The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] novel Chapter 836

Chapter 836: The Quiet Rules of the Game

It started as a mere suggestive remark.

Master Quinn knew better than to spill everything outright. After all, letting people arrive at their own conclusions usually produced far better results. Far messier too, but that was not his problem.

Besides, there was no need to waste his saliva on a room full of old geezers who were as delusional as they were stubborn. Even if he tried to stop them from jumping to conclusions, they would have done it anyway. Possibly with added flair. Given all that, it would be best to take advantage of their overeager minds.

But why was he doing this in the first place?

Ah.

That would be because of the great new addition to the judging criteria courtesy of those event organizers.

Naturally, those people would protest if he called it a "new addition" outright. They would insist it had always been there. That it was implied. That it simply hadn’t been spelled out in advance to avoid cheating.

Master Quinn wanted to roll his eyes to the heavens.

Technically, they weren’t entirely wrong.

The criteria itself had always existed. What had changed was that this year, they were restricting one category to a certain demographic.

This had to do with Overall Impact.

It had always been an existing criterion for judging that included audience appeal. And by audience that usually meant all the attendees. But this year, they were planning on constricting considerations to recruitable cadets.

So yes, it wasn’t entirely sudden.

But it certainly would have felt sudden if the children had been any kinder.

As a house that had opted out of the expo since the duke’s prolonged seclusion, they had not been in a good position to share updated information with the younger generation.

With how different the parade went and how it drove D-29 nearly insane, it was clear that there had been a lot of changes in the years House Kyros hadn’t joined.

Thankfully, the Imperial Crown Prince and his adjutant had done more than their due diligence by comparing the past several years with all the materials they received this year.

Given what happened with the booth location selection, Kyle Nox had been even stricter in monitoring and warned about the supposedly subtle differences in this year’s judging criteria.

The values remained the same but each category hadn’t been itemized unlike all those other years.

If that didn’t sound telling enough to everybody else, then maybe they didn’t deserve to be considered experienced elders.

And sure enough, the time for reckoning arrived in the most irritating way possible.

Master Quinn began to notice a pattern.

At first, he thought it was a coincidence. Then mild curiosity. Then, eventually, full-blown suspicion.

Every time their group passed a booth, he would keep seeing the same thing. Cadet exhibitors would peel off other cadets from the crowd.

Yes, cadets.

He would watch as they were pulled to the side, spoken to, only to emerge with those knowing smiles.

Hmm.

That alone was strange.

Because normally, the prime targets of guild booths were clients, sponsors, or parties interested in cooperation. Recruitment was part of the expo, yes, but it usually happened indirectly. Prestige first. Results later. The good cadets would come knocking on their own.

So why was he suddenly seeing cadets being courted so openly?

And more importantly, why did the words he overheard sound less like guild perks and more like... military benefits?

Houses.

Not guilds.

That was the key detail.

It finally clicked when a group of cadets passed close enough for him to hear them clearly.

And just like that, everything snapped into place.

So that was the real ordeal. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Convince existing cadets to express traceable interest in joining their guilds. Not through the guilds themselves, but through the benefits promised by the houses backing them.

But not only were they dangling active duty incentives in front of impressionable cadets, some guilds even invited cadets by taking care of their expo passes.

How laughable.

And yet.

Master Quinn’s lips thinned.

The guilds likely weren’t targeting DG specifically. That much was clear with the kind of logistics they had prepared in advance. But it was rather understandable, after all, the budding guild hadn’t really been on other guilds’ radar until today.

And while that fact should have been reassuring, it only irritated him further.

House Kyros had stayed detached from the usual competition among legacy guilds for too long.

So long that, until this morning, the others likely didn’t even see DG as a contender.

Were they just thinking of fighting amongst each other?

Did they assume DG wouldn’t even be a contender because House Kyros had never really been one to offer all those unnecessary frills and preferred to recruit sparingly?

Hah!

Master Quinn let out a low scoff.

They were going to regret that assumption. Especially now that the soldiers had been given a go signal to release specific information.

Because who wouldn’t want even a little bit of their employment package?