After Lang Village’s summer festival ends, I feel a bit deflated.
I’ve arranged to learn cooking from the general store lady once a month, but aside from that, it’s time to focus on magic training.
Old Inga isn’t even a witch, but the moment she says something unpleasant, people start whispering, “Isn’t she a witch?”
Watching that happen makes me realize—just a little—that I really am a witch.
So why bother training to become one, if witches are so disliked?
Well, as an orphan, my best shot at survival is earning money as an adventurer-mage. And besides, most people who get called witches aren’t actually witches at all!
Maybe that’s what bothers me. Or maybe I’m just being contrary, wanting to prove I can become a real one.
But only being allowed to visit Lang Village once a month is seriously stressful!
It’s not just Maggie… I got to play with other kids too during all those dance practices for the festival.
Still, I know deep down that staying in the village all the time won’t be good for me.
Since I’m a witch... I probably have a long lifespan, right? I’m not sure how old Selina is, but I bet she’s over a hundred.
Life in the Great Forest with just Selina for company is so boring. I keep dreaming about visiting the royal capital.
Selina sells herbs to the general store and buys food there, but I think she sells magic stones, pelts, and potions in the capital. That’s probably where she gets all her books, too.
As for clothes… maybe from Carlton or Raymond City? Or the capital again?
I’m not allowed to go to Carlton alone, though. That’s why I wanna train seriously in magic, so she’ll take me with her to the royal capital.
Well, that, and to become a proper mage. But mostly the capital.
Selina made a tiny concession: I can learn cooking from the general store lady—but only if I bring the ingredients myself.
So I hunt Almiraj, Big Boars, Pyrebirds, and other creatures in the Great Forest, and take them to the village.
The store lady probably thinks Selina’s providing them, but there’s no way that lazy witch would bother.
Besides, it doubles as a way to earn a little pocket money.
I eat the meat, but I’m saving the magic stones and pelts to buy clothes, ribbons, and sheet music.
Of course, hunting’s dangerous. Right now, Air Cutter is the only attack spell I’ve learned.
Which is why I’m taking magic training more seriously.
But... when Selina told me it was time to earn my own keep now that I’m seven, I started to wonder—is she getting weaker?
It worries me a bit.
She won’t tell me her age, but when I mentioned Old Inga, she called her “that child.”
That child! Which must mean Inga’s a lot younger than Selina.
The previous village chief seemed to know her well too, so she must be pretty old.
Being a witch—or rather, having a lot of magical power—probably makes you age slowly. Even when Maggie and the others grow old, I might stay the same.
It’s... a strange thought.
“I should teach you the way to the royal capital too,” Selina says, “but your magic control is still all over the place.”
She dangles temptations like that in front of me, and what can I do but take the bait?
“I’ll train properly in magic!”
I know I’m falling right into her trap, but it’s something I need to do anyway.
Still, Selina really isn’t cut out to be a teacher. And since I hate magic control practice too, I don’t have much ground to complain.
She teaches magic in this completely random, whenever-it-crosses-her-mind sort of way.
“Selina, aren’t there schools in the capital where you can study magic?”
I asked because I’d read about them in romance novels—full of magical academies and dramatic love stories—and she got so mad.
“There’s no mage as skilled as me! Zoe, you don’t know how lucky you are. You’re being so ungrateful!”
I don’t know any other mages, but I can kind of believe it. Gotta admit Selina is amazing.
Mages in books can’t use Storage or teleportation. Even their Air Cutters and Fireballs pop like soap bubbles.
No matter how many times they cast them, they never seem to defeat anything.
Usually it’s just glorified household magic. I was shocked to read that Purification is considered sacred magic used only by saints.
We use it for laundry.
Well, my Purification still needs work.
So here I am, learning all this ridiculously advanced magic, but my fundamentals are a mess, and I haven’t even picked up any other useful spells.
“Hey, hey, don’t they sell sheet music and magic textbooks in the royal capital?”
Since Selina likes books, I figure maybe this angle will work.
“Magic textbooks... those are expensive. And I don’t need them.”
Ugh! She’s so selfish as a teacher!
“I think I need them. Wouldn’t it be better if I learned the basics properly?”
She actually pauses to think, which is a rare sight.
“If I could get the books I used as a child... and materials on the Troubadours from the Shazane Empire too...”
I thought that was her way of saying “impossible,” but the next day, Selina vanished.
“Take me with you!”
I shouted into the empty cottage.
But whether she teleported to the capital or to the western kingdom where she grew up, I can’t follow either way.
I’ve never been there, and I don’t know where any of the Waymarks are.
“Can’t be helped... I’ll do the farm work and practice magic control...”
Even if Selina does bring back textbooks or Troubadour materials, I’ll be useless if I can’t control my magical power properly.