Welcome to the Café of the Dark Guild’s Successor - Chapter 97

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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.
Chapter 97
For Robin, who had trained in sword technique his entire life, facing a mage of such formidable power was simply unthinkable.
“Please. Why are you doing this? Let’s talk this through. Please, let’s talk!”
“Quiet. Talking is something people do with each other. Tsk.”
Gasp—choke!
The moment Meyson raised his hand, Robin’s mouth sealed shut.
He conjured an illusion even more powerful than what Rosia had endured—flames that consumed the whole body, searing pain as though real fire scorched his skin—and thrust it into Robin’s mind.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
Robin shrieked for a long while before losing consciousness entirely.
Meyson, expression unmoved and voice glacial, pressed his hand to the fallen man’s forehead.
“Let’s see who’s behind you.”
Meyson assumed there was a backer orchestrating Robin’s actions—and dove into the man’s memories.
The details were murky, but he could pull clear images of faces Robin had seen recently.
Before long, Meyson glimpsed Clione’s face in those memories, and his expression darkened.
“The Empress went after my granddaughter? Or was it the café…?”
He’d known for some time, watching over Rosia, that the Strophane Clan had some connection to Alein Mountain.
The pieces didn’t quite fit, but the pattern was there. He decided to investigate directly.
Whatever the reason, Meyson had no intention of leaving unpunished anyone who endangered his granddaughter.
“I’ll make sure she understands the cost.”
What happens when someone lays a hand on my granddaughter.
Meyson bound the unconscious Robin in rope, bundled him up, and activated a Teleportation Magic Stone.
***
At the same moment.
The villagers, seeing smoke rise into the sky, each grabbed a bucket and rushed toward the mountain.
“That’s the direction where the café is, isn’t it?”
“Let’s go, quickly! Everyone, come now!”
People even woke those sleeping, and soon they streamed out in a long procession.
“I hope the young owner is all right…”
“That’s what I’m worried about. I hope nothing’s happened to her.”
The Village Chief and Mathen quickened their pace, their hearts heavy with concern for Rosia.
By the time the villagers reached the café in the mountains, the entire area had burned to ash and the flames had already died.
“Good heavens, what on earth happened?”
“The café’s completely collapsed.”
“What about the young lady? Everyone, search the area around here!”
The villagers scattered the water they’d brought around the site and began searching for Rosia.
“I don’t see her anywhere.”
“Surely she didn’t… perish? What do we do? She was such a kind girl…”
“Enough of that dark talk. Let’s go to the Temple nearby. Surely the fire didn’t spread that far.”
The Village Chief gathered his people and led them toward the Temple.
Fortunately, as they approached the Temple, the forest became untouched, with no trace of fire—everyone felt a measure of relief.
“Priest! Are you here?”
Cayden, who had been keeping Rosia company alongside Biedler in tense silence, heard the voices and stepped outside.
“What brings you all here?”
“We saw smoke from a fire and came to check, Priest. Is the young owner here?”
“We searched through all the wreckage but couldn’t find her. Do you know what happened?”
Seeing the deep worry in Mathen’s eyes, Cayden smiled softly.
“She’s resting here in the Temple now to recover. She isn’t injured. Please, don’t worry yourselves—go back to the village.”
“Oh, thank goodness…”
Mathen’s legs gave out, and he sank to the ground, his chest heaving with relief.
“I’ll watch over her carefully. I’ll tell Rosia that everyone was so concerned for her.”
“She must have been frightened by such a terrible ordeal. Please, stay by her side and keep her safe.”
“The café is just a building—it can be rebuilt. Tell her not to despair. We’ll help.”
“In times like these, we come together, don’t we? Tell her the village is waiting to help.”
“I understand.”
The Village Chief and the villagers each offered their comfort in their own way.
As they made their way back down the mountain, their faces were far brighter than when they’d climbed it.
“We’ll need to rebuild the tables.”
“And the counter, too.”
“We’ll need new dishes and cups as well…”
“There are enough of us in the Merchant Guild. Together, we can have it all restored in no time.”
They all put their heads together, planning how to rebuild the café so that Rosia, who had lost everything, would not fall into despair.
***
The range of a Teleportation Magic Stone typically extended only to the outskirts of the Capital.
The Barrier surrounding the Capital was the reason, but Meyson, being the one who had created it, remained unaffected by its constraints.
Meyson appeared near the Imperial Palace and unceremoniously dumped the unconscious Robin onto the ground.
He would have liked to breach the Palace’s Barrier and enter directly, but doing so would alert the Palace mages and could trigger an all-out war between the Mage Tower and the Imperial Court.
He couldn’t drag the entire Mage Tower into a personal matter, so he held onto reason and shifted into the form of a cat.
Then he made straight for the Empress’s Palace.
At the late hour, three knights stood guard at the main gate.
One knight’s eyes lit up upon spotting the cat and reached out—but Meyson put him to sleep instantly, and did the same to the other two.
“Using magic will alert them soon enough.”
Magic used within the Imperial Palace was detected immediately. Knowing guards would come running, he moved faster still.
Meyson sent everyone in his path to sleep and found the Empress’s bedchamber.
He opened the door. Clione lay asleep, her face peaceful and untroubled.
Remembering Rosia’s collapse, fury seized Meyson, and he knocked her awake with a sharp flick.
Clione’s eyes flew open at the intrusion, and the moment she saw who stood before her, she shrieked in terror.
“Ahhhhhhh! Is anyone out there!”
“No one will come. There’s no mage in this Palace who can pierce my Barrier.”
Meyson spoke in a low murmur—’There will be commotion’—and Clione felt an overwhelming force radiating from him. She trembled, her eyes darting nervously to read his intent.
“Where do you think you are, breaking in like this! I am the Empress of this realm!”
Seeing the Empress bluster with fear, Meyson let out a cold laugh.
“What reason did that great Empress have for trying to kill my granddaughter?”
“Granddaughter…? I didn’t try to kill anyone. You’re not even of an age to have— Wait. You’re… Is it possible…?”
Clione stared hard at Meyson’s face, and recognition dawned.
A face she’d nearly forgotten, one that sent only proxies to official gatherings and hadn’t been seen in ages.
Long silver hair falling to his waist, eyes the color of sapphires, a coldly handsome visage—and a mage of extraordinary power.
She knew of only one person who possessed all these qualities.
“The Grand Mage Meyson…?”
“Ah. Good. This will move faster, then.”
Meyson made no attempt to deny it, his presence growing more imposing as he fixed Clione with his gaze.
“You sent your personal knights to set fire to a small café on Alein Mountain. Why?”
“All this—breaking into the Palace—for a petty café? Do you have any idea how grave an offense this is?”
“It’s not petty. It’s my granddaughter’s café. You tried to kill her!”
Meyson’s roar left Clione speechless, her body going rigid with shock.
“…I had no idea. I did it to stop my brother. He would only use that café as an excuse to keep frequenting Alein Mountain.”
“Family conflict?”
“In a manner of speaking. If I do nothing, there’s no telling what else he might do to obstruct my son’s future and my own.”
Clione spoke of Juliano, and a shudder ran through her.
“I don’t want Alein Mountain developed. If that café exists, it will keep drawing customers.”
“I don’t care about your circumstances. Your ignorance doesn’t erase the fact that you tried to kill my granddaughter!”
Meyson’s voice thundered through the room like a storm. Clione’s ears rang; she squeezed her eyes shut.
“I came here in person as a warning. If you ever lay a hand on my granddaughter again, I will use every shred of my power to annihilate your entire clan.”
Clione flinched at the chilling promise.
That he had penetrated the Imperial Palace itself and dared lay hands on the Empress made every word absolute.
Meyson subjected Clione to an illusion similar to the one he’d shown Robin.
She convulsed in agony, but endured far better than Robin had.
“Next time, it won’t be an illusion.”
“What… what became of Robin? You didn’t kill him, did you?”
“Worried about your own people, are you?”
Meyson turned away with a sneer.
“I left him outside the Palace. Send someone to find him and he’ll live.”
Lowering the Barrier, Meyson left the room. Not long after, guards on patrol arrived in force at the Empress’s Palace.
“Your Majesty! Are you well? We detected unusual activity in this sector.”
“Who was it that intruded?”
“It was nothing. I accidentally activated an Artifact. No cause for concern. You’re dismissed.”
Once she’d sent the knights away with that excuse, Clione finally broke free of Meyson’s hold, her lips trembling violently.
She immediately summoned her sleeping secretary and sent him out to find Robin.
Caught in chaos, Clione paced her chamber in agitation, arranging her thoughts.
“Brother has no idea any of this happened. I need to stop him…”
It was impossible that Juliano would deliberately broker a business deal with someone connected to the Grand Mage, using that as a foothold to develop Alein Mountain.
If the unsuspecting Juliano were to lay even a finger on that café or the Grand Mage’s granddaughter, the consequences would be catastrophic.
“What do I do? Should I tell him?”
As Clione’s mind raced, a thought struck her like lightning, and she stood up straight.
“No. There’s a better way.”
This situation was certainly disadvantageous to her, but she could see one card that would overturn everything.
“Where is Arthur?”

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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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