The smell of strawberries wafted through the air and I was overcome with a feeling of fulfillment and pride at my success. This batch of strawberry jam had turned out a lot better than the previous ones I made, and I’m proud to say that it tasted almost as good as the store bought ones I used to purchase back home.

With complete reverence for the jam, I greedily spread a generous amount on my baked scones as my mouth watered in anticipation at the delectable sweetness. The treat did not disappoint of course, and as soon as I took a small bite of my creation, a burst of flavor instantly filled my mouth and I moaned in pleasure.

So this is what a foodgasm was like, huh?

“…Are you ignoring me?”

I pointedly snubbed my unwanted visitor and daintily picked up my cup of tea as tea time would not be complete without my favored beverage. To my surprise, tea was a highly popular drink in this world but coffee seemed to be unheard of.

It was a pity but I was thankful that there was at least some source of caffeine.

“…Oi , oi! Can’t you just hear me out ?”                    

Tsk. So the pest was still here, huh?

“Hey! You just clicked your tongue at me didn’t you?!” The pest – Myrddin, I mentally corrected myself – slammed his hands on to my wooden table, my tableware clacking in response at the sudden movement.

Gods. What an obnoxious and rude fellow.   

“I heard that. Besides , I’m not rude. You are! You’re not even listening to what I’m saying. You’re a terrible host!”

Ah. Whoops. It looks like I accidentally said that insulting remark out loud.

“I offered you snacks and tea.” I meaningfully looked at the now empty plate in front of him before gazing at his face that was littered with crumbs. Had we been on better terms, I would’ve told him of his current messy state. But whatever. This was a small revenge compared to what he makes me go through on an almost daily basis. “And it looks like you enjoyed every last bite of it.”

“More tea?” I smiled, looking every bit like a hospitable host.

On the outside, I was the complete picture of a serene and well-mannered woman but in the inside, I was in fact a seething banshee.

How dare this mage accuse me of being a terrible host! I was nothing but polite to him ( Myrddin claimed that that was debatable at best) and what did he do in return? He badgered me nonstop to accompany him on some quest to find the once and future king of Prydain!

At first, I declined him civilly as I wasn’t interested in meddling with affairs of royalty and went on my merry way to work as a farmer in some rural part of the country. It was a difficult affair mind you, and I was frequently tricked and swindled on my arduous task. But after a year and a half of hard work, I was able to achieve my dream of living a peaceful countryside life.

Unfortunately for me, it was then that Myrddin had mysteriously found me once more and began pestering me like some sort of determined salesman with questionable products. He claimed that I was vital to the future of Prydain and was necessary to secure the – yadda yadda yadda.

 Myrddin prattled on and on about things that quite frankly weren’t really any of my concern, so I promptly tuned him out at the first mention of king and Prydain – because seriously where the hell was Prydain anyways?!

But Myrddin was nothing if determined so I quickly found myself stuck in an odd routine of receiving him into my humble home for tea time , getting convinced to join some shady quest, banter some more , turn Myrddin down before finally sending him home with some snacks for the road.

See? How could I be accused of anything but polite?

“Yeah,” Myrddin’s voice distracted me from my thoughts. ”Thanks.” He passed his empty cup to me for what was probably his fifth refill in the past hour. He paused and then a look of horror crossed his features. “Wait, wait , wait! This trick won’t work on me again , you indolent woman! You may have tricked me the first few times with your abominable sweets , but it won’t work again!

I wanted to point out that the actual trick he was talking about had been working for about two months now. Once I discovered that the mage had a certain weakness for sweets, I made it a point to serve him my best treats to divert his attention. Surprisingly enough, it worked like a charm and I had a nagging suspicion that half the time he visited me; it was with the intent to mooch off free food.

It was kind of like feeding a cat to be honest. If said cat was an overgrown man with a questionable taste in fashion and was predisposed to recruiting young innocent women for some shady quest.

 “Oh no,” I drily said. “Whatever shall I do?”

“You piece of --!” Myrddin hissed and I was reminded of a cat once more. He exploded into a bout of expletives and I promptly tuned him out once more as I drank my tea leisurely.

You see, this is why I found Myrddin to be so obnoxious. In front of others, he was the picturesque elite mage ; handsome, charming, intelligent, well-mannered, and basically possessed all the traits women desired and men envied. But once it was just the two of us, he was sleazy, lazy, and incredibly crass.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

“…And that is why you should come with me to Gamalaot.” He finally finished his rant, looking absolutely smug.

“Like I’ve said a hundred times, I’m not going. I have no interest in messing with those kinds of things. Besides, I’m happy here with my farm . And there’s the spring festival next month and I heard there’s going to be merchants with Kraeverian sugar.”

“…You’ve adapted to living here fairly quickly.”

“It’s not like I have any other choice , you know.”

“Still. Is being a farmer all you care about?!”

“I care about a lot of things. But your important quest isn’t one of them.”

“Ugh, you’re such a—“

But before Myrddin could even finish that sentence, the bangle on his wrist emitted a soft purple light. His face shifted into a hard expression and he just stared at the bangle as if he were debating something, sighed, and then finally brought it up to eye level.

An unfamiliar voice spoke out from the bangle on his wrist, speaking a language I couldn’t decipher. When I asked what it was before, Myrddin informed me that it was the old tongue, a now dead language that only mages were privy to.

Ugh. Mages sounded like such an elite stuck up bunch. Case in point , Myrddin.

 Myrddin, in turn, responded to the voice in the same language and I took that as my cue to start clearing up the table. It’s been well over two hours since he’s been here and it’s time that he left for the day, I still had other things I needed to do and this mage was distracting me from my tasks.

Such as making more jam to be sold in the spring festival.

Money was a bit tight recently and there were some things I wanted to find in the festival. I didn’t really have anything of note to sell, but I was hoping that my jam would at least heft a good price or trade.

Besides, it was the one of the few things I knew had a chance of selling.

With a grin of satisfaction, I eagerly skipped to my cupboard and attempted to reach for the pretty glass jars that I got from a travelling merchant a couple of months back.

“…What are you doing?” A voice asked from next to me.

“Eeeeppp!” I squeaked in surprise, withdrawing my hand to my side.

“Don’t do that!” I narrowed my eyes. “You know I don’t like it when you walk up to me! You could at least call out to me first. Instead of approaching me like some sort of stealthy thief!”

“I’ve been calling you for the past five minutes.” Myrddin rolled his eyes. “But as usual , you were too distracted with your…farming—“He looked as if the word personally offended him.”—to pay any attention to anything else. Not that it’s any surprise.”

I opened my mouth to give him a scathing remark but Myrddin continued on, ignoring me.

“Anyways, it’s time for me to leave.”

About time, I scoffed to myself but Myrddin as if sensing my thoughts , narrowed his eyes at me.

“As I was saying,” He continued. “I have some urgent business to take care of so I probably won’t be able to visit you for a bit. I know, I know, my presence will be most missed during tea time, but alas, I must part with you for now, good lady.”

The sarcasm on the last part was not lost on me.

“It’d be great if you didn’t come back. Ever.” I mumbled under my breath.

“But in all seriousness, Mallory, do not leave Boar Village alone. There’s been sighting of some…unsavory individuals lately. If you need to run an errand or do some farmer thing, make sure you’re accompanied by a large group or at least someone who has some measure of physical prowess.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I waved him off, moving to pick up more of the supplies I needed but my path was blocked when Myrddin slipped in front of me.

“I’m being serious here Mallory.”

The look on Myrddin’s face told me that there was more to it than just unsavory individuals, but I knew better than to question him. After all, it wasn’t like I had any reason to live the village on my own.

“…Okay.” I said.

Once Myrddin was satisfied with my response, he left my house in a beam of light – gods, he could’ve just used the door—and I clicked my tongue in distaste.

Would it kill him to use less flashy spells?! Look at all the pixie dust he left in my dining room! This would be a pain to clean up!

.

I spent the next few days in relative peace, going about my daily tasks without much fanfare. It was rather monotonous but I wasn’t complaining because this was the exact kind of life that I found rewarding. I didn’t have any desire to do anything grand and dangerous, despite the chance to do so being shoved in my face.

To this day, I still had no idea why Myrddin was obsessed with having me of all people accompany him.

But I chalked it all up to mages being a weird bunch in general and left it at that.  

“Stop scowling , darling, it’s unbecoming of you.” A voice chirped.

“I’m not scowling.” Looking up from the strawberry I was cutting , I gave the woman—Lydia—in front of me a small smile.

“Yes of course, and I’m the queen of the five realms.” Lydia shot back from her side of the table. “Come on, Mal, spill! Even I can tell that something’s troubling you.”

I snorted. Trouble was putting it lightly.

“Is it about Myrddin?” She pressed on, a Cheshire like grin on her pretty face. “The miller’s daughter told me that she saw him visit you a couple days back! Oh my, how absolutely scandalous!”

“Ah. Yes. Of course. Speaking of scandalous, you might want to avoid going to the lake during the evening for your weekly dalliances. I pick up my herbs there and I would appreciate not hearing the blacksmith’s son moaning like a—“

Lydia shrieked as she threw an apple core at me, which I deftly dodged.

I shot back another frank remark about her fraternization with the blacksmith’s son and Lydia scowled as if I had killed her puppies.

Despite my teasing, I was glad for her company. Lydia was perhaps the only person in this village I actually considered a friend and not just a passing acquaintance. When I first moved here, I was a bit of an outcast. The villagers, were nice, mind you, but they were comprised of people who knew each other from birth. They did their best to welcome me and in fact, they coddled me – and still do—to a surprising degree , despite my status as a stranger.

But I was treated with some sort of distance and I suppose reverence? I wasn’t really sure but I did notice that some of the elderly bowed at me whenever I went into the market but they were quickly shushed by the adults, who would placate me with a nervous smile.

It was weird. But so was this entire world anyway.

Anyways.

It was only Lydia who actually crossed that distance and befriended me . She was a bit of a local celebrity and was lauded as the hottest girl in townTM. I was wary at first but she eventually won me over with her amazing personality – and with bribery via bread.

“So,” Lydia patted herself of the fruit rinds that had fallen on to her apron. Damn. She was much faster than me at slicing these fruits. “What are you going to do in the spring festival?”

“Just the usual, I guess?” I responded, as if I regularly went to spring festivals. “Sell stuff. Trade some stuff. Eat.”

“…Do you even know what happens during spring festivals?” Lydia raised a brow.

“Well, I mean , how different can it be from where I’m from?” Nervous laughter bubbled from my lips.

Lydia and the rest of the village didn’t know that I came from another world. To explain my lack of knowledge on their culture and norms, I told them that I was raised by a hermit who lived in the mountains and was robbed of all my earthly possessions when I left.

And apparently that seemed to be a very common backstory over here so the good people of Boar Village were quick to accept my story.

“That’s true, well, looks like I don’t need to prepare you for our yearly boar racing competition!”

“…Don’t you mean boar hunting?”

“Nope! I very clearly meant boar hunting!”