The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] Chapter 1356: Still Works!

Meanwhile, sometime earlier, the atmosphere inside the battleship had grown increasingly tense as everyone decided that simply sitting around and waiting for something to happen wasn’t going to do them any good.

So instead, they’d begun arming themselves in preparation for...

Right.

Anything.

Because the truth was, none of them knew exactly what was going to happen next.

After all, they weren’t even in direct communication with the mechas of those cadets currently risking their lives to protect everyone aboard the battleship.

And while the sight of those four mechas holding their own against an entire platoon of strangely overpowered terrorist machines had left practically everyone in awe, that didn’t mean they weren’t worried!

The truth was that not even the most spectacular animations or virtual simulations they’d ever watched or experienced could compare to what was unfolding right before their eyes.

And those famous Zone Four battle clips circulating on Star Net?

Ha!

If everyone had already thought those looked insane, then sorry to say, but they didn’t do even an ounce of justice to the very cadets who’d once been dismissed as merely decorative by a bunch of uncultured idiots online!

Seriously!

Sure, there weren’t as many since the end of the Annual Expo, but still, what the hell did those Star Net trolls know?!

Seeing the cadets fight firsthand, they were beginning to suspect that the only reason they’d appeared to play supporting roles in clips that mostly featured the Imperial military was because the cameras couldn’t even capture the spiritual attacks these guys were unleashing!

Terribly outnumbered, and yet somehow, they’d actually been winning!

At least, that was what everyone had believed when the enemy mechas were so thoroughly overwhelmed that the passengers of the battleship practically erupted in cheers.

But then, just as victory seemed to be within reach, the situation suddenly changed.

Instead of continuing to destroy their opponents, the four mechas had begun concentrating on containing them!

"...?"

What?

Why weren’t they finishing those terrorists off?!

Most of the first-year cadets couldn’t quite understand what was happening, especially when their fellow batchmates had already demonstrated more than enough strength to defeat the enemy!

The proctors and other experienced personnel aboard the battleship, however, saw things rather differently.

Given the overwhelming difference in combat capabilities they’d witnessed earlier, there could only be a handful of reasons why those elite cadets would suddenly resort to containing their opponents instead of eliminating them outright.

And none of those possibilities were particularly reassuring!

For a moment, it was almost as though the experienced staff had developed a collective mind, because practically all of them were silently cursing the exact same thing!

What the hell had happened out there?!

And perhaps what made the situation even more unbearable was the growing sense of guilt weighing on them.

After all, these were supposed to be the very students they were responsible for protecting!

Yet after witnessing the terrifying battle taking place outside, they’d been forced to abandon any thought of joining the fight themselves.

Not because they were unwilling to help, but because they understood exactly what would happen if they recklessly deployed their standard manual mechas against enemies of that caliber!

They’d be reduced to scrap metal before they could accomplish anything!

And worse, if even one of them ended up being captured, wouldn’t those elite cadets have to divert their attention from the battle just to rescue them?!

"..."

Damn it!

So what exactly were they supposed to do?!

That growing frustration only became worse whenever they glanced toward Theo Belgrave and Ada Marn, whose expressions had remained completely unreadable throughout the ordeal.

The two cadets clearly knew more than they were letting on.

But even if the proctors wanted to approach them for updates, what authority did they still have to demand answers?

Especially when they’d practically lost all credibility the moment they acknowledged that they couldn’t replace the very students they’d nearly refused permission to deploy in the first place!

And now, with so many people practically trapped aboard the battleship, what could they possibly do to make themselves useful?!

Surely there had to be something they could contribute!

But what?!

Surprisingly enough, the answer came from the most unexpected group of people.

Because while practically everyone else had been so thoroughly distracted by the battle that they’d neglected their other responsibilities, one particular group had somehow managed to keep working through it all.

The cadets of the Logistics Division.

__

Not quite capable of healing people, and definitely not built to run straight into the battlefield, the cadets who came from the usually discreet division always knew that their roles were heavily tied to keeping everyone’s options open.

Yes. They were people who could provide options.

By making sure they were prepared for instances of evacuation, prepared to accept the injured, and prepared for repairs, or even a completely different kind of combat, they could give everyone else the ability to react accordingly.

So they were trying to do just that—moving everything that needed to be moved and allocating resources for just-in-case situations as they tried thinking of things they might have to adapt to on the fly.

But even knowing that, it hadn’t been easy for everyone to remember the roles they’d been studying for, especially in the face of such a daunting reality, so they’d been operating mostly based on what they knew instinctively.

However, maybe that was the distinct advantage of someone like Finn Wrenner, who’d grown so used to being dealt a bad hand and carrying a few bad cards of his own that even in the face of such a grim situation, he could still think of giving things a try.

Much like his enrollment in his dream school—if he’d given up right away, then what would’ve become of him?

Of course, at the back of his head, he wryly thought:

"..."

Even he had to chastise himself for that one.

But on the less sarcastic side of things, he reminded himself that regret would be far worse than trying anything and everything. So, with a determined mind and steady eyes, he strode straight up to the Captain’s command console.

"Captain," Finn called out, his voice cutting through the hum of the bridge instruments. "Has this battleship ever been converted before?"

The Captain looked up from his tactical display, completely taken aback by the unexpected question. "Converted?"

He didn’t quite know why something like that would matter at that moment, but then the cadet—whom he’d originally pegged as someone he’d definitely see leading fleets in the future given his clear passion for the profession—stepped closer to the main layout blueprint.

"Captain, I was just wondering... is there any chance this battleship used to run on spiritual energy?" Finn pressed, pointing directly at a series of dormant power conduits on the sub-deck schematic.

After all, most of the Empire’s fleet, particularly armed ones, consisted of converted units from back when spiritual energy had still been their primary power source.

"If so, wouldn’t we be able to assist if we could somehow reactivate them manually?"

"What?"

The Captain’s mind swirled, not realizing that those few simple words exchanged had suddenly drawn the attention of every single soul on the bridge.

Because even setting aside whether that rumor was true, the real question was how they’d make use of it when the ship was already fully powered by an entirely different kind of modern fuel grid!

But then, to everyone’s utter surprise, the members of DG who had been quiet since earlier—Theo and Ada—actually ran straight over to the console, their eyes fixed on the schematic.

"Do those weapons really exist on this vessel?!" Theo demanded, his tone dropping all formality.

Faced with their intense, unblinking expressions that clearly said "just answer the damn question," the Captain swallowed hard and actually nodded. "Yes... the legacy spiritual emplacements were sealed when the fleet standardized power cores, but the physical chassis is still intact."

It was most definitely a bizarre situation, but nonetheless, even the proctors agreed to manually activate them, going as far as to allow the cadets to follow the blueprint archives they’d had to dig out of the ship’s primary database!

Armed with tools and emergency lights, a small group of logistics cadets rushed down into the lower maintenance decks.

But oddly enough, instead of simply finding the manual access panels to those sealed weapons, the cadets encountered something rather unexpected as they rounded the deepest corridor.

From somewhere inside one of the sub-rooms that had supposedly been inaccessible for years, a strange, low-frequency alarm was sounding, accompanied by the intermittent flashing of red warning lights.

Just what the hell was this about?