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Chapter 14
The next day, I received a message from the guild. Their messages always came as small notes infused with magic.
[Chaddy has made up their mind. Will arrive immediately.]
After reading the note, I quickly headed to the guild. Handing over the payment to the usual vagrant, I entered and found the guild interior, now familiar, awaiting me.
“Oh, you’re early.”
“Hello, Dalia.”
Dalia greeted me warmly. Chadwick wasn’t in sight. She guided me immediately and handed me a refreshing drink that could quench my thirst.
“Chadwick will be here soon.”
“Will Chaddy be coming too?”
Dalia smiled at my question, saying she didn’t know. Then she told me to wait a moment before disappearing.
As I sipped my drink and looked around, the atmosphere seemed different from before.
‘Has it always been like this?’
When I had come before, it had felt more like a tavern, but now it felt quite different—more like a proper guild.
The old tavern-style tables and chairs had all been removed, replaced by various mysterious items. Boxes filled with objects were scattered everywhere, as if they were about to move out, and the contents looked suspicious.
“Animal bones, perhaps…?”
I carefully touched a bone sticking out from the edge of a box. It didn’t look like a fake decoration.
“Ingredients.”
Startled by the voice behind me, I turned around. It wasn’t Chaddy, but Chadwick.
I awkwardly put the object down.
“Ingredients?”
“Yes. They’re needed. I haven’t finished organizing everything yet.”
“Now that you mention it, the atmosphere does feel a bit different… a little chaotic.”
He nodded and guided me back to the bar. There was a tense awkwardness between us, and I sensed news about to come.
“…So Chaddy ultimately decided not to see me?”
“Yes.”
His straightforward answer confirmed my suspicions. Why did bad premonitions always come true?
I felt a pang of guilt, as if I had disturbed Chaddy’s peaceful life.
“I understand.”
“Instead…”
“Yes?”
Chadwick studied my face intently, as if he could read my thoughts. I met his gaze without flinching.
“They said they’d reconsider if you help us.”
“Me… help you? How does that have anything to do with Chaddy…?”
“Chaddy belongs to our organization.”
“What?”
I jumped from my seat in surprise, and Chadwick remained calm, closing his mouth.
“Chaddy belongs to your guild?”
“No.”
Yet his next words left me puzzled.
“This is not a guild.”
“…Excuse me?”
I blinked slowly, unable to understand. If this wasn’t a guild, then why had he accepted my request?
“What do you mean this isn’t a guild? Then why did you take my request…?”
“Strictly speaking, this isn’t a guild for mere errand-runners. This is ‘Serssi.’”
“…No way.”
I could barely form the words. Chadwick’s explanation didn’t make sense. First he said it wasn’t a guild, now he claimed it was Serssi. Serssi?
Serssi was an infamous association of mages, notorious not just for being a private guild of magic users.
They had opposed the royal court. All mages were supposed to belong to the crown and follow its orders, but Serssi rejected that system.
The royal court recognized only mages under its control. Any private use of magic was illegal. For years, special royal squads had even been dispatched to capture them.
Yet those squads never succeeded, and eventually, the court declared the group likely disbanded.
Serssi had disappeared into obscurity. And now… this Serssi?
“Some misunderstandings occurred…”
“Yes, some.”
I raised my voice, and he only smiled calmly.
“Chaddy is a mage?”
“Why, you don’t believe me?”
“…No.”
Mages show signs of their abilities from a very young age. The Chaddy I knew had shown none of these signs.
“You think Chaddy showed no signs of being a mage?”
“Yes. The Chaddy I saw was small, delicate, and…”
“And had a terrible temper.”
“Huh?”
I questioned him again. Suddenly, I was overwhelmed with new revelations.
“You were the only one Chaddy acted obedient toward, weren’t you?”
I swallowed nervously. That was true. Chaddy had been angelic to me, but to others, she was not. She refused to do anything she disliked, causing the other teachers considerable trouble.
Mages were said to have erratic personalities because their magic was unstable. Though, as a non-mage, I didn’t fully understand this.
Looking back, Chaddy had not had a pleasant personality as a child. To call it merely ‘unpleasant’ would be an understatement.
He raised his eyebrows, seemingly seeking my agreement.
“Ha, but there were no other signs…”
“Do you remember the day Chaddy made a boy cry?”
“That was…”
“Do not blame the boy.”
I quietly kept my mouth shut at his firm words. Now that I remembered, that had happened.
Chaddy usually stayed by my side with an angelic face, but if anyone interfered between us, she was merciless.
Normally, I could restrain her, so it wasn’t a problem, but whenever I stepped away… chaos ensued. That day, I must have stepped away briefly for some reason. When I returned, the orphanage was in shambles. Chaddy greeted me from the center with a calm face.
The boy never harassed me again after that day.
“Still, the boy provoked me first, and Chaddy…”
“Yes. It might not have been Chaddy’s fault alone. But it was about possessiveness. Mages do not care about others, but are merciless when it comes to their own.”
He fixed his gaze on me, unwavering. Everything he said was true. I had thought Chaddy’s sensitivity was just her personality, but it was a sign of a mage. My head spun from the unexpected revelation.
“You know a lot about Chaddy’s past?”
Perhaps Chadwick was a distant relative of Chaddy. They did look strangely similar…
“…Hmm, I only heard it from Chaddy.”
I nodded, but then another question arose.
“Did Chaddy show magical ability after I left the orphanage?”
“Yes.”
Still, it was strange. Even so, Chaddy being in Serssi instead of the royal court…
Mages are supposed to register with the court immediately upon showing signs of their abilities. That thought crossed my mind.
A year after I was adopted, the orphanage vanished without a trace.
Chadwick seemed to understand my thought without me finishing my sentence, nodding slightly.
“Is Chaddy showing magical ability related to the disappearance of the orphanage?”
I suspected outside interference in the orphanage’s disappearance. Hearing Chaddy’s story, my guess didn’t seem entirely far-fetched.
“…I can’t tell you anything at this moment. When I truly feel you’re ready to help us, I will.”
“What about the other children? …What about Silvia?”
Mentioning Silvia made Chadwick’s gaze even heavier.
My fingertips turned cold with tension. Silvia had been my savior, but finding her was an entirely different matter.
I still wondered if she had arranged my adoption through a deal with Norman Erdona.
I knew I shouldn’t suspect Silvia. She had saved me, fed me, clothed me. It terrified me to confirm whether she had struck a deal with Norman.
To clear my unfounded suspicions, I shook my head.
“One thing I should tell you in advance: I cannot say everyone was ‘safe.’”
“….”
My hands and feet turned icy at his words. Though not a direct answer, it was enough. My suspicion was true.
“Silvia is missing.”
“…!”
I staggered slightly, but Chadwick did not flinch. He seemed to be carefully observing my reaction.
