My Disciples Became Scoundrels - Chapter 5

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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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At Dein’s words, the mercenaries flinched, but none of them retreated. Seeing this, Dein let out a short breath and gripped the wooden sword firmly.
“Fine. Then I’ll have to make you see reason.”
With that, Dein launched himself forward, his feet scraping against the ground. The mercenaries shrieked and swung their weapons, but none of their attacks landed true.
Cesare watched the one-sided violence unfold before him in a daze. Amid the endless flurry of blades, Dein moved with eerie stillness.
“Gasp—!”
A mercenary struck across the throat crumpled to the ground. Within moments, not a single one remained on his feet. Dein stood alone beneath the moonlight, quietly sheathing his sword.
Then he turned to face Cesare. Cesare flinched and scrambled backward on his haunches.
“Why… why are you…?”
“Don’t be afraid. I only wanted you to see.”
A strange thing to say, coming from the man who’d beaten him senseless just moments before.
Even thinking this, Cesare said nothing. Dein dropped heavily beside him and gazed quietly at the doors of Domus.
“Cesare, I asked you before. What will you do from here on?”
Dein’s expression was only serene as he looked back at him. His voice drifted softly through the moonlight.
“I will reclaim my disciples.”
“……….”
“You’ll have to help me greatly, Cesare. There are limits to what I can do alone in finding my disciples.”
“……Me too? Even though I’m just a drunkard and a ruffian?”
Cesare asked without meeting his eyes. Now that he had accepted the reality of reuniting with his master, his own shameful form seemed to stare back at him.
Dein looked at him and spoke matter-of-factly.
“And still you are my disciple, Cesare.”
Cesare’s eyes trembled slightly.
“…….Of course. I’m your disciple.”
He scratched the back of his head with an awkward laugh.
“So will you be based out of Domus from now on? Looking for the others?”
“Yes. But first, there’s something I need to settle.”
Dein nudged one of the fallen mercenaries with his foot. There was no response.
—Crack!
“Agh!”
He kicked with full force, and the mercenary screamed and lurched upright. Dein crouched and met the man’s gaze.
“You there. Do me a favor.”
“Sir?”
“Go.”
Moonlight glinted in Dein’s eyes like the edge of a blade.
“Bring me the Inn Master.”
* * *
Before dawn. A figure moved at a leisurely pace beneath the moonlight.
It was the Inn Master. He walked with his guards as if taking a stroll. He regarded the mercenary with displeasure.
“So, you say you killed him?”
“……Yes. I apologize.”
“Tsk. I told you to bring him alive.”
The Inn Master had sent his mercenaries expecting them to drag Dein back. But after a long time passed, the mercenary who arrived brought news that they had accidentally killed Dein.
“His skill was considerable. We made a mistake.”
“And the body?”
“……We buried it nearby.”
There would be trouble if the city guard found out, but it wasn’t a major concern. People died in back alleys every day. At least he had his establishment back, and that was fortunate.
What mattered was whether business could resume tomorrow. As he turned toward his shop to inspect it, he began to make out its silhouette in the distance.
He opened the door casually and stepped inside. Then something felt wrong.
“……What is that man doing here?”
Dein was standing in the center of the first floor. But he was supposed to be dead?
—Click.
Then came the sound of the door closing behind him. Cesare and the mercenary stood there. The mercenary spoke in a faltering voice.
“I’ve… brought him, sir.”
“Good work.”
Dein took a step forward. The bodyguards moved to block the space between the Inn Master and Dein.
And in that moment, they felt their blood turn to ice. The man called Dein seemed less like a human being than a blizzard itself—a calamity beyond mortal reckoning.
“You stole Balanus Domus from the children fifteen years ago, didn’t you?”
Dein’s voice was desolate. The Inn Master, too, felt cold sweat trickling down his spine. Even as fear gripped him, he bared his teeth.
“Who says such things! I purchased it fairly!”
“Then what is this?”
What Dein held out was a single sheet of paper. Written on it was a deed to the land and buildings of Domus.
This deed had been discovered in the basement of the Domus building. Dein had kept important documents, including deeds to land and buildings, stored in the basement during his lifetime.
Bewilderment flickered across the Inn Master’s face. He’d forged the deed because he couldn’t find the real one. Until now there had been no serious problems, but with the genuine deed now in hand, everything had changed.
“The proof that you’re a fraud is right here, and after I threw you out for unlawfully occupying it, you tried to retaliate…….”
The moment Dein stepped forward, the guards drew their blades and rushed at him. But at the same instant, Dein’s Wooden Sword found its mark with perfect precision against their vital points.
Crack!
They collapsed without even a cry of pain. The Inn Master went ashen and tried to flee, but Cesare was already blocking the way behind him.
“Where do you think you’re going, you bastard.”
Thud!
Cesare drove his fist straight into the Inn Master’s sternum. As his body staggered and his waist bent, the Wooden Sword came flying from behind.
Dein began beating him without mercy. The Inn Master screamed and begged, but Dein did not stop.
“Ugh, p-please……stop……!”
He was not the kind of man to be moved by such pleas. Dein struck as if to break the bone that hurt most when struck.
Crack!
“Ugh……!”
Dein stomped hard between the Inn Master’s legs. In that instant, the Inn Master’s vision went white and foam flecked his lips.
“You did pretty well for yourself these fifteen years, running a business in a building you stole from children.”
“I’m s-sorry…….”
“Sorry?”
At those words, Dein pressed down harder with his foot. As the Inn Master trembled like a beaten frog, whimpering, Dein’s voice continued.
“Do you think this ends with an apology?”
“I’ll return the building! Right now I’ll…….”
“Is that all?”
The way Dein looked down at the Inn Master was utterly bleak.
“You’ll pay the interest as well. Fifteen years of profit—that’s the debt.”
Then the Wooden Sword pointed directly at the Inn Master’s face. It looked as sharp as a real blade. Dein pressed down on the Inn Master while he spoke.
“You name the amount of interest. If you come up with a figure that satisfies me, I’ll let you leave this place.”
In that voice lay only sincerity and killing intent. A sharpness so keen that one slip of the tongue would see it severed on the spot.
The Inn Master’s face went white as death itself, as if he were staring at the reaper.
* * *
The Beulgorae Inn.
The late afternoon sun streamed through the window. I sipped water while waiting for Cesare.
It wasn’t yet evening, so the tavern wasn’t crowded. But the patrons’ stares were hot.
Mercenaries who’d claimed their seats early were glancing at me sideways. The Tavern Keeper approached me quietly and struck up a conversation.
“You really beat all those mercenaries? Huh, you don’t look like it…….”
A day had passed since we dealt with the Inn Master. It was a short time, but apparently long enough for the rumors to spread.
I gave a vague answer.
“Cesare helped out too.”
“You look much younger than him, but you call him by his name?”
“I’m stronger, so we decided I’d talk to him casually.”
Calling Cesare by an honorific felt wrong, and I couldn’t very well explain that he’d come back from the dead.
The Tavern Keeper gave me an odd look.
“You look so mild-mannered, but you’ve got quite the tough side……. Oh, welcome.”
Just then, the tavern door opened and a customer walked in. The Tavern Keeper greeted him politely.
“First time here? What can I get for you?”
“What’s with the stiff politeness? Just bring rice.”
At those words, the Tavern Keeper’s eyes widened. He stammered and looked the newcomer up and down.
“What? Are you Cesare? What happened to your beard?”
Cesare looked completely different from just days before. With his shaggy hair and beard neatly trimmed, his whole bearing had changed. The Tavern Keeper still seemed taken aback.
“I never knew you were this handsome in five years…….”
“I’ve always been handsome. I’m hungry, so bring the food already.”
Leaving the bewildered Tavern Keeper behind, Cesare sat down across from me.
“The haircut suits you well.”
“Well, I’m glad. I quit the mercenary work, so I cleaned myself up a bit. Feels strange though.”
Cesare stroked his now-smooth chin as he spoke.
“By the way, I ran into some of those mercenaries earlier and they were in quite a state. Said they never got paid by the Inn Master.”
“He’s in prison now, so he won’t be paying them.”
The Inn Master had settled his fifteen-year debt with money. He’d been completely cleaned out, but I had no intention of considering that the end of his repayment.
Forging documents to seize a building, attempted murder—those were the charges that sent the Inn Master to prison.
He’d rot there for a few years, and rebuilding his life after wouldn’t be easy. I’d be staying here after all.
As Cesare and I continued our conversation, the Tavern Keeper approached with a plate of food and set down a cup of wine. Cesare glanced at it and spoke.
“I didn’t order this.”
“You drink wine with every meal. You used to throw a fit if I didn’t bring it, complaining I had no sense.”
“I’ve given it up now. I’m not drinking.”
The Tavern Keeper looked genuinely shocked. He grabbed Cesare’s cheek and stretched it out.
“Are you really Cesare? Are you wearing a disguise or something?”
“Ow! Let go! Can’t I change my ways?”
“A man can reform. Though looking at how stupid you are, I guess it really is you.”
He studied Cesare with lingering suspicion before finally releasing him. As he reached for the wine cup to take it away, Cesare quickly grabbed his wrist.
“Come on, you already brought it. Why take it back? Just leave it.”
The Tavern Keeper gave him a knowing look and departed. Cesare didn’t drink the wine, but he was breathing in its scent deeply.
“Why aren’t you drinking it, then?”
“Master told me to give it up. Hah, the smell is incredible…….”
He stared at the cup with longing in his eyes, then turned his gaze to me. Even as his hands trembled slightly, he made no move to drink—there was something admirable in that restraint.
“Master, so what will you do next? Will you go looking for the other disciples?”
“Yes. I have to.”
I thought of the five disciples. Those small children they once were.
“After all the masters of Balanus Domus died, how did you survive? Where did the other children go?”

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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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