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

Back on Caldris Minor-7, the first major signs of supply shortages began to emerge as more and more cadets shifted their priorities away from the main objectives and toward looting.

Granted, supplies had always been a priority.

As with practically any operation, the first thing they needed was supplies.

The second?

Also supplies.

And the third?

Still those damned supplies.

Without enough provisions, they were, for lack of a better term, fucked.

The situation, however, had now deteriorated to the point where some battalions weren’t simply looting supply crates anymore.

They’d started looting their fellow cadets.

Yes.

Many groups, particularly those that had yet to successfully extract an objective, were now actively hunting down other battalions rather than wasting more of their dwindling resources fighting the Caldris Hostiles.

Safe to say, quite a few of these lauded and promising future soldiers had been rather brutally introduced to the reality that they were merely big fish in very small ponds.

Most had entered the exercise confident in their abilities, only to encounter opponents far stronger and more experienced than they were. Worse, instead of retreating after realizing the disparity and taking the time to regroup, many had stubbornly fought back with everything they had during those first confrontations.

The result?

A very expensive lesson that came with massive losses in both supplies and manpower.

Kyle Nox, as the second son of a House well-versed in anticipating how opponents might react under pressure, had naturally warned the cadets under his command to prepare for exactly this possibility.

And apparently, he’d been right.

”Commander Nox!”

A first-year cadet came sprinting down the rusted metal stairs leading into the dim underground bunker they’d established beneath one of the decommissioned processing plants they’d painstakingly located.

The scout was practically gasping for breath by the time he reached them, yet somehow still managed to straighten up and hurriedly salute.

Kyle could only sigh in exasperation.

He’d already told them to save the formalities for more formal occasions, but strangely enough, the longer this exercise went on, the more eager these guys seemed to be about doing all sorts of properly military things.

Ugh.

Still, rather than dampen the all-too-excited cadet’s enthusiasm, Kyle simply gestured for him to continue with his report.

”It’s just as you predicted! The senior battalions have gone completely desperate!” he reported, eyes shining with absolute awe. ”They’re hunting each other now! Our members even spotted B2 mechas following returning B6 patrols back to their hideouts so they could ambush and raid them! And they’re doing all that even with a fresh supply drop nearby. It looks like they’re really trying to avoid fighting the Caldris Hostiles!”

”...”

The surrounding cadets gasped.

Then, almost simultaneously, several heads turned toward Kyle.

Their eyes practically glowed with even greater admiration.

Apparently, having a battalion commander capable of predicting their opponents’ movements and making preparations ahead of time was enough to make these first-years feel borderline invincible.

Kyle’s temple twitched.

Those gleaming, hero-worshiping eyes were doing absolutely nothing except stressing him out.

”Hohoho!”

Beside him, Princess Kira threw her head back and cackled, her booming laughter echoing throughout the underground chamber as she flipped her hair with pride on behalf of her incredibly smart friend.

Kyle slowly exhaled and rubbed his forehead, somewhat thankful that Noah wore practically the same expression he did.

At least he wasn’t the only one finding this entire situation bizarre.

For the most part, he really would’ve preferred sitting back and executing someone else’s orders instead of having to tax his brain like this!

Still, he couldn’t deny that his identity gave him certain advantages his own boss didn’t currently have.

Everyone knew Kyle was a Nox.

Unlike Xavier, who would start looking increasingly suspicious if he demonstrated far too much knowledge about Imperial military infrastructure, Kyle had a perfectly reasonable excuse for knowing things like the specifications of deployed energy shields.

He could even casually point out that underground bunkers and tunnels still had to comply with Imperial building codes, meaning there were certain structural requirements and vulnerabilities they could predict without ever having visited the facilities themselves.

So when Kyle suggested that Battalion 9 focus on its strengths instead of running around the open desert like most of the others, nobody looked at him as though he were spouting complete bullshit.

Though admittedly...

The fact that Princess Kira was terrifyingly effective in close-quarters combat probably did even more to convince everyone that concentrating their operations underground was an excellent idea.

”I’m hoping I’m wrong,” Kyle finally spoke up, his calm voice cutting through the excited chatter, ”but at this rate, those struggling battalions will probably start turning underground as well.”

”...?”

Surprised murmurs immediately spread through the bunker.

Kyle crossed his arms and leaned back against the metal console behind him.

”As I’ve already said, their problems were always going to snowball from the first day. We’re fortunate we secured additional resources early and have only been using them when necessary because we chose this strategy from the beginning.”

His gaze swept across the gathered cadets.

”Meanwhile, everyone else is fighting over resources that are rapidly disappearing. If they couldn’t defeat the Caldris Hostiles when they still had most of their equipment, ammunition, and energy reserves intact, how can they expect to do better now that they’re operating under increasingly dire conditions?”

Several cadets slowly nodded.

”So if they want access to more resources,” Kyle continued, ”their most practical option is to target opponents they can realistically defeat. And by raiding another battalion, they aren’t only replenishing their own supplies. They’re also reducing that battalion’s ability to compete for the remaining objectives.”

Ideally, that second part wouldn’t have mattered nearly as much.

Unfortunately, Kyle was a grounded and painfully realistic person.

And after seeing those extraction prompts appear one after another earlier, he was almost dead certain some of the maniacs responsible were their own friends!

”And if one of those weakened battalions somehow gets its hands on an objective,” Kyle added, ”whoever has already been tracking them could simply steal that too. If they’re down to a third or less of their operational mechas, it probably won’t be much of a fight.”

That was the truly annoying part of this entire exercise.

No matter how impressive their available equipment might be, their limited energy reserves meant nobody could afford to deploy everything whenever they wanted.

Thankfully, Battalion 9 had managed to avoid the worst of that problem, along with most of the dangers posed by the Silver Rain, which Kyle had taken very seriously from the start.

Mostly because they’d spent the exercise moving around like literal sewer dwellers and taking down enemies before those enemies even realized they were there.

After all...

Not even the Caldris Hostiles had expected their opponents to come crawling straight out of the ventilation shafts.

Then again, with Princess Kira leading the charge, those unfortunate enough to encounter them would probably be having nightmares about her particular brand of greeting for quite some time.

To be fair, Kyle hadn’t exactly intended for that to happen.

Still, with such gruesome tales to tell afterward, those specially trained soldiers would hopefully find it a wee bit easier to get over the aftermath of learning they’d been taken down by someone who’d earned the moniker Princess Muscle Muscle, right?

”...”

”...”