It probably needs no ntion, but Master Gilbert was not happy when lina announced that Alistair was waiting for him in the kitchen downstairs.
"What does he want?" The old baker groaned so loudly that she feared Alistair might have heard it all the way downstairs.
"He's been ordered to search for a passageway to the Monster Realm. You know the one—custors have been talking about it for the past three days," lina said, and Gilbert winced.
This week hadn't been easy for them. Nervous energy was going around the town as each person ca up with new horrors that could co out of the passageway. This also brought a new wave of attention towards Sienna, as everyone, lina included, was convinced that she had co out from the passageway, too.
Everyone thought that the next monster would be even stronger than her, so people did the only thing that seed logical to them—they began buying up pastries in bulk as if they were so magical protection talismans. lina had no choice but to increase the amount she made, leaving her busy with dough through most of the day.
She suspected that the pastries wouldn't be used as a monster repellent. People tend to eat when they are nervous, so it was likely that the townsfolk were on their way to gain so weight.
"I don't know anything about any passageways," Gilbert grumbled, slowly nudging the door closed.
lina grabbed it and tried to hold it open. "Then please go tell him that—politely. It'll only take a few minutes."
The baker clearly didn't want to do that, but sothing in her expression must have convinced him as he opened the door and begrudgingly clambered downstairs.
"Good evening, Master Gilbert. I am sorry to bother you so late," Alistair said, getting up from his seat and inclining his head politely.
"Are you now?" Gilbert grumbled, unceremoniously plopping down at the table across from Alistair.
"Master!" lina hissed a quiet warning.
"It's quite alright, Miss lina. It's rude of to bother you so late when you should already be resting. But I do hope you'll at least hear out my plight."
"Yes, yes, you're searching for the passageway to the Monster Realm. The whole town has heard about that. But while you might think old people know everything, I've never even co in contact with a passageway. I'm a baker, not an adventurer."
The look of defeat was so apparent on Alistair's face that it tugged on lina's heartstrings. She could see that he had been struggling with the problem. He had distinct dark circles under his eyes, and his face looked almost sunken.
"That's a sha…" He muttered, looking down at the table. It's as if his last hope was destroyed.
I can't just let him leave like this because I do know how to find a passageway to the Monster Realm. It'd probably take a few hours to locate it if it is as close to Sunglow as everyone thinks. But I can't just tell him that…
lina wanted to scream from frustration. Knowing the solution to the problem but not being able to tell was probably the most torturous thing she had experienced, including real torture.
"I'm sorry to bother you. I hope you have a nice evening," Alistair got up from his seat, ready to leave.
I can't just let him go. Knowing Alistair, he'll just start searching for the passageway on his own without the support of the Adventurers Guild. If that happens, then sooner or later a monster will do him in, because he'll simply be too exhausted to fight. I have to at least calm him down.
lina opened her mouth to say sothing—she wasn't even sure what—when Gilbert grabbed her hand and glared at her. His thoughts were clear—don't you dare! She looked pleadingly at him, but then a low grumble resounded through the room, and then another one. It ca from Alistair's stomach.
"Would you like so leftover soup?" lina offered before Alistair left.
"Oh, I couldn't possibly intrude on you this late," he shook his head, but looked hesitant to leave.
"It's no bother at all. You've helped us so much, a bowl of soup is hardly any effort. Isn't that right, Master?" lina looked at the old baker, who had a look of resignation on his face.
"No, no. It's not a bother," Gilbert muttered, then shot her a warning look. lina had a strange rebellious urge within her that just wanted to tell Alistair everything he needed to know to find the passageway. "But it's late and I'm tired. lina will take care of it."
The old baker hobbled back upstairs, pointedly glaring in lina's direction as he went. She knew that his reasoning was completely warranted—this was not the case where she could just tell Alistair everything he needed to know. The best thing she could do was to fill his empty stomach.
"Sienna, could you get the stove going?" lina asked, holding the little wyrm at the stove opening. She shot a hot fireball inside, instantly bringing up the heat, and then lina threw in a few pieces of firewood inside. Sienna shot out a second fireball, much smaller this ti—rely enough to set the firewood afla.
This was an effective way of getting the stove going quickly, as the initial fireball quickly heated the stove, and the steady fire from the wood kept it going. lina set the pot with leftover potato soup on the stove and began cutting rye bread that hadn't been sold in the morning. Apparently, in a state of nervousness, people preferred to reach for more sweeter things.
"Sienna has beco quite a valuable part of the bakery," Alistair said casually.
"Yeah, who would have thought that a fire monster could be so useful?" lina chuckled, giving a chili nut to the little wyrm. Sienna grabbed it and scurried down to sit on the side of the stove. She enjoyed the heat coming from it and would often stay there or in the corner of the oven.
"Every bakery in Alemahria will want one once the news spreads."
This made lina pause, looking into the soup. He was right—the news would spread. She knew that one day, so unsavory people—far worse than the thugs that Alistair threw out—would co seeking out Sienna. What would she do that day?
"That is unlikely. Sunglow is more accepting of creatures from Monster Realm…" lina said. Elves, drow, and ember wyrm were not sothing any other place would tolerate as readily as Sunglow, if at all.
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"It is, and I feel as if it's not a bad thing. Monster Realm isn't going anywhere, so so level of acceptance is necessary. But for that to happen, we need to find the passageway first…" Alistair groaned and clutched his head as he fell into the kitchen chair.
He's far more stressed about the issue than I initially thought. I have to tell him how to find the passageway. But if I tell him, then I might as well just tell him all that happened before—about the ti rewind and being a System user. No, I can't!
It was so painful seeing him like this and not being able to help when she knew exactly how to help. The only thing lina could do was ladle the soup into the bowl and serve it to Alistair. "Tomorrow is a new day. I'm sure you'll find the passage soon enough."
lina had to activate to force herself to say that. It was nearly impossible to find the passageway by searching the area because, in its stable state, it was impossible to see. So signs indicated its proximity, but unless you knew to look for them, your only chance of finding the passageway was accidentally stepping through it or witnessing a monster erge from it.
"Sothing tells that it won't be easy to find. I have no clue what to even look for. Despite the location of old passageways being well-known, I have no clue what they even look like," Alistair said, taking a sip of the soup. It seed to calm him a little.
"That's a bit odd," lina asked after a mont, not having anything better to say.
"Yes. I'm not sure why the Church is trying to keep the information a secret. I suppose it's so people don't go looking for the Monster Realm, but if the locations of main passageways are well-known then why hide the information of what they look like," Alistair pondered, then clenched his fist in frustration. "But they could have at least released the information to the Guildmasters so they'd know what to do in situations like these."
lina nodded absently as she didn't trust herself not to say too much at the mont. The reason why the Church didn't reveal any information about the passageways was rather simple—it was so they could maintain control over them. Nobody could approach the main passages without a special permit.
But what was Alistair supposed to do in this situation? She could see how desperate he was to find it. She knew how seriously Alistair always took his missions.
"There must be sothing that could indicate where the passageway is," lina said quietly, clutching her fists tightly under the table.
I can't tell him. I can't. It'll expose , and it might even expose Master Gilbert since he already knows about so of my past. For his sake, if not for my own, I have to remain quiet.
"Yes, I was thinking that too, but I haven't seen anything unusual in the forest. It's just monsters everywhere and so scorch marks," he said, taking an angry bite out of the bread.
"Scorch marks?" lina asked quizzically.
"Yes. I'm almost certain they are the ones Sienna left when she was… in a bad mood. Even so, her fire had been rather muted even while she was in a frenzy. She only singed so trees, but the flas were never strong enough to cause a fire," Alistair said, looking at the wyrm who chirped approvingly.
"Sienna's scorch marks… Wouldn't following them lead you back to the passageway?" lina said. It was a reasonable assumption that Sienna had co from the passageway because the surrounding area wasn't suitable for a large fire monster like her, especially during the cold winter months. The wyrm hated the cold more than anything.
Alistair stared at her blankly for a mont, then jumped up from his seat, nearly knocking his soup bowl over. "Holy System! That's it! How did I not think of that? lina, you're a genius!"
lina was taken aback that he'd suddenly dropped the "Miss" he'd been using all this ti, but before she could say anything, he was already rushing towards the door.
"But the soup…" she called after him.
"I'm sorry! I'll pay you back once I solve this issue," he said and was gone the next mont. Sienna looked after him curiously, then scurried up on the table and began lapping up the soup.
lina sat back in her chair and began thinking about what would happen if Alistair went and found the passageway all on his own. It was dangerous. He might accidentally stumble inside and wouldn't be able to find his way back. A powerful monster might erge from the Monster Realm.
"We should follow him. Just in case," lina muttered.
Sienna let out a disapproving huff in reply, although it was likely because she wasn't yet done eating Alistair's leftover soup.
"I wouldn't be exposing myself. We'd just follow him and make sure everything is fine. If he stumbles inside, we could just say that we saw Alistair disappear in thin air and morized the exact place where he disappeared."
Sienna let out another disapproving chitter, more insistent this ti. lina knew she was trying to make up excuses. But the nagging worry in her chest was growing stronger with each mont. She was almost ready to go and rush after Alistair, but then she heard the sound of water upstairs, likely from Master Gilbert washing up before the night.
No. Rember what Master Gilbert said. I have to think of myself first instead of exposing myself to danger for Alistair's sake. Baker wouldn't follow a warrior into the battlefield. Besides, he is a grown man, capable of taking care of himself. There's no need to involve myself further.
But no matter how much lina kept repeating this to herself, her mind would not calm. She kept coming up with grueso ways Alistair could get hurt or lost or both. Needless to say, she didn't sleep well that night.
"What happened, girl?" Gilbert grumbled in the morning while lina was mindlessly kneading the dough for pumpkin seed dough, mostly letting do the work.
"Huh? Nothing happened!" She replied hurriedly, as if startling up from slumber. Much to her dismay, her mind had not cald down after whatever little sleep she had. Instead, she was getting more nervous by the second.
Oh, I'm fretting like a mother over her child's first day at school. But Alistair isn't a child. He's the strongest warrior in Sunglow right now. He can take care of himself.
"So you say, but you're awfully distracted this morning. Did you say sothing to that noble boy after all?" Gilbert narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"No. I didn't." lina shook her head. Gilbert gave her an appraising look, and she shook her head again. "I really didn't. He was desperate for clues and ntioned that the forest had Sienna's scorch marks littered around it. I said that the scorch marks might lead him right to the passageway."
"Oh, yes, they would, wouldn't they?" Gilbert scratched his beard thoughtfully, then narrowed his eyes again. "Then why are you so jittery this morning?"
lina sighed. "I'm just worried about him. That's all."
Gilbert didn't say anything more, and they continued making a mountain of pastries. was also doing good work of increasing the amount of pastries made, which was a relief since custors were already waiting by the door before lina had even turned on the sign.
They seed even more nervous than yesterday, and at first, lina thought that it was just their tension growing as the passageway remained undiscovered. She took it as a good sign, believing that Alistair had decided to go ho after all and tackle the problem in the morning. It wouldn't be in his character, but perhaps exhaustion had won over after all.
Then again, when he left, he seed to be filled with energy. I doubt that he actually went ho.
But lina chose to believe that he hadn't gone into the forest yesterday night as it was the only thought that kept her calm and grounded. It was the only way for her to keep up her pleasant facade and smile at the custors. As hours ticked by, lina realized sothing crucial. Nobody from the Adventurers Guild had shown up at the bakery that morning.
Why? I understand they are busy with their search, but even then, they'd co by to grab sothing to eat on the go. I have a really bad feeling about this.
"They're back! They're back!" A girl, around ten years old, suddenly burst into the bakery. All attention instantly turned to her, bread and pastries forgotten.
"Don't keep us in suspense! Tell us what happened?" One of the older won urged her.
"They managed to get Lord Sinclair away from the monster, but he's been badly injured!" The girl said, and lina felt like her world had been shattered.
I should have gone after him yesterday.
Without a word, she rushed out of the bakery and ran at full speed to the Adventurers Guild.
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