My Disciples Became Scoundrels - Chapter 43

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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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“Not particularly.”
Jenia must have been there too. At that answer, Cesare started losing his temper again.
“Not particularly? Not particularly? I just said you’re acting vulgar and obscene and offensive!”
“I didn’t say it quite like that.”
“Christ, put away the Tentacle!”
A crash echoed through the air. A scuffle, perhaps. Moments later, Jenia’s voice came through.
“You’re twenty-seven, and I’m twenty. You don’t need to protect me. If I’m upset, I can get angry all by myself.”
Jenia sounded more mature than I’d expected. She must have been frightened and hurt as well.
She’d caught on to why Cesare was being so unusually angry. His grumbling voice reached me.
“Twenty makes you a bloodless fool.”
“Are you talking back?”
“Aaah!”
Lord, who was the older sibling and who was the younger? If Jenia weren’t the youngest, things would’ve ended badly.
“If you two keep fighting without listening to me, I’ll tie you both up with Tentacles and dangle you from the Roof. Spending a whole day together like that might make you closer.”
“You already did that! Let me down, dammit!”
I let out a stifled laugh and left my seat, listening to Cesare’s panicked, pleading voice.
I’d originally meant to comfort Cesare and give him a stern talking-to. But there was no need.
My disciple wasn’t alone—he had his siblings beside him. They’d grow and change as they thought, talked, and fought with one another.
I just needed to watch quietly. When things went too far, I’d step in with a bit of loving discipline. That was enough for my role.
Or let Jenia use her loving Tentacle. They wouldn’t much like hanging there, so they’d keep themselves in line.
* * *
Through the morning sunlight, Arkel and Cesare, bound in Tentacles, shone brilliantly.
Passersby who saw the two men dangling from the Roof came to a halt.
Arkel sat with his eyes closed as if he’d achieved enlightenment, while Cesare howled at the top of his lungs.
“Are you really keeping me up here?! We didn’t even fight that badly!”
“Didn’t Master tell you when you were young? Don’t fight at the dinner table. Did you forget?”
The trouble had started at breakfast. While I’d gone to fetch water, the disciples had quarreled again.
Before I could step in, Jenia had already handled it. I’d raised one disciple well, at least.
The other two seemed to be lost causes. Cesare shouted with frustration in his voice.
“Something from fifteen years ago and you’re bringing it up now—! Fine, fine, I get it! I was wrong! Cassian’s coming over there! Let me down! Quick!”
Cassian, approaching in the distance with his companions, finally noticed us. He let out a chuckle and walked past.
“Let me down….”
Cesare’s spirits collapsed instantly. He wasn’t actually crying. Jenia eventually lowered both of them to the ground.
Finally, some peace. They brought it on themselves, though it was still pathetic. I spoke to the men.
“Go finish your breakfast. Then let’s head to the Riverbank nearby. Arkel says there’s something he needs to find there.”
“Arkel? What does he need to find?”
I hadn’t heard it myself. When Jenia looked his way, Arkel averted his gaze.
“Nothing particularly important.”
After clearing everything up, we made our way to the Riverbank. He’d said he’d buried it somewhere, but I wondered why he’d hidden it in the first place.
He couldn’t leave the Frost Prison. It was something he’d never be able to retrieve. He didn’t seem to be planning an escape, though.
We passed through the forest toward the Riverbank. As Jenia chattered on, the upper reaches came into view.
Right after, we all stopped in our tracks. Cesare spoke with bewilderment on his face.
“What? Is that a Dungeon?”
The dungeon entrance spread across the riverside like a black swamp. Arkel gazed at it expressionlessly. Jenia asked.
“So where did you bury your thing?”
“…There. I buried it where the Mana Vein flowed. If it’s there, I can find it even if the terrain changes.”
He pointed at the black entrance with his hand. The dungeon’s appearance made it impossible to approach. Cesare grumbled.
“You buried something important in a place like that? You didn’t know that dungeons are more likely to appear where magical power is strong?”
“I didn’t. When was that fact announced?”
“…About ten years ago.”
Cesare’s voice grew faint, and he looked away. Fifteen years suddenly felt very real. Arkel turned without hesitation.
“It wasn’t that important an object. Let’s go back.”
But that was the problem. He couldn’t bring himself to move. His gaze remained fixed beyond the black swamp.
I examined the dungeon entrance. The lack of an administrative seal suggested it had appeared recently.
“A Spontaneous Dungeon. Once we defeat the boss, this area will return to normal.”
“What’s a Spontaneous Dungeon?”
“It’s a dungeon that disappears the moment you slay the boss.”
Persistent ones require repeated expeditions to clear, but Spontaneous Dungeons end in a single run.
It might sound easy on the surface, but there’s a complication. With a Spontaneous Dungeon, once you enter, you can’t return through the entrance.
If we report it, someone else will conquer it for us. It’s a matter of time, granted, but……
For some reason, Arkel couldn’t tear his eyes from the dungeon entrance. That’s when Cesare spoke.
“We just go in and destroy everything, right? That’s all there is to it?”
He sounded unbothered. Just as Arkel was about to say something, Cesare turned to me.
“Should we go in? How dangerous could this be compared to us?”
With my disciples’ skills, a Silver Rank dungeon should be manageable enough. They all looked eager too. I nodded.
“Yes. But once you enter, you can’t leave until you’ve conquered it, so prepare well.”
The moment I gave permission, Arkel and Cesare moved in unison as if they’d made a pact.
They shot each other a brief glance, then dove into the darkness like they were racing. Hard to tell if they got along or not.
“I’m coming too. Don’t have fun without me.”
After Jenia entered, I followed. My vision went dark for a moment, then brightened again.
A labyrinth welcomed me.
As I stepped onto the ancient stone floor, a dry sound echoed through the air. There were no Magical Beasts at the entrance, but the atmosphere was far from peaceful.
There was something damp and sticky about the smell. Cesare tapped the wall with his spear and asked.
“Master, what is this place? I don’t sense any Magical Beasts at all.”
“Looks like a Trap-type Dungeon. There’ll be plenty of mechanisms scattered throughout the labyrinth, so stay alert.”
“Traps are my weakness. Hey, Jenia. You’re smart—you’d know this kind of thing well, wouldn’t you?”
This was exactly the sort of place Jenia would enjoy. Already, she was probing the surroundings with her Tentacles, examining everything closely.
Her eyes shone bright with delight—like she’d wandered into a festival. Jenia peeked down several branching paths before looking up.
“Master! There are bloodstains over there. Someone came here before us. Are they hurt? Or dead?”
“Most likely. There’s probably a trap on the right path.”
Jenia stared intently down the right passage. She dragged her shoe across the floor and murmured.
“Ah, the right must be dangerous……. But there’s probably so much interesting stuff……. I could probably go and not even get hurt…….”
Now she was making active requests with a passive attitude. She wanted to go, and she had the skill for it too. I glanced down the right passage and spoke.
“Shall we go right?”
“Can we really?”
I nodded, and Jenia’s face lit up. Arkel stepped closer to me.
“Is that wise?”
“Yes. I’m here, you’re here, Cesare’s here too. It’ll be good experience for Jenia.”
Arkel said nothing more. He didn’t look entirely convinced, though.
We entered the right passage. After walking for a bit, Jenia drew out her Tentacle. Cesare asked.
“Why? Did you find something?”
“There are lots of arrow scratches on the stone wall. There’s probably a Crossbow Trap mechanism here.”
The moment Jenia stepped on one of the floor tiles, the stone wall slid open, and Crossbow Traps emerged from three directions.
Ping! Ping! Ping!
Bolts flew at my head and heart. But they were slow. The bolts shattered instantly or were stopped by ice and fell away.
The tips were stained with a dark blue liquid. Poison. Even a graze would’ve meant the end. Jenia spoke with satisfaction.
“I was right, wasn’t I?”
“Impressive, seriously. You’re going to dismantle it, right? Get to it.”
Jenia crouched down and eagerly began pushing her Tentacles into the mechanism. Arkel asked quietly.
“Master. Are only you and I normal?”
I watched Jenia happily tearing apart the wall while Cesare helped her beside her.
“Arkel, I have some unfortunate news.”
“What might that be?”
“I’m not normal either.”
Being around disciples who made a habit of eccentricity, the abnormal had become my normal. I didn’t dislike it.
“All done. Let’s keep moving!”
Jenia rose to her feet with a satisfied expression, having messily dismantled everything around her. Humming cheerfully, she took the lead.
The winding passages branched again. Disappointingly, there were no traps or Magical Beasts, so Jenia’s shoulders drooped slightly.
But as we went deeper, something felt wrong. Bloodstains and soot were scattered across the floor. Cesare sniffed the air.
“Ugh, my nose is going to rot off. The deeper we go, the worse the stench of corpses gets.”
“Brother, you’re like a dog.”
“At least call me a puppy.”
Arkel walked in silence without letting his guard down. Then, the moment we turned a corner, we all stopped.
We’d come face to face with a ‘person’.
It was a young man holding a sword. The moment he saw us, he scrambled to his feet. His expression brightened.
“Oh, thank goodness! There are people here! I’m saved……!”
He looked like an ordinary person. From the outside, just someone you’d pass by without a second glance. He lowered his sword to the ground and approached.
“I got separated from my group and ended up alone. I was so worried about how I’d escape…….”
I could see the other passage was drenched in bloodstains. I smelled burnt flesh and blood.
Yet the man bore no injuries, no traces of dirt. It would be impossible to remain so clean in a dungeon like this.
He approached with an innocent expression.
“Would it be alright if I traveled with you? I’m fairly capable in combat myself……. Ugh!”
The moment I gripped the sword’s hilt, Arkel lunged forward in a flash. He seized the man’s throat.
“What—what are you…….”
The words froze in his throat. A bitter cold rolled over him. The man’s body stiffened rapidly. White frost clung to his hair. It happened in an instant.
“Please……please let me go. That younger sister of mine…….”
His eyes froze and cracked. Blood crystallized, veins swelling beneath the skin. Blue capillaries stood out sharp as snowflake patterns.
“Wait……!”
I lunged forward and grabbed Arkel’s wrist. The moment he released his grip, the man crumpled to the ground.
A dull thud echoed. Like a block of ice falling, not a body.
Cesare and Jenia stumbled backward. They retreated only a step, yet in that space a chasm seemed to open between us.
I held Arkel’s wrist and demanded an answer.
“Why did you do that, Arkel.”
A crack split across the man’s body. The sound of shattering ice rang out, harsh and brittle.
“I judged that man to be dangerous.”
The smell of the Frost Prison clung to the air. What makes that place so terrible is that it builds another prison inside the prisoner’s mind.
Even as the chill settled around us, confusion filled Arkel’s eyes.
“……Did I do something wrong? I only eliminated what should have been eliminated.”

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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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