The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] Chapter 821: Strengths, Weaknesses, and Red Sticks

Disaster.

A complete disaster!

Leander Kyros, esteed Duke of House Kyros and a man famous for being the war god, couldn’t believe his eyes as the final count lit up again.

Thirty tickets.

Again.

"Thirty," he muttered hoarsely.

Not the thirty he needed, but the thirty he kept getting.

And yet for the sixth ti in a row, the pinball machine spat out a pitiful amount as if mocking him for his ambition.

THIRTY!

He was so flabbergasted that he nearly crumpled to the floor when Princess Nina played the sa ga.

She pulled the handle back with care. Not strength. Not force. Just a gentle, precise motion, as if she were coaxing the machine rather than commanding it.

The ball danced.

It bounced.

It refused to fall.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Lights exploded. Bells rang. Tickets poured out in an unending stream.

Double.

Leander’s eyes went wide.

DOUBLE!

"!!!"

How was it possible that a man like him couldn’t get that thing called a pinball machine to submit?

Was it because he was only a Duke while the Princess was of Imperial descent?

Was that why the mont she pulled that handle back before releasing it ever so gently, the ball actually kept on going instead of falling?

But he had tried the gentle approach too! And yet even then the entire machine still shook as if threatened.

Thirty.

Again.

"...Lia..."

The word escaped him like the last breath of a dying man crawling through a desert under a rciless sun.

Duchess Alia turned imdiately. "Yes?"

"My love," Leander whispered, already sinking toward the floor, "I fear this may truly be the end."

He clutched at his chest. "I have survived wars. I have faced beasts and corruption. But this machine is beyond ."

Alia walked over, reached down, and pinched his nose shut.

Hard.

"Leander, my dear husband... Are you sure you want to die now?" she said calmly.

"You’re aware that if you die now, you’ll likely miss out on your chance to get one of those plushies, right?"

Leander froze.

She leaned closer, voice lowering. "And the longer you lie there, the closer everyone else gets to ten thousand golden tickets."

Leander jolted upright like the dead returning to life, gasping for air as realization struck.

At that exact mont, a familiar voice cut through the chaos.

"Papa?"

"And... Little Nina?"

Leander snapped his head up.

There, standing just beyond the crowd, was his son.

Golden eyes filled with concern stared back at him.

Like an oasis in the desert, Luca Kyros stood before him.

"My boy!" Leander surged to his feet and crossed the distance in two long strides, pulling Luca into a fierce hug. "Luca, my son!"

Luca laughed softly, patting his father’s back. "Papa? Are you alright? You look... unwell."

Leander pulled back, eyes shining with emotion and sothing dangerously close to tears.

"The machines hate ," he whispered.

"Huh? What do you an, Papa?"

Duke Leander looked at his son as if holding himself together by sheer will alone.

"It hates ," he said hoarsely. "Every single one of them hates ."

"The dice," Leander continued imdiately, as if afraid that if he paused, he might truly break. "Every ti I throw them, I roll just one or two past the number I need so I always end up losing. It won’t even give a consolation prize!"

He inhaled sharply. "And the mystery throw. I would always hit the target but when it’s ti for the reveal..."

His voice cracked. "Large X. Every ti."

He grabbed Luca’s shoulders with quiet desperation. "Then this! This pinball machine. No matter what I do, the ball refuses to clang clang and only wants to drop as if pulled by a more intense gravity."

Around them, people had begun to slow, drawn in by the sheer sincerity of a man being personally victimized by the arcade machines.

Luca listened without interrupting, nodding along and gently patting his father’s back in a soothing rhythm.

When Leander finally ran out of grievances, Luca tilted his head slightly and said, in the most innocent tone imaginable, "Papa, have you tried playing gas that match your strengths?"

"...Huh?"

The question cut clean through the air.

Murmurs rippled outward. Heads turned. Conversations stalled. Even a nearby machine seed to quiet, as if listening.

Luca smiled, then reached out and patted Princess Nina’s head. The little girl stiffened before flushing bright red, clutching her bundle of golden tickets to her chest as she looked up at him with sparkling eyes.

"Like Princess Nina," the patient son said warmly. "She found gas that really suit her strengths."

Nina straightened just a little, pride warring with her desire to jump up.

Leander stared at his son.

"My strengths?" he repeated faintly. He had a lot of those but the Duke had been warned about not using violence, so...?

"Yes," Luca said, nodding. Then his smile widened. "In your case, Papa, would you like to try the Reaction Ring?"

Leander’s eyes widened because it seed that his son had a recomndation just for him!

Before he could brag or even properly process the suggestion, Luca was already gently steering him toward another section of the Activity Center, guiding his very stunned father like a large, obedient statue.

They stopped before a tall, cylindrical apparatus. Transparent walls curved upward around an empty center, forming a ring that surrounded whoever stood inside it.

Leander scanned his terminal and stepped in as if chanically.

Luca moved with purpose, adjusting the entrance and lightly pressing his father into position. "Alright," he said calmly. "It’s simple."

The confused father was still staring at the ceiling when his son continued.

"Sticks will fall," Luca said while he tapped at the panel. "From all directions."

Sothing whirred overhead.

"Normally they’re colored black. But sotis they change color while dropping."

A faint clack echoed as chanisms engaged.

"Please catch everything except the ones that turn red, Papa!" Luca added.

Leander’s brain finally caught up. "Huh? Except red ones? What—"

A cheerful chanical voice rang out.

Ready?

Before he could finish his question.

Start!

The first stick dropped.

And people from all over the Empire held their breath.