"Girl, you wanted it, why did you co to complain to now when it didn't work out?" Gilbert grumbled, picking so apples from the appletrees growing at the very end of the garden.
"Because I hoped you had so advice for what I should do? Can I change his attitude sohow to make him receptive to what I'm trying to teach?" lina prodded.
"Have you already forgotten what happened before you ca along?" Gilbert arched an eyebrow.
Then she rembered. Gilbert was well-known even in a place as faraway as Tuvia as soone who rejected all apprentices who ca to learn from him. He had always been the worst person to ask this question.
"Right…" She drawled out.
"Right, indeed. You're going to have to figure out sothing on your own. Frankly, I would just turn away anyone who doesn't show any willingness to learn. Why waste your ti? There are plenty others who would pay big money just to glance over your shoulder," Gilbert shrugged.
"That is true… But this is a person sent by Duchess Sinclair. I can't just turn him away."
"Why not? You think the Duchess would be happy to hear that one of her staff is acting like a prick?"
"But he's still a noble, even a low-ranking one. I don't think I can just throw him out…" lina frowned, biting into her thumb. Technically, she had told him to leave, but Michael had just sneered derisively and promised to co back tomorrow.
"Suit yourself. But people like that don't change just because you scolded them once."
lina knew that, but perhaps, if she approached Michael the right way, she could entice him to listen. After all, his goal was to learn recipes. If she focused solely on that and ignored his comnts, then maybe she could get by.
Best not to ntion this to Alistair yet. I already have a pretty good idea of what he would do.
Next morning, lina decided to approach the whole apprenticeship with a new perspective. She accepted that not everyone will be as eager as Roxie and Adrien, so she would adjust her expectations accordingly.
"Good morning, Michael," she greeted the young cook when he arrived at the bakery.
"I certainly hope it will be a good morning. Yesterday's performance was rather poor. To think that you'd lose your temper against a noble. If I were any less kind, I would have reported this incident to the Duchess. But my goal is to learn new recipes, so I shall forgive this unpleasantness if you provide a proper apology," Michael said.
"Apology?" lina could feel her left eye twitch in disbelief.
"Yes. Most generous offer from my perspective. I still think that Lord Sinclair should know about what transpired, but as I said, I am a kind and generous man, so I will look past it."
lina couldn't believe her ears. Sohow she had been turned into the one who was wrong. How did he ever co to such a conclusion? Was this so skill noblen possessed? Or was it this man specifically? She was so flabbergasted that she didn't know how to react.
"Well, what are you gaping for? Apologize so we can finally move on," Michael said impatiently.
"I have a question for you first," lina said, trying to be diplomatic about the matter.
Michael groaned. "Ti's wasting, but very well. What is your question?"
"Who is the owner of this bakery?" She asked.
"Owner is a rather generous title if you ask , but I suppose you do own this little shack you call a bakery. Why are you asking this? Are you not aware of sothing so simple anymore?"
"Just humor for a minute. Who is the one who created the magical pastry recipes?"
"I suppose that was also you. But I suspect anyone with the right ingredients could recreate them without issue."
lina smiled. She got him now.
"So you believe you could recreate my magical pastries?"
Michael shook his head. "I can hardly understand what goes on in the head of a commoner such as yourself, so I can't recreate them. But I could certainly make sothing better."
lina wanted to shoot back that she had already beaten him once in a cooking competition, but she decided to hold back for now and let the harsh reality teach him a lesson in her stead.
"Then why don't we make a bet? You can create anything you want with the magical ingredients I have in my storage. Make as much as you want, but by the end of the day, it should all be sold out. If you manage to do that, then I'll provide you with the necessary Monster Realm ingredient and announce to the Duchess that you can create magical pastries better than I can."
Michael smiled. "I am glad that you are finally coming to your senses. I honestly thought this whole debacle is a huge waste of ti. After all, what could I possibly learn from a commoner? But this makes it easy."
"However," lina continued. "If you don't sell out, then you're going to have choices: either you shut up and learn what I tell you to learn or you return back to Fenrora and admit that you're incapable of learning new recipes!"
Michael gasped. "The audacity! If you were not Lord Sinclair's fiancee, I would have reported you this instant. I can't believe the rudeness of commoners these days. But obviously, I would never lose such a bet. Not a frumpy girl like yourself."
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Adrien leaned in close to lina and whispered. "Maybe you should just tell Lord Sinclair about this guy right away?"
"Don't worry. I'm pretty sure his pride will be his downfall."
Roxie peered nervously at the man. It was clear that after yesterday she was incredibly uncomfortable around him. lina put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about him. Just do what you always do. You're a full-fledged mber of this bakery and never let anyone convince you otherwise."
Michael proceeded to explore the storage. Man took quite a while exploring the Monster Realm ingredients. lina had quite a collection of them. She and Count Speziale had already worked out which ingredients were best used in pastries and how much she needed them. Those that weren't as useful, the Count didn't send anymore, instead searching to trade them with elves and drow instead.
lina, Roxie and Adrien didn't pay Michael any mind instead opting to focus on their own work. She did occasionally check what Michael was doing to try and figure out exactly what he was trying to make.
He had taken generous amounts of feyfruit and luminfruit and was making copious amounts of choux pastry. It looked like he was making cream puffs. Maybe he was trying to display that he could do them better than lina. Although she was a bit nervous about all the feyfruit he was chopping up.
"You better not burn any of my profiteroles, dragon!" Michael shot Sienna a nasty glare when he loaded his piped choux pastry into the oven.
Sienna let out an angry growl, but lina pacified her. "It's alright. Just cook them as you normally would."
The wyvern wasn't too pleased, but obeyed nonetheless.
Once the pastries were ready, Michael left out to cool while creating a pastry cream made with copious amounts of feyfruit, and a glaze made with generous helping of luminfruit. lina couldn't believe how nonchalant he was about it. Even worse, he was grinning victoriously as the pastry cream sparkled as if it had starlight within it.
He must have thought that it was a great effect, but the fact was that it was overloaded with mana. That pastry cream would undoubtedly make anyone who ate it pass out, unless they were a monster.
It was the sa with the luminfruit. A good chunk of the glaze consisted of luminfruit, making it glow beautifully. But he didn't account for the fact that luminfruit caused a strong euphoric effect and could even make a person hallucinate. At this rate, she wouldn't even be able to display these cream puffs in the bakery.
But Michael wasn't done. He stacked the cream puffs in a giant tower and then proceeded to make thin caral strands over it by using a whisk. The technique was interesting and the end result was that the cream puff tower was covered in beautiful glistening caral.
The fact that the glaze shone lightly only added to the effect, so overall it looked pretty.
"Feast your eyes on perfection!" Michael announced proudly.
lina frowned and walked up to his creation, using to figure out the effects.
[Croquembouche Impérial – Rank D]
[Tower made from small cream puffs and covered in delicate caral strands. Each cream puff is filled with feyfruit cream and covered with luminfruit glaze.]
[Effects: Causes overwhelming hallucinatory effects that trigger happy mories and euphoria.]
[Warning: Consuming even one cream from this croquembouche imperial might prove deadly to a human.]
"Let's bring this out into the bakery. I know you have your floaty magic, so go ahead, and make sure it doesn't fall," Michael said with his nose held high.
"Absolutely not!" lina instantly rejected the idea.
"Wh-What? You said that you'll display it in the bakery for sale. You can't go back on your word now!" He bellowed.
"I will never serve anything harmful to my custors," lina shot back angrily.
"Harmful?" Michael shrank back for a mont. "You're just ssing with ! I cooked with the sa ingredients that you've been using. I saw that you used both luminfruit and feyfruit just this morning."
"Yes, but it's how I use them that matters," lina said. "In large quantities, feyfruit is harmful for humans because of how much mana it contains. Luminfruit on the other hand can trigger hallucinations. You overload this single cream puff with them so much that they can trigger death in humans."
Michael paled, but nevertheless stood his ground. "I don't believe you! You're lying so that you can win!"
lina groaned. "Fine, don't believe it. Find soone else with a skill that can figure out the effects of this dish. Or perhaps, just try it yourself."
"I will try it myself and you'll see that it's completely safe," Michael declared.
lina wondered if she should stop him, but decided against it. Worst case scenario, she could trigger him to vomit it out.
"Let's head outside," lina said.
"Outside?" Michael raised his eyebrow.
"You'll understand why pretty soon."
The man regarded her dubiously, but in the end agreed to go outside. Good, she didn't want any vomit in her kitchen.
Once they were outside, Michael took a big bite out of the cream puff. He was smiling initially, but his smile vanished quickly the more he chewed. His face color also changed from normal to pale to almost green, and eventually he rushed into the bushes and spit it all out.
lina shook her head. Mostly she felt bad for the ingredients wasted. But her point was proven.
"What have you done to this fruit? Are they rotten?" Michael yelled once he had returned from the bush.
"No. They're not. We used the sa ones didn't we? Feel free to taste one of my cream puffs for comparison," she replied calmly.
"Oh, I will!" Michael ran inside, and lina followed, watching him bite into one the cream puffs Roxie had cooked this morning.
The man chewed angrily for a mont before his arms went limp. "It… It tastes good."
"It was made by Roxie," lina said with a smile.
"This girl!" Michael howled pointing at Roxie, who took a step back. But his anger quickly dissipated. "I don't get it. How could she make it right but I couldn't?"
"It's quite simple. You used far too much feyfruit and luminfruit. They are tasty in small quantities, but in large quantities they beco dangerous. If you actually bothered to listen to what I'm trying to teach you, you would know that."
"But… But…" Michael was left gaping, his cheeks flushing red from embarrassnt.
"So what are you going to do? Will you listen to my lessons peacefully, instead of telling whether I need to stir my dough clockwise or counterclockwise? Or will you return back to Fenrora? Let warn you, I highly doubt the Duchess will side with you even if you're a noble."
Michael looked at lina for a while, then pressed his hand against his chin, clearly deep in thought. He didn't look particularly pleased, but eventually he nodded.
"I shall listen… It appears that Monster Realm ingredients aren't quite as simple as regular fruit," he conceded, albeit his expression suggested that he wasn't happy about it.
"No more complaints either?" lina asked.
"I… I shall try. Albeit you have to admit that there are—"
lina shot him a glare. Michael sighed. "Very well. I shall keep them to myself."
"Wonderful! Let's go open the bakery then!"
She had managed to convince him for the ti being, but whether it would turn into obedience or resentnt remained to be seen.
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