My Disciples Became Scoundrels - Chapter 118

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Sixth Tier? It’s an impressive realm, certainly. Even Kalan didn’t achieve it until his forties.
When a tier is carved into the soul, one’s inherent abilities strengthen—physical endurance, magical power, raw strength all surge dramatically.
It’s remarkable, but reaching Sixth Tier doesn’t make someone unkillable. There must be something peculiar about my disciples’ blood.
For now, I needed more information. I turned to Talia.
“Did you see who told you that story?”
“Mm, I didn’t catch a name, but the face…”
Talia described their appearance, but no one came to mind. It would’ve been clearer to see them myself.
“Could I look at your memories, Father?”
“That’s difficult. It’s a year’s worth, and there’s quite a bit of important information mixed in.”
“Then I’d ask that you examine your other memories later. They’re likely still targeting you.”
“Tsk. How long have they been after me? Fine. I’ll check and let you know.”
For now, this would have to suffice. Talia was in urgent straits herself.
Until now, I’d believed the only path forward was killing Guardians to protect my disciples. But another way had opened.
“You research Bloodline Enhancement, don’t you? I’d like to place my family under your care.”
If I could lift my disciples to Sixth Tier, they’d survive. Even falling short of that, growing stronger would let them withstand the Guardians.
Sixth Tier was a high realm, but not one beyond reach. With Bloodline Enhancement, it would be immensely helpful.
“It’s possible, but wouldn’t contacting the main family be faster?”
She stubbed out her cigarette.
“You don’t have a Bloodline Secret Tome? Because you’re from Domus, no parents?”
Between the crude words, one term emerged.
Bloodline Secret Tome.
A compendium of Bloodline Ability research, methodically organized. Nearly every noble house kept one.
Never shown to outsiders, passed down through generations within the family. One of the secrets noble houses guarded to maintain their strength.
Bloodline Awakening cannot be aided by others. One must achieve it alone.
But once awakened, the Secret Tome allowed rapid advancement thereafter.
Talia brushed off her pants and rose from the bed.
“We’ll talk again after I’m finished. Does anyone in your group know their parents?”
“…Yes.”
Many of my disciples had murky origins. Some didn’t even know who their father and mother were.
All but one.
Cesare Balanus. Once known as Cesare Voidfields.
The abandoned son of a count’s house.
22. The Void Fields
“This bastard Gai’s finally grown up?”
A delighted voice burst from the Living Room. Cesare was elated for the first time in ages.
Normally he’d act like he wanted to devour Gai on sight. Now he had his arm around him.
We’d just returned from the Memory Archive. Cesare was excitedly recounting whatever had transpired.
Jenia pressed close to him, asking eagerly.
“He grew up? What did Gai do?”
“He shielded Master with his own body, held up the ceiling—and he even gave blood to the Crimson Tower.”
Cesare laughed with relief. He was naturally incapable of hating someone for long.
Though Gai had betrayed him, the fact that he’d helped us seemed to have lifted a great weight.
Gai himself said nothing. He merely chewed dried apricots quietly.
Jenia prodded him gently with a Tentacle.
“Gai, have you become good?”
“I’m not sure.”
Arkel, who’d been mending clothes, glanced at Gai. He too was silent, but his gaze had softened slightly.
Bella alone remained unchanged. She sat beside me, flicking a coin between her fingers before speaking.
“Gai, you said you wanted payment instead of blood. Did Master give you something?”
“Not yet. I’ve put it on credit.”
“What did you agree on as payment?”
Gai smiled, popping a dried apricot into Bella’s mouth.
“I negotiated to cut open Master’s belly and see what’s inside.”
Arkel’s needle froze mid-stitch. The other disciples’ reactions were much the same.
The smile had vanished from Cesare’s face. He spoke quietly, his tone grave.
“You’re joking, right?”
“I’m serious. You can ask Master yourself.”
Every disciple’s eyes turned to me at once. That bastard Gai, just spilling it out like that.
Bella swallowed the apricot and stood. Her voice was matter-of-fact.
“Jenia. Turn on the music box. Drown out Gai’s screaming.”
“Right away, sister.”
Jenia quickly wound the music box sitting in the living room. A cheerful melody spilled out.
In the same moment, Bella dragged Gai into a corner and began beating him like she was catching a rat.
“Ow, ow! Sister, it hurts!”
“Split your belly open? Is that what a sane person does? You thought we’d just let that slide if we heard something like that?!”
I wondered if she was even talking to Gai anymore. It seemed more like she was pouring out curses meant for me on him instead.
Gai shrieked, but it sounded like theatrics. It seemed he was deliberately trying to provoke the disciples’ anger.
I wasn’t sure why—whether it was his perverse nature or some reluctance to lose. Bella seemed to have caught on to his game as well.
“You’re deliberately provoking me, aren’t you? Fine. I’ll give you what you want. Grit your teeth.”
“Sister, Bella! It’s me—Hayden! I’m still in here!”
“Ah, right. Good to see you.”
Gradually, Gai’s screams took on a more genuine quality. Hayden had been beaten like this by Bella when he was younger too.
Meanwhile, Cesare was watching me. His gaze carried a faint hint of resentment.
“Master, why did you say something like that? What if he’d actually split his belly open?”
“Gai couldn’t do it even if he wanted to. How would that fool possibly cut someone’s belly open?”
Gai, being beaten in the corner, looked at me.
“I really could split it open—ow, ow! Sister, stop!”
I left Gai’s education in Bella’s hands and gave Cesare a subtle nod. Follow me.
We headed to the second floor, the music box’s melody fading behind us. Cesare was watching me with an unsettled expression.
“Why did you call for me?”
“There’s something I need to tell you alone.”
“……Only me?”
His furrowed brow eased slightly, though he clearly didn’t know what this was about.
“Talia’s father once made contact with the Guardians. He said the disciples are targets, and that they cannot be killed once they reach the Sixth Tier.”
“What? Her father? I thought you only saw Talia’s memories?”
“I lied.”
When it was just Cesare, Bella, and Gai, I hadn’t mentioned it. Cesare looked taken aback.
“Why did you lie? And why are you telling me this?”
“Because you already know. That the Guardians’ targets are the disciples.”
The information that they must be killed before reaching the Sixth Tier. If the others heard that, they would immediately understand.
That the disciples were the cause of the massacre.
So for now, I wanted to keep it hidden. Cesare narrowed his brow.
“If Jenia finds out, she won’t sit still for it, will she?”
Jenia despised lies. She wasn’t the type to go easy on me just because I was her master.
“I’m prepared for what Jenia will do to me.”
“You mean being hung upside down from the Tentacles? No, she’s gotten even crueler than that. There’s no telling what she might do!”
“I’ve made my peace with it. Better to be bound by the Tentacles myself than burden you all.”
Jenia has become rather frightening lately, but there’s no helping it. I have to be prepared.
Cesare was silent for a long moment, then scratched the back of his head roughly.
“……All right. Fine. If you’re going this far, Master, I’ll keep it secret.”
He sent me a determined look, like someone following a comrade who was about to cross the line.
“If Jenia finds out, I’ll get myself bound by the Tentacles along with you.”
It was moving. Such resolve doesn’t come easy.
I patted Cesare’s arm with gratitude. He pouted his lips.
“Anyway, so we’re safe once we reach the Sixth Tier, right? We need to get stronger fast. Should I acquire new weapons?”
“Bloodline Enhancement would be best.”
When bloodline is enhanced, one’s unique abilities grow to the next stage.
For instance, someone who could only manipulate inanimate objects through Telekinesis might then become able to move living creatures as well.
It was separate from the growth that came with new Tiers, but it certainly helped in becoming stronger.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to visit your family home.”
“……My family home?”
“Yes. Using the Bloodline Secret Tome in the main house would be more reliable.”
The tome was necessary. But I didn’t want to send Cesare there.
The day I first met Cesare came back to me. The young Cesare was dying by the water’s edge.
There are several ways to trigger Bloodline Awakening. One of them is to push the survival instinct to its absolute limit.
Voidfields had thrown the young Cesare into the water. Either he would drown, or awaken his ability and escape. It was a kind of gamble.
There was no need to speak aloud what the outcome had been.
I couldn’t bear to send Cesare back to such a place. So I’d been planning to go alone.
“You’re going alone, Master? Do you have to?”
Cesare stared at me blankly, as if it were nothing remarkable. It was an oddly unexpected response.
“I thought you might feel uncomfortable about it.”
“It’s not comfortable, but there’s no reason I can’t go, is there? Wouldn’t it be better if I came along? It was my family, after all.”
It was better than me going alone as an outsider. Still, something didn’t sit right.
I said nothing. He laughed cheerfully and suddenly pulled me into an embrace.
“Let’s go together. I’ll reach out to the family. Should I warn them we’re coming?”
Had he overcome being abandoned by his parents? Cesare simply smiled without a shadow of doubt.
His voice seemed slightly higher than usual.
* * *
Cesare’s family name was originally Voidfields. The Voidfields, befitting a noble house, owned a grand mansion.
I stood in that mansion’s lobby, waiting for someone to receive us.
Looking up the staircase, a series of family portraits hung in a row.
One of them depicted a cluster of children standing together. Among them, one boy stood out—remarkably small for his age.
Red hair, a tiny frame. A child gazing shyly straight ahead. My eyes lingered on him.
“Cesare, you’re painted up there. Were you about five years old?”
Cesare, now roughly twice the size of that childhood self, stood beside me. He scratched his cheek.
“Yeah, it’s been a while since I saw it. I was pretty cute back then.”
“Your siblings, in the picture with you?”
“Yes, that’s right. With seven of us, it feels like they’re strangers.”
Even speaking of family, Cesare’s voice remained steady. But he caught his lower lip between his teeth, holding it there.
I watched Cesare for a moment, then turned my gaze forward. Another portrait hung nearby.
The composition was much the same as the previous one. Figures who appeared to be parents seated in the center, children standing beside them.
The figures were older now, and the seven children had dwindled to two. Cesare’s image was nowhere among them.
“Why are there no children in that portrait beside it?”
“Because they didn’t achieve Bloodline Awakening.”
His gaze remained fixed on the portrait. His voice was hollow.
“Looks like besides me, the other children didn’t awaken either.”
Had I done the right thing bringing Cesare here? I was lost in thought when I heard footsteps.
I turned. A man was approaching—perhaps forty years old. Red-haired, powerfully built.
A bear of a man stood before a bear-like Cesare. Now I saw the blood relation clearly.
Eyes with a habitually weary gaze fixed on Cesare. As if in disbelief.
After staring at Cesare for a long moment, the man grabbed his hand firmly. A radiant smile crossed his face.
“Cesare! It’s been so long. Have you been well, my brother?”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————