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

Thankfully, his Auntie Cece had already offered to monitor the drying process closely.

She even mentioned that if things went well, she might be able to design equipment capable of handling the process on a much larger scale.

Because right now, their production was extremely limited.

Each person had been given only two drying boards and a single frame to work with.

And at that point, none of them had any idea just how devastating that limitation would eventually become.

Soon enough, however, the fortunate crowd would begin to understand why they would need to find better ways to enrich their lives.

For who would survive on several measly sheets when that would barely last a full day for even the youngest child?

But before that realization could even arrive, something else was happening quietly behind the busy crowd.

A small elven princess who had only woken up earlier that day was currently staring in disbelief as a rack was placed in front of her.

”R-really, Your Imperial Highness? I get one too?” she asked, blinking her large eyes as she shyly clutched the fabric of her dress.

Today had been her first time actually meeting humans from the Empire other than those who were part of their secret society.

And she certainly hadn’t expected to greet them in the condition she had been in earlier.

Worse still, she hadn’t even managed to properly use all the greetings and etiquette she had practiced during the long journey on the ship.

So she truly hadn’t expected to be included in anything.

Normally, when she wasn’t on her best behavior, her brother, the Elven Crown Prince, would send her back to her room to think about her mistakes. And with all the things he had said before, she thought that humans would have stricter rules; after all, they were currently the most powerful in the universe.

Well, she didn’t think they’d be bad because she knew a few other children from their group, and the recent streams made her like humans a lot, but still, the person right in front of her wasn’t exactly a regular human.

But the very pretty Prince Consort, who simply smiled warmly at her.

”Of course! We all get a set,” Luca said brightly. ”And if you need help, just tell us right away.”

The young girl’s face flushed immediately.

”Me! I’ll help you!” another voice declared enthusiastically.

The elven princess turned her head in surprise.

Standing beside her was another young girl with striking azure eyes. One hand rested proudly on her chest while the other rested firmly on her waist as she spoke with great confidence.

”We’re already friends now, so I can help you!”

Marin blinked slowly.

Truthfully, she was still somewhat confused.

Ever since she had woken up earlier and found herself surrounded by people from the Empire, she had been struggling to process everything that had happened.

But even in her dazed state, one thing had remained very clear.

From the moment she saw the Empire’s Imperial Princess, she had been completely captivated.

Marin still didn’t fully understand where this strange place was, nor had she properly absorbed everything her brother had tried to explain earlier.

But she did know one thing.

She felt much better now.

Especially while clutching the little (not) gifts she had received from the fairies.

Because while Marin might not have understood most of what everyone had been discussing, there were two things she absolutely understood.

Gifts.

And fairies.

And now she was even allowed to use one of those gifts.

Something called a hand shovel.

Carefully, Marin scooped up a portion of seaweed and began spreading it across her frame just like Luca had demonstrated.

With such an important task ahead of her, it became much easier to forget about the catastrophe that had happened earlier.

__

She had woken up earlier to the face of her older brother, and admittedly, it wasn’t her proudest moment because the little girl had nearly fainted in surprise.

Of course, she was glad to see someone.

But that was the first time she had seen her eldest brother again in a very long time, and over the years she had long since associated that face with her brother Eren. So imagine her shock when she woke up to see him first.

And it didn’t help that she was supposed to be in the capital already.

Which meant that the moment Princess Marin fully woke up and realized something was wrong, confusion flooded her little mind.

Why was she here?

Why wasn’t she traveling?

And why was her brother staring at her like that?

Unfortunately for everyone involved, Prince Elior was not exactly the best person to handle children. Especially not one he hadn’t seen in so very, very long.

So the two siblings simply stared at each other.

Marin blinked.

Elior blinked.

And then the little princess’s lips slowly began trembling.

Because, honestly, the situation looked incredibly suspicious from her perspective. She didn’t understand where she was, she didn’t understand why she was here, and she definitely didn’t understand why her brother suddenly looked like he didn’t know what to do with his hands.

Safe to say, the tiny princess began tipping toward a meltdown.

Her eyes watered.

Her lips quivered.

And just when it seemed like she was about to break into tears—

The door suddenly opened as though a hero had arrived.

Marin turned toward the sound with tear-filled eyes, though from where she sat on the bed, she couldn’t quite see who had come in.

But she heard something.

”Quack!”

The sound was so unexpected that Marin instinctively looked down.

And what she saw was... odd.

Standing confidently near the doorway was a young girl wearing unusual attire. She had long white hair cascading down her back, determined azure eyes, and both arms planted firmly on her waist. Sitting proudly on top of her head was something equally strange.

A duck.

The girl took one look at Marin and immediately bellowed, her voice ringing through the room and cutting straight through Prince Elior’s partial panic and Marin’s interrupted crying.

”Hello, my friend! You’re finally awake! Did you see what the tooth fairies left for you?!”

It was almost magical.

Because the moment those words reached her ears, Princess Marin’s tears halted as if they had been sucked right back in.

All the fear.

All the confusion.

All the rambling thoughts in her head.

They washed away in an instant.

Her first thought was simple.

Fairies?

Meanwhile, off to the side, one Imperial Mother, the great leader of this era, suddenly felt extremely nervous.

Because while her daughter had successfully given the situation a moment of breathing room...

She also had absolutely no idea whether that same daughter was about to cause a panic attack instead.

And then the young elven princess reached behind her back and triumphantly pulled out what looked like a bedazzled rake.

Empress Gisella almost fainted.

Thankfully, she managed to stay upright.

Well, at least until the child pulled out a similarly decorated shovel.

”!!!”

”Nina!”