My Disciples Became Scoundrels - Chapter 11

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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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How long had Chezare spent in such darkness?
Sunlight filtered through the opening above, touching Chezare’s skin. Crystal dust clung to his body caught the light and gleamed. I recalled him fighting like a meteor through those rays.
My disciples must live in brightness. Always radiant, always dazzling. Darkness was my burden to bear alone.
“Let’s go home now.”
I led Chezare back toward the road. Next time we returned home, Jenia would be there too. Now our path was clear.
Weslton. I had to go retrieve our youngest disciple.
3. The Fading of Longing
A cargo wagon rattled along the country road, lurching and jolting. The ride was rough, but the price was cheap enough to justify the discomfort.
The road to Weslton was clear and bright. The wagon carried me, Chezare, and several other passengers.
There was a small child, perhaps five years old. The boy had an innocent face that was quite endearing.
Now he was covered in tears and snot, his face utterly wretched.
“Waaah, I’m sorry, mister……”
“No, hey there! What’s the crying for? What did I do?”
The child was sobbing the moment he laid eyes on Chezare’s face. Chezare looked thoroughly baffled.
His distress was understandable. He’d only flashed the boy a grin, and now he was wailing.
Never mind that Chezare’s expression was grim, his build bear-like, and his face and body covered in scars.
“What did you do wrong? Huh?”
“I… I don’t know, but I did something bad……”
Chezare was apparently trying to soothe him, but it only made things worse. The child’s crying grew louder. The mother bent her head apologetically and tried to console her son.
“I’m so sorry! My child is very shy……. I have some money, please take this and don’t be upset……”
“Ma’am, am I some kind of thug? Huh? Why are you giving me money?!”
Just as the mother was on the verge of tears herself, the wagon lurched to a halt at the entrance to Weslton. We climbed down, and the cart moved on without us. Chezare grumbled as we stepped away.
“I mean, how rude of that kid. Crying just because he saw my face.”
“Children are easily frightened, you know. You cried when you saw me at that age too.”
I think that was around when he was nine. Chezare scratched the back of his head.
“No, that was because… an unfamiliar adult was holding a sword. I wasn’t actually afraid of you, Master.”
The memory made me smile a little. As I walked following a signpost, Chezare suddenly blurted out a question.
“Master, is my face really so frightening? Do you think Jenia will be startled when she sees me?”
Fifteen years had passed since Chezare and Jenia parted. I found myself picturing Jenia as she was then—only five years old.
“Hard to say. She was a fearless child, so she probably won’t be scared. She might be surprised, though. You’ve changed quite a lot.”
“Well, there’s nothing I can do about my face.”
Chezare rubbed his cheeks as if trying to soften his expression. I wondered if he would recognize me, changed as he was, and myself grown younger. After fifteen years, Jenia would be a woman now.
When we arrived in the village, Chezare looked around and remarked.
“It’s a pretty small town, isn’t it? Really out in the sticks.”
Weslton was smaller than I’d expected, but that was actually fortunate. Had it been a big city, finding Jenia would have taken much longer.
“Let’s find an inn and drop our things. We can ask around while we’re there.”
A modest-sized inn came into view. When we stepped inside, the friendly innkeeper greeted us warmly.
“Welcome! Will you be dining, or staying the night?”
“Both, please.”
“One moment. Let me have the attendant tidy up a room and show you to it.”
In the meantime, we sat at the counter on the first floor and were given glasses of water. The innkeeper looked at me with curiosity.
“Are you brothers traveling together?”
“Yes, we are.”
“Your younger brother seems so composed despite his age.”
Chezare put his arm around my shoulder and spoke.
“That’s right. My younger brother here is quite the gentleman, isn’t he? He’s grown up well.”
This improvised performance was better than just staying silent, I suppose.
While I was thinking this, the innkeeper continued asking questions.
“This is a place where travelers rarely pass through. What brings you here?”
“We’re looking for someone. Is there a woman named Jenia in this village?”
“Do you know Jenia?”
The innkeeper knew Jenia. But there was something odd about his expression. He looked uncomfortable.
“Yes, we’re acquainted. Where can I find her?”
“Well, she’s usually at the Flower Field. Go north from here and you should see it beyond the stream.”
“Thank you. Let’s go, Chezare… brother.”
We headed north immediately. My disciple, our youngest. The thought that I would soon see Jenia again made my chest swell with emotion.
As we traveled north, a stream came into view in the distance. In the middle of a flower field, someone stood with their back turned to us.
A small, delicate figure of a woman with pink hair. Short, rounded bangs. Beside me, Chezare murmured.
“Jenia?”
The woman turned slowly to face us.
Her water-blue eyes gleamed. She gazed at me with an innocent yet vacant stare.
It was Jenia. She appeared to be in her mid-to-late teens, her body barely grown from childhood—unmistakable at a glance.
Jenia walked slowly toward us. There was no warmth or affection in those eyes. Just vacant eyes, like a still lake.
As I suspected, she didn’t recognize us. That made sense. I was a different man now. And Chezare had grown considerably.
Jenia walked forward and stopped before Chezare. A cool breeze stirred, and the flowers trembled gently.
The two of them exchanged stares for a long moment. Did she remember Chezare?
Watching them, I felt tears beginning to form. Even though I’ve forgotten, he remembers. If she at least remembers her own brother, that would be something……
“Ahhh!”
Chezare’s scream pierced the air. Before I could react, he was wrapped head to toe in pink tentacles.
The tentacles emerged from beneath Jenia’s skirt and through the gaps in her clothes. Jenia stared fixedly at Chezare as she spoke.
“Who are you?”
The tentacles crawled across Chezare’s skin and even flipped him upside down. Treated like a plaything, he shrieked in protest.
“Jenia, you—! Did that habit come back again?”
“Habit?”
“Yes! Your master worked himself to the bone trying to break you of it!”
Seeing Chezare wrapped in tentacles like this brought back old memories. The moment I first met Jenia.
Jenia was a child we’d found in the Demon Lair. We couldn’t leave a newborn there, so we took her with us.
At first, we thought she was simply fortunate to have survived. But her growth was abnormally fast, and once tentacles began sprouting from her body, we understood the truth.
Jenia was a hybrid—part demon, part human. Her body resembled a slime’s, yet unlike slimes, she possessed human intellect.
In other ways too, she differed from ordinary humans. Jenia rarely felt joy, anger, sorrow, or pleasure. She couldn’t understand others’ emotions either.
But her curiosity was intense. That’s why she’d use tentacles to examine other people like this. My companions and I had fallen victim to her tentacles more than once. Those were good memories.
“Are you angry? Did you think we abandoned you? We earned money and came back for you, but the orphanage……. Ahhh, don’t touch there!”
At Chezare’s screams, I pushed the nostalgia aside and approached Jenia. She turned her attention toward me instead.
“Jenia. Let Chezare down now.”
She didn’t release her hold at those words. She only tilted her head in confusion.
“Chezare? Brother?”
“Yes. We lived together at Balanus Domus.”
“What’s that?”
Had she lost her memory? How much? No matter—finding her alive was enough.
“Do you remember me? I’m Dein, your master.”
“My master is Gainac.”
That word—master. My breath caught. Jenia had a new master now. Not me.
Meanwhile, Chezare thrashed and screamed. First things first—I had to handle this situation.
“Release him. Chezare hates this.”
She regarded me quietly. Her sky-blue eyes fixed upon me intently.
“That’s strange. For some reason, my eyes keep drifting to you.”
Was she unconsciously remembering me? Jenia’s eyes sparkled with an emotion I couldn’t identify—affection or curiosity.
“I like you better than him. Let me play with you.”
―Whoosh!
Jenia released the tentacles and immediately lunged at me. Anticipating it, I quickly retreated.
“You’re dodging?”
Jenia seemed genuinely curious about me. That part of her hadn’t changed. She sent tentacles at me faster now.
It was faster than most demons, faster than most people. She was also predicting my movements and attempting to pin me down.
But she was still inexperienced. Her attack patterns were transparent; I didn’t even need to increase my speed. As I evaded her tentacles with minimal movement, Jenia tilted her head.
“You’re not even that fast, but how are you dodging all my attacks? It’s fascinating.”
As if to prove herself, Jenia generated more tentacles. What had been two swelled to nearly ten.
Pink tentacles writhed and twisted as Jenia’s eyes glimmered. There was a touch of wild, obsessive curiosity in them.
Like when a child dissects a frog or a lizard out of pure fascination.
“I want to know about you. I’m going to catch you and keep you. I want to know what you are.”

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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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