When Melina woke up, she found herself in the Guild's private infirmary room. She felt as if she had fallen off a cliff; her limbs were pained and heavy. Her head also hurt. It took a moment for Melina to pull herself into a sitting position. Sienna instantly chirped and scurried up on Melina's shoulder, giving her a flurry of affectionate licks on the cheek.

"Hi, Sienna. It's nice to see you're alright," she said and looked around the room.

Alistair was sleeping, slumped in a chair near her bed. He looked tired with deep, dark bags underneath his eyes. When he heard Sienna's chittering, he slowly roused from his slumber.

"Melina! You're awake!" He exclaimed, almost in disbelief, and gently took her hand.

She noticed that his hands were trembling, and tears began to flow down his cheeks as he pressed her hand against his forehead. "I feared you might never wake up."

Her heart clenched as she saw the pain he was in. She didn't remember what happened after she teleported everyone to the passageway. The strain of dimensional magic on her body must have been enormous. But at the same time, she could feel the mana—her own mana—coursing through her. Despite the exhaustion and headache, there was also newfound strength.

"I'm sorry… I'm fine now. Could you tell me what happened after I passed out?" She asked, gently patting his head.

This seemed to calm him as he leaned into the palm, almost like a cat. For a while, she just ran her hand through his hair, giving him time to calm down and gather his thoughts. Once he had composed himself, he sat on the bed close to Melina and told her what had happened.

It was a horrifying tale, and Melina understood why he had been so distraught. She had been bleeding nonstop, and no potion helped. She guessed that the sudden change brought by <Archmage's Shadow> reaching Rank S and her using dimensional had sent her natural mana flow into a frenzy. If she had remained conscious, then she would have been able to slowly stabilize it herself.

But since she fell unconscious, her mana kept rampaging, inadvertently destroying her body from within. By all logic, she should have slowly died.

"How did you… heal me?" She asked cautiously. "As far as I know, nobody in Sunglow can manipulate mana well enough to set the flow right within somebody else's body."

"It was Master Gilbert. He used the stone of sacrifice," Alistair said.

"The stone of sacrifice?!" Melina screamed out in shock. It was a good thing she was in a private room; otherwise, her scream would have scared all the other patients. "Where did he get that?! It was supposed to be at the Church! I saw it there with my own two eyes!"

Melina recalled the time when she first saw the three sacred treasures: the Stone of Sacrifice, the Chalice of the World, and the Codex of Origin. Heiliger revealed the treasures to her when Melina agreed to split the realms apart, and they had been crucial for achieving that.

"I don't know that. You should ask him. I believe you two have a lot of things to talk about," Alistair said.

"Wait, if he used the stone to save me, then he had to pay the price. What did he sacrifice?!" Melina asked.

Her chest tightened in fear. What if Master Gilbert had died using it? Fixing her rampaging mana would have demanded a rather hefty price. He was clearly alive, but Melina couldn't imagine what he could have sacrificed to save her.

"I think it's best if he explains that himself. Should I call him here for you?" he asked.

"I'd appreciate that," she nodded.

"Alright. But first, you need to eat," he said sternly and stood up. "You were unconscious for three days. You must be hungry."

"Three days?! Oh, no, the bakery!" Melina clutched her head in horror, thinking of all the work Master Gilbert had to do on his own.

"You're barely awake from a half-dead state, and you worry about work?" He narrowed his eyes on her.

"I'm more worried about Master Gilbert overworking himself."

"Don't worry. He closed the bakery for the time being. In either case, I'll go get you something to eat," he said, and looked at her for a long while.

He hesitated to exit the room, but when she smiled at him, he nodded and left. Sienna curled up in Melina's lap, stretching her tiny paw up, begging for scratches.

"Has nobody scratched you at all? I'll give you a good, thorough scrub once we get home," she promised, and the wyrm purred in delight.

While Melina waited and scratched at Sienna's scales, her mind began to think about the sacred System treasures. As the [Archmage], she was entrusted with guarding one of them, namely the Codex of Origin. It was through that she learned of time magic and where to find the necessary components to piece together the time rewind ritual.

The Archbishop kept the other two treasures to herself, not letting anyone near them. Melina had only seen the Chalice of the World once and had no clue as to what it could do. The Stone of Sacrifice, on the other hand, was well known among nobility, as it had changed its owners rather frequently. After all, once it was used, it dispersed and then reappeared in a different, usually mana-rich location.

Heiliger had kept the stone on her person at all times, so Melina had no clue how it could have ended up in Gilbert's hand.

Wait… Master Gilbert said that he had taken a treasure from the Church, which they desperately wanted back. Could it be that he was referring to the stone? That means that in the previous timeline, the Church must have been successful in retrieving the stone.

Melina frowned. Whether the Church had taken it by force once Gilbert grew too weak or whether he succumbed to old age, Melina didn't like either scenario.

The door opened, and Alistair stepped inside, carrying a tray with soup and freshly baked bread. Melina recognized the familiar scent of Gilbert's sourdough. Behind him came Heilia. Seeing the elf, Melina suddenly remembered Elowen.

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"I brought you soup," Alistair said, setting the tray in her lap.

Sienna looked at it eagerly, but he retrieved a schorchvine pepper and set it on the nightstand next to the bed. The wyrm instantly hurried to claim her spicy prize.

"Thank you," Melina said, peering curiously at him. "I forgot to ask—what happened to Elowen?"

Alistair's mood instantly fouled, and his expression grew dark. Heilia cleared her throat and gave him a dissatisfied side eye. "He beat him half to death."

"What?!" Melina asked in shock.

"It was his fault his whole mess happened in the first place," Alistair said coldly. The look in his eyes was frightening.

"Please, let me examine the patient peacefully. You may talk later," Heilia said and shooed Alistair out of the room.

When he was gone, the apothecary let out a relieved sigh. It appeared she wasn't comfortable speaking openly with Alistair around.

"How bad was it really?" Melina asked cautiously as Heilia brought her hand over Melina's head, likely using some magic to examine her condition.

"Pretty bad. We had no clue how to stop it. To be honest, the whole incident hit the whole town rather hard. A lot of people were really worried about you and brought you many get-well gifts," the elf said, pointing towards the mountain of fruits and flowers piled in the corner. Melina hadn't even noticed it before.

"Oh, I'm really sorry… I must have caused everyone much worry," Melina said.

Erina and Remi must have been worried half to death, as well as the regular customers of the bakery. The little monster egg must have been lonely, too, while she was out. Melina hoped that it was still alright.

"It would have been fine if it weren't for your knuckleheaded boyfriend," Heilia growled. This was the first time she'd seen the elf angry. She always appeared calm, almost emotionless, but the frown in her eyebrows was unmistakable.

"Once you were out of the danger, he found Elowen and began beating him half to death. Nobody could do anything but watch since he is a nobleman. The damned fool Elowen didn't resist either, just taking hit after hit. Only when Guildmaster came and pulled Lord Sinclair off Elowen did it all stop," Heilia said. "Not going to lie, your lover is a frightening man."

Melina frowned. It wasn't that she didn't understand his feelings. Elowen had indeed caused this mess, but beating him half to death was hardly the answer. Melina suspected that by regaining his memories, Alistair had also regained some of the cold brutality that came with being an army general.

"Is Elowen alright?" She asked.

"Yes, Leliana is caring for him," Heilia said.

"Wait… Leliana?"

"Yeah. He's a fool, too, you know. Thought the beating was a just punishment and refused to drink potions afterward. When Leliana saw that, she basically forced one down his throat," Heilia nodded approvingly, then moved her hand to Melina's chest. "It appears that you're alright. Honestly, I have no clue what happened to have put your mana in such a horrible state or how Gilbert managed to heal that. But I don't get paid enough to care."

With that, Heilia's expression returned to what Melina was used to, and she left the room. Melina had a strong suspicion that the elf apothecary cared far more than she let on, but for some reason, she opted not to show her true feelings. But with her gone, Melina turned her attention towards the soup and bread. She was incredibly hungry.

Some time later, Alistair returned to the infirmary along with Master Gilbert. Much to Melina's surprise, he was carrying a giant bouquet of red roses, which he promptly presented to Melina.

"I thought the room could use a bit more color," he said with a smile, handing the bouquet to Melina.

She took it gratefully, admiring the beautiful, bright petals and the pleasant smell. It felt a bit unbelievable that a man with such a gentle expression had gone into such a rage to beat up Elowen. But Melina knew him well enough to know that it was well within his character to do that.

"These are really lovely, thank you!" She said, then glanced at him sternly. "But was it necessary to beat Elowen half to death?"

"I… I'm sorry… I realize I went too far, but at that moment, all I could think of was you bleeding to death. Knowing that it was his fault just made me feel so, so angry..." Alistair said, clenching his fists. "I don't know what I would have done if the Guildmaster hadn't pulled me back."

Gilbert gave him a light smack on the back of his head, making Alistair stare at him in surprise. Even Melina was a bit shocked that Gilbert dared to just smack a noble like that.

"Nobody likes a violent man. Violence isn't going to solve anything, and I'm sure my apprentice will agree with me on this," the old baker said.

Melina nodded. "Master Gilbert is right. Even if Elowen was wrong to seek out Monster Lord, beating him up isn't going to solve anything."

Alistair deflated like a puppy being chastised by its owner. "I'm sorry. It's just that when I remember how much you're bleeding… I just…"

Melina grabbed his hand. "It's alright. I'm fine now. There's no need to get mad."

Alistair nodded and sat down in the chair next to the bed. Gilbert hobbled over to the other chair and also sat down.

"I'm glad to see you up, girl. Not going to lie, you almost gave me a heart attack," Gilbert grumbled.

"I'm sorry, Master. I didn't mean for all of that to happen. I just did what I could to get us to safety," Melina said.

"What exactly happened? Alistair told me things from his perspective, but none of it seemed to make sense. He said you could suddenly use magic without restrictions," Gilbert frowned.

Melina retold him what happened in the Monster Realm. How suddenly <Archmage's Shadow> had reached rank S, and she could use magic again. She explained her ability to draw on the ambient mana and how she had used that to power the teleport spell.

Gilbert sighed in exasperation. "Why is it that something weird must happen to you every week?"

"Not like I want it to happen…" Melina muttered. "But tell me, how did you get the Stone of Sacrifice? And what did you sacrifice to heal me? Master, I have to say that this isn't like you at all. Doing something so reckless."

"You're one to talk, pipsqueek," Gilbert said, gently flicking her forehead.

Melina rubbed it, looking at him with narrowed eyes. "Please answer, Master."

"I believe I already told you this before. I took a treasure for the Church, and that treasure just happened to be the Stone of Sacrifice," he shrugged.

"Just happened?" Melina raised an eyebrow.

"I don't think they just leave it lying around," Alistair added.

"I took it, because I believe it'd be too dangerous to be left in the Church's hand. I have no clue what they intend to do with it, but I know it can't be good. Not after all the monstrosities they've committed."

Old man's face darkened. Melina and Alistair shared a worried look.

"What monstrosities exactly? I mean, we've seen our fair share of what the Church has done. Their methods are extreme, and they eliminate anything relating to the Monster Realm. But the way you put it makes me think that there's more to it than that."

"Oh, there's way more to it than that. You two may have served the Church, but you were never accepted in their inner circle, were you?" Gilbert asked.

"No, not really," Melina admitted. Only priests were accepted in the inner circles, not fighters like Melina and Alistair.

"We were more hands on. Fighting on the front lines rather than dealing with whatever inner politics the Church has," Alistair nodded.

"Of course. The Church would want to keep such powerhouses as you two in the dark. But the Holy Knights know. They are the ones who carry out all their dirty work."

"Dirty work?"

"Do you think that no human ever spoke up against the Church?" Gilbert prompted. "You think they just give a gentle scolding and let them go? No, the Church gets rid of them without so much as batting an eye."

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