Songstress of Schwarzwald: The Secret of Zoe, the Exiled Music Mage

Surprisingly, Selina came home the next afternoon.

“I tried to buy every book about Troubadours I could find in the capital... there was only one, though.” That single book looked tattered and thin.

“And I bought this too.” She rummaged through her bag and pulled out what looked like a harp in a leather case. I’d read about harps in stories—minstrels played them—but I had no idea how to make music with one.

In my past life, that girl who wanted to become something incomprehensible called an “idol” had learned piano and flute at school.

“It says here you play this while casting magic... Well, the playing method is written in this book, so read it and practice.”

“Whaaaat? I can learn to play the harp just by reading a book? Don’t people usually learn from a teacher?”

Selina burst into anger. “I spent a fortune on this! I could’ve bought five of my own books with that money! I held back because I thought it was for you. And it’s your fault for being so strange that you can’t use magic without singing!”

“I mean, I’m grateful... but didn’t you just get curious about Troubadours because they seemed interesting?”

Oops! Selina absolutely hates it when someone sees right through her true feelings.

“Ah, I forgot! I caught an Almiraj yesterday, but I can’t butcher it myself. I wanted to make that stew you love so much...”

Selina is quite greedy when it comes to food. Usually we just eat porridge, after all.

“Zoe, you need to learn Storage too! You can’t rely on me forever.”

Selina brought the Almiraj from the shed and used Storage to separate it into meat, hide, bones, and magic stones.

“Oh, put the hide in a sack—I’m selling it in Lang Village.”

“What? You’re going to Lang Village! You said you’d take me with you. I picked tons of medicinal herbs!”

“Ugh, you’re so noisy! I said I’d take you, didn’t I? Hurry up and make that stew. I used a lot of magical power and I’m tired.”

Since Selina was absorbed in reading that thin, tattered Troubadour book, I made the Almiraj stew.

With autumn deepening, the meat was plump and fatty. I added the root vegetables Selina had bought in Lang Village to the pot and simmered everything together.

For the finishing touch, I added goat’s milk, tasted it, and added a pinch of salt. Selina collects this salt from mountains deep in the Great Forest, though she also buys some in Lang Village.

She doesn’t want to trek to the distant salt mountains in winter—she’s just lazy!

“Selina, it’s ready!”

When Selina starts reading, she rarely stops, but the stew’s aroma makes her put down the book.

“Your cooking’s improved,” she praised, even though I’d made it exactly the same way as before. I think she just thought it was delicious because she loves Almiraj stew.

Well, it really is tasty!

After dinner, I left the Troubadour research to Selina and practiced the harp.

The thin instruction book contained simple scales. You press the strings and pluck them with your fingernails. I started practicing from the first page.

Plink, plank, plonk! It was the do-re-mi scale from my past life! Once I understood the basic scales, I could play music from my memories.

That said, since this was my first time playing a harp, I wasn’t very good. I played haltingly, stumbling over the notes.

“I can’t concentrate on this book with you playing that awful harp next to me! It’s already so hard with it written in archaic language!”

Oh, scary! I need to stay quiet at times like this.

If she’ll take me to Lang Village, I want to sell my medicinal herbs. I’d like to buy something with that money.

I spent the evening quietly, bundling the dried herbs.

The next morning, I was hoping Selina would take me to Lang Village, but she was completely absorbed in the Troubadour material.

But then, she handed me that tattered book and made an unreasonable demand. “Zoe, practice this Magic Song.”

“That’s impossible! There’s no sheet music... And these characters look strange, don’t they?”

“You’re so foolish. This is... Oh right, you don’t know how the Schwarzwald came to be... This is a perfect opportunity to study history!”

Eh?

Normally I wouldn’t mind learning history, but I was expecting to go to Lang Village today.

“More importantly, since the weather’s nice, let’s go to Lang Village! If winter comes and snow blocks the roads, we’ll be in trouble. We don’t have any bread, root vegetables, or wheat!”

Protesting to Selina was useless. But I’d been looking forward to this since last night and had already packed my herbs in a bag.

“But dear girl, you might be able to become a Troubadour!” 

These Troubadours, she explained, had once flourished in the old Shazane Empire that ruled the Schwarzwald long ago.

“Oh, the Shazane Empire! That’s the setting for lots of romance stories! I know about that.” Oops! I’d just revealed that I’d snuck peeks at romance novels while Selina was away.

“You little...!” She got angry, but today Selina was in teacher mode.

“They use the fallen Shazane Empire as a setting because if they used real countries or regions, people would get angry about defamation. But the real question is why the Great Forest—the Schwarzwald—came to exist.”

What? The Great Forest where we live used to be the Shazane Empire?

“According to legend, the Archsage grew angry at the Shazane Empire’s emperor for refusing to stop foolish wars, and destroyed the empire.”

“Whaaat? Was the Archsage stupid? He shoulda just killed the emperor!”

Selina looked exasperated.

“There are multiple theories about why the Shazane Empire fell. The theory that the Archsage destroyed it, the theory of divine wrath, the theory of internal collapse, and even the theory that the Demon King destroyed it.

There are as many theories as there are scholars. But well, that’s not today’s main topic!”

“Right, Troubadours are the main topic.”

“Exactly. While there are many theories about who destroyed the empire, it’s said that Troubadours were responsible for turning it into the Great Forest. They used Magic Songs to make the trees grow and bury the Shazane Empire’s ruins beneath the forest.”

I shivered a little. “I don’t wanna learn such scary magic!”

Selina burst out laughing.

“I don’t think you could become a legendary Archsage. Besides, I believe it wasn’t the Troubadours who destroyed the empire. The Shazane Empire developed weapons capable of destroying nations and used them to conquer other countries.

The Archsage feared this and destroyed the weapons. The empire’s people scattered and fled, but they feared others might obtain weapons from the ruins. They were desperately trying to secure them for their own advantage.”

Memories from my past life—frightening images of bombs—surfaced, and I wrapped my arms around myself.

“The Troubadours didn’t want to let anyone get their hands on the Shazane Empire’s dark legacy, so they made the trees grow. They probably didn’t expect it to become this enormous, though.”

That’s way too much!

“Zoe. Would you like to try training as a Troubadour? I’m still learning from the book myself, but I think it’s worth attempting.”

“Won’t Troubadours become evil witches? I don’t want to be burned at the stake!”

Selina let out a big sigh. “Evil witches, evil mages—that depends on how you use magic. It also depends on the perspective of those doing the judging. I hate to deal with such foolish people, which is why I’m living as a hermit in the Great Forest.”

That might be true.

“Okay! I’ll try training as a Troubadour. But first, take me to Lang Village! You promised!”

Selina laughed heartily. “Guess I have no choice.”

“Yay! I get to go to Lang Village!” I jumped up and down with joy. I’m so happy! 

Finally, I’ll get to meet people other than Selina.