Isekai Restaurant
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Chapter 12: Battle of the Ogre Village
- Silas -
"From what Great Sage has analysed, the Orcs are under the effect of the Unique Skill: Starved. It is also what's granting them the ability to adapt to new situations by consuming the flesh of others. This Skill is unique to the Orc Lord and so finishing him off is our top priority."
We nodded at his analysis.
"The strongest one here is the fat clown. After that is the Orc Lord and then the bird head. Our first priority is the Orc Lord. I could take him down but I have doubts that the bird head and the clown will not let me do so. I could take on the bird head but the Clown would be too much for me." Rimuru finished.
"And all this is not even considering the orc army." Ainz added. "Well, I could keep them busy but that would require some time on my part but that still leaves us with the clown."
I opened my mouth here. "Well….if it's just delaying him for a while, I could do so. I am not sure I can kill it off though." I added.
"Are you sure, Silas?" Rimuru asked.
"Yeah, I just have to play the defensive battle style for a while. Moreover, it doesn't look like the guy can fly so stalling him would be difficult but not impossible. Just make it quick though. I am not sure if I could hold him back for long."
"You don't have to worry. I will only need fifteen minutes to engage the army. I will come and back you up after that." Ainz added.
"Got it. Fifteen minutes should be doable." I nodded.
"Alright then, let's get to work. Ranga, go and hide in Silas' shadow and protect him. Great Sage, connect with Silas' sage and keep an eye on him. I can use my trump card in case things go south." Rimuru shouted and just around this time, the ice wall started to crack.
"Hai, my Lord." The wolf answered as he jumped into my shadow.
Almost immediately, I sensed a presence trying to connect to me and allowed it access. It wasn't the first time so I was already used to it.
I looked around to see the clown using a roll type attack, which looked like something straight out of Pokemon to ram against the wall, shaking the huge wall with every hit.
- Rimuru -
He shot forward, using Water Blades to cut a path in front of him. The orcs were beheaded while the water swirled in the air forming many rain type droplets and freezing mid air, while the bodies of the orcs lit up with a purple-black magic circle and large Death Knights rose from them.
"Great Sage, guide the attacks to hit the vitals of the orcs. Target their eyes."
They had tried this move several times during the past two weeks when all three of them tried to create an ultra combo to fight a raid boss level enemy if they ever met anyone. It led to the discovery that Great Sage being a Skill evolved from Sage could connect to it with Silas' permission and use the extra computational ability to guide the magic attacks of Silas.
The guy was a lovable cutie but that was only till he fought. It showed him why he was a Devil. While using the Ice Devil Slayer magic he fought like a beast but it was his Water Magic that could send chills down anyone's spine. He used Water in ways that would ensure the most painful deaths to their enemies and yet used the least amount of magicules.
For example, he manipulated the water in a large bear monster's eyes and created an ice needle which pierced its brain, downing the massive beast in a moment.
He further reduced the use of his Magicules if the water and ice were provided by others or there was a source nearby, which is why, when fighting together, Ainz always surrounded him by Ice and Water elementals and he used Water Blade.
And now, with a field surrounded by ice, he was on his home turf. Whenever he got low on magicules, he just ate some ice and recovered.
Seriously, the Slayer Magics were such utter cheats. That's why when he said he would distract the strongest monster in the group, none of them even flinched, despite the huge disparity in both their powers.
Ainz immediately summoned some elementals to keep the birdface occupied.
The biggest orc roared and jumped to slash with his cleaver towards Rimuru. The birdface tried to attack but was distracted by the elementals. He parried the attack of the orc and used fire of Ifrit to burn through his cleaver and slashed towards the orc's face.
The orc resisted with reddish black tentacles of energy and countered him. They clashed with each other with injuries slowly piling on the orc.
It seemed injured already due to the previous fight with the ogres and was thrown backwards with a strong blast. Without giving it any chance to get up, Rimuru created a magic circle and blasted the area with a flame pillar. Immediately afterwards, the entire area was rained down upon by metre long icicles. Yeah, that should keep it down.
He turned towards the birdface who had defeated two elementals.
The birdface was shooting red spheres of energy like bullets all over the area to overwhelm the enemy but Rimuru could tell that it was not specialised in fighting.
The attacks were nothing to him because he could just Devour the energy directly with his slime physique.
He punched the birdface's stomach and it shot towards the same place as the Orc. What followed was a rain of several spells from Rimuru, the ogres and the elementals.
Silas had changed to target the clown.
- Silas -
Connecting to Great Sage was like having a super advanced AI in my head. I wonder if Tony Stark felt like them when he was using the Iron Man suit.
"Did you analyse the Skill of the Clown?"
'The Clown is using a Unique Skill called Amplifier. It amplifies the already strong physique of the monster, allowing it to do attacks beyond his level. By an estimate, it is as strong as a Demon Lord Seed level monster and can fight a Demon Lord Seed on equal ground with the Unique Skill.'
Demon Lord Seed…
Son of a…
Rimuru had explained the power levels of monsters in his world. The funny thing is that not even he knew what the divisions were and had to ask his Great Sage Skill when Ainz asked him the question.
Ainz was the type of guy who would read the whole guide book before starting a game while Rimuru was someone who jumped in to enjoy.
It was the basic difference between their characters and that's why they kept each other in check.
Demon Lord Seeds are monsters who could become True Demon Lords. The Demon Lord Seed not only showed that they were stronger than the rest, it was also a mark of Kingship, something which qualified them to become rulers.
Still, I don't need to kill it, only delay it for a while.
While the Ice Devil Slayer Magic was good, it was mostly brute force techniques. I preferred finesse in my techniques. It did have the effect of boosting the quality of my ice so that was always a plus.
The Water Manipulation Skill I had gained from this world complimented my Ice Magic very well.I controlled the water in the area and pelted it with water droplets. My normal icicle to the eye was not working because of its magicules protecting him. The attack was useless as it just bounced off his body but also told me that there were no weak spots to take advantage of.
Let's try something new.
I did the same move again and as expected, the clown didn't bother to dodge. This time however, I had infused the Ice Devil Slayer Magic in the attack and the attack pierced the Clown's eyes. The attacks on the rest of his body were still ineffective. That's one tough skill the guy has.
He fell on the ground and grunted in pain and looked at me in anger. He grunted before jumping into the air and rolling into a ball.
He even neglected the ogres he had been fighting to try and bash at the ice wall on which I was standing.
The way it attacked reminded me of the Rollout attack from Pokemon which got stronger the more they rolled.
He was bashing straight through the Death Knights which Ainz had created to fight the orcs as if they were straw targets without any kind of resistance.
Thankfully, I knew the way to handle it.
The clown looked like he was short tempered and harassing him with attacks which didn't cause any damage, especially after I had pierced his eyes but made it angry and gave up any of his enemies to solely concentrate on me.
He started attacking blindly, trying to topple the ice wall to get to me.
I manipulated the ice to make trenches around the area in the path of the rolling clown. And created a lot of inclined planes of ice on its path. He got caught on one such inclined plane and was thrown up in the air, in a direction away from me.
This slowed its momentum by a lot and gave me an opportunity to blast him with ice on all his joints. Great Sage can do a very great job of guiding attacks.
I concentrated mainly on his joints to cause any injury to slow it down and finally to land a heavy blow, I took a deep breath.
"Ice Devil's Rage!" The roar took the form of a beam of icy energy and blasted the clown into the ground.
The place where he crashed was frozen as a tower of ice formed in the area. Great Sage had however already analysed that the attack wouldn't take down the monster so we had to prepare for more.
"How long, Ainz?"
"Five minutes more."
Five minutes.
Okay.
Sure enough, the icy tower cracked slightly at first and then completely shattered as the clown howled in anger.
"Ogres." I shouted. "Attack the clown with fire when I command."
The red haired leader of ogres agreed and stood beside me, waiting for my order.
I took control of the ice on the ground and the wall and pushed my Demonic Power into it, freezing the limbs of the clown. "Now!"
The entire area was drowned by a shower of flames, with the guy beside me taking the lead.
A massive pillar of flames rose to the sky.
"Is it over?" The red haired leader asked me.
His answer however came from an entirely different place.
A roar resounded in the area as the flame pillar was dispersed.
The clown was releasing a massive amount of magicules but the injuries on his body were visible. He was hurt.
But my attack wasn't over yet.
His eyes shone a red light and rolled into a ball once more, rolling towards me, radiating insane amounts of magicules.
The monster however stopped before he reached the ice wall, and fell to his knees, looking at me in shock.
The very next moment, his body was riddled with holes from inside. Each part with a soft tissue and no muscles was shredded apart from inside and he fell to the ground.
The guy was still healing but the extent of injuries I had caused him would keep it down for a while.
Now, how did that work?
I first analysed its healing and defence and found out that he was using his magicules as a layer on his body to stop the attacks. This is what caused my own Demonic Power to be unable to freeze the liquid in his eyes and even my Ice Devil Slayer could barely pass through his defences and that too in the eye.
I did notice that his magicules focused on healing and the defence broke for a very short while when he was injured.
Thus I created a moment where he could be showered with a ton of magic attacks by everyone around us. This in turn created a moment where his magicules were truly focused on healing and attack and gave up all his defence. And that's what I needed.
When the ogres attacked the place, they also evaporated all the ice which was stopping it as well as the ice around the area. I controlled the water vapour and guided it inside his body. This vapour was infused with my Demonic Power and the moment he became a rolling ball, I froze everything, shredding him from inside out.
The dodged areas were taken care of by my Chef Skill. I kept this Skill on hold all this time to prevent the guy from doing anything too desperate or just running away. It needed to be used on the killer move and it did. If he survived from a scrambled brain, I didn't know what would be needed to keep him down.
And if all else went to hell, I was ready to summon my knives and use my Cursed Techniques. The only reason I didn't use it was because of the distance and the speed of the clown.
If he got hit by the attack and understood what it did, he could easily dodge the attacks with his high speed.
That's why I was keeping that as the last trump card to use in case all else failed and he got close.
I was breathing heavily due to the exertion. Using Chef always took a lot out of me and while I could regain lost magic with the Ice Devil Slayer Magic, it did nothing about stamina and mental exhaustion.
"Good job. Let me take care of the rest." Ainz's voice sounded behind me. Several Magic Circles lit up all around us at the moment. "The Goal of All Life is Death."
"Grasp Heart."
The golden clock-like magic circle that had formed behind Ainz reached twelve. A phantom hand appeared behind the clown, crushing its heart and its lifeless body fell down to the ground.
"Is it dead?" I asked but soon my attention was captured by something else.
A ball of bluish white light came forward towards me.
Normally, I should have been wary but here I wasn't. In fact, I almost instinctively knew what it was. As if there was an innate part of me which knew.
A soul.
Almost in a daze, I extended my hand and….gulped down the soul.
And then I fainted.
- Ainz -
"Silas!" He quickly reached beside him and caught him before he could fall.
The Goal of All Life is Death is a spell which had a one hundred hour cooldown time and bypassed all the immunities and defences against instant death spells. The only way to survive was to use a resurrection spell within twelve seconds….or at least that's how it worked in YGGDRASIL and the New World. In this world, he had to use some time to prepare the spell. He guessed that it had something to do with the different laws of this world? Perhaps things might change if he got connected to this world's system.
Apparently, according to Rimuru, there was another System governing this world so it might have something to do with it.
Still, even the slight nerf didn't make this Skill any less dangerous.
He knew that the monster was stronger than him in raw stats, a boss level monster. It was easily stronger than many floor guardians combined and thus he didn't even hesitate before using his trump card. He even used everything he could to buff his base stats and reduce the monster's stats in case the different laws of this world affected his magic. Thankfully, all of it was just useless worry.
Still, the way Silas handled the fight was really masterful.
Bringing him out to train was the best decision for him. In the past two weeks, he had seen the progress made was incredible. Maybe it was his inborn instinct as a Devil.
As much as he tried to brush it off, it was a fact that he was a natural born devil and did inherit the powers of one and was now training a Devil based magic as well.
His personality might not be like one, and in fact, Ainz might not have been surprised if he were actually an Angel but he wasn't and it showed when he got lost in fighting.
Each one of his attacks hit where it hurts.
When he had asked him how he knew about where to hit, he had replied that as a Chef, he must know his ingredients.
That Chef Skill was cheating.
The only problem was that he often got lost in fighting. Just like now and didn't realise that he was getting tired from fighting.
On the other side, the enemies fighting Rimuru had risen up. The orc had lost an arm but now it looked like it was eating birdface and regenerating.
He checked his mana and it would take a while to recover. Not to mention the cooldown on his spells.
"Rimuru, do you need help?"
"No." A very fast answer. "This fight, don't interfere."
The answer was brief but this was probably the first time Ainz had sensed this level of seriousness from Rimuru.
The orc walked ahead and ate the remains of the clown but Rimuru didn't interfere and just kept on watching. Even when the orc changed and looked like it was evolving, he didn't interfere.
Well… if he was so serious about this, let him be. He will smash that orc with one of his one time usable items if push came to shove.
He checked on Silas and found that his Magic Power was rising at a very fast pace. Was it because of the white light he ate?
A soul.
Yes, he had heard that he had digested that bad guy who had tried possessing his body so there was a precedent for this.
It was quite similar to what that orc had done on the other side and looking at it, it seemed as if it was done evolving, so maybe Silas was also in the process of evolving.
So he did the only thing he could and sat beside him to protect him while he completed his transformation.
- Rimuru -
"I take all your sins, Geld. Rest in Peace."
His mood right now was quite difficult to describe. The memories of the Orc Lord… no, it was the Orc Disaster now, was heavy for someone like him who had lived a normal life till now. How could he bear to hate someone like him?… He could only hate the circumstances and the ones who took advantage of innocent people in bad circumstances.
"What is Silas' condition, Great Sage?"
'The individual, Silas, is undergoing an evolution. His original power was just a step below a Greater Demon but the soul he consumed was of a Demon Lord Seed level being. This has caused him to gain more energy than his body can handle even with a single evolution. Moreover, the evolution to an Archdaemon is not possible with the energy since the Individual Silas is not a Spiritual Being.'
He observed Silas' power as it continued increasing until a black cocoon of magicules formed around him.
"What is happening, Great Sage?"
'The individual Silas' body has reached its limit. The energy is trying to change it.'
"Assist it in any way possible and see that Silas isn't in any danger."
'Establishing connection to the Sage.'
'Connection Established.'
'Guiding excessive energy to find an alternate evolution route.'
'Alternate Evolutionary Route found. Initiating Evolution to Daemon Chevalier.'
Unique Skill Gained: Amplifier
Evolution to Daemon Chevalier completed.
'Individual Silas has gained a Demon Lord Seed.'
'Excess energy found in the body.'
'A second incomplete Demon Lord Seed found in the body of the individual.'
'Attempting to evolve the incomplete Demon Lord Seed.'
'Energy Insufficient.'
'Sacrificing Unique Skill: Amplifier.'
'Guiding the excess energy to evolve the incomplete Demon Lord Seed.'
'... Evolution Successful'
Unique Skill: Chef has evolved into the Unique Skill: Masterchef.
'Evolution Completed.'
The black cocoon burst and what was revealed was the body of Silas who seemed to have grown a few inches and now looked to be in his early twenties.
"Was the process successful? Is he alright?" Ainz asked.
"What happened, Great Sage?"
'Great Sage found an alternate evolution route to a Daemon Chevalier. When a powerful Greater Daemon gains a material body, they can evolve into a Daemon Chavalier who is much stronger than normal Greater Daemons. They can kill a Greater Daemon with a single attack. Great Sage then noticed an incomplete Demon Lord Seed inside the Individual Silas and guided the excessive energy to evolve it into a complete Demon Lord Seed. The individual Silas now holds two Demon Lord Seeds in his body which is only possible because of a Daemon Chevalier's body and the unique race of the Individual Silas.'
"He got a Demon Lord Seed and that too two of them. Wasn't that cheating?" Damn, Silas seemed to have become some kind of mini boss all of a sudden.
"Host also gained a Demon Lord Seed from consuming Orc Disaster Geld
"Wait what, I did?" He asked, shocked.
'Yes, host.'
The orcs had stopped fighting and with his order, even the ogres had stopped fighting.
He looked at Ainz and he nodded as if understanding what to do already. He brought out a robe from one of his rings and covered Silas while Rimuru left towards the orcs and ogres.
Since he promised to take all of Geld's sins, he will not break his word and take care of his people as his own.
- Silas -
I opened my eyes to the same scene as the last time but this time, there was a pink haired girl with horns on her head in the room while the same goblin as last time ran quickly when he saw me waking up… Am I that scary?
"Silas-sama, you have awakened." The girl whom I didn't know asked me and I could only nod my head lightly.
Wait, didn't she look somewhat familiar?
I think I had seen that hair and eye colour somewhere.
….it took me another moment to realise that the girl was actually the princess of the Ogres. How did she look like this?
"You….are you perhaps the princess of the Ogre Tribe?" I asked, still not sure. The difference was quite huge.
The girl nodded.
"Yes, my name is Shuna. I was given this name by Rimuru-sama when we decided to join his town." She replied and her voice was also different from the previous time.
Had they already joined Rimuru's town? And they were named too. Didn't they faint too? If so then, how come they are awake before me?
How long has it been since I fainted?
Damn….
Twice I have fainted and ended up in this situation when evolving.
Man, becoming strong is hard.
Why do I even need to train to run a restaurant in peace?
Oh, yeah… I live in a world where children can be born with NotPokemon which can destroy countries because God… thought it was a good idea… somehow. And also the fact that God, well exists and I am a Devil. *Sigh*
Oh and the occasional customers who would try to shove soul bearing cursed fingers down my throat….fuck….my life was certifiably weird.
While having deja vu, I got up from my bed but this time and realised that I was naked. Almost instinctively, I grabbed the bedsheet and tugged it towards me in order to wrap it around me only resulting in a surprised cry as I dragged the girl on me accidentally while trying to pull the bedsheets.
The girl fell on my chest and I felt two soft lumps on my body, causing heat to rush to a certain part of my body.
She smelled like strawberries.
Was it her shampoo?
Did ogres even use shampoo?
Wait….was she even an ogre anymore?
My thoughts halted as I sensed some movements below and stiffened in realisation.
I did notice that I had grown… in more than one way. And I was sure that the girl felt my growth too due to our close vicinity.
The girl's blush made it look like she would bleed from her face.
"I'm sorry. I was trying to get the bedsheets." I apologised and released her, trying to untangle the bedsheets.
"I-it's o-oka-y." Her blush was even redder somehow.
"Silas! You are awake?" Rimuru bounced into the room in his slime form only to freeze at the door. "Oops, should have knocked. Carry on." He jumped back.
….
….
Why does this always happen to me?
I got a headache.
"Oi come back. It's not what you think." I shouted but he was already out of the room.
Fuck, that didn't look good from any angle.
I hurried to tear the bed sheets to get out of this mess but somehow, things were not going my way as I ended up tearing the girl's kimono as well.
"Sorry!" I bowed but little Silas in attention didn't help so I quickly turned around and grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around her quickly and then tied the torn up bed sheets around my waist like a towel, not looking at the girl and embarrassing her even more.
I didn't have to run long as the bastard was waiting outside the door in his slime form. I didn't need to look at his human face because I could just sense his smugness dripping from his slime face.
"Silas….while you might have certain *cough* exhibitionist *cough* tendencies, I am not a voyeur and I don't think little Shuna is one too. You should consider her feelings."
"Fuck you, whose an exhibitionist?"
"Who would have thought that the shy and cute ones were your type. Still, you play fast. Didn't you have enough with Lavinia-chan, Sakura-chan and Tohru-chan? Now even Shuna-chan….damn Harem Protagonist." The blob of slime wiggled annoyingly and then went into a rant. I reflexively kicked him. But the effect was totally unexpected. The simple kick made him go like a cannonball, causing several of the trees to collapse in a row.
"Fuck! Rimuru." I rushed to see if he was alright.
"Ah, I am fine. I have physical damage resistance." He just bounced back as if nothing happened just now.
….
"Can I kick you once more?" My lips twitched.
"No."
I sighed.
"So, having trouble controlling your power?" He asked and I took a moment to check my condition. My Demonic Power alone was far beyond what I had before, same was the case with my Cursed Energy which had increased by leaps and bounds. Finally was the surprise increase in my physical strength.
I felt as if I could shatter a mountain with a punch.
"Is this going to be a regular thing? How did this happen anyway? I don't remember things clearly before I fainted."
"You ate the wrong food."
"What?" I deadpanned.
"What you ate at the end of the fight was the soul of the clown who we later found was a Deathman, an undead. This particular Deathman was someone made from the amalgamation of countless corpses and was very strong. In fact, it was too strong for you to digest so your body had to change in order to get the energy settled. So, what you had was basically a case of severe indigestion." He explained quite excitedly.
"This is too troublesome." I sighed and lay down. "How long was I out this time?"
"A week."
"A week! Damn, I am late. Sakura and Lavy will be worried about me going missing." I realised.
"Well, you can go there and inform them first. But hey, now you are stronger than me and Ainz in terms of base stats.
"I am?" I asked, surprised.
"Surprisingly, yes. I can still kick your butt though."
"Then I will reopen my shop. I think this level of strength should keep me safe. I can't delay for longer. The girls must be worried. Even the customers must be wondering why I closed for longer than expected."
"They wouldn't mind but sure. I think you should try getting used to your strength and rest for a while." He agreed with me.
"Where is Ainz? I haven't seen him." I asked not seeing our bone headed friend anywhere.
"Oh, I named him because I got enough power after the fight. It caused him to bind with this world's system and break his game's level cap. He's out hunting."
"He broke his level cap? Isn't that hacking?"
"We are jumping worlds. If that's hacking then you and your shop are the hack." Rimuru, back in his human form, rolled his eyes.
"... point."
"You should have seen his happiness. It looked like he had jumped directly out of a horror movie. Even the little goblins were scared." he chuckled.
… yeah, I can imagine that.
"By the way, I noticed the Ogre Princess. She….looked different."
"Oh yeah, they evolved." Rimuru answered.
"All of them?" I asked.
He nodded.
"So all those ogres… they turned into…?"
"Kijin."
"That. Yes."
"Not all. Only a dozen. Naming even half a dozen of them almost drained me and caused me to sleep for a day. I also have to name the hundred and eighty thousand orcs who joined me. Great Sage made a ritual to name them without using my own magicules but it will still take me around a month or so to name all of them."
"How many orcs?" I asked, incredulously.
"Oh, the ones we fought were just a small battalion of soldiers led by their leader. The real camp was in the swamps, led by his friend. They were under the influence of the Orc Disaster's Unique Skill: Starved and were out of control. I promised them food and safety and they joined me."
"Food for that many will be a problem."
"Not really. I am planning to make a deal with Zeref for the restoration potions in exchange for the food. They can supply us enough food for a million, let alone one hundred and eighty thousand. With the new workforce, we will be able to produce our own food in a year, enough to feed everyone."
"That's… a surprisingly great plan."
We talked around for a while about various topics.
"Rimuru."
"Hmm."
"Thanks."
"Don't mind it. We are friends."
"Hmm."
- Lavinia -
She looked at Sakura staring at the window in the direction of the Restaurant and let out a sigh. She has been like this for the last five days.
Sil-kun and the rest had gone for the hunt and were supposed to be back in a week, which was five days ago.
Sakura however had become quiet since then. She didn't say anything or even complain but anyone taking one look at her could see the worries in her eyes as she sat for long hours beside the window looking outside.
"It's time for lunch, Sakura-chan. Let's go. Everyone is waiting for you." She called out but got no response.
She went forward and touched her shoulder. "Sakura-chan?"
"Ah!" The girl was shaken from her thoughts and looked towards her. "Lavy. I am sorry I didn't realise you were here."
Holding back a sigh, she patted her head. "Lunch is ready. Brandish-chan and the rest are waiting for you." Then with some hesitation added. "Sil-kun will return, you know. He is not the type to make others worry. They must have gotten stuck in some work and that's why they are late."
Sakura smiled. "I know."
Although her smile looked as usual, she noticed that whenever the topic came to Sil-kun, the smile always reached her eyes, although just barely. Normal people who didn't know her better would never be able to notice it.
"Sakura-chan."
"Hmm?"
"You like Sil-kun, don't you?" She asked, making the girl pause.
But after a moment, she continued walking. "Yes."
When she didn't continue anymore, she asked again. "Then why don't you tell him? I always see you getting closer to him and I think you two would get together but then you suddenly pull back. Do you not trust him?" She asked.
Sakura looked at her with a blank look on her face. "I trust him more than I trust anyone in this world, Lavy. There is probably not a single thing in this world I wouldn't do for him."
She was taken aback by the conviction behind her words. It was probably the surest she had seen Sakura in all their time together.
"Then why? Why do you always pull back? You know that he likes you too. He would be very happy if you two got together." She asked, confused.
Sakura just looked at her and asked. "Why are you asking me this? From what I have seen, you are interested in him too."
"Obviously I am. He is a kind boy who cares for everyone. Such people are rare to meet." Lavinia replied.
"Then why do you want me to get closer to him?" Sakura asked, confused.
"Why does me being with Sil-kun mean you can't be with him too?" She asked, confused by her question too.
"That's not how things work, Lavy." Sakura sighed.
"...not really, Sakura-chan. While it might not be so common among humans, among devils having more than one partner is a very common thing." She explained, taking the girl by surprise.
"What?!"
"Devils have harems. It's a very common thing."
"Eh?"
"A devil can have almost infinite lifespan. To be honest, I have never heard of a Devil dying from old age. Apart from that, they can maintain their youth for as long as they want. They also have a very low fertility rate. In fact, it's not common for Devils to have one child after trying for several centuries. Due to all these reasons, a single devil often takes more than one partner. In fact, not just them but most long lived supernatural races. That's why I don't think it's anything odd."
She looked at Sakura-chan, mouth agape. "B-b-but…."
"But what, Sakura-chan? I like Sil-kun but I also like you. I want you both to be happy. I don't see why we can't be happy together. I have always wanted to have a big family after all. Moreover don't you think keeping him all to myself would be a bit selfish? After all, we might lose our lives one day and he would be left alone."
These words gave Sakura a pause but she suddenly shook her head.
"No. no, I cannot. I….I am…."
"What Sakura-chan? If there is any problem then tell us. Maybe we could help?" She urged the girl.
Sakura just stared in the distance. "There is nothing anyone can do. We cannot be together. I….am not worthy of him." She whispered the last part.
Lavinia was about to ask what she meant but there was a knock on the door.
"Sakura, Lavinia, are you two inside? May I come in?" A voice came from outside.
She recognised the voice.
Before she could say anything, Sakura rushed to the door and opened it to reveal Sil-kun outside.
"Hey there. I'm sorry we got stuck in some trouble and it took longer to get back than we were expecting."
Both Sakura and her stopped and looked at Sil-kun.
He looked….different.
A closer look made her realise that he was slightly taller. He had always been fit. After all, Devils could passively change into their ideal body shape and he worked out in the Ryozanpaku dojo too but now he looked….more refined.
"You look different." Sakura asked the question in her mind.
"Ah yes. Well, some things happened and I kinda evolved during our trip. It's a long story. I will tell you when we get back home." He smiled.
"You were not hurt, were you?"
"Hurt? No, not really."
They sighed in relief at the statement.
"Anyways, I heard you were all coming down for dinner. Come on. I am hungry too." He smiled and she found her heart skipping a beat at the smile.
Did he suddenly become more handsome somehow?
- Alpha -
"And that's all we could find about the Cult of Diabolus." Epsilon said, finishing her report.
"What about the expansion of our businesses?" She asked.
"Oh the business is going far better than we had expected. Everything Shadow-sama introduced us to has been well received by the people of this country. At this rate, we might be able to surpass the Major Corporate Alliance in a year or two at best."
"Good. What about Shadow? How has he been doing in this new place?" She asked.
"Shadow….he seems to be happier somehow." Gamma said.
"Oh? I take it he is pleased by our work?"
"Well, that may be the case. Although I haven't been able to invite him here yet, knowing him he should already know of our progress. But that's not the case."
"Hmm?"
"Shadow seems to be visiting a small store, a Restaurant of sorts everyday." She said and then her brows furrowed.
"Is something wrong with the Restaurant?"
"I….don't know."
"What?" She was confused. Knowing Gamma, she would always keep all information about Shadow to be able to assist him whenever he needed.
"It's not that I didn't try but I just couldn't find anything about the place. Whenever I send any of the numbers, they just don't seem to find the Restaurant. Even if they walk the street for hours, they just can't seem to realise the location of the Restaurant. It's….a very mysterious place. I wanted to go there myself but…."
Yes, that would be a foolish idea. After all, Gamma is not a fighter.
"Aghh, I have been trying to find out more about the place but no matter what I do I never get any clues. I even bought the building right across the place and stayed there the whole day, watching, observing the place. Every day, in the morning Shadow uses some excuse to go to this place and when he comes out, he has a lunch box with him. Someone is there, cooking for him."
"It's a Restaurant. Obviously people there would be cooking." Delta said.
"No. It isn't a Restaurant." Eta shook her head.
"Hmm? What do you think?"
"I think it's a test."
"A test?" They asked, confused.
"Yes, a test. After all, why would Shadow walk to this Restaurant everyday in front of us and yet none of the numbers are able to find the place? It is obviously a test for us to go inside the Restaurant. Maybe Shadow wants us to see something there or find out the secret of the Mysterious Restaurant?"
All of them became quiet at Eta's assessment.
It did seem to be Shadow's style to throw such a test their way.
"Very well, I will go and check out the situation in the Restaurant myself. Delta can come with me. The rest will investigate the signs of the Cult in this city."
They all agreed.
Let's see what kind of test Shadow had set for them now.
- Silas -
"Are you sure that you want to work here, Shuna?" I asked the girl again who looked determined to follow me. The young princess of the Oni nodded resolutely at my question.
I had returned from Zeref's palace with Sakura and Lavy. It had been a while since I had opened my Restaurant so I decided to go ahead and clean the place.
That's when Ainz returned from his hunting trip or as he says, a levelling spree. They had come in for some food and Shuna followed them.
Seeing us working there, she decided to come and help me out here too and that's how this conversation began.
"Your place is just behind the door. It's not like she is going anywhere too far after all." Rimuru offered.
In the past week, when I was asleep, she was the one who was taking care of me.
She wanted to repay me for saving her village.
In fact, even Ainz was offered the services of the ogres but Nazarick is not a good place for them. At least, not currently. Ainz was looking for undead from this world to take under his wings.
The current leader of the ogres, Benimaru was actually supportive of Shuna's decision because it would keep her in a relatively safe place which was just a few steps away from him.
I could understand his reasoning.
I did need some people for my rRestaurant as I was planning to expand more. With more people coming in, more staff were needed.
Ainz would offer the maids he said but there was a problem with it and that was actually funny if nothing else.
What he was actually worried about was that if any of the Nazarick people worked in my Restaurant, he would have to keep up his chunni act all the time and my Restaurant was the only place where he could be who he actually was.
I agreed. He did say that if I opened any businesses outside my Restaurant, he would lend me anyone I needed.
"Alright then. Unfortunately we don't have any spare rooms so I will have to arrange for some housing nearby." I still don't know how to allow others to use the shop door without me being present all the time.
It might be something I unlock when the restaurant levels up.
"That's not a problem, Sil-kun. Shuna-chan can share a room with me." Lavy said, making us look at her.
"It's not a problem, Silas-san." Sakura agreed too. "Shuna-san can stay with us."
"Are you sure? It won't be a problem for you all, right?" I asked, once more and they nodded again.
I opened the door and let her in while stopping on hearing Rimuru's voice, just loud enough for me to hear.
"Oh and by the way don't get too hard on her." The ero-slime wriggled his eyebrows making mine twitch as well.
This bastard also told Ainz about the incident and I had never thought that I would see a lewd look on a skeleton face. It was disturbing in many different ways. They would just give me smug looks about Shuna and say nothing which was even worse than the teasing with Lavy.
"You guys are not going to stop this, are you?" I asked, resigned.
"Not until it stops being funny. I mean, you lucky bastard had an anime type ecchi encounter. We'll be damned as friends if we drop this without squeezing every drop of fun from this."
….
….
"Well, at least I can get hard." I quipped.
The slime froze.
"Bastard! You wanna fight huh?!…."
I closed the door after me with a smile, ignoring the engaged shouts of the slime behind me.
Well, two can play at this game.
- Demiurge -
"Ainz-sama, pardon my ignorance but this is the first time I have heard of the names Silas and Rimuru and I believe that this is shared by most of our fellow guardians. Might I ask you to enlighten us?"
"You may." Sounded the voice of the Supreme Being who sat upon his throne, his majesty somehow even more pronounced now.
It was as if a layer of darkness obscured his presence, for those unworthy to not even be granted the honour of gazing at his awe-inspiring form.
He was stronger than a month ago… which should have been impossible.
Ainz-sama was already at the level cap. An overlord and yet he somehow became stronger. This had plagued his thoughts for several nights before Albedo of all people gave him the words of wisdom.
He is a Supreme Being. Obviously something like this should be within his reach.
The Supreme Being spoke, looking at the entire gathering of the Nazarick staff. "I believe that you all have the same thought in your mind?"
Some members looked at the ground but didn't answer. "Our apologies. We just enquired the information so that we may not slight the guests of Ainz-sama. We do not mean it as any insult towards the guest. Please punish me if we were too presumptuous."
"Silas and Rimuru are… both Supreme Beings."
"What?!"
The roars and exclaims of shock echoed throughout the room.
"Silence!" He roared, making them all gather their bearings to listen to the Supreme One's instructions further.
"What do you know of the Supreme Beings?"
"The forty one Supreme Beings created Nazarick and all of us. They are all beings of great power who have fought monsters and gods alike. Ultimately, they left for other worlds and only Ainz-sama stayed with us." His words brought up painful memories of all the guardians.
"Umu. But that's not all. Long before Nazarick was even formed, there were several hundred Supreme Beings."
Gasps of shock went everywhere.
"Thousands of years ago, even before the world of Yggdrasil, there was a great war, a war so big that entire planets were erased. Gods and monsters were killed and so were my fellow Supreme Beings while many of us were left severely weakened… including myself. At the end of the war, only less than fifty of us were left. Some were grieving for the death of friends and left for different worlds to spend their time alone." Ainz-sama paused and stared into space as if being reminded of the past days.
"Among the ones who were left, there was one person who was probably the kindest of us all. He used all his powers, sacrificing everything he had, even the memories others had of him in the world except us forty one, even his own memories….to make a place which everyone of our lost brethren would be able to find. A Restaurant connecting several worlds. A place which can only be opened in worlds with the souls of the Supreme Beings. For you see while our brethren died, he believed that their souls must have reincarnated somewhere… and he was right."
He could hear the sounds of each person's breath in the room and the heartbeats of the ones who were alive.
A history which none of them knew of. A hero among Supreme Beings, their sacrifices…
"What was the name of the Supreme One?"
"Silas."
….
….
"He doesn't remember any of his past memories or has any of his past powers as do several others. But they are regaining their powers slowly. If and when you meet them, do not treat them with disrespect. Anyone in the Restaurant can be people with the souls of former Supreme Beings, even the most common looking humans. They might look simple but one day they will all return to their own form. You are not to interfere with it in any way, nor talk about what you have heard about today lest it affects the Spell cast by Silas."
"Yes, Ainz-sama."
"Rimuru is one of those people. He had reincarnated as a human but later on reincarnated as a Slime. His personality is very similar to Touch Me-san. A very kind and heroic person. He was and is one of my best friends. In future you all will be acting together with his subordinates."
"We will not let the name of the Great Tomb of Nazarick down."
"Now, I believe that you both encountered these names from the memories of some of the Paleadis, correct."
Four of the combat maids bowed before confirming.
"We have memories that we are to serve them but we didn't know their faces or even who they were so we thought that someone might be trying to control us somehow."
"Umu. A very reasonable and wise choice. Caution is the better part of safety. You have those names in your memories because they were unlocked when I came in contact with them. They were the superiors of your creators and saved their lives several times. You were made as a memoir for them in hopes that they will one day reunite with us… and that day has come."
"We will be honoured to fulfil the wishes of the Supreme Beings."
How lucky are they to be allowed such an honour?
"Ainz-sama, you didn't tell us what race Silas-sama is?"
"A Devil."
As expected of a Supreme Being.
– Ainz–
They bought that?
Well obviously they would. It took him a month to come up with that pile of bull crap and practice in front of the mirror. Now, he just needs to inform Rimuru and Silas of this.
They will not complain.
They will be getting two hot maids each after all. How can they complain?
x_x_
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Author's Note:
I am back with another chapter of 'Isekai Restaurant'.
As some of you might have noticed, this chapter was quite similar to the Snippets. That's because I needed to go through this to have the characters required for the future plots.
Now all that's left is one Loli Nazi and we can have most of the gang here.
Obviously, you might have also noticed the new parts in the story and they will play a great part in the future plot as well.
The subordinates are being informed about the Restaurant. How will this add to the chaos?
I will bring out another chapter of this next and then maybe a chapter of Drawn to Power of Ace maybe.
Enjoy the new chapter.
Good Day, Peace Out.