My Disciples Became Scoundrels - Chapter 63

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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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Garcia’s gaze fell upon the women, and his eyes—warm moments before—flashed with lethal intent.
They flinched and promptly withdrew. Garcia gestured toward the vacant space with his chin.
“I had hoped to do business with the Blue Moon Brewery, but the distillers vanished entirely. I was lamenting the loss, in fact.”
Even after the cartel’s collapse, there were still those who sought out Blue Moon.
But the liquor never returned to market. There were no records, and all those involved were dead.
Once I was seated, Garcia lifted a bottle.
“Are you one of those parties involved?”
He poured me a glass of wine. His eyes were bright with avarice masked as cordiality.
“Something like that. To be precise, I passed along only the formula. The brewery handled the rest.”
A sip of the wine brought bitterness rising to my throat. Garcia’s lips curved in a smile.
“This conversation promises to grow lengthy. Shall we relocate? I’d like to invite you to my mansion.”
It was a honeyed invitation. I set my glass down unhurriedly.
“That sounds good. I have companions—might they join us?”
“Matters like these are best discussed among principals.”
So the others couldn’t come. I nodded without pressing further.
We arranged to meet at his mansion in about an hour, after I retrieved the Blue Moon recipe.
I shook his hand quietly. Though he wore a smile, Garcia’s pupils were reptilian.
The mansion was unmistakably an enemy’s lair. Even setting Bella aside, I doubted any good would come of this.
But it didn’t matter. If this path led to bringing Bella back, I would walk it—whether paved with steel or flowing with blood.
* * *
I arrived at Garcia’s Mansion around ten at night.
The three-story building stood in the heart of the city. Its size and location gave it the feel of a fortress.
Candlelight flickered softly in the dining hall. I sat across from Garcia at a long table.
He reclined with his legs crossed—a posture of absolute arrogance.
“It’s a shame Blue Moon isn’t here. Next time, let’s toast with it.”
A servant approached and refilled my glass. Garcia watched me with a twisted smile.
“I heard you came looking for Beatrice. Word is you two fought quite fiercely.”
“Yes. My business proposal didn’t seem to interest her.”
I surveyed the dining hall quietly from the corner of my eye. It was vast as a royal chamber. The mansion itself was enormous.
Where was Bella now? Garcia observed me steadily and spoke.
“Beatrice prioritizes profit over sentiment. She must have taken quite a disliking to you.”
His voice carried a thin mockery. Even his choice of name felt subtly off.
“There seems to be a misunderstanding. Could you call Bella so I might speak with her?”
“She’s been confined to her room for days. I’m at a loss myself.”
Though candles burned in various corners of the dining hall, the space felt dark. Perhaps clouds were obscuring the moon.
No—even in daylight, I suspected, it would feel much the same. Garcia’s presence loomed distinct from the darkness.
“Is she living here with you?”
“Grimail’s far too dangerous a neighborhood for her to wander alone, wouldn’t you say? I had to provide protection.”
His tone was light, impossible to parse as jest or earnest. Garcia’s eyes flicked toward my glass.
“It’s not quite Blue Moon, but a fine wine nonetheless. Have a drink.”
“I don’t drink wine.”
He didn’t press further. In the interim, servants began carrying out dishes one by one.
Before me sat a steak—undercooked slightly, but quality meat, arranged on silver cutlery.
It was a guest of honor’s meal. Yet I didn’t touch the steak. Garcia cut into his meat and spoke.
“Not to your taste either?”
“I do enjoy it, ordinarily.”
I gripped the knife quietly.
“The smell of blood emanates from both the wine and the meat.”
The wine carried a faint thrum of sorcery alongside the unmistakable reek of blood. Someone’s blood had been mixed in, no question.
The meat, too, faintly radiated magic. It seemed the sauce bore blood as well.
Garcia was trying to make me consume blood.
Not poison—blood. Certain bloods are deadlier than any toxin.
Clang!
Before my words finished, the servants rushed me. I swung the knife I held.
One servant cried out as his arm was cut, falling back. At the same moment, I twisted his wrist.
Crash!
I pulled with all my strength and collided with a second man attempting to strike me with a blade. But that wasn’t the end.
The servants pressed in from every side. Dishes clattered, scattering from the table.
A fist came at me head-on. I took it on my shoulder instead of letting it connect with my jaw. I felt bone jar against bone.
—Gack!
I seized the moment, driving my elbow into the ribs of the one attacking from behind. A gasp of pain escaped him.
But they knew the trick: if three wouldn’t work, five would do.
—Thud!
Before I knew it, my face was pressed against the floor. Bodies swarmed around me.
Weight settled across my back. A shadow fell over my head.
“I thought you were good for nothing but wagging that three-inch tongue of yours, but your nose works well too. For a bloodsucker.”
Garcia had drawn near. He ground his boot heel into my shoulder.
The weight behind it was no ordinary pressure—I could feel the heft of Blood Energy and Killing Intent in it.
“Do you really know how to make the Blue Moon, or did you lie just to get close to Bella?”
Serpent eyes looked down at me, cold and brimming with murderous intent. I let out a groan and spoke.
“Give Bella back to me. I’ll hand over the formula.”
“If you want her as a corpse, I can arrange that. Once I find out why you betrayed me, we’ll be done—just wait a little longer.”
So Bella had tried to betray Garcia and been caught. And it seemed he had no intention of feeding her more blood while he was at it.
After Garcia left, the servants bound my wrists and dragged me somewhere. Down.
It was the basement stairs. The deeper we went, the darker and fouler the air became. After going far enough, they opened an iron door.
—Creeeeak…
The reek of old blood poured out. At a glance, there were dozens of fingernail scratches gouged into the door’s surface.
“It’ll be easier on both of us if you just hand over the formula quietly…”
—Crack!
I brought both bound hands down in a hammer blow against the servant’s head. At least my hands being tied together worked in my favor.
As he fell, someone from behind wrapped their arms around my neck. I threw my weight backward, slamming them against the wall.
—Bang!
I drove him into the wall again and again. At last his grip weakened, and a panicked voice gasped out.
“You… you’re different from before…!”
“Now you’re beginning to see what I’m capable of?”
I twisted my body, crushing his throat hard with my forearm. He made a choking sound.
“Where is Bella now?”
He scratched at my arm. His face turned blue, yet he refused to speak.
“Are you more afraid of me, or of Garcia?”
I squeezed with enough force to snap his neck. A grinding sound came from his throat.
I felt the strength drain from his fingertips. When I tightened my grip further, he finally forced out the words.
“T-there, the far end of the right corridor, the red door…!”
I struck him unconscious and tossed him into the iron room with the others. The moment I freed my wrists, I bolted to the right.
Was Bella still alive?
She shouldn’t have been tortured. She shouldn’t have had to endure that.
Should I have taken her by force when I saw her at the gambling house?
“There! An intruder!”
The moment I rounded the corner, shouts erupted from the corridor. Armed figures crowded the hallway.
These Underworld members were all bleeding Blood Energy. At minimum, they were First Grade.
I was still Second Grade. I wouldn’t lose, but speed mattered more than victory right now.
—Crack!
I targeted their vital points—the throat, the philtrum, the jaw—subduing them as quickly as I could. But I had only my bare hands, and they outnumbered me.
I had a contingency. If I didn’t return within an hour, Cesare would come. But there was no benefit in dragging this out.
I overpowered the men and kept running. Then I saw the red door.
—Bang!
I threw it open and rushed inside. There was someone lying on the floor.
Bella.
I hurried over and examined her. A shallow breath still escaped her lips.
She was alive. She was alive. But her body was covered in bruises. If only I’d come sooner…
“Bella. Come on, wake up. Bella.”
I shook her, and Bella’s eyes fluttered open with effort. She seemed startled to see me, but her voice soon turned despondent.
“…I told you to go.”
She was barely mid-twenties, yet her eyes looked worn by storms. Too young to carry such a gaze.
I pulled her into my arms. She was still small and light. Bella pushed me away with weakened hands.
“I’m not going. I can’t let what I’ve built here crumble.”
“You have to come with me. Garcia will kill you if this goes on.”
“There’s just been a misunderstanding between Garcia and me.”
She broke into a cough. Bella bit her lip as if trying to suppress it.
I lifted Bella into my arms and left the room. She struggled against me all the way.
“Let me go!”
“I can’t leave you in a place like this.”
“Does it trouble you that your disciple lives in the Underworld? Are you going to abandon me just because I should live as nobly as some aristocrat’s daughter?”
I had told Cesare once, long ago, that I would never force my disciples to return if they were content where they were or refused to come back.
But I lied to Cesare.
“Wherever you are, whoever you’ve become.”
I lied to myself as well.
“Just as I have returned to you, you must return to me.”
I spent countless days honing and shaping myself to become a worthy master. Yet one desire—one selfish want—never faded, no matter what I did.
I wanted my disciples at my side.
I wanted us all to live together.
I could never be a good master who lets his disciples go. Perhaps not ever.
I pulled Bella into my arms.
“Come with me, Bella.”

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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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