Chapter 1364: A Crime Without Laws

If the Academy’s goal was to challenge the cadets and push them beyond their limits, then at least in one particular person’s case, they’d probably succeeded.

Though this sudden departure from one’s comfort zone might’ve been a little too abrupt, considering that the day of reckoning had arrived a tad bit early, one Imperial Crown Prince now found himself witnessing the moment his little chipmunk attempted his hand at extortion.

Yes, the literal kind.

Now, they were, of course, in a dire situation considering the dungeon rift and everything else they’d discovered, but since two things could be true at the same time, all Xavier could do was bear witness to the occasion on behalf of everyone who’d end up missing out.

He stood as imposingly as his wife had asked him to, despite the overwhelming urge to squish the little extortionist against his chest as Luca earnestly tried his best to demand 100 billion Star Coins all by himself, leaving Xavier to struggle throughout the entire exchange to conceal just how thoroughly amused he was.

Clearly a far cry from the 1 trillion originally demanded by the aggrieved D-29, 100 billion was the amount they’d finally agreed upon after going back and forth for a good while, with Sid having to referee a negotiation he definitely hadn’t signed up for.

The little system had found the amount far too low, but when Luca, much to everyone’s surprise, insisted on making the demand himself instead of letting Kyle or Xavier handle it, D-29 eventually relented, claiming to be honored by its Host’s involvement.

Though, from what one wolfish husband could tell, the real reason for the settlement was that 100 billion was the only figure that didn’t make Luca’s left eye twitch uncontrollably.

Not because it was too low, but because he apparently couldn’t even imagine asking someone for that much money just to be healed...

"How could healthcare possibly cost that much?! He was even treated right there on the ground without so much as a pillow, so how could we charge him that much?"

"..."

"..."

Safe to say, even the blonde who’d wanted to charge at least 500 billion kept his mouth shut, because who could possibly argue against that?

Certainly not them, who weren’t born quite as kind.

Though surprisingly, his little wife eventually accepted the much-reduced 100 billion figure because D-29 made a rather convincing argument that it was partly reparations for a crime against dungeons, one that could neither be properly acknowledged nor punished under Imperial laws that didn’t even exist for such beings.

Therefore, the little system argued that this was their only chance to demand compensation from these allegedly morally gray beings.

"..."

"..."

Even without digging around, it was clear that D-29’s explanation had been heavily influenced by its rather questionable research materials, but that didn’t make it any less effective on Xavier’s earnest wife.

Especially when the little system pointed out one particularly outrageous detail.

"Host! Those disrespectful pirates were practically walking around with a dungeon system’s literal heart!"

"...!"

"Wait! You mean that shard really was part of a dungeon core?!" Ollie exclaimed in similar disbelief.

"Yes! And while that pirate did help you find the contaminated materials and even begrudgingly tried to warn you, he was still carrying a fragment of someone else’s core! We can’t just let that slide, can we?"

And as absurd or unbelievable as that sounded, the claim was actually substantiated when they searched the pirate’s belongings as instructed and discovered what looked like a large shard from a cracked glass ball, one that would’ve been about the size of an Orc’s fist had it remained whole.

And although that might’ve sounded big given the description, it was really nothing compared to D-64’s massive, pulsating red core at the center of that frost-covered tree.

Then, as though all the other impossibilities they were already experiencing weren’t enough, Luca and Ollie ended up rallying around the thought of a malnourished dungeon core, while all Xavier and Kyle could do was nod along at the appropriate moments, offering their respective wives the necessary support during such trying times.

"..."

"..."

Still, despite its allegedly unusual size, the fragment hadn’t even been difficult to find.

Short of emerging on its own, the shard, which was apparently part of a dungeon core, began shining brilliantly the moment it was uncovered, illuminating the dark cavern around them.

At that moment, several questions arose.

How was that even possible when dungeons were usually cleared once their cores were destroyed?

How had this man gotten his hands on such a thing? Worse, why had they found another shard among the contaminated pirates they’d battled earlier? What exactly were they attempting to do with it?!

Had all those people encountered dungeons before? Because for some reason, this was already the second time they’d encountered a dungeon after facing pirates. Was that just a bizarre coincidence?!

And ultimately... What were they going to do now?

Surprisingly, aside from insisting that they regroup as soon as possible, D-29 had also been adamant about finding the remaining shards, if there were any, despite having complained bitterly about how poorly this dungeon’s system had treated them.

But when asked why, Sid informed them that the little system had merely muttered in a crestfallen voice, "It could’ve been any of us..."

Then again, even if D-29 wanted to pretend that this dungeon’s manager didn’t exist, how could it possibly do so when such desperate prompts kept coming? They were even alarming enough that eventually, both systems had no choice but to disentangle themselves from their usual system activities.

[WARNING: UNAUTHORIZED ENTRY DET_CTED]

[NO V_LID ENTRY REC_RD FOUND]

[REQUESTING IDENTIFICATION...]

[UNA_THORIZED SYSTEM SIG_ATURES DETECTED]

[IDENTIFYING...]

[ERROR]

[ERROR]

[REQUEST_NG IMMEDIATE WITHDRAWAL]

[UNAUTH_RIZED SYSTEM ACTIVITY CLASSIFIED AS HOSTILE]

[IN_TIATING INTRUD_R DISPOSAL PROTOCOL...]

Intruder disposal protocol?

The little system certainly had a lot to say about such brazen accusations, but it ended up swallowing every word upon learning why they were being treated that way. After all, if someone had tried to manipulate it so carelessly, wouldn’t it have reacted with even greater hostility?!