The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] Chapter 1309: Succeeding Together

Had the exercise been broadcast to the public like every round of the Astral Cup, the spectators were fairly certain that various comment sections and discussion threads would’ve already been flooded with people asking how such a strategy was even possible.

Especially when, elsewhere on Caldris Minor-7, several battalions that hadn’t managed to find completely covered shelters were already screaming at each other over what the heck had happened to some of their rovers after prolonged exposure to the rain!

As for the proctors and observers...

Well.

Even they were exchanging dumbfounded looks, silently asking each other what that was all about while simultaneously trying very hard not to look like they didn’t understand the execution plan behind Luca Kyros’s newest battle strategy.

Of course, the event coordinators were perfectly aware that Silver Rain would become a major factor in the exercise.

That was the entire point!

It challenged even the strongest fighters to consider things like resource allocation, equipment preservation, and whether every battle was actually worth fighting when the consequences might follow them for the rest of the exercise.

But to actually the rain?!

And in such a short amount of time?!

"..."

Instead of nerfing and balancing that cadet, had they accidentally given him even more tools by choosing Caldris Minor-7?!

Because really, the planet itself was supposed to serve as an equalizer.

In fact, the reason places like this were used to train people like the Vanguard candidates, and now this particularly troublesome batch of cadets, could probably be best summarized by Duchess Amelia.

"It’s meant to temper berserkers."

"...Temper berserkers?" Countess Jenna repeated.

She’d long since settled down with everyone else to watch an exercise none of them should technically have been seeing in the first place.

"Yes." Duchess Amelia’s gaze remained fixed on the glowing feeds. "The people normally sent to train in places like this aren’t the ones who struggle to fight. If anything, they’re usually the ones capable of bulldozing their way to victory without caring much about strategy or finesse."

She paused.

"After all, when the difference in strength is overwhelming enough, there’s often very little room left for strategy to matter."

Countess Jenna slowly nodded.

"But we, of all people, know how drastically the power structure has changed recently," Amelia continued. "And the more we encounter things outside what we’ve always known, the more obvious it becomes that we may not be nearly as strong as we once believed."

"...So the Silver Rain is supposed to force people who rely too much on strength to fight differently?"

"Among other things."

Amelia finally glanced away from the projection.

"Those who ignore directives. Those with temperament problems or issues with delayed gratification. People who care very little about preserving their equipment, or who don’t properly understand scarcity because they’ve always had more than enough resources available to them."

Then she turned her head.

Very deliberately.

Toward the man sitting beside her.

"..."

Duke Leander, who had apparently found the opposite side of the room extraordinarily fascinating, immediately sucked in his cheeks and began moving his lips like a fish.

Unfortunately, everyone was already looking at him.

"I was very young back then, okay?!" the Duke finally huffed. "Very, young!"

"..."

Butler Gary didn’t say a word.

He didn’t have to.

The utterly deadpan expression on his face made it perfectly clear that he wasn’t buying the excuse from the man who had once apparently decided that

"Didn’t I get the point eventually?!" Leander protested.

"Of course you did." Amelia raised a brow. "Fourth—not even third—time’s the charm."

"..."

Leander visibly sulked.

And looking at him now, Amelia couldn’t help noticing how much he resembled their son in ways that weren’t always immediately obvious.

Especially after what Luca had done earlier.

The moment that child decided to jump straight out of his mecha cockpit and start raising hell on his own, Amelia could’ve sworn she’d been looking at a younger version of her unhinged husband.

That alone made her even more certain that the two were unquestionably father and son, despite not having had nearly as much time to bond as most people.

An amused smile softened her features.

Fortunately, though, their child seemed capable of drawing from a considerably wider range of skills and strategies than either of his parents would’ve managed at the same age.

See, even if Amelia thought of something similar, like modifying their equipment or weaponizing the Silver Rain, she probably would’ve scrapped the idea simply because she didn’t have access to the right experts or people with the necessary skills.

And she certainly wouldn’t have expected such a plan to be implemented within a single week by a group of fellow first-year cadets.

That would’ve been unthinkable!

But that wasn’t even what pleased her most.

What she truly enjoyed seeing was how readily Luca adjusted his strategies around the collective strength of the people under his command.

Because really...

How could the people closest to him not know what that child was capable of?

Had Luca been alone, Amelia had very little doubt that he would’ve happily chased those hostiles all the way back to wherever they were hiding, inspected the place with all the curious wonder of a treasure hunter, fought them himself, and probably caused enough damage on the first day alone to leave the instructors deliberating whether the exercise should even continue for another week.

But their son wasn’t alone, nor was he surrounded by people who could keep pace with him.

This time, he had four hundred ninety-nine cadets depending on him, each with their own abilities, specialties, experience, and limitations.

And rather than treating any of them like burdens or leaving them behind when they struggled to keep up, Luca had adjusted his own approach, looking for ways Battalion 10 could succeed with the people and skills they actually had.

Even this ridiculous plan with the Silver Rain wasn’t something Luca intended to accomplish entirely on his own.

He’d brought both Theo and Jax into it.

He’d listened to what the other cadets could contribute and continued adjusting their plans around what Battalion 10 could realistically accomplish as a group.

Amelia’s smile deepened slightly.

If Luca was finally becoming comfortable doing things like this, then perhaps they wouldn’t have to worry quite so much about their child trying to carry the weight of the entire universe on his shoulders.

And watching him slowly veer away from such a daunting path in real time?

That was truly worth committing the atrocity of hacking into someone else’s system just to see it.