Welcome to the Café of the Dark Guild’s Successor - Chapter 2

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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 cafe run by the Heir of the Dark Guild.
Episode 2
“Blood never lies, I’m telling you.”
Auntie exhaled a long plume of thick cigarette smoke and presented me with a choice for the first time.
“This is a Memory Erasure Drug. If you give it to your younger brother, he’ll forget everything that happened here. Of course, if you want, you could erase all his memories. In exchange, you’ll be bound to me for life. What do you say? What will you choose?”
My blue eyes widened.
‘For life.’
For a nine-year-old child, the span of a lifetime felt impossibly long and heavy, beyond all imagination.
But I made my choice.
“…Thank you.”
It was better for one to be sacrificed than for both of us to fall into the abyss.
And I was grateful that the one who would bear that sacrifice was not Seniel.
Still, I held onto one small selfishness.
I could have erased all memories of me from Seniel and let him start anew, but I left his memories of family intact and erased only those from the training facility.
After that, I entrusted Seniel to an Orphanage in a distant region.
“Sister… I don’t want to be alone. Take me with you!”
“A good home will find you soon, Seniel.”
“I don’t want to be apart from you.”
“Even if we’re apart, we’re still family. Never forget that. I’ll come visit you every year.”
“Sister…….”
Seniel, with his striking appearance, was adopted far sooner than expected.
It was barely six months after entering the Orphanage.
The parents who adopted Seniel were kind-hearted provincial nobles from a well-respected, long-established house.
Seniel walked the path of a beloved nobleman’s child, while I walked a completely different path as a promising Heir of the Dark Guild.
And so ten years passed.
***
Masked and covered from head to toe, only my eyes gleamed sharp as I swept my gaze across the surroundings.
The usually empty Abandoned Mansion now thrummed with suffocating tension.
From their attire, it appeared at least four separate factions had gathered.
The rumors had drawn them all here—tales of a Great City Map marking the location of an enormous quantity of Magic Stones buried in this place.
The Great City Map, which had been shrouded in rumor since ancient times with no one ever laying eyes on it, was said to hold enough power to ignite a war.
“Prince! This way!”
The moment I heard Raiely’s voice, I drew my blade from where I’d been lying in wait.
While I was timing my move, Raiely’s subordinates burst out from the opposite side and began their charge.
It was a feint to shake off the other factions who, like us, had chased the rumors to this place.
The other guild members, appearing as expected, became enveloped in a torrent of steel.
‘Now.’
Once I confirmed the surroundings had cleared of personnel, I concealed my presence and approached the Rear Garden of the mansion.
There was a protruding section in the garden wall, where all the flowers had withered away.
It was exactly as I’d been briefed. When I pressed it, a circular door handle suddenly appeared.
I carefully turned the handle, and a space just large enough for one person to slip through opened up.
In the center of the room lay a paper that was unmistakably a map. The seal stamped on it confirmed it belonged to the Great City.
I threw myself inside without hesitation. The moment my body flew forward and I seized the map, shuriken came screaming at me from all directions.
“…A trap.”
An ordinary thief would have been skewered by those shuriken, but for me, dodging them was no difficult feat.
I had thrown myself in precisely because I was confident I could avoid the trap.
After evading all the shuriken, I placed the map into the Expandable Artifact.
As I made to exit without delay, a long blade suddenly thrust out from behind the wall.
Had I been even half a step slower, it would have pierced my throat.
I gritted my teeth and pushed my focus to its peak. The moment my nerves sharpened, I felt the presence of my hidden opponent.
“How did you dodge that?”
My attacker gave me no reprieve, continuing to swing their blade relentlessly.
This was someone of exceptional skill—skilled enough to drive back someone like me, with whom no one in the Guild could stand.
I pressed him hard with maximum force, matching steel against steel, to secure an exit route.
“So you’re the Prince of the Raven Guild. Light on your feet, no weight behind your blade—or so I’ve heard. Now I see for myself.”
Rather than respond, I accelerated my blade speed. He parried smoothly and attempted conversation once more.
“Hand over the map. It’s not something an individual should possess.”
‘An individual,’ he says? What nonsense is this?
Bewildered by his words, I looked at him coldly—and met eyes as crimson as blood.
Like me, he wore a mask concealing his face, but those eyes belonged to someone who had reigned over people since time immemorial.
He pressed me with the weight of his gaze, looking down at me as naturally as breathing.
“Which side does your Raven Guild support? The Teroid Empire? The fallen Seundhel? Or some third nation?”
The Raven Guild was composed almost entirely of Teroid nationals, yet in all the wars thus far, we had sided with no one.
We followed only profit and principle.
This man seemed curious about where the Raven Guild’s true allegiance lay.
As he faltered momentarily to pose his question, I parried his attack and reversed direction.
‘That’s enough.’
I darted out through the open door gap.
I could have continued fighting, but prolonged combat against someone of equal skill risked losing ground. Especially when I had something to protect.
“Wait! I’ve been wanting to meet you, blue-eyed Prince! I know of you. Please, just a moment—let’s talk—!”
The man called after me, giving chase. I glanced back once, then disappeared at full speed, leaving him behind.
Fortunately, I ran straight into Raiely, who’d been searching for me nearby.
The moment he spotted me, Raiely whistled, and guild members who’d been lying in ambush rushed out to block the man’s path.
“The map?”
“Got it. Stored it in the artifact.”
“Of course. I knew you’d pull it off if you’re the one, Prince.”
“That guy’s a real expert. Give the signal for everyone to retreat once you’ve stalled him a bit.”
“Huh? You’re saying that? Is he someone you haven’t come across before?”
“Yeah. Can’t tell which faction he belongs to.”
“Want me to go engage him?”
“You’ll lose.”
At my blunt assessment, Raiely, who’d bristled slightly, soon shook his head.
“…My pride wants to test myself against him, but honestly, not now. We need to head straight back to Headquarters.”
“Why?”
“Queen sent out a call.”
Auntie had sent out a call while we were in the middle of an important mission?
This had never happened before. My heart raced at the thought that something grave must have occurred.
I rode hard without pause and returned to Headquarters, only to be met by the sight of Auntie lying in bed, gasping for breath.
“Auntie… how long has it been?”
I knew immediately upon seeing her.
Auntie was dying.
No medicine, no matter what kind I brought, could save her. The light in Auntie’s eyes had already nearly gone out.
“About two years. Cough.”
“…I got the map. You wanted it so badly.”
“I knew you could do it. Heh-heh. Everyone, cough, step outside. Except for Prince…….”
After everyone else had been sent out, Auntie grabbed my mask and pulled it away.
The cloth that had covered all but my eyes fell away, and my face was revealed.
Auntie’s rough hands touched both my cheeks.
“You’ve grown so much.”
“How can you just die like this? You said I’d be bound to you for life.”
I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.
Of course she’d die someday. But not like this, so suddenly? What about the life I’d pledged to her?
“That’s true. Did you really think the ‘lifetime’ I mentioned would be just ten years? Ha-ha. That’s what makes life so entertaining……ugh, ughhhh.”
Before my bewildered eyes, Auntie continued to cough up blood like someone on death’s threshold.
“Do you remember? I told you—The Weak Have No Choice. Now you… can choose everything.”
I gripped Auntie’s hand tighter as her strength ebbed and she began to slip away.
“I know. There’s no one stronger than me here now.”
“So I’ll give you… one more choice… ugh, ughhhh…….”
“Don’t speak. You’re bleeding.”
As I gritted my teeth and wiped away the blood with a handkerchief, Auntie burst into staccato laughter again.
“You’re such a tender-hearted child.”
“Me? I’ve killed more people than a stray dog passes in the street.”
“Your true nature can’t be hidden. I know you’ve secretly cared for the families of your targets, and behind the scenes, you’ve looked after them.”
“…….”
“Either become the Master of this Guild in my place, or leave this world entirely.”
“Leave? Now?”
“Yes. You… don’t belong here. Once I’m gone, you’ll finally be free…… since you’re stronger than me…….”
Auntie didn’t finish her words. Her head turned slowly to the side.
“Auntie? Auntie!! Open your eyes. Are you really gone? Just like that?”
I tried everything to revive the hand I held, but felt nothing in return, and finally let it fall.
The warmth was fading. From Auntie’s cooling hand, memories of my parents—who had passed ten years before—surfaced.
“Auntie… is gone.”
While I stood there in a daze, staring into the void, the door opened.

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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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