The Magical Holy Woman Seraphina - Chapter 75

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Magic Saint Seraphina
75
“Rimkins Grandma’s Handmade Gelato has been around for about ten years. The owner is a woman in her thirties.”
“Wait. The place is called Grandma’s Gelato, but the owner is a woman in her thirties?”
“If it were called Rimkins Young Man’s Gelato, wouldn’t that sound delicious?”
“…No.”
Grandma’s Gelato: doesn’t measure anything, just tosses ingredients in by the handful, but it looks delicious. The kind of place that’s been selling gelato in the same alley for over thirty years.
Young Man’s Gelato: the colors and flavors are varied and it looks incredibly beautiful, but when you taste it, the actual flavor is… well, you know. That feeling.
That’s right. I’m drowning in prejudice.
“The shop has a good reputation in that neighborhood.”
Plenty of regular customers, and it’s well-regarded by the merchants who supply ingredients too.
“The staff is famous for staying on a long time. The youngest employee has been there for seven years now. They’re practically like family, I’m told.”
“The owner must treat them well.”
Treats them with a grandmother’s heart, it seems.
“But.”
“But what?”
“The owner recently fired all the employees, making up excuses for each one.”
“What?”
“Told them they didn’t need to come in starting tomorrow. Said their belongings would be left outside the shop for them to pick up.”
“Good heavens.”
So much for treating them with a grandmother’s heart!
“Don’t dishonor the grandmother’s— wait.”
I held up my hand.
“But that gelato shop is incredibly busy right now.”
You have to wait at least three hours just to buy a single gelato.
“So she’s handling all that volume by herself?”
That doesn’t make sense. At my shocked question, Cassian just shrugged.
“The employees got worried and went to check on her, but she wouldn’t come out. She just kept boiling milk inside.”
“Good heavens, no wonder.”
People have collapsed right in front of the shop and she didn’t even come out to look!
“Well, if she’s running the place alone, she obviously doesn’t have time to come out!”
And she fired all the staff in one go!
“What kind of grandmother does this!”
If she’s going to act like this, change the name to Father-in-Law’s Gelato!
With no grandmother or father-in-law left to offend, I felt free to shout it out.
“What on earth is she doing?”
“No idea. Anyway, the owner hasn’t been seen since then. She just stays in the kitchen all the time.”
“She doesn’t even leave to go home?”
“Apparently not.”
Cassian continued.
“She hired just one new employee to take money and hand out gelatos, and she stays in the kitchen all day herself. Doesn’t even go home.”
“That’s suspicious.”
“Very suspicious.”
“Downright suspicious.”
All three of us crossed our arms at once.
“There’s something even more suspicious than that.”
“More suspicious than never leaving for home?”
“Maybe she just loves her work.”
“That’s exactly what’s suspicious.”
“…Rimkins Grandma’s Handmade Gelato is a ten-year-old gelato specialty shop, but it wasn’t originally this famous. It was the kind of place where only people in the neighborhood knew about it and bought from it. But then.”
“Then?”
“Around the time we started watching Cameron Judge, one particular item started flying off the shelves.”
Ah, that thing about eternal happiness or whatever?
“Is it by any chance the Love Gelato?”
“The official name is Double Vanilla Bean Gelato.”
“Double Vanilla-bean Gelato?”
“Double Vanilla Bean Gelato.”
Cassian pulled out a society gossip column from the stack of newspapers I had, and placed it on top.
It was an article about recently trending desserts, written by some journalist who fancied himself a foodie.
The signature product of Rimkins Grandma’s Handmade Gelato featured in the article—the Double Vanilla Bean Gelato—was.
“That’s it, exactly. What I saw.”
Two ice creams on sticks pressed together.
“But why is it that if you share this, you’ll live happily forever?”
“The gelato has two sticks, doesn’t it?”
“Right.”
If you don’t split it perfectly evenly, someone’s going to start a fight, I added.
“That’s exactly why this gelato is so popular.”
Cassian mimed holding both sticks and dividing them.
“When two people hold this gelato and break it in half, if it splits exactly even, those two can live happily together their whole lives. Because their affection and consideration for each other are perfectly equal.”
“Ah….”
Talk about marketing gimmicks. I scoffed.
“Isn’t it just that they have exactly the same grip strength? When they stick it back together?”
“You didn’t go knowing it was a Magic Saint treat?”
“No? I just went because someone said it was a good place to eat.”
“I thought maybe you were going to share it with someone.”
“Why would I share happiness with someone?”
I’m not the type of person who divides happiness with others.
“Forget it then.”
He almost seemed disappointed, muttering something to himself before absently lifting and dropping Park Yeon’s hind legs.
Park Yeon, who’d been lying down and was now being bothered, bared his teeth with a rumble.
“Anyway, something’s really off.”
I said, slipping in my hand to feel Park Yeon’s paw pads alongside his.
“The owner suddenly changed, the people acting violently—all of it’s strange.”
And the grandmother collapsed right there in front of everyone, yet nobody so much as glanced at her.
“Normally, when something like that happens, even if someone loses their appetite, you’d expect at least one person to step out of line.”
No matter how much it’s someone else’s problem, when a person collapses in front of your eyes, it’s strange that the gelato going into your mouth takes priority.
Even if the gelato shop line is impossibly long and you have to start over from the beginning if you step out, that’s hard to understand.
“Don’t people usually step up and help rather than turn away?”
But those people back then—
“There was something wrong with their eyes too.”
“Definitely strange.”
Cassian agreed.
“Strange, you say.”
Park Yeon agreed as well.
“Should we go take a look?”
I suggested, partly to investigate.
At my words, Cassian’s eyes crinkled with amusement.
“So you can share one with me?”
I raised my fist in response.
‘But here’s the thing, Cassian.’
‘What?’
‘Those people I saw standing in line at the shop—they hadn’t eaten the gelato yet.’
‘True.’
‘Say there’s really something wrong with the gelato. But they hadn’t eaten it yet, so why…?’
‘Hmm.’
‘Could they get strange just from the smell? From just smelling it?’
‘Then you and your companions would’ve gotten strange too, Magic Saint.’
‘That’s true.’
‘Well, maybe they were just people who don’t care about others.’
‘Not care?’
‘People generally care less about others’ problems than you’d think.’
‘I see.’
‘It’s a world where individualists are increasing every day.’
“I suppose.”
No matter how indifferent someone is, come on. The grandmother couldn’t breathe right in front of them.
Calling that individualism feels like an insult to individualists.
“Is this what Arden was talking about last time?”
That people’s hearts aren’t all the same.
But during the Cameron Judge incident last time, everyone treated it like their own problem, showing empathy.
Those people who said “it felt like our own problem” and supported and raged alongside the Magic Saint—not a single one of them was among those standing in that long line that day?
“Ugh, I have no idea.”
I walked along, tugging at my hair.
Ding.
The General Store door swung open and Arden stepped out.
He was holding an ugly-looking Hammer, and when he spotted me, his eyes widened.
I reflexively stepped back and spoke.
“You know, walking around the street with a Hammer like that—you’d think someone would report it.”
“Report the Magic Saint first.”
“Isn’t that one supposed to be called the Sparkle Hammer or something?”
“…I’m just trying to fix the door handle.”
“The door handle?”
“It’s broken.”
“I see.”
How had that happened.
“Do your best.”
You’re good at repairs.
“Repair, repair, mend it well.”
“…….”
My half-hearted encouragement made Arden’s expression turn pointed, but he just shook his head.
“Where are you headed?”
“Oh, yeah. The Grand Temple.”
“Why?”
“…To pray?”
“You weren’t going to meet Cassian, were you?”
“I did meet him. By chance.”
“…….”
His expression darkened somehow.
I needed to change the subject.
“That’s right, Arden. You know anything about this?”
I brought up Rimkins Grandma’s Handmade Gelato, which had been nagging at me all this time.
“Some rumor or other. Supposedly if two people split one exactly in half and eat it together, they’ll be happy forever, blah blah blah.”
When Arden heard about the Double Vanilla Bean Gelato that had people standing in line for hours these days, his reaction was:
“People must be terribly lacking in confidence. Relying on such superstition.”
“…….”
“So they date if the gelato says yes, and break up if it says no? Pitiful creatures.”
“Huh.”
“To split the gelato, they have to stand in line waiting together, and there they are on the freezing street, making their lover stand for hours on end just to prove some vague love of theirs—packed in with strangers spewing droplets all around. Pathetic.”
“Huh.”
“Love like that isn’t worth having.”
He was really worked up now.
Fired up, Arden asked me:
“So who did you eat the ice cream with?”
“I didn’t eat it.”
“…….”
“…….”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Then why did you ask?”
“It’s trending these days. Just wondering if you’d heard about it.”
“I see.”
“…….”
“…….”
Arden lowered his head, stifling a laugh.
Getting angry by himself, then laughing by himself.
Now that I think about it, the people who’d eaten that gelato seemed to do the same thing. Sudden mood swings.
“Arden.”
“Yes?”
“You haven’t eaten the gelato, right?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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