My Disciples Became Scoundrels - Chapter 13

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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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Ruffian. The moment I heard that word, Jenia came to mind. Cesare must have thought the same, because we exchanged a single glance and moved immediately.
The shouting came from the Mill. The windmill stood still, and the face of the woman who appeared to be the mill keeper had flushed crimson.
The angry woman huffed for a moment, then cast a sidelong glance in our direction.
“Are you travelers? I see you’ve come from outside. I’m afraid we can’t operate right now. The windmill’s broken down.”
Now that I thought about it, the innkeeper had mentioned the same thing yesterday. That Jenia had damaged the stable or caused some trouble.
“Did Jenia do this?”
“You know Jenia? Yes. She broke it. Said she was curious about the windmill’s structure, then took off with the cogwheels.”
The mill keeper grumbled bitterly.
“She used to be quiet, but three years ago she lost her memory, and now she’s become a complete troublemaker. Good grief, really.”
Three years ago? I fell silent for a moment in thought, then spoke.
“What was she like before that?”
“Whatever Gainak said, she’d follow along without question. According to Gainak, perhaps because of the trauma of being abandoned, she was afraid of being cast aside again.”
Had Jenia believed that Arkel had abandoned her? In the meantime, the mill keeper continued muttering.
“I can’t understand why she suddenly changed like that. Goodness, and I can’t even go complain to Gainak about it.”
“Would it help if I searched for the cogwheels and brought them back?”
At those words, the mill keeper looked at me with surprise.
“Why would you?”
“I used to live with Jenia before. My child has caused you trouble. I’m sorry.”
I apologized and handed over a box of Fatigue Recovery Medicine. The mill keeper, at first embarrassed, accepted it as though I’d worn down her resistance.
“Well, if you just find those cogwheels, that’ll do.”
“Do you know where Jenia went?”
“I’m not sure. She did head toward the Hillside, though.”
The Hillside. I nodded politely to the mill keeper and set off in the direction she’d indicated. Cesare, who had been following behind me, spoke up suddenly.
“Master.”
“What is it?”
“Are you a fool, Master?”
What on earth was that supposed to mean? I stopped and turned around to find Cesare looking at me with displeasure.
“A fool? Say something like that again and you’ll get a taste of my hand.”
“That’s not what I meant——!”
Cesare flinched and scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
“You didn’t need to apologize, Master, but you did it anyway.”
“The child did something wrong.”
“Doesn’t your pride suffer?”
“Sometimes it does.”
Raising these children, there had been countless occasions. I’d lost count of how many times I’d taken misbehaving children to apologize.
There were moments when standing before someone who was excessively angry, I wondered why I had to bow my head so far.
“But for your sakes, my pride is worth nothing.”
With martial strength alone, I could have subdued anyone. I could have smoothed everything over that way, but as much as I was a “swordsman,” I was a “master,” and that was not something I wished to do.
Cesare still seemed dissatisfied with my answer.
“I want you not to compromise your pride, Master.”
“Why?”
“……Because you’re our master.”
I laughed softly. Even though his words were a bit blunt, I understood they came from a place of concern for me.
“Thank you. Let’s split up and search for Jenia?”
“Yes.”
Whether we found Jenia or not, we agreed to meet beneath the Camphor Tree ahead after an hour.
So Cesare and I parted ways to search through the Village. Jenia was not on the Hillside that the mill keeper had mentioned.
I headed toward a place where flowers were likely to be blooming. I remembered that Jenia had loved flowers since she was young.
Though it was more that she loved taking flowers apart to understand their structure.
Just then, I felt something approaching rapidly from above.
Whoosh!
I stumbled backward just in time as pink tentacles came streaking down in succession. I leapt into the air to evade those tentacles, which clearly intended to seize me.
As I put distance between us, I saw Jenia sitting in a tree, cradling a cogwheel the size of her own head. She spoke with curious eyes.
“Fast.”
I could have let myself be captured quietly, but Jenia was fascinated by things she didn’t understand and couldn’t obtain. I extended my hand toward her.
“Jenia, give back that cogwheel. The mill keeper is struggling without it.”
“I’m not struggling.”
From childhood, she truly was my precious one.
Hearing her answer like that reminded me of when I’d first brought Jenia home.
How much I’d told Jenia, who could not understand the feelings of others.
After investing so much time, Jenia had come to understand my words, but now time was scarce. She stared at me with clear eyes and spoke.
“By the way, you said you know me, right? Who are you?”
“Give me the gear first. Then I’ll tell you.”
“No.”
Jenia flatly refused and then leapt down to the ground. The moment her feet touched earth, countless tentacles came hurling toward me.
I watched how she attacked without counterattacking, only evading—and it seemed that had provoked her.
“Why are you going easy? Fight properly. I will too.”
Suddenly her face twisted, transforming in an instant into something grotesque.
Pink slime. Her bizarre form writhed, tentacles undulating. It was the sort of sight that would make an ordinary person recoil in horror, but I felt a swell of pride.
As a child, she could only transform parts of her body. Jenia has grown stronger. That brought me genuine joy—the fact that she had become formidable even in my absence.
A smile spread across my face unbidden. But pride in her is one thing, and discipline is another.
I seized her tentacles again and pinned them. Jenia should have reshaped her body and slipped free in moments, but this time was different.
“What? I can’t transform.”
The slime writhed as she spoke. I held Jenia fast and retrieved the gear from my robes. She fixed me with four curious eyes.
“What did you do?”
“I severed your Mana flow.”
Slimes reshape their bodies by drawing on Mana. Sever that flow, and they become powerless in an instant. Had Gainak not taught her this?
“I see. I didn’t know.”
“I’ll release you if you stop attacking.”
“Okay. I won’t. I want to transform, so let me go.”
The remark would raise eyebrows if others heard it. I’d have to work on Jenia’s manner of speech.
I released the channels of her Mana. She shifted back into human form and regarded me with gleaming eyes.
“You’re interesting. Your name was Dein, right?”
“That’s so.”
“What were we to each other? When I look at you, I feel good, warm in my chest. Are we… lovers?”
“Don’t say such frightening things. There’s a thirty-five-year age difference between us.”
I told Jenia about Balanus. That we were family, that I had been her teacher. That I had died and been revived. Jenia tilted her head in confusion.
“I don’t remember any of it.”
“Then do you perhaps have this? A necklace that the family of Balanus divided among themselves.”
I drew out my necklace to show her. Jenia then produced her own necklace from beneath her garment, hidden against her skin. It was identical.
“They’re the same. But I got this from my teacher.”
“From Gainak?”
“Yes.”
That Gainak had given it to her made no sense. Jenia gripped her necklace tightly as she spoke.
“I can’t remember much, but I know this necklace is important. Because my teacher gave it to me… But why does yours look exactly the same?”
Jenia seemed puzzled by her own question. Then, as if struck by understanding, she spoke.
“I’ve heard that lovers wear matching ornaments.”
“Cesare has an identical necklace too.”
“Can three people date together?”
I needed to prevent the misunderstanding from deepening. Just as I was about to explain the old story in more detail, Jenia sprang to her feet.
Standing where Jenia now looked was Gainak. When had he arrived there? He regarded me with a rather cold gaze.
“Come here, Jenia.”
“Yes, Master.”
At Gainak’s call, Jenia went to his side without hesitation. I could not stop her from leaving. Gainak spoke.
“What were you discussing with Jenia?”
“Just some old tales. We happened to meet by chance as I was coming to find you.”
“It seems you have much to discuss. I have a prior engagement, so come see me tomorrow.”
He spoke curtly and departed with Jenia. I watched the two figures recede into the distance, then made my way to the tree where I’d agreed to meet Cesare again.
“Master, why did you take so long?”
Cesare had already arrived. When I relayed what had just happened, he furrowed his brow.
“Something feels off. Should we go confront Gainak?”
“Gainak has a prior engagement today, so we’ll visit him tomorrow. We should also check the Mill.”
I found the Mill keeper and returned the Cogwheel I’d promised. Then I wandered through the Village, making inquiries, but heard only similar accounts.
The troublemaker monster Jenia. The sage Gainak who tends to her. Because Gainak contributes so much to the Village, there was an air of tolerance toward Jenia.
After much questioning, it had grown late into the night. It seemed time to call it a day. Returning to the Inn, Cesare let out a long yawn.
“Whew, I’m exhausted. Shall we sleep now?”
“You go ahead. I’m going for a walk to clear my head. Don’t think about drinking.”
I stepped outside the building. Climbing the nearby Hillside to refresh my thoughts, I found white flowers blooming in the Flower Field.
The Flower Field where Jenia had stood, now empty. What had happened to my pupil in those fifteen years? Why was she bound by a Seal? Why had she lost her memory?
If I had been stronger, if I had not died, my disciples would not have been scattered like this, their fates unknown. Even now, I had to fulfill my duty as a master.
If only I could recover Jenia’s memories first…….
Lost in thought, I quietly gripped the hilt of my sword. In the moonlit Flower Field, my shadow stretched long across the ground, blade in hand.
I turned slowly to face what lay behind me. There was only darkness. Darkness brimming with killing intent.
The moment I drew my sword, figures began to emerge from the shadows one by one—malice given form. There appeared to be roughly twenty of them, all wearing black hoods.
An ambush.

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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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