The textbooks Selina brought back from her family home are actually really helpful. Everything’s organized and clear—at least, for someone with talent.
But maybe I don’t have as much talent as her?
“You’ll understand if you just read,” she says. But I have read, and there are still things I don’t get.
“Didn’t you have a mentor, Selina?” I ask. “Did you really figure everything out just by reading?”
“My mentor was strict,” she mutters, frowning at the memory. “Always trying to make me do the things I hated.”
“But thanks to that mentor, you became a proper witch, right?”
What I really want is more than just textbooks dumped on me. I want real guidance.
But if I say that too directly, Selina will puff up and call me ungrateful.
“Zoe, I’m not the type to give detailed instruction,” she sighs. “And I don’t think being harsh, like my mentor was, is necessarily good. I rebelled so much, I left my country.”
That might have more to do with you than your mentor, I think, but I wisely keep that to myself. Gotta avoid her dramatic sulks.
“Well, I suppose I have no choice,” she relents. “Read the textbooks carefully. Ask me when you don’t understand something.”
So she will teach me, right? That’s all I needed to hear.
I start from page one and read seriously.
“Breathe deeply and draw in mana... okay, I can do this. Next! Circulate magical power through your body... I’ve got that too!”
“You’re not doing it properly,” Selina scolds from her usual sprawl on the sofa.
“What? I am too!” I say, offended.
She snorts. “Then show me.”
Ugh, how annoying!
I try to stay calm and do exactly what I did before—deep breath, draw in mana, circulate it slowly, and gather it in my palms.
“See? I did it right!”
Selina, still watching from the sofa, lets out a dramatic sigh.
“Zoe, you have a lot of magical power. So even if you only draw in a little mana, you can still force your way through. But that won’t get you very far. You’ll end up a mediocre witch.”
Oof. That’s harsh.
“By the time you’re ten, you need to master how to draw in mana properly. And you need better control over your magical power. It’s fine to learn spells from the textbook, but without solid basics, it’s meaningless.”
I’ve got a strong suspicion Selina hated basic training too. But she became a real witch because she had a strict mentor who pushed her.
I don’t want to do boring exercises every day either. But if that’s what it takes...
“Do basic training every morning,” she continues. “You might not understand why now, but how much mana you draw in during your growth years determines your caliber as a witch. Schwarzwald is full of mana. You won’t find a better training ground.”
Then she goes quiet, murmuring to herself.
“Could it be... that’s why they sent you here? But who...?”
I have no idea what my parents were thinking when they abandoned me. Probably that Selina lived deep in the woods and wouldn’t ask questions.
When I asked Selina about Old Inga’s comment—the one about the summer festival being held by the waterfall—she just said she’s never been to one.
Apparently she avoids the village on purpose. Being a witch means people come to you begging for help, and if you can’t save someone, they might resent you for it.
But Selina knows the court mage of the western Kingdom of Sarina.
That sounds like a big deal. Maybe they knew each other when she was still a noble?
Why did she leave all that behind to live alone in the Great Forest, on the eastern kingdom’s side?
I have a thousand questions, but there’s no point asking. Selina only tells me what she wants to tell me.
Still, when she starts talking about “the caliber of a witch,” I feel like I really have to try my best.
I don’t know how many mages or witches there are in adventurer guilds, but I’d hate to be treated like some half-trained amateur.
I bet there are elites who studied at fancy magic schools in the royal capital.
Selina says she’s better than all of them, and honestly, I believe it. But being an amazing witch and being a good teacher are totally different.
So this morning I’m outside the cabin, doing basic training again.
I’m drawing in mana when, for once, Selina comes out right after breakfast. Usually she lounges on the sofa until noon like a grumpy cat.
“Zoe, as you draw in mana, draw in the wind too.”
She’s giving actual instruction! This is rare.
“You’re a Troubadour. You should be able to hear music in the wind.”
“Music in the wind?”
That sounds harder than drawing mana.
Still, I take a deep breath and try to focus. I breathe in the mana... and listen.
The wind... the trees are rustling... the leaves are dancing... oh!
There’s the scent of wood, and the damp smell of earth. The sound of Merry and Ben munching grass. The whisper of wings somewhere above.
The wind is carrying everything.
I even pick up the faint thud of monster footsteps and the crunch of leaves underfoot.
“That’s enough for today.”
Selina taps my shoulder, and I crumple to the ground.
“You’re finally concentrating. That’s good. But you’re still not drawing in enough mana. And you can’t control your power.”
She sounds like a real mentor—until she suddenly scolds me: “It’s lunchtime!”
Wait, what? Already?
I was so focused, I didn’t notice how much time had passed.
“I was going to make potato galettes today,” I mumble, “but I’m too tired... porridge it is.”
Selina loves potato galettes. She groans in disappointment.
“Getting wobbly after so little work shows you’re not drawing in mana properly! And you’re wasting power! Your control is still terrible!”
The galettes I learned from the general store lady really are delicious... but I don’t have the energy to grate and slice potatoes right now.
Maybe my witch training should start with something easier—like learning how to make fast, filling meals.
Because when Selina doesn’t get her potato galettes, she gets super grumpy.