The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] Chapter 819: Like a Ghost

Luca’s brain imdiately latched onto the word ghost and sprinted off in its own direction.

Because he had t Count Alexander earlier, and while the man was impressive, dignified, and quietly terrifying in a professional sense, he did not look anything like a ghost.

At all.

But then again, after encountering elders who operated just fine as bones, the little dungeon owner had learned a very important lesson about life.

Do not dismiss things too quickly.

Thankfully, Jax clarified before Luca’s imagination could get any wilder.

"Not an actual ghost," the redhead said easily. "Just like one."

That helped. A little.

"Sure enough, my parents never really ntioned their involvent to ," Jax continued. "We would talk about what could have happened and what signs to watch for if sothing felt off. But that was it."

He glanced at Luca. "And yeah, you’re right. Just hearing about danger doesn’t really help you get a real feel for it. D-29 needs experience for that. I was the sa."

Obviously, one little system would very much like to deny such a preposterous claim.

But after being struck squarely by Sid earlier, all D-29 could do now was whir a little louder in protest as Jax went on.

"I didn’t develop my sensitivity by listening to lectures."

"...Then how?" Luca asked.

Jax smiled.

"I trained it by trying to look for my dad."

"...?!"

Luca stopped.

The redhead nodded slowly. "Like I said, my dad is like a ghost. When he walks, he barely makes a sound. His actual presence is usually so muted that you wouldn’t even realize he was there unless you were constantly on the lookout."

"On the lookout?" Luca echoed. "Why did you have to look for your dad?"

"Well, as we got older, it probably beca harder to protect us the sa way he did when we were kids," Jax explained. "By then, both the Captain and Kyle had beco even more particular about security."

He shrugged. "Dad probably didn’t want to draw attention to what he was doing, so he changed his thods."

Jax’s voice softened slightly as he continued. "Whenever I went ho, he would wake up early and sleep late. He would scuttle around the house, checking for bugs, running inspection after inspection."

"He never asked to change my schedule. He never really interfered or even bugged anything. Instead, I think he ended up putting in triggers on my information so he would get notified when soone attempts sothing."

"But once, I actually caught him doing security checks himself," Jax said, "I wanted to be aware of when he did it. Because I wanted to watch."

Luca leaned in.

"So it beca a ga," Jax said, clearly proud. "I trained myself to notice his extrely stealthy movents and tried to follow him around without being detected."

"Whoa!" Luca blurted out, eyes shining. "Did you ever get caught?"

Jax laughed. "No. Well, at least I don’t think so. And I really hope I never do, because I want to keep watching for longer."

"You don’t want him to know?" Luca asked.

Jax humd, thinking. "Not really."

"Will you get scolded if they find out?"

"No, not really, I think?" Jax said honestly. "It’s just that my dad always looks really relieved whenever he succeeds."

And sohow, that answer made Luca’s chest feel tight in a way he didn’t quite know how to explain.

The golden-eyed cadet suddenly stopped.

Jax took two more steps before realizing he was actually walking alone. He turned around, blinking. "What’s wrong?"

Luca stared at the floor, then at Jax, then sowhere far too high as if the answer might be hanging in the air.

"Then what about now?" he blurted out.

"Huh?"

Luca’s expression shifted into full panic. "Your dad. How does your dad keep doing his security checks now?"

Jax raised hands as if in surrender. "Oh. That. Don’t worry about him poking around. My dad doesn’t really dissect things or pry into systems like that. After realizing we sohow had our own security in place, he was really more into checking hardware integrity, like checking if soone tampered with things..."

"Ah, no!" Luca interrupted quickly, hands waving in apology. "Not like that. I didn’t an it that way."

The redhead paused in confusion. "Huh?"

Luca took a breath, clearly forcing himself to slow down. "I ant... Do you want to show your dad how biochas are maintained?"

Jax stared.

"So he can do his security checks properly," Luca continued, words tumbling out. "Because biochas are different. If we don’t explain how they work, how would he know what to look for?"

There was a beat of silence.

Then Jax laughed, clutching his stomach. "You’re serious."

Luca nodded earnestly.

"That is... wow," Jax said between laughs. He wiped at his eyes, clearly touched. "Is that even fine? We would have to reveal our secrets if we tell him about that."

"Well, of course!" Luca said without hesitation. "We’re going to tell them anyway. They’re your parents."

Jax froze.

"Huh? We are?"

"Yes!" Luca said confidently. "And maybe we can even ask him to teach D-29!"

They stared at each other.

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.

Then both of them burst into laughter and took off at a near run, eager to fetch the plant children who would soon find themselves extrely adored and rather spoiled as the first plants to ever gain actual human grandparents.

Sowhere far away and unfortunately unable to retort, a supposedly innocent system whirred in deep, offended disbelief, utterly unable to comprehend its host’s audacious claims.

And yet.

When the shutters sounded and photos were taken with eager civilians, that sa system still posed with absolute majesty and questionable grace.

D-29 decided that revenge could be taken later.

Perhaps through a slightly blurred photo. Or an unflattering angle. Maybe both.

Hmph.

Still, who could have known it would take so long before everyone finally got around to taking pictures with them?

Then again, given that the afternoon entertainnt had just begun, how could anyone have expected otherwise?