Alistair didn't like this. He didn't like this one bit. The way Count Speziale had approached Melina. The fact that he recognized her as a System user from a mere glance. Sure, the man was older and more experienced than Alistair, so he probably could recognize the signs much better. But the man still rubbed him the wrong way.

"I can't believe Miss Melina will participate in that cooking competition. Count Speziale is an absolute creep!" Charlotte complained.

The two of them sat in the VIP seats reserved for the special guests. Alistair initially had wanted to decline the seats, but in the end accepted them for Charlotte's sake. The girl would likely get tired if she had to stand for the whole duration of the competition.

Another reason for taking the seats was Sienna. Melina didn't want to bring the wyrm on stage and had entrusted it to Alistair. Naturally, Charlotte coaxed the little creature over to herself as soon as they were seated, patting the scales on her body.

"I believe Melina has a good reason for participating," Alistair said to calm Charlotte and himself as well.

"You seem to trust Miss Melina a lot. Do you like her so much, brother?" The girl asked, peering at Alistair. At that moment, she looked far more mature than just a fifteen-year-old. She always had a knack for understanding people's feelings. Charlotte, along with Mom, was the one who brought a sense of warmth to their otherwise cold family.

"I do," he admitted.

"Is she the reason you won't marry the princess?"

"Yes."

"Father will never approve."

"What about you?" He turned towards his sister.

Charlotte looked down at the little wyrm, who let out a pleading chitter for the sake of her tamer.

"I need to know her a bit better," Charlotte said stubbornly. "But the tasty pastries and cute wyrm are a good starting point. She'll still need to show me more for me to give up my big brother."

"I'm sure she'll show you plenty of things."

"Welcome, everyone, to the Sunglow Baking Competition! I'm your host—Auden Speziale. Some of you may ask—are you Count Speziale? The answer. Yes, I am. But do not be alarmed, folks, for I have come here for the same reason as you. To have a good time. And to find the best baker in this part of Alemahria, of course."

The crowd cheered; a lot of people were gathered in front of the unusual stage. There was a large oven set up in the back, which already had a fire going. There were four workstations set up, as well as shelves stacked to the brim with cooking utensils on one side and cooking ingredients on the other side.

"Let me introduce our wonderful contestants, each regarded as the best in their respective towns or cities. First, Felipe Favreu, owner of the most successful bakery in the neighboring town of Pertia."

A proud, slender man stepped on the stage and bowed gracefully towards the audience. He wasn't quite as well mannered as a noble, but he certainly wasn't far behind.

"Second, a confectioner from the beautiful city of Heimcroft. Welcome, Alissa Bennet!" Auden announced.

A round woman with a bright smile entered the stage. She greeted everyone with enthusiastic waves and air kisses, soaking in attention like a flower sucked in rainwater.

"Third, a young pastry chef learning the ropes from the cooks within the Sinclair estate. It's Michael Mortimer."

"He even got Michael to participate? I thought this was an amateur contest," Charlotte exclaimed.

"Michael is technically speaking an apprentice," Alistair said, although he was a bit surprised to see the familiar young man. He became an apprentice at their estate a few years back and certainly had an edge over these people when it came to the art of cooking.

"Apprentice of one of the best, if not the best pastry chefs, in all of Alemahria," Charlotte countered.

Michael strode onto the stage, bowing politely towards the audience. People began muttering excitedly at the blonde man. Michael did have this air around him that was different from the other two cooks.

But even so, Alistair wasn't worried.

"And our last contestant. The representative of Sunglow itself. Apprentice of the well-known Gilbert Backus—Melina Dufour!"

The crowd went absolutely wild. Cheers and whistles and wild applause erupted from the Sunglowers while the tourists were swept along with them. Melina stepped onto the stage radiating confidence as she waved. While theoretically, she should be at a huge disadvantage, practically, it couldn't be further from the truth.

Alistair could see how Melina gazed over the audience, her eyes stopping over the familiar faces. Leon and a group of adventurers were loudly whistling from the right. Barrett, Erina, and the townsfolk were applauding from the middle while Remi, Elowen, and other elves were cheering from the left. Melina's eyes met with Alistair's, and she gave him a confident nod—"I can do this! Just you watch!".

"How does she do it?" Charlotte asked in awe.

Alistair didn't have to ask to know what his little sister meant. How could Melina capture the audience so easily? Even if this was her home, the reaction was so much stronger than with other participants. After all, Felipe should be a well-known person for those who frequented Pertia.

"I don't know. She's always been able to do it," Alistair whispered.

He remembered a moment from before the rewind. How Melina had worked hard to save a small village of elves from a rampaging behemoth. She had been given an order from the Church not to intervene and only protect human settlements. But despite that, she saved everyone. Afterwards, she suffered horrible punishment, but even then, she took it in spades.

Charlotte, besides him, suddenly sighed.

"What's wrong?" Alistair asked.

"Nothing… I'm just jealous."

"Jealous?"

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"Never mind. You wouldn't get it. Let's just focus on the show."

Alistair wanted to inquire more, but the audience finally calmed their applause, and Auden resumed.

"Alright, alright. I hear you're all excited. I bet you're also excited to hear about the prize?"

"Yes!" The audience called back.

"An array of rare ingredients—pineapples, bananas, peaches. All with longevity spells imbued in them, so no need to worry about them spoiling anytime soon. There are spices like cinnamon, cardamom, and vanilla bean. But our main prize for today is Sparkleaf," Auden said and brought up a blue leaf which had distinctly bright yellow veins.

"What's Sparkleaf?" Charlotte asked and the same question echoed through the idea.

"No idea," Alistair shrugged.

"Many of you must not know, but this is an ingredient only found in the Monster Realm. Coincidentally, it is also the main ingredient everyone will be cooking with today."

The shock on the contestant's faces was apparent. Working with an ingredient from the Monster Realm. Hardly anyone ever came in contact with one, much less cooked with one regularly.

Alistair looked at Melina, the only one, who was glaring at Auden for a whole different set of reasons. She was likely the only one who'd find it fun to cook with ingredients from the Monster Realm. Auden just smiled at her and the other contestants pleasantly.

"You will never become master chefs unless you push the boundaries of what you know. Don't you think so too, dear audience?"

The audience, swept up by the festivities, began applauding. But Alistair, on the other hand, had alarm bells go off in his mind. He knew that Melina would be the only one comfortable with doing such a thing. But how? He certainly couldn't have set up in just one afternoon after tasting Melina's stall's pastries.

No, this guy most certainly had known about Melina for much, much longer than that. He'd likely have sent someone to keep a watch on her. Alistair didn't like that. He didn't like it at all.

This guy is more cunning than I thought, I'll give him that.

Melina glared at Lord Speziale as he triumphantly held Sparkleaf in his hand. Sparkleaf wasn't a common ingredient. It wasn't even used in cooking properly until Count Speziale himself incorporated it into his candy. What kind of candy it was, however, Melina didn't know. She hadn't tried it herself.

Things are rapidly changing in this timeline because of the choices I made. But that's not what matters right now. What matters right now is that this man has most certainly been spying on me. There is no way he would have given us an ingredient from the Monster Realm to cook with otherwise. He knew that I was actively seeking them out and incorporating them in my dishes. Even before today.

Melina looked at Alistair. Judging from his expression, he had come to the same conclusion.

Fine. You want to play dirty. Let's play dirty, Auden Speziale.

"Do not dismay, dear contestants. I have studied this leaf extensively and can attest that it is not harmful to humans in any way. The main problem is retaining its flavor. Go ahead and try it everyone. There's plenty of it in that container underneath your workstations."

Melina pulled out the container, seeing it filled with the blue and yellow leaves. She took one and put it into her mouth. The flavor was most peculiar—slightly sweet, slightly tangy, but most importantly, it sparked. As if a little bit of lightning were discharging in her mouth, creating a pleasant sort of tingle.

Other contestants looked just as astounded by the flavor as Melina, even more so. But despite that, she saw that they were by no means ready to throw in the towel. The apprentice from Sinclair estate looked determined to take on the challenge, as did the confectioner. The most disturbed one was Felipe, who appeared confused.

"Alright, dear contestants. Here are the rules. You all will have two hours to create a dish that MUST include Sparkleaf. It must be a baked good, but whether it's sweet or savory is completely up to you. For my dear audience, this means that if you only want to see the results, you're free to wander around the festival until 8 pm."

Some people did indeed leave to wander around, but most still remained. Melina guessed that more people would leave after the initial half an hour. After all, how long can you watch somebody cook?

"You're also free to use any tools available and as many other ingredients as you want. There are no other restrictions. But do remember that just slapping the Sparkleaf inside your dish won't work. Its flavor must be distinct. If I can't taste, then you can count yourself as disqualified. Is that clear?"

Everyone nodded.

"Great. Let me give you a little hint. Use your first 30 minutes to experiment with Sparkleaf. Figure out how it'll taste the best. Use the remaining hour and a half to prepare the dish. Now, are we ready?"

"Ready!" All the contestants said.

"Wonderful. Then let's begin!" Lord Speziale called, and a loud pop resounded from the side of the stage. Some magic effect Melina suspected.

Other contestants began rushing around, grabbing pots, pans, and various cooking ingredients. Melina didn't hurry. She took one of the Sparkleafs in her hand and looked at it closely. Part of her felt bad about what she was about to do, but she'd be a fool not to get more information on this ingredient.

So she activated <Ingredient Appraisal>, twirling the leaf this way and that to mask her eye movements.

[Sparkleaf – Rank B: A pleasantly tasting leaf that will leave you yearning for more. Very fragile and can easily lose its flavor during the cooking process.

Effect: Enhances lightning-based attacks.]

This thing even has an effect! Oh, I know what you're trying to accomplish, Auden Speziale. You want to retain the effect.

If Melina were to use [Arcane Infusion] or perhaps if she just created a protective mana coating around the leaf, then it would be easy to accomplish. That's how it was done in potion making after all—coat an ingredient in mana to protect its effect during the brewing process.

But she was determined not to resort to such a simple solution. She'll incorporate the Sparkleaf without the help of mana or her skills. Compared to her troubles with weeping sapmelon, this should be easy.

Melina went over to get a few bowls, a chopping block, as well as fruits and sugar. She would mix them with raw Sparkleaf and see which flavors worked together better.

However, as she cut up the strawberries and mixed them with crushed Sparkleaf, Melina realized that she had already made a mistake. Any flavor from the leaf was completely gone.

Did the acidity of the strawberry do that?

Curious, Melina mixed a bit of crushed Sparkleaf with apples, pears, oranges, and blueberries. The orange mix had no flavor of Sparkleaf whatsoever. Apples and pears had a bit of it while blueberries retained the full tingly experience. The problem was that Sparkleaf didn't really taste good together with those. Flavor-wise, citrus would be the best accompaniment.

It appears that the acidity within citrus destroys Sparkleaf's flavor and effect. Is there a way I could get these two flavors to combine, but not interact with each other?

Melina went through the pastries she knew how to cook and remembered the rhubarb meringue pie. How the sour rhubarb had worked wonderfully well with the sweet meringue.

I wonder…

Curious, Melina retrieved a carton of eggs and separated the egg whites from the yolks. She whisked up the egg whites until they formed stiff peaks and added crushed Sparkleaf into them. She then quickly made a few small dollops of it and ran up to the oven, shoving them to cook inside. About ten minutes later, she pulled them out to taste.

The meringue wasn't the right consistency at all, but that wasn't the important bit right now. The Sparkleaf had retained its flavor. Melina knew what she was making.

Seeing the backs of her competitors at their workstation made Melina wonder whether her creation would even be able to keep up with these masters. Sure, they might not be comfortable working with this ingredient, but surely if she could figure this out—so could they. Maybe she needed something more impressive to win.

Melina looked at the ingredients on her table and then looked at Alistair, who was still sitting in the audience along with his sister. Sienna was there too with a look that said, "Don't you dare to lose". Alistair, on the other hand, had an expression of full faith. Like he had no doubt that she would win.

No. I will stick with what I know. Master Gilbert taught me this recipe. I am merely tweaking to suit the task set up by Lord Speziale. I should trust my Master to know the good recipes.

Melina grabbed flour, butter, salt, and lemons and returned to her workstation. Even if she didn't win, she knew that this was the kind of thing she would serve in the bakery. She would be proud of it.

I don't need to use System tricks. I don't need magic. And I certainly don't need Lord Speziale's approval.

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