Miss Witch Doesn’t Want to Become a Songstress

In the snowy weather, Hestia walked down a hillside path, dressed in a dark blue, fur-lined winter dress. Ahead of her, a frozen white lake became clearer through the falling snow.

On the grounds of Swallow Garden Academy, the surface of Leaf Fragrance Lake had already frozen over. A few students could be seen skating across it, while others could only watch from afar.

Hestia stopped walking and shook the snow off her hood before removing it. Standing by the lake, she opened the wooden crate she had been carrying. Three small ducks emerged, shaking their feathers.

Now sporting white plumage, the three ducks had grown quite a bit. Shortly after they stepped out, an indigo serpent slithered out as well, positioning itself protectively beside them.

Despite the cold weather, the ducks showed no signs of fear. They wiggled their feet, stepping onto the ice and sliding toward the center of the lake.

“Take it slow~” Hestia called out, following the little ones onto the ice herself.

The ice was rather thin.

As soon as Hestia stepped on it, she realized something was off. A faint white glow appeared on her body, lightening her weight. Only then did she feel somewhat reassured.

It made sense why many students weren’t skating; it seemed one needed to master levitation skills to play on the lake safely. Outside of the students in the Skylark Tower, others rarely invested time in learning such skills. They typically waited until their third year to study aerial techniques instead.

As a school deeply tied to avian themes, Swallow Garden Academy required all students to master the flight spell. However, the specific methods of flying varied by discipline, so no single technique was mandatory.

Reaching the center of the lake, Hestia directed the indigo serpent to carve out a circular hole in the ice. The three ducks dove in, while Hestia pulled out a collapsible fishing rod to start fishing.

Leaf Fragrance Lake was home to a unique type of fish that could only be caught in winter. During other seasons, they buried themselves in the lakebed’s mud, making them nearly impossible to catch. This was the last species she needed to complete her collection.

The ducks swam around the fishing line, occasionally diving underwater to search for smaller fish, though without success.

Even in the biting cold, the ducks remained fearless. This was because they had already advanced to Nature Sequence 1 – White-Feathered Duck. Though lacking any special abilities, they were far more cold-resistant than ordinary animals.

While Sequence 1 wasn’t particularly rare, raising ordinary animals to this level—especially in just two months—was remarkable. If others knew, it would undoubtedly stir amazement within the academy. However, Hestia didn’t care for such fame, so few were aware. Moreover, the magical fluctuations of Sequence 1 were subtle enough to go unnoticed unless someone examined them closely.

Perhaps only after advancing to Sequence 2 would her accomplishments draw significant attention.

As Hestia started to daydream while waiting for the float to move, the fishing rod in her hand suddenly jerked.

The fish beneath the water began to struggle violently, pulling the line toward the edge of the ice hole and slicing against its frozen rim.

“Trying to escape? That’s not going to happen,” Hestia said with a playful glint in her eye. She stomped lightly on the ice and swiftly yanked the rod upward.

A large, silver fish encased in a block of ice leapt out of the water, sparkling in the sunlight.

It was a Sequence 2 – Silverstone Fish, a unique species capable of transforming its body into stone to hide and hibernate.

Carrying the heavy fish, Hestia glanced around and suddenly realized she hadn’t brought a basket to store her catch.

Would she have to walk around the lake carrying the fish? She recalled some amusing online memes.

“How do you know I caught a big fish today?”

There was a joke about anglers developing amnesia after catching a big fish, wandering their neighborhood three times before finding their way home.

Funny as it was, Hestia truly hadn’t brought a basket today. Using spatial magic to store the fish in front of so many people felt too extravagant and conspicuous.

With no better option, she sighed, shook her head, and carried the fish toward the lakeside, hoping to borrow a basket from the nearby fishing gear hut.

She didn’t plan to eat the fish. Instead, she wanted to raise it and experiment with its abilities—perhaps to aid in the advancement of magical animals. After helping her ducks evolve, she realized she had a particular knack for this kind of work. Her crystals could stabilize transcendent cores with ease. Even if errors caused internal injuries, she could heal them with fusion crystals or explore better methods using the Voice of Temporal Strings.

Recently, she had sent three gemstone elixirs to her cousins in Shallow Glaze. These were the results of her ongoing experiments. Contrary to what the adults might think, they weren’t as difficult to create as they imagined. After overcoming initial unfamiliarity, she could now produce such elixirs with ease. Still, she avoided making them in excessive quantities to prevent drawing attention—there were too many ways in the Federation to trace such things back to their source.

Am I going overboard? Hestia occasionally wondered.

What took others years or even decades to achieve, she could accomplish effortlessly due to her talent.

Sighing, she felt that an ordinary life was drifting further and further away from her.

At the lakeside, some classmates noticed the silver fish in her hand and grew curious.

“Is that a Silverstone Fish?”

“Looks like it. It’s even emitting faint magical fluctuations—definitely Sequence 2.”

“Beautiful… both the fish and the person.”

“You’re already noticing the girl? I thought you only cared about the fish!” A few students joked, with one or two bolder ones approaching to ask questions.

“Excuse me, is that a Silverstone Fish? How did you catch it?”

“I fished it up in the lake’s center. I found out they like to stay in the mud and only come out in winter,” Hestia explained briefly.

Before the growing crowd could surround her, she quickly slipped away, the three ducks chirping and waddling happily behind her.

“Phew.” Reaching the fishing gear hut, Hestia breathed a sigh of relief and knocked on the window.

The attendant inside looked out, immediately understanding her need upon seeing the fish in her hand.

“Ha, lucky you! Catching one in your first year—many students don’t manage it even after four years here.”

The attendant handed her a basket. Hestia placed the fish inside, melted the ice, and let it swim freely again.

“Thank you~”

She bowed slightly in gratitude, pulled her hood back on to shield herself from the snow, and then placed the ducks into the water-filled basket as well. They began playing with the fish.

With this, having finally caught 20 different fish species, Hestia had completed the first trial task assigned by Swallow Garden Academy.