She's helped out a lot this morning. She's an official baker wyrm now," Melina chuckled.
"Melina, these cakes look absolutely delightful!" Erina praised, looking eagerly at the cakes through the display case.
Many eyes were glued onto the cakes as well as the colorful eclairs and tarts. Children had their little hands glued to the glass, and Melina gave herself a mental note to wash those after the service was over.
But overall, it was going great. Melina hadn't shied away from the fact that her pastries did indeed have unusual effects, and many people asked eagerly what those effects were. As expected, the most popular were the cloud muffins as they could relieve fatigue.
But just because a pastry had a certain effect, it didn't mean that people would buy it purely based on it. After all, plenty of people wanted to try wyrm eclairs and spark pie, although it was doubtful that they needed fire and lightning resistance.
The cakes were the first to sell out. She had made only ten since she wasn't sure how they would be received. But Melina's worries turned out to be unwarranted as people eagerly asked for cakes and wondered if she'd be making other kinds in the future. Melina replied that she will.
However, in the midst of this cheerful atmosphere, she had let her guard down. She, along with Adrien, served each customer in turn. He turned out to be a great help, actually, dealing with customers swiftly and gracefully. He certainly looked far more comfortable in the bakery than he ever had in the Church. Melina felt like in the future it wouldn't be a problem to leave the service hours up to him if he was up for it.
Roxie, on the other hand, stood nervously to the side, trying to appear invisible. She flushed whenever Melina introduced her as the new baker, and muttered that she hadn't really done much. The crowds didn't seem to be her favorite place to be.
"One of your Sunglow puffs, please," a gruff voice said.
Melina initially didn't think much, but then their eyes met and she recognized him. This was the same man who had stalked her bakery for weeks, except this time he was dressed in more regular clothes, likely to blend in better with the townspeople.
"Curious that you'd decide to order something after all this time," Melina narrowed her eyes, but retained her pleasant smile with the help of
"Oh, I always wanted to order something, but I never could quite decide on what I wanted," he said, his cold gray eyes peering at Melina. "Yet once I had finally made up my mind, the bakery suddenly closed."
"We were undergoing renovations. I'm sorry for the wait," she replied, trying to keep her voice steady.
Why was this man, who had always remained somewhere in the shadows, talking to her now? Something must have changed.
"I can see that. The bakery looks truly lovely now. Much better than before. The pastries on offer are also most unusual. It's as if they were made by magic," he drew out the word magic, then looked around the bakery. His eyes fell onto Sienna, who was hanging on one of the walls and blowing rings of smoke to entertain the children.
"Maybe they were," Melina said as calmly as she could, but she wondered if the Sunglowers would mind much if she apprehended the Church spy right then and there. It was certainly tempting, but at the same time, it would ruin all the cheer.
"Truly fascinating. As is your pet. Never thought that a monster could ever be accepted in a human town," he spat, not hiding his distaste.
At this point, some of the other customers were starting to sense that something wasn't quite right. They were talking for too long. Melina grabbed a paper bag and retrieved one of the cream puffs. But she didn't package him the healing version; instead, nimbly substituting it for the regular one.
"Here's your order, dear customer," Melina said, offering him the bag and hoping he would silently leave.
"And the new hire you have is most unusual. The boy seems very talented, as if he has experience in selling things," the man said, grabbing the paper bag along with Melina's hand. His grip was cold, almost painful. "One would say it's unusual for this boy to have appeared here so suddenly."
His grip slowly tightened, becoming painful, but Melina wasn't about to let this creep get away with it. She allowed mana to flow out of her fingers and crush the man's hand. Not enough to actually injure him, but enough for him to release his grip.
"It's not unusual at all. He needed a teacher, and I'm ready to become one," Melina said with a smile.
"I would reconsider that decision in your place. There are far more suitable teachers for him out there," the man hissed, pulling his hand away.
"No, I don't think I will," Melina said confidently. She was sending a clear message to the Church. She wasn't about to let them do as they pleased.
"I wouldn't be so hasty in your decision. You still have time to take the correct side," he said.
"I'm already exactly where I'm supposed to be," Melina said, then turned to the next customer in line. "Next, please. What would you like?"
He scoffed and skulked out of the bakery, glaring daggers at Melina. But she wasn't about to let him go without sending a message.
As she packed the pastries for the next customers, she whispered, hiding her mouth behind her hand, so it wouldn't appear that she was talking to nothing. "Remi, did you hear that?"
The elf instantly poked her out of the kitchen. Her mouth was stuffed full of cake, but her gaze lingered on the man as he left the bakery.
"What's up?" She asked.
"I think it's time for some phoenixflies."
Remi's eyes lit up with joy. "Oh, I thought you would never ask!"