The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] Chapter 1157: The Picky Eater

Considerably shriveled.

For most of those present, that was probably the best way to describe the strange little bubble currently lying limply on the ground. Though to Luca, who’d seen something vaguely similar before, it looked less like a bubble and more like an oversized raisin.

"I think something’s wrong with it..." Luca murmured as he crouched beside the little sprite before looking up at Minister Kordell. "Minister, has anything unusual happened lately?"

"Huh?" The minister blinked before looking down at the pitiful little creature. "Nothing that immediately comes to mind, but..."

He trailed off, thinking back over the past several days.

Only then did he realize something.

"Actually..." His brows slowly furrowed. "Now that I think about it, it hasn’t really been as active lately."

Everyone looked toward him.

"It usually bounces around much more than this," Minister Kordell continued, kneeling beside the shriveled sprite and gently reaching out to touch it. "The past few days, it’s been considerably quieter, but I honestly didn’t think much of it since I assumed I simply hadn’t been using my bloodline ability enough."

He frowned.

"Looking back... maybe that wasn’t normal after all."

At roughly the same time, Xavier, whose attention had remained on the little Queen Bee instead, quietly pointed out something else.

"Is there a reason she went straight for it?"

Everyone looked toward him.

"We couldn’t even see it until they collided."

Now...

That was an excellent question.

And had the little Queen been capable of putting her thoughts into words, she probably would’ve proudly explained that she’d merely fulfilled her sacred duty.

After all...

That strange thing had clearly been preparing to bite someone’s head off.

And since the person standing there carried a spiritual signature remarkably similar to one of her parents, she obviously couldn’t just allow such a dangerous creature to eat him.

Naturally, she’d done what any respectable Queen would do.

She’d bravely launched herself into battle.

Unfortunately...

She hadn’t anticipated that her opponent would prove sturdy enough to withstand her mighty flying kick.

Hmm.

Perhaps...

That was simply the terrifying power of hunger.

As it turned out...

She wasn’t entirely wrong.

Elder Wei knitted his brows together before finally saying, "Its spiritual energy reserves are critically low."

He looked genuinely puzzled.

"It’s practically famished."

"?!"

That single diagnosis immediately threw everyone into confusion.

They instinctively looked toward one another, unable to make sense of it.

Before the dungeon space existed, perhaps such a thing would’ve been understandable.

But now?

They were standing in arguably the most spiritually abundant place in the known universe.

How could anything here possibly become spiritually starved?

Luca looked especially alarmed.

"Famished?"

Now that was something he didn’t dare take lightly. So without another word, he immediately opened the dungeon inventory and began pulling out anything he thought might help.

One after another, rectangular containers appeared atop the table, laden with sizzling honey-glazed pork belly, creamy mushroom chicken, and even a full breakfast spread complete with those precious golden eggs. They were followed by tall frosted bottles containing glowing orange juice and brilliant crimson strawberry juice. Then came several small ceramic bottles filled with gleaming pills, each one valuable enough to make people outside the dungeon lose all semblance of decorum.

Even Theo instinctively held both hands out, ready to catch a bottle at a moment’s notice should one so much as lean the wrong way.

Unfortunately...

Only the more vocal beings reacted with any real enthusiasm; one blonde, in particular, even salivated throughout the entire spectacle.

"Ooh..."

Ollie’s eyes sparkled so brightly they nearly reflected the food itself.

The sprite...

Didn’t.

If anything, the Elders found its lack of interest increasingly suspicious.

Just to be certain, they even asked Minister Kordell to try infusing it directly with his spiritual energy, but that failed miserably.

The energy was rejected.

"...What?"

Now everyone was even more thoroughly confused.

Just what was happening?

This couldn’t possibly be some form of hunger strike, right?

Still, Luca’s frantic efforts hadn’t been entirely in vain. Because the more food he laid out before the little sprite, the more obvious its reactions became.

For someone supposedly on the verge of inanition...

It sure had a lot of opinions.

The little sprite even turned its entire body away from a bowl of creamy, slow-churned vanilla ice cream as though deeply offended by its mere existence.

Ollie, whose hair antenna was practically straight at this point, almost collapsed.

"Ice cream?!"

His voice cracked.

"You’re even rejecting?!"

This was the very same dessert people across the Empire were practically willing to commit crimes over for a single spoonful. And it was being rejected without even a second look of reconsideration!

How crazy was this?!

Then again, that hadn’t been the worst reaction.

For when Luca carefully presented one of the premium lunch boxes filled with fragrant grains and slow-braised meats...

The sprite visibly turned green.

Like vomit green.

"What kind of insane picky eater is this?!"

__

The group was understandably at a loss about what to do next, eventually reaching the point where they began to wonder whether the little sprite simply wasn’t interested in food as they knew it. So, under Cece’s enthusiastic recommendation, they even started offering things like rocks, minerals, leaves, and strips of bark instead.

Assistant Gisella couldn’t help raising a brow.

"...You’re serious?"

"What?" The dwarf shrugged as though the suggestion were perfectly reasonable. "If it won’t eat what we eat, then maybe it wants something else."

Honestly...

It wasn’t the worst line of reasoning they’d heard today.

Which was precisely why nobody stopped her from trying.

The attempt even escalated to the point where Cece proudly produced a piece of refined Zelunium and held it out toward the little wrinkled sprite as though presenting the greatest delicacy in existence.

The sprite took one look at it.

Then very deliberately turned away.

Almost immediately afterward, it seemed to shrivel even further.

"..."

"..."

Cece slowly lowered her hand.

Then narrowed her eyes.

"Wow." She cracked her knuckles. "If it wants to stay that dried up, then why don’t we just speed up the process?"

Before the dwarf could carry out whatever questionable disciplinary measures she’d just devised for insulting her precious materials, Assistant Gisella calmly wrapped both arms around her shoulders and pulled her backward with the exhausted expression of someone silently asking,

But unbeknownst to almost everyone else...

Luca’s approach of simply pulling out random things hadn’t actually been that far off the mark, for in the same space, someone had clearly noticed something important.