Chapter 45 …
When his true identity was finally revealed, I shouted in my mind, “Of course!”
“The appearance really suits the name.”
Tall and slender, a face that was neat yet somehow alluring, and a perfectly tailored suit without a single wrinkle.
He was exactly like an NPC named Dante Veratis. Not an NPC, of course, but a real person.
“Has the sun risen in the west? Our Highness isn’t usually the type to accompany anyone. Apothecary, your skills must be extraordinary,” Dante asked, his words flowing like a song.
I let out an awkward laugh, “Haha,” and countered with another question.
“Th-‘Highness’…?”
“Ah.”
Dante muttered a single word, glanced at Lysian, and added calmly,
“It’s just a nickname we use among ourselves.”
“Ah…?”
Yeah, right.
“Who in the world would use ‘Highness’ as a nickname?”
Even with my thoughts tangled, I had a vague idea, but I chose to ignore it for the moment.
“So, it’s probably not that an old friend came to see me… It seems like you came for a reason, Apothecary. What is it?”
“Well…”
I delayed answering and glanced at Lysian’s expression. He let out a sigh and stepped close to my side.
He even intertwined his fingers with mine, as if that was the only way he could feel at ease.
Seeing Lysian like that, Dante’s expression twisted as if he were looking at something bizarre.
“You really are something… to see someone like that after so long.”
“Excuse me?”
“No, nothing. So, what brings you here? I have a guess, but let’s not stand out here. Please, come inside.”
Dante led us down a corridor to the west.
Even from the outside, I had thought the building was quite large—and inside, it confirmed my suspicion. This must have cost a fortune to build.
“Did they rent it or buy it? Both would be expensive… I guess being a Ranker guild means they have plenty of money.”
As I followed Dante, I couldn’t help but look around in awe.
Allen seemed like he wanted to speak to me, but being intimidated by Lysian, he didn’t approach.
“This way,” Dante said, stopping in front of a door and glancing our way.
Without asking for anyone’s help, he opened the door himself and gestured for us to enter first.
I gave him a small smile and stepped inside.
Immediately, a cozy, antique-style sitting room came into view.
“The interior design is really stunning,” I said sincerely. A proud smile appeared on Dante’s face.
“I may sound boastful, but my taste is excellent. Would you like some coffee?”
“Coffee?”
Coffee? I raised my eyes in surprise, and Dante laughed joyfully.
“These beans were imported in small quantities from Cornello. Production is limited, so they’re hard to get.”
Cornello is an island nation in the southern sea, geographically near the Castel Kingdom and politically neutral.
Although disputes frequently erupted between the countries of Altera and the Philome Empire across the sea, Cornello remained neutral and survived.
“Cornello produces coffee beans? I had no idea.”
As Dante brewed coffee by hand, the rich, slightly bitter aroma spread through the air.
I sat on the sofa beside Lysian, watching Dante prepare the coffee.
Allen took a seat opposite us. I couldn’t see the other guild member; I guessed they had run off to avoid the awkward atmosphere.
“Cornello hasn’t been exporting coffee for long. There weren’t any farms of this scale until recently,” Dante continued.
Curious about foreign countries, I perked up to listen.
“The increase and systemization of coffee farms began under the current Governor. Ah, you know that Cornello’s leader is elected, right?”
That much was common knowledge. I nodded obediently.
Dante let out a quiet chuckle. Somehow, the laugh felt familiar.
“The current Governor tried to use coffee as a tourist resource. So the amount exported was minimal, and you had to visit Cornello directly to drink it freely. Every city there is filled with coffee houses.”
“Oh…”
Dante set a cup of coffee before me, steam rising from the freshly brewed drink.
“Try it. My brewing isn’t bad,” he said.
“Thank you, I will.”
I carefully lifted the cup and took a sip. The temperature was perfect. The characteristic bitter-sour taste of coffee spread across my tongue.
“…!”
My eyes went wide.
“This taste…!”
It was exactly like the drip coffee from my favorite café, which I had drunk daily like life itself before being diagnosed terminally.
Drip coffee was expensive by my standards, but that café sold it for 9,000 won a cup. Thankfully, the owner liked me, so I often got a discount of 4,000 won.
“This taste… I’ve missed it so much…”
I was so moved I almost teared up.
When you’re ill, you have to give up so many things—spicy and oily foods, sweet desserts, coffee… all out of reach.
Yet here I was, drinking the coffee I had longed for. My admiration for Dante skyrocketed.
“The guild master seems like such a kind person…” I said without thinking.
“Eh? Hahaha!”
Dante laughed heartily at my words, which slipped out unexpectedly.
“I’ve never heard that about me before. Our guild members probably don’t think of me as a ‘kind person,’ either.”
“I suppose not,” Lysian’s cool voice cut in. He took a sip of his coffee with elegant precision, his eyes not flattering Dante in the slightest.
Fearing the tension might escalate, I quickly changed the topic.
“On our way here, I think someone I know visited the Veratis Guild.”
“Someone you know? Who do you mean?”
“Uh… Siena Castel.”
At the mention of her name, Dante’s eyes flickered with interest. I could almost feel him waiting for me to bring up Siena.
A small smirk tugged at Dante’s lips—his expression unreadable, but his curiosity obvious.
His voice was calm, controlled.
“Yes, the Princess of the Castel Kingdom personally visited. It was regarding Duke Winterberg, of course.”
“…!”
I widened my eyes slightly. That figures… it really was because of Raoul.
Dante watched my reaction carefully and continued.
“Have you seen the dungeon that appeared recently? It’s shaped like a palace and is quite large.”
“Oh, no. Not yet.”
I’d heard the dungeon had appeared near the coast. I thought for a moment and continued.
“A palace-shaped dungeon? That’s unusual…”
“Indeed. Most dungeons are tower-shaped. Even experienced adventurers sent for preliminary reconnaissance seem to struggle.”
I realized why Dante was building up to this, and why Siena visited the Veratis Guild.
No need to beat around the bush—I asked directly.
“Princess Siena came to the Veratis Guild to request military support, right?”
Dante’s amethyst eyes sparkled.
As far as I knew, there were very few records of palace-shaped dungeons. Conventional strategies might not work, and Raoul must be struggling to subdue it.
It’s the lord’s duty to clear dungeons in their territory. If they fail, the dungeon overflows, monsters spread, and the territory is devastated.
Moreover, the first to clear a dungeon is a matter of the lord’s pride.
“If adventurers outside the lord’s force succeed first, the lord loses face.”
And this wasn’t just anyone—it was Raoul Winterberg. I could imagine how obsessively he would pursue this dungeon.
Dante chuckled and answered my question.
“Correct. You’re sharper than you look, Apothecary.”
“Hahaha…”
“Sharper than I look?”
A compliment, right?
“It’s common for the lord of Vintzheim to request support from our guild composed of Rankers. What struck me as odd…”
He narrowed his eyes with a strange expression.
“Usually, this is the concern of the Duke or Duchess. Why would an outsider like Princess Siena intervene? In fact, her action is almost overstepping, isn’t it?”
“……”
I wasn’t slow to catch on.
This man already knows who I am.
