Welcome to the Café of the Dark Guild’s Successor - Chapter 19

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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.
19
“I need to eat something too.”
For now, breakfast is covered by the sandwiches my butler packed in abundance, so I’ll manage with those.
Lunch and dinner were the real concern.
At least with the chicken I brought, I can have eggs every day—small mercies.
“Mother always found ingredients around us and cooked. I should look around.”
Thinking I’d need to scout the area before I could cook anything, I stepped outside.
Unlikely as it was that anyone would be here, I searched the surroundings carefully, staying alert just in case.
Inside the barrier stones, I found no trace of any beast.
What surprised me was that there were far more signs of human passage than I’d expected.
Still, they seemed sporadic enough that I didn’t need to worry too much.
“Good. If people come through, customers might follow.”
After finishing my search, I gathered dry grass and twigs to use for kindling.
I walked through the forest looking for anything edible.
Since no one had lived here for so long, an adorable rabbit suddenly hopped into view.
It pricked up its little ears and looked at me, and I found myself licking my lips.
“Should I take it for tonight’s dinner?”
I seriously considered it, but I’d decided not to take a life in this place, so I let it go without a fuss.
I wanted to wash away these hands of mine, hands that seemed to reek of blood even now, at least while I was here.
“…Let’s just eat plants.”
Walking through the forest, I found an abundance of edible plants, herbs, berries, and medicinal greens nearby.
Finding food shouldn’t be a problem.
I immediately picked a basket full of salad greens and washed them clean in the spring water in front of the cabin.
The water flowing from the spring looked so clear and refreshing that I cupped some in my hand and took a sip—I was genuinely startled.
“The water alone tastes amazing.”
Did I even need to prepare any special beverages? Thinking it would sell well as-is, I filled a large container.
After spending the day busy surveying the area, I finished dinner and went to bed early.
Outside, a downpour had begun in the early evening and was pouring down relentlessly.
I closed my eyes to the sound of rain pounding against the roof like a lullaby.
Then I sensed something in the distance.
‘Who is it?’
Always alert, I first thought it might be a wild animal, but as it drew closer, I felt the presence of a person.
I quickly got up and extinguished the candle. Then, keeping myself hidden in the darkness, I pressed myself against the wall and watched the situation unfold.
A moment later, the window flew open.
Someone vaulted through it and came straight into my cabin.
‘A thief?’
To encounter an intruder after just two days was absolutely infuriating.
I didn’t know what they wanted in a place with nothing to steal, but I decided I wouldn’t let them off easy. I gripped the dagger in my hand.
But the intruder didn’t even look around the cabin—they headed straight for the sofa.
Their movements were so practiced that they looked like the homeowner themselves.
Then they pulled a blanket from beneath the sofa and covered themselves with it.
‘There was a blanket there?’
Judging by how naturally they’d done this, they weren’t a thief but rather a vagrant who’d been secretly sleeping in my cabin.
Since it had been empty all this time, there was nothing strange about it.
I hurled myself onto the man lying there, pinning him down and pressing the dagger to his throat.
“Ack! Argh! How are you here too? Step back at once!”
The man looked at me as if he’d seen a ghost, his face going pale, and he reached out his hands.
White light emanated from his fingertips and wrapped around me.
‘What is this?’
Caught off guard by an unexpected attack, I flinched—but the light carried no killing intent. It was actually warm.
“How can you withstand this? You’re not a ghost? Are you… are you… a real person?”
“As you can see.”
I pressed the dagger closer to the man’s throat and asked coldly.
“What are you? A mage?”
Among those rare few born with innate abilities, those born with magical power were especially uncommon.
Even during my guild work, I’d rarely encountered a mage. I wondered why one would be in a place like this.
“No. I’m a Priest.”
“A Priest?”
“Yes. There’s a Temple nearby. I’m a Priest there.”
“Am I supposed to believe that?”
There was no way a temple would be built in the middle of a mountain.
Temples were places where people came to pray, so who would ever visit one out here?
But then again…
My parents also ran their business in a place like this, so maybe it wasn’t entirely unbelievable.
“It’s true. Why would I tell a lie you’d disprove the moment you checked? More importantly, what are you doing here?”
He turned the suspicion back on me, asking as if I were the intruder.
I was so exasperated that I flicked the dagger slightly. The man’s face went white.
“P-please, put that away. It hurts.”
I propped up my chin and examined him more closely.
‘He could be deceiving me.’
Having committed so many sins in Raven, I couldn’t help but be suspicious.
His brown hair was unremarkable, and aside from his unusually pale skin, his face was plain enough.
I couldn’t quite decide if he was handsome or not. He looked like a Priest, but then again, he didn’t.
‘An infuriatingly ambiguous fellow.’
He was definitely weaker than me, so I put the dagger away and instead retrieved a rope to tie his hands securely.
I’d verify whether he was truly a Priest tomorrow; until then, I’d keep him bound.
“If you wrong a Priest, the Divine will grow angry.”
Even as I bound him, the man knelt meekly and only moved his mouth.
“This is my house. Restraining an intruder isn’t wrong, is it?”
“Really? Since when?”
“From now on.”
I gestured toward the Land Deed sitting on the living room table.
As the man awkwardly inched toward it and picked it up, his expression changed by the second.
“I apologize. It’s always been empty, so I thought it was abandoned. I found it by chance, and I sleep so well only here…”
Since the house had genuinely been empty for over ten years, his assumption wasn’t unreasonable.
As I considered what to do with him, I suddenly thought of my parents’ grave, which had been so well maintained.
“Did you see the grave in the back?”
“Yes. It seemed neglected, so I maintained it and offered prayers. I even thought the owner of this house might be buried there.”
So someone had been maintaining it—it was him all along.
His excuse about sleeping well only here was flimsy, but someone who’d done what neither I nor Seniel could do deserved my trust.
“Thank you. That’s my parents’ grave.”
I bowed with genuine gratitude and untied the rope binding his hands.
With his hands free, the man’s eyes drooped sadly.
“My hands are all scraped up. I have wounds on my neck too.”
“Don’t be such a baby about it.”
“What’s your name? I’m Caden.”
“Rosia.”
“How old are you?”
“You?”
“I’m twenty-two.”
He was three years older than me, but I didn’t reveal my age so we could continue speaking casually.
“I’m truly sorry for intruding so thoughtlessly. I would have been startled too.”
“Then don’t come back.”
I thought he’d understood well enough, so I pointed toward the door.
But Caden hesitated, looking at me with desperate eyes.
“It’s gotten very late. Won’t the way back be too dangerous?”
“You managed fine getting here.”
“But it’s raining even harder now. Did you hear that thunder just now?”
As if asking why he’d braved that thunder to get here in the first place.
When I didn’t soften my stance, Caden’s expression darkened.
“Truth is, I’m scared.”
“Of what?”
“This is a mountain, so there are many beasts, and Magical Beasts sometimes appear.”
“Magical Beasts have all disappeared since the Sealing War. Don’t lie.”
Caden slowly approached me, his wet eyes fixed on mine.
“Could I… could I stay the night?”
At his words, I tensed.
This manner of speaking was new to me—I seriously considered whether this was some novel form of mental attack.
“What do you mean?”
“Sleeping with someone else is safer than sleeping alone, and it’s comforting to have someone to rely on.”
“I don’t need that. Leave.”
“Please let me stay. I’ll leave the moment dawn breaks.”
Caden pleaded desperately, his shoulders trembling.
I couldn’t help but sigh at the sight of such a weak, delicate Priest.
‘What kind of Temple is it, really?’
Placing such a timid, gentle Priest in a remote mountain temple like this was beyond me.
When I looked into people’s eyes, I could usually read through lies, and right now, Caden looked like someone driven to the very brink.
‘What is he running from so desperately?’
The fleeting glint in his eyes reminded me of myself ten years ago—I couldn’t turn away.
“…Fine, then. But don’t move a single step from that sofa.”
“Wonderful! I knew you were a good person. My eyes never deceive me.”
Looking at Caden smiling brightly, I thought he was far more delicate and innocent-looking than me, despite being a woman.
“I’ll sleep so well tonight. It’s reassuring knowing Rosia will protect me.”
He even acknowledged that I was stronger and showed no shame about it.
“Leave the moment the sun rises. If you don’t, that dagger will be going straight through your neck for real this time.”
“Y-yes, of course.”
With that, I left Caden in the living room and went to my bedroom.
I stayed on edge for a while, wondering if he had any hidden agenda, but he fell into a deep sleep without making a sound.

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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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