Welcome to the Café of the Dark Guild’s Successor - Chapter 185

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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 run by the Dark Guild’s heir.
185
I stepped out from behind the counter and walked closer to Cayden.
When I was within arm’s reach, I touched his hair.
“…So it really is you.”
Confirming that it was truly Cayden, joy and worry came flooding in at once.
“What happened? When did you wake up? How’s your recovery? Is it all right for you to be walking around like this?”
As I poured out my questions, Cayden pulled my arm and drew me into an embrace.
“I missed you. Very much.”
His voice trembled slightly at the end, and I could hear the sincerity in it.
I exhaled softly and raised one arm to steady myself against his back.
“I missed you too. I’ve been worried the whole time.”
“I’m sorry, but your worry always feels good to me, Rosia.”
Cayden released his arms from around me and smiled brightly, as if showing me he was healthy.
“I woke yesterday. Meyson told me he was here, so I came looking.”
“Why would grandfather be here?”
“My body can’t be fully healed by Holy Power alone. I need healing medicine mixed with mana, so I wanted to ask Meyson if he could make the medicine he used to prepare for me.”
“I’ll ask him for you.”
Nodding readily, as I knew he’d be happy to help, Cayden studied me with a thoughtful expression.
“Are you staying here?”
“Yes. I’m preparing to reopen the café.”
“Then what if I help you work in exchange for getting the medicine from Meyson?”
“What?”
“I’ll be your assistant. I’m good at cooking, washing dishes, cleaning—all of it. I’ll be useful.”
Cayden looked around the café with sparkling eyes.
His cooking skills, cleanliness, diligence, and deft hands were things I’d always admired, so it was a welcome offer.
I would have agreed without hesitation before, but now Cayden’s position had changed significantly.
And after learning about his feelings for me, I worried whether allowing this would give him false hope.
Yet it was difficult to refuse someone who had only just recovered and needed grandfather’s medicine.
“What about the candidate for successor as High Priest? You don’t need to live confined to the mountain anymore. You don’t have to do this—I’ll ask grandfather about the medicine myself.”
“I never wanted to be a High Priest. It’s not my will.”
Cayden shook his head, showing no interest in the position.
“Of course, I’ll continue to live as a priest. But I received permission to live as I did before until my body fully recovers.”
Though hesitant, when I heard the condition “until your body recovers,” I decided to let him do as he wished.
“All right. But tell me anytime if you want to go back.”
“I will. I’m looking forward to working with you from now on.”
Cayden extended his hand for a handshake. I took it readily, but suddenly he bent at the waist in pain.
“What’s wrong?”
“The demonic energy still lingering in my body flares up like this every so often.”
In Cayden’s eyes as he looked up, I could see traces of demonic energy visible even to me.
“Tell grandfather to come this evening. We’ll have him look at it right away. Do you have a place to stay? The temple collapsed, after all.”
“They said they’re sending people to repair the temple, but… could I stay here until then?”
“Yes, stay here.”
I supported Cayden, whose body still seemed unwell, and guided him to an empty room.
***
A few days later, I saddled my horse to head down the mountain to the village.
Cayden, who had followed me out, handed me a piece of paper with a list of ingredients I needed to buy.
“Here. You have to get tomatoes, no matter what.”
“Got it.”
Now that the village temple, which used to supply fresh ingredients, had disappeared, I was going daily to buy materials myself.
I arrived at the village quickly after galloping my horse.
As I tied the reins at the entrance, I looked around the village.
Though much smaller and with fewer people than before, it was remarkable progress compared to when it had been ruins.
“It changes day by day.”
For a while after returning to the café, I couldn’t bring myself to look at the village.
The sight of the dead faces of people who had been kind and open to me haunted me.
But when grandfather mentioned the village was recovering, I gathered courage a few days ago and visited—and met someone unexpected.
“Big sister! I thought it was about time you’d come. Perfect timing. What do you need today?”
It was Arno.
When Arno spotted me standing at the village entrance, his eyes went wide and he came running.
I’d thought Arno was the only survivor of the village then, but it turned out the Village Chief, the dumpling shop owner, and the carpenter were also alive.
They had stayed together among the survivors and came back to the village after confirming Desikan’s death in the newspaper.
I took the paper I’d brought and followed the excited Arno into the village.
“Wait a moment.”
I paused briefly in front of a memorial statue for the dead that had been set up at the entrance of the village.
Cayden and Priest Baget had collected all the bodies of those who died then and cremated them at that location.
After finishing my prayers, I walked through the village and ran into the Village Chief bustling about.
“Hey! The young lady’s here?”
The Village Chief rushed over and pressed a membership form into my hands.
“We’re starting a new Merchant Guild. Will you join? Since you’re the first member, there are lots of benefits.”
“There are hardly any merchants yet, though.”
“That’s exactly why we need to band together now. Think it over.”
And with that, he hurried off again.
I genuinely admired the Village Chief for trying to revive the village even after such hardship.
“How is the shop owner?”
“She made a bunch of dumplings and went to the orphanage.”
An orphanage had been established in the village.
Children who lost their parents in this incident were taken in, and Arno’s siblings were all brought here to live together.
“Doesn’t it pain you to stay here?”
“It does. What happened that day still haunts my dreams every night.”
“But?”
“It’s still the happiest place I’ve ever been. You came back, so you understand my heart, don’t you?”
Arno glanced up at the sky as he continued speaking.
“We’ve decided to live even happier lives here, for the sake of those who’ve passed on.”
“I’ll help too.”
As the village took on a proper appearance and travelers began to pass through, it was slowly regaining its vitality.
After stopping by the orphanage to receive a load of dumplings from the owner, I gathered the materials from the list and returned to the café.
“I couldn’t get everything. There were no carrots today, they said.”
I paused as I entered the café, noticing a customer.
“You’re here?”
Sophia, dressed in a simple one-piece like any ordinary woman, waved at me when she saw me arrive.
“Surprised you. That style suits you well.”
“Hehe. Do I look all right?”
Sophia smiled shyly at the compliment and glanced at Cayden.
While I was startled by her uncharacteristic appearance, she whispered in my ear.
“I have something important to tell you.”
“Let’s go to the room.”
Sophia set down her cup and smiled toward Cayden.
“See you later. Handsome.”
Then she came over to me, who was still in shock behind her, and linked her arm through mine.
The moment we entered the hallway leading to the room, I unlinked Sophia’s arm.
“He’s not older. He’s younger than us.”
“Someone told me that if they’re handsome, they’re all older brothers.”
“…”
“It’s my taste. He’s handsome. Rosia, how do you manage to have so many beautiful people around you?”
Seniel and Biedler were so handsome that Cayden got overshadowed, but the more you looked at him, the more handsome his face actually was.
“Behave yourself.”
“I already confessed, but he turned me down. He said he likes you?”
I froze mid-motion as I was about to open the door.
Both Sophia’s incredible execution and the fact that she’d told Cayden about his own feelings—neither was something I could be unprepared for.
“Puhaha. This is the first time I’ve seen you make that expression.”
Sophia opened the door in place of my frozen self and laughed even louder once inside the room.
After I finally composed myself, we sat down on the sofa together.
“What did you want to give me?”
“You asked me to tell you if I found anything about your father, remember?”
I was startled by mention of father, something I hadn’t expected, and straightened in my seat.
Sophia’s expression grew serious as she pulled out various documents and placed them on the table.
“Look. I found this in Quinn’s personal safe. As we suspected, your father was a guild member of Raven.”
I opened the pile of documents Sophia handed me with trembling hands.
Inside were records of the missions father had taken on, documented simply.
“There’s not much detail because the security level on many missions was high, but it looks like he mainly took special assignments, like you do.”
“He worked on a lot of missions with Quinn.”
I was learning things about father that I never knew—only after his death.
With complicated feelings, I flipped through the materials until my hand stopped at the last page.
“A hidden Mana Stone Mine and a map. Could it be…”
“It’s probably what you’re thinking. You said your mother worked for the Strophane Clan. Maybe she met your father while investigating the Mana Stone Mine.”
The Mana Stone Mine father had been investigating appeared to be the very place owned by Strophane and where Desikan had been sealed.
Though not written in detail, the map that could lead to the mine was probably the same one I had found.
I’d never thought about how my parents met, but now the puzzle pieces seemed to be coming together.
“That record ends there, but look at this too.”
Sophia handed me a scorched old journal, asking me to check it.
“It’s a mission log, and the handwriting matches. Looking at the contents, it’s presumed to be your father’s.”
The journal contained simple records about the missions he had undertaken.
Just as Sophia said, it was father’s handwriting that I knew, and the contents overlapped with father’s missions recorded in the documents.

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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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