The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL]

Chapter 1075: Temporary Silence

The first several hours honestly went by rather fine.

After all, D-29 going quiet for that long had always been fairly normal during upgrades.

Usually, during those periods of downtime, Luca would simply busy himself with various forms of housekeeping while making sure everything remained stable after the upgrade. He spent the time checking on the animals, inspecting the cabins, and visiting the different farms one after another.

Thankfully, the clearly designated settlement zones normally did not experience severe disturbances during upgrades. That was also why the animals living inside Trove-purchased structures rarely encountered major issues.

Still, they were sensitive creatures.

Even if protected, they would absolutely notice the tremors.

Because of that, Luca still wanted to personally inspect everyone’s condition for peace of mind.

Thankfully, the rotating gate surveillance shifts meant they could now freely move around the dungeon-linked space while maintaining proper watch.

The goats, unsurprisingly, were completely fine.

Honestly, at some point, Luca began thinking that if anyone actually needed concern, it was probably the structures and terrain themselves.

Because the goats could genuinely become terrifying if they truly wanted to.

Meanwhile, the cows and their newborn calves seemed understandably shaken but otherwise unharmed. Though admittedly, the newborns had been wrapped so excessively in soft materials by their volunteer caretakers that they were beginning to resemble sheep more than calves.

Still, much like always, the graceful creatures remained poised despite the disturbance.

Especially Queen Lulu.

Even after experiencing the tremors from the dungeon upgrade, the beloved cow still greeted Luca with affectionate mooing as though nothing catastrophic had happened at all.

Honestly, perhaps they should have checked on the cows last.

Because after that comforting reception, the state of Luca’s heart immediately plummeted once they visited the coop.

The chickens.

Ah yes.

The chickies absolutely did not give a flying hoot about external hierarchies.

In fact, the golden-eyed heir was fairly certain that even if the Emperor and Empress of the Empire of Solaris visited in his stead, they would still end up subjected to this same rigorous hazing.

After all, the Imperial Crown Prince had experienced the same oddly fair treatment.

See, while many people likely carried sweet delusions about emotionally attuned chickens that lovingly welcomed their caretakers—

The creatures inside Luca’s coop had apparently never received such information.

If anything, they looked deeply offended by the disturbance to their accommodations and seemed fully prepared to riot over it.

Not that they would have listened to Luca’s explanations even if he tried.

"..."

"..."

Still, despite the violent betrayal suffered by the dungeon owner and current coop survivor, their aggressively lively behavior at least reassured him that the chickens were doing perfectly fine.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Luca himself.

Because by the time Day 2 of D-29’s silence arrived—

The golden-eyed cadet had started visibly shaking from worry.

__

While it was certainly reassuring that the intimidating gate remained silent and peaceful even after one full day inside the dungeon space, the relief Luca initially felt eventually gave way to growing concern for the little system.

That night, before heading to bed, Sid—as previously instructed—took over one of D-29’s usual responsibilities and assisted Luca with his nightly routine of reviewing the books of account.

Honestly, it was an incredibly sweet gesture coming from the guardian mecha, who absolutely had no obligation to handle such tasks in the first place.

But it was also during that moment that Luca truly realized just how long D-29 had already been gone.

The dungeon owner suddenly stopped in the middle of reviewing the balances before asking the question that was plaguing him.

"Sid..." Luca asked quietly, "Did you already know it’d take this long?"

Of course, he believed D-29 when it said it was unaware of the specifics. But now that he thought about it more carefully, why had D-29 been unusually thorough before leaving?

The little system even prepared extensive instructions for Sid beforehand, practically assigning him an entire mountain of responsibilities like it already anticipated being gone for quite some time.

Sid emitted a low mechanical whir, and had he been in his corporeal form, the sound would’ve softly rumbled throughout the cabin before he finally responded.

"Little Master, I’m uncertain," the guardian mecha answered honestly. "However, D-29 was likely attempting to prepare for as many scenarios as possible. As usual."

That...

Was also true.

Still, Sid deliberately chose not to mention something else.

Namely—

That even he had also started panicking internally.

Because D-29 was not the type to willingly delegate work.

If anything, that little manager-of-managers practically hoarded responsibilities like treasure.

The system took an absurd amount of pride in handling everything personally, so the fact that it had entrusted Sid with so many tasks beforehand had honestly been extremely unusual.

Yet ironically, it was precisely because of that obsessive and territorial nature that Sid remained convinced D-29 would return as quickly as possible.

After all, at the risk of its position being compromised—

There was absolutely no way that system would willingly stay gone for long.

Or at least...

That was what they initially believed.

Unfortunately, another entire day passed inside the dungeon space.

And still, there was nothing.

Only silence from the normally energetic manager.

__

By the end of the third day, Luca had started looking visibly listless.

An exaggerated aura of gloom practically radiated from his entire being, so oppressive it almost looked capable of casting a physical shadow above his head. His shoulders sagged heavily toward his chest, and his feet dragged with every step, making him resemble a balloon that had completely lost all its air.

Even after everyone proudly showed him the restored orchards that the Elders and the others—who were free for the day—had painstakingly repaired, the heavy fog hanging over him barely lifted.

Of course, Luca still smiled warmly at them.

He thanked them sincerely, too.

But everyone also noticed how weakly he walked afterward, practically worming his way out of the area like one tragic, wilted leaf slowly drifting away from life itself.

At this point, the others collectively concluded that they absolutely could not allow things to continue like this.

And so—

They resorted to the power of annoying love.

Honestly, the situation had become so desperate that even Duke Leander, who was figuratively biting through his own clothes from frustration, eventually agreed—with much grinding of teeth—that perhaps Xavier should attempt cheering Luca up personally.

Thankfully, the Imperial Prince was more than willing to volunteer his everything for his wife.

Thus, later that night, the little moping chipmunk eventually found himself tucked securely within the comforting embrace of his beloved husband.

A surprising number of things had been done just to reach this moment, all in the hopes of helping Luca finally sleep peacefully. Xavier made sure he had a fresh cup of milk, even cookies he personally dared bake for him, and at one point had even initiated a relaxing body massage that Luca nearly questioned out loud. In fact, the desperation to soothe him had grown so intense that Xavier actually listened to Princess Nina’s suggestion to prepare a lullaby.

Thankfully, Luca had already been comforted enough to grow sleepy before he could be disastrously traumatized by the Prince’s attempt at singing one.

And so, with the little chipmunk finally showing signs of wanting to rest, the cabin had already been dimmed in preparation for sleep.

But just as the two were about to share a quiet and reassuring goodnight kiss—

The entire cabin suddenly exploded with light.

"!"

Xavier reacted instantly.

The Imperial Prince immediately pulled Luca against himself protectively as an intensely bright flash illuminated the room so violently that it genuinely resembled fireworks detonating indoors.

Without any sort of warning, sound, or the slightest indication of anything amiss, both of them were completely caught off guard while still in bed as one gigantic and offensively bright prompt suddenly materialized directly before them.

Complete with virtual celebratory poppers.

And right in the center of it were the words:

[WELCOME BACK, D-29!]

There was a long pause afterward.

The cabin fell completely silent.

Xavier’s arms remained wrapped tightly around Luca protectively.

Meanwhile, Luca was still clutching onto Xavier’s body.

The two simply stared blankly at the flashing prompt in complete speechless disbelief.

Until finally—

From the originally melancholic but calm sea of consciousness, Sid’s heavy mechanical voice broke the silence.

"Seriously... did you just welcome yourself back?"