The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL]-Chapter 910: A Partial Truth

Where?

Well, apparently, sitting in his office like nothing ever happened.

Like no one had to go around thinking they were under some sort of extremely covert attack where a bunch of their leaders had gone missing simultaneously.

Like Curtis didn’t end up surrendering a chunk of his sanity to the witch so she would covertly scour the systems of other departments while she was officially on vacation.

Only for said mysterious Marshal to greet him with, "Curtis? Aren’t you supposed to be on leave?"

Marshal Julian looked up from the holographic reports he was reading when Curtis burst into his office to investigate. Curtis couldn’t believe his eyes and ears.

Seriously? Everyone had been looking for the man, and all of a sudden, he appears like this?

The Deputy actually wanted to reply with, "You don’t say," but shut his trap because his boss appeared too normal. In fact, he was sitting a little too behaved, so composed that the adjutant couldn’t help but feel unsettled.

Curtis inhaled slowly, as though that might help anchor him to reality. "With all due respect, Sir," he began carefully, "may I ask why you were late this morning?"

Marshal Julian blinked once, as if the question had caught him off guard.

In a sense, it did. Because he realized that even if he were one day authorized to explain what they went through, he still wouldn’t be able to describe it without sounding like a lunatic.

Without witnessing and experiencing the effects of the Queen of the Night, even he would have thought it to be impossible.

So really, answering Curtis’s question was a little difficult.

For one, they could have been back earlier after waking up, but eventually realized the elders weren’t kidding when they warned about possible changes in their abilities.

Simply labeling it "changes" would actually be an understatement.

Just earlier, Uno practically left a crater when he attempted to train like usual. Duke Leander had actually been asked to stay miles away from the nearest fish or body of water because he was currently a walking calamity.

Even his niece, the young Princess Nina, was mortified about going up her treehouse because, unfortunately for the child, she was still incapable of fully suppressing her strength and broke the first ladder step of her home. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

It was a disaster, to say the least. While they were overjoyed about Luca and Xavier finally waking up, they were left with the same problem Theo had faced earlier.

Safe to say, every one of them realized they needed to avoid using their spiritual abilities today unless they wanted even more reports about strange attacks and inexplicable natural disasters.

So Julian was sitting there, playing truant because he had to skip morning training, which the other soldiers usually attended.

In fact, he had planned on sitting there for as long as possible and thought it would be fine because Curtis wouldn’t be there to nag him.

But what was this?

The Marshal had to think of an answer and settled on a partial truth.

"Overslept."

__

Curtis stared at the glowing face of his boss.

Overslept.

While they all had mini panic attacks here and there as they desperately watched the movements of the various delegations, the man was actually claiming to have overslept?

The deputy wondered if he was supposed to accept that. The highest-ranking soldier before him was known for many things. Leadership. Fighting prowess. Precision. And the ability to function on frighteningly little rest. But oversleeping?

"Sir," Curtis said evenly, "you don’t sleep."

"I do," Julian corrected mildly. "Occasionally."

That didn’t help. Then again, the poor officer didn’t know that the Marshal wasn’t kidding this time around. They were knocked out so intensely that they wouldn’t have woken up even if the Federation attacked.

Curtis resisted the urge to rub his temples. "If that is the case, then perhaps it would be better if I returned to work today. Maybe you’re too exhausted and would need assistance."

"Considering the time, there are really so many things to do. Your schedule needs adjusting and—"

The Marshal raised a brow as he stopped his adjutant from rambling. "I don’t think you should use work as a scapegoat."

Scapegoat?

Julian’s gaze flicked over him in a way that made the Deputy suddenly aware of every detail of his own appearance.

"Don’t you have a date today?" the Marshal added casually.

Curtis couldn’t help but cough as he felt goosebumps rise along his arms.

"With all due respect, Sir," he said stiffly, "we both know this cannot possibly be considered a date. It is more akin to an ongoing situation. Something closer to a temporary cease-fire for mutual benefit."

"Interesting."

The Marshal’s eyes lingered knowingly on his deputy’s attire before he added slowly, "With this level of preparation, I wouldn’t have known."

Curtis wanted to scoff.

What level of preparation?

Of course, there was a minimum level of preparation required to handle expected disasters.

If people were asked to prepare for solar flares and intense acid rain, who was he to completely go without preparation?

But really, he was certain the preparation was largely psychological and contrary to his boss’s imagination.

Moreover, even if anyone attempted to prepare, would it even be enough?

He shook his head once, firm and controlled, because it was truly better not to think about it.

Clearly, everyone was hell-bent on driving him insane today.

__

Now that fortunate creature above was past Curtis.

A far cry from the regretful present Curtis, who should have insisted on staying behind to work, because unfortunately for him, things just kept on going downhill, sideways, and practically straight to the afterlife from there.

In fact, things had spiraled so far beyond his control that the usually put-together adjutant of the Empire’s one and only Marshal could not have predicted or logically explained the series of events that eventually led to a certain someone quite literally holding him by the balls.

And probably to the utter mortification of that morning’s self, such a chokehold even came with an unmistakable grunt and a damned shudder.

"..."

"..."

So just how exactly did his day go from worriedly looking for the Empire’s leaders to that?