Beast in the Woods, Deep in the Night - Chapter 13.1

Chapter 13.1

Decius was surprised that Edgar mentioned the Golden Horseshoe Guild.

It wasn’t the Red Anvil Guild or the Blue Hammer Guild, which were known as the three greatest guilds of the empire along with the Black Fang Guild. Rather, he was interested in the Golden Horseshoe Guild, which was relatively small and had no authority.

‘Though I’m sure he’s interested in her affiliation with the guild, not the guild itself.’

Anyway, it would be an honor for Edgar to mention the small and weak Golden Horseshoe Guild.

“I’ve found out a few things.”

Decius continued, presenting Edgar with a report summarizing what he had investigated.

“First of all, it is assumed that the woman named Christine is a member of the Golden Horseshoe Guild.”

“Assumed?”

“The guild master, Duff, and other guild members are sloppy and incompetent, but Christine hides her trail well. It feels like she wears a disguise every time she proceeds with a request for the guild.”

“How did you guess that she belongs to the guild, then?”

“In the neighborhood, she was known as ‘the pretty woman who lives somewhere in the barony’. When I showed her portrait around, no one knew her occupation, but they knew her face. Right now, she seems to be staying in the hideout of the Golden Horseshoe Guild inside the Goldman Barony.”

“…”

“It seems that her father also belonged to the same guild, and he lost his life while processing a request. Benedict Baines. He was an elite that the other guild members couldn’t even keep up with.”

“Then she must be Christine Baines.”

“Yes, exactly. I will report back as soon as I find out more.”

Edgar nodded.

If the Black Fang had only scraped this much information from the Golden Horseshoe, it was likely that they were taking special care in managing the information related to Christine.

Whether it was because she was resourceful and they especially cherished her or for some other reason, it was a nuisance to Edgar.

‘It’ll take me a while to find out her real purpose in coming to the Black Forest.’

Edgar wondered why she really approached him, other than the excuses like ‘my fiancé was chasing me so I ran away’, or ‘I liked having s*x with you so much that I stayed behind’. No matter how much he thought about it, they all seemed to be hastily made-up lies.

“People are usually curious about what they’re interested in. I’m interested in you right now. Didn’t you notice?”

If Christine had approached him with a soft voice to try to dig up information because someone had asked her to, Edgar had no intention of letting her go.

Even more so if she was trying to tell someone outside the Black Fang Guild what she had found out about him.

He didn’t want his last name or his origins to be on anyone’s lips anymore.

“…”

Edgar was about to finish his conversation when he suddenly recalled a scene. It was the moment Christine was dying in her previous life, which he had glimpsed through his dreams.

When he remembered her struggling with pain, he also remembered the death of someone else he had tried so hard to forget, and it made him uncomfortable.

“Find out if she’s sick.”

“She looks healthy… Okay, I understand.”

Decius made a mental note of his request, thinking it was a strange curiosity.

“I’m going to take a look around now. Would you like to come with me?”

Edgar got up from his seat in silence. He was getting bored of being buried in documents, so he thought it would be a good idea to take a breather.

He walked slowly out of the building with Decius. He seemed to be going for a walk, but in fact, he was checking if anything had happened to the chimeras he had gathered.

Decius, who had watched Edgar for a very long time, was amazed every time he saw him play the role of the director of an orphanage, something that did not match him.

‘Even though he looks like he’d be bothered by kids, he’s surprisingly concerned about them.’

Edgar took great care of the chimeras he had saved. Most of the time, he was trying to raise funds so that they wouldn’t lack anything, but he personally went around the western hideout once a day to see if anything had happened.

He also wanted to erect buildings on the land the guild owned and make it look like a normal village.

At first, Decius and Isaac thought it was a hassle, but now they understood why.

Edgar wanted to allow children who had been treated as less than human just because they had the special powers passed down from Archduke Richard to experience an ordinary human life.

He probably regarded this as his duty and atonement.

Considering that the children slowly came to greet him, it seemed that the mandatory patrols were effective, and it seemed they liked Edgar even though they were afraid of him.

‘Maybe they just want to look at his handsome face.’

Decius held back a chuckle at the thought that occurred to him.