Chapter 78 - When Something is Foreseen
In her two-plus years as this new self, Malwine couldn’t recall having ever felt that studies-related tension the widow had left in the distant past. It didn’t even make sense—she found most sessions with Anna Franziska to be at least engaging, despite that mana fingertrap continuing to be the bane of her existence.
Mercifully, she’d managed to avoid any repeat encounters with a certain antiquarian.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to arrange another lesson?”
“No need,” Malwine assured the woman she’d started to think of as their assigned homeroom teacher. Again, it had been so long since the widow had even been in school, that something about her newly structured education had Malwine reeling. The blend of distant familiarity and novel… schooling had her struggling to parse the whole of it. “We already learned so much. Maybe later, but I really want to keep practicing this.”
Her little sister playfully elbowed her, sporting a self-satisfied grin as they faced each other. “Told you this would be fun!”
“Sure, sure,” Malwine couldn’t help but laugh. She eyed the device—even Veit’s weird projector had been far more intuitive than this.
Not that her attempts at following the man’s advice had been going that well.
Being left alone after Anna Franziska—and her daughter—left usually heralded the best part of her days. Perhaps that was it. As much as she didn’t dislike those relatively more mundane lessons, they couldn’t beat cultivation.
What a forester whose name was allegedly not Niemat Khödan had taught her barely qualified as a technique, as far as Malwine understood. It relied on understanding of the explanation he’d given her through that crystalline construct of his, and was meant to be implemented within the Roots at her core.
The ever so contrarian part of her mind tempted her to try and figure things out on her own, but why bother, when she had a clearly functional option right there? From what he’d let slip, Veit had a privileged upbringing, despite the family troubles.
If anyone was going to have good techniques for this, it would undoubtedly be that type of person. Success was still ways off, but they’d agreed to meet again in ten days.
| Time elapsed: 73 hours. |