Welcome to the Café of the Dark Guild’s Successor - Chapter 14

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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 cafe run by the heir to Raven.
Chapter 14
I almost said they seemed to get along better than expected, but swallowed the words—it wasn’t something I should have spoken aloud.
“The Third Prince seems to be very fond of you.”
“That’s right. He follows me around so one-sidedly that it’s sometimes troublesome.”
Yet Biddler’s face, as he said this, looked slightly pleased.
“It’s late. Go on inside now. We can’t have you caught by the wrong sort of person wandering around.”
At the mention of the “wrong sort,” I found myself thinking of the name of the First Prince—the one Seniel had warned me about, though I wasn’t sure why.
“Yes. Rest well.”
After parting from Biddler, I found myself in considerable conflict over whether to examine his office on my way back to my room.
But fearing that Biddler’s abilities might exceed my expectations, I quietly went to my room instead.
***
The next day.
I tried to slip out of the Imperial Palace at dawn, but Seniel, already awake, caught me and made me eat breakfast.
Pretending to know nothing, I followed him into his office and gathered what I could from the documents scattered about, learning what information they were collecting.
Though Seniel had been more cautious than yesterday about organizing the papers, I managed to catch sight of several key words.
Keywords like “Map of the Great Path,” “Mana Stone,” “Prince,” “Guild Master,” and the like.
The moment I escaped the Imperial Palace, I headed straight home.
It had been several days since my arrival in the Capital, so I figured the guild would have sent me our location by now.
Fortunately, the moment I turned the key in the lock, the door swung open and several letters tumbled out.
Since the owner of this house was Orbis, I gathered them all without missing one and came inside.
I laid them on the table and carefully went through each letter, when one bearing a raven mark caught my eye.
“As expected.”
Having found what I was looking for, I opened that letter and checked its contents. Inside was a flyer.
[Parrot’s Oracle.
The parrot loves all the colors of the rainbow. Greatest in the world—rainbow—power.]
Strange as the flyer seemed, it revealed the location of the Information Branch.
I committed the location and cipher to memory, then tossed the flyer into the fireplace and burned it to ash.
‘Any letter bearing the raven mark is dangerous. I’ll have to instruct them to use a different route for contact entirely.’
Now that I knew Seniel was investigating Raven, I couldn’t leave anything related to ravens visible.
“I need to decide quickly.”
My own troubles had so clouded my thinking that I hadn’t yet considered the possibility of other factions targeting our guild.
But now that I’d confirmed this threat with my own eyes, I resolved to secure the guild’s safety first.
Everything I’d built over the past ten years was contained in Raven. My colleagues, too.
With no time left for leisure, I set out immediately for the address on the flyer.
At the end of a dead-end alley stood a stall completely covered in feathers of all kinds.
I pushed through a transparent curtain-like thing and entered, where a man with a crystal ball before him smiled broadly at me.
“Come for a reading? That’s ten thousand Jeri upfront.”
With his heavy makeup and the objects scattered about, he looked every inch a fortune teller.
“Why are you just standing there, miss? What are you curious about? Love fortune? Or a curse?”
“I’ve come to see the rainbow.”
At my words, the fortune teller’s eyes changed. His broad smile vanished, and the atmosphere grew cold.
“The parrot?”
“Well, greatest in the world. Who on earth came up with such a cipher?”
“The rainbow?”
“…Power.”
Once the verification was complete, the fortune teller tossed the feathered fan he’d been holding into the air and rushed toward me.
“The Prince! Meeting you directly for the first time—finally, we meet. It’s an honor.”
“Just show me around.”
“This is the branch.”
What I’d naturally expected to be the entrance to some hidden interior was, in fact, nothing more than the fortune-telling stall itself.
The man, seeing my shock, gently pushed me into a chair and stroked the crystal ball.
“I am William, head of the Information Branch.”
“You’re really the head?”
“Exactly.”
Given the sudden shift in his expression from moments ago, it seemed credible enough.
I, who had imagined a vast information bureau, felt a vague sense of disappointment and got down to business.
“Investigate Seniel, Orbis, and the Second Prince of the Black Eagle Knights in detail.”
“The Black Eagle Knights—we already have considerable information on them.”
“Do you know they’re planning to swallow up Raven?”
At my words, William made no effort to hide his displeasure, slamming his desk hard.
“What! That’s complete nonsense, is it not?”
“It’s fact. The day the Map of the Great Path was stolen, the Second Prince was in the same place as me.”
“What? An official order of knights—and a prince, no less—came to steal the map?”
“Which is why it’s strange. Find out what they’re doing behind the scenes.”
True to his role as head of the Information Branch, William began to roll his eyes as if he’d caught on to something.
“…It seems we’ve overlooked something. I’ll investigate thoroughly and report back.”
“Be sure to relay this to Reiley at headquarters too. Tell him there are those targeting the guild—he must protect it at all costs.”
“Yes, Prince. But—”
I couldn’t linger long in such a stall, so I was about to leave when William, turning the crystal ball, held me back.
“You don’t need a reading? I’m getting rather good at this.”
“…I’m going.”
Of course, it was pointless business.
Leaving the Information Branch, I next sought out the Imperial Bank, which existed only in the Capital.
I was running low on funds and thought I’d withdraw some. I was curious how much there was, too.
“Your name?”
“Rose Marlin Aisha.”
“You’ve brought the seal and key?”
“Here.”
Rose Marlin Aisha was the real name of the old woman. All this time, she’d managed my earnings herself.
After she died, her will was disclosed, and in it she’d left me the key to this bank.
After a brief wait, the employee returned with a document detailing the deposits and items in my vault.
“Please check.”
I opened the document without high expectations, and in that moment, my eyes doubted what they saw.
“Is this really mine?”
“Yes. Is there a problem?”
“The amount is… far more than I expected.”
The vault contained significantly more money than I had anticipated.
Three billion Jeri. With this, I could pay off Father’s debts and have plenty left over.
“Here is a brief ledger. For more detailed records, you’d need to wait several days.”
Seeing my confusion, the employee handed me a stack of documents showing all the transactions that had entered the bank over time.
Looking through them, I found that even the old woman’s share—which I’d thought she’d taken as her fee—had been deposited entirely in my name.
“Who knew she had it in her.”
Thinking of the old woman, who’d always spoken only harsh words to me, I clenched my teeth.
“Will you withdraw?”
“Just this amount.”
Shocked by the total, I decided after deliberation to leave it all in the bank and withdrew only a small portion.
Then, checking the vault inventory again, I discovered something odd in the list.
“What is this?”
“Ah, we keep physical items as well. Shall I bring it?”
“Yes.”
There was one more thing the old woman had left for me.
When the employee brought it out, I received a Land Deed and a key.
“She left this land to me? Why?”
“We wouldn’t know that. Given the location written here, perhaps you should go find it yourself?”
Based on the price listed, it didn’t seem like valuable land.
I couldn’t understand why the old woman had left me land.
I unfolded the map I’d been carrying and traced it with my finger, finding the location marked on the deed.
It was near the area I’d already circled.
“Could this be…?”
If my guess was right, this land was where my parents had run their shop.
I couldn’t say for certain, but in any case, I’d planned to search the area marked on the map to find my parents’ shop.
“Might as well check it out, even if I’m being fooled?”
***
Kayan, the senior researcher, was exhausted from the experimental problems that had been erupting one after another recently.
His eyes, bloodshot and threaded with veins, fluttered shut as he leaned his head back against the chair.
“Not a single promising new researcher this time either. What am I to do.”
Though many people wanted to enter the Research Institute, they rarely lasted long before dropping out, leaving him perpetually understaffed.
Recently, word of its difficulty had spread, and the number of applicants had fallen sharply.
“I hate to lose anyone, but it’s a difficult situation.”
Kayan sank deeper into his chair, removed his glasses, and pressed his eye sockets hard.
As he rolled his eyes blankly, trying to ease the tension, his eyes suddenly widened as if they might pop from his head.
He’d spotted something impossible.
“Why has the color… changed?”
What had startled Kayan was the black stone Rosia had touched—a Mana Stone.
The stone, which had been pitch black, now held a reddish glow in an ominous manner.
Kayan quickly put his glasses back on and rushed to the lab to begin a detailed examination.
The Mana Stone, which had been unprocessed, had transformed to a stage where it could be made into an Artifact immediately.
Having confirmed the change in the Mana Stone, Kayan assembled everyone to find out who had caused this phenomenon.
“Who entered this room?”
“No one enters without your permission.”
“Which is why I’m saying—who exactly… ah, could it be?”
There was exactly one person who had entered this room under his authority.

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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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