Sepakai (GXG) (GIRLXGIRL) (GL)

56

Chapter 7
Section 7: Smiling Through the Walls
“I’m home.”

Walking in through the store-side entrance, I found Sarah talking with a customer.

“Oh, you’re back Iris.”

The customer turned around showing a jovial old man whose face was covered in deep wrinkles after a lifetime of smiling and laughter.

“Huh, Grandpa? What’s wrong?”

It was Ferdinand-san, the Calvafon bookstore’s neighbor and the magician ojii-chan who taught me what little I know about magic.

He put in an order for a new book the day before yesterday, but it hasn’t arrived yet. Grandpa should know that, so did he need to order something else and forgot about it until now?

“Welcome home Onee-chan. Grandpa and I were just talking about you.”

“I came over to order another book, but Sarah kept badgering me to talk with her some more.”

“Because I had loads of free time. And I didn’t have Onee-chan to keep me company. Oh, Saluena-sama, welcome back.”

Seeing Saluena come in after me, Sarah jumped out of her chair and quickly bowed.

“I’m back. It’s amazing how you can tend the shop on your own like this.”

“Thanks. Whenever Mom and Onee-chan are busy, it falls on me to pick up the slack.”

“Hoh, how admirable. But that reminds me, I never asked what your father does during the day. I only ever see him during the early mornings and at night.”

Saluena asked while quietly throwing some extra firewood into the stove in the middle of the shop.

“Did we never tell you? Dad is a scholar. He’s writing his next book right now.”

“Hoh, a scholar? So Iris inherited being a book lover from him?”

“Well, who knows? Dad married into the family, so maybe I got my book loving blood from Mom.”

The Calvafon bookstore is mainly manged by Mom. Dad will end up compiling all the research he’s done over the winter, and we’ll end up selling his book out of the shop.

With that being said, there are quite a few people who look forward to his books, and we get a surge of letters from all over the world every year during this time of the year. Grandpa here is one such person.

“So what kind of research does he do?”

“Medicinal herbs. The medicine I’m taking right now is something Flammel prepared for me.”

“Dad is amazing!!’

Sarah stuck out her chest with a *harumph*. But thinking for a bit, I wasn’t looking at her…..instead keeping my eye on Grandpa.

“Grandpa, I’m researching spirits right now…….”

“……hoh, spirits you say. How strange to hear that word coming from you. Are you interested in learning magic again?”

Grandpa’s face cracked into a large smile, one hand stroking his long, thin beard.

“Well, sorry. I’m not. The adventurers who escorted me home are currently working out of this city……”

It feels weird keeping a secret from Grandpa and Sarah, but I decided to avoid telling them both about what I was doing in the church. I instead focused only about what happened in the guild–about the investigation into the mysterious moaning and how we currently suspect there might be a powerful spirit nearby.