My Disciples Became Scoundrels - Chapter 120

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

Amid it all, Rian failed to grasp the situation. Even as his disciples’ gazes turned hostile, he only raised his voice.
“What’s this? Bowing to greet me? I am your employer!”
Cesare’s face twisted. He looked as though he wanted to punch someone and crawl into a hole at the same time.
“I’m sorry, everyone… Void Fields people have terrible manners to begin with….”
“Well, it happens.”
Unexpectedly, Bella replied with calm composure, even wearing a gentle smile. She bent at the waist and met Rian’s eyes.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Bella.”
At her kind voice, Rian flinched. He stared directly at Bella, and his ears gradually flushed crimson.
Children like pretty people too. The boy had an eye for beauty, at least.
“Since we’ll be living together anyway, why don’t you try changing your tone? You’re my nephew, after all.”
It was a genuine attempt to get along. Rian tilted his chin up and snorted dismissively.
“Nephew? Don’t call me the nephew of something like that. He has no ability—he’s been erased from the Portrait.”
In Void Fields, only those who have awakened their abilities are painted in the Portrait.
Those who fail to awaken by adulthood are treated like ghosts, invisible men, or so I’d heard.
“Those without ability are no different from Outsiders.”
That line had probably come from Gorden’s mouth originally. Rian was simply parroting it.
But even knowing the context, there are things that can be forgiven and things that cannot.
Bella’s gaze turned cold. Rian continued babbling on.
“So Cesare isn’t like an uncle. He has nothing to do with me.”
“That so? Cesare has something to do with me.”
Her voice turned frigid. Only then did Rian seem to sense he’d made a mistake.
Meanwhile, Cesare could neither act nor protest. Since he didn’t voice his anger or objection, Rian’s voice grew bolder.
“Hmph, you’re still just an Outsider anyway….”
“Apologize to Cesare, Rian.”
I stepped forward and spoke. Yet Rian merely looked me over without responding. Had he learned this from his father too?
“Are you Dein? You’re a commoner and I’m nobility. Why do you use informal speech with me?”
“Because I’ve taken it upon myself to teach you, even if only temporarily. You came here for Bloodline Awakening—you understand that much.”
At those four words—Bloodline Awakening—Rian’s eyes wavered. But his expression quickly hardened into stubbornness again.
“Even so, I am your employer. Even my tutor would speak respectfully to me!”
“That’s your household’s rule. Here in Balanus, we show respect for one another. We speak formally to our elders.”
I didn’t raise my voice. There’s no point in an adult shouting at a child—it never ends in victory.
I caught sight of Gai watching from a corner with obvious interest.
Rian had something in common with Gai. Both deliberately provoked their opponent to seize control.
But Rian was in a different league entirely. No comparison to that fool who begged to have his belly cut open.
“Be respectful to others, Rian. That’s our household rule.”
“Respectful? Rules?”
Rian strode toward me.
Thud!
A dull ache bloomed across my shin. After kicking me, Rian puffed up with self-satisfaction.
It wasn’t his first attempt. I could easily guess the condition of his tutors’ shins.
“So even if I hit you, you just stay quiet, right? Why don’t you teach me then?”
“Right. From now on, I’ll teach you how to be human.”
As he tried to kick again, I scooped him up bodily. The moment I forced him onto the living room sofa, he thrashed like an enraged colt.
“Let go! How dare you, with your filthy blood…!”
“If you stay still for one minute, I’ll let you go.”
For a twelve-year-old, his resistance was fierce. He was in his prime physically. I spoke to my alarmed disciples.
“Close the door and wait outside. Your reactions only make him worse.”
“Master, are you certain you’re all right?”
“Your younger selves were worse than this.”
Arkel nodded in understanding and shut the door. After they left, Rian continued thrashing.
“I’ll tell Father! There’s no way I’m taking this kind of education!”
Ten minutes passed.
“You filthy dog, you wretched thing, you garbage of the streets…!”
Thirty minutes passed.
“I just need education, don’t I? Why are you doing this?!”
An hour passed.
“…How will you let me go?”
At last, Rian began to whimper. After an hour of shrieking and thrashing, exhaustion was setting in.
Still, it was shorter than I expected. Hayden used to last about three hours once he got started.
I wanted to see Hayden. Whether for three hours or four days, let him rage all he wanted. With that thought, I held Rian tightly.
“As I said earlier, stay quiet for one minute without screaming, and I’ll let you go. And use formal speech.”
Rian’s resistance gradually subsided. After a minute passed, I released my arms. Rian looked up at me.
“……You’re really letting me go?”
“A promise should be kept once made. So you must keep your promise too. Apologize to Cesare.”
I wiped Rian’s tear-streaked face clean. When I opened the door, Cesare was standing right there.
“Oh, you’re done? That was faster than I expected.”
The other disciples were seated at the table. It seemed he had come all the way here alone and was lingering about.
He was clearly concerned for Rian in many ways. His manner was softer than usual, and his voice was gentler.
“Yes, we’ve finished talking. Rian, apologize to Cesare.”
When Rian’s eyes met Cesare’s, his lips jutted out stubbornly. He clearly wasn’t pleased.
“……But Cesare did leave home, didn’t he? He came to a place like this because he didn’t have the ability.”
“I told you to respect one another.”
He didn’t argue back, but defiance still blazed in his eyes. I pointed to one corner of the dining room.
“Sit on that Stool for three minutes. Think about what you’ve done.”
“N-no…….”
“Would you rather come to the living room and spend time alone with me?”
Rian eventually sat on the Stool. The disciples stirred. I heard Jenia mutter something.
“The Thinking Chair…….”
Gai, the outsider, tilted his head in confusion.
“What’s the Thinking Chair?”
“When you didn’t listen, you had to sit on the chair for three minutes. All the older siblings did too.”
The other children quietly averted their gaze from me. They’d all sat on the Thinking Chair at least once.
“I remember Arkel killing all the neighbor’s chickens and coming back.”
Back then, he’d struggled to suppress his murderous impulses. All the disciples’ heads turned toward Arkel at once.
“You had times like that too?”
“……You don’t need to know.”
Since there was an age difference with Arkel, the younger ones wouldn’t remember those days.
“Jenia once brought home a set of dentures from somewhere. Do you remember when she went to return them to her grandfather?”
“Yes. I got scolded by Master and went to apologize.”
Each day had been a succession of surprises. Those troublemakers had grown so much—time truly flew.
Bella, now fully grown, asked solemnly.
“Master, how on earth did you raise us?”
Even Bella, who had refused to speak a single word to me for half a year out of suspicion, had changed greatly. I smiled softly.
“It was difficult, but you were worth raising. There were other hands to help as well.”
Raising children required many hands. I endured because there were hands beside me lending support.
On a day like this, those vanished hands were especially missed. I thought of my dead comrades and continued.
“From now on, I plan to try various forms of Bloodline Awakening with Rian.”
“Will you be stimulating the survival instinct?”
“No. There are various other methods within Bloodline Awakening.”
There are roughly three types of Bloodline Awakening. I intended to try each one.
“First, I’ll try the method of applying physical shock to the body.”
Jenia’s eyes lit with interest.
“You mean hit him?”
Rian flinched and curled up like a pill bug. His large frame had become impossibly small.
“I’ll stimulate the Mana to awaken the body. I’m thinking of having him come into contact with a unicorn.”
Bella glanced at Rian.
“Unicorns dislike men, don’t they?”
“Even so, a child is less repugnant to them. Bella and Jenia, bring him along.”
Like me, those large and fierce-looking men would never be able to get near a unicorn.
Three minutes passed in that time. I approached Rian.
“You endured well. Remember that you mustn’t speak badly of your siblings. You need to apologize, don’t you?”
“Yes…….”
Rian hesitated for a long while before Cesare, then spoke in a barely audible voice.
“I’m sorry. I did wrong.”
“……Yes. Since you’ve apologized, that’s enough.”
Cesare answered briefly. Normally, he would have spoken heartily, mixing in curses.
Since Rian had apologized well, I should comfort him. I picked the child up and patted his back.
His small body had gone rigid like a log. It seemed he was rarely held like this.
He became quiet as a gentle lamb. At that sight, Cesare let out a relieved breath.
But I knew the truth: children don’t change overnight.
Even now, Rian’s eyes darted about like a poison dart frog’s. That was fine. I’d shape him properly.
* * *
Rian of the Void Fields was deeply unhappy with the present situation.
The forest at night was dark and still. He walked quietly along paths where even the walking trails had vanished into wilderness.
Bella and Jenia were beside him. Jenia chattered away.
“I’m so excited about the unicorn. How did you end up finding out it lives here?”
“I was looking for a way to increase my magical power. You should build yours up while we’re at it.”
“I wish Master and the others had come too.”
The others. At that word, Rian’s mind conjured the men of Balanus.
Cesare — the largest and most vulgar of them. It was hard to believe the same blood ran through his veins, given how ignorant he was.
Despite his menacing face, he sometimes seemed timid. The way he couldn’t speak a harsh word and constantly second-guessed himself was proof of that.
Then there was Arkel. His eyes were filthy, like those of a serial killer. Just being near him made you feel cold.
Hayden or Gai — whichever one it was — was at least bearable. He smiled when their eyes met.
The worst was Dein. No matter how hard Rian struggled, no matter how much he screamed until his voice broke, that man’s expression never changed.
There was something strange about how faithfully he kept his promises. Before long, Rian found himself obeying his words without realizing it.
His pride was wounded, and he didn’t want to face that man.
‘Jenia and Bella are better, after all.’
Both were kind. Both were easier to manage. Rian’s shoulders, which had been hunched all day, began to relax slightly.
Rian glanced at Bella, and his cheeks flushed again. He suddenly felt the urge to speak and opened his mouth without thinking.
“When did you two become part of Balanus?”
Jenia turned to look at him. In that instant, her head tilted at an unnatural angle. Her bright eyes had lost their light.
“Why are you being rude?”
Rian’s survival instinct screamed a warning.
He felt the change beginning.

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