The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] Chapter 1338: Again?

Then again, while Killian certainly wanted to know what the hell had happened at the Caldris Central Outpost, he was far too self-aware to pretend that was his main reason for volunteering.

No.

This was primarily a convenient justification for getting closer to CM-7 so he could personally grab that rascal who seemed determined to send him to an early grave!

His father continued staring at him with those discerning eyes for several long seconds before finally speaking.

"It’s not as though you’re willing to be stopped, are you?"

"It’s as you guessed, Minister." Killian didn’t hesitate. "Even at the risk of insubordination."

He knew perfectly well that his father had always been harsher on members of their own family precisely to establish that no one related to him would receive a free pass.

So Killian was prepared to accept whatever punishment came afterward.

Anything was better than remaining behind and slowly going insane because he couldn’t do a damn thing while his consciousness continued picking up on different emotions that definitely weren’t from him.

His father rubbed a hand over his face before letting out a resigned scoff that gradually turned into a chuckle.

"And what? Give you a convenient way out of your current job? You might enjoy that a little too much."

"..."

That...

Well, that was also true.

Killian could only resist the sudden urge to look toward the heavens.

"Fine. You can go," the Minister finally conceded. "But like you said yourself, you’ll be responsible for the Elders and the investigation into what happened at the Caldris Central Outpost."

His eyes narrowed.

"Surely, that much is fine, right?"

Killian resisted the urge to say, "Thank you, Dad," and simply nodded in appreciation instead. Isabelle was already giving his old man a tight squeeze that was probably supposed to be a hug, which was more than the actual eldest son could possibly manage right now.

Now, he just needed to walk out of there without acknowledging the pair of shining eyes belonging to his mother that he’d noticed far too late.

Imagine if he’d actually argued that he needed to go because all of the Minister’s in-laws were out there and probably needed help.

Wouldn’t his mother make sure he never heard the end of it?

Though that was assuming Killian would ever hear the end of it from himself when he was probably even more worried than the actual punk currently stuck on that compromised planet.

"..."

Faced with a threat that was arguably just as dangerous, Killian practically bolted toward the Elders.

And that was how, not long afterward, they’d been instructed to bypass the usual travel time to the Caldris System by taking the Imperial jump points instead.

__

Nauseating.

That was probably the best way to describe the journey there, especially after they kept forcefully shortening their travel time as much as they possibly could by going through the Imperial jump points.

It was also one of the biggest reasons Killian had insisted on taking charge of this particular investigation, and likely why his father had ultimately decided it would be better to let him go anyway.

After all, they wouldn’t have been able to use such a ridiculous shortcut if they’d traveled with virtually anyone else.

More importantly, who knew whether the outpost staff would even still be alive by the time the Elders arrived if they’d taken the normal route most personnel from Military HQ would’ve been forced to use?

Killian kept all those rationalizations strictly to himself.

He’d already gotten permission to come, so there really wasn’t any reason to keep justifying himself. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop his mind from coming up with increasingly reasonable excuses for scenarios that had already played out and no longer mattered.

Though most of his worries and senseless thoughts disappeared the moment their rather odd group of five—three of whom happened to be triplets—stepped into the facility after presenting the proof of authority issued by the Marshal’s office.

Because...

Just what the hell was

Killian had seen the footage along with everyone else, but witnessing it in person was far more chilling.

Strangely enough, there was something about the sight that felt even more unsettling than simply finding the same people wounded and possibly bathed in blood.

Of course, no sane person would ever say something like that aloud. Both scenarios were equally demented in entirely different ways.

But it certainly said something about just how deeply uncomfortable the sight before them truly was.

Killian glanced toward the Elders and silently signaled for them to proceed as they’d discussed earlier. They only needed to warn him if they were about to do anything that required him to strategically block the local monitoring cameras.

However, to his surprise, the Elders merely took a few slow steps toward the frozen staff members before one of them abruptly warned him in a grim voice,

"Don’t use spiritual energy."

"...What?"

Killian immediately stiffened.

What kind of ominous warning was

He was already preparing himself for another one of those ingenious yet frustratingly cryptic explanations the Elders were so fond of giving when Elder Shen suddenly spoke in a remarkably flat tone.

"It’s this again. This time, just worse."

"...?"

Before Killian could even begin unpacking that, Elder Pao Xi narrowed his eyes at the dark trails running down the staff members’ faces.

"Tell them not to waste their time looking for motives from these guys. Instead, find out who they saw or met before all this happened."

Killian was already raising his terminal, prepared to record the information and ask why, when Elder Wei quietly added,

"Better yet, check the schedules of that bunch from House Luxastra. These guys wouldn’t have been able to do much when they weren’t even in their right minds."

He paused, his expression turning considerably more solemn as he looked over the five motionless staff members.

"As for how we’re going to treat them in the meantime... that’s something we’re going to have to think about."

"!!!"

The Elders wanted to talk about Luca, who was likely the only person capable of returning these people to normal, but they didn’t want any unwanted ears listening in.

It didn’t matter that the victims were clearly out of it. From what the Elders could tell, their bodies had ended up in this state because of the backlash caused by their bloodline abilities clashing with their own consciousness.

But the fact that someone had deliberately done this to them, and to such an extreme degree, only meant they had to be even more careful about letting anything be traced back to the dungeon owner.