Monday morning signified that there were only a few days left until the Church set out on their expedition. lina was preparing the best way she could, which involved her heading into the market early in the morning, hunting for more almond flour.
She couldn't believe that the Monster Lord actually had eaten her cooking and enjoyed it. Sure, he had attacked Elowen straight after he admitted that lina had been the one who made the macarons. But the first impression didn't lie. Through Sienna's eyes she had seen it as clearly as if she had been there the whole ti.
The way his eyes went wide with pleasant surprise when he bit into the macaron. She hadn't known that the formidable ruler of the Monster Realm could show such a delighted expression if only for a split second. It was another small but important step to establishing peace between their Realms. This should at least plant the thought into his mind that "Hey, maybe the Archmage really has changed."
Obviously, she didn't expect him to prance over and call her his best friend anyti soon. But by continuing to show him these small gestures of goodwill, they could establish a peaceful relationship. But obviously, the most important hurdle to overco first was the Church.
Just as she thought about them, she saw a few priests pass by, giving her a long, distrustful look. There was no doubt that they were observing her every movent. Heiliger was convinced that lina would do as she was told, but that didn't an that she trusted lina.
Although this made lina wonder—why was the woman so sure that lina would do what she wanted? She had been branded as the traitorous Archmage after all. Were they hoping to fool lina to do their bidding without her knowing any better? Just like they had before. Or was it sheer faith that lina would ultimately listen to the Church.
lina was going through all sorts of scenarios in her mind, thinking of what she could do to counter their heinous plans. To stop them from finding and getting whatever it was that they wanted to get. The problem obviously was the firepower that the Church possessed. She had been watching the new people that had co into Sunglow, searching for other System users. The Guildmasters and the adventurers had also been trying to determine their exact number. For now, they suspected that there were around forty System users.
That was way too many for lina and Elowen to deal with on just their own. Obviously, Sienna would be a powerful counter against them too, but it still wasn't enough. So instead of relying on firepower, lina would rely on sothing more universal. Sothing that spoke to every person—food. That was the reason why she needed almond flour. Lots and lots of almond flour.
She had feared that initially she wouldn't be able to find any in Sunglow. The previous almond flour she had, she bought in Pertia. But as it turned out, she was in luck. The rchant from Pertia that sold the almond flour got it from Sunglow's port first. Apparently, it was a specialty item that can co all the way from Su Xien.
By asking around, lina managed to catch him before he left for Pertia and bought all the almond flour he had, except for bags that he had promised to sell to the Bakers Guild in Pertia. lina was more than satisfied with her haul. It should be more than enough to put her plan into motion. Best part about it—the Church could watch her all they wanted. All they'd see was a baker doing her job which was the most beautiful thing about the whole thing.
Even when she walked through the town, levitating the almond flour bags behind her, the priests couldn't do a thing. The Sunglowers watched her with an amused smile, looking even sowhat proud. The tourists however stared at her with eyes as wide as saucers. It certainly wasn't sothing you saw just anywhere.
"You actually found it?" Roxie asked, watching lina levitate the almost flour bags behind her.
"I caught the rchant heading to Pertia. Got really lucky. A few more hours and he'd be gone," lina said, bringing the almond flour into the kitchen. "Where's Adrien?"
"Practicing magic with Mango up in the attic," Roxie said. "He doesn't want to leave the bakery at all these days. I can barely convince him to get out into the garden."
lina sighed. The boy had been very skittish and nervous ever since the Church's arrival. It made lina wonder if he sohow rembered what happened in the previous tiline. She had asked him if he had any usual skills, but apparently he didn't. However, perhaps, subconsciously he knew what had happened in the previous tiline. His ti with the Church had been nothing if not miserable.
"I'm a bit worried he might blow a hole in the roof…" Roxie said with a frown.
"His control has improved. It'll be fine," lina said. He couldn't exactly levitate rocks as he wished, but he was past the stage of blowing things up by overloading them with mana. Perhaps it was also due to his diligent practice and actually using his mana instead of just letting it pile up without any discharge. "We should visit him up in the attic once in a while to keep him company."
"Why is he so jumpy around the Church?" Roxie asked.
lina let out a strained smile. "Well, he likes monsters and wants to study them. You know how he is with Sienna and Mango right?"
Roxie nodded. Adrien was trying to get to lina's familiars at every chance he got. Sienna didn't want to do anything with the boy—he was a bit too enthusiastic for her tastes. Mango initially was just scared of him, but lately she's been willing to indulge him, if just for a little bit. He'd managed to bribe her by giving up so of his pastries to her.
"You know that the Church wouldn't allow people to interact with monsters as closely as we do," lina said.
"I really don't get it. Why are they so strict about it? Sienna and Mango are completely harmless," the girl said, reaching out and gently patting Sienna who was sitting on lina's shoulder.
"Yeah, I agree. That's why we don't quite see eye to eye," lina said, not elaborating further.
Roxie fidgeted nervously. "A-Are they going to punish you? Punish us all for keeping Sienna and Mango around?"
lina smiled. "Don't worry it'll all be alright. I have just the plan to turn things around."
"Plan?" Roxie asked.
"I'll be making so luminfruit macarons. Will you want to watch?"
"Yes, please! Could I try making so too?" She asked shyly.
"Of course. I'll be making many batches. Watch how I make the first one, then join afterwards."
"Yes!" Roxie cheered, and the two of them set off to work.
lina showed her everything slowly, step by step just like Gilbert had shown her. The girl watched with great enthusiasm, and when lina was making the second batch, she joined, making a smaller batch of macarons of her own.
"The most important part is adding the luminfruit pulp," lina said, showing Roxie the pulp she had prepared in the early morning. She had to cut the fruit very finely and then crush into fine paste. Doing it by hand was rather difficult as she had to push the pulp through a tal sieve in order to cut up the fine grains within the pulp.
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It was easier with magic, but even then, she always put the pulp through the sieve in the end, just to make sure that there weren't any big chunks left. After that, lina used a bit of fire magic to evaporate the moisture out, making it drier.
The first ti she made luminfruit macarons, she used the pulp which ended up with horribly deford cookies. She couldn't even get them off the tray—they were falling up instantly and sticking to her fingers like glue. Mango and Sienna thankfully helped her to get rid of that ss. Gloopy ss or not, it was still delicious.
"No more than a teaspoon. Anymore and the cookies will fall apart," lina instructed.
"How do you know that? Do your skills tell you that?" Roxie asked, taking a trembling teaspoon of the luminfruit pulp and adding it to her mixture.
"Well, yes and no. I have
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