“Raissa,” Melina looked around the crowded bakery before talking to the short Elf. “Do you think your Human has any chance of winning?”

Raissa sighed at that. All the time over the last few weeks she had spent working alongside Joey meant that everyone looked at her as the Human’s friend.

“He is not afraid of making a fuss with those flat ears of his, that’s for sure,” Violante chimed from the side.

After Flaminia, Violante, the most gifted baker in the rear department, was next in the pecking order.

“He is a surprisingly experienced baker,” Raissa said with a frown. “I don’t think it’s one-sided.”

“He said he was going to relinquish his share of the new bread. If I were Clodia, I would rig this. How much gold has she been giving to the Human, do you know? Must have been more than ten pieces per day,” Melina said.

Happy Bakery sold a ton of bread. And the fact that skills were not bottlenecking the leavening process anymore meant that they were selling even more. If the Three Roses had previously tried to take a share of the market from them, they had no way of doing that now, at least in the bread department.

And while Clodia had thought to limit the amount of yeast they would use, they still ended up barely using the skills. The bread that would rise thanks to the beer yeast, or the mother yeast, as the Human had called it, was ten times savorer than the one they used to make before.

So, not only did Happy’s production boom, but it also meant that the share of bread profits that would go to the Human had exponentially increased.

“Clodia is fair,” Violante commented. “I doubt she would do that. I’m just curious to see how close the Human will get to Flaminia. She has more levels than any [Baker] in Amorium, and she has gotten some new skills recently. I’ll cut my ears if she loses to a Human who just happens to know a few recipes.”

Raissa felt intimidated by the two much taller Elves. And to be honest, she wasn’t sure they understood just how good Joey was. It wasn’t just about knowing recipes—she had been helped more than once. It was as if he could fix any mistake she made. Considering she had asked Flaminia to help her in the past and that the latter had thrown out some of her concoctions, it was hard to think that Joey was so behind the pink-haired chef.

“He must be really green on the tips of his ears to insult Flaminia like that in front of Lucinda and everyone else,” Melina reiterated.

“Right?” Violante shook her head with wide eyes. “That was insane. How dare he? Does he even know how high-level Flaminia is?”

“He probably wanted to show off in front of Lucinda to try and bed her. And good luck with that.”

“I don’t think he was trying to be rude,” Raissa interrupted the two girls. Both Melina and Violante had more experience and seniority, but they were clearly being mean for the sake of being mean. “Joey’s probably never paid attention to levels. He did it out of ignorance.”

“Maybe we should talk to Raissa’s boyfriend,” Melina elbowed Violante. “Who knows, they might get a child with round ears one day. At least we would know who the father is...”

Raissa frowned deeply at that.

“Come on, Melina,” Violante sighed, knowing better than to stir the pot too much.

Everyone was on high alert.

Flaminia had just arrived at the bakery, and the bake-off would take place in between shifts. Not a single employee wanted to miss it. In fact, this was the most crowded the bakery had ever been.

...

Clodia looked at all her employees and glanced at Flaminia on the side, who was bristling with anger.

“You’re really going to do this, aren’t you?”

“He said things that he can’t take back. I’m sorry he’ll be penniless and fired after this, but that’s on him,” Flaminia replied.

Is it?

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Clodia prided herself on having great intuition when it came down to employees. She had consistently scouted the best [Baker] candidates in Amorium while also helping women who needed rest.

And to be completely honest, she was not certain that Flaminia would win. The Human had been rather meek in his behavior, but she had observed him work. There was a confidence that only belonged to the greatest masters. Did Flaminia think it was by chance that she ended up following his orders? Did she think she was just doing him a favor?

Clodia sucked in a mouthful of air, hissing it out after a beat.

“Don’t make a [Fool] of yourself, Flaminia,” she said, looking straight into the other woman’s eyes. “This isn’t going to be easy. If you don’t give him proper respect, this might end up being a terrible day for you.”

“Clodia,” Flaminia smirked. “He knows a few recipes, ok? What is he going to do? Bake a bit of bread? I could make a castle out of caramel with just my skills. How do you think he could beat me, huh?”

This could be a disaster.

Clodia started thinking of ways she could interrupt the bake-off. She had always laughed when Flaminia got challenged by some rose-obsessed idiot of their nemesis, but this?

She briefly counted how many people were in the main kitchen, all huddled together. If Flaminia somehow lost, she would lose the respect of everyone. And given the terrible mood Joey had been in, there was no way he wouldn’t be rubbing it in her face. At that point, not only would most employees lose faith in Happy Bakery, but they would also lose respect for Clodia’s management. Would she be able to retain Joey? Or either of the two idiots?”

She had to give it to her mother. For all the old hag was a manipulative spider, she would have never allowed the situation to get to this point. She would have nipped it in the bud, no matter what.

I still have a long way to go, Clodia thought to herself, putting her hand in her big apron and feeling the thick handle of her wooden spoon.

She wished she could break it against those two idiots’ heads. Maybe it would make them forget all this mess, and business would return to normal.

Joey was an asset. Not only had his recipes and ideas put Happy Bakery ahead of any other competitor, but he’d also told her that he had much more in his quiver. Also, Clodia found herself thinking he was a decent person. What he had said about his problems with ‘anxiety’ had struck her deeply. It sounded very close to what her father had died of after a long-standing service in the military and several life-or-death situations.

Joey raised Clodia’s awareness about her father’s death. She had yet to bring it up with her mother, knowing it would only bring pain, but the Human clearly knew much more about it than any Elf. She had met Humans before, but their knowledge had not been even close to Joey’s.

Her father’s death was inexplicable. Not even the [Healer] had made sense of it. He had been at home, safe. But his body had consumed itself with terror and the anticipation of a battle. Her mother had become so rich by the time her husband retired from the military that she paid the best healers to help him. But nothing had worked.

If Joey could help her make sense of it, she would be forever grateful to the Human.

Damn, Clodia unclenched her fists, trying to calm down.

Even just thinking about her father unsettled her.

I have to do something here.

“If you win,” Clodia said to distend her nerves, “how about we don’t fire Joey, and I give you half of the profits he’s taking from the bread?”

Flaminia’s eyes trembled, clearly hesitating to give a firm ‘no’ to Clodia’s proposal.

They both liked the Human, and perhaps there was a way they could still make him work with them, even if he lost.

“We’ll see, Clodia. If he prostrates in front of me after losing, I’ll think about it.”

Clodia sighed.

Sadly, if push came to shove, she would always choose Flaminia over Joey. Flaminia had been with her for too long to do otherwise.

“What are you going to make?” Clodia asked to steer the conversation elsewhere.

“Joey explained to me how some people put salt in caramel. I have been experimenting with that. I’ll do a sweet caramel-flavored filling and a salted caramel drip on top. I’ll also add some grapes to decorate. I’ll show him that I can use something of his to defeat him—that’s just how good I am.”

Clodia did think it sounded delicious. Caramel-flavored cakes had been the Valerii’s top order. Their female heir, Livia, had back-ordered enough to keep the bakery profitable for five months. And she had requested even more complex caramel-flavored cakes for a future party the Valerii would throw for the Day of Blooming.

“Good luck, then,” Clodia shrugged. This was out of her hands now.

“I don’t need—”

“He’s here!”

They heard one of the employee’s shrill screams.

“And he’s not alone!”

“Who are those people?!”

“What is he wearing?”

“Is that gold on his buttons?!”

Joey entered the bakery dressed in white, with five people behind him dressed in black. All the uniforms had the same double-button pattern and intricate embroidery on the collars, representing a crest that Clodia had never seen before.

The fabric they were wearing was clearly lightweight and breathable, with a hint of starch, and the hems of the pants and the sleeves were slightly cuffed. The white uniform Joey was wearing had a light golden stripe running along each arm and leg, while the black uniforms had a matching gray stripe. The shirts were hanging loosely outside the waistbands, and the buttons were polished to a shine; Joey's were golden, while the five other men had silver ones. Not one of them was wearing an apron, which was the sign of a baker in Amorium, and pretty much in the rest of the world too.

All the uniforms were neat and tidy, with no signs of wear or fading. They all looked ready to take on any bakery in Amorium.

Clodia, with all her business experience, suddenly felt intimidated.

“How you doin’?” Joey smiled at everyone, stopping in front of Clodia and Flaminia.

“What’s the meaning of this?” Happy Bakery’s boss demanded with furrowed brows.