The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] - Chapter 785

Chapter 785: The First Customer

There were plants.

Green leafy things. Hanging from wooden beams. Crawling across archways. Framing displays. Filling pots. Climbing supports. Draping from the top like they were holding up everything.

Reeve took in the scene piece by piece.

A booth filled with rows and rows of items he couldn’t really identify. There were things shaped like spheres, others like elongated tubes, some leafy, some shiny, and all of them arranged in shockingly neat piles.

The colors alone nearly blinded him. Vibrant reds, deep greens, bright yellows, soft purples, and shades he was fairly certain did not naturally occur in anything he had ever eaten.

He leaned forward slightly.

Well, it definitely looked like a tomato, the same one that’s all over StarNet, but realistically speaking, how likely would it be for him to find one that’s not simply decorative?

The young intern hadn’t entered yet and was simply looking from a distance because entering booths was a commitment.

When the people manning the stalls notice people coming in, they’d usually bite down and never let go. But that was understandable. After all, a booth’s popularity was crucial to a guild’s success.

But Reeve couldn’t help it. The temptation was getting to him because the things on display looked fresh. Very fresh. Unsettlingly fresh. The kind of freshness and liveliness that made him wish they weren’t an elaborate scam.

Then his eyes roamed.

Bottles of liquid in every color of the spectrum lined the shelves beside them, glowing faintly under the lights. He had no idea what any of those were supposed to be. He only knew they looked… cheerful. And organized.

But the whole thing stood in stark contrast to what was beside it.

His eyes drifted to the center.

There was an archway.

A wooden one wrapped in vines and flowers, leading into what seemed to be a tunnel of glass.

“???”

That was really odd. Because he wasn’t certain if he was hallucinating or maybe it was simply a holoprojection, but how come the archway stretched much farther than he expected?

He tried peeking closer, taking two steps forward, only to take one back when he thought he saw more plants inside. More than that, how come he could see warm golden light when the whole expo hall had that cool lighting going on?

Was it… outside?

Inside?

He couldn’t tell.

It protruded from the main booth like a portal to a completely different world.

He stared harder.

What kind of achievements were being highlighted by this booth?

But his thoughts were all scrapped because it was that smell again!

Sniff. Sniff.

He blinked rapidly. Whatever it was, it had to be so close.

Then his attention was drawn to the right side.

To the right was another stall. At least, Reeve assumed it was a stall. He honestly had no idea what it was supposed to be. There were trays of round things, soft-looking things, shiny things, and warm things that released a scent so divine his eyes almost watered.

Sweet.

Warm.

Comforting in a way he couldn’t explain.

The items glowed under the lights, arranged so neatly that they almost looked ceremonial. The jars beside them shimmered in strange colors, each one unfamiliar yet weirdly appealing.

Reeve couldn’t really identify a single thing on display.

But the scent drifted toward him again, curling around him like a gentle hook.

He froze.

But the inviting warmth from this stall made his chest loosen. It was ridiculous. Why did it feel like the place itself was telling him to come closer?

He hesitated for a heartbeat.

Then, ever the traitor, his feet betrayed him.

Before he knew it, Reeve had started walking toward the mysterious stall, drawn in by the smell and the strangely welcoming atmosphere. His earlier caution evaporated like it had never even existed.

He would just take a little whiff—err, look, he would take a—

“AAAH!”

Reeve’s soul flew out of his body.

He jerked so hard he nearly threw his hands up because standing directly in front of him was a person he hadn’t noticed at all. A whole person. Right there!

How long had he been standing there?

How long had Reeve been blind?

Was he under some sort of spell?

It took him several breaths and at least one internal scream before his brain finally registered who it was.

“Hello!” the figure greeted brightly, voice polite, excited, and impossibly cheerful. “Welcome to our booth, dear customer. I noticed you seemed a little hesitant, so I thought I would greet our very first customer myself.”

Customer.

Reeve’s brain lagged. It lagged so hard he almost heard the static.

Customer.

The word repeated again, gentle and friendly, and only then did everything click into place. The universe snapped back into focus. His knees wobbled. His tongue folded in half.

“Y-you… You’re!” Reeve stammered, the words lodged in his throat like substantial rocks.

He didn’t get to finish. The young man before him smiled so brightly that Reeve ended up blinded. With how things were going, he could’ve been convinced to sign off his property without much hardship.

He could only listen as the cheerful cadet continued speaking.

“Dear customer, would you like to try your luck with our booth?”

“Huh?”

That was all Reeve managed. Just one confused sound.

He didn’t know how it happened, but one moment he was standing outside the booth’s perimeter, and the next he was right in front of the stall, his nose being bombarded by so many heavenly aromas that his mouth began watering uncontrollably.

And then it happened.

Either fate was finally being kind to him or the universe was apologizing for every inconvenience he had suffered since morning, because the next words he heard were the sweetest he had ever encountered in his short life as a consumer.

“Sir, as our very first customer, would you like to try both our free samples? Normally, each attendee is entitled to only one a day, but since you arrived first, I believe it is only right to offer you both.”

Reeve blinked.

Free. Samples.

Plural.

He should definitely accept this grace.

Except calling it grace would be the understatement of the century, because the moment the young intern held both of the so-called free samples in his trembling hands, he knew one thing with absolute certainty.

Life would never be the same again.