I was a little confused, but after rereading I realized that the beginning is him in the future. Then we follow him in the "present" as he goes around town, finds the book that let's him make magic stones, and summons the fairy. At that point we catch up to the flashforward at the chapter's beginning. Then we follow him to Elm.
Both of the flashforwards we've gotten so far have been about the Fairy, Liselot ("Lise" for short). 
I can see why translation times are so long. This does have a lot of text.