lina gaped at Leon in shock. She had expected him to ask different things. Like how she knew how to control magic? Was she a System user? Where did she get her knowledge from while being so young? All very valid questions. But she never expected Leon to ask her to teach him magic.
"No!" lina said hastily.
"W-Wha? Why not?!" Leon clearly hadn't expected rejection, looking utterly shocked.
"I-I'm not a mage! I can't teach you anything."
"Miss lina, please! I don't understand your situation and why you wouldn't want the world to see your greatness, but I promise to be a good pupil! Magic has been my dream since I was a child. It's all I've ever wanted to do, but no magic teacher would ever accept because I don't have the System!"
The plea in his eyes was sincere. lina could see the sa desire in Leon's eyes that she had in her own eyes when she was young.
No, I can't. No matter how sincere he is, I can't just start teaching magic to people. That is a step too far.
"I'm no mage. I'm rely a baker. I wish you speedy recovery," lina said, and ran.
Now this is really getting out of hand. teaching magic? No, no, no. That's ridiculous. That would be reckless even by my standards.
But of course, there was a little part of her that imagined what would happen if she taught Leon. lina certainly wouldn't have any problems doing it. She understood magic better than anything else. How it worked, how it moved, what it could and couldn't do.
While Leon being Systemless certainly would make the task harder, it wouldn't be impossible. Besides, he had already learned basic magic on his own. With proper guidance, Leon had the potential to beco a truly great mage.
No, lina! Absolutely out of the question. I need to focus on those pastries that I want to display at the festival. I have to design several pastries to make a successful stall.
So lina put Leon out of her mind and decided to go all out on her festival preparations. She was certain that the mage wouldn't try to expose her ability—not on purpose at least. And most everybody in Sunglow already suspected she wasn't just a regular person.
Once she was back at the bakery, she decided to have a long brainstorming session with Master Gilbert to decide what kind of pastries to display. The first choice was rather simple—lina's signature shimrtarts but in smaller tartlet form. They were Alistair's favorite, not to ntion the effect of attracting custors.
The second choice wasn't difficult either. lina thought about selling creampuffs, but instead of using the healing caral, she'd try to incorporate scorchvine peppers into the glaze. If the peppers proved to be too uncooperative, then she could always fall back on feyfruit.
"How about mini eclairs instead?" Gilbert suggested.
"Mini eclairs? But I don't know how to make them," lina protested.
"Silly girl, of course you do. It's the sa thing as a cream puff, except oblong in shape," Gilbert shook his head.
lina was pleasantly surprised by the ease of it. Making the proper shape at first might be troubleso, but she was certain that she'd get it right eventually. Not to ntion that her skill would make the eclairs stay good for longer. As soon as she figured out how to properly apply it to the recipe.
The third choice for the pastry was simple, puff pastry filled with colorful fruits. After all, a whole new array of fruits was available now—cherries, raspberries, blackberries. A few ships from Su Xien had even brought so of the first peaches and waterlons, but those had been far too pricey for them to afford, especially since they had special preservation spells cast upon them.
They could have stopped there; however, lina wanted to use zephyr root no matter what. Once she appraised it, she knew she had to use it.
[Zephyr Root—Rank A: Root of a zephyr plant. It has a pleasant light flavor, and eating it makes you feel as if you're eating a cloud.
Effect: Reduces fatigue and restores energy.]
But she didn't know how to incorporate it. Would it work better in a dough or a jam? Or perhaps using it in its raw form was the optimal solution? She'd have to experint with it first to figure out that.
"How about muffins?" Gilbert suggested as lina pondered. "If that root works better as a jam, you can fill the muffins with it. If not, you can incorporate it in the dough, and if that doesn't work, then you can decorate the top. It's quite a versatile dium."
"That is versatile. Thank you, Master," lina added.
"Of course."
With a plan set, it was ti to get to work.
Three days. They passed by in what felt like the blink of an eye. With all the experints she had been doing, her status improved quite drastically. First, she reached Level 18, then finally reached Rank C. It felt like the poor skill had been stuck for a good while, but with all the fruit cutting she has been doing, it managed to catch up.
also reached Rank C since she was using it whenever the cooldown allowed it. At its new rank, it had been reduced to 5 hours, aning that she could squeeze in at least 3 uses a day.
lina also made sure to invest in her stat. After all, it improved the chances of selling the pastries, and she was determined to sell as many as possible.
[Na: lina Dufour]
[Level: 18]
[Class: Arcane Baker]
[Familiar: Sienna — Ember Wyrm Level 49]
[Intelligence: 18]
[Agility: 10]
[Strength: 9]
[Skill: 22]
[Charm: 12]
[Active Skills: 9]
[, , , , , , , , ]
[Passive Skills: 3]
[, ]
lina would have called these three days great. She perfected the tiny shimrtartlets. She figured out how to make eclairs with delicious pastry cream and chocolate-schorchvine pepper glaze. Sienna went absolutely nuts for the stuff, so it was hard to keep her away.
The problems appeared when lina was trying to work the puff pastry. The sun was shining in full swing, making their hot kitchen even hotter. Even the early morning hours didn't do much to mitigate the heat as it just wasn't as cold during the night.
This tale has been pilfered from . If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
It didn't really bother lina with her heat resistance. She even found the temperature pleasant. But it did bother the puff pastry, or rather it bothered the butter. It lted the mont she touched it, making it difficult to properly layer the pastry. The chill box was barely chilling anything either.
Dammit, the first thing I'm buying when we have so money is a proper refrigerator. I never thought it would be so difficult to work without it, but many elents on more advanced pastries require refrigeration. How did people even live without magitech or proper magic in the past?
"Miss lina! Miss lina!" Leon was knocking on the bakery door, eagerly peering through the window. Here ca the main problem that has plagued her these days.
"Is it Leon again?" Gilbert asked.
"Yes…" lina groaned, watching how the butter in her puff pastry was once again lting at an alarming rate. She barely managed to fold it twice.
"Great, you can ask him to chill the box for us again," Gilbert asked.
"Master, you know he's going to ask to teach him magic again!"
"So?"
lina looked at the old man in disbelief. He didn't appear even slightly bothered by the fact. Even when she had first explained what had happened with Leon, Gilbert just shrugged his shoulders and moved on with his daily tasks.
"This is a big problem, you know!" lina glared at him.
"Don't worry—once the festival is over, you'll have more free ti. I'm sure you can squeeze in an hour or two of magic lessons during the week. In return, we get free refrigeration."
"I'm not going to teach him magic!" lina snarled and dejectedly went to the door. She couldn't just leave the mage standing there the whole day.
"Good day, Miss lina! I've co to cool down your chillbox," he said dutifully with a wide smile on his face.
"How kind of you! Co in," lina plastered on the most convincing smile she could, aided by . Internally, she was already begging him to leave.
"The heat is really starting to settle down. You can tell that the sumr festival is just a few days away," he said conversationally. "How are your preparations going?"
"It's going smoothly. I only need to perfect one last recipe before the festival," lina said, leading the mage into the kitchen.
Gilbert greeted him with a friendly wave of his hand, while Sienna glared at him. She really didn't like it whenever he would cool things down, hissing whenever ice was anywhere nearby.
"Mind cooling down that pastry, Leon? lina has been struggling since the butter is lting too quickly in this heat," Gilbert asked.
"Of course. That's why I'm here," he replied and set to work.
lina watched his form from behind. His mana work was sloppy, incredibly so. He was wasting a lot of energy, letting it dissipate into the air. She could almost see the slight shimr of mana around his fingers. Leon was trying to cool a large area around the pastry when in reality, he could just apply the bare minimum of cooling on the pastry itself.
As an [Archmage], lina could probably even narrow it down to just butter, leaving everything else untouched. The ti it took Leon to cool it down was also very long—two whole minutes of intense concentration, when a few seconds should have been enough.
There are a lot of holes in his basic understanding of magic. It might actually be rather troubleso to correct that, especially if that's how he's been doing things for years. If he's not very susceptible to change, it might even be easier to teach sobody completely from scratch.
"How was that?" Leon turned to lina proudly, having chilled down the pastry, along with the air in that particular corner of the kitchen. Goosebumps arose from lina's arms when she walked closer. Was she more sensitive to cold now?
Seeing the frown on lina's face, the man deflated. "No good? I thought I did well."
"You're wasting a lot of mana," lina said sternly.
Gilbert raised an eyebrow. "So you're going to teach him after all?"
lina was nearly blinded by the shine that appeared in Leon's eyes. It was like a child who had finally received a toy they had wanted for the longest ti.
"N-No! I never said that," lina retorted.
"Miss lina, please!" Leon literally fell to his knees on the ground.
"I-I am busy with the bakery, not to ntion that the sumr festival is coming up soon." She stepped back from him.
"After the festival, then! And I won't ask for much of your ti! Just an hour a week, on Saturdays! I'll be your personal chill box if you want to!"
"You have your own duties in the Guild," lina retorted.
"I'm certain that Arianne would be eager to see her only mage improve," Gilbert added innocently.
"Master!"
"Please, please, please!" Leon scuttled closer to lina, his hands pressed together in a pleading gesture.
lina had no idea how to reject him at that point. She was bad at rejecting people in need in the first place. Gilbert's argunt was sound too. Leon becoming a better mage would be beneficial for everybody.
"I am NOT a mage!" lina said stubbornly, but her voice sounded weak.
"But you understand magic, don't you? I don't know how, and quite honestly, I don't intend on prodding in your private life. I will not say a peep of your abilities to anybody, lightning strike down if I even dare to think about it! But please, Miss lina, teach . You're the only one who ever even considered teaching . Every mage I ever asked rejected !"
lina gritted her teeth. She rembered sothing from her past as an [Archmage]. How once before there was a young boy who had similarly begged her. She had wanted to teach him, but the Church forbade it—he didn't have access to the System.
"Please, leave," lina whispered, looking away from Leon.
His face filled with disappointnt, but he didn't beg anymore. Instead, he got up and slowly skulked towards the door.
"lina…" Gilbert looked at her with a pained sort of look.
"Co here on the first Saturday after the festival," lina said to the mage.
"Wait… does that an you'll—" Leon's eyes filled with tears.
"Not a word of this to anyone! For anyone concerned, you found a rare book or sothing in your basent!" lina warned.
"Yes, of course! Not a word!" Leon said and ran out with a spring in his step, cheering loudly all the while.
"He's going to tell everyone, won't he?" lina sighed.
"Give him a bit more credit. He loves bragging, but he's still a Sunglower. We know how to protect our own," Gilbert said.
"I really hope you're right," lina said and continued working on her puff pastry.
It was going rather well with the pastry cooled down. She arranged fruits in various beautiful patterns and covered them with the sa feyfruit glaze to increase the attractiveness score. Her main concern was now to figure out how to use the zephyr root.
After her experience with saplon, lina was worried whether she'd have enough ti to figure out the right application. After all, discovering the crystalized ooze took several days.
No ti like the present. Better get to it.
lina decided to try the root raw at first since it wasn't labeled as toxic by her ability. She cut off a tiny piece of the root and sampled it.
"Oh, that's potent." lina winced as she was overtaken by a strong sense of airiness, almost like vertigo. There was a lot of mana in that root, and it was doing wonky things to her manaless body. But it was easy enough for her to redirect the mana away to Sienna, since it was such a small amount.
I'll need to dilute this with sothing. Maybe make it into a syrup?
So she diced the root into tiny pieces and tossed it into a pot with water and sugar. After a bit of boiling, she was left with an aromatic liquid with bits of zephyr root floating in it.
"Hmm… it didn't dissolve at all. I don't think I can use it," lina said mostly to herself.
Curious, Gilbert hobbled over and looked at the result. "Hmm… Maybe this can be used. Let's taste it!"
They did just that and the result was actually pleasant. It was sweet and refreshing, reminding lina vaguely of mint. But it was also more than that. Just a little of the syrup made her more alert.
"This is good stuff! If you strain the bits out, you can easily use it to moisten the muffins. It'll keep it from drying out and give it the hint of the pleasant zephyr root flavor!"
lina couldn't believe the solution was so simple. She had expected to struggle and spend all afternoon bending over backwards to figure things out. She was almost disappointed.
A knock resounded on the bakery door, sounding rather urgent.
"It must be Leon. Go appease the man so we can continue working in peace," Gilbert said.
lina rolled her eyes and walked up to the bakery door. Much to her surprise, it wasn't Leon but rather Leliana peering into the bakery through the window. The panicked expression on her face brought a bad feeling to lina's gut.
What could make Leliana lose her cool and rush to out of all people? This is odd.
"Hello, Leliana," lina greeted her cautiously.
"We need to talk!" Leliana said, grabbing her by the shoulders. There was sothing more in her eyes than just panic. Fear? Not quite. Urgency maybe. But it was like sothing huge had just happened, sothing out of anybody's control.
"I an… We're a bit busy preparing for the festival. Perhaps, so other ti if it's nothing urgent?"
"Are you sure? Duke Sinclair just arrived in Sunglow, and he looked very angry!"
lina's stomach dropped. He was the very man who had pushed Alistair to marry the princess. Was her ti together with him already coming to an end?
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