The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] Chapter 1238: Overlapping Trails

"Whoa. Pirates?"

Luca’s golden eyes immediately widened.

For a brief moment, the cadet’s expression filled with genuine wonder as he tried to recall everything he knew about pirates, which unfortunately wasn’t nearly as much as he would’ve liked, considering the amount of trouble those people seemed capable of causing.

Sure, they’d already had a run-in with pirates before, but Luca still didn’t feel knowledgeable enough to paint an accurate picture of how they actually operated. Especially not after D-29 helpfully informed him that the so-called pirates weren’t even one unified group, but an entire complicated structure made up of countless crews and coalitions.

Killian nodded.

"Yes. From the looks of it, whoever’s behind the spread of the incense burners had no intention of handling the distribution themselves. They outsourced the manpower instead, using existing pirate networks to handle the circulation while making the trail considerably harder to follow."

That explanation left several people around the room looking thoughtful.

If whoever was behind this had been primarily interested in making money, going through pirates would’ve been an incredibly risky way to do it. Between the cost of hiring them and the very real possibility of the merchandise being stolen by either the contracted group or one of their rivals, there were enough opportunities for things to go catastrophically wrong that anyone chasing profit would’ve probably reconsidered their options.

But it was an entirely different matter if profit had never been the priority.

If the goal was greater reach, those same pirate networks suddenly became incredibly useful. Expensive and notoriously unreliable, perhaps, but also a convenient shortcut for getting something distributed across a much wider area as quickly as possible.

As for the young guild leader, however, the mention of pirates apparently brought up another matter entirely, because the eldest Nox soon glanced down at the information he was relaying before mentioning that Marshal Julian had raised a question earlier, one that the Chief of Staff surprisingly believed would be better answered by Luca.

The golden-eyed cadet’s lashes fluttered in confusion as Killian’s gaze settled on him, and after a moment, his finger slowly rose to point directly at himself.

"Me?"

Why was the Chief of Staff suddenly looking at him like that?

The young official gave a small nod, his expression becoming strangely difficult to decipher.

"Safe to say, the moment it became known that this particular investigation might lead them into pirate territory, Marshal Julian suddenly received two extremely enthusiastic volunteers."

"Really? Who?"

"Deputy Officer Curtis Karswell and Tech Specialist Eden Harcrest."

"!"

For a moment, Luca simply stared as he processed the information.

Then his golden eyes widened as he finally remembered why those names and pirates suddenly belonged in the same conversation.

"Oh! Right!"

Luca suddenly struck his palm with the side of his fist as the connection finally clicked into place.

"Lady Eden’s missing older brother!"

Of course!

However, after straightening in his seat, the golden-eyed cadet only ended up tilting his head in even greater confusion. He would’ve understood if they needed something from Veeka of the Riftmaw Ravagers, but when it came to those two from the military...

"Uhm... how could that possibly be related to me?"

Killian, who’d clearly been waiting for that exact question, went suspiciously silent before deliberately turning his head toward the Imperial Crown Prince.

Xavier looked back at him, only for the Chief of Staff to continue staring with such blatant expectation that, despite neither of them saying a single word, everyone could practically see the responsibility being transferred between them.

Apparently, the eldest Nox had decided he’d already contributed enough to this particular discussion and was now shamelessly pawning the problem off to his own supposed superior.

It wasn’t exactly the fairest method, but Killian really didn’t want to be the one facing Curtis later if they ended up shooting down the man’s request. Besides, if anyone should bring this up with Luca, wouldn’t it be better for that person to be Xavier?

Not only would the Prince be able to judge whether this was even something they should ask of Luca in the first place, but considering the person involved happened to be his own wife, he’d probably know how to explain it much better.

Xavier, who’d suddenly received a baton he neither wanted nor asked for, took a quiet breath.

"Luca, Uncle’s asking whether you’d be comfortable with Curtis and Eden heading the investigation into the incense burners, the pirates distributing them, and whatever else might be connected to the operation."

The golden-eyed cadet listened attentively before answering without even needing to think about it.

"Of course. Why wouldn’t I be okay with that?"

Sure enough.

That part hadn’t even registered as a problem.

Xavier’s expression softened before he gently explained, "Because for them to investigate this properly, we may eventually have to give them more information about the incense burner and why we think it’s dangerous."

Luca blinked.

"And depending on how far the investigation goes, there’s a possibility they’ll learn more about what can do."

"Ah."

Now that made considerably more sense.

The little chipmunk’s expression immediately turned thoughtful as he considered the implications. After all, it wouldn’t be right to send Lord Curtis and Lady Eden on a wild goose chase while withholding information that could genuinely make a difference to their investigation.

Besides, without knowing what the Elders had discovered, they might not even understand why everyone was making such a big deal out of those burners when they honestly looked perfectly normal to the naked eye and registered as harmless on ordinary scanners.

At the same time, they’d inevitably start questioning how reliable the information was and where it came from, which would essentially lead them right back to the Elders and Luca anyway.

Still, if the people in question were those two, Luca didn’t actually have to think about it for very long.

"I don’t mind!"

His answer came so quickly that several people immediately looked toward him.

"I think they’re people we can trust," Luca explained earnestly. "They’ve always been really good to us, and if they’ve already managed to keep my husband’s secret all this time, then I think they can keep mine too."

Having reached that perfectly logical conclusion, the Kyros heir turned toward Xavier with a big, bright grin.

His husband’s expression visibly softened at the sight, a reaction that, unbeknownst to the thoroughly besotted Luca, had several allegedly sensible people in the room instinctively flinching.

Killian immediately looked away to preserve what little remained of his sanity.

He’d already witnessed their Imperial Crown Prince melting in front of them far more times than any loyal vassal should reasonably be expected to endure. And despite his considerably generous compensation, Killian would still argue that he certainly wasn’t being paid enough to deal with this particular occupational hazard.