My Disciples Became Scoundrels - Chapter 94

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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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A woman? At those words, the Village Chief’s face went blank. He looked at Dein again.
Delicately featured, yes—but unmistakably male. The bone structure, the voice, everything marked him as a man.
Yet Gai’s expression stopped any protest dead. The fury radiating from him was palpable.
“She hasn’t even been married off yet! Are you trying to examine her body?”
“No, I wasn’t—”
He is a man. The words caught in his throat. In that moment, killing intent pressed down from elsewhere in the room.
Arkel. His silver-grey eyes burned like smoldering coals. He positioned himself between Dein and the Chief, his voice dropping to something dangerous.
“Why haven’t you left? Or did you want to stay and look?”
“No, of course not! It’s just—he looked like a man to me—”
“Looked like a man? Where, exactly?”
Hostility and rage erupted from both sides. The Village Chief instinctively scrambled backward, getting to his feet.
When he still didn’t move toward the door, Arkel seized his wrist. The sound of bone grinding under pressure crackled through the room.
“We’ll leave the Doctor here alone. Now go.”
Without giving the Chief time for another word, Arkel dragged him from the room. Gai followed, locking the door behind them.
Now only Dein and the Doctor remained. The Doctor sat utterly bewildered, his mind struggling to catch up.
Then, suddenly, clarity returned. There was a patient before him. His hands, which had been moving to undress the figure, froze.
‘…He’s a man?’
Once the clothes came away, certainty arrived with them. He was indeed male. Dein’s eyes opened slowly.
“I’m not sick, and I’m not a woman. I staged this whole scene because I needed to speak with you.”
“But the fever—”
“It’ll break soon enough.”
Arkel had raised Dein’s body temperature just enough to be convincing as an illness. Nothing more.
As the Doctor grasped that this had all been theater, his face hardened. His eyes darted fearfully around the room.
The curtains were drawn. The door was shut. Dein lowered his voice, speaking barely above a whisper.
“We are Silver-Rank Domus. We can help you.”
He drew a Silver Badge from his pocket and showed it. A flicker of fragile hope crossed the Doctor’s features.
“What’s happened in this village?”
“…There are Parasitic Wasps.”
Dein didn’t rush him. The Doctor faltered, then continued.
“They spread a Parasitic Toxin. When one stings you…you come under its control.”
“Has the Village Chief been stung?”
The wounds on the Chief’s neck. On the Goblin’s neck. The Doctor nodded and pressed on.
“The Parasitic Wasps feed on people. They seem to prefer fresh meat—they’ve been keeping us alive.”
…
“Every week or so, they take someone. A few days ago, it was my wife…”
He dragged a rough hand across his face. Simply speaking the words seemed to terrify him.
Escape wouldn’t have been simple. There were Watchers inside the village itself. Cross the boundary, and a pack of Goblins would appear.
Dein watched the Doctor in silence, then asked. His voice came out calm and steady, untouched by emotion.
“Where are the Parasitic Wasps?”
No comfort. No sympathy. Yet at that unwavering tone, the Doctor lifted his eyes.
Humans find stability in steadiness—the way one’s body stills when sheltered beneath an ancient tree.
Dein offered stability instead of comfort. Confidence instead of condolence.
The Doctor’s voice came out thin but carrying weight.
“There’s a Dungeon nearby. The Village Chief and the Goblins take people there.”
“What happened to Kihano?”
“They poisoned his food to knock him unconscious, then dragged him to the Dungeon.”
Taken as food, then. Dein considered this even as he remained composed. He straightened his clothes and spoke.
“You can leave now. Tell them nothing’s wrong.”
“What do you intend to do?”
“The Village Chief invited us to dinner earlier.”
Dein smiled without a trace of concern.
“It would be rude to decline an elder’s hospitality, wouldn’t it?”
* * *
In a quiet corner of the village stood several long wooden tables where the residents gathered for meals.
The sun had set, and Lanterns flickered to life throughout the area. The food was simple, but generous in quantity—as though we were honored guests being properly welcomed.
We took our seats. The tables were a strange mixture of villagers and Goblins. A surreal scene, by any measure.
The Village Chief sat directly across from me. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
“Feeling better now? I apologize about earlier. I didn’t realize you were a young lady…”
“It’s fine. I’m used to the confusion.”
“You’re quite lovely. You’ll make a fine match for someone soon enough.”
Looking at them this way, they seemed like ordinary folk. Everyone else did too.
Only that they all bore wounds on their necks. Had they been gathered in one place on purpose? In any case, it worked to our advantage.
Among them, I noticed a villager approaching Gai with unusual warmth.
“Oh, you didn’t have to help. You even assisted with the meal preparations—it was done in no time.”
“How could I sit idle while the adults were working?”
While he chattered away pleasantly, only Arkel remained silent. His gaze toward the Village Chief stayed sharp, unwavering.
The Village Chief shifted uncomfortably, avoiding eye contact, and raised his cup.
“We’ve had few visitors in a long while. Let’s all share a toast.”
The cup held liquor—herbal liquor, by its aroma.
As the Village Chief made his toast, everyone lifted their cups. All except the Goblin, who had no idea how to use tableware.
In the moment I caught the bitter scent of the herbal liquor, a sharp sound tore through the silence.
—Crash!
Shattered glass scattered everywhere. Several villagers clutched their throats in agony. The Village Chief too spat out what was in his mouth, panic-stricken.
“Those bastards—poison—! Seize them!”
The Goblins finally understood what was happening. The moment they kicked over the table and rushed forward—
—Whoosh!
An ice spear pierced through a Goblin’s face. Blood dripped onto the table. More of them thrashed about, but it was too late.
Arkel’s slaughter was swift and elegant. I remained seated, watching it unfold.
In moments, the Goblins lay dead. The Village Chief’s eyes filled with confusion.
“What—how did you—”
“Because it’s not poison that’s your specialty, Village Chief.”
Gai rose from his seat with a quiet laugh, spilling his drink onto the floor.
“I added something to the seasoning while helping in the kitchen.”
“What’s your purpose—”
The Village Chief’s eyes grew glassy. His head drooped. One by one, the others lost consciousness. I checked their condition.
“How long until they wake?”
“An hour or two of deep sleep. Now then, everyone heard that? It’s safe—come out.”
From the darkness, people emerged one by one. Some had their mouths covered; others stepped backward uncertainly.
“Is this safe? If the Parasitic Wasps find out—!”
“Aren’t we just going to get slaughtered?”
Fear clearly outweighed their courage. Then the Doctor stepped forward.
“These people are trustworthy. They’re Silver-Rank Domus, after all. You saw their strength for yourselves. They cut through the Goblins and reached us.”
He seemed to have considerable faith in us. For my part, that was favorable. The village’s anxiety began to settle as a result.
“Doctor, where is the Dungeon located?”
“I’ll show you the way.”
While the villagers bound the unconscious ones, I followed the path the Doctor indicated, heading deep into the dark forest. Soon, the Dungeon’s entrance came into view in the distance.
Even before we drew near, a foul stench wafted toward us. The reek of corpses, of rotting blood—
Scattered ahead were half-eaten bones. Gai picked up a skull and examined it closely.
“Hmm. Female bones, these. Not Kihano’s, it seems. A fox skull and a Goblin skull too? They’ve had quite the varied diet.”
As Gai pocketed a few bones, I turned my gaze to the Dungeon.
If not for Kihano, I would have burned it to the ground. As it was, we had no choice but to enter directly.
Inside, the cavern was vast. The lantern’s light barely illuminated the ground beneath us.
The passages wound in every direction, like an ant colony. The foul stench grew far stronger.
Then I heard something.
—Clang!
The lantern’s flame snuffed out with a whoosh, along with the sound of wind and breaking glass. A projectile?
Goblins see well in darkness. Even with the lantern shattered, we’d be visible to them.
But sight isn’t the only sense. I clicked my tongue softly.
The sound echoed through the Dungeon. The reverberations reached Arkel, Gai, the Goblins, and bounced back to me.
As my body recovered, my senses grew sharper still. My ears seemed to open a hundredfold over.
Now I too could see the Goblins. Not with my eyes, but with sound.
—Slash!
I’d found their positions. Keeping my stance low, I swept my blade in a wide arc. Ankles severed, the creatures shrieked.
This much was sufficient. Arkel would understand now. Cold air chased the scent of blood.
—Crash!
A cutting wind tore through the cavern. A sound to sever the ears themselves. Death cries, the snap of bone, blood spraying—
Silence fell. A moment later, light returned. Arkel was burning a Goblin’s club.
The dead Goblins came into view. Their ankles lay severed. Gai, who had been hiding behind us, suddenly poked his head out.
“Impressive. But what would you have done if Kihano had been among them?”
“I’m not that foolish. I can tell them apart by sound.”
A small-framed goblin and a man with bulk made entirely different footfalls.
I could’ve distinguished them by echolocation as well. I knew they were all goblins when I struck. Gai’s expression turned sour.
“You can really tell all that apart?”
“Yes. I can hear you pacing around your room at night too.”
“So I have no privacy at all?”
After fashioning a torch from a club, I ventured deeper inside. Animal carcasses, half-eaten and scattered, lay strewn about.
Were there no goblins left? Then Arkel pointed toward something.
“Master. There’s a door over there.”
A wooden door stood before us. Something stirred beyond it.
Creak……
I pulled the door open. The space within was dark, as one would expect in a cave sealed from light. Someone lay collapsed on the ground.
A man with long, golden hair. It was Kihano. Thank the heavens he hadn’t been devoured. I called out to him from a distance.
“Kihano.”
Kihano flinched and rose like a specter. His neck was completely exposed, and I could see the wound that had formed there.
Crash!
A mace struck the ground at my feet. The stone floor caved inward. He was faster than the last time I’d seen him.
Bloodshot eyes flickered with madness. He gripped the mace so tightly his knuckles turned white.
“Arkel, just pin his ankles. We’re taking him alive.”
“Yes, Master.”
Crack!
An Ice Barrier shot up. The mace flew at it immediately. Shards scattered through the air.
It was a speed battle. Rise and shatter, rise and shatter. Ice and mace collided without respite.
Kihano closed the distance, showing no sign of fatigue. Ice fragments tore at his arms, blood spilled, yet he paid it no mind.
Sweat beaded on Arkel’s brow, but his eyes remained steady.
“Still crude as ever.”
Crash!
The moment the mace struck the floor, something glinted from above. Icicles.
The impact dislodged them, and they tumbled down. Somewhere along the way, Arkel had set a trap.
Kihano, catching on too late, looked up. He raised his arms to fend off the overhead assault. His ribs lay exposed.
I lunged at Kihano——
Screech!
My feet stopped dead. Something had seized my ankle. I looked down to find teeth embedded in it.
A fox skull. The one Gai had touched at the entrance.
Whoosh!
Wind rushed past my face. The mace grazed my nose.
Kihano had sensed my sneak attack. He dodged and spun, and I realized Gai was gone.
…… Dammit. Is this bastard running again?

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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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