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

Back at the launching area, the actual examinee whose hands had been all over the mecha in question was watching the unfolding situation with both hands planted firmly on his waist.

”Wow, that big baby was more courageous than I thought!”

Ollie looked downright impressed as he stared at the projection of his younger brother’s golden mecha facing off against practically everyone else on the course.

”If I’d known he preferred fighting like that, maybe we wouldn’t have toned down the offensive capabilities so much.”

Thankfully, the already frazzled younger brother didn’t get to hear that particular scandalous statement as he only managed to get in contact with the culprit who shared the same blood shortly afterward.

”Oh? He’s actually calling?”

Realizing Owen was trying to establish a connection, Ollie readily accepted it, only to physically jerk backward when the very first thing that came through was an ear-splitting screech.

”BROTHER!!! WHAT DO I DO NOW?!”

Ollie blinked.

”Huh? What do you mean, what do you do now? Aren’t you doing well?” He sounded genuinely confused. ”I didn’t expect you to get used to it so quickly that you’d actually turn around and fight them instead of just running for the finish line.”

”No! No! NOOOO! I didn’t do that intentionally! I don’t even know how I ended up attacking anyone!”

On the other end of the connection, Owen looked like he was barely holding himself together.

Meanwhile, his mecha remained suspended there in all its golden glory, facing every other participant like it was having a terrifying staring contest with them and waiting for someone to make the first move.

Naturally, everyone outside thought Owen was threatening them.

In reality, the teenager had absolutely no idea what to do next and had already resorted to calling his older brother for emergency assistance.

”Oh, that?” Ollie said easily. ”That was automatic.”

”WHAT?!”

”Your armor’s reflective. If you get hit, it’ll return it back. But because we also built it with the ability to store what it absorbs, you don’t necessarily have to release it immediately. You can keep gathering more and then send everything back later, like what you just did.”

Owen stared at him with trembling eyes.

”There’s a mecha like that?!”

”Yes!” Ollie gestured toward the projection as though the answer should’ve been extremely obvious. ”Clearly, you’re riding it!”

”No, but I didn’t even think about firing anything earlier!”

”Well, that’s because we programmed a few things in advance. Like we said, you only need to sit there and do as little as possible.” The much shorter older brother actually puffed up with pride. ”We don’t break our promises, you know?!”

Owen looked like he wanted to crawl straight through the holographic projection and settle his grievances with his brother personally.

Unfortunately, he was currently trapped inside the mecha.

”But hey, if you actually want to fight back, you can grab one of the wings behind you,” Ollie added helpfully. ”They turn into blades, so you can definitely hack someone with them! And don’t be afraid to pull one out. Even if it doesn’t look like it, I swear you can really slot it right back in later.”

”?!”

Owen paled.

His horrified eyes slowly widened as Ollie even demonstrated the motion, reaching behind himself before making an enthusiastic slashing gesture through the air.

The teenager could only gawk.

Realizing his younger brother didn’t seem particularly enthusiastic about that option, the self-proclaimed cutest mechanic thoughtfully changed tactics.

”Or you could just wait for them to come at you if you want to see a little more action.”

”Brother! Who in their right mind would stand still and wait to get hit?! Am I asking to die?!”

”Well, you apparently were a few minutes ago.”

”BROTHER!”

”And you won’t die!” Ollie hurriedly reassured him. ”If it’ll make you feel better, just do what I do. Open your emergency kit, find the suspicious balls labeled ’EAT ME IN CASE OF DEATH,’ and hold on to them like a lifeline! I even put two in there just for you!”

Owen’s expression somehow became even more horrified.

Why did his mecha even have something labeled like that?!

”Besides, how could you say something like that when you know Mom and Pop would kill me if anything happened to you?!”

”Y-you don’t—”

Owen’s eyes trembled.

For one devastating moment, the poor teenager looked like he was genuinely about to accuse his older brother of no longer loving him.

Unfortunately, before he could finish, something flashed across his radar.

One of the mechas had moved.

”?!”

Owen’s head whipped around.

His eyes widened as he watched one of the previously wary participants suddenly break away from the others and charge straight toward him.

Someone actually dared come his way.

And just like that, whatever heartbreaking accusation Owen had been preparing to throw at his brother vanished straight out of his head.

__

That someone was none other than Ivan Zorath.

The guild leader of the Silver Serpents had managed to survive the earlier blast after sacrificing his emergency barrier, but seeing that golden mecha floating there with its enormous wings spread wide had admittedly given him second thoughts about the wisdom of going anywhere near it.

For several seconds, Ivan stared at that terrifying figure through his display.

Then he gritted his teeth.

”Fuck it.”

This was the opportunity they’d been waiting for the entire time.

After all the effort they’d already put into watching the exam live and securing a place in the demonstration, they simply couldn’t go home empty-handed. Worse, even after making it this far, they’d spent practically the entire race struggling to catch that damned mecha, only for it to move too quickly for their targeting systems to properly track.

Yet now, for whatever reason, Owen Mylor had willingly stopped.

But not only had he stopped, but he’d actually turned around and was now seemingly waiting for them to come at him!

Admittedly, Ivan felt an indescribable amount of pressure just looking at the thing.

There was something deeply unnerving about the sight of that luminous golden mecha hovering there without the slightest hint of fear or hesitation, as though facing twenty professional pilots at once wasn’t enough to make its pilot reconsider his life choices.

But Ivan couldn’t afford to pass up an opportunity like this.

If he backed off now, only to watch that mecha turn around and blast straight toward the finish line again, he had a feeling he would regret it for the rest of his life.

So he moved.