Isekai Journey Of The Magic Archer

"You looked pretty though. Wasn\'t that good?"

"Good? What\'s good? People seeing me like that?"

"Yes?"

"You\'re out of your mind."

"For you, of course. I\'m out-."

"Get a room, you two."

-Dhup. Dhup.

Tia came from the behind and slapped both of us on our backs.

"Leave them, Tia. Let them have their little moment while they still can."

Then Lizzy grabbed her before she could slap me once again, and dragged her back to the rest of them.

She was happy right now and we all knew how she behaves whenever she is happy like this so we had to stop her from doing anything else at least this time.

"Right, today is unexpectedly crowded here."

The general classes were over so it was lunchtime and that meant that the rest of the school was now either gathered in the cafeteria or in the garden.

\'Us, as usual, were in the garden.\'

And for some strange reason we weren\'t the only ones in our usual place today.

"Are they all here for lunch with us?"

"Seems to be the case but, let\'s wait until Alf and Carla confirms it."

Our group usually had lunch in a certain place in the garden and it wasn\'t like it was a price place that we owned.

The academy garden wasn\'t something that anyone owned so, it belonged to anyone that belonged to the academy.

\'The students just used to hesitate joining us for the lunch… a fact that slowly started diminishing.\'

The students at first did not knew how to approach high profile students like us, then when they started getting closer to us through the classes and regular interactions, they understood we weren\'t anything like a private group and accepted anyone that wanted to dine with us, but still there was always this hesitation in them that joining us for lunch would cause them inter or some external problems.

\'We all house captains and vice captains were close alredy, and though our group wasn\'t the only high profile group, our members included most of the captains of the houses.\'

They were legitimately the only Students that held any kind of known authority in this school, so they were practically the most important students.

But that did not mean they were the only important people present in this academy.

"Oh, they\'re here."

"What\'s the situation, Alf. Are they really here to join us for lunch? Are they going to pay for their lunch as well if they want us to feed them?"

There were many societies or more like clubs in this academy that were made of various factions and all of this had started a few weeks after the academy started.

\'The great academy was an institution that focused on the equality of all individuals.\'

From the side of the academy, there was no discrimination or any kind of prejudice when it came to any of the students.

There were rules and regulations, and they were all the same for all the students that were part of this academy.

\'But still, the outside world exists. And it will always have some kind of influence in a place where some of the most important young individuals of the world gather.\'

Just like how there were people from various noble houses and factions of various continents gathered around the individuals that came back from the annual alchemy competition, the people gathered here were pretty much the same.

"You know what, let\'s have them for today."

"What?!"

"Lucifer! Even you can\'t feed all of them for free! I understand you have a lot of money but feeding others isn\'t something you are obligated to do!

Especially if the ones in question are bastards like these!

And-."

"At least keep your voice down Tia."

"Why the hell should I?! These bastards are here to leech off of you AND waste our time at the same time!

You know they don\'t have any pure intentions and you still want them here?! How noble of you!"

She was being sarcastic, but she had a point that even Luna agreed on.

"Master Lucifer, I think we shouldn\'t-."

"I\'m not saying we will feed them for free."

They were misunderstanding something here.

"Yup. Don\'t ever think for even a second this bastard would do something like that.

He knows what his cooking is worth and he knows what sharing it means.

Bitches and sonnovabitches like these aren\'t something he would feed for free even if he was the richest in this world."

Rein knew me well and thanks to her words, they were able to see the smile I had on my face for a while.

"Oh, oh I see. You had that smile… I almost missed it."

"Luciferrrrrrr! That smile! Does that mean-…!"

"Stop shouting, Tia."

This time, even Med had to jump in and help Lizzy.

Holding back an overexcited little fairy like her wasn\'t an easy task in any way.

Only a few here could do it, and we appreciated their efforts every time this little friend of ours was happy like this.

"Ahem. So, as I was saying… let\'s have lunch now, shall we?"

The general classes were over and there was pretty much nothing to do for the next hour or so, so it was best to have the food that we so eagerly needed after all those long classes.

"Who\'s going to help me today?"

"Oh! Ohh! That would be Quin and-."

"Don\'t you say that again! She already helped the last time!"

"That last time was more than a week ago! And she wants to help, just look at her!"

Tia was one hell of a headache and everyone loved her exactly for that… but she was wrong this time.

"Let her be this time… Alf, Hide, come. Help me."

"Hmm? Sure…?"

The two of them were the only ones that looked like they were free enough to help me since the rest of them were either dealing with the crowd were doing something that was more important to help me prepare food for this many people.

"Hey, darling. I\'ll be back in a minute."

"Take your time."

There as a concerned look on her face all of a sudden but I knew she also saw something going on with a bunch of students some distance away from us and though it was none of our business, since this something involved one of her housemates that was among the ones that took part in the competition, she had to resolve that.

"So, what\'s on the menu~."

Lizzy was excited and so was my little Zoe.

"Whatever you want, actually. Since I\'m making something for so many people anyway, it\'s best to just make something that everyone will like, no?"

Luna and Med were taking turn distracting Tia so she didn\'t come here and mess things up, and since she wasn\'t very good with this kind of bunch that were already being pressured by the individuals from the outside, there was no way they were going to let her talk with them.

"You know what Lucifer… hear me out."

The people here weren\'t evil or bad, they were only following the orders from the people behind them.

\'At least, not all of them were here because they wanted to.\'

The air under this tree is particularly refreshing thanks to the grace of the Bee Queen, but… today was different.

There was a strange pressure in the air and even though the students were all having pleasant conversations, it was all only a bravado.

They weren\'t happy to be here, they weren\'t here for the food, they weren\'t here to talk among themselves, and they weren\'t here to enjoy their food with us.

They were here for something that they were asked to do, or something that they just selfishly wanted, or something that ultimately wasn\'t the same as the few normal ones that were only here because of their curiosity.

"You want me to do that? There are a few normal ones here as well though."

There were people with ulterior motives, and there were people who actually wanted to dine together with us.

That was the reason I wasn\'t going to charge them for my food or anything. And since they knew nothing in this world was free anyway, they weren\'t going to just eat My food for free.

"Look here, friend. We can deal with a few but to deal with majority, even if we do not do anything today, we will have to do something sooner or later.

It\'s just better to start right now so that we… so that You don\'t have to suffer in the future.

Money is only a resource. And resources are always limited."

Lizzy was good when it came to dealing with people. She had gained a good experience after the incident in Lakmer and she was ready to walk the thorny path of a Saintess now.

"You have a point…"

The rest of them were dealing with the crowd so I at least know there won\'t be any conflict sparking here, and thanks to all the house captains being here, they weren\'t going to do shit to one another even if something happens between them.

"Alright then. Let\'s have a chat with all these new Friends as we eat."

Lizzy was good with the nature of people while Med was good with people and money. With the two of them present here, and of course with the rest of them, putting an end to this situation wasn\'t going to be that difficult.

\'It was getting crowded here anyway, and even if we don\'t do anything about it, the Blue Bee Queen isn\'t going to like this.\'

I didn\'t want them to get hurt at the very least, or else there will be more complicated things to deal with.

And, Rein won\'t like that when we have more important things to do after school time now…