My Disciples Became Scoundrels - Chapter 48

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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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Someone was spreading rumors about us. At those words, Arkel fell silent and turned to look at me.
“You said the Prophetess spoke like that earlier. So you were testing us? Trying to find out who started the rumors?”
“That was one of my aims.”
I’d thought that if I pushed hard enough emotionally, they’d slip up and reveal something. But from his demeanor, he didn’t seem to be the ringleader spreading these rumors. Still, I’d committed his face to memory.
“Just as expected of you, Master. I wondered if you’d simply reacted to our being insulted, but my faith that you’re not the sort to be swayed by mere emotion hasn’t let me down.”
“And what if I were acting purely on emotion?”
“You’d never commit such a foolish act.”
What sort of person does Arkel imagine me to be inside his head? The boy could stand to idealize me a little less.
In the meantime, Jenia tilted her head curiously.
“But what kind of person is this Prophetess? Does she actually perform real prophecies? Do they all come true?”
“Most are charlatans, but a rare few are genuine. The Prophetesses of the Temples, for instance—those who inherit their gift through Bloodline Succession.”
That’s why true Prophetesses typically spend their entire lives in Temples. Cesare’s brow furrowed as he spoke.
“But there’s no Temple anywhere near here, is there? So isn’t the Prophetess in the next town over a fraud?”
“I can’t say for certain yet.”
Whether she was a genuine rarity or a manufactured fake would need to be confirmed. There was only one way to find out.
* * *
Nevelheim was a village that took a full week of walking from Aspenheim to reach.
True to its name as the birthplace of Mist, the deeper we ventured, the more dense and pale the fog became. Through the wet forest scent and the fog came Cesare’s grumbling voice.
“This place is always awful when we come here. It’s stifling. What do they call it again…? A nest?”
“A valley.”
A natural fortress ringed by mountain peaks. Nevelheim was a village where entry and exit were not easily accomplished.
Since a carriage would have to take a long detour, we were walking. After climbing the mountain path for some time, the village entrance came into view.
Beyond the open gate, the interior remained obscured. But once we passed through, the mist parted and our vision cleared. A lively street and throngs of people appeared before us.
“Wow, once we’re inside, the mist is gone. What’s the structure? Is it magic?”
“It appears so. There’s an Incantation carved into the walls.”
At Arkel’s explanation, Cesare showed no interest whatsoever, not even glancing that way. He merely cast a cursory look around the village.
“So where is this so-called Prophetess? I’ll pop into the Restaurant and ask around.”
“Me too, me too!”
Jenia had already come scurrying over. While the two of them entered the Inn, I surveyed the surroundings.
Despite its poor location, the village was quite prosperous. The vitality reminded me of what it had been like around fifteen years ago.
Similar to the Nevelheim of my memory, yet something had changed. Arkel stood beside me, scanning the area before speaking quietly.
“This village seems to have very few vagrants.”
No village exists without its abandoned children. But now, only a few elderly beggars lingered about.
“Was it always like this?”
“No. Years ago, street children used to approach us, begging or peddling things.”
But now there was only quiet. Two children were running across the street ahead of us, though their faces were bright. Their clothes were clean too.
If anything stood out, it was that both children wore identical garments. They ran past wearing White Robes.
“And that tower over there wasn’t there before either.”
A tower stood on the village’s edge. I remember it as having been ruined and abandoned in the old days.
But now it was different. The collapsed upper section had been rebuilt, and it now emitted a soft, beacon-like glow.
The children were running toward the tower. As I was beginning to guess where we needed to go, my disciples emerged from the Inn.
“Master, the Prophetess apparently lives in that tower over there!”
“I see. So that’s where she is.”
So it was indeed that place. As we made our way toward the village’s edge, a fair number of people heading toward the tower became visible.
By the time we reached the tower’s entrance, several people were already gathered there, each carrying something—money, fruit, or other offerings. They had the appearance of pilgrims.
“Should we have brought something too? Hey, Jenia. Do you have anything?”
“I’ve got money, big brother.”
As Jenia held up her Money Pouch, Arkel’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Fruit would be cheaper than money.”
“Brother. They say if you pinch pennies, you go bald…. Don’t tell me it’s already happening?”
Just as he was trying to check Arkel’s hair for signs. The tower’s small door opened silently. The faces of the gathered people lit up with color.
“The Prophetess!”
“Jeremiah…!”
The woman called Jeremiah wore a shawl made of translucent white silk and a long dress. Jenia whispered to Arkel.
“Big brother, why does she have her eyes covered?”
“She appears to be blind.”
The Prophetess had wound White Cloth around her eyes. And she was being supported on both sides by children in White Robes.
When the Prophetess extended a slender hand into the void, the man seated at the very front stood up.
“Jeremiah. Please see my future and grant me your counsel. I humbly ask this of you.”
Others approached the prophetess one by one after that, her measured voice drifting across the gathering.
“You have endured something for a long time. That patience will bear fruit soon.”
“Be careful of misunderstandings with those close to you. Reach out first.”
“Hard as things are now, if you don’t surrender, the path will open.”
“Oh, prophetess—!”
Satisfied, the villagers pressed coins and trinkets into the hands of her attendants. Cesare snorted.
“I could say things like that too. Why do they believe such nonsense? She’s a fraud, isn’t she?”
Cesare had a point. These people should have been skeptical, yet their faces shone with reverence.
Then the prophetess took someone’s hand and spoke.
“The thing you burned this morning—you regret it, don’t you? It’s all right. It will come back soon.”
“Thank you. Last time I followed your words, and everything turned out well…….”
Some of her prophecies carried an unsettling precision. Jenia made a sound of interest.
“I’m curious. Can you read my future too? What about my brother? Is she really the real thing?”
“Let’s find out.”
Arkel approached the prophetess without a word. He hesitated, then offered her some coins, and Jeremiah’s head tilted toward him.
“I don’t believe we’ve met. Who are you?”
“A traveler. I wish to know what my future holds.”
She faced him directly. Despite her blindness, it felt as though she saw him clearly. A moment passed before Jeremiah’s lips parted.
“You’ve lost much in your life. That’s made you stronger for it.”
Arkel gazed down at her in silence as the prophecy continued.
“You’re trying hard to bear this alone. But it will improve, bit by bit. There are those around you who will walk this path with you.”
Cesare made a soft, dismissive sound. His skepticism was plain. Then Jeremiah asked:
“I’m glad you can finally call his name again.”
Arkel didn’t answer. But his eyes grew dark and distant. The air around him felt oddly cold.
When he returned to us, he whispered softly:
“She may be genuine. She knew I’ve been reunited with my family. That I spoke my master’s name for the first time in years…….”
“So my brother has been swindled after all.”
“I have never been swindled.”
“You’re being swindled right now.”
Fifteen years in the Seoری Prison will do that to a person. At least there were no fortune-tellers there.
Still, Arkel’s reaction made a kind of sense. Her words could cut like a sharpened blade.
An old man approached her next. Jeremiah smiled warmly.
“Village Chief. Did you manage to hold back the monsters last time?”
“Thanks to you. But this week worries me. Will more monsters appear?”
The Chief looked troubled, and the prophetess replied in her clear voice:
“I hear cries from within the mist. Tomorrow night, monsters will emerge from the Western Mountain Range. Prepare yourselves.”
I held my breath. She was giving prophecies this detailed?
The Chief’s familiarity with her suggested this was far from their first exchange. The others seemed equally used to it.
“Thank goodness. We can handle them this time.”
“There were so many casualties last time. It’s thanks to Jeremiah.”
Prophecies this precise were beyond even the Temple’s seers. Was she the real thing? If so, what was she doing in a place like this?
The Chief’s expression brightened. He pressed a heavy money pouch into the attendants’ hands.
“Yes, we’ll prepare. And those people you mentioned before—Balanus—what of them? My family lives in Aspenheim.”
“Tell them to leave the city as quickly as they can. If those people are there, tragedy will befall Aspenheim again…….”
Our name fell from her lips. Her voice held an iron certainty that would not be shaken.
This prophecy cut clearer and sharper than before. Tragedy again? That tragedy?
The others looked relieved by her words. All except us. My companions said nothing.
Wounds do heal. But if you cut the same place twice, can that wound ever truly mend?
Money pouches, flowers, and fruit had accumulated at the prophetess’s feet like sacred offerings.
I wanted to approach her, but there were too many eyes. She led her attendants back into the tower and disappeared.
The villagers dispersed one by one, their prophecies confirmed. We left as well. Only when the crowds had thinned did Cesare finally explode.
“Damn it, did you hear what she said? What are we? Any fool can see she’s a charlatan, so why do they believe her?”
“But she did accurately predict the monster attack. Doesn’t that make her other prophecies true too?”
The mist in Nevelheim made it difficult to detect approaching monsters. It was easy to understand why the people clung to her words.
Cesare scratched the back of his head in frustration, his face twisted with irritation and dread.
“So Aspenheim will be attacked again because of us? No, that’s insane. She has to be fake! She has to be!”
The desperation in his voice wasn’t cowardice. It wasn’t mere denial of reality either.
That was the voice of someone who had found something they couldn’t bear to lose.
Arkel, lost in thought, turned to look back at the tower. His eyes had gone cold and sharp.
“Regardless of whether she’s genuine, her prophecy has put us in a difficult position.”
Arkel was right. The more I thought about it, the stronger my conviction grew that Balanus would bring tragedy down upon us.
When cursing is mixed with blind faith, that becomes a real problem. Cesare scratched the back of his head again, harder this time.
“Hell. What do we do? If it were a monster, I’d just beat it senseless, but something like this can’t be solved that way…….”
“There is a way to kill him, though.”
Arkel spoke calmly, and he looked ready to march straight off and do the deed if I so much as nodded. I decided to speak up.
“First, let’s verify whether the Prophecy is real. She says a monster will appear tomorrow, after all. However…….”
I recalled the time I had come to this village before. A monster had appeared then too, but something about it felt different. And the Prophecy had been far too precise.
“There’s something that doesn’t sit right with me. It doesn’t feel like a natural phenomenon.”
“You mean it’s artificial? If that’s the case, then the Prophetess…….”
I raised my hand to stop Arkel.
“There’s no need to lay a hand on the Prophetess. There are other ways to nullify Balanus’s Prophecy.”
The disciples who had been speaking loudly fell silent. Jenia’s eyes lit up as if she’d just heard something fascinating.
“How? How do we nullify it?”
I gazed toward the Western Mountain Range and smiled.
“Let’s kill the Prophecy itself.”
* * *
The next night. Darkness settled over the Western Mountain Range.
Soldiers stood arrayed—far more than those who normally guarded the village—tensely gripping their weapons.
“Jeremiah said a monster would appear tonight. Everyone, stay alert.”
“The last battle was difficult enough. If it hadn’t been for the Prophecy, I shudder to think what might have happened…….”
Their voices carried both a hint of relief and a trace of anxiety.
They all maintained their resolute guard, not a single one lowering their vigilance. The moon rose high in the sky, and the mist churned quietly, ominously.
The night deepened. Midnight passed into dawn. One o’clock, two o’clock, three o’clock in the morning…….
And as the first light of day began to break. A soldier spoke, bewilderment written across his face.
“It’s not coming?”

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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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