Isekai Journey Of The Magic Archer

"An this one is for you, big brother~."

"Thanks, little one."

I patted her head after she put the big tea pot and tray of attractive looking tea coups on our table.

"Tell us if any of you need anything~."

She moved to the other side after giving us a cheerful smile with her enthusiastic friends, Taika, and Mirror… oh, right.

\'She really liked Mirror and SanSan.\'

Mirror used a special way of communication and when she used that special technique on Anna, instead of Anna recalling words that Mirror wanted to express, Mirror herself experienced a kind of warmth, a special kind of bliss that she had never experienced in her long life.

\'Mirror got emotional and even started crying.\'

However, since her tears were that of the joy instead of sadness, feeling her overwhelming emotions, even Cradle shed unintentional tears.

\'Both of them felt the kind of joy Anna carries with her regularly. And though it was a completely new kin of feeling, there was no way Aug living being could ever reject that kind of joy.\'

Anna was special not only because of her talent, but also because of the way she saw this world, the way she perceived it, the way even after knowing all the negativity that could exist in this world, she chose to perceive the obvious positivity that existed in this world.

\'Anna had crystal eyes, and also the ability to feel what others were feeling, give them a kiss that would rejuvenate their entire being, the ability to understand things she had no prior knowledge of, and even the ability to heal emotional wounds.\'

She sure had innate talents, but they were yet to materialise in her self that alredy was filled with many special qualities.

Cradle knew at a glance my Anna was special, but even she wasn\'t expecting that specialness to be grater than even mine.

-Oooooong.

"Rein."

"Thanks."

"I will never understand why you two only use those cups. What\'s the special story behind them?" Cradle asked with a curious smile as she picked up a cup for her and President.

The four of us were sitting together for now even though they were supposed to sit on their dedicated places. \'The news of Jen and Ginger\'s engagement was too big for the other ladies so they were interrogating them right now on the central table that I had asked Anna to prepare for exactly these kinds situations.\'

Anna had warned them that they had to go back to their places if they wanted a refil of the tea since there was only one teapot per table.

Their partners and the ones that were going to share their tables with them, mostly the boys or the ones who had no interest in the new couples, like princess Luna, were the only ones sitting by themselves… or the ones that were assigned to their tables.

\'Princess Luna and Captain Alpha were sharing the same table even though none of us told Anna anything about either of them.\'

We all only knew there was a possibility of something blooming among them, but my Anna had figured out there was some kind of warmth between them.

\'And since she had Ast\'s special eyes helping her, she knew all kinds of connections all people currently present in this garden had with the others.\'

And since Ast was here, I finally confirmed the kind of relationship Ezra and Prince Alph who had arrived a moment ago, actually had.

\'At first, I had thought the two of them had some kind of contractual relationship, or some kind of a symbolic relationship where one scratched the other\'s back, but that wasn\'t the case.\'

The two really were in love… like, real love. True love as we called it.

Though, from how they were behaving right now, we can tell they had not realised it themselves.

\'Perhaps their relationship started with something else. Something materialistic. However…\'

Ezra was eating some cake and even though she ate it with proper manners, some of it still remained stuck on her face…

Seeing this, Prince Alpheus chuckled with a little laugh, moved his own finger around her lips, and wiped away the leftover cream.

And then licked it himself.

\'Others didn\'t see any of it, they were making sure no one was looking at them, of course. But they weren\'t going to get unnoticed by my eyes.\'

Ezra, as a response to that inappropriate behavior, slapped his hand that was resting on the table with a smile… and I swear the way she had smiled just now, the warm smile she just gave him, was one of the prettiest smiles I have seen recently.

The two were close to each other, and though I don\'t know how all this happened… It was good.

A broken heart was feeling the warmth it had lost long ago and a heart that didn\'t know how to work properly was functioning well thanks to these unexpected changes.

"Hmmm… this isn\'t tea."

"Who said it was tea anyway, haha? She calls it <Water of nature> a special brew she came up with after many experiments she did alongside Aunt Haze. It\'s a miracle, not merely some tea~."

Rein was happy right now, she liked everything going on around in this garden. There were more couples present now than there were just a few weeks ago when we first had a group lunch in the academy garden.

Not long had passed since we joined the academy and moved away from the house and still, as we sat here, in this familiar atmosphere and place, everything seemed new with our friends as well as their familiars who now followed our Anna. The evening winds carried the scent of wet earth, blades of grass had droplets of mist that gave birth to the coolness we felt, and the clouds painted in gold as the sun sat on a distant horizon, made the scent of this divine brew made by my little troublemaker more pleasant.

This was a fine evening…

"So, president. How has the world been after \'that\' day?"

Fine enough to talk about the things we have been purposely ignoring until now.

"I knew you might ask."

He sighed and put his teacup down after he emptied it with a long, slow sip. The battle with those cultists happened not long ago and it had been traumatising for both of them. It was not easy for either of them to get back to their daily lives… that was the main reason they went to some personal place where the two could stabilize their mental states. People died on their watch, some of them could have been the students that they had to take care of. We hadn\'t coincidentally come across their base and taken countermeasures.

\'Things could have been very serious if even one of the things had been any different and they knew that very well, thus, they needed some time alone.\'

But it did not mean they had completely isolated themselves.

"The waves created from the epicentre, the Principality, have been more intense than we had expected."

They were direct subordinates of the headmaster, so they knew about what was going on all over the world better than I did.

I had been busy with the preparations of the auction and stuff anyway, so I was practically oblivious to many things.

"After the speech Lord Justin gave, the public opinion of the Principality went down greatly, and there was a much more serious negative impact on everything than they had predicted.

Though, they managed to turn the situation around with their people. Lady Carolina is amazing, actually. She used the momentum from the negative opinions and somehow turned the situation around."

President Zodiac was a good person who did not like the Rakshasas or the demonic human cultists. The loss of life was not easy for him to deal with, especially when the dead did not even have any knowledge of their death.

He did not like how they had died, but as a veteran trained on the battlefields, he was able to come to terms with his own suffering.

\'He\'s strong.\'

He told us how there was chaos all over the world.

How the waves had hit the various places. How the individuals and the nations had used the waves as their weapons or shields against the enemies.

There were many things going on in the world right now that, as we all knew, were not going to get resolved before the grand conference.

"Will it be possible for you to make a report-" n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"I knew you were going to need that, here."

President Zodiac took out a thick document from his storage space and passed it to me openly.

He didn\'t have to worry about anyone seeing or noticing us since we had already cast an illusion barrier when we started this conversation.

"Thank you, president-"

"Oy! I did half of the work to prepare that shit! Thank me as well!"

The detailed report was something he was only supposed to give to the headmaster, however as the one that would be presenting in the grand conference, he knew I would need this information.

And I knew the two of them had made it together already, so…

-Oooooooooong.

"Thanks, both of you."

I placed three boxes before them—two filled with special dishes that they will love, and one with the special cake that we made a few days earlier.

"You have learned how to say thank you~. Good boy~."

Vice president harshly patted my head and without waiting, she first opened the box of the cake.

"Damn~. Even though it\'s cut into pieces, it still looks amazing!"

They knew about the house replica cake that we made already and, as she had asked, I had saved the pieces she had asked me to save for them.

She wanted to be there to see the complete cake, but since they also had to work, they just decided to join us for this tea party.

"Slow, Cradle. Nothing is going anywhere."

"Oh no no, Zod. My patience certainly is going somewhere."

She wanted one of our flower gardens, one that Rein liked the most to be specific, so she picked up one of the flowers from that cut out garden area first. "Hmmm~. Holy lords, Lucifer~. I would believe it if you tell me you are a god of cooking or something now, man~. This is The shit!"

She loved it. That phrasing proved it.

And seeing her all happy and smiling was much better than the quiet version that seemed to have lost all motivation to live.

"Eat slowly. And finish your tea or else that young lady will punish us."

World is a mess right now… but at least, this garden had some peace and positivity.

It was better than the restless, chaotic outside world.

So, I would prefer this garden over any place in this world in a time like this…

"Oh, did we tell you about the black hand?"

And since we had these two with us till the grand auction anyway, it would be fun including them in this fun event as well.