Chapter 1282: Right on Time

Sid loudly cleared his mechanical throat.

D-29 paused in the middle of explaining the importance of documenting the trip from optimal photo angles.

"Ahem!"

The little system whirred in momentary curiosity before apparently remembering that it was a professional system with important responsibilities.

"Ah! Right! As an additional note, Host, please make sure to eat a substantial breakfast. Today’s activities might take considerably longer than expected!"

Luca blinked.

"Do orientations for field trips usually take that long?"

"You haven’t returned to the Academy in quite some time, Master Luca," Sid smoothly supplied. "There may simply be other administrative matters everyone needs to catch up on."

"Oh!"

That made perfect sense.

Unfortunately, Luca’s expression soon became slightly worried.

"I wonder if they’ll give us additional schoolwork to finish."

His brows knitted.

"I just hope they’ll still let us go on the trip if we haven’t turned everything in yet."

"They better!"

The aggressive declaration came directly from the dining table.

Ollie was already seated there, enthusiastically stuffing his face as though personally determined to follow Sid’s instructions regarding a substantial breakfast.

"Brother! They better allow us to go, or I’m going to raise absolute hell!" the blonde declared. "Especially when I practically died just so I could attend one field trip! Who even does that?!"

Apparently, Oliver Mylor did.

And perhaps nearly dying for the sake of an Academy activity had genuinely given him a new appreciation for life, because the blonde suddenly stabbed a thick slice of sausage with his fork and held it directly toward the man sitting beside him.

Kyle looked at the offered food.

Then at his lightly bundled wife.

One eyebrow slowly rose.

Normally, it was his little star who preferred being spoiled.

Ollie cleared his throat.

"In light of my recent plight, I’ve come to several important realizations!"

His chest puffed out proudly.

One stubborn little antenna of blonde hair stood almost perfectly upright above his head.

"Among them is the fact that I should also take the time to personally ensure my husband’s well-being with my very own hands!"

Kyle’s dark eyes glinted with amusement.

"Really?"

"Of course!"

The fork moved insistently closer.

"You can expect the exact same treatment at school from now on. We are already married, after all!"

Apparently, that settled everything.

Kyle obediently accepted the sausage, fighting the easygoing smile threatening to spread across his face while his mop of a "husband" looked absurdly proud of himself.

And perhaps Kyle would’ve teased him about it too, had an incredibly heavy sigh not suddenly drifted across the table.

"Haaaa..."

Everyone turned.

Jax sat there looking absolutely miserable.

The redhead would’ve never imagined he’d sink into such a pathetic state over breakfast, but apparently life had decided to humble him.

He wanted to do sweet things for his partner too!

Unfortunately, Killian had his own duties that morning, while Isabelle was similarly occupied with the extremely important responsibilities of a Queen Bee.

Which left Jax sitting there surrounded by couples and somehow discovering the unexpected tragedy of becoming an nth wheel.

How had his life come to this?

Thankfully, Jax’s unusual but thoroughly dramatic wallowing didn’t last much longer, because one Orc Princess was about to discover a rather concerning truth about her own Bunbun.

Since the group had been absent from campus for quite some time, they couldn’t exactly appear out of nowhere inside one of the Empire’s most secure educational institutions without properly logging their arrival. Thus, instead of simply using the dungeon space to bypass the journey, everyone had to travel there normally.

And it was during that brief moment of leaving the dungeon to travel like regular students that Princess Kira received a chaste kiss and a small wave.

Naturally, the Orc Princess was surprised.

Very pleasantly surprised!

At least, she was until she realized that not only was Elior not in the same uniform, but said Bunbun wasn’t actually moving to join them.

"!"

"!!!"

__

Safe to say, Princess Kira’s hysterics followed them throughout the entire journey.

They continued inside the hovercraft, persisted all the way to the Academy gates, where an unusual number of people immediately began staring at their group, and somehow survived right up to the front steps of the main building.

"I can’t believe I forgot!"

"Yes, Your Highness."

"My Bunbun isn’t even a student here!"

"Yes, Your Highness."

"How did I forget something like that?!"

Ada eventually had to grab the Orcish Princess by the arm and practically drag her along.

By the time they passed through the massive double doors, following a route that was mostly familiar to Theo and occasionally Noah, Kira looked like she was physically wilting with every step when just some time ago she had been one of the most excited ones about the whole field trip.

Several instructors stationed near the entrance to receive the returning students watched her pass with unusually constipated expressions.

Of course, it wasn’t that they were unhappy to see the infamous guild finally returning to campus.

They just couldn’t help but worry when nothing had even started yet, and the Princess of another nation already looked miserable enough that someone might accuse the Academy of doing something to her!

Unfortunately for them, none of those strange looks managed to faze the already despondent Princess, who currently couldn’t bring herself to care about much of anything.

Much less Luca.

The golden-eyed cadet walked through the Academy with a newfound confidence and obvious excitement that, for some inexplicable reason, only made several people around him flinch instead.

He was far too busy thinking about the upcoming trip to pay much attention to the whispers following their group, unaware that there were certainly plenty of them.

After all, while their rather preoccupied guild leader hadn’t noticed, the members of DG had somehow become the Academy’s resident mythical students.

Everyone knew they existed and had certainly heard plenty about them. But outside the cadets who’d actually shared classes with the group before their lives became far too busy, complicated, and heavily monitored for regular attendance, quite a few students had never actually seen most of DG walking around campus in person. Much less as a complete group.

So naturally, people stared.

Luca didn’t mind.

At least, not until his unusually sensitive ears picked up one particular topic.

Money.

"I told you!" someone whispered to a friend, clearly attempting and failing to keep their voice low enough. "Members of DG actually came!"

"Tsk!" another student groaned. "I lost the bet..."

"See? I told you, just because nobody from the Logistics Division is in DG doesn’t mean they don’t actually exist!"

Luca blinked.

A bet?

The curious students continued sneaking glances at the ridiculously conspicuous group now occupying the exact same hallway as them.

Xavier, on the other hand, looked thoroughly disinterested, as though the crowd barely registered to him. Still, he remained quietly vigilant, keeping a watchful eye on his little chipmunk despite his outward indifference.

Perhaps sensing his gaze, Luca happened to look up at that exact moment.

Then he smiled.

The Prince’s expression immediately relaxed as his wife actually came to a few realizations.

See?

Going back to the Academy wasn’t so bad!

Luca didn’t even feel the need to constantly listen for trouble or remain overly cautious around everyone anymore. Compared to some of the schools he’d encountered back in Tesseris, the students here were actually quite nice.

There may have been a few less than pleasant encounters at the start but now, they were mostly just curious.

So when Luca noticed the group who’d been talking about them watching from farther down the corridor, he cheerfully raised a hand.

"Hi!"

"!!!"

Several students nearly stumbled straight off the nearby ledge.

Luca’s hand froze halfway through another wave.

Why were they suddenly scrambling away like frightened mushrooms?!

Apparently, the students hadn’t considered the possibility that the leader of DG could hear their supposedly discreet conversation from that far away.

Like far, far away.

And now he’d not only heard them betting on his guild’s existence, he’d smiled at them.

Thankfully, Ollie immediately provided an explanation.

"They’re just shy. Don’t worry, Brother."

"Oh."

The blonde nodded wisely before adding, with complete seriousness, "Next time, if they’re going to make bets about us, I’ll ask them to inform us in advance so we can take a cut."

The golden-eyed money grubber obviously liked the suggestion too much, however for everyone else...

"..."

"..."

Alas, several nearby students heard that too.

And there was no unhearing that.

Still, at least the members of DG didn’t seem offended by the existence of a harmless betting pool!

If anything, that somehow made them even cooler.

The surrounding students watched in increasing awe as the group continued down the same completely ordinary hallway everyone else used every day.

How come it looks different when they do it?!

It was just walking!

They were taking the exact same steps!

Yet somehow, if any of those students could generate even half that much interest simply by showing up for orientation, they would’ve considered their entire Academy career an overwhelming success.

Unfortunately, DG’s admittedly impressive entrance came to a rather abrupt end once they reached the Main Auditorium.

Luca stopped.

The massive doors remained firmly shut in front of them.

"Huh?"

He stepped closer and inspected the mechanism, wondering whether something had malfunctioned.

Kyle glanced around the corridor.

"All the doors are closed."

Several heads turned.

Sure enough, it wasn’t only the auditorium.

Every nearby entrance appeared to have been sealed.

Ollie’s brows immediately furrowed.

"Huh? They tell us to come here at eight in the morning, and they’re the ones who won’t open the door?!"

Admittedly, that was a perfectly logical complaint.

Regrettably, perhaps Ollie shouldn’t have said it out loud.

Because the instant those words left his mouth—

EEEEEEEE! EEEEEEE!

"?!"

Flashing red lights suddenly flooded the entire hallway.

The blaring alarm followed almost immediately, loud enough to make several cadets instinctively tense as the cheerful atmosphere vanished in an instant.

Then came a much heavier sound from behind them.

THOOOM!

Everyone whipped around.

A massive containment barrier was descending directly in front of the main double doors they’d entered through, sealing off the Academy exit with alarming speed.

"!!!"