Chapter 4
Of all people, the Chief Aunt had to appear.
She was the leader of all the dryad tribes in the world and the spirit residing in the oldest Tree of Wisdom in this forest.
That meant she knew everything that happened here.
Like the other dryads, the Chief Aunt had always been kind to Selly.
However, she constantly spoke in vague, poetic phrases filled with artistic emotion—things Selly’s dry, logic-driven brain simply couldn’t understand. Because of that, Selly could never figure out what she truly meant.
So now, Selly had no idea why she had appeared.
Judging from how she blocked the path, she must be trying to stop me.
Unlike usual, Selly stood on guard as the dryad stepped into the circle of lamplight—green hair cascading over brown skin.
“Child of the forest.”
Today her tone wasn’t gentle. It sounded stern, almost like a reprimand.
“You have forgotten something.”
Forgotten something?
Her mother?
The bonds she was leaving behind in this forest?
Or did it mean that her decision to go to Spellmore was rash?
Because of the Chief Aunt’s habit of speaking in riddles, Selly could only twist her mind trying to interpret the meaning.
She had thought the dryad had come to make her give up on the magic academy, but instead—
“Take this.”
The aunt handed her a small glass bottle filled with medicine.
Selly had been born with an illness—as if the sickness from her previous life had followed her into this one.
Every night when a full moon rose, she would lose consciousness.
So before moonrise, at dusk, she had to drink medicine made by the dryad aunts.
There was only one dose left in the bottle she had packed in her bag—just enough for tomorrow.
How did she know…?
But something else surprised Selly even more.
The Chief Aunt smiled as if she had read Selly’s thoughts.
“Did you think I would stop you?”
“…Yes. I thought you were on my mom’s side. I’m sorry for doubting you.”
“My child, when the winds of fate begin to blow, even I cannot stop them.”
The dryad raised her hand gracefully toward a nearby dandelion and blew a soft breath over it.
Just from that breath, the dandelion—large as a tree—swayed, and its fluffy seeds scattered into the air.
One of them curved its seed pouch like the handle of an umbrella and gently landed near Selly’s feet.
“But I do have the power to help you ride that wind and claim your destiny.”
Understanding her meaning, Selly quickly climbed onto the curved saddle of the dandelion seed, which was as large as a parasol.
Then the dryad plucked a flower blooming from her own hair.
Selly had never seen her do that before.
She placed the flower in Selly’s hand.
“I swear upon the roots of my mother, the World Tree.”
The flower suddenly sparkled and melted into Selly.
A flower-shaped pattern glowed briefly in her palm before fading away.
“Wherever you go, the souls of our World Tree will watch over you and protect you.”
Dryads despised humans for harming forests.
Yet here she was, promising to protect Selly—a human.
The promise was so shocking that Selly couldn’t speak.
“Aunt…”
She liked to act like someone who had already lived through the world because this was her second life.
But even adding both lives together, the longest she had ever lived was sixteen years.
Truthfully… I was scared.
Even though she had bravely left home, she was still a child inside.
The thought that a powerful adult was protecting her made her feel unbelievably secure.
Now she felt like she could face anything in the unfamiliar world beyond the forest.
“So wherever you go, never forget that you are a child of this forest.”
“I’ll never forget.”
Selly wiped the tears welling up in her chest and hugged her aunt tightly.
“Thank you so, so much. I’ve already received more help than I deserve, so this might be shameless to ask… but please take care of my mom.”
The wise dryad tilted her head as if wondering why Selly would say such a thing.
“I am merely repaying what I have received. Your mother did the same.”
“…What?”
What had she ever given them?
And what had her mother given?
She had been born here and only ever received things.
“Do not worry about your mother. She too has a destiny of her own.”
Instead of answering further, the dryad blew another breath.
The dandelion seed began to rise into the air.
“Go and fulfill the dream of your previous life. And you may return anytime.”
As the spirit of the tree grew smaller in the distance, her final words rode the wind to Selly’s ears.
“Selena, this is your home now.”
But those words never truly reached Selly’s mind.
Because another question had already taken over.
…How does she know about my previous life?
* * *
Inside Selly’s pocket, the chick flapped its tiny wings.
“I’M FLYING THROUGH THE SKY!”
“It’s pronounced ‘flying,’ you know.”
“Shut up!”
Tap.
“Humans are the ones who should shut up!”
“Ugh, fine. Let’s both shut up.”
Her runaway companion was noisy, but Selly felt like she was flying.
If she had walked, she wouldn’t even be halfway out of the forest by now.
I’ll make it to the entrance ceremony!
After riding the seed for some time, cities began appearing as the sun rose.
But soon they disappeared again.
Fog began to roll in.
Feels like I’m inside a humidifier…
The mist thickened until she could barely see her dangling feet.
Ahead of her, something in the fog seemed to glow faintly.
Sunlight?
No… it was shining too low.
Then the glowing shape emerged through the fog like a ghost ship.
A ship?
A ship… floating in the sky.
Is that actually a ghost ship?
As the sailboat glided through the clouds beside her, Selly clung tightly to the dandelion stem, trembling.
But on the ship’s deck, figures—whether ghosts or humans—were staring at her in stunned disbelief.
In a world where ships fly in the sky, is a kid riding a dandelion seed really that weird?
She thought the strange encounter would end with them simply passing by.
Then a man who looked like a pirate captain pointed at her and shouted.
“A mage! Capture her!”
The stunned crew suddenly sprang into action and rushed to the ship’s edge, grabbing something.
…Cannons? I have to dodge!
But there was no way.
The dandelion seed had no steering wheel.
Boom!
“Waaah! No!”
The cannon fired—not a cannonball, but a strange lump.
The lump unfolded in midair.
It was a net.
Just as Selly thought she was caught—
Whoosh!
The dandelion seed suddenly shot upward.
The net barely missed her feet and fell away.
Aunt, thank you for protecting— huh?
Suddenly the seed began descending.
And gently landed…
On the deck of the pirate ship.
“Why did you dodge so well earlier only to deliver me straight to pirates now?!”
But asking the dandelion seed was pointless.
It had already flown away.
Aunt, you said you’d protect me!
“But I do have the power to help you ride that wind and claim your destiny.”
Don’t tell me…
Getting caught by pirates while heading to magic school is my destiny?
Selly looked around at the pirates in confusion.
They seemed just as shocked that the fish they were trying to catch had jumped onto their boat by itself.
But they quickly recovered.
And against crazy people, the strategy of “act like a crazy kid holding a metal skewer” didn’t work.
“Get in quietly!”
Her belongings were confiscated, and Selly was locked in the prison below the deck.
“Catching two rare humans in one day. What luck.”
Selly wasn’t alone in the prison.
“…Hi.”
“Uh… hi…”
A boy about Selly’s age was already there, his hands tied.
And he was extremely handsome.
The boy had blond hair and porcelain-like skin, radiating noble elegance.
If that were all, she might have assumed he was just a rich kid kidnapped for ransom.
But his eyes—
They were ruby red.
Selly remembered reading that humans with dragon blood had red eyes.
He’s a dragon descendant.
Such a rare bloodline…
“You got caught too?” Selly asked.
The boy nodded slightly.
Even that small motion carried an air of dignity.
“…While flying through the sky?”
His golden eyebrows furrowed sharply.
“I was kidnapped from the ground. In a perfectly normal way.”
…Since when did kidnapping have a normal way?
