The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL]-Chapter 881: Everyone Needs a Moment

It was a struggle.

A struggle, Theo Belgrave found, was even worse than the period when he practiced as if his life depended on it just to pass the mercenary licensure exam.

At least back then, his failures had been expected.

This time, it was personal.

By the time he managed to coax a single proper dosage into existence, several events had already unfolded around him.

Kyle, for one, had somehow drafted a child-friendly version of a contract. It came complete with simplified clauses, large readable fonts, and a solemn instruction that required the children to swear upon their tiny pinkies with him.

They did so with grave seriousness.

So serious, in fact, that they walked away with their pinkies still raised, expressions determined and proud.

After all, this was the first contract they had ever entered on their own.

More than that, the same overworked adjutant who suddenly looked as though he had just awakened from a ten-year nap prepared the formal contract for the children’s mother. It was long. Painfully long. Possibly longer than the average contract required to purchase an actual house.

No one commented on that.

At the same time, outside the booth, destinies were being rewritten.

People spun the wheel.

Some screamed.

Some cried. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Some stared at their terminals in silence.

A few were likely going to live longer than expected simply because they took a chance that day.

Then there was Doyle Rook.

Baldie, who had nearly died of annoyance when he realized he had only made it to the free sample booth right as the expo was about to close yesterday.

Baldie, who went through the full five stages of grief in under a minute.

Baldie, who then woke up today and decided he would march straight back to the line, and vowed to see justice served.

He was seething, still bald, but he was most definitely determined.

But apparently, all that was only part of it.

By the time Theo finally finished, he was huffing and puffing, frustration written all over his face. Anyone watching would have assumed he had just burned through an unreasonable amount of spiritual energy to create that single bottle of tonic.

The children certainly thought so.

Uno did too.

Uno, who Xavier had sent specifically to escort the children home safely, looked at Theo with genuine admiration. He vowed on the spot to personally deliver the children, the tonic, and the compensation back once everything was settled.

They were all deeply touched.

And to be fair, Theo had worked extremely hard.

That part was true.

Unfortunately, the reason he looked like a complete disaster was because he had been the cause of it.

He had not expended an absurd amount of spiritual energy.

He had simply lost control of it.

Repeatedly.

And then there was the final blow.

Because somewhere in the middle of that entire ordeal, Luca had woken up.

"..."

"..."

Yes, dammit.

Theo took that long.

So long that in the course of that whole agonizing ordeal, only a few distinct individuals who needed to grow their own backbones were left unable to progress from where they stood.

Tsk. Tsk.

Even the great Tortie would have been faster.

__

One such person was Sam.

Sam, who had sworn up and down that he was going to go and confront Marco today.

Unfortunately, this was also the same Sam who had changed clothes five times under the firm justification that he apparently owned nothing suitable to wear, when all the selections were just a variation of the same black anyway.

The same Sam who had made it exactly three steps to the door of his room before deciding that perhaps he needed to get his heart checked first.

Just in case.

He took forever. Long enough that the very person responsible for his sudden arrhythmia eventually knocked on his door to check if he was still alive.

Sam was not.

Or at least, he was fairly certain he wouldn’t be if he accidentally opened that door.

So much for that morning’s bravado.

And yet, it was not as if he were alone.

From commoners to royals, citizens to foreign dignitaries and their increasingly unfortunate aides, there were many people experiencing the same strange delay.

Some called it hesitation.

Others called it nerves.

But in truth, it looked a lot like stuttering. Or outright freezing.

Because just as Theo finally bid the children farewell, after exhausting the last of his remaining sanity and receiving giant, tearful smiles in return, one elven aide was seconds away from combusting on the spot.

"Your Highness," Rahil hissed, barely restraining himself, "if we are going to go and look, then let us at least go."

The prince beside him did not respond.

"I understand that I said we should reconsider," Rahil continued, voice strained, "but I did not expect you to reconsider at the speed it takes for my hair to grow."

Still nothing.

"If we stay here any longer, we might end up in even more trouble. And if we are going to get into trouble anyway, then at least let it be after we get a chance to taste whatever everyone else has been raving about!"

He stopped himself just short of pulling at his own hair.

Rahil was going to lose his marbles.

His boss truly existed in extremes. Either dangerously headstrong or painfully awkward, with very little in between. Yes, the prince could be morally gray when politics and survival were involved. Yes, his mind worked sharply enough that he had long been a threat to that madman Eren.

But right now, perched on a makeshift lookout and staring down at the chaos below, Rahil felt nothing but despair.

At this point, he honestly wanted to throw the prince into the crowd just so something would finally happen.

Anything would be better than the intense, unmoving stare and the silent pining.

How long were they even planning to stay here?

If Rahil had known it would take this long, he would have brought paperwork.

They had been sent to Solaris fully expecting to take the blame for whatever catastrophic nonsense Prince Eren was planning. But even so, Rahil still had duties as a royal aide even when those duties were just for show. A very tiresome show.

He inhaled.

Exhaled.

Prepared to sigh for what felt like the fiftieth time.

But then, finally, the prince beside him spoke.

"Fine," he said calmly. "We’re going down there."