But Alistair going to Fenrora and talking to his father gave her more hope. With the Duke of the region behind them, they could surely resist whatever it was the Church decided to throw their way. Or at least help them. Duke Sinclair had shown interest in Sunglow and hoped to develop it into a prosperous port town.
But would he risk going against the Church? Melina hoped that he would when his son asked, but the more she thought about it, the less confident she felt. Not to mention that they were slowly but surely running out of time. It was the middle of summer, and the expedition would surely arrive soon. No doubt that would be the time when the Church would strike.
"What's with that frown?" Alistair asked.
They were currently in the middle of folding laundry. After finishing the magic lessons with everyone, Melina decided that their home needed a deep cleaning. There was a lot of dust and dirt everywhere, as Alistair wasn't too great at cleaning.
But together they had made short work of the dust bunnies. Even the little Mango helped by grabbing a wet cloth with magic, and wiping at surfaces here and there. It left everything wet, which actually made cleaning easier, even if a bit more time-consuming.
Once they had cleaned everything, they turned to laundry, washing, ironing, and folding.
"I'm just thinking about the Church. They'll be here soon…" Melina admitted, carefully folding one of Alistair's shirts.
He repeated her movements to the best of his ability, although in the end, the shirt he was folding turned somewhat crumpled at the edges. Melina smoothed it out.
"We still have some time," Alistair assured her. "It is quite time-consuming preparing a whole expedition."
"Yeah, I know, but I imagine that Heiliger will try to move things along faster."
"There's a limit to how much she can push things as a bishop. She doesn't have full authority and will have to defer to those with a higher rank. And you know how the Church can be," he pointed out.
"Yeah, you're right," Melina nodded, recalling the elderly Archbishop and those in the inner circle who currently held power. She wondered whether Heiliger had told them everything or was working independently. As a bishop, she certainly could command a fair number of people in the Church, but important matters such as expeditions are usually left to those in the inner circle.
"It'll be fine. We'll be ready for them. I'll make sure to convince my father," Alistair said, pulling her into a hug.
She allowed her worries to wash away in that moment, but she knew that her mind wouldn't be calm for long. She needed some sort of distraction if she wanted to keep a clear head.
"Master, I think it's time for me to teach you a new recipe," Melina said the next morning, when she went to the bakery.
She had gone on the weekly supply run with Roxie, collecting everything they needed for the week. It had gone relatively well, although in a few places the merchants tried to raise their prices, claiming this or that problem had hit them. But Melina stood firm and used
But with the ingredients gathered, her afternoon was mostly free. She was ready to learn something new. Mostly to keep her mind occupied and away from the Church.
"Don't you have enough pastries on offer already?" Gilbert grumbled.
"I'll be getting a new shipment of Monster Realm ingredients next week. I'll most certainly need a new pastry to incorporate some of them. So I'd like to learn something new," she insisted.
Gilbert sighed. "Fine. I'll teach you how to make sweet rolls."
"Rolls? Like the pear rolls? Grandfather, I already know how to make those."
"No, not those. These are completely different. They are made using sponge batter," he explained.
"Rolls made from sponge? Now I'm interested!" Melina nodded.
"C-Could I learn along with you?" Roxie asked nervously, twirling one of her braids in her hands.
"Of course!" Melina nodded. "Today is a worry-free day. You can mess up as much as you want."
"I-I'll try not to mess up…" the girl said quietly.
Melina suspected that she felt bad because she often fumbled making new things. However, she wasn't mad in the slightest. Roxie had been in Sunglow for barely a week, but she was definitely a big help in the bakery, even if she did mess up new recipes. The girl could knead and make bread with her eyes closed.
"Don't be afraid to make mistakes, child. It's how we all learn," Gilbert said sagely, and beckoned her over to join Melina at the counter.
"I… I'll do my best then!" Roxie said with a bit more confidence, gripping her fists.
"That's the spirit," Melina nodded, also eager to begin the lesson.
"No magic this time, Melina! Otherwise, it's unfair to Roxie," Gilbert said.
Melina wanted to object, but then nodded in agreement. If she could make the pastry with her hands, then doing it with magic wouldn't be an issue later. She should accommodate for Roxie's sake this time.
"You don't have to hold back for my sake…" Roxie squeaked.
"Don't worry about it. My hands need the exercise," Melina assured.
"Very well. Let's begin then." Gilbert nodded.
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The beginning was really much like making a sponge cake. Melina had to whisk eggs with sugar until they were pale and tripled in size. As it turned out, whisking nonstop until she got the right consistency was rather hard. Her hands got tired easily, and she could see Roxie struggling as well.
"You two need more muscle in those flimsy arms of yours. Even an old man such as I can whisk the eggs without much issue," Gilbert said, showing his mixture, which was pale, fluffy, and tripled in size in just five minutes.
Melina's and Roxie's by comparison still looked too dark and flat. The girls continued their vigorous whisking, but it took them over ten minutes until their eggs looked just like Master Gilbert's.
"There has to be a magitech device that does this for you…" Melina huffed, stretching out her tired arms.
"You can ask Milo that. But if I remember right, he's busy working on Adrien's bed and that cooling cabinet of yours," Gilbert noted.
Melina couldn't help but sigh. Milo certainly has been busy these days. After seeing the nice display cases and shelves he made for the bakery, Sunflowers were eager to try out his service, so he was currently swamped with various orders. It would probably be a while until he's free to tinker with magitech again.
"Okay, moving on. Sieve the flour and salt and fold them into the mixture," Gilbert instructed. He demonstrated the process, mostly for Roxie's sake. But even with his shaking hands, he was making swift work of mixing the batter.
Melina and Roxie followed his example, sieving the flour and salt and then working to fold it into the mixture. Melina wasn't surprised to see that she couldn't fold it with her hands as well as with magic. Sometimes she tried to rush the process, which resulted in overfolding.
Roxie was also struggling, doing her best to fold the mixture, but occasionally her hands would slip, and it would look much like stirring. In the end, Melina's and Roxie's mixtures looked flatter than the one Gilbert had prepared. Nonetheless, the old baker didn't grumble.
"You two could use some practice, but it's not a bad first attempt," he noted.
"This isn't my first attempt," Melina said. "I have folded batter before."
"Then you should have done better," Gilbert muttered. "You've grown too used to magic. Even if it's more convenient, you shouldn't forget how to do things by hand."
"You're right… I'm sorry, Grandfather."
"Don't apologize. Just keep practising."
After that, they had to pour the batter into a buttered pan. But not the cake pan Melina had grown used to us with sponge batter. Instead, they used the flat pan and let the batter spread in a thin layer all across.
"How is this going to form a roll?" Melina asked dubiously.
"You'll see. Now into the oven," Gilbert commanded.
Sienna had already warmed up the oven while they made the batter, so now she only needed to cook the sponge.
"Not too high, Sienna," Melina said.
"Yes, go gentle with the flame. This can burn easily," Gilbert nodded in agreement. "While the sponge cooks, you two can start chopping strawberries for the filling."
"I picked lots from the garden this morning," Roxie bragged, showing everyone a bowl full of large, delicious-looking strawberries.
"These are perfect!" Melina praised, and both of them set off to work.
Obviously, Sienna and Mango got a few strawberries here and there. The wyrm ate them quickly without a mess, but Mango, on the other hand, had her whole face covered in strawberry juice. It looked as if she had murdered somebody, as the red color could easily be mistaken for blood. But at least the fox was happy.
The sponge was ready soon after they had finished chopping strawberries, and the whole kitchen smelled of the sweet aroma. Melina really loved how the sponge always filled the bakery with this pleasant aroma. If only she could bottle it up and carry it around.
"This part is important. As soon as the sponge is out of the oven, you have to remove it from the tray and roll it up, like so," Gilbert said, taking one of the pans with oven mitts. He then turned the tray over in a quick motion, letting the sponge settle onto a cutting board. After that, he grabbed a kitchen towel and began rolling the thin spin sponge.
"Oh, so that's why it's called a roll," Melina said.
"Exactly. Now, hurry. If you wait too long, they'll cool and the sponge will crack once you roll it."
Melina grabbed the pan with her bare hands, not bothered by the heat, while Roxie took it carefully with oven mitts. Then Melina turned over the pan, and rolled up the sponge without any need for the towel. Having an ember wyrm familiar was quite useful in the kitchen. Roxie, however, was struggling quite a bit with the hot pan.
"Should I help?" Melina offered.
"I-I can do it!" Roxie said firmly. She flipped the tray a bit clumsily, causing a bit of sponge to crack at the edge. But most of it was intact, so she grabbed the towel and began rolling, making sure that the broken edge was tucked inside.
She had to stop on a few occasions to cool off her fingers, but in the end her roll turned out pretty nice as well, even if it wasn't as tightly packed as Melina's and Gilbert's.
"Good, good. Leave them cool. In the meantime, we have to beat whipped cream with sugar," Gilbert instructed.
Melina wasn't looking forward to more whipping, but there wasn't much she could do about it. Roxie had already grabbed the bowl, eager to start whisking. They both measured out the cream and sugar needed and began the grueling whipping process.
Her arms were screaming by the time they were done, and Roxie didn't seem to be doing much better. Only Gilbert seemed unfazed, despite being the frailest of them all. She supposed his strength was a natural part of him, rather than something acquired by the System. Then again, she never knew his stat distribution—who knows how much she had invested in strength.
With whipping cream ready, they were told to fold the chopped strawberries into it. After that, it was merely a matter of assembling the sweet roll. It was easy.
They unrolled the cooled sponge and spread a generous helping of whipped cream with strawberries inside, then rolled it back up. There was a bit of a mess as Melina had added too much filling, resulting in some seeping through the sides. It was even worse for Roxie, who had a heap of cream pouring out of her roll.
But that was easy enough to clean up. They trimmed the edges, dusted the rolls with powdered sugar and the treat was ready.
[You've made
"Looks nice," Melina noted.
"I… I actually did it! On my first try!" Roxie cheered.
"Not bad, kids. Now let's taste them!" Gilbert urged, getting plates and tea ready.
Alistair sat by his bedside table, writing down what he wanted to say to his father when he met up with him in Fenrora. The candlelight flickered when he exhaled a heavy breath and crumpled the paper, throwing it in the trash bin next to the table.
No matter how many times he wrote, he never seemed to find the right words. All his arguments seemed weak, all his claims ludicrous. Would his father even believe him?
Alistair took another bite of the strawberry sweet roll that Melina had brought home. Like all of her pastries, it was delicious. The fresh strawberries tasted absolutely delicious together with sweet whipped cream and airy sponge. Even if it didn't have any magical effects, it still made him feel much better.
A strained groan came from his bed. Alistair looked at Melina, her face scrunched up in a pained expression. She was having another nightmare. Ever since they began sharing the same bed, he came to realize that it was common for Melina to have nightmares. She'd often see their past in them—the world that had been destroyed by their hands.
He reached out his hands and took Melina's. She clasped onto him with an iron grip as she always did. He gently massaged her hand with his thumb, and slowly her expression relaxed. After a minute or two, she seemed calmed again.
"How many sleepless nights did you suffer without me?" He muttered quietly.
His finger brushed against hers, noting the emptiness on her ring finger. He hadn't done things right by Melina. She didn't mind, of course. It was like she was unable to see his faults. But he knew that he had to set things right. He had to do things properly.
Seeing her renewed Alistair's determination. He'd see his father and he'd convince him to join their cause. He'd convince him that Melina was the only woman he was willing to marry. It was likely that he'd be removed from the line of succession, but that was fine. It was a price he was willing to pay for Melina's sake.