The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] novel Chapter 285

Chapter 285: The Price

Luca’s heart had been in turmoil the moment he heard D-29’s emergency prompts.

He dreaded the short gap between hearing about the news and the time it took for him to get to Ollie.

He felt dizzy—and only then did he realize that he had been holding his breath until he got to check on his brother.

And now, having seen him safe, whole, and wrapped up in Kyle’s embrace, Luca still hadn’t let go of the deep, coiled panic that seized him.

Because no matter how intact his brother looked, Ollie would still have that memory of a hostage situation.

And Luca couldn’t help but blame himself.

He had been too complacent.

Originally, he and D-29 were of the same opinion about keeping everything under wraps. Contrary to popular belief, he only recently considered sharing it with the general public.

And it was all because he got too lucky—so fortunate that he assumed everyone would be similar to the people around him.

Even now, he only really learned about the gravity of the threats they encountered daily after Xavier showed him a report.

It looked very simple, like nothing was amiss. But over 400 threats were on there, all averted in just a few weeks.

Each one was barely a line.

Just a small notation.

But that meant that the others had been contending with that many threats while he sat there playing house, building farms, and making food.

All of those, however, felt distant as he never even got to learn about them until recently.

But this?

This was too close for comfort.

Because his innocent brother had been involved.

These emotions felt foreign; as someone used to taking hits and drawing the shortest end of all sticks, he never imagined how it could feel like this when someone precious to him was threatened instead.

The golden dragon felt like burning something.

The white-hot anger.

The helpless guilt.

He realized that he wasn’t mad for himself—but for someone else.

It was a terrifying kind of fury. One he had never really encountered before.

Next to him, Xavier shifted silently and moved closer. No words of comfort were offered—just presence—a calm weight against the storm.

And that was all that he did for now, for the Imperial Crown Prince knew what this was.

He’d been there. Too many times.

Seeing others take hits to keep him safe and always feeling like it was partly his fault.

It was not a good feeling, and he knew that no words could sound sincere enough for someone in this kind of pit.

So, instead of offering false reassurances and consoling words, he offered something tangible.

"I’ll round them up," Xavier said quietly, "while you take care of the civilians."

"Then you can deal with them however you see fit."

Luca could only nod.

However, one eavesdropper heard it and whipped his head towards Xavier.

"Wait—wait—WAIT," Ollie blurted out, his arms still full of weapons and revive pills.

"Is that allowed?!" Asked the bewildered blonde.

"Yeah."

"!!!"

"If there’s one thing about Pirates, they’ve officially declared themselves as unaffiliated entities. That means they’re not protected by any planetary laws." It was Kyle who responded.

"They have no sovereignty. No civil status. No diplomatic ties."

"In short..." Kyle shrugged. "They wanted to play outside the rules, so we don’t owe them the rules."

Ollie was stunned to hear this. He knew about pirate attacks but not what happens to them after they’re caught. Now that he’s thought about it, it’s because he barely heard about the pirates surviving.

Now, even Luca gawked at this.

"Wait, brother, do you have a third particle saw? Maybe I need a spare." Asked Ollie, who was rethinking his life choices.

He had no plans to be a hero; in fact, he was going to take Kyle’s warnings and instructions about running away if anything looked off.

But even then, maybe he’d feel better with a third saw to add to his two revive pills and Kyle’s cuffs, which he was holding on to for dear life.

"I thought you were planning to run if things went wrong?" Kyle muttered.

"I am," defended the blonde mop. "But running with three particle saws feels safer than running with two."

Very much not enjoying his first luxury commuter ride in two years.

"Of course," he muttered, adjusting the cuffs of his jacket. "Of course it would be today."

Because by the sound of it, Veeka—their original mission leader—was being subdued by her own crew.

And while that bought him time, it also meant he was next on someone’s hit list.

Honestly, Killian would’ve believed the kid was a hallucination if not for how expressive he’d been.