Amazing!


    Payne looked at the menu, swallowing his saliva in anticipation of what his eyes were fed with.


    Oh, my Vine God!


    This was torture, seeing the menu options before him.


    They, giants, had a roughly bigger appetite than many in the world.


    The good thing was that their full-course meal pte was indeed filling to one''s belly, as though taking into ount their existence.


    Payne wasn''t the only one who thought so. Even Artemis felt so. And soon, everyone''s meal was brought over.


    So good looking!


    Just the dish arrangement alone made their mouths water. And what was that divine smell that keptparing their senses?


    Artemis'' eyes bulged in disbelief when the piece of juicy stake was crushed and mixed with his saliva.


    Taste Explosion.


    Boom!


    He felt his state buds tingling and his mouth chewing faster and faster.


    Eat. Eat. Eat...Eat?


    (0_0)


    Artemis stared at his now-cleaned dish, wondering what the hell type of meat tasted so good.


    This was the best he ever had! He even wanted to give a personal thumbs-up to the cook who made the dish.


    As expected of a Royal cook.


    They felt the cook should be a one-of-a-kind, a rare talent never seen before in the past hundred years to have made such divine delicacies.


    But where would he have known that many chefs back in Baymard had such good cooking skills?


    Artemis chewed merrily, even thinking of how to fish out such talents and pay them to teach his pce chefs.


    "Your highness Landon... Your cook is truly an extraordinary person. Do you think you could--"


    "Lend them to you?"


    Artemis felt embarrassed but nodded after seeing Landon wasn''t angered.


    "Yes. But not for free. I will pay whatever amount is needed."


    "Oh?" Landon smiled meaningfully. "I have a better option. How about you send others to my academy to learn? The dishes here can be made by many in my academy."


    "Really?" Everyone was shocked.


    How can such holy cooking bemon? Was there some sort of mistake? Or was it just that Omania''s cooking was so bad that everyone else had overtaken them?


    No... It can''t be so because he had traveled to the neighboring continents before. And though their food was indeed superior, it was nowhere near as good as this.


    So it seems the answer lies in Baymard.


    Landon calmly wiped his lips with a cloth, taking his ss in one hand.


    "Hmm... My academy opens its doors to all. So cooking these meals is nothing new. Also, why don''t we drop the formalities?"


    Artemis understood what he meant, Also nodding too. "Then I''ll call you brother Landon."


    Landon was 3 years older than himself.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    Landon was still 20... And this November, he''ll be turning 21.


    Time sure does fly by since he arrived at 15. He too was getting old.


    The 2 conversed during dinner alongside Lucius, Payne, and the others. And soon, they were more or less familiar with each other... Though everyone felt a little more familiar with Landon instead.


    But why? This was probably because he was the ''hidden guard'' that saved himst time. Of course, they didn''t know this, only feeling he was very friendly towards them.


    Like so, their fellows got full, and their minds soon fell into deep thinking.


    They had long left the dining and were in a private meeting space.


    .


    "And that''s what happened."


    Payne narrated everything they went through with a distorted and pained expression. They might be eating delicious meals here, but their people were out there suffering.


    Payne would never forget the day he escaped the city with his family and several others, leaving his father behind.


    His father refused to leave, choosing to fight to the death. He wanted to join his father but was knocked out clean and taken away through the secret vine passage.


    When he woke up, his heart was heavy.


    He was a child. His father had chosen to stay back with those who also decided to stay and buy everyone time.


    Yes!


    If everyone left, who would hold the enemy and give them room for escape?


    Those Adonis bastards came for their empire. Thus, it was important the message reached his majesty on time!


    He sent his subordinates off while following the strange dream that gued him after his father''s men knocked him out.


    The dream weighed heavily in his heart, and he decided to follow it, leading to him meeting the 3rd prince Artemis. And then, the story became fantasy-like moving forward.


    What? They went through all this?


    (0_0)


    Lucius'' eyes shot open when listening to the mysterious journey the group went through.


    Indeed. It was as if something was forcing them to head for Baymard.


    As for the hidden guard who met them, Lucius had a clue of who it was.


    One should know that right from the beginning when Baymard was formed, Landon did have some unknown spies working for him who brought him information about Nopline and many other matters.


    So Lucius and everyone else felt the hidden guard should be the same person.


    The guard didn''t want to be seen and didn''t want his family to be in any sort ofplications, so he liked to remain as a shadow.


    This meant the guy could wall past Lucius in broad daylight, and he would never know.


    If it were someone else, Lucius would reject such a situation since it was vital for all soldiers and guards to be ounted for.


    But since it was someone who has always been with Landon from the very beginning, Lucius turned a blind eye to the matter.


    He had also seen the person appear in full ck before. Not even the person''s eyes and lips were shown.


    Anyway, the person had a deep voice. And sometimes, Lucius also sent some work for the person to do.


    Over time, he understood how this serious hidden guard operated.


    But where would he have known he was talking to Landon all this while?