Welcome to the Café of the Dark Guild’s Successor - Chapter 95

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

A café run by the Dark Guild’s Heir.
Chapter 95
From the start, Alein Mountain held a different purpose, and they were simply using the shop as cover for it.
“That must be tiring for you.”
“It’s fine. I’ll be back again, boss.”
“Take care.”
Daren left with a cup full of water held carefully in his hands.
I watched his retreating figure as he joined the Knights Order gathered before the bonfire, lost in thought.
“What could they be looking for on this mountain?”
Magic Stones, perhaps?
After losing their map, the Strofan Family might still be searching without knowing the exact location.
Whatever it was they wanted, they clearly needed the nearby village and this shop to find it.
It seemed wise to be cautious, so I decided to contact Seniel through the Crystal Orb.
“But who was it that wanted the shop closed?”
If not Juliano, I couldn’t think of anyone else.
“Could it be the Empress?”
Bidler had refused to marry the Princess using me as an excuse, and if the Empress had investigated my background, it was certainly possible.
“But then there’d be no reason to shut down the shop.”
From the start, it would be easier just to blackmail me instead of the business.
“…I don’t know.”
As I watched the knights hand me cup after cup before leaving, I couldn’t help but sigh.
Before worrying about who was behind this, I had dishes to wash.
***
Free from watching Rosia for the first time in a while, Robin took the whole day to rest.
After sleeping on a soft bed, the exhaustion from lurking on the mountain for days melted away completely.
Having eaten a hearty meal with meat as a side dish, he made his way back up Alein Mountain at a leisurely pace.
“It should be over by now.”
Since the sun had already set, the explosives surely would have detonated.
He climbed casually, imagining the shop’s destruction.
“Will she be alive?”
The thought of Rosia’s fate crossed Robin’s mind.
If she’d been in the shop when the explosives went off, survival would have been difficult.
Though it was regrettable, thinking of it as her destiny, he pushed through the final brush and arrived at his destination.
But then.
“…Intact? How?”
Robin doubted his own eyes and rubbed them hard, but what he saw remained unchanged. The shop was untouched.
There wasn’t even a trace of the explosion, and nothing appeared damaged.
From inside the shop, he sensed the presence of Rosia and a nearby Temple Priest.
The two seemed to be eating, as they always did. This was not the scene Robin had imagined.
“How did she know?”
Realizing his failure, Robin reeled from the shock and struck a nearby tree hard.
He couldn’t have made a mistake. The explosives couldn’t have been defective.
That meant the target discovered them before they detonated.
“Perhaps I was too careless. I underestimated her for being a woman.”
Robin belatedly acknowledged his error and decided to use the Artifact instead.
Using it would burn not just the shop, but the surrounding forest as well.
But it was a spell that extinguished itself after a certain time, so it wouldn’t spread beyond this area.
Though it was a shame to leave such obvious traces, he decided to erase everything thoroughly.
“I’ll wait until she falls asleep.”
To be thorough, Robin descended the mountain completely and waited for Rosia to sleep.
He startled when he encountered a cat on the way, but it soon disappeared somewhere.
***
After finishing dinner and handling various chores, bedtime came around.
“Where did she go again?”
I searched the house for the cat before bed, but she wasn’t anywhere to be found.
“It’s cold out.”
She probably went out as usual, but lately she’d been spending more time outside, which worried me.
“Should I keep her from going out? Just for winter?”
But she wasn’t even my cat, so I had no right to confine her. I shook my head.
After turning off all the lights and lying in bed, various thoughts came to mind.
The Knights Order searching the mountain, Juliano and his men—I didn’t think they’d find anything easily, but it nagged at me.
“I hope Seniel is doing well.”
Lately, under surveillance from the Imperial Palace, I hadn’t received the usual daily messages.
I was thinking of asking Bidler to look after him when sleep began to pull me under.
How much time had passed?
‘…?’
I felt someone cross the Barrier Stone and snapped awake.
The figure slipped past the barrier and crept toward the shop.
“That knight.”
The one who’d warned me yesterday that grave trouble would come if I didn’t close the shop, then never showed himself again.
I slowly got out of bed and hid my body behind the door.
The wall clock pointed to midnight. Coming in secret at this hour meant he intended to deal with me directly.
Just as well.
I’d been curious about whose orders he was following, and I planned to capture him this time and interrogate him properly.
I needed to be careful, but I wasn’t patient enough to endure someone trying to attack me.
But the knight approaching from outside stopped in the courtyard.
Wondering what was happening, I slipped out of the room and walked to the window. The curtains kept the outside hidden.
‘What is he doing?’
I held my breath, waiting for the other to move, when suddenly a fierce energy was felt at the window.
Then—Crash-boom!!
The window shattered with a deafening sound.
Startled, I threw myself backward to avoid the shards, and a massive fireball tore through into the shop.
The impact slammed me hard against the wall, but fortunately I didn’t lose consciousness.
“Ugh.”
I staggered to my feet. By then the entire interior of the shop was engulfed in flames.
Everything in sight was burning. The fierce fire spread with unstoppable speed.
I gritted my teeth watching the attacker flee into the distance, but there was something more urgent.
“Mom… Dad… their room first…”
My heart pounded wildly, but I forced myself to stay calm and ran into my parents’ room.
Fortunately, I could still salvage things that hadn’t completely burned yet.
I swept whatever I could reach into the Artifact.
I managed to save small items like documents and books, but watching my parents’ room burn was agony beyond words.
Finally, I grabbed the picture frame sitting on the nightstand, and emotion surged, my throat burning with tears.
“I won’t let this go.”
The one who destroyed this place where all my memories with my parents lay—
I clenched my teeth, swearing I would never forgive them, and ran to my own room.
At least the fire was made of magic, so it didn’t affect me.
It felt hot, but though the flames consumed my clothes, they couldn’t harm my body.
“Haa…”
Because the house was made of wood, it was all the more vulnerable to fire. It was hard to avoid the collapsing roof and pillars.
I reached the room aching all over from repeated impacts.
Fortunately, both Crystal Orbs had survived the fire intact.
“Rosia?”
Bidler’s Crystal Orb lit up. I hurriedly tossed the Crystal Orbs into the Artifact while answering.
“Later, later.”
“What’s happening?!”
“There’s a fire.”
As I tried to escape the room now completely consumed by flames, the final roof collapsed and fell over my head.
I rolled to the side to avoid it, but… the surroundings were devastating.
“I need to get out.”
I know.
My feet refused to move. I stared blankly at the shop engulfed in flames.
Then, suddenly, a whisper reached my ears.
An enchanting voice—unclear in what it was saying, neither distinctly male nor female—made my head throb the moment I heard it.
“Let’s go. No more.”
Biting my lip hard enough to draw blood, I found a path out of the shop.
Since it had already burned completely, the outside was practically no different.
Stepping into the courtyard, I saw that not just the shop but the nearby trees and forest were burning too.
If the fire didn’t go out and kept spreading, the entire mountain might burn down.
I needed to alert the village, but the delayed shock from the impacts began to overwhelm my body—I couldn’t move.
My legs gave out and I collapsed, as the voice continued echoing in my head, making everything hazy.
“What are you saying?”
Something approached beside me and pecked at my hand.
I barely turned my head to look, and there was Armstrong. A small Chick stood beside her.
“…Thank goodness. Really, thank goodness.”
Wondering how they knew to come outside, I smiled even in this chaos.
But then I saw the singed fur on the Chick and rage surged uncontrollably.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been this angry—I ground my teeth in fury.
“You destroyed my precious place… you’ll regret it.”
I saw the fleeing knight’s face clearly. As I kept recalling it so I wouldn’t forget, my vision blurred.
“Cayden…”
As a final prayer that the flames wouldn’t reach the Temple, I lost consciousness.
***
Bidler, who rarely initiated contact with the Crystal Orb himself, finally worked up the courage to activate it first.
But it only glowed red continuously, with no response from the other end.
“Is she already asleep?”
Perhaps she’d already fallen asleep since it had gotten so late.
Though reluctant, it seemed pointless to wait any longer, so he prepared to sleep as well.
Zzzt—
Suddenly, the connection established.
But tremendous commotion came through the Crystal Orb. Amid the sound of a collapsing house, Rosia’s voice was nowhere to be heard.
“Rosia? Rosia!! What’s happening?”
Bidler jolted up, gripping the Crystal Orb as he asked anxiously.
“Rosia?”
“Later, later.”
“What’s happening?!”
“There’s a fire.”
The connection cut off.
Alarmed by the word “fire,” Bidler immediately threw off his blankets and grabbed his coat.
At that very moment.
Cayden emerged from beneath the Temple, utterly exhausted.
His eyes, dull with fatigue, caught sight of bright red flames and smoke.
At first I didn’t understand what it was, but the moment I realized it was fire, I began running without hesitation.
“Rosia…!”
I’d stepped out for a breath of air, so my clothes were thin and I wore only slippers, but there was no time to think about that.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————