The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL]

Chapter 1107: The Fast Track

"Huh? Don’t you have—" Kyle was in the middle of asking when Killian practically breezed past him while simply saying, "Yeah. I’m going now."

Going now?

But from what he knew, the meeting just ended, so where was that guy even going?

The younger cadet thought that was ridiculous.

Then again, he himself had been working so much lately that he was half convinced he’d started hallucinating. Just earlier, he could’ve sworn he saw strange marks on his brother’s neck while passing by.

So really, what right did he have to judge?

Kyle stood there with one hand still outstretched, watching his brother’s retreating back.

But all the while, his mind had actually fixated on his brother’s neck. Then, as if suddenly shaken, an inexplicable sense of foreboding washed over him.

"Hey!" he called out. "If you got stung by any bees, Luca said you’re supposed to monitor it! Normally, it’d just sting a little... but brother, with your luck, you might actually die while working!"

"You better call us before you rot in some random place!"

Maybe that sudden feeling was nothing, so he simply fully expected to at least get flipped off.

But to the utter bewilderment of the youngest Nox, his older brother actually flinched hard enough to nearly trip, said absolutely nothing, and simply continued fleeing forward.

"...!"

What the hell?

Now, back when they were younger, Kyle’s immediate response would have been:

"Moooom!"

Unfortunately, he was now an adult and a married man.

Which meant he had additional and critical responsibilities.

Such as immediately locating his wife so they could both go and tattle to his mother.

__

However, as though the heavens still cared for one particularly frazzled official, any possibility of Kyle initiating a conversation that would inevitably raise questions that even the eldest Nox couldn’t properly answer was abruptly cut short by a loud outcry.

And perhaps it was karma for wanting to eavesdrop and even thinking about tattling.

Because just as Kyle approached the medical bay in search of his little star, he heard a familiar voice screeching loudly enough to shake the walls.

"Wait! NOOoooooOOOO!"

It was dramatically melodic and seemed to carry the anguish of about fifteen tribes. As such, among the people he knew, only one person could do that.

The adjutant immediately picked up his pace.

By the time he arrived at the supposedly quiet and serene medical bay, he was greeted by a rather unusual but oddly understandable sight.

Several guild members had gathered outside Jax’s room.

Sure, the fact that Jax, of all people, had somehow been sentenced to bed rest in the medical bay was surprising enough on its own.

Then there was the enlarged cocoon very obviously perched atop his head.

However, neither of those ended up being the most questionable thing in the room.

Because with his subconscious doing its absolute best to avoid dwelling on any evidence that might require further contemplation regarding his older brother, what actually stood out the most was something else entirely.

The bees.

More specifically, the fact that even the bees had abandoned their usual positions and seemed to be giving a certain blonde an unusually wide berth.

"..."

"..."

And said blonde was currently on the floor.

Not sitting.

Not kneeling.

Instead, the mop was quite literally dragging himself across it while clutching onto Luca’s leg with all the determination of someone fighting for his life.

Kyle stared.

Then stared some more.

"Brother, how could they suddenly schedule my licensure exam like this?! WHY ME?!"

The blonde looked utterly devastated.

"Don’t mechanics take those after they’ve graduated and mentally prepared themselves?!"

He pointed dramatically at Luca.

"Apart from you and a few other crazy people, don’t most mechanics wait until half their hair turns gray from stress before taking the exam?!"

"I-I did say I was going to take the exam as a married man who swore to improve," he defended desperately. "But I was planning to do that after my heart and body became ready!"

Ollie’s voice cracked near the end.

"So how can they suddenly schedule me like this?!"

Kyle wasn’t sure whether to be concerned or impressed by how quickly his wife had skipped straight into a midlife crisis.

Meanwhile, Luca looked equally helpless.

"I tried saying the same thing, brother," he admitted.

The dungeon owner crouched beside the distraught mechanic and gently patted his shoulder.

"I honestly didn’t expect it either. Master Quinn called me earlier, and apparently the Astral Cup format might be changing because of certain circumstances."

"What circumstances?!" Ollie immediately demanded.

"I don’t know yet."

That answer somehow looked even more devastating.

"Apparently there might be a segment specifically related to mechanics."

The blonde froze.

His dramatic flailing came to an abrupt halt.

"What?"

"Yeah."

Luca nodded sympathetically.

"I’m not entirely sure what happened yet, and Xavier’s currently trying to figure out how this all managed to happen without him hearing about it beforehand."

That honestly sounded concerning.

Not just to Ollie but to everyone else.

"But Master Quinn only called to warn us about the possibility," Luca continued. "And I guess we’ve missed a few developments since we haven’t really been leaving the space much lately."

That part was unfortunately true.

One could only spend so much time hidden inside a dungeon before the outside world inevitably started doing things without them.

"Anyway..." Luca hesitated.

The hesitation alone made the blonde mechanic’s expression grow increasingly suspicious.

"Brother?"

"Well..."

"Brother?"

"To prepare for the possibility of the changes pushing through, the Masters thought it’d be best if you obtained your license beforehand."

"Of course you already have your Mercenary license, but apparently the Masters would rather you’re also officially licensed before the event..."

The blonde narrowed his eyes.

"Brother."

"And so..." Luca visibly winced. "They decided to help speed things along."

The room grew quiet.

The distraught mop slowly sat up.

His instincts were screaming.

"Brother."

"..."

"Brother."

"..."

"When?"

Luca smiled nervously.

"Next week?"

Silence.

Absolute silence.

Then the mop’s soul visibly left his body.

The mechanic slowly tipped backward until he was once again lying flat on the floor.

No struggle.

No resistance.

No dramatic screaming.

Just acceptance.

"Brother?"

"Mm?"

"I think I just died."

The blonde stared blankly at the ceiling.

"Do dead mechanics still need to take the licensure exam?"