Isekai Restaurant
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Chapter 11: Hunting Trip
- Silas -
We sat in the Restaurant.
There weren't many customers right now.
The oldies group were sitting aside and talking to Ikki about Martial Arts training.
Sakura seemed fine and insisted that she wanted to work so I reluctantly allowed her.
After all, Cid-kun hadn't shown any problems either and we were finally able to conclude that there weren't any ill effects of the process and relax.
Still, this event made me aware of the dangers of other worlds and how even simple things could get complicated so fast.
I guess we were able to use the powers of other worlds quite easily and that made us ignore the hidden dangers.
Like, even with the entire process analysed and completed thrice successfully, we couldn't guess the effect on another person because of different races. We would need to be more careful in the future.
Anyways, it seems like Cid's show of power lit the fire within Ikki. The guy actually thanked us and on talking further, we found out about the guy's background.
Ikki Kurogane, the great grandson of Ryoma Kurogane, a legendary Blazer and a Hero in their country. He was born with an F Ranked Blazer and was thus ostracised by his own father and clan.
They went so far as to force his school not to let him attend any classes so that he fails the exams.
I am pretty sure that the rage on the faces of Hayato-san and others was also mirrored on our faces.
Even Ainz was angry and he normally didn't bother with what happens with others.
I was pretty sure that the oldies group were almost ready to go and give a piece of their minds to his father but were stopped by Ikki who then informed us that the director of his school had changed and the new director was someone who supported him and his dream.
She had given him a chance to graduate this year under some conditions.
It was safe to say that everyone in the group was ready to train the crap out of Ikki.
Finally, Kisuke-san offered him a chance to train under him and while I had my doubts about the mad scientist….the fact still remained that he had never let me down when I needed him.
Ikki has two months till his new school year starts so he will be training under them till then.
He also promised us that he will ask about those chains to the director of his school to help us.
Rimuru and the rest were the last to leave after we discussed the plans for the trip next week.
Finally, only Sakura and I were left in the Restaurant.
There were dark clouds outside. "Looks like it is going to rain." I said taking a look at the sky.
Sakura came to my side and looked outside too.
"I wonder if Lavy is done with her work. She didn't take the umbrella with her."
"Let's hope she comes back in time." I said as we went and sat on the couch.
The TV was airing some shows but none of us were paying any attention to it.
"I am sorry for today, Sakura. I shouldn't have dragged you into such a situation."
"You didn't do anything wrong. It was just a misunderstanding and you helped me out too. I wasn't hurt either. I think I could have broken the shackles if I had used all my power so there was no need to worry."
"Eh….you could?"
"It was just an instinctive feeling. Still, I appreciate you protecting me. Thank you."
I pulled her in a light hug into my side. Suddenly remembering something, I asked. "By the way, what are the abilities of your Earrings?" I asked.
She looked to be in thought and summoned her earrings. "I think it allows me to….manipulate the boundary between reality and imaginary to some extent?"
"Huh?"
"It's….for example, if an attack is coming towards me….I could make that attack imaginary and remove it completely. Although I don't think I can use it on other living beings and there are restrictions for the things I can turn into imaginary things, I need to explore them."
"That's….absurdly powerful. Congratulations, Sakura-chan. You also look very pretty in those earrings." I praised and I wasn't lying either. She did look pretty.
The earrings were purple in colour and matched with her hair and eye colour and suited her well.
She gave me a happy smile at the praise.
"Thank you."
We enjoyed the peace of the moment as we watched TV.
It was after an hour or so that the door to the Restaurant was opened.
"Sakura-chan, Sil-kun, I'm back."
"Welcome back. Please wash up. I will serve dinner." Sakura got up.
"Let me help you out."
And just like that, a while later, all three of us were sitting together for our dinner.
Lavinia found out about the incident with Sakura and spent the rest of the time doting on her.
I smiled when I looked at their interactions. These two really were like sisters and from what I could see, Sakura enjoyed this attention too.
By the end of it, they seemed to be in a happy mood so I decided to broach the subject of my trip with the boys too.
"A trip for a week?"
"Yes. You know how August said that my new magic requires me to use it to fight to progress more. And Ainz and Rimuru think I need more combat experience. We were planning to go to Rimuru's world and hunt there for a week, just us boys."
"That does sound like a good idea. Have fun." Lavinia said while Sakura also gave me a smile.
"Well, the Restaurant will obviously be closed for that time so I was wondering if you two want to stay here or at Zeref's place. I can talk to him if you want."
"Hmm, we can stay at Alvarez. Grandpa August won't mind. His Majesty has gone out to talk to his wife who is also suffering from the same curse as him and he will be returning after a month or so. Till then Grandpa August will be taking care of the castle so it won't be a problem staying there."
"Oh, I didn't know that. Don't worry, I will be back in a week at most."
"Please be careful." Sakura wished.
"Hmm, I will."
"Eh, but that means I will not get to sleep with my favourite pillow for a whole week." Lavinia suddenly said, making my eyes twitch.
"I am not a pillow you know."
"But you are so soft, cool and warm at the same time. It feels nice to hug you when sleeping."
….
….
I don't think I will ever understand what goes on in the mind of this girl.
- Ikki Kurogane -
He waited outside the director's room as he thought of what had happened yesterday.
The Restaurant.
Other worlds.
Monsters.
Espers.
Everything was real.
He hadn't been able to sleep the entire night as he thought about everything and what it meant for him.
Kisuke-san told him that he could help him train and increase his magic power….his greatest weakness. The masters of Ryozanpaku offered help to train him in Martial Arts which used a completely different type of energy….Ki or Life Force.
He, who had been stuck with no path to go forward, always working hard just to go forward by an inch, suddenly had completely different paths open in front of him with no visible ends.
Ikki clenched his hands as a look of determination came to his face.
He would not miss this opportunity at any cost.
He was going to give it his all.
Just as he was thinking about all this, a voice came from inside the office.
"Come in."
"Excuse me." He said as he opened the door to the office.
Kurono Shinguuji was a beautiful slender yet curvaceous woman with short dark hair, multiple bangs that covers her forehead with one that reaches her nose and others on the side of her head that covered some of her hair, tied up into a small ponytail in the back, and yellow eyes.
She often had a laid back attitude towards doing things.
But only a fool would underestimate her.
The World Clock was a name that was enough to strike fear in many blazers of the world even after her retirement from the frontlines.
Beside her was another woman.
Despite her childlike appearance, Nene Saikyo was the same age as the director and her rival.
They were both top level blazers.
"Yes Kurogane-kun, what can I do for you?" She asked with a smile.
"I…." He hesitated a bit. "I wanted to ask something."
"Oh?"
"Recently….well, I encountered someone, another Blazer. He was training and something strange happened."
"Hmm? What kind of strange thing are we talking about?"
"It's….well some kind of strange black chains appeared and seemed to be binding them."
He observed that the director's face took on a serious look and even Nene-sensei became serious and sat straight in her seat.
"Explain everything in detail."
Ikki had already thought of a story with the rest of the people at the Restaurant.
"Yesterday, I was out for my usual run when I saw this guy training with devices which looked like crowbars near the lake. He was training and every time he attacked during training, some kind of chains appeared around him as if restricting him. On asking him what those chains were, he said something confusing like the world trying to stop him and fighting against the world alone. I didn't understand anything."
The two women looked at each other and then back at him.
"And this happened near the lake?"
Ikki nodded.
"How did the guy look? What age was he? Give us all the details." Nene-sensei said. "Don't miss out on anything."
"Hmm, he was wearing a black hooded cloak so I couldn't see his face but he was slightly shorter than me. From his voice, he seemed young around the same age as me or maybe he just had such a voice but I can't say for sure."
"And his device?"
"It was a pair of crowbars."
"Crowbars? Really?"
"Yes. I am pretty sure."
"What else happened?"
"I waited there for a while but didn't see any changes. It's just that everytime he tried attacking, the chains bound him and seemed to be restraining him somehow. After that I just left the place as it was getting late for dinner."
"I see. Thank you for the information, Kurogane-kun. If you see that person anywhere, please inform us."
"...was he some kind of criminal?"
"No….not that we know of. There was an….incident at the same lake later yesterday night. When we reached there, things seemed normal but on investigation, we found that there was a large blast inside the lake and yet, someone refilled the lake and fixed everything. There was no damage so the person was not declared a criminal but we might be looking at a potential A Ranked Blazer….or someone worse."
"Worse? What exactly is going on, sensei? Who was the guy and what were those chains?" He asked.
"Those chains….were exactly what the boy told you." She explained after letting out a sigh and explaining. "As you know every blazer has a fixed amount of Magic Power which they can't increase by any training. This also determines the rank of a Blazer and is a very common knowledge taught in the academy."
He nodded.
"Well….that's not exactly true."
"Eh?"
"This is extremely classified information and the only reason you are even hearing this is because you saw it with your own eyes. Even then I am pushing the lines so keep this just to yourself."
He nodded.
"You see, every person is bound by the world or fate as you call it and their power is decided at birth. Fated as they say. But there are some individuals who do not accept this. They struggle and train beyond anything, fight and drive their minds and bodies beyond their limits to escape from the life fate has ordained them. The chains you saw were the same chains, the chains of fate, the bindings on the power and potential of a person. It only becomes visible when someone has trained their devices to their limits and cannot progress any further. They start straining against the chains, the restrictions the world has put on them. This process is called Awakening or achieving Brute Soul….and the ones who can achieve this are called….Desperados." Sensei explained.
"Achieving "Brute Soul" is when a Blazer overcomes fate and transforms their soul into a person not bound by fate, and so it is called that because it is like having the soul of a beast. A Desperado using the power from undergoing "Brute Soul" too much will result in their body changing to match the shape of their changed soul and they will also gain enormous power in exchange for losing their humanity." Nene-sensei added ominously.
Ikki took a few moments to digest the information. This was quite similar to
"You don't need to be afraid. Most of the top Blazers in the world are all Desperados. Nene herself is one." Director said and this made him turn towards the other teacher in surprise while she just smiled at him.
"Actually, even your Great Grandfather was one and he was one of the strongest."
His eyes widened at the new information. Then again, it made sense. His Great Grandfather was someone far beyond the levels of even A Ranked Blazers. Such Magic Power….it was not normal at all. So this is how he had obtained it.
He looked at the director. "So….if I become one, a desperado, can I increase my magic power too? Will there be any side effects to such a power?"
They stared at him for a moment and nodded their heads. "You can increase your power like that but becoming one is not easy. There are very few of them in the world. The number of Desperados in the entire League can be counted with two hands with fingers to spare….that's how hard it is to become one. Whoever that boy was….he was not normal. In fact, none of the desperados are simple."
He nodded but in his mind, he already knew what he wanted to do next.
"I would like to apply for a leave till the start of the school year." He said in a determined voice.
- Silas -
I woke up the next morning with a soft feeling on my face.
On opening my eyes, I saw Lavy hugging me, my face smothered by her breasts. Her legs were wrapped around my body and I could feel her soft breathing on the top of my head.
As usual she was wearing my shirt, not that it was hiding anything with the buttons unbuttoned.
She was with Sakura, wasn't she?
I was tired yesterday after everything that had happened and went to bed early while the two girls had gone to take a bath. I thought they were going to sleep together.
Did she slip in later at night or was she sleeping here all the time?
Eh, who cares.
I hugged her too and sensing my movements, she hugged me tighter against her breasts and I enjoyed it to the fullest extent.
If she didn't mind, why should I?
I was already over being embarrassed with something like this after the first few times. Now, I just enjoyed myself.
Too bad we had work to do so I couldn't indulge myself for much longer.
My movements woke her up too.
"Good Morning."
"Mmhh morning." She yawned, stretching herself before wrapping a hand around my neck and kissing my cheek.
Apparently that joke about the good night kiss and good morning kiss….stuck with her….and I didn't mind it one bit.
I returned the favour to the surprise of the girl and then got up to get ready for the day before she came to her senses.
_x_
"So there are no side effects to the process?" I asked Ikki who had come back to the Restaurant.
He had his bags packed, apparently ready to accept Kisuke-san's and the Ryozanpako Masters training. His school year was starting in two months and he wanted to be ready for the new year when it came.
The first stop was the Ryozanpaku Dojo as Kisuke-san said he needed some time to prepare the facilities to train him specifically.
Ikki would train with the Ryozanpaku masters till Rimuru, Ainz and I return from our own training trip.
Today even Cid-kun was back as it was a Sunday and thus a holiday at his Academy. He was already in his Shadow getup.
"No. The Director said this information was quite classified. The chains we saw were called the Chains of Fate and they bind the potential of the people to what the world permits them. As they say not every person has the same fate. Some people however can break these chains. They are called Desperados and they become completely immune to fate or even fate manipulating devices."
He took a sip of water before continuing. "Desperados are said to be people who walk a line between their human and demon selves and there are some rumours of people being lost when they try to use their demon selves' power more and become the demon themselves. Although this part is something that the director told me not to pay attention to."
"Very interesting. It sounds a lot like Hollowfication and Vizards. To be able to enter such a state while still in a human body. How very interesting." Kisuke-san's smile was widening at every moment. He then looked at us. "This also clarifies some things about the process. You three were not affected by the chains because you were not humans to begin with. Our initial hypothesis was correct."
I shook my head, deciding to ignore the mad scientist and looked at Cid or Shadow as he was in that costume.
"By the way, what is the ability of your Device, Shadow-kun?" I asked.
"Hmm….my crowbars….open things."
"Eh?"
"Well, it's a crowbar. What else would it be used for?" He shrugged. "I have yet to experiment with it."
"I see."
"By the way, what is the ability of Sakura-chan's Device?" Kisuke-san asked.
"It's to manipulate the boundary between reality and imaginary space to some extent." I went on to explain what she told me and sure enough their faces had just the look I was expecting.
"That's insane!" Rimuru exclaimed.
"I know. At least now she will be protected properly."
"Hmm." Ainz nodded, not commenting much but I could see that he was also affected.
The only person who didn't care was Saitama who was just playing his game.
"So you are planning to break those chains too?" Hayato-san asked. "Taking your fate into your own hands….how thrilling."
"You know, I could always cut those for you." I offered but he shook his head.
"Or Touma-kun could touch the chains….I wonder how it would work on Touma-kun." Kisuke-san said and then went on his own train of thought while the guy in question shivered at the thought and stepped away from the man.
"Thank you, Silas-san but….this is something I need to do on my own. There are people who do this by their own strengths. If I were to take the easy way out….even if I become the strongest blazer in the world, I wouldn't be able to face myself in the mirror. I want to do this on my own, with my own two hands."
Wow….Rimuru was right.
He truly is a shounen protagonist.
"Well spoken. In that case your training will be extra hard. Silas-kun, pack enough food to last him for the week. He is going to need a lot of energy."
"Alright. I will see what I can do."
It was already verified by the Ryozanpaku masters that the food in my Restaurant helped increase the speed of training. They had exceptional control of their bodies and they observed the changes in themselves too.
The most prominent changes however were in Touma who has been eating my Restaurant's food since he had started training. In just the past few months, the guy had grown two inches and was now stronger than before.
"You can try sparring with me when your training is complete. I would like to see how fighting against a Blazer would be." Shadow said.
"Thank you. I would be honoured to." Ikki said with a bow.
"By the way, Shadow-kun. This dress of yours. It's not cloth, is it? What kind of fabric is it? I can sense it conducting magic?" Ainz asked.
"This is a slime suit, made from the bodies of slimes."
"Slimes?!"
"Yes. Infusing matter with magic always yields energy loss. However slimes have a high magic conductivity, ninety-nine percent compared to iron's fifteen or Mithril's fifty. Moreover they can be easily moulded depending on the user's choice." He raised his hand as a black fork appeared on his hand and the next instant, it changed into a spoon and then into a sword as flexible as a whip. "They are highly suitable for equipment, can repair easily and can rival even artifacts." He commented.
We all looked at Rimuru, the one who was the most surprised by the reveal.
"Wha-what are you guys looking at?" He stepped back feeling our gazes.
"You have slimes in your world too right?"
"And…."
"Well, I don't have any suitable armour." I commented with a smile making him twitch his eyes.
He finally let out a sigh and raised a hand as globules of blue jelly-like slimes gathered in front of his hand and fell on the floor. "There. Now, how do we use it?"
Cid picked up the slime and observed it. "This is some really good stuff. Can you make more of this?" He asked, looking at Rimuru.
Rimuru just shrugged and created several buckets worth of slime. "There you go."
Over the next hour, we observed as he processed the slime into clothes and then used some kind of magic on it as the colour of the suits changed to black.
The suit swirled around him, replacing his original one and he clenched his fight. "This is far stronger than any slime I have seen. Thank you. I owe you a favour."
"Well obviously. Rimuru is not an ordinary guy either."
"You don't have to owe us anything. We are all friends here Cid….Shadow-kun. And moreover you made us these cool suits." Rimuru waved his hand denying any favour.
Cid-kun then went on to explain how to use the slime suit to us and while it did take a lot of practice, it was something which could be learned.
In fact, I could do it easily with my Sage skill's assistance.
The only one who was the most disappointed was Saitama as he couldn't use the Slime Suit due to lacking magic power.
"Alright then. Let's meet in a week. Train well, Silas-kun."
"Thank you, Hayato-san."
I thanked the guests and bid them farewell and began preparing for the trip.
- Scene Change -
"Take care, you two. I will be back in a week or so at best." I said two both Sakura and Lavy, as they got ready to go to Zeref's place.
"Hmm. You should be careful too."
"Please take care of yourself too." Sakura wished me well as the two left the Restaurant.
"Tch….lucky bastard."
….
"You two haven't given up on that yet?" I asked with a sigh.
"It hasn't been three months yet." Rimuru shrugged.
Sigh….
"Did you get everything for the journey?" Ainz asked.
"Yup, everything for the journey is packed. Tents and materials for making food are all there in the corner." I pointed towards the load of things I had prepared for the trip.
"Alright, I will put them in my inventory." He said waving his hand at the stuff as they magically disappeared in his inventory.
"Damn, that's a useful piece of magic. Sakura can do it too. Maybe I should learn something like this. Carrying everything in backpacks is bothersome."
"Hmm." Ainz nodded as I opened the door to Rimuru's world.
Rimuru took the lead and welcomed us.
Outside, the goblins were already ready, having prepared a welcoming ceremony for us. This time however even the dwarves had joined them.
I gave them a whole Barbeque Pig bought from my Restaurant to party on and some alcohol for the dwarves.
They looked extremely happy at the sudden arrival of booze and even offered to make equipment for them if I gave them the raw materials.
A surprising fact was that none of them were scared of Ainz, a bit curious sure but not afraid.
We found out that there were undead species of beings in this world too and that we might find some of them in this Jura Forest itself.
I guess this place was not as simple as it looked.
"You should approach other tribes of Goblins and even other species and take them under your rule." Ainz suggested Rimuru. "It will not only give you a better workforce to develop this town but also remove the dangers of any attacks from those tribes."
"That's….I will think about it." Rimuru nodded.
"Leave it to us, Rimuru-sama. We can send people to all the goblin tribes in the Jura Forest and invite them to join us. I am sure they will all join us if they know we get named here." Rigurd, the head of the goblin tribe said.
"Eh….are you sure?" Rimuru asked, surprised.
"Completely. Getting named is a great honour for any monster."
"Really? Then send some Goblin Raiders to other tribes. Start from the weaker ones first. Actually, only contact the ones till B Rank and give them the same offer. If they agree, ask them to gather here in a week. If they have any problems, we can discuss it too as long as it doesn't compromise the lives of our people."
"Yes Rimuru-sama!"
"Well, now that that is done, let's get to what we came here for." Ainz said and Rimuru nodded.
"Yes. Let's start our adventure."
- Scene Change -
The adventure consisted of us going in a random straight line, killing any monsters we encountered in the way. I was the one in front.
If I ever got in a dangerous position, Ainz nuked them with a Tier 9 spell or Rimuru just glomped their bodies.
Still, my new Devil Slayer Magic was something else.
It felt amazing everytime I used the magic.
The feeling was….exhilarating.
I now understood why August said it was the perfect magic for me.
I mean while normal Ice Magic was instinctual for me, the Ice Devil Slayer Magic came as easy to me as breathing.
Then again, it made sense as it was based on the magic used by demons so it would obviously be easier for me.
The more I used the power, the more I felt my Demon Seed growing and in turn my Demonic Power increasing.
But that was not all.
The best part in all this was training my senses and combat skills against completely unknown enemies.
I was making sure not to use my Chef Skill to avoid making things too easy so that I could train my combat skills and they worked.
Being able to use precise magic in normal times and in combat were extremely different things.
The fluidity in combat can only be learned while fighting.
For example, I could freeze every singular leaf on a tree….individually and defrost them without harming them at normal times but that would be an impossible dream in combat.
During fights, I was working on instincts basically for the first two days, throwing big attacks and wasting magic power.
It was only after I got used to combat and got control of my nerves that I could reduce my consumption of my magic power and use my magic more efficiently.
Sage obviously played a huge part in all of this.
Finally, we settled down in a camp after five days of adventuring.
During these past five days alone, my body had grown accustomed to my new power and was growing steadily.
My Demonic Power had grown and was still growing at a ridiculous pace due to the food we had been eating.
"So you can just eat anything and you gain their abilities?" I asked Rimuru, intrigued.
If that was true, then I could make him overpowered considering the things I saw in the Shop's list. Provided they had enough money.
I remember there being the corpse of an animal called Dragon King Derous or something which can shoot a beam strong enough to destroy multiple planets.
"Umu."
"That's cheating, you know." Ainz commented while picking a piece of monster meat and taking a bite.
"I had to evolve from a Slime, you know. From literally the lowest of the mobs. Even the level one goblins are stronger than those. Moreover, look at Sil, he can cut even fate. How is that not cheating?" Rimuru protested.
"I guess you have a point." Ainz nodded.
I shrugged too. It did make sense.
"And what's with you? You are a Devil and you are using Ice Devil Slayer Magic? How does that even work?"
"It's just named Ice Devil Slayer Magic as it copies the magic of Ice Devils. All Slayer Magics are named similarly."
"Ah….so that's the reason. By the way, I saw you eating Ice and Great Sage analysed that your magic went up after that….what's the deal with that?"
"Every Slayer can eat the element they wield. The only exception being their own magic. Doing so boosts their magic for a short time and even helps them recover their magic."
"Heh….that sounds awfully useful. So all you have to do is keep some ice in some inventory and you can recover your magic whenever you want."
"Pretty much."
"What other kinds of Slayer Magic are there?" Ainz asked.
"Devil Slayer, Dragon Slayer and God Slayer with the last one being the strongest among the three as it can eat the magic of the other two as well. Coincidentally, Lavinia is learning the Ice God Slayer Magic."
"Heh….so she can kick your butt anytime, can't she?" Rimuru smirked.
I remembered someone and smirked. "Nah….I'd win."
"Hoh! That's a big claim. Maybe we should ask Lavinia what she thinks…." Ainz said and even though his skeletal face showed no expressions, I knew he was smirking.
Rimuru had a smirk on his face too.
I just shrugged. "Unlike me, she has to learn the God Slayer Magic on her own without any kind of….racial assistance or Skills. It's hard to get started too."
"Ah….so, it's just a matter of time then…." Rimuru shook his head but his smirk was clear for everyone to see.
….
"Heh….you sound like you speak from experience. Shizuka-san does have her moments. Could it be that…." I asked, smirking.
Ainz knew when to change sides so he turned towards Rimuru too. "Really?"
"W-whaa….what are you two talking about?" The guy stepped back, being caught off guard at the sudden reversal.
We bantered with each other and ate our dinner in peace.
"Still, this world is so wonderful. I never imagined being able to walk around without a mask, let alone eat natural food ever." Ainz commented, shaking his head.
Yeah, his world was depressing.
"Human greed has no limits." Rimuru said slumping back with a full stomach too while looking at the night sky.
"It was the reason why all members of Nazarick were non-humans. We had perhaps lost our faith." Ainz shook his head sadly.
"But hey, there are good humans too. Saitama is one example." Rimuru offered.
"He is? I thought he was secretly becoming a cyborg?"
….
And with that all of us burst into laughter.
They might make fun of Saitama all the time but I knew that it was to get him to express more emotions. Anger or even irritation was an emotion after all.
Saitama knew of this as well.
The guy acted dumb but he was quite smart where it mattered.
Suddenly a wolf jumped out from under Rimuru's shadow.
"Rimuru-sama, sorry to disturb you but there is some urgent matter."
"Hmm? Did something happen back in the village?" Rimuru asked.
"Yes. As per your orders, we sent people to other Goblin groups and monster clans with the offer to join our village. We were able to gather twelve Goblin groups with a total of two thousand goblins and they are moving or have already moved near our village. The problem started when we started inviting other monster groups."
Rimuru narrowed his eyes. "What kind of problem?"
"Well….some people….just laughed at the hobgoblins we sent and insulted our people."
"Did they attack or injure anyone?" He asked with a frosty tone.
The wolf shivered and bowed quickly. "No….none of them were harmed."
And just like that Rimuru's frosty expression disappeared. "Well, as long as no one is injured, it's fine. If they don't want to join us, it's their decision. I am not going to force anyone."
I agreed with his thought but Ainz just shook his head, although he didn't interrupt Rimuru.
Ainz might be a bit extreme at times but he always respects the decision of his friends. Most of all, he is extremely protective of the people he cares about.
He could be a little cold at times but that was mostly because of the forced emotional balancing due to the system of his world.
That said, he had mellowed down considerably due to meeting and spending time with us.
Rimuru wanted to see if he could name him but turns out that he was currently not strong enough to do so.
It was one of the reasons we were training so that he could get named and maybe the connection with this world would do something about that emotional balancing thing from his own world?
"So, what's the problem?" Ainz asked.
The wolf looked towards him and bowed again.
Seriously, these guys were too serious.
Then again, unlike Rimuru, Ainz had a presence of a royal who commanded such respect, especially when he was in his Roleplay Mode.
"Ainz-sama, in our travels, we learned that an army of orcs was approaching the Jura Forest. Wherever they go, they destroy and eat everything, continuously evolving in the process. They are nearing an ogre village near this area right now. The Ogres are preparing to fight but they have no chance of winning. When we tried to talk to them, we were just driven out by the ogres but…."
"But?"
"But one of them approached us and said that if we can help them, she will convince her father, the leader of the village, to talk to us."
"Eh, so you talked with the princess of the ogres, huh?"
The wolf nodded.
"How big is this Orc army?" Ainz asked, already in thought.
"Above one hundred thousand large. Among them around ten thousand with their leader, the Orc Lord, are approaching the Ogre village which has only around eight hundred ogres."
Rimuru looked at us. "It would be a slaughter. What should we do?" He said with some emotion.
"It could be a slaughter if they are not saved. As dangerous as it sounds, it could be a great chance as well. Monsters respect strength. You can get their allegiance if you save them or at least some kind of alliance." Ainz said after some thought.
"You think so?"
"Well, it's worth trying. We will know when we reach there. What about you, Silas?"
I shrugged. "Sounds like a plan."
"But several thousand, do we even stand a chance?" He asked and I agreed. Our chances didn't look good.
"Their numbers will just act as fodder for my undead." Ainz replied proudly. "Worst case, I can open a Gate and we can just leave."
Rimuru looked pensive for a moment and then as if he remembered something, he stood up. "Okay, let's go then. Ranga, show us the way."
- Scene Change -
The scene in front of us was straight out of some horror movie.
Hordes of orcs were surrounding a village of ogres and several of them had died already but they were holding on, desperately. It was clear that they would lose sooner or later.
I did observe that whenever the orcs ate something, they got stronger and became immune to some attacks which hurt them before.
Moreover, there were many stronger orcs in their midst too who took several ogres to hold on. Not to mention, there were two other monsters who were stronger than the orcs, especially the fat clown who gave me a dangerous feeling.
Rimuru flew up above the village and shouted out loudly, getting the attention of several of the monsters.
"I am Rimuru Tempest, leader of the Goblin Village of Jura Forest. I have come here to offer assistance."
The orcs didn't even pay any attention while several ogres just growled.
Ainz on my side, shook his head. "Rimuru is too kind sometimes."
He stepped forwards and raised his staff.
The temperature of the area fell and a huge wall of ice rose up all around the village. Several hundred orcs were instantly frozen into statues.
I used this chance and pushed my Demonic Power and made the ice more compact and reshaped the wall to have spikes on the sides of the wall to prevent any reckless charges.
All the fighting in the area stopped. Ainz lowered his staff and teleported onto a platform on the wall.
Rimuru came down from the sky and landed on the wall beside Ainz while I flew there too.
"This is how you get their attention. Now go and speak." Ainz said as he stepped back and came to stand beside me.
….
….
I couldn't say anything because he wasn't wrong either.
He did get their attention.
In fact, both sides had stopped completely.
"Now then, as I was saying. I am here to negotiate and stop this war if possible." Rimuru proposed. The result…
"Geld, new food has arrived. Go on, eat him. Hurry hahahaha." The one with a bird-like mask shouted at the largest orc in the group.
I looked over to that group and saw that there were two masked people. One had a bird-like mask while the other had a clown mask. The clown masked guy was the strongest one according to what I could feel.
In fact, in terms of raw power, it was even stronger than Rimuru, Ainz and even the giant Orc, probably the Orc Lord who was standing in front of him.
Rimuru turned his attention towards the Ogres. "It seems they don't have any intention of stopping. Do you require my assistance?"
They sent a red haired ogre to the front and he was accompanied by a white haired old guy and a blue haired ogre. Behind him was a pink haired ogre girl, accompanied by a purple haired female.
The wolf beside us spoke again, in a very soft voice. "Rimuru-sama, it was her."
Ah, so the pink haired girl is the princess of the ogres. It does look like she had convinced the redhead, who seemed to be their leader to speak. The guy looked a bit young though.
"I am the prince of the Ogres. My father just passed away in the war so I am the leader of the group." He shouted loudly although I could sense that he was even disgusted at the idea of being the leader due to his father's death. The pain and anger in his voice. "What do you want in return for your assistance?"
Damn….did the leader of the clan pass away?
"An Alliance. My village is small and needs as many allies as we can. I want to invite you all to come and stay in the village. I promise all of you a good place to live, food and names along with protection." Rimuru offered the ogre.
Suddenly, the entire crowd went haywire when the name part came out. There was disbelief and awe thrown around.
The red haired ogre swallowed lightly before looking at Rimuru "If you can provide us with these, we will swear allegiance to you. I give you my word as the new leader of the ogre village."
"Oi, is it just me or do they not believe that Rimuru can name them?" I whispered to Ainz.
"I get the same feeling. Is this naming stuff supposed to be hard? I thought you only needed to be stronger than them and none of them look like they are stronger than Rimuru." Ainz whispered back.
"I mean, there must be some type of catch, right? I don't see how such a thing would be easy. I mean, that would be fucking broken, right? Anyone could create an army like that."
"Umu. I think so too. We need to talk to Rimuru about this. He probably doesn't realise it yet." Ainz agreed.
"Hmm. Let's get this fight over with first."
The orcs had started charging towards the wall already.
My ice spikes were keeping them away but it was only for a few instants.
After a few died, they tore off the flesh of their own people's dead bodies and ate and then started breaking down the ice spikes and working on the wall.
The Heavily Armoured Orcs were coming to the front and those didn't look like they would be harmed by normal ice spikes either.
We only had a little more time left before they would crush the ice wall and the fight would restart.
"I will do something to keep them busy for a while." Ainz said and raised his staff.
Several of the fallen orcs were covered by a dark cloud all of a sudden and what came out of them were zombie-like creatures in black armour and holding a large sword and shield.
They stepped forward to engage the orcs in a melee.
I too decided to prepare for the fight and broke off a large piece of the ice wall and bit down on it and felt my magic power increase.
"So, what's the plan?" Ainz asked as he gathered around us.
- Serafall -
"And that's why we are so tense." She said as she slipped into her couch and closed her eyes and let her head fall into her mother's lap.
"Really! Every person in the whole country? How is something like that even possible?" Her mother asked, surprised as she caressed her head.
"We don't know. None of us have any idea. We didn't even know such a thing was possible before this."
"This kind of power….it's beyond any Lucifer….even Rizevim might not be able to do such a thing and he is considered an anomaly like Sirzechs and Ajuka. To think there was someone else like this…."
"Exactly. We are lucky that this person hadn't participated in the Civil War….or joined the Old Satan faction or…." She shivered thinking about the consequences.
How do you fight someone like that who can selectively clear entire countries of your people without even showing their faces?
"Did you find any clues about him?" Her mother asked.
"No. Azazel simply refused to speak anything. He didn't even give us any hints. Heaven is also shaken but they are not speaking anything although from what our spies could tell us, they are also trying to find clues about this mysterious Lucifer. The Church is obviously making noise but none of them have dared to step inside the boundaries of the country since that incident so they are just barking without any bites."
"It's better if those fanatic fools keep out. They only create a mess whenever they interfere with any matter." Her mother said, making her nod.
It's not like she was wrong.
Heaven was less annoying than those people.
"So no clues?"
Serafall shook her head. "We can only guess about his personality based on his actions."
"You mean the action of wiping out everyone?"
"Well, it wasn't without any reason. Apparently, those fools from the Wizards of Oz had been the ones to attack first and they even had the user of Incinerate Anthem with them. Apparently, the Mysterious Lucifer took this personally and…."
"Wiped the entire organisation out." Her mother completed. "Sigh….those fools. They had to poke the hornet's nest."
"Well, not everything was as bad as we expected."
"Hmm?"
"Apparently those people were experimenting on some kids. Whoever this guy was….left those kids unharmed. Unfortunately the kids had no memories due to the experiments, not that Azazel would open his mouth."
"Hmm….that's indeed surprising. So….he only targeted the organisation who attacked him. In that case I can understand. Any devil would retaliate violently if attacked by a Longinus, especially with one of the Holy Relics. So this guy is not a heartless monster. And seeing as no one even had any idea he even existed for so long, then maybe he isn't interested in any wars either….that's a good sign for us."
Serafall nodded. She too had come to the same conclusion.
Her mother was very good at critical thinking. Well, all members of the Dantalion family were scholars, they just had different kinds of talents.
Some were researchers, some were businessmen, some were politicians while some were strategists.
It was her mother who managed the businesses of the Sitri House while her father took care of the political side of things. They were a perfect team.
Under their leadership, the Sitri House had made great progress, especially in the Medical field.
Ever since that incident, they had poured everything into expanding and developing the medical technology of the whole devil race….
Serafall shook her head as she pushed those thoughts aside.
Both she and Sona had inherited her talents as well.
As they were talking, her father walked in.
He looked tired.
In fact, she could even see the slight dark circles under his eyes and those were rare….extremely rare considering that he was an Ultimate Class Devil.
"Damon, you look tired. Is everything alright?" Her mother asked.
Her father looked at them and then forced his expression into a smile. "Yes. Things have been a bit hectic lately and I had to run around a bit." He said as he took a seat near them.
"Is anyone causing problems?" She asked with narrowed eyes.
To force someone like her father to such a state, was something happening that she didn't know about?
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it." Her father waved off.
"It's about Sona's engagement, isn't it?" Her mother asked, making him sigh.
"Well….Lord Glasya-Labolas was not happy with Sona breaking her engagement with Zephyrdor but he did understand her decision. Zephyrdor is somewhat of a unique devil…."
"He's a jerk. You don't have to mince your words, father. It's good that Sona did what she did. Him becoming the Lord of the Sitri House….I still have nightmares imagining such a situation." She shivered.
"That may be, but it still didn't look good on our part." Her father sighed.
"Is there something else? You have been distracted for around two months now and don't try denying it." Her mother said and she looked at him and saw his eyes widening slightly, only for a fraction of a second before he schooled his expression.
"Father….is everything….alright? If there is something I can help with, I will." She asked, again.
"Yes. It's fine. I will take care of everything." He reassured her.
"Alright. But just in case you need any help, you can tell me."
He smiled and she felt as if she had seen deep sadness in his eyes at that moment. "Yes….I will."
_x_x_
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Author's Note:
I am back with another chapter of 'Isekai Restaurant'.
So, several things happened.
Silas and the team got new devices and Ikki found out more about his world, resolving himself to become stronger.
Kisuke is preparing for his experi….Ikki's training.
Our trio is also on a training trip and have encountered a unique situation.
Things will start coming together more in the next chapters as the plot progresses more.
I will try bringing some food and cooking based worlds as well.
In fact, I am having fun writing this one and wish to focus more on this for a while so expect more chapters of this in the next month.
Enjoy the new chapter.
Good Day, Peace Out.