Grandma is Not Home

As she got closer to her home, Helen suddenly got reminded of the empty basket she held in her hand.

"Right, I need to return this." Helen decided to take a short detour.

After a short walk, she arrived at the front of Sera's bakery, but it was strangely quiet today. None of the usual customers came to buy their daily bread, after all, the store's door was shut.

"Huh?"

It was rather unusual for Sera to close her bakery during business hours. In the past few years, she never saw her stopped working. Even when she was sick, she still opened the bakery at least for a few hours.

In any case, Helen decided to knock on the door for now.

*Knock Knock*

"Aunt Sera, are you home? I've come to return the basket."

She waited for a while, still no answer. Just as she thought that Sera was not home, a voice spoke out from behind the door.

"Thank you for coming, dear. Would you please leave the basket by the table at the porch?" It was Sera's voice.

"Huh?" Helen thought that her aunt was acting weird. If she was behind the door, why not just open it and get the basket directly? Nevertheless, Helen chose not to delve into it further.

"Okay," Helen replied as she did exactly like what Sera said. "I will go now, see you later!"

Before Helen set off, Sera spoke out again, "Ah, about that…"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry, but can we go to the market for tomorrow instead?"

"Ehhh why?" Helen asked with a long face.

"A hot oven pan just fell over and seared my knee this morning," Sera explained, still with door dampening her voice. "It will take an overnight for me to heal it."

"Oh… okay then, get well soon."

"Thank you, Helen. I will see you tomorrow at noon."

Having said that, Helen could hear Sera walking away from the door. Though she was a bit disheartened, Helen had no other choice than to turn around and headed back home.

Going through a rough gravel path, passing several old shops and thatched wattle-daub houses, only then she could see the humble wooden house.

Compared to the nearby houses that had been ragged due to the passage of time, the wooden house looked like it was built just yesterday. To be fair, she never even watched her grandma attempting to renovate the house, yet there it stood, nice and firm.

After pushing the key into the keyhole and rotating once, she held the knob and push the door open.

The wooden door creaked subtly as Helen said, "I'm home!"

No response.

"Grandma?" Helen called for the second time.

'Probably in the kitchen?' she thought as she moved to the kitchen. But to her disappointment, Irene was not there.

'Her bedroom?' Helen went to check the bedroom, only to notice that her grandma was not there either.

'Did she went to the nearby village to sell some merchandise again?' was the only conclusion that Helen could come up with. But then again, her grandma would always notify her in the morning if that was the case.

Helen sighed. In the end, her grandma was old. Maybe she forgot to tell her about it this morning.

"What should I do now…"

It was not long before Helen realized that she got idle and bored. Usually, she would help her grandma to cook or chopping wood for the fireplace, but she always told her not to go near sharp objects on her own.

"Ah, I know!"

She went to the storage room just outside of the kitchen and picked up a broom, a feather duster, and a piece of relatively thick fabric.

Going into the house again through the back door, Helen began to sweep every nook and cranny and wiped every surface. Soon enough, everything was sparkly clean.

A small pile of dust near the backdoor marked her achievement, it would be a lie to say that she did not feel proud at all. Although Irene usually cleaned up the whole house swiftly with her magic, Helen did not mind giving her a little surprise later.

"Whew…" After finishing up and putting all the tools back, Helen went to her bedroom and fall flat onto her bed.

The sun was about to set. Still more time before the promised dinner time.

Helen was idle again, but this time, she knew just what to do. Shifting her body to the right side of her bed, she reached out to the table and pull out the drawer. Inside were a pair of long dull needles and balls of wool yarn of different sizes and colours.

She picked up the wood needles and a white yarn ball with a thickness of her pinky. Pulling the thread, she made the first knot and insert it to the needle on her left hand. Helen kept inserting similar knots into the needle until the twelfth knot, by which she began to knit.

Winter will arrive next month. Helen thought that a scarf would be a nice parting gift for Catherine. As a noble, Catherine will definitely be able to continue her education, while she, as a commoner girl --save her perplexing identity, would usually end up as a maid.

"Done!"

In a short three hours, a white, one meter long scarf was fully exposed in front of her. Knitting was one of her hobbies. Using her grandma as a role model, Helen was confident that her finished product could even rival those sold in common stores.

When she was done with the scarf, the sun has set and the Light Rune on the ceiling had turned on. Yet, Irene had not returned.

Helen began to worry. Her grandma always said that the world was so big that no Hunter dared to claim that they can slay all beasts under the heaven. Some anomalies may appeared out of nowhere in a region where even elite Explorers were too afraid to step into.

What if her grandma encountered one of those situations during her travel?

No matter the circumstances, Irene always returned before dinner time. Except that one time during the draught two years ago when she had to work overtime and only returned past midnight. But today? Today was not any different than any other day, it was not the annual Victory Celebration day either.

Suddenly, three knocks from the front door disrupted her thoughts.

"Coming!" She jumped down from the bed and walked quickly to answer the door.

Opening the door, Helen saw an old gentleman in a tailsuit, who then bent his waist for a salute.

"Good evening, young miss Helen," the old man greeted politely. "Young miss Catherine had sent me here to come and escort you. Would you please come with me to the carriage."

Now, even Catherine's butler had come to pick her up.

"Please wait," Helen said as she dashed inside once again.

"No problem, take your time."

Helen went to the bathroom and washed herself up quickly. After that, she ran to her bedroom, then opened her wardrobe to select the best dress she had --her one and only dress that had a quite expensive look.

A silky black dress decorated with sparse silvery glitter and a gray flower pattern on its right hip. To be honest, it was not that amazing, but Helen did not want to appear bad in front of Catherine's parents as they were nobles.

A few minutes later, Helen walked to the front door. But midways, she stopped to pick up a small piece of papyrus on the dining table and a thin coal beside it.

She began to write,

"I'm going to Catherine's home for dinner. Please do not cook my dinner nor wait for me.

Love,

Helen."

Having done so, she left the note on the dining table. Even though she felt reluctant to go before seeing her grandma first, she would feel guilty if she broke her promise at the last second.

The only thing she could think of was probably asking Catherine's family's help if her grandma did not return by midnight.

"I'm off," Helen said.

Of course there was no answer, but a habit was a habit. Helen blushed in embarrassment, but fortunately, no one was there jeer at her stupidity.

Opening the front door once again, Helen locked the door and draped the golden key like a necklace.

She turned to the old butler and said, "Okay, I'm ready."

"Then, please follow me to the carriage," the old butler said with a smile.