Welcome to the Café of the Dark Guild’s Successor - Chapter 172

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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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It’s a café operated by the heir to the Dark Guild.
Episode 172
I didn’t want to waste time and return without accomplishing anything.
But the moment we approached the hill, a sudden whirlwind swept down upon us.
“Everyone, be careful! Get down!”
I threw myself flat against the ground to avoid being swept away, but the fierce gust seemed poised to hurl us all skyward.
Rieped created a shield and blocked the brunt of it, allowing us to hold our ground barely.
Once the whirlwind passed, I brushed the sand from my hands and swept my tangled hair from my face.
“What was that just now?”
Sand still grated between my teeth, and I turned back with a grimace, but there was no one around me.
“Rieped?”
…….
“Seniel?”
…….
“Your Highness? Cayden?”
No one answered. My panic deepened as I looked around. The hill and the door—both had vanished.
It didn’t take long to realize I had fallen into a space entirely different from before.
“Where am I?”
I walked forward uncertainly and discovered something half-buried in the earth.
I approached cautiously, but my feet sank deep into the sand with each step.
The moment I understood what lay buried there, I staggered backward in shock.
“What are both of you doing here…?”
My parents lay before me exactly as I remembered them last.
Scarred across their faces and bodies, loaded onto a cart—the harrowing image of the day they died.
As I reached down with trembling hands to pull the corpses from the sand, my parents suddenly opened their eyes wide.
……!!
Then they began attacking me with vicious force.
Each blow packed enough power to cause serious injury, but I couldn’t bring myself to strike back at them—I could only defend.
I was torn between fighting and wondering if the bodies, at least, were real.
Narrowly dodging their attacks, I realized this couldn’t end this way and stood my ground.
Then I reminded myself: this was the Liminal Space.
“This can’t be real. Don’t let yourself be deceived.”
My chest ached at the sight of them, but I gritted my teeth and gripped my sword with all my strength.
I didn’t dodge as they rushed toward me—I cut. But the blade passed through empty air as they scattered like mist.
Just as I suspected: an illusion. The moment I understood, there came a sharp crack like shattering glass.
As the illusion shattered, the landscape around me returned to where it truly was.
“I’m back.”
Desperate never to endure that again, I exhaled heavily and looked to my side.
Whirlwinds remained around several of my companions—I must have escaped first.
I immediately covered my face with my arm and plunged into the whirlwind nearest to me to help Seniel.
Ugh.
A violent gust struck my face, and then I saw Seniel clearly.
He wielded his sword with all his strength, his expression unfamiliar and terrified.
“Are you afraid?”
I had never seen such terror on his face before.
More than one figure attacked Seniel—dozens of indistinct shapes of people.
“A battlefield….”
Thinking of how he had endured those difficult years, driven into war when all he wanted was to live in peace, my heart ached.
Watching his small, hunched figure from behind, I called to him sadly.
“Seniel.”
Even hearing his name, he didn’t recognize me and continued swinging his sword wildly.
Until he broke free from the illusion on his own, it would persist. I had no choice but to draw my blade and face him.
“Wake up! It’s me, Seniel!”
Our blades crossed directly, and the impact made my hands tremble.
If I was forced back, I’d be grievously wounded. I squeezed every ounce of strength into holding my ground.
Just before his blade reached my shoulder, I managed to press our faces close.
“Seniel!!”
Only when we were inches apart did his eyes finally focus and recognize me.
“…Sister?”
“Yes. It’s me.”
“What was I doing…?”
Seniel gasped in horror and dropped his sword to the ground.
“It’s all right. Everything is fine.”
“I attacked you. I can’t believe it.”
“I would have done the same. Come on, let’s go.”
I picked up the sword instead and clasped his hand firmly.
As the whirlwind dispersed, I glimpsed Rieped and Cayden emerging from theirs.
“Are both of you all right?”
“Are you unharmed?”
“Yes. Only His Highness remains now.”
The one person who seemed most likely to escape such an illusion first was still trapped alone in the whirlwind.
What could he possibly be seeing? My concern overwhelmed me, and I moved toward it.
“I’ll bring him out.”
“Sister! Let me come too—”
Clinging to my arm, Seniel was drawn with me into the whirlwind.
Shielding my eyes from the flying sand, I squinted and saw Biedler sitting motionless.
He wasn’t being attacked, nor was he attacking.
He simply sat there, radiating a hopelessness so profound it was almost unbearable to feel.
His eyes were vacant, lifeless, his expression dark—the sight shocked me.
“He looks like when we first met.”
Seniel murmured, staring at Biedler.
“When we first met?”
“On the battlefield. His eyes were exactly like that. It took years for him to change. He’s trapped in that time—after losing his mother so unjustly, wandering in sorrow.”
I remembered hearing that Biedler had once watched his mother being executed.
As I drew closer, his expression became clearer.
He was weeping silently.
Unable to confront the memory, unable to accept it either.
“Your Highness, it’s us. Seniel.”
Seniel knelt on one knee before Biedler and called to him.
“I’m here too. Please come back from the past.”
Biedler turned his head slowly, as if hearing our voices.
This man who had always been so strong, almost arrogant—tears streaked his face so vividly that my heart broke for him.
“I know. I know it’s the past….”
The tears pooled in his eyes finally spilled over, falling silently.
Not knowing how to comfort him, I simply placed my hand gently over his trembling, clenched fist.
Biedler flinched and looked at me. His red eyes seemed more fragile than I’d ever seen them.
“Thank you. I’m all right now.”
Then the sand vanished, and we escaped the whirlwind.
Cayden and Rieped, who had been waiting, rushed toward us.
“It’s an illusion that mirrors your deepest weakness. The powder mixed in that whirlwind must have generated these visions.”
“How much time do we have left?”
Trapped in the whirlwind, I’d lost so much time. Anxiety gnawed at me.
“I hope time moved slowly here, but… it may be tight. Perhaps we should head back. Can you still see the door?”
“Yes. It’s up there.”
As I turned anxiously toward the door atop the hill, vines suddenly erupted from the ground and wrapped around my ankles.
And then a voice sounded in my head.
“I said you’d come, didn’t I? I’ve been waiting.”
I knew immediately who it was: Desikan.
I flinched and looked around quickly, but only I seemed unsettled.
“Can’t you hear it?”
“Hear what?”
“Rosia?”
The voice continued, audible only to me.
“All I need is you. If you cooperate, I’ll let your companions go safely. Including the one you’re searching for.”
Desikan had even made an offer.
For a moment, my heart wavered at the promise to return my grandfather, but I couldn’t trust him.
“Get out of my head.”
I spoke coldly, and suddenly my grandfather’s screams filled my mind.
The agony was unbearable; even covering my ears didn’t stop the sound.
“He’s being tortured. What do I do?”
“You just experienced an illusion, didn’t you? In this place, even what you see and hear must not be trusted. Steel your resolve.”
I nodded and steadied myself. As my wavering ceased, Desikan’s voice fell silent.
“Desikan knows about us.”
“And yet he’s still watching rather than acting directly—it seems he can’t exert immediate influence on us.”
“I can feel my grandfather beyond that door. I have to go.”
“Then—”
Just then, as calm returned, Wyatt flew toward us.
“Is even a shield useless?”
Not only Wyatt, but countless spirits and monsters materialized before us like an army.
“It seems they mean to block our passage through the door. The door must be the answer. Go now.”
“I’ll handle Wyatt.”
Seniel activated the Artifact he’d received before departure and charged toward Wyatt with a shout.
“But there are too many of them.”
Leaving them behind felt like abandoning them to death.
“In any case, Biedler and Cayden are the only ones effective here. Go with His Highness.”
There was no time for argument.
Rieped was the only one here with no prior connection to me. At least I could trust that he would judge rationally.
“Hold on just a little longer. Elder Wyatt will shatter the Fragment. Just endure until then.”
“I’ll bring him back for certain.”
“I know.”
If we can’t go back anyway, the only path left is through that door.
“I’ll clear the way.”
Biedler led the charge, Holy Power flowing softly through his blade.
I pursued close behind, and as I passed Cayden’s side—
“…I like you.”
“What?”
Startled by the sudden confession, I turned back, and he smiled brightly at me.
“Go now.”
“That bastard….”
Biedler must have heard it too; he whipped his head around and glared at Cayden menacingly before pulling me forward.
“Isn’t that unfair? He gets to but I can’t—”
“What?”
“Nothing. Think only of Meyson right now.”
“I don’t have time to think of anything else anyway.”
“Then that’s settled. We’re here.”
I had no time to dwell on Cayden’s words.
“There’s a door here, you say?”
“Yes.”
Reaching the top of the hill, I saw it clearly—a solitary door standing open.
The space beyond was pitch-black. Fear stirred in me, but as I slowly reached out and placed my hand against it, I felt my grandfather’s presence.
“I’ll be back soon.”
With certainty came courage. Without hesitation, I dove into the darkness beyond the door.

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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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