Songstress of Schwarzwald: The Secret of Zoe, the Exiled Music Mage Chapter 26 : Ribbons are Expensive!

Maggie’s cheerful shout of “Over there!” cuts off the serious talk about how being an apothecary ant dealing with life and death.

“I want to wear a ribbon in my hair for the sumr festival!”

“Oh, so Lang Village has a sumr festival too?” I ask.

Maggie blinks in surprise, then nods. “Oh, right. You weren’t in Lang Village last year. Even people from Carlton co for it!”

What? From the town to Lang Village! That’s surprising!

“What kind of festival is it?”

“There are food stalls, and everyone dances together!”

Maggie runs off to buy ribbons before I can get a proper answer, but festivals do sound fun.

“Hello there!” she calls out.

A general goods store? It’s similar to the village store, but there are no farming tools or pots.

I see sheets, bedding, curtains... is this a fabric shop? Hmm, nope, there’re too many little trinkets around. What are half these things even for?

“May we look at the ribbons?”

A young woman is minding the store. She’s quite pretty.

“Of course! If you find one you like, just let know and I’ll asure it out.”

Maggie is studying the cylindrical spools of ribbon arranged on a corner shelf with intense concentration.

? I’d rather have a musical instrunt. And if I can’t get one, candy will do!

“You’re not buying anything?” The shopkeeper smiles at as I wander around the store looking bored.

“I’d rather have a flute than a ribbon.”

She looks a bit surprised, then lets out a tinkling laugh. She must be popular with the n.

“Are you going to perform at Lang Village’s sumr festival?”

So the sumr festival really is a big deal around here?

“I’ve never been, so I’m not sure. But I think I’d like to play if I had a flute.”

She’s so elegant I ended up trying to sound a little grown-up too.

“A flute, huh… Well, there might be a drum in the shop across the lane. Drumming and dancing beca a trend for the boys at the sumr festival.”

Hmm? I wonder what kind of drum it is. A small one? Or more like a tambourine? Either way, that sounds fun!

If you’re going to drum and dance at the sa ti, it’s gotta be light and easy to carry.

“Thank you. I’ll check it out later.”

She chuckles. “Maybe I’ll go to the Lang Village festival this year too. I might et soone nice.”

Soone as pretty as her would have n lining up, I’m sure. Ah! So the festival must also be good for young people looking to et each other.

But why in Lang Village? Guess I’ll ask Maggie on the way ho! Even if Maggie doesn’t know, her father probably will.

anwhile, Maggie is agonizing over her choice.

“Hey, which one do you like better?” she asks.

Out of all the ribbons, she’d narrowed it down to a green one and a blue one and now couldn’t decide. Honestly, they look pretty similar to .

“Hmm… I’d probably go with green.”

The pretty shopkeeper smiles and nods in agreent.

“I always go with green because I’ve got red hair.”

I didn’t know that. She never wears ribbons normally.

“Then how about blue?” I suggest.

Maggie holds the blue one up to her hair, but… hmm. It doesn’t really match.

“If you’ve already got a green one, what about brown?”

The shopkeeper suggests a brown ribbon, but it doesn’t really pop.

“What about pink or a nice pale blue?” I say this because they’re the prettiest colors among the ribbons.

But both Maggie and the shopkeeper give reproachful looks.

“No way! Pink with red hair?!” they said in unison.

In this world, there are so many hair colors, and Maggie’s red hair is way more vibrant than the red hair I knew in my past life.

“That’s just common sense!”

Maggie starts fuming, so I back out with a quick, “Oh, I didn’t know that.” Selina probably doesn’t care about this kind of thing, because I’d never been taught.

Maybe that brown ribbon the shopkeeper picked would suit Maggie better when she’s a little older. It really does go well with her hair color.

Maggie hems and haws for ages and finally chooses the green one.

I couldn’t help asking, “But don’t you already have green ribbons?”

“It’s a slightly different shade. And the one from last year is all crumpled,” she says, holding it out for asuring.

“With your strawberry blonde hair, Zoe, you could pull off anything but red!”

Really? I thought pink might not work on either.

“A deep red would probably be fine, too,” the shopkeeper advises.

Still, I’m not spending a whole hundred pennies on a ribbon!

I got shocked by how expensive it was, but apparently the ribbons are made of silk. That’s why the colors are so vibrant.

The shopkeeper mighta wanted to sell a ribbon too, but I’m still at the stage where appetite trumps vanity! Actually, musical instrunts co before that!

“Let’s go buy candy!”

Having spent her hundred pennies of allowance, Maggie declares she’ll use all her remaining money on candy.

Co to think of it, she’s probably never tasted Killer Bee honey or Treant sap. I’ll bring her so next ti.

It’ll be a thank-you for taking to Carlton!