Taste of Magic: General's Echo [Slice-of-Life LitRPG]

Melina 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!" Melina 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 Melina, 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. Melina could see the same 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 merely a baker. I wish you speedy recovery," Melina said, and ran.

Now this is really getting out of hand. Me 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. Melina 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 become a truly great mage.

No, Melina! 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 Melina 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—Melina's signature shimmertarts but in smaller tartlet form. They were Alistair's favorite, not to mention the effect of attracting customers.

The second choice wasn't difficult either. Melina thought about selling creampuffs, but instead of using the healing caramel, 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," Melina protested.

"Silly girl, of course you do. It's the same thing as a cream puff, except oblong in shape," Gilbert shook his head.

Melina was pleasantly surprised by the ease of it. Making the proper shape at first might be troublesome, but she was certain that she'd get it right eventually. Not to mention that her <Preservation Glaze> 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 some of the first peaches and watermelons, 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, Melina 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 experiment with it first to figure out that.

"How about muffins?" Gilbert suggested as Melina 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 medium."

"That is versatile. Thank you, Master," Melina added.

"Of course."

With a plan set, it was time to get to work.

Three days. They passed by in what felt like the blink of an eye. With all the experiments she had been doing, her status improved quite drastically. First, she reached Level 18, then <Refined Edge> 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.

<Haste Bake> 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, meaning that she could squeeze in at least 3 uses a day.

Melina also made sure to invest in her <Charm> stat. After all, it improved the chances of selling the pastries, and she was determined to sell as many as possible.

[Name: Melina 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]

[<Refined Edge – Rank C>, <Rhythmic Kneading – Rank C>, <Mask of Deceit – Rank C>, <Gilded Tongue – Rank E>, <Haste Bake – Rank C>, <Arcane Infusion – Rank D>, <Familiar Sense – Rank D>, <Ingredient Appraisal – Rank E>, <Preservation Glaze – Rank E>]

[Passive Skills: 3]

[<Archmage's Shadow>, <Chef's Intuition – Rank C>, <Food Manufacturing – Rank D>]

Melina would have called these three days great. She perfected the tiny shimmertartlets. 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 Melina 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.

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It didn't really bother Melina with her heat resistance. She even found the temperature pleasant. But it did bother the puff pastry, or rather it bothered the butter. It melted the moment 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 some money is a proper refrigerator. I never thought it would be so difficult to work without it, but many elements on more advanced pastries require refrigeration. How did people even live without magitech or proper magic in the past?

"Miss Melina! Miss Melina!" Leon was knocking on the bakery door, eagerly peering through the window. Here came the main problem that has plagued her these days.

"Is it Leon again?" Gilbert asked.

"Yes…" Melina groaned, watching how the butter in her puff pastry was once again melting 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 me to teach him magic again!"

"So?"

Melina 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!" Melina glared at him.

"Don't worry—once the festival is over, you'll have more free time. 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!" Melina snarled and dejectedly went to the door. She couldn't just leave the mage standing there the whole day.

"Good day, Miss Melina! I've come to cool down your chillbox," he said dutifully with a wide smile on his face.

"How kind of you! Come in," Melina plastered on the most convincing smile she could, aided by <Mask of Deceit>. Internally, she was already begging him to leave.

"The heat is really starting to settle down. You can tell that the summer 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," Melina 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? Melina has been struggling since the butter is melting too quickly in this heat," Gilbert asked.

"Of course. That's why I'm here," he replied and set to work.

Melina 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 shimmer 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], Melina could probably even narrow it down to just butter, leaving everything else untouched. The time 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 troublesome 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 somebody completely from scratch.

"How was that?" Leon turned to Melina proudly, having chilled down the pastry, along with the air in that particular corner of the kitchen. Goosebumps arose from Melina's arms when she walked closer. Was she more sensitive to cold now?

Seeing the frown on Melina's face, the man deflated. "No good? I thought I did well."

"You're wasting a lot of mana," Melina said sternly.

Gilbert raised an eyebrow. "So you're going to teach him after all?"

Melina 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 time.

"N-No! I never said that," Melina retorted.

"Miss Melina, please!" Leon literally fell to his knees on the ground.

"I-I am busy with the bakery, not to mention that the summer festival is coming up soon." She stepped back from him.

"After the festival, then! And I won't ask for much of your time! Just an hour a week, on Saturdays! I'll be your personal chill box if you want me to!"

"You have your own duties in the Guild," Melina 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 Melina, his hands pressed together in a pleading gesture.

Melina had no idea how to reject him at that point. She was bad at rejecting people in need in the first place. Gilbert's argument was sound too. Leon becoming a better mage would be beneficial for everybody.

"I am NOT a mage!" Melina 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 me down if I even dare to think about it! But please, Miss Melina, teach me. You're the only one who ever even considered teaching me. Every mage I ever asked rejected me!"

Melina gritted her teeth. She remembered something 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," Melina whispered, looking away from Leon.

His face filled with disappointment, but he didn't beg anymore. Instead, he got up and slowly skulked towards the door.

"Melina…" Gilbert looked at her with a pained sort of look.

"Come here on the first Saturday after the festival," Melina said to the mage.

"Wait… does that mean you'll—" Leon's eyes filled with tears.

"Not a word of this to anyone! For anyone concerned, you found a rare book or something in your basement!" Melina 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?" Melina 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," Melina 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 same 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 sapmelon, Melina was worried whether she'd have enough time to figure out the right application. After all, discovering the crystalized ooze took several days.

No time like the present. Better get to it.

Melina 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." Melina 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 something. 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," Melina 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 Melina 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!"

Melina 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.

Melina 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 Melina's gut.

What could make Leliana lose her cool and rush to me out of all people? This is odd.

"Hello, Leliana," Melina greeted her cautiously.

"We need to talk!" Leliana said, grabbing her by the shoulders. There was something more in her eyes than just panic. Fear? Not quite. Urgency maybe. But it was like something huge had just happened, something out of anybody's control.

"I mean… We're a bit busy preparing for the festival. Perhaps, some other time if it's nothing urgent?"

"Are you sure? Duke Sinclair just arrived in Sunglow, and he looked very angry!"

Melina's stomach dropped. He was the very man who had pushed Alistair to marry the princess. Was her time together with him already coming to an end?