"I agree, but the loser has to keep and cannot sell the winner's work. If possible, it can be passed down as a family heirloom," Elara's mother said with confidence instead of feeling challenged.
Listening to the confident speech of an unidentified middle-aged woman in the world of artisans, Ben himself was certainly confident in accepting the duel because he believed that in this small village, no one could match his skills, no matter how difficult it was.
"Creating a medium-sized Oak tree-shaped ornament symbolizing the Galatea territory, huh?" Ben paused for a moment after hearing the object of the competition.
Of course, creating a medium-sized ornament was not easy, especially shaping it into an Oak Tree.
The Oak Tree was known as a massive and majestic tree in the heart of the large Galatea forest, with wide serrated leaves said to have endured for thousands of years. Its large and sturdy trunk, along with hundreds of branches growing in various directions, formed a wide crown that surrounded the entire Galatea territory, giving an impression of strength and elegance.
Wearing something in the shape of an Oak Tree was believed to add an aura of wisdom and tranquility. Even the Three Popes in the Church of the Four Elementals approved of this opinion. Therefore, the Oak Tree quickly became a famous symbol across the continent.
The problem was, not just anyone could create this Oak Tree. And even if someone were allowed, they couldn't create it haphazardly because the symbol was sacred and respected by many.
So, the conditions proposed by her mother were actually supported by many people and were immediately accepted without any rejection.
"All right, let's check the available materials and tools before starting this impromptu contest!" John spoke loudly after receiving nods from the two people involved.
The villagers, merchants, and other visitors cheered enthusiastically, eagerly awaiting the start of their competition.
"Mom...?"
Elara, who had prepared to leave the place to avoid the crowd as she knew both she and her mother hated noise and crowds, looked at her mother in shock as she unexpectedly accepted the competition.
One thing Elara didn't know about her mysterious mother was that she despised being compared to others. Her mother acted as if she had never experienced being compared to anyone in her life.
"Who's competing?"
"A Artisan from Rocco. They say he's a famous artisan there."
"Oh, interesting! So, who is he competing against?"
"I don't know. According to Mr. John, the middle-aged woman is also a great artisan."
"Moreover, do you know the famous genius girl who lives on the hill? Well, she's that girl's mother!"
"Huh, really?! I thought only her daughter was a genius, but it turns out her mother is talented too!"
"... Aren't they also from the bakery known for unbelievably delicious breads?!"
"Exactly! So excited to see them, right?"
Elara covered her face as she unintentionally overheard the conversation of the merchants talking loudly about her and her mother.
'I want to hide somewhere...' she thought, her face turning as red as a rotten tomato.
And so, the impromptu contest began and they completed it quite quickly, in just 1-2 hours.
Of course, Elara's mother finished first, and the artisan named Ben finished last with exactly 2 hours.
Judging by the difference in their methods of making the medium-sized ornament, oddly enough, there was no significant difference in the details of their results. Of course, if using a Deciphering Artifact, it would be clear who was better.
But considering that this was just an impromptu contest held in such a remote village, John believed there was no need to use a precious artifact.
Therefore, with similar-looking results, neither won nor lost. So they exchanged their works to keep as a memento.
"Keep this item as a family heirloom, alright? Be warned, if this item ever gets sold!"
Elara's mother stared at Artisan Ben intensely as they exchanged their creations earlier. Artisan Ben could only nod silently, gazing at the middle-aged woman's work with eyes glittering as if captivated.
"Huray!"
The spectators cheered in delight as they were pleased to see the short match end peacefully without any unnecessary disputes.
However, Elara, who silently observed the scene without uttering a word, had a different opinion in her mind, which she undoubtedly wouldn't voice out to avoid drawing attention from others.
Because Elara could tell whose work was superior from the different methods of making.
Artisan Ben solely used his hands to carve with both of them, while Galilea's mother, although it seemed like she used only her hands, used wind magic.
Elara looked around calmly. The enthusiastic cheers were still audible, cheering for both names, without any derogatory remarks.
Strangely, out of the many people watching their performance, none of them realized that her mother was using magic.
'Was it normal to create something using magic, so people didn't protest? But if that were the case, why didn't the artisan named Ben use magic too?' she wondered.
Why was Elara so sure that her mother was using magic to create the Oak Tree-shaped ornament?
Swoosh~
A strong gust of wind suddenly blew towards her from the wide-open window, causing her thoughts about her memories from a year ago to scatter.
"Because the ornament made by my mother emits a faint green aura that feels familiar...." Elara murmured.
Until now, she still felt regret that the highly valuable ornament had fallen into the hands of an unknown person.
"By the way," Elara paused for a moment as she noticed a cluster of wind already swirling around the upper part of her body, making her feel a chill.
To be honest, Elara, far from the deepest recesses of her heart, felt very afraid when she first saw the wind magic emanating from her mother's hands. Especially witnessing a miraculous cluster of wind moving and swirling around her body as if alive.
It reminded her of 'that'. She wasn't traumatized, just a bit scared and uneasy because her body reacted, remembering how she had drowned due to being pushed by mysterious winds.
Logically, ordinary strong winds shouldn't be able to push a grown woman off a bridge and into the sea unless it was a storm or a hurricane.
"... Wait, I was pushed by the wind, right?" Elara blinked her eyes. Somehow, her memories of that incident felt increasingly blurred.
"Sometime, the wind stopped being frightening. I even feel comfortable with their presence, always blowing towards me and swirling me around with enthusiasm," Elara mumbled, laughing at herself.
Swooooooooosh~~
These winds, which had originally encircled Elara's chest, moved to surround her face, making her long hair, which had exceeded her shoulders, flutter in the wind.
"Ah, I almost forgot I need to go!" Elara quickly picked up the basket her mother had given her in the morning to pick fruits.
She also didn't forget to grab her dark green thick coat, considering that autumn was starting to end. The air was getting colder even though the sunlight still shone brightly. It felt like winter was about to arrive soon.
After making sure all the windows and doors were securely locked, Elara quickly headed out through the back door, specifically towards the forest, which was quite close when accessed from the back of her house.
Elara wondered why her mother had chosen to build a house on a hill, especially with its proximity to scattered small forests.
Elaraa once heard from a passing Spirit Magician from Kingdom of Terra that these small and scattered forests surrounding the outskirts of Galatea had hidden portals that could lead you into the Eternal Forest, a large forest full of spirits and divine beasts within the Galatea territory, if explored deeper and if one was lucky to find them.
Hearing that, Elara immediately became worried because it meant that the small forest right behind her house could potentially be dangerous, as there might be a portal there!
However, it had been nine years since she had lived here, and there had never been an incident of children or anyone getting lost or even disappearing while picking fruit or cutting down trees in that forest.
"Nevertheless, besides building a house, what on earth was my mother thinking to open a bakery on top of this hill?" Elara sighed in frustration.
When she was only 2 years old, her bakery began to slowly gain popularity among some villagers and merchants because of rumors about her genius abilities. But there's no one who becomes a regular customer at this bakery.
Why? Because her mother was terrible at baking!
"Of all the jobs in this world, why did my mother choose to sell bread?!" Elara grumbled, feeling puzzled.
After that Elara decided to help the bakery's business for the sake of her mother's and her own survival since she couldn't stand eating rough bread anymore. At that time, Elara was impatient and decided to try making bread with whatever ingredients were available.
The result...?
Not just one recipe, but almost all the recipes she made caught the attention of many people, from commoners to merchants and nobles. They all liked them and even begged to buy the recipes!
Elara, without hesitation, took advantage of her rumored genius status to become wealthy by selling recipes that weren't originally hers.
Still, because Elara was the one who created the recipes based on the ingredients in this world, anyone intending to buy had to pay a high price since the recipes were her intellectual property in this world.
Elara vividly remembered her mother's reaction when she tasted the first bread, a fried chocolate-stuffed pastry, that Elara had made.
"Elara! My beloved daughter! How can you make such sweet and soft bread?!"
"Of course, I know! I'm the daughter of the baker!"
"Haha! Okay, what should we name this sweet bread?!"
"Hmm, it's called a chocolate-stuffed pastry, so...."
"Decided, the bread's name is now Chocolate-stuffed Lara!"
"... Mom..."
Mother and daughter laughed while hugging each other. After that, while Elara studied the ingredients in this world to create new recipes, her mother joined her to learn how to make 'bread'.
It was a very tough struggle for Elara's mother to successfully make delicious bread.
Until now, Elara still couldn't fathom how her mother managed to build a bakery shop but couldn't make proper bread.
A true mystery of another world.
"By the way, speaking of mysteries...." Elara looked at the distant forest in front of her.
"There was a child who went missing in the forest."
Elara fell silent for a moment, as if pondering something, then she scratched her head.
Elara did hear about a child who disappeared four years ago, which meant the incident happened when she was only 5 years old.
It had caused a huge commotion because not only the Flora Village but also those from Fauna helped in the search throughout the small forests.
As far as Elara remembered, that incident happened on the same day she went cherry picking four years ago.
"... What a strange coincidence."