Chapter 363: FTG Chapter 360: The Old Photograph
Erzi’s gaze was immediately drawn to the old photograph on the wall.
This photograph was neatly fitted inside a square wooden picture frame.
The surface of the picture frame was wiped very clean, but in several places along the edges of the photograph inside, it had already turned white or yellow—visibly the marks left behind by the erosion of time.
The photograph was a large group photo.
Standing right at the center was a stunningly handsome middle-aged man in his forties; he was precisely Weston in his youth.
Crowded all around Weston were the guild partners of bygone years: Mavis, Zera, Yuri, Precht, Warrod, and Irene were prominently listed among them, while the younger generation of Darwin, Chris, Erza, and Makarov were also inside.
Behind everyone was Fairy Tail.
"Could these people be the partners old grandpa mentioned earlier who participated in the dragon hunting campaign together?"
"But the background of the photograph is the guild, so old grandpa was also a Wizard of Fairy Tail in the past?"
Erzi speculated subconsciously, and subsequently felt vexed by her own hindsight.
That was it; old grandpa said he used to be a professor at Fairy Academy, and now he had returned to live inside the academy. If he didn’t possess a massive connection to Fairy Academy, how could he possibly manage it?
The relationship between Fairy Academy and Fairy Tail was so close. Since he had a connection to Fairy Academy, originally being a Wizard of Fairy Tail was perfectly normal.
It was just that...
Calculating his age, he must be an elder from many, many years ago!
Erzi turned her head to look at Weston, who was currently busy in the kitchen. Thinking about how the other party was also a Wizard of Fairy Tail just like herself, she subconsciously felt a bit closer to him.
At this moment, Gray noticed Erzi’s movements, so he sidled over with small steps, and subsequently his attention was also drawn by the photograph on the wall.
"Is this old grandpa and his partners?"
"How many years ago must this photograph be from? It has to be at least fifty years, right!"
"If the background of the photograph weren’t actually Fairy Tail, I wouldn’t dare believe they are seniors from the guild."
Gray’s thoughts were about the same as Erzi’s, but immediately following that, he began to search his memory, wanting to correspond the people on the photograph to the people he knew one by one.
"Hiss..."
"Erzi, look at this person, doesn’t she look like Headmaster Grandma?"
"Similarly keeping a head of long red hair, and similarly holding a serious and solemn appearance. The most critical part is that gaze; looking at it makes people shudder!"
The person Gray pointed to was precisely Erza.
It had to be said that he still possessed a bit of eyesight.
Erzi looked along Gray’s gaze, and her twin eyes instantly lit up: "It’s highly possible, you know! In Magnolia, there aren’t many people with red hair! But if this person is the headmaster, then who is the other person keeping red hair?"
"Probably Headmaster Grandma’s older sister or something like that."
Gray was exceptionally confident in his own guess, "After all, look, their appearances in the photograph look to be about the same age."
Erzi felt it made a lot of sense, nodding subconsciously, and then pointed toward Chris and Makarov in the photograph.
"Then the woman beside the headmaster should be the vice headmaster?"
"And this person, although he looks a bit taller than he does now, is very clearly Grandpa Makarov in his youth!"
"And then there’s..."
Erzi finally cast her gaze toward Darwin: "This man is about the same age as the headmaster and the others, maybe he is my... uh... great-grandfather?"
Aside from these few people, combined with the young Weston at the very center of the photograph, the two could no longer recognize anyone else.
Learning that Erzi’s recognition capability was actually this poor, Gray only felt it was unbelievable in his heart: "I say, great-grandfather, great-grandmother, great-grandaunt—aren’t these all elders within your family? Why are you still unable to recognize them?"
Erzi rolled her eyes speechlessly: "Please, you said it yourself that they are my ’great’-grandparents and ’great’-grandaunt. There are a full two generations separating us in the middle, how could I possibly manage to recognize them at a single glance?!"
"Can you recognize your own ancestors from three generations back?"
"What’s more, this is still what they looked like in their youth!"
Gray opened his mouth, unable to refute.
In fact, if it weren’t for the fact that Erza’s red hair in the photograph was indeed eye-catching, he wouldn’t have recognized that the other party was that fierce and strict Headmaster Grandma either.
"But... don’t you have old photographs or something like that at home?"
"Not a single one!"
Erzi shook her head and said: "In fact, the number of times I’ve even met with my grandpa and grandma isn’t very many, let alone the people further up."
"From childhood to adulthood, I merely know that they are still healthy and alive, and that this layer of relationship exists between both sides, that’s all."
Gray was stunned upon hearing this.
Only now did he discover that even though he and Erzi had grown up together since childhood, he had rarely heard her mention matters regarding her family elders.
"Why is that? Could it be that the relationship between your family members isn’t good?"
"That’s not it either, it’s just that each has their own life..."
Erzi scratched her head, not knowing how to explain the situation of her family: "According to my dad, my grandpa served as a professor at Fairy Academy in his early years, and lived out his retirement at home after retiring. Although grandma was born wealthy, she is just an ordinary person and cannot use magic."
"As for the other members... my mom says they are all workaholics!"
"The people of the previous generation were busy running the guild, the people of the generation before that are living out their retirement, and the people of the generation before that were busy constructing the academy and cultivating talent. Everyone has their own things to do, so they rarely gather together."
Workaholics?
Gray thought of the guild’s current master, Descartes.
In his impression, Descartes was indeed a powerful, responsible, kind, and reliable master, but eight days out of ten he was busy due to the affairs of the guild, and he was rarely seen resting even on holidays.
Subsequently, he thought of the strict Headmaster Grandma in the academy, which was a similar situation, and he instantly nodded as if understanding yet not fully understanding.
"So that’s how it is... I seem to understand!"
Right during the time the two were speaking, Weston had already prepared breakfast.
"You two little fellows, come over and eat breakfast!"
"Okay~!"
"Coming right now~!"
Breakfast was very simple: just two slices of toasted bread, a fried egg, two slices of ham, and a cup of milk.
It wasn’t that Weston’s home lacked other things to eat, but rather because they had eaten barbecue through the night last night, and they simply couldn’t eat too much right now.
By the time the three leisurely finished eating breakfast, it was time to go to school.
Erzi and Gray bid farewell to Weston, left the small wooden cabin in the woods, and stepped onto that path covered in sunlight, marching their paces toward the teaching building.
"Then... we are off to school, old grandpa!"
"Be careful on the road, welcome to come back as guests next time!"
"Okay!!!"
—
Three minutes later.
"Oh no!"
"What’s wrong?"
"Our textbooks are still at home!!"
"!!!"
