The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL]-Chapter 322: Count

Now that the tears had dried and Luca had been reduced to the occasional hiccup and sniffle, the world felt quieter.

Not exactly light, not yet—but definitely less suffocating.

Xavier, ever calm and reliable despite looking half-dead, handed Luca a drink and a small packet of snacks, like nothing dramatic had just occurred in the last half hour.

He even gave him a faint, encouraging smile as he sat cross-legged across from him, posture just the right amount of alert and at ease.

Luca stared at the drink, then up at Xavier.

"What about you?" he offered, voice still slightly hoarse.

Xavier shook his head. "Not yet. I have to process the energy inside me first. If I take more, it might overload."

The exchange sounded normal—almost routine, even. But from where she sat, Duchess Amelia’s brow twitched.

She hadn’t interrupted before. Hadn’t so much as blinked throughout Luca’s earlier story.

But this was something else when she was staring at a few questionable things.

She might have spent what felt like five years on here, but even then, she knew about the outside world, one that has had problems for centuries now.

And yet these two were just snacking on food that definitely looked processed.

Those weren’t the same root crops they would occasionally eat inside this dungeon.

So, when she was offered the same snacks, she couldn’t help but ask.

"What...?" She looked at the items before her, which clearly radiated spiritual energy.

The two lads exchanged looks and realized she didn’t really know about their current ventures.

And that was how the Duchess learned she wasn’t done being blindsided.

"Wait, so you’re saying that these are your products?" she muttered, blinking slowly as she inspected what were clearly processed goods.

"You make these from what you and the people of the duchy have grown in your dungeon?"

Luca nodded.

"And you sell them."

Another nod, this time accompanied by a nervous smile and a slight scoot backward.

"Sweet heavens," she muttered.

"I didn’t know much when I started!" Luca squeaked, waving his hands defensively. "I just—I tried eating the local fruits and they tasted really bad, so it was impossible to finish a small one!"

"...So you started a business?"

The little money grubber nodded as he flinched at this.

"I had no money to buy food or anything, so all I could do was open a Star Mall store since they allowed me to open one on credit."

Now that was unexpected, and the duchess looked extremely scandalized.

She was, in fact, beyond just scandalized because her son, of all things, shouldn’t have lacked financial support.

They may not be able to provide for other things, but money? That was one thing they should have been good at.

So, what on Solaris did she just hear?!

"Where were your guardians and attendants?!"

Now that was a question that both Luca and Xavier wanted to know the answer to.

"Gone," Luca said simply. "The double and the caretaker vanished. By the time I came to, there were already no traces of them."

At this, Xavier cleared his throat, politely but with distinct interest.

"Actually," he said, "that brings up something I’ve been meaning to ask. Do you happen to have any other old records or photos of the caretaker and double assigned to Luca?"

Amelia blinked at him. "Why?"

"Because," Xavier said without flinching, "there’s currently an Orc Princess who’s been sending legal demands for marriage after what appears to be a highly suspicious engagement involving the partial use of our identities."

Silence.

Long, mortified, baffled silence.

"What?!"

"Because the double didn’t come, I had to take the exams, only to be surprised by an Orc Princess claiming that I, well, we...had been engaged to her for a while now."

Duchess Amelia had to lean back at that and couldn’t—or more like, didn’t want to—imagine her baby getting married to an Orc who may even be twice his size.

How would he even survive a hug?!

"!!!"

Naturally, that couldn’t happen, especially as she looked at this guy who looked more like a baby than actual babies.

So she turned to look at someone who better be able to produce an acceptable explanation for this. "And you! Where were you in all of this?!"

"The other person who was spliced to create the alleged fiancé, Your Grace." Xavier could only deadpan, hoping never to need to relive that moment, yet here he was.

"Actually, Mom, that was how I knew something was wrong. Because Princess Kira had photos. But you see, they were wrong." Luca had a grave expression, which initially scared the duchess, but apparently that wasn’t the worst part.

"The abs were wrong. I counted. So I told her, but she said we were cheating on her, then—" the little chipmunk was now getting animated, just about ready to describe the moment the princess attacked.

But to the side, Xavier looked ready to just pass away.

This was likely going to be his maximum time in this world.

"Wait, wait! Abs. Son, how did you know the number?" She asked incredulously.

"Oh, because I counted it myself when we first met. So, it definitely wasn’t the same body," answered the little guide, who found nothing wrong with his statement.

"We’re roommates, Your Grace." Announced Xavier, who was thinking of how to explain this.

For a moment, the duchess felt better.

That would explain it, then. As boys and roommates, of course, they’d compare physiques, maybe flex a little. Perfectly normal, right? But then her son said something about touching them himself, and her ears rang.

"I’m sorry, you were doing what, Luca?" Her eyes narrowed, and she couldn’t help but remember Butler Gary’s words.

"Son, what happened when you met? Butler Gary said something—"

"Your Grace, I’m going out on a limb to tell you already. It’s guiding. Luca first discovered his ability to cure contamination at that time and acted according to instinct." The poor prince decided to just say it before this goes somewhere he won’t survive.

"???"

"!!!"

The explanation alone had so many things that didn’t make sense. She learned about guiding just earlier, but clearing out corruption with it?

Luca nodded, a bit too earnestly, glad that someone explained so it won’t be too hard to explain about that strong urge.

"D-29 discovered that we could get CP from Xavier, Mom. It was how I managed to recover because we were able to open the first level of the dungeon."

That’s when Amelia had a bad feeling.

A really bad feeling.

Especially when Luca’s eyes began to shine.

And somehow, she was starting to feel bad about a certain someone as her son kept on describing how he got this thing called CP with such excitement.

It wasn’t hard to guess. And as much as she didn’t want to connect things. It sure felt like this was earned through the sacrifice of a certain someone’s dignity.

But just as she thought that things would maybe ease up, the stories got more intense.

For when she said she wanted to know about everything, the honest and filial son did exactly just that.

Even to the point of shyly exposing a crime that apparently only he (if only) knew about.

And Duchess Amelia didn’t know whether to arrest Xavier or apologize to him once again.