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Post-Juna
My name is Komari Corda. I’m a human girl, seventeen years old.
I come from a farming family and I was born the second of six children. The family didn’t have a lot of money, and to help put food on the table for my many siblings, from the time I was fourteen, I started heading in to the capital, Parnam, to work at a business owned by an acquaintance of my father.
The business my father’s acquaintance ran was a restaurant, and I worked as a server there.
It was open from just before noon until around ten o’clock at night, but... it was especially hectic during the nights. That was because a lot of customers were drinking during that time.
“Hey, Komari, wanna come here and have a little drink with me?” a customer asked.
“I-I’m still working...” I turned him down gently, because interacting with the customers was part of my job, and then I walked away from that customer. When I did, another customer slugged that drunkard who had invited me to join him.
That was because the owner had made it clear that if anyone hit on me, then they, and all their friends, would be blacklisted. There were some people I didn’t know quite how to deal with, but the regulars were all good people, and I felt safe working that job. It could be a lot of trouble, but I had to work hard for my brothers and sisters back home.
Now, that was all there was to say about my job, but I also had something I secretly enjoyed.
“Komari, I’ll give you a tip, so sing something for us, would you?” one customer said, waving a coin back and forth.
“Oh, sounds good! I wanna hear that, too.”
“Yeah. Let us hear the one that lorelei was singing on the Jewel Voice Broadcast the other day.”
Like that, the copper coins that would be my tip piled up on the table.
“...Okay,” I said. “Well then, please listen to this song that Nanna Kamizuki sang on the Jewel Voice Broadcast.”
I began singing in between the tables. This was something I secretly loved doing.
I don’t know when it had been, but at some point, I had been humming to myself while wiping the tables before the hour we opened, and the owner had heard me. He’d liked it, and he’d decided I should sing in front of the customers one time. The customers had enjoyed my singing, and so, ever since, I had occasionally been asked to sing like this. The owner let me keep the tips I earned this way as part of my income, so I had plenty of motivation to do it.
When I finished the song, the customers erupted into applause.
“Whew! Komari, no matter when I hear you, your singing’s always so good.”
“The loreleis’ singing is incredible, but I think I prefer Komari’s more simple style.”
“They do that amateur singing contest on the Jewel Voice Broadcast, don’t they? Why don’t you try out, Komari?”
“You’re adorable, too. Maybe you’d make a better lorelei than you’d think?”
“N-No... Me, a lorelei? It’s too great an honor for someone like me...” I said, hiding my face behind a tray.
Me, become a lorelei...? I could never. I had seen them on the Jewel Voice Broadcast, and all of the loreleis were so radiant. Especially the one they called the Prima Lorelei, Juna Doma. Her singing voice and beautiful face were one of a kind, and even a woman like myself was entranced by her. Only someone like her could stand on the stage like that. A simple girl from a farming family like me had no place in that world... But...
It’s okay to dream of singing in a place like that someday, isn’t it?
While mulling that thought over, I went back to work.
It happened some time after that.
The kingdom changed its name from the Elfrieden Kingdom to the United Kingdom of Elfrieden and Amidonia (the Kingdom of Friedonia for short), and there were many things going on in the world, but I was working as a server, the same as ever, and was living my life with only the occasional request to sing.
But then one day, while I was doing my usual work as a server...
“Excuse me, is there a Komari Corda here?” a woman who was sitting at a table off in the corner called out to me. That woman wore a hooded robe, and I couldn’t see her face very well, but she had a very clear voice with a gentle timbre.
“Yes, I’m Komari...” I said, approaching her.
The woman put a gold coin down on the table. “Could I ask you to sing a song for me?”
“Wait, is that... a gold coin?! I can’t accept this much!” I protested.
It was a hundred times more than I was usually paid for singing. I couldn’t sing anything nearly good enough to be worth that sort of money. I told her as much, but the woman gently said, “Please. I want to hear you sing the very best that you can.”
The sincerity she spoke with told me this wasn’t a rich person’s whimsy. There was something about her... The woman had an aura that drew in those who looked at her. If she was going to be so insistent, I had to do it for her.
“...Okay,” I said at last. “I’ll sing with everything I’ve got.”
And so, I sang as hard as I could. It was a song that Juna Doma had sung on the Jewel Voice Broadcast before. I had heard that it was a song from His Majesty King Souma’s country, but that Juna had written lyrics for it in this country’s language, or something like that. I thought the song was well-suited to Juna, who was quiet and gentle, yet still powerful.
When I finished the song, the woman clapped. That was followed by a torrent of applause from the rest of the customers in the restaurant who had been listening, and I felt a bit embarrassed.
“Um... what did you think...?” I ventured.
The corners of the woman’s lips turned up a little as she said, “You were lovely. You have a good singing voice. Your technique is a little underdeveloped, though. I think the fact that you’re self-taught and don’t have any specialist knowledge plays a large part in that.”
Urkh... Those words stung, but they were on the mark, so I couldn’t say anything back.
“However, being underdeveloped means you still have potential,” the woman said. “If you build experience, and aim to go higher, it’s no dream that you could become the greatest lorelei of this generation.”
Now she was giving me far more praise than I thought I was due.
“No... Me, the best of this generation...?” I stuttered. “It’s impossible.”
“Oh, my. Why do you say that?”
“Well, the Prima Lorelei is Ms. Juna Doma, right? For me to overcome her perfect beauty and singing voice... It’s just not possible.”
“Hee hee. I’m not that great, you know?” The woman pulled back her hood.
“Huh? ...Whaaaaaaa?!”
There was Ms. Juna Doma herself.
I-It’s really her?! Huh?! Why is she here?!
While I was still in shock, Juna gave me a mischievous smile and said, “I’m sorry for testing you like that. I heard there was a potential lorelei with great potential here in this restaurant, and I came to scout you.”
“M-Me?!”
“Yes. I’m certain about it now that I’ve heard you sing. You have the potential to become a lorelei that every person in this country will love. What do you say? Will you come to the singing cafe, Lorelei, to learn how to sing and aim to become a lorelei? I don’t mind if you continue working here at the same time, of course.”
“B-But...”
I looked around. The customers were all saying, “Congratulations, Komari!” “I’m so happy for you!” “We’ll need to have an advance celebration. Barkeep, give me another one!” and they gave me their blessings. The owner gave me a thumbs up from over in the kitchen, too.
Everyone... Thank you so much!
With all of their encouragement, I gave Juna a firm reply.
“Yes! I’ll be looking forward to working with you!”
It was today, on this day, that I took my first step as a lorelei.
? ? ?
That moment, when Komari Corda took her first step towards becoming a lorelei, while Juna wore a gentle smile on her face, she was bursting with joy inside, even more so than Komari.
I’ve found someone good. I couldn’t ask for a better person to succeed me.
Recently, Souma had told Juna, “When more songstresses have gathered, and we have trained enough people that can keep the program on course, I swear, I will take you then.”
Juna had said, “I’ll wait longingly for that day, sire,” but she had never told him that she would actively work to make that day come sooner.
When this girl has fully grown, I hope you’ll come for me like you said you would, Your Majesty.
While thinking that, Juna wore a mischievous smile.