Chapter 170: Mission Preparations

Words : 1430 Updated : Sep 19th, 2025

Chapter 170: Mission Preparations Luca used to be rich. Well, up until about an hour ago. The little money grubber stared into oblivion as he realized what everyone meant when they said that establishing your own guild took a lot of resources. Ollie actually looked at his good brother, who had selected a corner and was sitting dejectedly. It was all because they required a certain level of preparedness to go on such a mission. And the items were bound to be inspected the moment the instructors learned where they would be going for their first mission. Instructor Falco never imagined he’d lose a chunk of his Class A students to the mercenary life when it’s only been a month of classes. Then, he was woken up with an absence notification for four people who were going on a mission to Kestrel Point. The instructor, who had just finished the class, immediately went on a tirade about battle preparedness. It was one thing to go with the military and another to embark on your own mission. The instructor was visibly shaken, especially after learning that they did get the cheapest lot available. If anything, he was hoping they were just saving money for their actual gear. But lo and behold, these kids from the Dungeon Guardians guild hadn’t even converted anything into credits. So, Instructor Falco went ham. And one little money grubber had to part with a big chunk of their auction earnings. If anything, his roughly 130 billion had already been slashed off when they decided to go through with the plan to develop a business front in the Duchy. And while his father was adamant about not asking for a single Star coin, the little money grubber wasn’t about to be unfilial and offered money after learning that building these facilities would in turn allow him to earn more money. So, there went the little dragon’s first 60 billion. But he didn’t panic. With a little bit more than 70 billion left, he was more than just financially stable. The little money grubber was then able to shift his mood. He was fine. Everything was fine. Until it suddenly wasn’t. Because as soon as the necessary paper works were filed for the mission, there came the notice to present their battle readiness. And Luca was dumbfounded. Kyle presented a long and exhaustive list that almost blinded the little chipmunk. And everyone saw him shift from a normal small animal to a horrified prey. "Wha—what is this?" Luca pointed at the offending list that was handed to him. "It’s the usual required list of items that guilds keep in stock to function." Xavier had to explain after seeing Luca’s clearly violent reaction. "We’re new. So they’re expecting us to start preparing and gathering resources before going into private missions." This was why they initially didn’t concern themselves with private clients. Most guilds would work with the military first until they amassed enough wealth to slum it on their own. But they clearly weren’t a normal guild with a normal trajectory. And so their first mission was a search and rescue operation in one of the recently infested planets that guilds have started avoiding. So, to no one but their leader’s surprise, they would have to prove their ability to do this mission. Which meant spending. It also didn’t help that Luca had no license to operate combination piloted mechas and would have to work with his manual mecha for this mission. They had communication and reconnaissance items, ammunition, maintenance gears, tools, and replacement parts. And what was even more alarming was having to rent out a mecha maintenance hanger when they had one back at his space. It was a double expense for the sake of maintaining appearances, and Luca felt brokenhearted. So, what could one Prince do at times like this? Nothing much but to release their own supplies. If anything, these could be traced back to their earlier mercenary missions and should account for a big chunk of the list they had to at least match. Luca saw Kyle marking things off and wondered why. Did he also feel the need to cut costs? "The Captain said to bring out our supplies for the inspection, so I’m checking off the items that we already have. "You have all of those?!" Luca was surprised to learn how much of it they already had, including the communication equipment Jax ticked off. "Wait, you also have an entire communication and radar system?" Ollie asked as he looked at the crossed-off items. "Yes, because I could just have one delivered. Why would I pay my father for this? Isn’t this part of child support?" Jax looked up at Ollie’s dumbfounded face as he always remembered what his father said about parenting. One must always try to give the best to the children when possible as they never asked to be brought into this world. And this was also his policy as he took care of his children. Ollie, on the other hand, could only marvel at how this child support included the most advanced equipment. But then again, his brother Luca was sent a Battleship courtesy of the Duchy when the excited son reported about their first job. In reality, the Duke broke his desk that day as he fretted over his son going into Kestrel Point and wanted to be a stowaway in the ship’s cargo area, just in case. But the mounting list of things to do so that he could protect his son had forced him to stay back. Besides, this was a guild mission, and it would not look good to the assessors if the Duke decided to tag along. However, in reality, one other person shouldn’t be tagging along on this mission. At best, Ollie was supposed to be left by the Battleship as a non-combatant specialist. But he wasn’t planning on staying there when everyone else was allowed to go. "Papa, is that possible? Ollie wants to join us, but aside from keeping him in the space, I don’t know if we can bring him along." Asked Luca, who sought advice from his experienced father. "Well, normally, mechanics stay by the battleship, but it’s not like they’re not allowed to go because sometimes, pilots need immediate support, and the mechanics are just brought in with them." "Should we get him his own mecha?" "Not for now. It would be hard for him to learn how to pilot one right before you guys leave. Just tell him to go with his boyfriend." "Oh, wait. But maybe not. It might be too awkward." Mentioned the Duke, who thought about the fight he had last witnessed, but Luca didn’t hear that as he focused on the positive parts of this suggestion. It’s just that his brother had a boyfriend?! Since when? But the little chipmunk was surprised and decided to go over to his brother to ask. "Brother! I talked to my father, and he said it’s not that unusual. He said you can just go with your boyfriend!" Said the excited chipmunk who almost killed one innocent adjutant. Ollie was surprised to hear this suggestion and narrowed his eyes at the culprit who had taken his innocence! Now everyone thinks he’s got one! What were the cute girls going to think?! Kyle never thought about this part. He always assumed that he’d be able to live it down, but when the Captain coughed ’karma,’ he remembered how he’d dealt with the Orc Princess. "It was a minute-long relationship that ended when your brother dumped me." Kyle had to remember Ollie’s remark lest he open up another half an hour of discussion. "Oh." Luca didn’t think a relationship could crumble this fast and had to look over at Xavier to wonder if he should also expect such a thing as part of the norm in this world. "That’s a shame then..." Luca trailed off. "No, it’s okay. I’ll reinstate him for this mission because he owes me this much!" My innocence! Thought the indignant mop, who glared daggers at the adjutant who really, really wanted to protest but was cut off by his Captain. "You couldn’t even last longer than a minute?" Asked Xavier, who had an amused smirk on his face. "Why yes, Captain, I learned from you!" Said Kyle, who had to avoid an ice spear being thrown his way. This life was really unfair! Thought Kyle, who wondered just how many times he would be dumped to atone for this Karmic punishment?!

Chapter 170: Mission Preparations

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