The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] Chapter 1254: Say Cheese

Everyone gawked at him in absolute silence, which really served as a contrast to the noise all around them.

Duke Leander’s emotional expression instantly shattered.

He was just about to shout a very firm no to that madness when Luca turned toward his husband instead.

"Will you be okay coming with me?"

"!!!"

The already fracturing Duke froze, utterly aghast that his precious son had just casually invited his husband to accompany him straight into the jaws of death!

But just as Leander was about to demand an explanation and brace himself for yet another wave of despair, Luca looked right past him toward two more people.

Not his wife, Lia.

Not Minister Kordell.

And not even Marshal Julian.

Instead, he seemed particularly keen as he tilted his head and politely asked,

"Head Maid Gloria, Butler Gary, can you two help us out too?"

"?!!!"

GASP!

Duke Leander, the proud patriarch of one of the Four Great Dukedoms, visibly wilted.

One moment, he’d been standing tall and prepared to sacrifice himself for his precious boy.

The next, he was practically a flattened, paper-thin Papa slumping toward the ground because even the head maid and butler had been picked before him!

Only then did Luca finally notice his father’s strangely deflated state.

"Oh no! Papa, are you alright?" he asked worriedly.

Duchess Amelia, who couldn’t believe they were having this ridiculous conversation in this exact place at this exact moment, could only sigh.

"Your father will live, Luca. But it’d probably be best if you explained why you’re asking for particular people and what you’d like everyone else to do."

Honestly, the Duchess had been surprised at first too. But after observing her own child for a while, she’d learned that Luca wouldn’t look that certain, much less specifically ask for two practically retired combatants over the active soldiers surrounding them, unless there was a very good reason.

She just needed to remind her child that most people couldn’t predict what he was planning when he had a habit of looking at things from a completely different angle.

Luca’s eyes widened as he finally realized that he hadn’t actually explained anything yet.

Right!

"Sorry!" The golden-eyed cadet gave everyone an apologetic smile, scratching awkwardly at the back of his head before looking toward his mother. "Well, Mom, I thought maybe we could just cheese it."

The surrounding group stared at him.

...Huh?

Cheese it?!

__

Naturally, the rest were confused about Luca’s proposed strategy.

To begin with, what did that even mean?!

Well, for starters, it was something Luca’d heard about back when he was still in Tesseris.

See, just because the awakened were considerably strong didn’t mean they were always strong enough, or that they necessarily had the right abilities for the particular dungeon that needed clearing.

Back when dungeons had first started appearing, they hadn’t yet developed the kind of organized system for the awakened that came about after several years had passed. That apparently meant Espers could end up being assigned to dungeons they had terrible compatibility with simply because there wasn’t much of a choice.

For example, there were those who could wield fire but still had to enter water-based dungeons despite being at a considerable disadvantage. Then there were those with mental abilities who had to rely almost entirely on the suddenly strengthened bodies of awakened Espers because they ended up inside dungeons where their primary abilities were basically useless!

But maybe because there wasn’t much of a choice, and humans generally preferred living, people naturally came up with increasingly creative ways to solve their problems.

Some of those strategies involved what could only be considered cheap or unconventional methods of survival, or, in less desperate situations, simply ways to make their lives much easier!

After all, if fighting something head-on was going to be counterproductive and would only inch an Esper closer to rampage, then why not avoid direct confrontation whenever possible?

Which brought them to Luca’s current plan.

"What?!" Ollie exclaimed after finally understanding what his good brother was proposing. "Brother, you’re saying you want to rush straight toward the dungeon core?!"

"Yeah!" Luca nodded with gusto, as if he genuinely thought his plan made perfect sense.

The mop’s eyes widened.

"As in, you’re going THROUGH that swarm?!"

"Yes!"

"!"

The blonde’s hands immediately went all over the place as he struggled to express the sheer number of questions currently fighting to come out of his mouth, with WHY?! ranking very high on the list.

Unfortunately, his good brother beat him to it.

"I was hoping we wouldn’t have to fight so much and only focus on necessary enemies directly associated with the dungeon core," Luca explained. "From what I’ve heard, if the core isn’t locked behind something like a boss, then it’d be enough to destroy it while ignoring everyone else."

He then held up two fingers.

"Normally, I really wouldn’t recommend doing this because of all the loot we’d miss out on!"

"..."

Somehow, nobody was surprised that that was Luca’s biggest objection to the strategy.

"But because this is a simulation, we can’t even get CP from the corruption here, and we wouldn’t be able to gather materials from the fallen creatures either. So there’s really no reason for us to fight everything if we don’t have to!"

That part, admittedly, made sense.

"Besides," Luca continued, pointing toward the darkened sky, "the advantage of going toward the enemy instead of waiting for them to get even closer to the urban center is that we can use our abilities to our hearts’ content! If we move away from the city, we’re likely to encounter fewer civilians, especially when they all seem to be heading in the opposite direction!"

Luca made this point rather happily, looking as though he’d just found the most practical solution to all their problems.

Everyone else continued staring at him in utter silence.

"?"

The golden-eyed cadet’s enthusiasm gradually faltered.

Then, as if suddenly becoming a little embarrassed by the lack of response, Luca lowered his hand and asked softly, "Does my plan sound really bad? I just thought—"

"No," Marshal Julian interrupted. "It’s actually good."

"!"

Luca immediately looked at him.

"If you’re saying that all we need to do is destroy the core to end the instance, then yes, that really would be the best idea."

As odd as it sounded, the Marshal actually found Luca’s plan to be rather unhinged, but admittedly logical.

Less demand for manpower, which was a major advantage considering their current forces weren’t exactly equipped to handle that many enemies, fewer accidental demerits, and the ability to choose the battlefield most advantageous to them.

Still, there was one part Marshal Julian hadn’t quite figured out.

"But why did you ask for Head Maid Gloria and Butler Gary in particular?"

"Oh!" Luca immediately brightened. "Well, I was hoping they could help us clear the way efficiently with the help of those guys!"

He happily pointed toward the approaching mass of corruption.

Several heads slowly turned toward the two unsuspecting members of House Kyros.

And right then, one could’ve sworn Steward Han gently reached over and patted Butler Gary on the back.

It looked almost like he was wishing his friend good luck.

Or perhaps goodbye.

Well, to be safe, maybe both?