My Disciples Became Scoundrels - Chapter 77

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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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Bella fell silent at the mention of sinking a naval vessel. Her gaze was that of someone trying to comprehend something beyond reason.
“Why didn’t you explain the circumstances?”
“They wouldn’t listen. Meeting force with force was our best option. We had to protect our own ship, after all.”
A Monster Scholar’s vessel repelling a naval ship—it seemed like no ordinary boat. The same went for the crew’s attire.
Jenia stared at the hat with evident curiosity.
“Did the soldiers mistake you for pirates because of how you’re dressed?”
“Prejudice. Everything we wear serves a purpose. Take this hat, for example—it channels water off the shoulders rather than the face when waves wash over the deck.”
The Monster Scholar lifted her eye patch. A perfectly intact eye was revealed beneath.
“This one’s intentional. I keep one eye covered to pre-adapt it to darkness. It’s effective when moving quickly between deck and cabin during combat. Don’t you know this?”
“So the prosthetic leg and hook have purposes too?”
“No. A monster ate them.”
So there was some intention behind the outfit after all. The Monster Scholar settled into an angled posture, looking up at us.
“In any case, I have no intention of cooperating unless I receive a pardon. Tell the Lord.”
Back then, no real harm had been done, so we’d released her. But this time the situation was different.
Persuading the Lord would be difficult, but it didn’t matter. The person I needed to sway was standing right in front of me.
“Your objective isn’t a pardon.”
“What are you talking about?”
“A pardon is merely the means. Your true goal is to leave this place and hunt monsters. Is it not?”
The Monster Scholar’s eye opened slightly. She fell silent, as though urging me to continue.
“Once we hunt the monster, we’ll hand over the corpse to you. We’ll document the process and deliver a full account.”
I drew out the Silver Badge from my pocket. This metal token proved remarkably useful for securing someone’s trust.
A golden badge would be even more valuable. The Monster Scholar studied the Silver Badge for a long while before finally speaking.
“……Is it from Balanus? The badge vouches for identity, but that’s not enough. How do I trust a mere promise?”
“I’ll entrust this to you.”
I held out the Silver Badge through the bars of the cell. The Monster Scholar’s eye widened.
“If that’s lost, won’t you face trouble?”
“Precisely why I’m entrusting it.”
She looked back and forth between the badge and me for a long time before finally accepting it. When she spoke again, her voice was calm.
“……We call it a Wing Fish. It’s a fish-shaped monster that flies and swims at high speed. We need a specimen, but haven’t been able to capture one.”
A Wing Fish—a monster I’d never heard of before. She continued.
“As for other details, we’ve only determined its diet. It’s partial to Spine Worms, so we used them as bait.”
“Spine Worms—you mean the ones that live in caves?”
“That’s right. You know quite a bit.”
A faint glimmer of approval colored the Monster Scholar’s voice. Bella tapped her boot against the floor before speaking.
“It’s not particularly strong, so there shouldn’t be a problem. Moving the corpse might be a bit difficult, though.”
“No corpses. It only eats live prey.”
Capturing it alive would be orders of magnitude harder than killing it. Still, it wasn’t impossible.
She offered a few more pieces of information beyond that, even going into detail about the location of a cave where Spine Worms were likely to be found. It was surprising how forthcoming she was being.
“You’re helping us quite a lot.”
“You trusted me enough to stake Balanus’s name on this. In return, I’ll cooperate with you.”
The Monster Scholar held the Silver Badge in her hand. It was fortunate that she understood what it meant.
We left the prison. Only then did a fresh ocean breeze wash over us. Jenia trotted along beside us, asking a question.
“What now? Should we go back to the inn and bring the others?”
“It seems we can manage on our own.”
“But you’re weak and won’t be much help. Are we really going alone? Sister, that hurts.”
“Since when do you get to talk back to me like that?”
Bella grabbed both of Jenia’s cheeks and stretched them without mercy before letting go. Jenia rubbed her reddened cheeks.
“Cesare and Arkel are better fighters than me, sure, but when it comes to capture work, that’s different.”
She pulled a small container from her pocket. When she opened the lid, it contained what looked like tiny darts.
“What are those?”
“Tranquilizer Darts. They’re used instead of bullets, and when you hit your target, they’re knocked out.”
Those sharp tips looked like stingers. It was strange to think such technology would be invented in the future.
“But the monster’s in a cave. Can you shoot from a gun?”
“You’ll lure it out.”
“Understood. You’re weak anyway, so if I get hurt, that’s on you.”
Bella was stretching Jenia’s cheeks even harder than before. Whether to call this good sisterly affection was debatable.
We headed toward the nearby mountains. Since few people traveled the path, grass had grown thick and wild.
After walking along the mountain trail for some time, a cave came into view. It loomed large, its dark mouth gaping open like a yawn.
Bella withdrew a Long Gun and positioned herself at the cave’s entrance. Even without fighting directly, this would be exhausting.
Maintaining constant vigilance wasn’t ordinary work. I spoke to Bella.
“Come as quickly as you can.”
“Waiting is my job, after all.”
“I’d rather waiting wasn’t necessary anymore.”
At those words, Bella fell silent for a moment. As she tilted her head, her long hair cascaded down, and her voice emerged from within it.
“……Then come quickly.”
I ran my hand over her hair once, then entered the Cave with Jenia.
A damp smell struck my nostrils. When I raised the Lantern, walls mottled with moss like age spots came into view.
The ground was slick with moisture beneath my feet. Jenia followed slowly, sweeping her tentacles across the surroundings.
“There’s only one passage. We won’t lose our way.”
“That’s true. At least there’s that.”
As we went deeper, the hem of my cloak gradually grew wet. Jenia came to an abrupt halt and looked at me.
“There’s only one passage, but what if the path ends?”
I stopped as well and peered ahead. The path dropped off like a vertical cliff, and beyond it lay only darkness.
I picked up a stone from the ground and dropped it down. A few seconds later, I heard a clattering echo.
“It’s not too far to descend. Can you make it down the slick wall?”
Jenia extended her tentacles and felt the wall, then shook her head.
“It’s too slippery. There’s nothing to grip, no handholds or crevices.”
No other path was visible. Then there was only one choice. I secured the Lantern at my belt and spoke.
“Climb onto my back. There will be impact, so be careful.”
Despite the warning, Jenia seemed delighted. She wrapped her arms around my neck from behind and clung on.
“It’s been so long since I rode on your back, Master.”
I remembered carrying her on my shoulders often when she was small. Though this was my first time doing so since she’d grown this large.
“But Master, your back has gotten smaller.”
“You’ve grown.”
“No, it’s because you’ve lost muscle. You’ve grown weak since your resurrection, Master. Like a newborn fawn.”
……I’ll have to train harder when we return. With that resolve, I took another step forward.
The stone had taken about three seconds to fall. Supporting Jenia with my left hand and gripping my sword with my right, I leapt down.
One second. As the wind rushed violently past me, I swung my blade downward. The pressure of the swing thrust my body upward momentarily.
—Crash!
As I landed, the sound echoed in all directions. It was quite a spacious area. I set Jenia down and surveyed our surroundings.
Silence. Such profound silence it was almost unsettling. Jenia too gazed wordlessly into the darkness.
Darkness. Nothing but darkness. Yet I soon understood why she was staring in that direction.
—Slither, slither……
Something approached with an eerie sound. Something roughly the size of a small child.
A fleshy mass that looked rounded and dull like a caterpillar crawled toward us. Or rather, to be precise—a mass of spines.
True to its name, the Spine Worm was covered entirely with spines. They were thick, far larger than my thumb.
I had to lure the Spine Worm outside. The problem was that I couldn’t climb back up immediately.
“……It’s not just one. There are more.”
One, two……four Spine Worms in total crawled toward us slowly. Jenia spoke with evident concern.
“Should I bind them with my tentacles?”
“No. You’ll get hurt. There’s another way.”
—Clang-clang-clang!
As they rushed at me, I swung my sword. The sound of steel striking steel rang out repeatedly.
Their spines were as hard as metal. Each collision produced a sharp metallic ring that almost sounded like music.
As a sharp melody echoed, spines were severed. I shouted while drawing the creatures away from Jenia.
“Jenia! Drive the spines into the wall!”
—Clang-clang-clang!
In an instant, the spines embedded themselves in the wall. They were as thick as short swords. With a single tentacle grasping a dozen or so spines, she began climbing upward.
“Master, I’m going up. Grab my tentacle!”
“Never mind, get up first!”
Even spines as hard as these couldn’t support the weight of two people.
After watching Jenia ascend a fair distance, I rushed toward the wall. I stomped on a spine jutting out roughly a hand’s breadth.
—Crack, crack!
Unable to bear the weight, the spines snapped. A succession of metallic sounds rang out. It felt like climbing while treading on piano keys.
It was a damp place for a theater, and the music was quite loud for a performance. The audience was noisy too.
The Spine Worms shrieked and gave chase. Jenia and I simply ran toward the exit.
Gradually, light began to appear.
“Bella!”
As I emerged from the exit, I turned sharply to the left. Jenia went right.
A few seconds passed, and the Spine Worms burst out into the light. In that instant.
—Whoosh!
The sound of the air being cut. I turned to see Tranquilizer Darts embedded with perfect precision in the flesh of each Spine Worm, nowhere near the spines.
Even with all those spines packed so densely, not a single shot had missed. A sharpshooter was a sharpshooter indeed.
Three of the creatures flopped over, limp. Bella slung the Long Gun across her shoulder.
“Any injuries?”
“Not a one. You waited long?”
She let out a soft laugh.
“Yes. Next time, could you make me wait less?”
I smiled along with her. This was Bella’s way of pouting.
I stuffed the tranquilized Spine Worm into the sack. It was surprisingly heavy for its size. Jenia had to keep her tentacles hidden, and Bella lacked the raw strength, so it fell to me to carry.
On the path down from the mountain and into Town. Bella glanced sideways at me.
“……Would you like me to carry it?”
“It’s fine.”
“Your arm is trembling.”
I’d been caught. My strength had been flagging halfway down, and my arm was shaking noticeably now. It would be easier to let her take it, but I couldn’t do that.
“I said it’s fine. I can manage this much.”
Just as Bella was about to say more, I spotted Cesare approaching from the other direction. He came bounding over and hoisted the sack up effortlessly.
“Oh, Master. You’re back early? What’s this?”
The boy certainly had strength. I tucked my trembling arm behind my back. To lift it so easily like that—I wasn’t sure whether to feel proud or pitiful.
“Cesare, where were you headed?”
“I was just out. Seeing that bastard’s face made my blood boil……. Anyway, what is this?”
“I’ll explain later. I need to report the situation to the Lord, so all of you head back first.”
At that, Bella looked toward me with a pained expression.
“Master, your arm…….”
I pretended not to hear her and left. I couldn’t show weakness in front of my disciples.
When I reported to the Lord, he seemed quite surprised. Satisfied, even.
“To capture the monster, we’ll need a ship. Could you arrange one?”
“That much I can manage. Once preparations are complete, I’ll send someone to the inn. Wait there.”
I returned to the inn. I wondered how much longer the Spine Worm would remain tranquilized. I meant to ask Bella about it, and I opened the door at just that moment.
“Have you lost your mind?! Have you gone completely mad?!”
“Don’t speak to me that way.”
“You don’t talk that way either.”
“Please, all of you, don’t fight because of me……!”
“You keep quiet. Before I pull out your tongue instead of your teeth.”
The moment I opened the door, a torrent of voices spilled out. And it wasn’t just voices.
Arkel had Cesare pinned to the floor, Cesare was lashing out at Arkel with his feet, Jenia was pulling at Arkel with her tentacles, and Bella had Cesare by the collar…….
It was bedlam. Looking at the scene, I gazed up at the ceiling.
Ah, raising children really is difficult.

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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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