Welcome to the Café of the Dark Guild’s Successor - Chapter 110

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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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A café run by the Heir to the Dark Guild.
Episode 110
“Peep!”
“Chirp!”
One of them was so interested in the hole I’d dug that it kept going in and getting trapped, and I had to keep pulling it out.
The other one waddled alongside my feet, bumping into me constantly until it finally scrambled right up onto my instep.
“Where did your mother go? Why are you two bothering me like this? Go play somewhere else.”
I sighed and reached down with one hand to pick up the chick that had climbed onto my foot.
The chick peeped and fluttered its tiny wings.
“Is that what you call flying?”
I set it on my palm and looked at it, then tilted my head slightly, struck by how small it still was.
Counting from the fire and the time I’d been unconscious, it was almost three weeks old now. Why was it still small enough to fit comfortably in my hand?
“Is something wrong?”
Worried, I peered at it intently and stroked its feathers gently when Armstrong suddenly burst out of the grass.
“Cock-a-doodle-doo!”
Behind Armstrong, I thought I saw another rooster’s comb, so I rubbed my eyes.
But only Armstrong had come from the bushes. I straightened up and looked around just in case, but I didn’t see anything else.
It must have been a trick of the eye. I set the chick down next to Armstrong.
After finishing the planting, I was dusting off my hands when a crow flew down and circled overhead.
I recognized it as Riley’s crow at once and held out my arm. The bird landed on my forearm and extended one of its legs toward me.
I plucked the note from the loop around its leg, and the crow immediately spread its wings wide and flew off.
I unfolded the note and decoded the cipher.
“Two days hence, at noon.”
The fact that they’d gone to the trouble of sending it in code rather than through the Communication Device meant this was official business.
“The decoding is complete.”
I glanced toward where my mother’s grave lay, then burned the paper.
I was drawing closer to the Mine—the one my mother had perhaps wanted to hide from Seniel and me for life.
My feelings churning, I straightened my knees to stand when I noticed someone approaching the café.
I narrowed my eyes to look. It was a familiar face.
“The Temple Priestess?”
The one who’d come by a few months ago and subtly suggested I close the café.
‘His name was… Doleas, wasn’t it?’
He noticed me and walked over. I fixed him with an indifferent gaze.
“I heard there was quite a fire. I’m relieved to see you came through unscathed. And the café… it looks even sturdier than before.”
The news of the fire had spread all over the village immediately, so the fact that he was only now coming to check bothered me.
“I’m sure you were hoping the café would disappear. I apologize for disappointing that hope.”
“So you’re still holding onto what I said back then. That was really for the greater good…”
“Have you come today on the same errand?”
I cut Doleas off and glanced back at the café.
“I have customers inside, so I need to get back quickly.”
“No, I was on my way to visit Priestess Cayden and thought I’d stop by to bestow a Divine Blessing. Seeing how you’ve come through such a great fire unscathed and the café has returned—I now believe this too is the will of the divine.”
He pressed his palms together, intertwining his fingers, and looked at me as he asked:
“Might I offer a prayer for you?”
“…Of course.”
I wondered what effect a Divine Blessing would actually have, but I held back, not wanting to be accused of sacrilege.
I stood beside the Green Onion Seedlings I’d just planted and waited for Doleas’s prayer to end.
The prayer took longer than I expected, and just as boredom began to set in, Doleas opened his eyes.
“It is done. May the Divine Blessing be ever at your side.”
“Thank you.”
Holy Power and Magical Power clash, so any Divine Blessing wouldn’t linger in a place so filled with Meyson’s Magic.
In the meantime, Meyson, now in cat form, was approaching from behind Doleas and gazing at him with threatening eyes.
While Doleas was surveying the newly built café’s exterior, I decided to ask about the Priestess he had come from visiting.
“Priest. There’s something I wanted to ask you.”
“What might that be?”
“Do you know the condition of Priestess Cayden’s health?”
“…”
I saw his eyes flicker violently and stepped closer to him.
“You do know. Yet you’re leaving her untreated? Deliberately?”
“…Do not meddle any further. It is a Temple matter.”
The kind expression he’d worn while praying twisted instantly, and his voice turned cold.
“Priestess Cayden has been entrusted with work of tremendous importance. A sacred duty that only she can fulfill. If sacrifice is necessary for that, anyone would make it.”
While I couldn’t fully grasp what he meant, it was clear that Cayden’s sacrifice was already anticipated in whatever work she was doing.
“I don’t care about sacred duties or the greater good. I want to know how to treat her.”
“I shall take my leave.”
Doleas turned abruptly, like someone caught in something that shouldn’t have been exposed.
Watching his rapid retreat from the café, I let out a bitter laugh.
“There’s no point hoping for anything from the Temple.”
I’d confirmed they had no intention of treating Cayden at all.
I began to dimly understand why Cayden had seemed so pessimistic and resigned about treatment.
***
“Phew, that was hectic.”
After dealing with the customers who’d stopped by the café and tidying up, evening had already fallen.
As I was taking a brief rest, Cayden appeared at the café carrying food.
“Where did the Prince go?”
“I don’t know either. He’s been gone since afternoon.”
“I brought three portions. I’ll set some aside.”
Cayden went to check Biedler’s room, confirmed he wasn’t there, and came back to portion out the food into separate bowls.
I watched him, resting my chin in my hand, then casually asked:
“Doesn’t the Prince make you uncomfortable?”
“At first he did, but he seems like a good person. I saw his true face while we waited together for Rosia to wake up.”
“His true face?”
Cayden smiled and scooped Potato Soup into a bowl, then pressed it into my hands.
“I’d prefer if there were people around Rosia. The Prince works well for that purpose. Here, eat.”
While I ate, the image of the priest who’d visited that afternoon kept surfacing, weighing my mood.
But if I brought up anything about the illness, Cayden would likely become uneasy again, so I changed the subject.
“Somewhere in this mountain, there’s a Mine containing a large quantity of Majungseok.”
“That expensive stuff? If we found it, we’d become incredibly wealthy. Should we search for it together?”
The casual way he’d dismissed it made it impossible to read his true thoughts.
“Doesn’t it strike you as odd? Why would such a thing be on this mountain in the first place?”
“Well, this was the place with the most Demonic Beasts on the continent, and it’s still covered in Miasma…”
Cayden had been speaking smoothly until he realized he’d said too much. He stopped abruptly and drank some water.
“Why was this place the one with the most Demonic Beasts?”
“…But you won’t be able to find it anyway.”
Apparently unable to answer my question, Cayden deflected.
“I already found it.”
At my straightforward answer, Cayden’s lips parted slightly, and his face showed disbelief.
“What? That’s impossible. How?”
“There’s a Map that leads to that Canyon. It’s written in the Demonic Language, so it took a long time to decode. But I’ve finished now.”
“A Map? Can I see it? No, I really need to see it.”
Surprisingly, Cayden showed more interest in the Map itself than in a Mine full of Majungseok.
“I don’t have it with me. And now it’s become too important… I don’t think I can bring it.”
“Please. I just need to see it for a moment.”
“If it’s only that, then. All right.”
After that, Cayden seemed lost in thought and quietly finished his meal before heading straight back to the Temple.
Alone, I kept turning over what Cayden and I had discussed, still wondering what he knew.
More time passed, and as the night grew deep, Biedler still hadn’t returned.
Meyson too seemed to have business elsewhere and had disappeared after dinner, so for the first time in a while, I felt truly alone.
“…I should just get some sleep.”
The moment I realized I’d been waiting for the two of them without knowing it, I went straight into my room and lay down on the bed.
Some time passed.
I’d fallen into a shallow sleep when a presence at the café’s entrance jolted my eyes open.
“Cayden?”
I sat up and glanced at the wall clock.
Past two in the morning—what could have happened?
Puzzled, I wrapped a shawl around myself and came out to the living area.
Cayden hadn’t even knocked on the door. She was standing quietly outside the café.
Thinking something was wrong, I opened the door. Cayden, who’d had her head bowed, slowly raised it.
“…Rosia.”
Her face was drained of all color, pallid and lifeless. Her eyes had lost their focus, hollow and empty. She’d come like this once before.
“What’s wrong?”
I rushed toward Cayden in alarm.
As I stopped just in front of her, Cayden bowed her head again and buried her face in my shoulder, asking in a voice so faint it seemed she might disappear:
“Can I… sleep here tonight?”
Her voice was barely audible, as though she might vanish at any moment.
Seeing her shoulders tremble so finely, my hands moved without thinking.
I spread my arms and wrapped them around Cayden, slowly patting her back.
“What happened at the Temple?”
“I’m just… tired. I need to rest.”
Words that had been tightly sealed behind her lips finally seeped out slowly, aching with such profound pain.

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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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