Its been afternoon now and I headed back to the garrison’s cafeteria. The Bruno and the bunch were dilly-dallying but I made haste on my way here.
The one thing that I love about this garrison is ‘lunchtime’.

The guardsmen regiment was the lowest of the military rankings but we were provided with free lunch. The only thing I liked about this regiment so far.

Although the food was not that good but as long as I have some food in my stomach, I was grateful. Today’s menu was a vegetable stew and a loaf of bread. The vegetable stew was bland but still bearable but the only problem I had was with the bread.

That bread was so hard and sturdy that I can bash someone’s head and kill them on the spot meanwhile the bread would still be unscathed. The only way to kill someone with food other than poisoning. I wonder if this was a bread that tasted like a brick or a brick that tasted like bread.

I took a seat on the corner table away from the crowd. It was a little noisy and most of the squad were having the time of their life. I am kinda introvert myself so I am at more ease when I am alone. That’s the reason, I left the squad in a hurry to enjoy my lunch in peaceful-

“There you are!” shrieked out a childish and familiar voice that I didn’t want to hear.
“We were looking for you, all over! You just disappeared in front of us. Anyway, let’s eat lunch together.” said Bruno cheekily and marched with the bunch towards me.

Just when I thought I gave them the slip…
I guess it was time to put this sturdy bread to good use…

I let out a sigh,
“Excuse me but this table is currently occupied, please go to the sit in the next table. There are a lot of other empty ones there.” I replied with an irritated smile.

But they didn’t give a shit.
Bruno sat opposite my seat, Thalia sat beside me and William next to Bruno. They just ignored me like I even didn’t even exist.

“I wanted to have a peaceful meal,” I said as I intentionally let them know my displeasure as I let out a huge sigh.

“You should be grateful that master is letting you having lunch together,” said William with an irritated angry expression.

I wouldn’t even want to be in the same room with you guys, if possible.

“Calm down William,” said Bruno and then turned towards me, “We are a team, Desmond. So we must stick together at all times. That also means even eating lunch as a team.”

This all friendship and team bonding is really weirding me out.

“Talking about team bonding, wheres the Captain?” I asked.
I didn’t see the captain with them, is she still patroling all by herself or what?

“Well, she had to submit today’s report. She told us to start without her,” replied Bruno.

A she’s really a little too duty bounded.
Is she even a human being?

“Anyway this must be a good time, now we can talk a little more openly. So anyway, do you know anything about the announcement earlier?” I asked them in a low tone.

To this, Bruno just scratched his head and had a bit of perplexed expression.

Earlier, the announcement was about a bounty being placed on a bunch of hooligans. It was also a hefty amount of bounty like a really, really crazy amount. If a homeless person gets such a big amount then almost 5 of his future generations, all can live a filthy rich life.

They didn’t explain, what was that relic that got stolen. Although, they were certain that there were multiple people involved and not that a single person alone pulled this feat alone.

Now the main question was what was stolen and who stole it?
To put such a ridiculous amount on a bunch of miscreants was downright outrageous. This marks the questions of why did the military put such an outrageous amount on them. The military had a bunch of elite soldiers armed with enchanted gear left and right to subjugate those hooligans. Also, I saw that security has been raised a lot, the town has been crawling with soldiers.

Are these so-called hooligans, really a powerful bunch that they were even a threat to the military?
What is this relic that was worth such a fortune?

These two questions are the first that been bothering me since the announcement.
Also the fact hearing that big bounty, I been a bit antsy. It’s hard enough in my current situation to buy a simple piece of meat as it is. With that much amount of reward money, I wouldn’t even need to go to work as a soldier anymore.

“Well, good thing you brought this topic. I was about to discuss and I guess, now is a good time,” said Bruno.
“But first-” interrupted Thalia, “You must first eat your lunch~ here you go”
Thalia removed three lunch boxes from her bag and distributed them among themselves.

Bruno had a fancy-looking lunch box as expected from Royalty. William and Thalia had similar but less decorative compared to Bruno's lunch box.

“Thank you, Thalia” thanked Bruno with a pleasant smile.

Thalia had to interrupt when Bruno was about to speak something interesting for a change.
Anyway, I should also focus on my vegetable stew before it gets any cold-

“This looks delicious~,” said Bruno with an excited tone.

The three of them opened their lunch boxes and suddenly, the aroma of the food started to spread within the room.

Thalia’s lunch was salad and a variety of other exquisite fruits.
It looked quite tasty but the real deal was Bruno and William’s lunch.

It had steak tempura with a chicken broth in the side, followed by fried rice and salmon roasted as the side dish. It was still warm and the sweet aroma tickled my nose.

Some of the people in the cafeteria started eyeing in our direction because of the pleasant aroma. Just looking at the texture of the food, I could tell that the food was cooked in perfection. There must be some talented chefs in their family to cook something like this. This looked like food out from a fancy restaurant.

The three of them started to chow down on their food. Their eating style was impeccable as expected from the nobility. Although Thalia was eating mere salad it looked tastier than my cheap vegetable stew.

Bruno and William carefully sliced the steak with the knife and fork and ate one piece at a time. The steak was juicy and a golden honey type substance oozed under the pressure of the knife and fork.

In comparison to the vegetable stew, it was far tastier and delectable. While my vegetable stew looked like that time when I vomited down the alley.

“Oh, I can’t help but notice,” spoke William all of a sudden, “You been staring at our lunch for some time.”

Oh shit! I started to stare at their lunch without even noticing it.

“Oh pardon.” I replied “I can’t help but notice that you guys been eating a lot of oily food. Those things might be troublesome in the near future, to your physique. Well not that, I care if you get fat and sick.”

Phew, thanks to my witty response it won't be obvious now.

But to that William did not reply anything to his defense. I focused on my vegetable stew and somehow it tasted like shit. I shouldn’t have compared this to my vomit, now I had trouble eating it.

Again this time my eyes wandered on to their food, but this time William and our eyes met. I quickly focused on my stew.

William had a smug expression on his face.
He cut a piece from his steak and hold it up in his hand pointing it in my direction.
“Oh, would you like to have a piece?” asked William with a menacing smile.

That bastard was onto me.
I didn’t want his shitty steak, also what’s with that small piece at least it should be a little bigger!

“You are quite generous” I replied with a smile, “But no thank you.”

I would be lying if I didn’t want to taste that but my pride was on the line. Accepting that would mean admitting defeat. I will be forever indebted to this piece of shit and for what? For some fucking piece of meat? I would rather eat this brick of bread down through my nose.

A wide smile appeared on William’s face.
He ate the piece and softly chewed the meat.
“Hmm,” he spoke out, “This tenderly delicious texture is like heaven to the taste bud. Another masterpiece from the head chef, as usual, won’t you agree, master?” he asked Bruno while being a little too over-enthusiastic.

To that, Bruno nodded his head in rhythm,
“I agree. But still, it would taste even better when it was freshly cooked but this is still great. Glad we brought this new lunch box that keeps food warm.”

These assholes are really like flaunt their goodies to have nots. William is a piece of garbage but even Bruno unintentional doing the same, both are bunch of jerks.

I continued to ignore them and focused on my stew instead.
It was really hard to finish but I somehow ate it in a hurry.

William continued his antics,
“Would you like to have a bite?” he asked with a rhetorical evil smug smile.

I really wanted to bash his head with the canteen’s bread.
He has been persistently asking me for some time.
I had enough…

I smiled back at William,
“Oh, you’re so kind,” I replied.

Before William could react, I reached out with my bare hands and grabbed the whole fucking steak from his plate.
I used my bare hands for this, no spoon or fork but a peasant's hands.

“Thanks *nom* a-*nom* lot..” I thanked him while savoring the meat, “This is indeed very tasty *nom*~hmm”

They were not kidding when they said that.

William stood up from his seat in rage.
“You bastard! How dare you take all the meat with your bare hands at that. You even touched and sullied the rice with your dirty hands! You don’t have- blah, blah~” He continued to ramble on and on.

“You are the one who offered me in the first place.” I replied and turned towards Bruno, “By the way, you were talking about that announcement. You know something, right?”

“Oh yes about that announcement,” Bruno began but then he turned towards angry William, “Please stop shouting William,”

William quickly turned tail and obeyed his master like a loyal dog.
I could see his forehead thumping in anger but he bit his tongue and went silent. It was hilarious.

“Alright, where were we… Yes, the announcement…” and so Bruno began retelling the incident in a very serious manner.
We all turned our attention to Bruno.

But the small piece of leftover food on his cheek was making it hard to take his story seriously for some reason.

Sorry for the delay, I was occupied with college festival, although it still going on...
Thanks for reading, I will try to upload more often, in my free time :)
Have a great day