The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL]-Chapter 960: A Brother’s Gratitude

But who would have known that the Imperial Princess had a knack for giving gifts?

Because by the end of their laver sheet-making endeavor, one young elf emerged on top with her famous hand shovel.

It was a little too pink and had more gems than anyone would normally expect, but even the Emperor had no qualms about borrowing and using it when the cups they were using proved second-rate compared to the bedazzled equipment that could spread the seaweed perfectly in a single swipe.

Of course, the sight was rather questionable. Towering men stood around using a tiny pink shovel with intense concentration, but at the same time, it made several elves extremely thankful.

Prince Elior watched quietly from the side.

Right now, his little sister, Princess Marin, was positively beaming every time someone came over to borrow her precious shovel.

They would introduce themselves to her politely, and she would gladly hand it over while offering a few tips with surprising seriousness.

At the moment, she was speaking to one particular man.

Minister Kordell Nox.

The tall minister bent down slightly so he could hear her better as the young princess demonstrated with great care.

"This much!" Marin said, holding the shovel carefully in front of her.

Then she squinted, reconsidered, and adjusted the imaginary scoop in mid-air.

"Thiiiiis much, Minister!"

She stretched the word as she tried to show the exact amount with exaggerated seriousness.

Right beside her, Princess Nina suddenly let out a dramatic sigh.

"It was knowledge obtained through hardship," she declared solemnly.

The white-haired girl looked absolutely devastated as she said it, as though the road to discovering the perfect scoop had been filled with unimaginable suffering.

The adults around them couldn’t help but chuckle.

Because the two children looked so serious about something so small that it became irresistibly cute.

Prince Elior watched the interaction quietly.

Then he turned slightly to the side where the Imperial Crown Prince stood.

"Thank you, Your Imperial Highness."

The words seemed to come out of nowhere, but Elior said them sincerely.

Seeing his sister like this... it meant more than anyone could imagine.

Earlier that day, Marin had been terrified. He had seen it clearly.

And Elior had felt helpless, because he himself had only learned how to deal with his own fears and demons after growing up and enduring far more than he wished to remember.

So seeing Marin now, chatting with strangers as though she had known them for years when she had only met them a few hours ago...

It was something he hadn’t expected.

Xavier answered simply.

"Don’t thank me. I didn’t do anything."

Then after a brief pause, he added,

"Thank my wife. Or my sister."

Prince Elior let out an amused scoff.

It was exactly the kind of answer he expected from the prince, whose expression rarely changed unless his wife was nearby.

"I’m definitely thankful to them."

Even as he said that, his gaze remained on Marin.

Earlier, the girl had practically collapsed onto the floor when Elior introduced Princess Kira as his fiancée. The child had rolled away in panic and fled into a room so quickly that he momentarily thought she had some kind of issue with the idea.

But now...

Now Marin stood proudly with her tiny shovel and had even gathered enough courage to approach Kira on her own. She looked like she was one breath away from exploding, but she still took a step forward anyway.

That alone said a lot.

After staring at the scene for a moment longer, Elior glanced back at Xavier.

"I’ll never forget their grace," he said quietly. "But I’m also thankful because you asked to borrow it first."

Xavier looked at him.

"With your abilities and resources," Elior continued, "you wouldn’t have needed to borrow anything from a child. But instead of asking your wife, you went to my sister."

He gestured toward Marin.

"And suddenly everyone started noticing her."

It had been such a small action.

But the moment Xavier approached Marin to borrow the little shovel, the entire group turned their attention toward her.

And after that, people began approaching her one by one.

Prince Elior shook his head faintly.

"No wonder the Imperial Princess is so capable with a brother like that."

Xavier simply replied,

"Mn."

Elior couldn’t help but chuckle softly.

He shook his head, thinking that the man truly was an ice prince.

Glacial.

And yet, extremely clear-cut.

__

But unbeknownst to the Elven Prince, the Glacier of Solaris was more than just sharp.

He was also extremely versatile.

So much so that when they encountered a rather complicated situation later that day, it was the said heir who managed to find a solution.

And it all started when one blonde asked for what was possibly the fourth time,

"Is it ready yet?"

Turning into goop and letting his hair antenna droop in a similarly miserable fashion, a certain Oliver Mylor led the charge as he asked his good brother when they could finally start making the rice rolls he had spoken about earlier.

See, for a few hours, Luca had managed to distract everyone from their growing impatience by giving a short lecture on what they were about to cook and by having everyone prepare the most common ingredients they would need.

That worked pretty well for a good while.

But it was hard for questions not to pile up when everyone had already seen their future with those rice rolls and rice balls.

They just hadn’t expected five hours to feel like ten years, even inside the dungeon space.

Now, being surrounded by so many sighs wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to handle, especially for Luca, who hadn’t anticipated this kind of turnout.

What was he supposed to do then?

However, just as he was racking his brain for answers, he suddenly heard his favorite voice.

"Then your oysters, when are you planning on checking on them?"

It was Xavier.

The Crown Prince had just finished helping with the rice preparations when he casually brought up a topic that had been completely forgotten in the excitement.

The oysters.

After all, with everything that had happened earlier because of the sudden threat of eutrophication, Luca had completely pushed that matter to the back of his mind.

And the moment the reminder reached him—

The little money-grubber gasped.

It was as if lightning had struck him.

"My oysters!"

Without wasting another second, Luca dashed off and hurried toward the containers where their precious haul had been kept.

Several people watched him with mild curiosity as he carefully retrieved one of the oysters and held it up with obvious delight.

The shell was rough and uneven, but to Luca, it looked like treasure.

And honestly, it probably was.

"Host!" a cheerful mechanical voice suddenly prompted.

One little system had been observing the scene closely.

"What are we going to do with this animal?"

Luca blinked.

Then he looked down at the oyster in his hands before his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Oh! Remember the slight differences and random masses you managed to scan earlier?" he said excitedly. "Those would have to be the pearls! So we’re going to go and get them!"

"I see," D-29 replied immediately.

Then the system paused for a moment.

"But how?" 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

It was a completely legitimate question.

And it was at that exact moment that Luca realized something very important.

He had a problem.

How exactly was he supposed to do this properly?