Selina comes back after being gone for three whole days.
She’s never been away that long before—not even her trips to the royal capital take more than a day—so I’ve been super worried.
“Where have you been?!”
All that worry boils right over into anger the moment I see her face.
“Don’t make such a fuss. I went to a lot of trouble to get you proper magic textbooks.”
Oh! Well, that is exciting.
I’ve been thinking for a while now that Selina’s scattershot teaching methods aren’t exactly the most efficient way to learn.
She pulls an old book from her Storage. The leather’s faded, but it still looks sturdy and expensive.
“I used this one when I was a child. It should suit you just fine. And this—I really had to work for it—Troubadour materials.”
She dumps a pile of what she calls “materials” on my desk, but they just look like a raggedy mess of old papers.
“Wait… this is written in the ancient language!”
I catch a glimpse of the text and realize it’s from the old Shazane Empire.
“Of course it is! The textbook’s in ancient language too. Stop reading nothing but silly romance novels and start learning something useful. You’ll need a proper education, so I brought books for that as well.”
Thump, thump, thump—she keeps piling ancient language and general education books on my desk.
“Did you… steal these?”
Books are expensive. I’ve been doing most of the hunting lately, and I doubt Selina’s got many magic stones left to spare.
“What a thing to say! I didn’t steal them. I just… retrieved things I’d left behind.”
I’m pretty sure Selina used to be nobility in the western Sarina Kingdom.
She probably took the books from her old family home.
Speaking of which, she’s been gone for decades. Maybe not a whole century, but certainly a long time.
If her siblings or even their children are in charge now, that’s basically theft, isn’t it?
But I bite my tongue. Selina’s temper is worse than a thunderstorm when she’s angry.
Besides, I doubt the Troubadour materials came from her family home. Probably best not to ask.
She notices my skeptical look and lets out a heavy sigh.
“Zoe, since you can use Storage and teleportation too, let me give you a warning: using magic for the wrong reasons is a capital offense. This time, I just borrowed from my family’s library and a friend’s archive. It’s fine.
I’ll return the Troubadour materials once you’re done with them. That friend gets awfully possessive about belongings.”
Her family’s library is one thing, but this mysterious friend sounds a bit shady…
“Ah, and thanks to you, I got roped into investigating why Schwarzwald is expanding.”
So it really is expanding. Selina mentioned once that this cabin used to be in a pioneer village.
“Zoe, the fact that you’re a Troubadour might mean something more than we think. If anything ever happens to me, find Jungelc, the court mage of the Sarina Kingdom. He should take you in as a student.”
I freeze. She’s never said anything like that before!
“Selina… are you feeling sick?”
“I am getting old, you know. The king of these lands seems decent enough, but I don’t know him personally, and I’ve no idea what his court mages are like.”
Lang Village belongs to the eastern kingdom of Unia. The royal capital where Selina buys books is part of Unia too.
“I can’t possibly go all the way to the western Sarina Kingdom.”
The Great Forest lies between the two kingdoms—that’s why there are only small border skirmishes with the neighboring nations.
“When I die, I’ll make sure you know the Waymark that leads to Sarina.”
“Selina, don’t say things like that! It’s bad luck!”
She might be a hopeless teacher and terrible at parenting, but Selina is my only family.
She gives my head a gentle tap just as I start sniffling.
“Instead of crying, how about making me something tasty? I’m exhausted.”
She’s right—I can’t sense her usual magical energy. Long-distance teleportation must’ve drained her.
The fastest thing I can make is porridge. I pull up some small carrots from the garden and boil them as a side dish.
After we finish our simple meal, Selina dozes off almost immediately. She really was worn out.
I should be studying the ancient language or cracking open that magic textbook… but I noticed some sheet music-looking papers mixed in with the Troubadour materials.
I grab those and my harp and head outside.
“Hmm, they really are black dots.”
Not quite like the sheet music from my old world, but close enough. I’ve practiced with this kind of notation a little before.
I settle into the chair by the well and pluck a few strings on the harp.
“I think these lines represent the harp strings…”
Looks like they’re arranged from bottom to top. The size of the dots might show the notes? And the long black lines could mean a flowing strum?
Each piece is short, so I try one right away. Just a single phrase.
I really want proper sheet music!
“Whoa… my magic power…”
The harp is sucking away at my magical energy.
I manage to play the whole phrase without a single mistake—and the melody turns into green light that spills over the garden.
“Yikes! That can’t be good!”
The vegetables where the light touched are growing like mad.
Those carrots I picked earlier? If I pulled them now, they’d be fat and ready for harvest.
I may have grown up in the middle of the Great Forest with zero common sense, but even I know this is bad.
If anyone found out, they’d make me play harp in the fields for the rest of my life!
“Selina would definitely scold me if she saw this…”
Let’s pretend this song never happened. I’m sealing it away forever.
“Huh? This bit says… Cornucopia? Yeah, that’s definitely dangerous. And this one… Aqua? That one might be good for watering!”
I frown at the black dots again. After lots of practice, I finally manage to play the next phrase.
“Let me give it a go!”
Ugh… this one drains just as much magical energy. It might actually be easier to water the plants with a ladle.
But blue light shines from the strings and flows over the garden—and onto me, too.
“Phew. It’s still summer, so I guess that’s fine… but I’m not sure this is all that convenient.”
The road to becoming a Troubadour is looking awfully long. And since Selina isn’t one herself, she can’t teach me.
“I should seriously read that magic textbook.”
But ancient language is such a pain. I get bored right away.
I’ve just never been good at studying.
Since Selina’s still asleep… I could read a romance novel as a little break.
I was sneaking through the stack while she was away for those three days.
I’m right at the part where they’re about to elope. Though I don’t think running off with a guy who’s that much of a spendthrift is going to end well.
Her parents want her to marry a rich but boring man—honestly, that sounds smarter. Marry him and enjoy your hobbies on the side. But I guess I just don’t get love.
“Ugh, I knew it! She ends up poor, and then he cheats and abandons her. Gross! ‘Sell your body to make money!’ What a moron!”
I shout without meaning to, and Selina wakes up and catches me red-handed with the forbidden novel.
“Study properly!”
And she reads these same trashy books herself!
I grumble silently, fuming into the pages.