SWNOVELXO Chapter 10
I only own two outfits—summer clothes and winter clothes. I put on my winter dress, wrap my cloak over it, and sling my bag across my shoulder. Ready to go.
“Zoe, are you going barefoot? What happened to your old sandals?”
Selina really isn’t cut out for raising children. She has no idea how quickly kids’ feet grow.
“They’re too small now! I can’t wear them anymore!”
Selina thinks for a moment, then pulls some fur pelts from her bag that she’d planned to sell. She makes rough cutouts using magic, wraps my feet, and ties them with string.
“Lang Village should have shoes for sale. You’ll have to make do with these until then!”
They look ridiculous and are harder to walk in than bare feet, but at least they’re warm.
Going barefoot was fine in summer, but now that autumn’s here, I’ve been feeling the cold. Though I guess it was all right before since I only walked within the Barrier.
We step outside the Barrier and follow the animal trail beside the house.
I knew it—this path really does lead to Lang Village! Now I can visit there regularly!
Or so I think, but partway along, the trail disappears.
“Selina, the path is gone.”
“Of course it is! You can’t just walk all the way to Lang Village from here.”
Selina pushes through the withered grass with her hands while I stumble along behind her, these makeshift fur boots making every step clumsy.
“Pay attention and remember this well. I’ve carved a teleporting Waymark into this rock. If anything ever happens to me, you can use it to get to Lang Village.”
“But I can’t teleport yet! Besides, nothing’s going to happen to you, right? I mean, you’re human so you’ll die eventually, but that’s a long way off!”
Selina places her hand on my shoulder and looks me in the eye.
“I don’t plan on dying anytime soon, but you never know what might happen. That’s why I said ‘if anything happens.’ Now come on, channel your mana into this Waymark.”
Selina and I both focus our magical energy into the circle. Her hand covers mine, and warmth spreads between our palms.
“Is this what mana feels like?” I look up at Selina’s face just as space warps around us with a strange twisting sensation.
“That’s how you use a Waymark.”
One moment I’m touching a sharp stone deep in the forest, and now my hand rests on a flat rock.
“This is the edge of the Great Forest. Remember this stone.”
“Selina, there’s no Waymark carved on this flat stone. How did we get here?”
She snorts with amusement. “It’s carved on the underside. This area is shallow enough that villagers and adventurers sometimes come here.”
It really is brighter here. The area around our house has some clearings too, but most of the Great Forest is so thick with trees that it stays dark.
“Come on, let’s go to Lang Village!”
I stumble along behind Selina as she strides ahead, these fur wrappings making me clumsy. Plus there are tree stumps scattered everywhere, making walking even harder.
“Ah, we’re out of the forest!”
I’ve lived my whole life in the forest. This is my first time outside it! Autumn has deepened, and dried grass sways in the wind—a lonely sight, but it’s not forest!
I can see what looks like Lang Village’s stone walls in the distance.
“Selina, is that Lang Village?”
Selina ignores me as if I’ve asked something obvious, but after walking a bit farther, she stops.
“Zoe, when we’re in Lang Village, call me Grandma. And don’t tell anyone you were abandoned! If anyone asks about your parents, just say you don’t know anything about them.”
I really don’t know anything about my parents, but... Grandma? That’s exactly the kind of name Selina usually hates being called.
“The previous village chief suspected that someone told others where my house was, but even he didn’t know the exact location. We still don’t know who brought you to my doorstep in the end. So it’s better to be careful.”
I’m so eager to reach Lang Village that I just answer “Okay!” and keep going.
“Do you really understand?” Selina presses, but I’ve already started running in these difficult fur boots.
Besides, there’s a logging road that runs all the way to Lang Village, so it’s much easier to run on than through the forest. This is the first time in my life I’ve run such a long distance!
I run until I’m panting and out of breath! It feels amazing!
“I need to buy shoes quickly!”
My fur boots come loose from all the running. Well, they’re not really boots. The string I’d tied them with comes undone, so I sit down to retie it.
“I hope you can buy them with the money from selling your herbs.”
“Huh? You’re not going to buy them for me?”
Surprised, I hurry to catch up with Selina, who’s walking briskly ahead.
“It’s about time you started learning to support yourself. Children get apprenticed out at ten years old. I’ll still provide your food until then, though.”
“Ugh, does that mean I have to buy my own clothes too?”
These winter clothes I’m wearing are already getting tight. They’re from last year, after all.
“You’d better work hard selling those herbs!”
“Selina!” I call out, but she ignores me.
Do herbs really sell for that much? And I’ve never even seen money... Well, actually I have seen it since careless Selina leaves it lying around everywhere, but I don’t know what it’s worth.
My head is spinning with all these thoughts, but meeting my first human other than Selina makes everything else fly out of my mind.
Actually, I once caught a glimpse of a scary man shouting outside the Barrier, but... that’s become a childhood trauma. I’m pretty sure Selina did away with him. I never saw him again after that.
Anyway, setting aside that exception, my first real human contact is with Lang Village’s gatekeeper. Looking back after I get used to visiting, he’s just an ordinary middle-aged man, but right now he seems like a huge, terrifying person.
“Ah, Granny! Come to sell herbs again?”
He calls her Granny! Won’t Selina kill him for that? Am I about to see bloodshed?
I instinctively step backward.
“Yes, and I brought my granddaughter along.”
Wait, she’s handing him something! A bribe? No, a toll? Do we have to pay money for everything?
“First time in Lang Village? There are some troublemakers around here, so be careful.”
Heart pounding, I pass through the gate into Lang Village. Inside are about twenty houses, several shops, what’s probably a tavern, and one slightly larger house.
“That’s the village chief’s house. If you run into any trouble, go there. While we’re here, let’s stop by and say hello!”
Before that, I want to buy shoes! Everyone in Lang Village is wearing proper shoes.