My Disciples Became Scoundrels - Chapter 59

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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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Silence descended over the Fighting Arena. Arkel still had Kihano by the hair when the Announcer belatedly screamed.
“The winner is number thirteen…!”
The moment Arkel heard the verdict, his grip went slack. He collapsed. Both his Mana and Stamina had reached their limits.
Dein vaulted straight over the railing and rushed to his student. The roar of spectators hurling money behind him didn’t register.
“Arkel!”
He tore open the Recovery Scroll he’d held back until the very end. He helped Arkel up and checked his condition.
As the wounds slowly mended, Arkel’s eyes fluttered open in Dein’s arms. He gazed up weakly at his master.
“…Can’t we get a refund on the scroll?”
“No. Absolutely not.”
“I’ll pay back the money I spent later.”
Even now, talking about money. But Dein couldn’t bring himself to scold Arkel.
He sighed and helped him to his feet. When they emerged from the arena, Cesare and Jenia were waiting.
She glanced at Arkel’s condition and asked.
“Is big brother a sadist?”
“…Where exactly did you learn to talk like that? Did you sneak into another tavern?”
“Then are you a masochist?”
“You’re grounded for the foreseeable future.”
Having leveled that threat at Jenia, Arkel turned to Cesare. His expression looked ready to explode.
“If you’d gone in, we’d have lost.”
“This is absolute bullshit. I’m injured and couldn’t even fight properly, and now this…”
Arkel laughed softly. Despite being battered all over, he somehow looked refreshed. Dein exhaled slowly.
“…You did well. Now it’s all finished.”
“Yes, Master. Now we should be able to get information from the Kenmaster.”
“Information alone won’t be enough.”
Dein’s voice turned sharp. The fierce emotion that had been simmering throughout the fight gleamed in his gaze.
“I’m going to collect twice over for the blood of my student.”
* * *
Kenmaster’s Office.
Just as when we first visited, the Kenmaster sat in an expensive chair.
Her expression was identical. If anything, she looked even more satisfied than before. Despite losing the bet, she carried herself with absolute ease.
“Thanks to you, I’m in excellent spirits. I took a loss on the payout, but the scrolls sold wonderfully.”
She smiled at Arkel and me. So it didn’t matter whether she won or lost—there was no loss for her.
“Here’s your championship prize and payout. Four hundred and fifty million Batz in total. Minus the one hundred million Batz you spent on scrolls.”
The Kenmaster scattered the checks carelessly across the floor. They landed at our feet, but I only glanced at them once.
“There should be something more you owe us.”
“Don’t press me. About Bella, right?”
She pulled out a mirror and began applying crimson lipstick to her lips. She carried herself as lightly as if she were heading to a party.
“Bella—I wanted to scout her because I liked her abilities. She suddenly disappeared, so I kept searching for her…”
The Kenmaster’s eyes in the mirror turned toward me.
“Turns out she was running a gambling den in Grymal. I wanted to pull her out if I could, but she’s tied to an organization.”
An organization. Anyone could tell it wasn’t a gentle one.
Learning that Bella had thrown in with a Violent Organization made my jaw clench.
At least I’d found out where she was. The Kenmaster tidied her lip line with her pinky and continued.
“Now get out. If you’re not my dog, you’re nothing but a mutt.”
“I can’t leave yet.”
She narrowed her eyes, studying me.
“Because I need to tear out your throat.”
“What? That’s complete nonsense—”
Bang, bang, bang!
Urgent knocking. The Kenmaster glared toward the door, but I didn’t turn around.
Arkel opened it without any change of expression. A Staff Member burst in hastily, his face drained of color.
“M-Kenmaster! The customers are furious about match fixing!”
“Match fixing? What are you talking about?”
“You paid two people to take Forfeit Losses. That…”
The Staff Member glanced awkwardly at Arkel. He couldn’t exactly reveal in front of the man himself that he’d been coerced into fighting.
The Kenmaster turned to face me. Her mouth twisted in a scornful sneer.
“Is this your doing? Doesn’t matter. Two nobodies spouting off won’t amount to anything. It’ll be loud for a moment, then I’ll bury it.”
“True enough—if the ones speaking had neither skill nor standing.”
Then came the sound of metal clinking outside. The ring of steel striking steel.
The door slammed shut a moment earlier swung open again with a bang. The man who stepped inside wore armor—it was Kihano. He bellowed immediately.
“Kenmaster! What is the meaning of this? Rigging an honorable duel……!”
His entire body radiated fury. Only then did bewilderment flicker across Kenmaster’s face.
“What lies did you hear from these drifters? Are you so foolish as to fall for their deception?”
“You are nothing but falsehoods! I know what is true and what is not!”
After the match ended, I sought out Kihano. Of everyone in this place, he valued justice and truth above all else.
When he heard that Kenmaster had rigged the competition, his fury drove him to find the forfeited fighters.
At first, they denied it. But with his ability to distinguish truth from lies, there was no deceiving Kihano.
“If it were someone else, perhaps—but when Kihano testified that the match was rigged, everyone listened.”
He was a famous Champion here. Moreover, as a righteous Holy Knight by origin, the people could not dismiss his word.
And if their own interests were at stake, all the more so.
With clear evidence of match-rigging, it was enough to extract compensation from the betting house.
“Kenmaster, shouldn’t you hurry and manage this situation? You know the temperament of the nobles.”
Though she seemed to rule this place, it ultimately ran on the whims of the nobility and the wealthy.
These were not customers who could be silenced with force. In the end, their favor had to be won.
If she paid out, it would be a blow near bankruptcy. If she refused, she would lose her clientele.
If my disciple suffered so greatly, then she deserved to suffer even more.
At my words, Kenmaster bit her lip with visible frustration. The rouge smeared unbecomingly as she finally stormed from the room.
Now only three remained in the office: myself, Arkel, and Kihano.
Kihano, his helmet removed to reveal a clean-cut face, gave a self-conscious cough.
“Dein, I thank you for revealing the flaw in this duel. We nearly faced dishonor.”
“I’m grateful for your cooperation.”
“Justice is where I stand, that is all!”
Kihano laughed brightly, then turned his gaze toward Arkel. I tensed, half-expecting another confrontation.
“Arkel! That was a worthy match!”
He thrust out his right hand to Arkel with a radiant smile.
Arkel looked down at Kihano’s outstretched hand without responding—his gaze as cold as if he were regarding the corpse of a cicada fallen in the street.
Though the refusal was unmistakable, Kihano seized Arkel’s hand and shook it up and down enthusiastically.
“You fought for your family, they say? I see it now—you are no villain. Your murders too must have had their reasons!”
……
“Then I was not defeated by evil. Ha ha ha!”
There was a term the young people used nowadays. What was it called—Mental Victory.
“I am a villain. A murderer who kills for pleasure.”
“Quite the jest!”
“Can’t you distinguish what is false from what is true?”
“You ought to become a Holy Knight yourself.”
“Which do you have wrong—your ears or your head?”
“Since I have lost, I must depart to train. Perhaps we shall meet again someday, Arkel!”
Kihano said his piece and left. His cheerful laughter still lingered in the air.
Arkel rubbed his right hand against his trousers as if he had touched something unpleasant.
After collecting himself for a moment, Arkel looked at me with eyes as they always were—patient, enduring.
“Let us depart, Master. It seems Cesare and Jenia’s commotion is getting rather excessive.”
Outside, the voices of the two grew louder. They were certainly being thorough.
I walked with Arkel toward the noise. Now I had to leave this place and search for my fourth disciple.
Was Bella in some dark place as well? If so, I had to find her and bring her home, to a bright place.
Wherever my disciples were, no matter how deep into darkness that place lay.
11. A Prayer for the Future
Bella was a child who disliked birthday parties.
Though each disciple had different temperaments, all but Bella loved birthday celebrations.
Most children were that way, and mine had never been celebrated on their birthdays before, so they felt it even more keenly.
Bella alone was indifferent to her own.
“What meaning is there to the day one was born?”
She was seven when I brought her. Even at that young age, she spoke with the expression of an old soul who had lived a thousand years. It was the same look she’d had when I first found her dying on the street.
Bella disliked birthday parties, but we marked the day faithfully. Her eighth birthday. Her ninth.
And then, the day before Bella’s tenth birthday, I died.
Fifteen years have passed. How did Bella spend those birthdays? What manner of woman has she become?
The grown woman is now in a gambling house in Grymal, they say. In this dark, deep place.
“This is a big city, isn’t it? Enormous. Even at night it sparkles so.”
Jenia looked around with bright eyes. Lanterns overflowed from every street.
Grymal was a city brighter by night than by day. And night was its deepest hour.
The street was crowded with every kind of person. Well-dressed nobles, beggars in rags.
The nobles entered the bright interior; the beggars remained outside, gazing at that light.
A city magnificent and rotten. Cesare walked in step with Jenia and spoke.
“How many gambling houses did you count on the way here?”
“Six.”
“That’s not what I meant. I meant they were damn massive.”
As Cesare and Jenia bickered, Arkel pointed toward something. A large building appeared at the far end of the street.
“That must be the gambling house the Kenmaster mentioned.”
The gambling house Eterno. It was far larger than any we’d passed before.
Well-dressed people could be seen entering. So this is what a high-class gambling establishment looks like.
Cesare spoke in wonder.
“Incredible. A former maid running a place like this.”
Jenia had gone to the orphanage; Bella had taken work as a maid in some noble household. Then one day, she packed her things and left.
She’d only left word not to look for her.
How had she ended up here? I quickened my pace more than usual.
“Let’s take a look inside.”
I suspected we wouldn’t be allowed in. As expected, when we approached the entrance, a guard blocked our way.
The taciturn guard looked us over carefully. His gaze sharpened noticeably each time it passed over me, Cesare, Jenia, and Arkel in turn.
“You cannot enter dressed like that.”
“What? What’s wrong with these clothes?”
It was true—these weren’t garments suited for such a place. My disciples’ clothing was neat but hardly elegant. We dressed for fighting, after all.
I pulled Cesare back before he could argue further.
“We’ll need new clothes. Something fine.”
A high-class tailor’s shop stood not far away. As we turned toward it, my disciples’ expressions shifted in different ways.
Jenia’s eyes gleamed; Cesare sighed; Arkel’s face darkened.
I pretended not to notice the men’s reactions. Today, I’d do right by my disciples.

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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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