The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] novel Chapter 1171

Chapter 1171: Gatecrashers

Meanwhile, just moments before the blaring buzzer announced the start of the long-awaited three-day examination, an entirely different battle was already raging as people who weren’t even supposed to be there maneuvered, some quietly and others rather shamelessly, to push their own agendas.

Some wanted to fish for the possibility of licensing the as-yet-unrevealed mecha for future mass production.

Others hoped to secure the first commission should custom units ever become available.

Then more enterprising parents had instead set their sights on introducing their children to the other Mylor siblings, while a select few attempted to sow discord between House Kyros and House Mylor by comparing the Empire’s two young mechanics through carefully disguised compliments.

To say Marquise Mylor and Marquise Julienne had encountered formidable opponents would be an understatement.

The atmosphere honestly resembled those dreadful family reunions where distant relatives suddenly remembered how remarkable someone else’s child was the moment they realized there were benefits to be gained from saying so.

Truthfully, however, even this was putting it mildly, as it could’ve been far worse had they not made advance preparations.

Their decision to keep Minister Kordell, Ollie’s officially recognized father-in-law, conspicuously close had already managed to ward off a considerable number of foreign emissaries who’d originally planned to approach with absurdly favorable offers in hopes of poaching his son.

As if that would even work when none of those benefits would even come close to the benefits that thankfully insane Kyle had been offering to their admittedly deranged son. And all of that wasn’t even counting the miracle that was Luca Kyros.

But of course, none of those hopefuls could’ve known about that, so it was understandable.

Still, it was a good thing House Mylor had experienced all sorts of business negotiations over the years to expect this sort of commotion. Not only had they prepared layers of defenses beforehand, but more importantly, they’d also quietly warned Duke Leander about what was likely to happen.

Because sure enough...

The Duke’s ears twitched as he listened to one conversation after another, genuinely wondering why people had never spoken so enthusiastically about his own son to his face.

Someone laughed.

The sound grated against several people’s ears.

Marquis Osmond and Marquise Julienne, however, simply maintained their impeccably practiced smiles as another noble lady exclaimed,

"Oh my! I’d simply love to know what it’s like raising a genius. You really must tell us everything! Perhaps we could continue this conversation over lunch?"

Before anyone else could respond, another parent hurriedly cut in, clearly unwilling to lose the opportunity.

"Well, I’d like to think I’ve always had an eye for talent! I’ve been saying that boy was special from the very beginning. See? I knew it! I absolutely knew it!"

Ah, these people, really.

To the Mylor couple, the compliments sounded about as sincere as counterfeit virtual currency.

Several of the very same people enthusiastically praising Ollie today had once questioned why he hadn’t yet distinguished himself the way his older siblings had.

However, quite as expected, someone else interpreted those words very differently.

Naturally, in the mind of Duke Leander, that child Ollie deserved every bit of praise he was receiving.

But...

Didn’t his precious son deserve the same?

Then why hadn’t these people crowded around them during Luca’s examination with equal enthusiasm?

Hmph!

Sure enough, Osmond had been right.

The thoroughly disgruntled Duke, who hadn’t taken the warning particularly seriously before, now firmly believed their destabilization tactic belonged on the official list of threats to public order.

It was disturbingly effective to the point that Duke Leander’s blood pressure had begun its steady ascent well before the examination had even started.

"..."

Beside him the entire time, Duchess Amelia, who could read even the smallest changes in her husband’s expression, silently concluded that accepting the Mylors’ earlier warning had absolutely been the correct decision.

Leander was normally an exceptionally reasonable man.

Right up until the conversation involved, alluded to, or even remotely related to their son, Luca.

Had they not been warned in advance, he likely would’ve found himself dragged into some trivial argument that a random opportunist would’ve happily blown completely out of proportion.

Then again, even with the warning, her husband still would’ve missed the real reason nobody had tried that particular brand of verbal sparring during Luca’s examination.

Because who, exactly, would’ve wanted to pick a fight with an unhinged war god?

A Duke with perpetually misty eyes, hovering around his son like an aggressively determined fly, was hardly someone any reasonable person would want to antagonize. Not when he could randomly snap and decide that the universe could actually do away with one less planet.

More importantly, Luca’s examination had benefited from one enormous advantage: the element of surprise.

At that point, not many truly understood just how extraordinary he was until after the fact.

So, with that experience to learn from, people had actually come rather prepared.

Greetings, old hag. Congratulations on surviving this long.

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