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

Selina doesn’t care about appearances. She doesn’t even notice that I’m embarrassed about my crude shoes with their wrapped fur.

We walk briskly until we reach the village chief’s house. Along the way, I’m startled to see people with colorful hair. I have strawberry blonde hair—well, basically pink. Selina probably used to be blonde, I think. Now her hair is white.

The forbidden adult stories I read featured beautiful princesses with blue-platinum blonde hair and knights with deep blue hair, so I’d expected colorful hair to exist here. But my past-life memories are still in a panic about it.

Especially when I nearly blurt out “That doesn’t suit you at all!” at one balding man with blue hair. Though it seems like normal brown and black hair are still more common.

Lang Village’s chief looks fairly young, and his hair is ordinary brown. What a relief.

“Ms. Selina, what brings you here today?” He seems nervous somehow.

That struck me as odd. The gate guard earlier acted normally around her. Maybe that person doesn’t know Selina is a witch? Or even if he knows, maybe he doesn’t think she’s particularly powerful?

“I came today to introduce this girl. If anything should happen to me, I’d like you to look after her.”

Eh? This is the second “if anything happens” today. Could Selina be sick?

While I’m mulling this over, she clamps her hand down on my head. “Introduce yourself properly!”

Come on, I was just thinking about what you said!

I hurriedly introduce myself. “I’m Zoe.”

The village chief’s face clearly shows his confusion about where I came from.

“She’s my granddaughter. She’ll probably be coming to Lang Village fairly often from now on.”

An odd look crosses the chief’s face. Maybe Selina is troubled by all this as well?

“See you, then!” Selina says, leaving the village chief’s house behind.

“Um, I’m kinda uneasy about having that village chief look after me.” I voice my feelings once we’re a little ways off.

“Ah, well, the previous chief was more dependable. This one’s not a bad person, though. Besides, you’re going to start learning how to be independent, Zoe. I don’t think you’ll need much looking after.”

I’m relieved. Selina seems to be all right.

“Come on, we’ll sell herbs over there and buy you shoes!”

Ehhh, just like that?!

“Selina, I’ve never used money before...”

She looks a bit exasperated, but this is my first time out of the Great Forest.

“Well, you’ll be handling the bartering in this village!”

“Bartering?” Doesn’t that depend on negotiation skills?

I feel even more anxious.

“Hey, which shop should I sell herbs at? And where do they sell shoes and clothes?”

When I ask Selina, she strides right into a shop. It looks like a general store, but this is the right place, right?

“I’m here to sell pelts again.”

When Selina speaks, the proprietress inside greets us with a bright smile. She’s a cheerful, red-haired woman.

I feel a bit more at ease. This person might actually trade shoes for herbs, I think.

But watching the rapid-fire exchange between Selina and the proprietress makes sweat bead up on my back.

“Now, Zoe’s going to sell herbs too, right?”

After selling pelts and filling her carrying basket with food like wheat, Selina pushes me forward.

“Um, would you buy these from me?” Nervously, I take bundles of herbs from my bag and line them up on the counter.

“Ms. Selina, who’s this child?”

Selina signals with her eyes for me to greet her, so I bow politely.

When I say “I’m Zoe,” she exclaims, “My goodness! When did you get a granddaughter?”

“Umm, I need shoes and clothes.”

Having a long conversation full of lies with this talkative proprietress would be painful. Especially with this grandmother-and-granddaughter setup I only heard about today!

“Shoes... Well, they’re a bit big, but try them on! I can’t manage clothes though.”

“Her clothes are getting too tight! What a problem.”

The proprietress notices that my clothes have reached their limit. They’re so tight that if I raise my arms suddenly, they make an awful ripping sound.

“Um, I have some used boys’ clothes! If that’s all right.”

The shoes are the same type the people of Lang Village wear—leather that’s been tanned and sewn to wooden soles.

“They’re a bit big,” I say, and the proprietress stuffs some cut leather inside.

“If they’re still too big, you can add another piece of leather. Or since it’s getting cold, you could put fur inside to keep warm.”

The shoes are fine, but the used boys’ clothes she brings out from the back have a big hole in the knee.

“Eh, those are all tattered!”

The proprietress is tough.

“Eh, you just need to patch something like this. Oh, Ms. Selina was never any good at sewing! Ah, perfect timing! My kid just started as an apprentice at the tailor shop. Take these there and have them sewn up!”

Looks like bartering is out of the question for this.

“That’s right! It’ll be convenient if Zoe could learn to sew. I’ll give you this, so go learn.”

She hands me some money, but clearly has no intention of doing the sewing herself.

When I ask “Where is it?” she laughs and says I’ll know when I get outside.

Well, it’s not a big village.

I head outside carrying the used boys’ clothes.