The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] Chapter 1250: A Proper Investment

"Umm... Your Highness, I’m afraid you read it wrong..." an attendant in that all-too-familiar white uniform muttered, a slight tremble carrying in his voice.

"What?" the Divine Heir asked in total confusion.

What else could he have possibly read wrong when there was only one glaring thing?!

However, it seemed Rhydan had either gone blind for a moment or severely underestimated just how surprising the information before him could possibly get.

Because he’d seen Level E sitting there as the lowest available option and naturally assumed that meant it had already been rated.

Except he’d missed one very important detail.

It was .

Uncleared?!

The revelation was so unheard of that he practically felt his liver ache!

So much for worrying about the possibility that their newest vendor was simply having difficulty gathering stock or had gotten too busy to connect with them.

Because clearly, what they should’ve been worrying about was whether those on the other end were even still alive!

"How could this be?!" Rhydan asked in utter disbelief.

"I, too, have no idea, Your Highness," the attendant admitted before hesitantly asking, "but is it truly that unheard of?"

"You ask if it’s unheard of?"

The attendant pursed his lips, suddenly unsure of how to respond to that.

He really had been genuinely curious.

But before he could explain himself, the last active heir of their dominion suddenly spoke.

"Picture this. You, back during your days as a bright-eyed neophyte waiting to sign up for the trials, hoping to be picked for warrior training."

The attendant blinked.

"You manage to register and are thrilled because, provided you pass the physicals and ability requirements, you’ll finally be allowed to start your journey as a warrior-in-training."

Rhydan’s expression had started off almost pleasant as he seemingly reminisced about the past.

Then it abruptly turned dead serious.

"But instead of being sent to the examination room, you’re hauled straight outside our barriers without so much as a manual and told to survive. Not in a simulation, but in the actual wild."

"!"

The attendant visibly paled. But his master wasn’t done.

"Terrified for your life and not even knowing why you were sent out there in the first place, you turn around and rush back toward the dominion. But when you finally reach the massive door, you realize something."

The lecturing leader stared directly at him.

"You don’t even know how to open it."

The attendant somehow felt like he’d shrunk several sizes.

"That’s what it’d be like to be asked to manage all of this when one has never even seen Level E!" Rhydan exclaimed. "Do you not remember when you first saw Level E?"

The question almost felt rhetorical, but the attendant still gave it some thought before responding appropriately.

Then his eyes widened.

"B-before becoming an official learner!"

"Yes!"

The Prince gestured toward him as if that proved his entire point.

"And what clearance level did you need before you could even apply to officially train as a warrior?"

"Level C, Your Highness!"

"Then what business would anyone who hasn’t even cleared Level E have with any of this?!"

By that point, the Divine Heir sounded genuinely pained.

The attendant froze.

Then the implications finally hit him.

"Oh."

His already-pale expression somehow managed to turn even more stricken.

"Oh no—!"

Because now that he’d been forced to remember, even civilian children would’ve cleared that much!

Rhydan stared at him.

"So, you get it."

"Then what do we do now, Your Highness?!"

This time, the attendant sounded considerably more alarmed.

"What else can we even do?" Rhydan sighed heavily. "With the gate barely being fully functional, we can only send the lowest level we possibly can. If nothing else, we can only hope there’s something to be learned from our extensive records."

It wasn’t ideal.

In fact, the remaining ruler wasn’t even sure how useful something intended for such a low level could possibly be when their current circumstances were already this unusual.

But they needed to establish contact somehow.

The Divine Heir pinched the bridge of his nose before tiredly calling out, "D-0, issue the bounty."

A familiar voice immediately responded.

"Yes, Your Highness. As for the reward?"

"The maximum allowed."

Rhydan didn’t even know how little that would amount to under their current restrictions, but what else could they possibly do?

At this point, he wasn’t even certain whether there was still someone on the other end capable of receiving the transmission.

Still, they had to try.

"Understood."

The system got busy.

[COMMENCING CONTACT...]

__

Meanwhile, on the other end of the bridge, one dungeon owner was staring at the prompt that’d suddenly appeared before him.

[OPTIONAL UPDATE AVAILABLE!]

"D-29, what’s this about?" Luca asked, staring at the screen in confusion.

The little system responded almost frantically, explaining that it seemed like something new called a bounty had suddenly shown up!

"Bounty?"

"Yes, Host! I’m not quite sure what that really is, but it’s like this—"

Another prompt immediately appeared before his eyes.

[NEW E-CLASS SIMULATION SCHEMATICS AVAILABLE]

"?"

That certainly took Luca by surprise.

He was just about to ask D-29 what on Solaris that was supposed to mean when he suddenly stopped mid-sentence after noticing a much smaller prompt floating near the bottom.

He almost missed it.

Almost!

But as if his eyes had simply been born to spot such things, those golden pupils immediately zeroed in on the tiny prompt.

Then he clicked it.

"!"

Several people around him practically choked!

There were even a few who looked like they’d been caught mid-lunge, their hands already stretching toward Luca as if desperately trying to stop him from making any rash decisions before they even knew what he’d found.

Unfortunately, they were too late.

Now, Luca Kyros was a young man with a loving husband and family, someone who genuinely tried to live as peacefully as possible whenever circumstances allowed it.

And yet, he was also a hardworking young man who simply couldn’t bear to let a perfectly good opportunity slip through his fingers, especially when it was practically being handed to him on a silver platter!

So really, how could he possibly be expected to ignore a prompt that spoke so thoroughly to his heart?!

[FIRST CLEAR REWARDS AVAILABLE: 3/3]

[Individual Access to D-Class Difficulty Level]

[Random Manuals x3]

[Random Crystal Cores x3]

[500,000 CP]

"!"

Luca’s reaction was so intense that it most definitely alarmed the two newcomers standing nearby.

Eden’s eyes widened.

Curtis visibly tensed.

And it certainly didn’t help that no matter where the two military personnel looked, all they could see were deeply worried expressions!

What was going on?!

Curtis desperately wanted to ask.

But with the atmosphere suddenly becoming this tense, how could he possibly dare open his mouth?!

Then again, how could anyone blame one particularly devoted husband for looking the most resigned out of everyone?

Because from that very specific gasp, the sudden sparkle in those golden eyes, the way that delicate back practically arched, and even the shallow sound of his wife’s excited breathing, Xavier already knew exactly what Luca was thinking.

There might as well have been a loud ringtone playing inside the golden-eyed cadet’s head.

And as expected, the Imperial Crown Prince wasn’t wrong.

Luca’s heart practically squeezed in sheer excitement as he stared at those magnificent rewards.

In fact, anyone who thought he’d already forgotten that D-29 had mentioned something about unexplored concepts of bounties only moments earlier would be entirely correct.

Because what even was the word ’unsure’?!

The extreme money-grubber could only think that, sure enough, the gate was finally starting to act like a proper investment!

Yes, he’d poured a considerable amount of CP into the thing.

An amount he still couldn’t even openly discuss today without feeling a little faint.

But look at this!

It said there were three First Clear Rewards available!

So if he understood this correctly, didn’t that mean they could potentially get around 1,500,000 CP?!

"!"

Luca’s sparkling eyes immediately whipped around.

Even his black hair had somehow become dubiously bouncy from sheer excitement as he looked from one person to another, completely oblivious to the fact that practically everyone those golden eyes landed on immediately ducked away as if their lives depended on it!

Eden stared.

Then she looked around and realized everyone else was doing the same thing.

Having absolutely no idea what was happening but trusting the survival instincts of people who clearly had more experience with Luca Kyros than she did, the Tech Specialist immediately followed suit and yanked Curtis lower with her.

"?"

Curtis looked at her in confusion.

Why were they hiding?!

Unfortunately, Eden’s decision proved to be entirely warranted.

Because before one panicked little system could even begin dissuading its Host from doing anything rash, the excited dungeon owner had already reached forward.

"Host, wait!"

Luca pressed:

[ACCEPT]

"!!!"

The surrounding group practically erupted in panic.

But hey!

It wasn’t like Luca had decided on it entirely thoughtlessly!

Still, the golden-eyed cadet genuinely believed he had a reasonable basis for his decision.

After all, Luca was from Tesseris.

And if his guess was correct, as he had every reason to believe considering how the classification system worked in the dungeon where they’d found D-64, then the implications were obvious.

If all they needed to do was clear an E-class dungeon simulation, then really...

How hard could it possibly be?!