My Disciples Became Scoundrels - Chapter 78

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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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He seemed far more impatient now than he’d been as a child. I suppressed the headache blooming behind my eyes and rapped my knuckles against the door three times. To think I’d still be doing this fifteen years later.
Bang, bang, bang!
The disciples snapped to attention, turning toward me. All of them wore expressions of guilty realization.
“Sit down, all of you.”
They hesitated as if searching for an excuse, but eventually everyone knelt and settled. Only Gai stood there, staring blankly.
“Why are you still standing?”
“I wasn’t fighting, and I’m not your disciple, so… I sat down. You’re putting your fist away now, right?”
Gai finally sat beside them as well. All their hair was disheveled, and their clothes were in complete disarray.
“Jenia, tell me what you were all fighting about.”
I asked her because she was the least emotional of the group. She paused to think before speaking.
“We disagreed about what to do with Gai. Cesare said we should lock him up because he’s dangerous, while Arkel and Bella said we should use him because he’s useful.”
I looked at Cesare. His shirt had several buttons torn off, and he sat with a defiant air.
“He extorted hundreds of millions from me and stabbed me with a sword. You think a man like that will cooperate with us? I said we can’t keep a dangerous liability with us, but…”
Arkel looked at me as though he had something to say. I nodded, and he spoke.
“I told him not to judge based on personal feelings. Then he got angry.”
“I just got angry? Did I ask you whether you always judge things that way and whether you actually love Hayden?”
“He said he doesn’t love Hayden.”
Thwack!
Arkel made a choking sound and curled inward. Jenia had struck his chest with her tentacles.
“I hit him next because he was being disagreeable.”
“…Did you really need to demonstrate that?”
Even at Arkel’s objection, Jenia wore a sly expression. Bella sighed and spoke.
“That’s when the fighting broke out. I tried to stop them. I also mentioned that using Gai would be more efficient, but Cesare wouldn’t hear it.”
“What does efficiency matter that much? Will you die if you don’t worry about efficiency?”
“Yes. You die if you don’t worry about it.”
At that, Cesare’s mouth snapped shut. He turned his head away and muttered.
“Damn it. How am I supposed to respond to that? It’s dirty.”
“If you’re upset about it, you could always use Regression yourself.”
I understood the situation well enough. They’d kept prodding each other, and neither side had backed down or stopped.
Through it all, Gai sat pitifully, sniffling like the tragic heroine of some melodrama.
“They’re all fighting because of me… This is all my fault.”
“Of course it’s your fault! If you’d just kept your mouth shut—!”
“Sister, sister! This is Hayden’s body!”
Bella bristled and grabbed Gai by the hair. Every time things seemed to calm down, Gai would stir the pot again like this.
I struck the table beside me forcefully. Bella released her grip at the sound. It looked as though a few strands of hair had been pulled out.
A sigh escaped me. Rather than someone being wrong, I understood that each of them had their own position.
What reassured me was that they still listened to me. I looked at Arkel and Bella.
“There are merits to using Gai as you say. And it’s true that he’s desperate because he wants to find Hayden.”
The two of them assented with silence. Cesare continued to face away, his head turned the other direction.
“I know you care for your family. I care for my disciples as well. But don’t forget this.”
“Forget what, Master?”
“Hayden is my disciple, but so is Cesare.”
And so were Arkel, Bella, and Jenia. They would understand that too.
“We can lose the people beside us. I don’t wish for that, and neither do you.”
If when we found Hayden, Cesare was gone or all of us had fallen apart, this journey would have no meaning.
Arkel and Bella quietly lowered their heads. They understood what I meant.
I felt Cesare turn his head slightly. He looked as though his anger had softened a little.
“Cesare. I understand your heart too. You’re the greatest victim in all this. But you know as well as I do that locking him up isn’t the best solution.”
……
“If we lock him away, someone will have to stay with him. And his Necromancy will be useful.”
He’d understand it in his head. But his heart wouldn’t accept it. That’s the kind of man Cesare was.
“I’ll arrange safeguards to ensure Gai can’t betray us. We’ll use Kihano’s ability to determine the truth, and if it’s proven he harmed Hayden, I’ll do as you wish.”
“…Yes, Master.”
His voice had become obedient. I looked at Jenia. Even while being scolded, her eyes held anticipation—she was curious about what I’d say to her.
“…Next time a fight breaks out, use your tentacles to tie them up instead.”
“Yes, Master.”
Finally, I looked at Gai. He’d been watching with bored indifference, but when our eyes met, he broke into a silent smile.
“As for you—gag him.”
“Yes? Master, I—mmph!”
The disciples fell upon Gai as if they’d been waiting for the moment. It was a relief to see them united, even now.
Gai was bound hand and foot with a gag in his mouth, then shoved into a corner. I addressed my disciples, who looked considerably more at ease.
“The Lord said he would provide a ship. We’ll need to prepare for combat at sea in the meantime.”
Fighting on a vessel wouldn’t be something we were accustomed to, so preparations were essential. Bella cast a sidelong glance at Gai.
“We’re taking him too?”
“Yes. Everyone must go to prepare for various circumstances. Especially since our information about the monsters is uncertain.”
Out on the sea, Gai wouldn’t find it easy to escape anyway. Bella’s eyes flickered toward the bound figure in the corner.
“Having someone who uses poison would certainly be useful.”
“If you wish it, I’ll do something special for you.”
“This bastard—when did you take the gag off?”
Gai answered with shameless composure, but no one looked pleased. Cesare glared at him coldly.
“If we rely on that wretch, we’re as good as dead. Drop it. I’ll handle things myself.”
“Though I could prove quite useful—mmph!”
Cesare, irritated, forced the gag back into Gai’s mouth.
Unlike Cesare, whose anger was genuine, Gai offered no resistance. He simply smiled with his eyes, perfectly docile.
Whether this man would drive us to fracture or prove himself an asset—I would have to wait and see. If it were the former…
Perhaps he read my thoughts; his expression turned plaintive. I hoped he would keep quiet and behave himself.
* * *
The main sail of the merchant vessel flapped loudly in the wind. Beyond the white canvas, the sky and sea blurred together in seamless blue.
White foam rose and spray dotted my face. It was a sensation I hadn’t felt in ages. Bella leaned against the rail, facing into the wind.
“The Lord provided quite a respectable ship. I half-expected him to send something shabby.”
The merchant vessel we’d boarded was large, if not enormous, and came fully armed—perfect for battle preparation.
“It’s not the Lord’s ship, but the Monster Scholar’s, I’m told.”
“…That explains why it’s so well-equipped. And why there are no soldiers aboard.”
A precaution in case we came under attack and the ship went down. We’d brought only a skeleton crew. Whether that was practical or petty, I couldn’t say.
Had it not been a mission, the scenery would have been quite pleasant. It felt almost like an outing. Even Jenia seemed bright with excitement, as if on a leisure voyage.
“What’s this? A bow? How do you use it?”
“That harpoon is aiming at me, Jenia. Are you planning to kill me?”
On deck sat a harpoon launcher—some kind of modified ballista. There were crossbows and blades too, an impressive array of weapons.
The Monster Scholar had equipped the vessel properly. The harpoons especially seemed useful.
Bella moved to inspect the launcher more closely. As I gazed alone at the open horizon, Cesare drifted up beside me.
“The weather must be doing you good—you seem in better spirits, Master.”
“I am.”
The view was beautiful, and my disciples’ cheerful chatter carried on the breeze. I took in the sight of each of them, and spoke.
“I’ve wanted to come to the sea with all of you like this, for the longest time.”
When they were younger, they couldn’t venture far. I’d always hoped that once they grew, I’d take them traveling—to show them all the beautiful things the world had to offer.
I closed my eyes gently. The sea breeze swept across my hair.
The creak of the mast, the slap of waves against the hull, the sound of my disciples’ voices filtering through the wind.
“If only Hayden were here too…”
Cesare said nothing. For a moment, only the wind spoke.
“…Yes. Hayden isn’t here.”
I opened my eyes. Cesare was looking at something. I followed his gaze.
Gai sat alone at the end of the forecastle, in the corner where sunlight touched least.
His expression was blank. Jenia recklessly handling the harpoon launcher, Arkel trying to stop her, Bella laughing softly at the side—all of it seemed a landscape entirely unconnected to him.
The wind tousled his hair. He made no move to brush it back, only stared at the sea.
A face I knew well wore the mask of a stranger, as if he were a fragment that had broken away and drifted alone.
Then the crew grew restless. The Ship Captain’s voice cut sharply across the deck.
“We’re approaching the zone, sirs!”
The reefs visible in the distance drew nearer. This was the place where merchant vessels had been ambushed before.
As we entered the Reef Zone, my disciples took their positions one by one. Cesare withdrew a sack containing Thorn Worms.
“This ship should hold up, shouldn’t it? It doesn’t look flimsy, but I’m worried it might sink anyway.”
“A few impacts shouldn’t break it. She survived and returned safely before, after all.”
The wind died away. The vessel slowed as we threaded through the reefs, and silence descended.
Where would it come from? We stood alert in all directions, but nothing seemed amiss.
Even the cries of seabirds were absent. The sea seemed to hide nothing.
That was when Jenia suddenly turned toward us and shouted.
“Below!”

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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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