It was half past nine when the neighbors' party ended, and everyone left Lawyer Bell's house with a new agreement. Jenkins walked towards home with Mistalla Frante and Mr. Goodman. After saying goodbye to the two, he took out the key and opened the gate.
The cat who heard the sound immediately jumped out from the small door under the door, wagging its tail and looking at Jenkins on the steps in front of the door, looking happy.
"Today is very good."
He bent down and patted the cat's head, then took out the key and opened the door. Chocolate obediently followed behind the man, it was a little too obedient tonight.
But everything in the house is normal, except for the extremely imperceptible fragrance in the air, there is nothing abnormal in the house.
"Maybe chocolate is finally getting better."
Jenkins guessed in his mind that he chose to believe chocolate until he found evidence that it was doing something wrong.
"Meow~"
The cat gently rubbed against Jenkins' hand, and the squinting cat's face was full of enjoyment.
The next day was Monday, and there was light rain in the sky in the early morning. Jenkins did not bring an umbrella when he went to get the newspaper, so he returned to the house wet.
Using the flame to evaporate the raindrops on the clothes and newspapers, I felt a little unhappy looking at the crumpled newspapers.
After dinner, I took an umbrella and went to Dad's antique shop. I was in a bad mood on the gloomy morning, and Dad announced to Jenkins that he could give him a day off today.
"I'm going to the church to help identify a weird thing, it's the altar brought back by Miss Bevanna."
Dad said while putting on his coat. Due to the rain, the temperature this morning was a bit low.
"I'll probably be away all day. Since it's raining, there won't be any customers. You don't want to look at the store anymore. Go find Mihail or Hesha. I remember you said that you should find time to play with them."
"And tomorrow?"
Jenkins did not refuse his father's suggestion, and his father would not know where he went anyway.
"Come over tomorrow as normal, just in time for us to clean up the warehouse together, I am going to teach you some complicated rituals, which need space. Oh, and one more thing, Bevanna needs to take a rest, she asked me to tell you, tonight's fight Classes are suspended once, but Wednesday will continue as normal, don't forget."
"Good old man."
Standing at the door, Jenkins took out the umbrella in the barrel behind the door and handed it to the old man. The old man was wearing a black coat, a pair of rain boots, and a black hat on his head. He held an umbrella in one hand and a suitcase in the other.
After Jenkins opened the door, Dad walked out, stood under the awning and looked up at the rain, then raised the umbrella in his hand and shook it slightly in the air, and the umbrella bounced open with a "bang~".
"You throw away the box I have labeled in the warehouse, then lock the door and leave. Remember to turn the sign on the door."
Dad ordered, and after getting a response from Jenkins, he stepped into the rain on Fifth Queen's Road.
"It's nice to have a day off."
Jenkins muttered to himself and closed the store door, blocking the cold wind from the door. The cat had already jumped onto the counter and lay on its cushion. Chocolate thought that today would be a very interesting day.
The small cardboard box that the old man put in the warehouse was not very heavy. Jenkins opened it out of curiosity and found some old torn document paper inside. Judging from the yellowing of the paper, it should be a few years old.
I carried the cardboard boxes to the alley where the trash was thrown away. Because of the rain that lasted half the night, the uneven ground had already accumulated a layer of water. Jenkins looked at his boots, not wanting to be splashed with foul-smelling sewage.
He glanced back and made sure that the pedestrians on the street behind him were hiding themselves under umbrellas and hurriedly walking, so he called out the fire of grace and directly ignited the box.
The deliberately controlled flame quickly burns the combustibles in the box, and even if they are damp from rain, they are easily ignited.
The pile of papers, along with the box, was quickly burned, and Jenkins discovered that it wasn't just paper that was being licked by the fire. The flames were immediately withdrawn, and the interlayer was found in a notebook that had been torn in half.
In the interlayer is a bark-like thing, which has some fireproof properties, so Jenkins can see it before it is burned. After taking it out, I found that there were two lines written on it. Although the bark was burned off the corners, those words were lucky not to suffer:
[Dad, I knew you would find out the surprise I gave you. Happy Reading Day! This piece of engus bark is the gift - Steviere.
Another: I hope you will consider my winter vacation plans.]
"Stevell?"
Jenkins was taken aback, put the bark in his pocket first, and then burned all the remaining waste paper. He walked towards the antique shop with the umbrella, thinking about the piece of bark in his heart.
Miss Stillwell was a former student of Dad, and the "Engus Bark" written on the bark is a very precious material. This kind of bark has a better writing feel than modern industrial paper, and it is not perishable and can be stored for a long time.
More importantly, the bark of Engus is an excellent substance for storing spirits. Imprint the ritual on it, and the speed of the passage of the spirit is extremely slow. Therefore, in the development of modern spells, in addition to various metal and gemstone spells, scroll-type "talismans" are also quite popular, and the most excellent scroll material is the bark of Engus.
Judging from the message on the tree bark, this is probably a holiday gift from this senior sister to Dad during the Reading Festival of a certain year in the past, but Dad didn't notice it.
For unknown reasons, the lady didn't remind the old man about it after that, so this thing has been kept until now.
"Um… "
Jenkins instinctively wanted to use this bark to investigate his father, but immediately felt that it was impolite and boring to do so.
"Give the bark to Dad when he comes back... Use this to start the conversation, and Dad will definitely say something."
Thinking like this, he held down the cat that was coming from the other side of the counter and wanted to sniff it, then put the bark in the notebook and put it back on the counter.
"This is Dad's, not mine, so you can't eat it casually."
He said this to his cat, and was amazed to see that his cat really gave up struggling.
"Is chocolate sick?"
He thought in horror, and immediately took out the bark from the counter.
"Do you want to eat?"
He held out the bark to his cat, Chocolate shrugged its tiny nose, and then showed a look of disgust on his face, it had eaten better things last night.
"Are you sick? Is there something wrong?"
He asked again uncertainly, and the cat meowed softly, which sounded healthy.
"If you don't feel well, you must tell me."
Frowning and worried, he wanted to touch Chocolate's belly to see if there was a lump, but was pushed away by the cat's paw.
PS: If you can, try not to fatten up (cover your face), the recent drop in follow-up subscriptions has been dramatic.