The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] Chapter 1242: A Productive Emergency

"Elders! Good eve—"

Luca had barely finished bouncing into existence when several startled cries immediately cut him off.

"ACK!"

"WHAT?!"

For once, even the usually frighteningly perceptive Elders had been caught completely off guard.

It wasn’t as though they’d grown careless. Under normal circumstances, people with their skill level would’ve noticed someone approaching long before they got close enough to pose any threat.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t exactly an approaching presence to detect when Luca and Xavier simply ported straight into the room without warning.

One moment, the Elders had been completely absorbed in their examination of the incense burner.

The next, an Imperial Crown Prince and one particularly urgent-looking little dungeon owner had practically materialized right beside them. And while the pair occasionally did something like that, they certainly didn’t make a habit of suddenly appearing in the dead of night!

Several heads whipped around.

"What happened?!"

"Is someone dying?!"

"Did something go wrong?!"

"No!" Luca hurriedly reassured them, only to immediately add with equal urgency, "But I really need help!"

That did absolutely nothing to reassure anyone.

"With what?!"

The golden-eyed cadet drew himself up with the grave expression of someone about to announce a crisis of potentially catastrophic proportions.

"I can’t wear glasses anymore!"

"..."

"..."

"...?"

Well.

That particular bout of confusion had taken place earlier.

__

But while the Elders had been understandably baffled by Luca’s rather emotionally charged explanation involving a certain someone’s apparently deadly charm, their unexpected little side quest didn’t end up being entirely futile.

Because after practically begging the Elders to help him find some other way of preserving the Luxastras’ bloodline ability for emergencies without having to keep it emulated all the time, Luca was eventually told that there one thing they could actually try.

He could try extracting the emulated ability into an essence.

Of course, the Elders hadn’t exactly expected him to succeed.

If anything, the suggestion had mostly been intended to explain that there were more advanced methods Luca could eventually learn. Essence refinement wasn’t something a beginner should’ve been casually attempting in the middle of the night simply because he no longer wanted to wear glasses.

Unfortunately, they’d severely underestimated Luca’s motivation.

Because fueled by the sheer desperation to ensure that he remained the only person allowed to enjoy his wolfish husband looking like the golden-eyed cadet somehow managed to pull it off.

The result wasn’t quite like the usual essences they’d grown accustomed to seeing and purchasing, perhaps because Luca was attempting to preserve an ability that wasn’t truly his to begin with. Even so, the fact that he’d managed to extract anything from something he was merely emulating was astounding enough that the Elders had to work rather hard not to reveal just how alarmed they actually were.

Yet by morning, there it was.

An actual essence containing the emulated Luxastra bloodline ability.

And that was the rather unbelievable story Luca was currently explaining to his good brother.

"You did"

The officially licensed mop stared at him.

Luca held up one hand, proudly showing the ice beginning to form over his fingers. "Brother, I managed to switch out the emulated ability after making the backup, so I don’t need the glasses anymore!"

The blonde continued staring.

He’d been unconscious for one night.

One!

How’d he go to sleep after getting his license and wake up to discover that his good brother had apparently advanced enough to successfully gather essence while he’d been drooling peacefully against his husband?!

Yet somehow, that wasn’t even the part that his genius brother seemed most concerned about.

"So it’s okay now," Luca continued seriously. "My husband doesn’t have a reason to wear the glasses either."

Ollie’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

His gaze shifted toward Luca.

Then toward the Imperial Prince.

Then back to his good brother.

For several seconds, the newly licensed mechanic seemed to be piecing together several extremely important clues with the help of their one shared and exceptionally hardworking brain cell.

So, much to absolutely no one’s surprise, the blonde’s eventual response was, "Wait. Was it really that bad?"

"Yes!"

The answer came with such immediate and wholehearted conviction that Ollie visibly startled.

Luca nodded emphatically, his expression carrying all the gravity of someone who’d just weathered a major crisis.

"Really, really bad!"

"Whoa."

Ollie looked toward Xavier again.

Then, as though finally appreciating the sheer severity of whatever mysterious crisis his good brother had apparently averted, the blonde slowly nodded in understanding.

If Luca said it was bad, then clearly drastic measures had been necessary.

Problem solved.

And much like changing clothes, the two managed to move on from potentially life-changing developments with remarkable speed, immediately turning their attention toward other allegedly more critical matters.

In fact, barely a few moments later, the blonde suddenly looked thoughtful.

"Do you think my Kyle would look good with glasses too?"

Luca hadn’t even gotten the chance to respond before the easily excitable mop started imagining it for himself.

Then, apparently liking whatever his imagination had produced, Ollie began nodding to himself with increasing enthusiasm.

"Oh, definitely."

The innocent and all-too-supportive guild leader naturally nodded right along with him. After all, if his good brother thought so, then surely it must be true!

"Yeah! He’d probably look really handsome too!"

A short distance away, Kyle’s expression changed to resigned acceptance.

Meanwhile, Ollie continued discussing the matter with great seriousness before finally declaring that he’d received the warning loud and clear and would conduct his own investigation later.

While the two brothers happily moved on to debating exactly what kind of frames would suit Kyle best, the Imperial Crown Prince responsible for this entire chain of events stood elsewhere under the collective judgment of several people.

Though, admittedly, some of those looks also contained a surprising amount of respect.

Others were practically sending Xavier their thoughts and prayers.

Because Luca’s growth and advancement were already ridiculous enough without anyone learning what apparently motivated some of his greatest breakthroughs.

The forever baby of House Kyros had refined an essence overnight.

One that didn’t even quite belong to him.

And if anyone ever decided to document that particular milestone in the future, what were they even supposed to write?

That Luca Kyros had pushed past what should’ve been his current limits through determination, talent, and an overwhelming desire to advance his craft?

Technically, none of that would be a lie.

It’d certainly sound far better than admitting that one of his breakthroughs had been fueled by the sheer possessiveness of a little chipmunk who absolutely refused to let anyone else see his husband looking dangerously handsome in glasses.

Sure enough, some things simply had no business appearing in a history book.

Though perhaps what worth documenting was how that emergency lesson in essence extraction had, unbeknownst to the cadets, inadvertently helped the Elders with their incense research.

Because that very same morning, after the three exhausted Elders finally decided to retire once their star student had demonstrated more than enough astonishing talent for one night, they woke several hours later to discover something unexpected.

The incense inside the burner had changed.

And apparently, it had something to do with the practice essences the Elders had left sitting nearby.