Welcome to the Café of the Dark Guild’s Successor - Chapter 47

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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 cafe run by the heir to the Dark Guild.
Chapter 47
“By the way, Prince, how do you like my hair color? I went through such trouble finding dye to change it.”
“Like a dog’s.”
When I answered flatly, William shot up from his chair, striking the table.
“A dog’s? Really?”
“There was a dog we kept at the Raven Training Facility back then. Her name was Yuyu. You never saw her?”
His hair was dyed pure white, and the frizzy, fluffy texture resembled Yuyu, who used to be kept in the courtyard of the facility.
“She was gone by the time I arrived.”
William laughed, then muttered to himself, “Wait—shouldn’t I be pleased about this?”
I watched William with a pitying gaze and began my business.
“Sit down and listen. I’ve come as a client today to request information. There’s something I need to find.”
“Come now, Prince. What kind of request could that be? Just give me your orders. I’ll find anything.”
“It’s personal. I’d prefer only you know about this job.”
“Understood. I’ll handle it that way.”
I nodded at William, who clenched his fist, then picked up a quill pen and began writing out an information request on pristine white paper.
1. Kimbelhack Orphanage
2. The director who ran Kimbelhack Orphanage twenty years ago
3. Family Registry of Strophan House
4. An employee named “Hensia” who worked for Strophan twenty years ago
“Here.”
William skimmed my request and flinched, his brow narrowing.
“Hmm. An orphanage we don’t even know the location of, plus the Strophan family. None of this is easy.”
“Be careful not to leave a trail. If anyone catches wind of this, pull out immediately.”
“Understood. How quickly do you need this?”
“As fast as possible. This should cover it, right?”
I know better than anyone the usual fees for information requests to Raven.
I paid three times the standard rush fee upfront.
William’s eyes widened as he felt the weight of the pouch I’d tossed him.
“Prince… have you taken up gambling lately? To spend such a sum without blinking an eye. It’s admirable.”
I let out a short laugh and drew the curtain I’d pulled back earlier. A veil fell once more across William’s face.
“Remember the address I sent in that letter? I’ll be staying there.”
“Understood. With funds this generous and your request, I’ll make it top priority.”
“Thank you.”
I picked up the hat I’d left on the table, pressed it down on my head, and slipped out of the tent.
A long queue still stretched ahead, and those watching me leave the tent did so with envious eyes.
“It should take about a week.”
While waiting for word, I planned to stay at Seniel’s residence in the Capital City.
I’d brought along the key he’d given me—one he offered freely whenever he visited the capital.
“Still pristine. He must have someone maintaining it regularly.”
Upon arriving home, I quickly wrote a short note to send to Seniel.
The Imperial Knight Order entrance exam consists of a first and second round, each taking roughly two weeks.
Since the first exam was currently underway, he’d be at the Imperial Palace, so I wrote for him to come home once he was finished.
I called for Shell and sent the note flying, then lit a fire in the hearth.
Now came the waiting.
***
After that, I spent my time waiting for word by wandering through the Capital City’s libraries.
“Beast” “Alein Mountains” “Kimbelhack”
I searched exhaustively for any information I could find using those keywords, but the books yielded nothing useful.
The most useful information came not from libraries but from spending freely at the Adventure Guild.
Namely, accounts of Beast sightings.
They read like legends, but having faced a Beast myself, I knew these accounts weren’t fiction.
Remarkably, all the Beast sighting locations clustered around the Alein Mountains.
Cayden claimed recent unusual phenomena were responsible, but the continued Beast sightings made it clear something was hidden in the Alein Mountains.
Yet I was uncertain how to gather information on Beasts when they were supposedly erased from the world.
Perhaps the Imperial Library or the private libraries of the Five Great Houses might have something?
As I pondered how to gain access, I recalled the two people I knew with the highest positions.
Hestanya and Bidler.
With a little persuasion, might I not make this work? Weren’t they my best contacts for exactly this sort of thing?
Turning the idea over in my mind, I headed home, only to find a letter wedged in the door frame.
I glanced around before opening it.
It contained the name of a shop called “Petit Tonton,” along with a time and location.
Since it was within the hour, I changed clothes immediately and made for the address.
Petit Tonton was a small cafe at the end of a street. It had few patrons and a modest terrace.
“One coffee, please.”
After ordering, I sat on the terrace, and the owner brought me coffee in a lovely cup.
As I sipped, I found myself studying the shop. Perhaps because I’d taken to running one, the interior drew my eye.
White walls, white furnishings. The bright, ornate decor struck me as the complete opposite of my own place, and I felt suddenly self-conscious.
“Should I change things this way?”
I examined every corner, wondering if this was the current style, before catching myself.
“I shouldn’t get so invested in the shop.”
I drank my coffee with a start. The bitterness cleared my mind.
“Meow.”
“Hmm?”
I turned at the sound, startled. Only a silver blur of a cat remained where the sound had come from.
The familiar silhouette surprised me, and I wanted a closer look, but it had already dashed out of the shop.
“Am I seeing things now? The distance from the mountains to here is immense.”
I calmed my startled heart and sipped my coffee again.
Then the shop door opened.
A man in a fedora pulled low came in, placed his order at once, and made his way to my terrace.
At the familiar gait and build, my lips twisted and I set down my cup.
“Why are you here?”
“Because I wanted to see you.”
Only his lips were visible beneath the hat’s brim, and they curved into a soft smile.
“That loose-mouthed William.”
I’d told him not to breathe a word to anyone, yet he’d gone and told the guild master?
As my teeth ground together, Reilly urged me not to be so angry and picked up the coffee cup I’d set down.
Then, with casual ease, he turned the cup to sip from the side where my lips had been.
“You always do that. This is the side I drank from.”
“Really?”
Reilly took a sip and removed his fedora with a bright smile. Brown hair fell softly across his forehead.
“How is the guild these days?”
“Stable. I’ve cleaned out everyone causing trouble.”
His words painted one picture, but his gaunt face told another story—things weren’t easy.
Yet this wasn’t something anyone else could do for him. I trusted that Reilly would handle it and nodded.
“Why are you looking for these people?”
Reilly waved the information request document at me—one he’d apparently received from William.
“So Raven doesn’t believe in client confidentiality? Request forms are just floating around.”
“If it bothers you, rewrite the policy yourself.”
I crossed my legs and snatched the request from Reilly, then pulled out documents I’d found in my parents’ room and showed them to him.
“Because of this. It seems connected to my mother somehow.”
Reilly examined the documents with the same gravity I had, and his expression hardened.
“Now I understand. You might have ties to Strophan House.”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”
“Here’s what we found.”
Reilly pulled a bundle of papers from the bag he’d brought and laid them on the table.
I picked them up and read quickly, but the useful information was scant compared to the volume.
“The orphanage was located at the far southern edge. It was a large operation—over a hundred children in their care. It shut down ten years ago, and the building has since been demolished, leaving no trace.”
“The director?”
“Disappeared without a trace. We’re still tracking, but it seems intentional—there’s nothing left.”
An orphanage large enough to send children into adoption with Strophan House had vanished without a trace. And the director had vanished with it.
It would be strange not to suspect something, and a hollow laugh escaped me.
“The next section is the Strophan family registry.”
“Two pages?”
“One is the current registry, one from twenty years ago. Do you see the difference?”
“Yes. My mother’s name is missing.”
In the old registry, my mother was listed as Lorence Strophan—the current family head’s cousin’s daughter.
But twenty years later, my mother’s name had vanished from the registry. Still, I’d found proof that she’d been with Strophan House.
As I reviewed the registry, I noticed something odd and tilted my head.
“Lorence Strophan, the woman who adopted my mother—she had no husband?”
“Right. She never married. She adopted your mother as a single woman and later revoked the adoption.”
“How is that possible? Then she had no other children?”
“Correct. She adopted only your mother her entire life, then dissolved the adoption.”
“Is she still alive?”
“Unfortunately, she passed away from illness five years ago.”
I pressed my lips together, regret settling in. If I’d learned this even slightly sooner, I might have been able to ask her myself.
“The strangest part came when we searched for Hensia. Every employee who worked in Lorence’s household and retired twenty years ago is dead.”
My hand, which had been examining the papers, stopped. I looked at Reilly with a hardened expression.
“All of them?”
“Every single one except Hensia. Deliberately eliminated.”
“There’s something they absolutely had to hide.”
Reilly nodded grimly.
I set down the papers I’d examined thoroughly to the last page.
It was a short time, but everything important had been investigated. I owed this to the guild members who threw themselves into the task and to Reilly.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. Not between us.”
Reilly placed a hat on my head, then pressed his own back down.
“Let’s go meet Hensia. She’s not far from here.”

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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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