The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] Chapter 1367: The Danger Within

"Deathworms!"

"...?"

The pirate, who’d just opened his mouth to give the four cadets a rather serious warning, suddenly found himself staring at one particularly enthusiastic blonde.

What?

"Uh, no..." he answered, looking somewhat confused. "What I was going to say is that you should all be very careful because..."

"Arachnids!" Luca suddenly exclaimed, his golden eyes widening as though he’d just thought of something even more terrifying. "Mister, are there ancient arachnids down here?!"

"No, that’s not..."

"Tree monsters!" Oliver Mylor, that other alleged genius, immediately supplied, his voice carrying a rather peculiar note of concern. "Brother, what if there are tree monsters hiding in the tunnels and we just can’t see their roots?!"

"!"

The golden-eyed cadet sucked in a sharp breath.

"Or swarms! What if there are swarms of those things that can crawl into practically anything?!"

"Man-eating anemones!"

"Corrupted whales!"

"..."

"..."

The pirate’s mouth slowly fell open.

What the hell were these two even talking about?!

He’d been trying to warn them about the dangers of this place, yet before he could even get a proper sentence out, the two shorter cadets had already come up with enough horrifying possibilities to make him wonder just what kind of things they’d been watching while growing up!

And the strangest part?

They actually sounded so concerned.

"Brother, I really have my money on deathworms, because doesn’t this place look very to you?" Ollie asked, his brows drawing together.

"Actually, with the shape of these tunnels and how uniform they are..." Luca solemnly agreed as he glanced around the cavern, thinking that it would’ve made a rather cozy home for those deathworms that had once given them such a generous bounty.

"Then... wouldn’t this be worse because we might be trespassing?!"

"Oh my! Much, much worse!"

The two leaned closer to each other, their tones growing increasingly alarmed.

Only...

"...?"

The pirate stared.

Why were their eyes sparkling?!

Despite their apparent concern, the two cadets looked almost ridiculously eager, as though the possibility of encountering something that could swallow them whole was somehow worth looking forward to!

And when the golden-eyed one began counting something on his fingers, the pirate felt an inexplicable chill run down his spine.

Wait.

Were they actually calculating something?!

"Brother, if it’s a really big one, then..."

"Wouldn’t there be more?"

"Right?! I was thinking that too!"

"!!!"

what?!

What kind of punks discussed such horrifying possibilities with that much anticipation?!

"Enough!" he finally interrupted, raising his voice before they could come up with something even more ridiculous. "It’s none of those things!"

"Oh."

"Ah..."

The two cadets exchanged a glance.

For some reason, the sparkle in their eyes seemed to dim considerably, and even that oddly protruding bit of hair slumped as though it had been terribly disappointed.

"..."

The pirate’s eyelid twitched.

Were they disappointed?!

"Then what is it?"

This time, however, the question hadn’t come from either of them.

Instead, the two taller cadets, who’d remained remarkably silent throughout the entire exchange, were finally looking at him with considerably more serious expressions.

"If it’s none of those," the Nox heir continued, "then what exactly should we be watching out for?"

"We need to leave this area as soon as possible," added the white-haired cadet who’d become the talk of StarNet after catching the Federation heir’s eye.

"..."

For a moment, the pirate genuinely didn’t know what to say.

What was wrong with this group?!

He’d been trying to warn them from the very beginning, yet somehow, he was starting to wonder whether he was the one who ought to be concerned for his own safety.

He was developing a headache despite feeling healthier than ever.

"Listen carefully," he finally said, pressing a palm against his forehead. "This place isn’t somewhere you can just wander around as you please. It’s an enormous labyrinth of interconnected tunnels, and once you get lost, there’s no guarantee you’ll ever find your way back."

His voice grew increasingly grave.

"People have tried mapping this place before, but the tunnels don’t always seem to match what they’ve charted. A passage that should’ve led back somewhere familiar might not even take you to the same place when you return to it. So if you run out of provisions while trying to find your way out..."

He paused meaningfully.

"You might just die down here."

That ought to be enough to make them understand the severity of their situation, shouldn’t it?

After all, his predecessors had always maintained that people had undoubtedly died in these tunnels, yet despite how frequently they’d supposedly used them, they hadn’t even managed to find a single corpse to bring back.

So what more could be expected of someone like him, who’d only inherited the responsibility of safeguarding the heirloom when using it had already become far less practical?

Back when their crew had been far more active and influential, opening a passage through the heirloom had been practically free compared to the enormous investment needed to establish unstable wormholes. After all, it only required spiritual energy, which people could simply replenish afterward. But with spiritual energy becoming increasingly scarce, fewer members possessed a high enough spiritual rating to afford using the heirloom as a shortcut.

His predecessors had always said it was a shame, but at least that restriction had kept outsiders from getting involved, leaving the place relatively secure even when he’d been at death’s door and unable to personally safeguard the heirloom.

Or at least, that had been the case until very, recently.

Now, with that damned contraband circulating and those lackeys suddenly gaining power they had no business possessing, the pirate was beginning to suspect that the tunnels had been used far more frequently than anyone would’ve anticipated.

Heck, judging by what he’d seen so far, those bastards had practically established an entire system for moving people and things through this place!

And that was precisely why he needed these children to understand how dangerous it would be to explore on their own.

Satisfied that he’d finally delivered a sufficiently serious warning, the pirate lowered his hand and looked up, fully expecting to see four appropriately frightened cadets.

Only...

"...?"

Two faces looking even more disappointed than before.

And two expressions that remained completely unreadable.

That was what greeted him.

"..."

He wondered if it was even possible for his eyelid to twitch any more than it already had, and yet there he was, trying to figure out why he was suddenly being made to look like the bad guy here!

"Criminals!" he suddenly blurted out, unable to contain himself any longer. "There could be all sorts of criminals roaming around here, okay?!"

"!"

"!"

"We don’t know everyone who managed to get their hands on those shards! For all we know, anyone could suddenly appear in these tunnels, and there’s no guarantee they’ll be friendly!"

The man was practically spilling out his thoughts now, his earlier composure having completely disappeared.

"And the worst part is that, even if they’re the scum of the universe, we still need them! Do you understand?! We need someone capable of holding the passage open if we want to get out of here!"

His voice rose another notch.

"Do you even need monsters when there are worse things like humans?!"

"...!"

The disgust in his voice was unmistakable, and for a moment, the pirate looked genuinely furious, as though merely thinking about the kind of people who might be using these tunnels was enough to make him sick.

Then he finally noticed the four pairs of eyes staring at him.

"..."

"..."

The man froze.

He cleared his throat rather awkwardly before turning his head to the side.

What the hell had gotten into him?!

Why was he getting so worked up in front of a bunch of kids?!

Meanwhile, Luca blinked.

Then, as though he’d suddenly realized something important, the Kyros heir leaned toward his good brother and lowered his voice.

"Brother, the mister seems really concerned about us," he whispered, although not nearly quietly enough. "Maybe if it’s like this, we should give him a discount..."

"Tch!"

The pirate clicked his tongue.

After everything he’d just said, that was what they were thinking about?!

"I’ll pay the appropriate price," he immediately declared, extending his hand toward the golden-eyed cadet. "So you should give that back now."

His gaze fell pointedly on the shard Luca was still holding.

Surely he wasn’t actually planning on holding on to that, right?