Welcome to the Café of the Dark Guild’s Successor - Chapter 31

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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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This is a café run by the Dark Guild successor.
31
“Ah, these things sell for quite a lot in the Capital, you see. I gave you extra because the young lady’s pretty.”
Whether Bidler’s postcards ended up on the floor or not was no concern of mine.
I’d planned to refuse and leave them behind, but since we knew each other, it felt awkward, so I picked them up anyway.
“What am I supposed to do with these?”
I grabbed my bag and stood up, irritated, when Kaiden appeared beside me.
“What did you buy?”
He peered at my bag with curious eyes.
He didn’t look much different than before, but something about Kaiden’s pallid, listless expression bothered me.
“What have you been doing that your face looks like that?”
“What’s wrong with my face? Oh, postcards……. Hmm, did you like things like this, Rosia?”
Kaiden peeked into my bag, opened his mouth slightly, and began edging away from me.
For some reason, I felt the need to explain myself, so I spoke quickly.
“Look closely. It’s my younger sibling from before, isn’t it?”
“But those other things aren’t.”
Kaiden plucked out just the stack of Bidler’s postcards and waved them at me.
“Grandmother threw them in as a bonus. I didn’t buy them.”
“Then let’s throw them away?”
Kaiden made no effort to hide his displeasure at Bidler’s postcards.
“Never mind. I’ll throw them away myself.”
As we walked, I caught Kaiden trying to secretly discard Bidler’s postcards one by one several times.
“Why do you dislike this person so much?”
“A man’s intuition.”
“You’re not a man. You’re a priest.”
“Rosia!”
I tapped Kaiden’s shoulder as he bristled and encouraged him.
We arrived at the Inn where I’d left the horse. As I tried to enter, Kaiden tugged at my clothes.
“Wait a moment.”
“Why?”
“Let’s go over there.”
Kaiden’s eyes lit up as if he’d discovered something, and I followed him to a pawn shop owner’s temporary stall.
The owner sold items that people had pawned out of financial desperation—anything older than ten years, carefully arranged and displayed.
“There are Artifacts here, aren’t there?”
Despite being a small town, the goods on the stall were of considerable quality.
It seemed to be because many travelers passed through.
As I examined premium Artifacts and refined Mana Stones with interest, Kaiden quickly picked up a purple bracelet.
“What do you think of this?”
“As expected of a priest—you have a good eye. The stone set in the middle is an amethyst, and a noblewoman pawned it. I thought she’d come back for it soon, so I kept it safe, but more than ten years have passed, and this is the first time I’m putting it up for sale.”
Even though I don’t know much about accessories, the bracelet gleamed beautifully, and when Kaiden held it up to my wrist and nodded, I thought it must be nice.
“I’ll buy it.”
“To be honest, this should fetch three Gold Coins, but let’s make it two. It’s selling as soon as it’s displayed—it seems like fate has brought it to you, priest.”
A two-Gold-Coin bracelet at a stall like this seemed awfully expensive, but Kaiden paid without haggling at all, and in an instant.
“Would you like gift wrapping?”
“I’ll just take it as is.”
He took the bracelet and left the stall.
“You really liked it. I didn’t think you’d buy it at that price.”
“It’s not for me.”
Since he didn’t get it wrapped, I naturally assumed Kaiden was keeping it for himself.
“Rosia, give me your hand for a moment.”
But Kaiden stopped walking and asked for my hand. Tilting my head, I offered my left, and he slipped the bracelet onto my wrist.
“I bought it for Rosia.”
“Me? I don’t need it.”
Startled by the sensation on my arm, I tried to pull my hand away. I hadn’t worn accessories since joining the guild.
There was no way I could wear something that jingled on my wrist while carrying out a mission.
“Don’t say that. Look—it suits you perfectly.”
Kaiden was persistent and quick-handed. I’d definitely tried to pull away, but somehow the bracelet was already fastened around my arm.
When I tried to remove it in annoyance, Kaiden gently stroked the chain with his thumb and lowered his voice.
“This isn’t an ordinary bracelet.”
“Then what?”
Kaiden glanced back at the distant pawn shop owner and winked.
“I can feel Sacred Power inside. The previous owner probably entrusted it because it was valuable. I don’t know why they never came back for it. This will protect Rosia. So keep it on.”
So he’d paid that price without negotiating because he’d sensed something only a priest could feel.
I turned my wrist and examined the bracelet, which seemed merely beautiful.
Was it an Artifact?
“…I’ll use it well.”
If the secretive priest was willing to say that much, it had to be useful. I decided to keep it on.
Still, since it was my first time wearing an accessory, I kept noticing my wrist.
Every time it jingled, I’d look down, and the small amethyst set in it reminded me of Kaiden’s eyes.
Just then, as we approached the Inn, the butcher’s proprietor called out loudly.
“Cheap, cheap! Wild Boar Meat caught fresh by hunters! Fresh meat has arrived! Today only!”
At the mention of meat, my ears perked up and my body turned of its own accord. It was pure instinct.
“That sounds delicious.”
Since coming to the mountain, I hadn’t hunted, so I’d had no chance to eat meat, and Kaiden’s cooking, while delicious, contained no meat at all.
Suddenly realizing how long it had been since I’d eaten meat, I licked my lips, and apparently Kaiden heard my murmur.
“Should we eat meat for dinner?”
“Priests can’t eat meat, though.”
“It’s alright occasionally. Very occasionally.”
“Really?”
I rushed over to the butcher and had him cut generous portions of the boar’s hind leg and belly meat.
Then I found the horse at the Inn and rode back to the mountain with him.
“I’ll prepare dinner for you.”
“Sure. I’ll gather firewood and leaves.”
For a delicious meal, Kaiden and I parted ways to our respective homes.
Since I planned to grill the meat in the yard, I brought out a folding table and two chairs, and stacked firewood and leaves separately.
Once I’d moved the dishes, it even felt like a small party—quite convincing.
Before Kaiden arrived, I lit a fire for grilling the meat.
Shortly after, Kaiden returned to the Cabin with carefully butchered meat and seasoning he’d prepared with care.
As I threaded the meat onto long skewers and grilled it over the fire, an unbearably delicious aroma slowly spread around us.
Exerting extreme patience to resist, I stared intently at the meat, when Kaiden chuckled and handed me a small skewer.
“Rosia, this one’s done. Try it. Be careful—it’s hot.”
I wrapped the skewer in leaves, bit off a large mouthful of meat, and my eyes flew shut.
“How is it?”
“It’s delicious.”
Meat was meat, after all.
Everything Kaiden had cooked for me was tasty, but it didn’t have this umami.
“I didn’t know you liked meat this much. From now on, I’ll make it for you often.”
“You try some.”
I offered him the skewer, and Kaiden smiled softly before placing his lips right next to where I’d bitten and eating the meat.
His eyes widened too.
“It is delicious.”
“Right? It’s been so long—it tastes even better than I expected. Man, I could use a drink.”
For a moment, I nearly dropped the skewer I was holding. I stared at Kaiden with suspicion.
“Are you really a priest?”
“Priests drink too. Occasionally. There’s even Sacred Liquor made for priests.”
I know Sacred Liquor well enough.
It’s made by steeping the fruit of a tree rich in Sacred Power in Sacred Water, so it’s very expensive and hard to find.
Long ago, I’d stolen it from a Temple on a contract that came into the Dark Guild.
‘What if he finds out? Will he hate me?’
As I thought of that incident and took another bite of meat, it didn’t taste quite as good as before. Still, it had flavor, so I chewed steadily.
“Doesn’t it taste even better when you eat with someone, Rosia?”
Kaiden always stares at me intently. Like now. The flames of the crackling fire filled his eyes.
“Yeah… I guess it does.”
Though it hasn’t been long, since Kaiden and I started sharing dinner, I’ve been learning how stabilizing it is to have someone by your side every day.
If I’d eaten this meat alone, I wouldn’t have felt this taste or this warmth.
I wanted to thank him for every meal he makes, for how he fills my daily life like this, but the words rose to my throat and I swallowed them down with the meat, too self-conscious to say them aloud.
“When winter comes, shall we gather winter berries and make liquor together? We’d age it as is and drink it together a year from now.”
I watched Kaiden for a long moment as he spoke of winter, and of a future a year away.
“……Can that happen?”
Will I still be here a year from now, living in such peace?
It was a question from someone who’d never imagined the future before, and Kaiden, who couldn’t possibly know that, answered with conviction.
“Of course it will. I’ll help.”
“Alright. Let’s do it.”
Kaiden declared himself an expert in herbal liqueurs and infusions, reciting various liquor recipes to me.
“You’re a drinker.”
“What? I’m a priest. Liquor and I are worlds apart.”
It was suspicious how his eyes sparkled when discussing drinks, how he knew so many fermentation recipes, but it was good for me, so I let it slide.
As we talked and watched the meat cook over the fire, I heard rustling from the side.
“Meow!”
Along with a strange cry.

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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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