“This is terrible!”
The moment I teleport to the Waymark near Lang Village, I’m hit by a raging storm.
Selina pulls the cord of her usual black robe tighter, but the hem still flaps wildly in the wind, making it hard for her to walk.
“The waterfall’s that way!”
I have to shout at the top of my lungs just to be heard.
“Can’t you teleport us there?” she asks.
Oh—right! I forgot that’s an option.
I still can’t manage long distances, but short-range hops are easier, especially when I can see where I’m going.
It’s faster than trying to walk through this hurricane.
“Selina, take my hand!”
I grab hers as I speak. I probably can’t keep teleporting both of us on my own magical strength.
Selina channels her powerful magic into me, and using that, I teleport us toward the waterfall.
The storm is so wild there’s not a single soul in sight.
I jump us upstream along the roaring riverside, where the current crashes past like a living monster.
“There’s the waterfall!”
The thin, elegant stream has turned into a muddy torrent, thundering loud enough to shake the ground.
“Hurry up and get that harp!”
Selina has to yell to be heard over the roar.
I dash behind the shrine. My clothes are already soaked through, clinging to my legs and tripping me up, making everything feel more frantic.
“Found it!”
The branches Matthew stacked on top have long since blown away.
But the harp is still there, playing the summer festival song like nothing’s wrong.
“Stop already! We don’t need more rain!”
I reach to grab it.
“It won’t stop! Selina, the harp won’t stop!”
I yell over the crashing water.
Selina hurries behind the shrine too, eyes narrowing at the harp as it keeps playing on its own.
“What on earth did you do?”
She crosses her arms, thinking, then pulls a thick, knotted staff from her magical storage.
“Only a real Troubadour can stop this. The auto-play spell must’ve triggered. If you can’t dispel it, Zoe, we’ll have to break it the hard way!”
It’s my harp—the one I poured so much magic into.
But if this keeps up, it won’t just be Lang Village.
The whole region could be swallowed by the storm.
“Selina, please! Stop it!”
I thought she’d smash it outright, but she grips the staff with both hands and channels her magic into it.
“Wind Cutter!”
She swings the staff, and blades of wind slice through the harp’s strings.
Snap! Snap! Snap!
One by one, the strings break, and the song finally stops.
I store the broken harp in my bag.
“Selina, the rain’s not stopping! I stopped the rain song, but—”
I feel like crying. Nothing’s changing. The storm is still howling.
“It won’t stop right away. But it will. Let’s go home.”
We teleport to the Waymark, then from there back to the Great Forest.
It’s still raining here too—but not as heavily.
But something feels... wrong.
“Zoe! You did place the magic stones in the barrier, didn’t you?”
Selina notices it first.
“Yesterday, I... I did... I didn’t check today! Now that I think of it—they were starting to fade! Merry! Ben!”
I meant to put them in the goat shed when I went out earlier, but it was raining so hard... Did I?
No—I didn’t!
I teleport to the shed.
Magical beasts have broken in. Wolf monsters.
“Air Cutter!”
I cast it in a panic at the pack of wolves.
“Zoe, calm down!”
But I can’t. I keep casting Air Cutter, but the wolves are fast.
They dodge.
And—they’re attacking—Merry? Ben?
My vision floods with red.
“Die! All of you!”
I cast another Air Cutter across the whole pack.
My magic runs dry, and I collapse, soaked to the bone.
“Zoe, you mustn’t throw your magic around like that.”
Selina scolds me, but all I can think is—Why didn’t I check the barrier? Why didn’t I bring them into the shed? Maybe then...
It stinks of wolf blood. And among the gore—
No. I don’t want to look.
“Merry... Ben...”
“Lives taken and lives lost. You have to take responsibility for both.”
Selina scolds me again as I store the wolf corpses.
I can’t bring myself to eat the meat. But I’ll sell the pelts and stones.
What’s left... is what remains of Merry and Ben.
“Will you eat them? Or give them a funeral?”
Selina always insisted they were just livestock. But I can’t eat what the wolves left behind.
“I want to give them a funeral. They were family.”
Only a few bones and scraps of meat remain. I wrap them carefully in a cloth from the house.
“The rain’s letting up... Let’s give them a proper farewell.”
The weather in these woods doesn’t go wild like it does outside.
It might still be storming in Lang Village, but right now, all I can feel is grief.
We build a wooden pyre, and I place what’s left of them on top.
“I’m sorry... If only I’d checked the stones...”
It’s a mistake I’ll never stop regretting.
“They were past their time. You need to understand what it means to raise livestock. And you can’t get too close to the villagers. It’ll only end in trouble. Remember that.”
Selina’s voice is cold. But she’s not wrong.
Still—Merry and Ben gave me warmth when I was small.
“I’m sorry... No—thank you.”
I want my last words to be gratitude, not guilt.
“Fire Bomb!”
My fire magic usually fizzles, but this time, it lights on the first try.
Selina changes into dry clothes and goes inside.
But I stay, crying until the flames die down.
This is the price of my huge failure… and my farewell to childhood.