My Disciples Became Scoundrels - Chapter 112

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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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Merlin said nothing. But his eyes were cursing me in every way imaginable.
“Or perhaps you’d prefer to offer the other guild masters extra compensation in exchange for their concession?”
It wouldn’t happen. The Fourth Eye was drowning in debt, and more than that—his pride would never allow it.
Merlin gritted his teeth, then drew something from his breast. A Gold Badge, the guild’s name engraved upon it.
Clang!
The metallic ring echoed. I pressed down on the badge with my foot and drew my sword.
Screech!
The Gold Badge shattered cleanly in two. It came apart so easily. I sheathed the blade and looked at Merlin.
His face had gone crimson. Blood rose all the way to the tips of his ears. I turned away without a word.
“Please return it yourself.”
21. Blood Demon Tower
Thud, thud!
The sound of hammers rang out over the wall. I was looking at the neighboring house I’d recently purchased.
Construction was underway to connect the old house and the new one. They were tearing down walls and laying new bricks.
“Hey, Jenia. Hand me some nails over there.”
“I’m busy.”
“Your Tentacles are just sitting idle. What’re you busy with?”
My disciples worked diligently at the construction. I’d tried to help, but they stubbornly refused—saying there was no way someone in my condition should be doing that sort of thing.
Bella was marking up the blueprints with various notes. Training room, guest reception hall, underground interrogation chamber….
She was smiling faintly. Penciling a checkmark next to the interrogation chamber section.
“You look happy, Bella.”
“I am. We got an additional hundred million from the Management Bureau, and another two hundred sixty million from the guild masters.”
Our household finances had finally caught a breath. Enough that we didn’t need to take out a loan to buy the neighboring property.
“Your appetite’s come back, I hear. That must be a relief.”
When would he break the habit of cutting meals whenever money got tight? Meanwhile, Gai, who was clearing away scrap materials, gave me a sullen look.
“Master, wouldn’t it be better to hire laborers? It seems wasteful to use high-grade personnel on this.”
“I’d prefer not to have outsiders coming and going.”
I didn’t want to let others into this house if I could help it. Guardians might slip in among them.
It was also partly the disciples’ stubbornness. Bella spoke with a skew of her mouth.
“There are five healthy bodies here. Why throw away money?”
“I’m not healthy, ma’am.”
“Want me to make you unhealthy for real?”
Just then, someone approached the house. From their appearance, they were a Management Bureau official.
I went to greet them. The person bowed lightly.
“Lord Dein Balanus. First, allow me to offer my congratulations. I’ve come to deliver news of your promotion.”
The treatment changed dramatically once you reached Gold Grade. Last time, Arkel and I had waited an entire day, but now they came to us of their own accord.
The official handed me a box. A luxurious wooden box overlaid with gold leaf.
I opened it to find a Gold Badge inside. A badge bearing the name of Balanus.
At last I could visit the Blood Demon Tower. I’d wanted to move before the Guardians and Kalan took action, so I’d need to hurry.
But the official studied my expression. I had a bad feeling about this.
“Additionally, I’ve made contact with the Blood Demon Tower as you requested, however….”
The official trailed off.
“The Blood Demon Tower is currently closed and you won’t be able to enter. From what I hear, there was an accident inside.”
….
“I’ll pass along any further information once we receive it.”
The official bowed deeply and left. The disciples’ expressions had hardened as they watched from inside.
Cesare bristled and raised his voice.
“What is this about? Master went through all that hardship to reach Gold Grade!”
“The Guardians may have made a move.”
I’d anticipated they would act. With Crimson Red destroyed, they wouldn’t stay idle.
I couldn’t afford to wait until the closure was lifted. As I was considering what to do, Bella spoke.
“I bet they lost their research information to theft.”
“Did you experience that during your Regression?”
“Not directly, but I saw it in a newspaper article. Usually the culprit gets caught in about a month.”
A month. I couldn’t wait that long. I tucked the Gold Badge into my inner pocket and spoke.
“I’m going to the Blood Demon Tower right now. I’ll go with Bella.”
At those words, Arkel looked at me with quiet intensity.
“Master, do you have a way to enter the Blood Demon Tower?”
“Yes. I have Bella.”
I looked at Bella.
“Do you remember who was arrested a month from now?”
Bella tapped her temple with her index finger, her lips curving up in a confident smirk.
“A Returnee with a poor memory doesn’t survive.”
* * *
A tower rose solitary in the middle of a lake, its reflection wavering softly across the rippling water.
The Blood Demon Tower. A place where the realm’s finest minds gathered to pursue their research.
Bella and I crossed the bridge and found the gates firmly sealed.
In front of them stood a robed mage like a gatekeeper, and beside him a man was shouting at the top of his lungs.
“What do you mean, closed without notice? You should at least explain the situation and tell me when the blockade will be lifted!”
He appeared to be a customer whose appointment had been cancelled. The weary-faced mage tried to placate him, but it was no use.
“I apologize. Once this is resolved, I’ll contact you right away. For today, I’m afraid we must——”
“I need the paternity verification done immediately! Surely you can handle something like this quickly!”
From his fine clothes to the attendants trailing behind him, the visitor was unmistakably a nobleman.
Watching him browbeat the mage like a subordinate, there was no sign he intended to back down. Bella whispered softly.
“Should I shoot a tranquilizer dart? We’re in a hurry.”
“Save your ammunition. Bullets are precious.”
She looked ready to actually fire, so I stopped her. This kind of thing should be handled with words first.
As I stepped forward, the nobleman spun around, regarding me with the same dismissive gaze.
He looked me up and down, then spoke curtly.
“You appear to be a customer as well, but I arrived first, so don’t interfere.”
“I understand you’re in quite a hurry. I can appreciate that.”
As I spoke calmly, his expression softened at once. The mage’s face, by contrast, went pale.
“It shouldn’t take long, but the Blood Demon Tower does lack flexibility.”
“Exactly, that’s what I’ve been saying! Just give me a moment to run the verification——”
“Your child must be quite unlike you indeed, or you wouldn’t have made the journey to the tower for a paternity verification. You must be deeply concerned.”
The nobleman stiffened. I looked him over, from head to toe.
“You strike me as a man of considerable standing. If my own child bore no resemblance to me, I confess I wouldn’t sleep a night. For a nobleman, such worry must be even greater.”
……
“And if word of this were to spread, your troubles would only deepen.”
Rumors of bloodline questions in a noble house were themselves a mark of shame. Should they become public, they would be ruinous.
Yet he only returned a glare of indignation.
“Are you threatening me now? Trying to make an enemy of a nobleman?”
“Only because you’re worth making an enemy of.”
His face hardened. His eyes darted rapidly, clearly trying to gauge what backing I relied on to speak so boldly.
“There was a carriage at the base of the bridge. On my way back, I think I should check the house sigil on it.”
As I turned to leave, the nobleman hastily stepped back. Just before he crossed the bridge, he hurled words at me.
“I——I didn’t come here to verify the paternity of my own child!”
The nuisance vanished. The mage’s rigid shoulders visibly relaxed. He smiled warmly.
“Thank you for your help. However, as you’ve heard, the tower is currently closed, so we’ll need to contact you later——”
“I’m afraid we need to go in now.”
The mage looked utterly bewildered. Are you another troublemaker? his expression seemed to ask. I opened my mouth before the misunderstanding could grow.
“We can help the Blood Demon Tower.”
“Help us how?”
I gestured, and Bella stepped forward. She spoke matter-of-factly.
“Your magical research was stolen, wasn’t it? We can provide information about the culprit in exchange for entry.”
“How do you know about the theft? And how do you know about the culprit?”
“We’re information brokers. You may not have heard, but we work with Diar.”
Diar. The same information broker who had helped us find Arkel. I didn’t know where he was now, or even if he was still alive.
Someone at the Blood Demon Tower’s level had a good chance of knowing Diar. If they didn’t, they could simply summon someone higher up.
Fortunately, the mage seemed to know of Diar. With a skeptical expression, he asked.
“Diar is someone whose contact methods have never been revealed. Are you truly connected to him?”
“If the information is genuine, that’s proof enough.”
Bella’s confidence left the mage speechless. My apprentice would make a fine actor.
“The Dual Bloodline Research materials disappeared, didn’t they? Haven’t you noticed that researcher Rockstone’s recent spending has been quite extravagant?”
……!
“That man swallowed the Jewel containing the research data. It should still be in his stomach. You might want to examine him.”
The mage remained frozen. Bella pulled one corner of her mouth up in a smile.
“If you don’t believe me, we could wager on it. You have nothing to lose by checking.”
“……Please wait just a moment.”
The mage hurried inside. After a moment, the doors of the Blood Demon Tower swung open with a creak.
“You may enter.”
We stepped through the open threshold. The moment we crossed it, a subtle blend of ink and medicinal herbs drifted toward us.
The interior was bustling with activity. Whether due to the theft, the place had an air of disorder—and as researchers moved briskly about, I felt their curious gazes turning toward us.
The mage who had guided us spoke.
“The tower lord is rather busy at the moment. Might I ask what brings you two here?”
“We’ve come to meet Talia.”
The name that had been written in the Blood Lord’s ledger. He had been conducting regular transactions with Talia, who belonged to the Blood Demon Tower.
At the mention of Talia’s name, the mage’s expression grew troubled.
“Ah, have you come regarding Bloodline Enhancement or Paternity Verification? If so, I could introduce you to another mage instead.”
“Is Mage Talia unavailable?”
“Not exactly, but she’s been in a difficult state lately……. I do apologize if she speaks harshly.”
We followed him deeper inside. The tower had a peculiar structure—like a well with a hollow core. When I looked up, the sky seemed to stretch endlessly.
We rode a pulley-driven lift upward. Talia’s research chamber was located quite high up.
The mage stopped before a door. Something about the atmosphere felt wrong. The acrid smell seeping through the crack beneath it didn’t help.
The mage hesitated, then knocked.
“Talia, you have visitors…….”
“Get out!”
A torrent of expletives came flying through the door. The voice was as piercing as Cesare’s.
“Talia! These are people who have helped us. I know you’re busy, but please open the door for just a moment.”
“What do you want? I told you to send them to someone else! I told you not to disturb my deadline!”
The tone was savage. Whatever deadline she was facing, she sounded cornered.
The mage whispered apologetically.
“My sincere apologies. Her paper deadline is imminent, and it’s made her temperament rather volatile.”
That was understandable enough. Anyone facing a tight deadline would grow irritable.
But I was also in a hurry. I quietly raised my fist.
Bang!
I drove it down hard against the door, channeling mana through the strike. The wooden door warped inward.

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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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