**Flight**

I didn’t feel like using that ominous passage again, so I took an alternate path.

That’s right, I flew back to the castle’s yard.

On landing, I stretched my arms toward the sky, imitating a gymnast after a successful somersault. A gardener tending to the hedges looked at me and immediately went back to work, seemingly unfazed. The staffs of the castle were accustomed to my random behaviors, and they learned to ignore them.

I entered the audience chamber. Previously, the witness of Ozen’s massacre delivered his report in this room. However, the area had been reorganized to fit a large table capable of sitting a hundred subjects. It would be used tonight, after the battle, to hold a banquet in honor of our victory.

For now, though, it was used to serve lunch.

“Big Brother Lynch! You’re right on time!”

**Goddamn she’s cute.**

The high-pitched voice that just called out to me belonged to Tanya, the princess of the kingdom. She was wearing a frilly pink dress and her silky-smooth brown hair was tied in two pigtails.

On first look, she might have looked like a young child. However, the truth was that she was a teenager of 15 years of age. Which meant she was more than old enough to get married.

The reason for that inconsistency was the king’s overprotective attitude toward his daughter. Indeed, he dressed her in a childish manner to fend off any potential aspirants that could ask her hand in marriage.

With time, even her manner of speech was affected, which explained why she was calling me Big Brother.

Her growing breasts were already difficult to contain within her childing dress. It made her look like a grown-up cosplaying as a magical girl.

My lovely wife Anastacia was seated as well. She was an excellent cook herself, but she also loved to spend time with the royal family. We were close friends, after all. So, she was awaiting lunch while happily discussing with the king and his entourage.

“Sweetheart,” she said, wearing a worried look. “I looked all over for you, what were you doing?”

“Not much, I just went to visit Old Man Humfrey.”

She exhaled a sigh of relief, “Thank goodness, I thought you went ahead to scout the enemy.”

“Hmph! Even I wouldn’t do something so reckless!” I retorted.

“He totally would,” said a young man. “And he would also wipe out half of their troops as a welcome present.”

This young man was named Léopold. He was princess Tanya’s blood-tied older brother, as well as the heir to the royal crown. He was a tall and handsome young man with light brown hair and charming features. He was talented with the sword and wielded powerful magic for someone so young.

With such an extensive range of qualities, it was a given that his personality would turn out slightly rotten.

“Hey, what’s taking so long for the food to arrive? It’s noon already, I’m a busy man, you know!”

**You’re not even going to take part in tonight’s battle. Instead, you will hide in the shelter with the women and children, even though you’re definitely old enough to fight. Busy man? More like: spoiled kid!**

The prince picked up his silver spoon and started looking at his own reflection on the back of the utensil. After a moment, he put the spoon back in its place on the table with a dissatisfied wince.

My personal guess was that he didn’t like his portrait on the distorted reflection on the back of the spoon.

As if to prove my point, he was now holding his knife in front of him looking at his reflection with an annoying smug.

His expression suddenly changed.

“Lynch, sir,” he started politely, his eyes almost sparkling. “Could you please take a moment to describe the magic spells you are planning to use for tonight’s battle?”

While he was awfully narcissistic, he had great respect for me. Understandable, if I may say so myself.

**Might as well indulge him a bit. He’s still a kid, after all.**

“For the opening, a blazing fire spell will be necessary to lighten up the mood. By then, these mutants should be running away the tail between their legs, but if they don’t… Let’s see, an ice spell sounds nice. I could block their escape routes while turning them into ice statues!”

“Oh!” shouted Élise excitedly. “And then I’ll snipe their boss from miles away and take him out!”

Obviously, Élise was there. She would not miss lunch, even if the fate of the world depended on it.

“Shut up, you useless elf!” I snapped. “The battle will be over before you can even shoot your first arrow.”

**Thinking about it, he might have gotten his rotten personality from imitating me.**

I seated myself next to my gorgeous wife. The gang was all here, as hungry as I was.

“A toast, to the Crown’s Overseers' first battle!” proclaimed our king.

“Hey, you’re right, our squad has never been in a single battle since our creation five years ago!” I realized. “This will be something to remember. Cheers!”

“Cheers!”

“You seem to have forgotten that the purpose of the Crown’s Overseer is to protect the people from internal threats, not external ones,” reminded Lilliana., serious as ever. “To make sure someone like Arkosh never claims the crown again.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I sighed. “But just look at our current king’s hairline. Do you feel threatened? The only one that should feel afraid is him. Afraid of going bald.”

"Still, you're gonna kick their asses anyway, right?" asked a worried Leopold. "Even if it's not your job?"

"Of course! Do not despair, young man! My arrows shall-"

"Oh, the food's here!" I couldn't handle any more of her shameless bragging, so I created this diversion. Élise would choose food over anything else.

After that, we all shared an uneventful meal with the royal family and a few insignificant extras.

I didn’t eat much, because, in fact, I absorbed mana continually. Indeed, mana, being a form of energy, could pretty much sustain the body by itself, at least energy-wise.

On the other hand, non-magic users were stuffing their faces like there was no tomorrow. And by non-magic users, I meant only Élise, Rich and Albert, because the princess and the queen, being royalty, were obviously eating elegantly. Even the insignificant extras did a better job of keeping their composure.

After the meal, Élise went back to training archers, Rich and Albert continued helping with the preparations for tonight, and Lilliana, well I didn’t know what she was up to before lunch, but it was probably some witchcraft potion brewing kind of thing. As for myself, I escorted my wife to a room prepared for her in the castle, where she would await the moment of the evacuation to the shelter.