The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] Chapter 1343: A Nox’s Responsibility

Now, if anyone were to ask Luca and the others, locating the rest of their members wasn’t particularly difficult.

In fact, in true DG fashion, that was probably the easiest part of the entire rescue operation!

The problem was that, also in true DG fashion, they’d somehow managed to involve themselves with all sorts of people and acquire all sorts of things that made their own escape considerably more complicated.

Instead of simply themselves into safety, they were out there trying their damned best to help everyone else get out.

Princess Kira, for example, was currently responsible for the rescued captives alongside her assigned first-year cadets, none of whom had ever imagined they’d be participating in an actual rescue mission this early in their military careers.

Then there was Noah, who’d originally been tasked with leading the remaining cadets of Battalion 9 to safety along D-29’s suggested route.

Unfortunately, their progress had been complicated by several encounters with senior cadets and members of the original Caldris Hostiles, all of whom had gone into hiding after narrowly escaping their new, common enemy.

And since Noah couldn’t exactly abandon them, their group had steadily grown in number, slowing their journey considerably.

But while those two groups were at least moving from their previous positions and hopefully toward safety, one Kyle Nox was currently doing the exact opposite.

For the record, he wasn’t particularly happy about it either.

Kyle cursed bitterly under his breath as he maintained a dizzying pace, heading straight back toward the underground facility the others had only recently abandoned.

But what else was he supposed to do?!

Meeting up with Princess Kira and the rescued captives hadn’t merely allowed them to provide the victims with better first-aid treatment.

It had also given those poor people enough time to finally recount several rather pertinent details about the operation they’d been forced to participate in.

"They took us from different planets," one of the captives explained, his voice still trembling. "Most of us came from small settlements where conditions were bad enough that people turning up dead or disappearing without a trace wasn’t exactly unusual..."

"As for me, I don’t really know if I could call my case kidnapping—" another man hurriedly interjected. "Th-they claimed my father owed someone money, but when they demanded payment, he apparently refused and told them to take me instead! I didn’t even know about the debt, and they wouldn’t let me contact my father to find out if any of it was true!"

"Same with my sister! They said she’d be released once we paid everything back, but they just kept adding more charges and, in the end, said she wasn’t enough and I had to be taken too!"

"Do you remember who brought you here?" Kyle asked.

"Yes! I remember their faces! And some of their aliases, too!"

"We can describe where they used to take us before bringing us to this planet!"

"We can tell you everything we know! Just please don’t let them take us back!"

"..."

Listening to the captives practically falling over themselves to answer his questions, Kyle was certain they’d just secured several valuable witnesses.

And if even a fraction of what these people remembered could be verified, perhaps they’d finally have a quicker way to trace the operation back to whoever was actually pulling the strings.

But then came a particular revelation that practically stopped them in their tracks.

Apparently, those poor people had originally been forced to manufacture incense burners before their captors abruptly switched production to some other variation of the same contraband!

"...!"

"You what?!"

Kyle had almost choked on air when he heard that.

Fortunately, he’d somehow managed to maintain his composure, although he’d practically been calling upon the spirits of every ancestor House Nox had ever produced to grant him deliverance and patience!

Because surely...

these people weren’t talking about the exact same incense burner he was familiar with?!

You know, as in the one the Elders kept warning all of them about?

"..."

Unfortunately, they were.

"..."

And while most of the people around them had absolutely no idea why that particular revelation was so alarming, the expressions on Kyle’s and Princess Kira’s faces were apparently enough to make everyone else deeply uncomfortable.

The second son of House Nox vaguely remembered someone asking whether something was wrong.

It had taken an almost ridiculous amount of willpower for both him and Kira not to immediately scream in response!

Then again, even if they’d completely lost their composure right then and there, could anyone really blame them?

After all, they’d just discovered that there was probably a ridiculous amount of dormant corruption lying around in that underground facility, practically waiting for someone unfortunate enough to disturb it!

Yep.

Exactly that!

Because the supposedly "lethal" nature of the contraband’s raw materials was very likely connected to the fact that those substances were heavily tainted with corruption.

And if the warning from Kyle’s little star, who had an uncanny knack for identifying things that were practically begging to be blown up, was correct, then those bastards were probably planning to detonate the entire facility to destroy whatever evidence remained of their operation.

Well, no can do.

Because those idiots wouldn’t simply be blowing up their manufacturing paraphernalia and whatever contraband they’d left behind.

They’d also be releasing vile corruption onto an otherwise untainted Caldris Minor-7!

A planet where they’d only just discovered deposits of perfectly edible salt!

Now, sure, they had a corruption junkie among them who’d normally squeal with delight at the prospect of free currency, but not here, of all places!

"Tch!"

Kyle briefly paused near the entrance of the subterranean tunnel where they’d temporarily gathered to tend to the injured, turning toward the wide-eyed cadets who looked ready to grab him by the sleeves the moment he tried to follow through on his decision to head back alone.

"Commander, you can’t seriously be thinking of going back down there!" one of the B9 cadets pleaded, his voice trembling with panic. "That’s a terrorist hideout! Going in there all by yourself is practically suicidal!"

"Yeah, sir!" another hurriedly added. "We understand that you’re a Nox, and you probably feel an overwhelming sense of responsibility toward all of us and the Empire, but do you really have to handle something like this all by yourself?!"

"..."

Hearing their desperate pleas, the supposedly responsible Nox suddenly felt extremely wronged.

Did these people seriously think he had some burning desire to volunteer as a tragic hero?!

He had absolutely no intention of sacrificing himself, and by extension, his wife, for the greater good if he could help it!

Unfortunately for everyone involved, there was one rather important problem.

Who else among them could possibly serve as the perfect gateway for bringing in reinforcements as quickly as possible without alerting everyone and their mothers?

...And if that weren’t the case, would he really be rushing back like this while reassuring his little star that he very much still wanted a future together with him and their prospective point fives?