The Restaurant: Chapter 20: The Party

Isekai Restaurant

Disclaimer: I own nothing 

Chapter 20: The Party

______________________________________________________________________

- Silas -

I stored the last container in the Storage Unit before heaving a sigh of relief.

“Phew… all done finally.”

Sakura, who was standing beside me, passed me a towel. “Thank you for your hard work.”

“I just hope this is enough for the party.”

The food items in the System Storage can’t go bad so there is no problem with them being stored there. We could use them over time and they would still remain as fresh as freshly cooked food.

I had spent a lot on this party. The food items I cooked were some of the most expensive and difficult ones I had attempted till now.

It had been so long that I enjoyed the challenge of cooking and experimenting with new food items.

I had been working for the last sixteen hours and although with my current power level, it wasn’t even close to exhausting me until it was some of the higher level ingredients from the Restaurant’s list, all I felt today was satisfaction and fun.

This is why I had started cooking. Because I enjoyed it. And because I enjoyed the happiness it brought to others.

Today’s party was something for my old customers and friends only. That’s why I hadn’t left any efforts aside when preparing for it.

The simple fact that I had used several millions on the party alone was both astonishing and terrifying at the same time.

Seriously, I will have to think of some way to hunt for ingredients from other worlds rather than buy everything from the Restaurant’s System Store or no amount of money will be enough to buy the higher level products in it..

“You should go and take some rest, Silas-san. You have been working for an entire day.” Sakura said.

“I am fine. This much is not enough to make me tired. Although… I do think I need a bath.” I am smelling awful right now.

She giggled. “Should I get the food ready by the time you take a bath?”

“That would be great.” I nodded.

“Okay.”

Sakura was really a great help.

I had a bath and the cold water felt amazing. Although my resistance to high and low temperatures was beyond anything humans could withstand, the cold water of the shower after working in front of the oven for the whole day still felt amazing.

There was another thing which I had noticed about my recent changes.

I feel very comfortable with water and ice. Sure, I had always liked playing in water as a kid but now… it was something more.

Perhaps it was due to my Skills or perhaps it was due to my Ice Devil Slayer Magic? But it wasn’t a danger so I wasn’t bothered by it.

After a long shower, I went out to see Sakura already having set the table.

Other girls were out for work so it was only the two of us in the Restaurant.

We quietly ate our food but I had come to appreciate these quiet moments now that I had enough of the loud ones in the Restaurant hours.

After lunch, we sat down on the couch for some rest, watching some TV.

“Did they tell you when they would be back?” I asked as I switched the channels.

“They are out to buy things to decorate the Restaurant for the party so they should probably be coming back soon.” She replied as I stopped at a music channel.

“Oh, I used to love this song as a kid.” I smiled.

Sakura looked at me interested so I continued.

“My mom was into music although she couldn’t really sing…” I laughed remembering the old days. “I inherited her interest but unlike her I was quite good at it. I was even in the Music Club in Middle School and High School.” I laughed.

“Music, really?” She asked surprised.

“What? I can sing, you know.” I defended myself.

“No no. I am just surprised. You… with your passion in singing, you seem more like the type who would be in the Home Economics or Cooking Club.” She replied.

“Ah… well, yeah. Actually, I have always liked music and believe it or not, I was quite talented at it too. It was almost as if singing and performing was in my blood. If I didn’t become a Chef, I would have become a rockstar for sure.” I bragged.

She just chuckled.

“I am not joking, you know?” I replied, not really angry. In fact, it was rare to see Sakura laugh like this.

“I believe you.” She just smiled.

“...do you?” I asked in mock seriousness. “Actually, wait. I think I have some of the recordings from my High School Club with me. Let me get those for you.” I got up and quickly went to my room and came back with a box of CDs and a Guitar with me.

Sakura was looking interested as I put one of those in a CD player and played.

The video started as I went back and sat down beside Sakura on the couch again.

“It’s from my first year of High School.” I added.

The song was one from my previous life. I had always loved music even in my last life. This song was among my favourites back then.

Somebody’s Me by Enrique Iglesias.

The song began and Sakura who was giggling at my actions suddenly became quiet and looked at me in surprise.

“See… I told you.”

The girl just nodded and listened to the song in silence.

The peaceful atmosphere and the song made me grab my guitar on a reflex and I played along.

The song ended and I opened my eyes and looked at Sakura who was looking at me in stunned silence.

“How was it?” I asked her with a smile. I know I was good at singing but I had a feeling that my current Daemon Race had made the quality of my voice even better.

Was it due to the Charm Skill? Or was everything just my imagination?’

“It was amazing.” She said after a while. “Really… amazing.”

“I know right.” I smiled as I kept aside the guitar.

Another song started.

This time another one from the same singer.

“Oh, I love this one.” I said, recognising the song.

I suddenly had an idea and got up, offering my hand to Sakura. “Would you like to have a dance, my Lady?”

She was taken by surprise but then smiled and accepted my hand.

The song began.

Hero… by Enrique Iglesias.

It was a very romantic song and the atmosphere said it all.

We started with slow movements and swayed to the tune. Her hand was on my shoulder while I had mine placed on her waist.

She looked as if lost in thought, perhaps listening to the song or enjoying the dance but as the song progressed, I felt her grip on my shoulder get slightly tighter and she came nearer to me, almost as if hugging me. I could feel her breath on my chest, the heat from her body as she was .

I, too, took this opportunity to do the same and hugged her while we moved very lightly to the lyrics.

The song ended and we stayed like that for a while. It was a very strange moment. Silence reigned over the room and yet I could feel her heartbeats on my chest. And yet, none of us wanted to break the silence there. It remained like that before there was a sound of the door opening.

I looked towards the door while Sakura separated from me and stepped back, right in time for the rest of the girls to enter.

“Sil-kun, Sakura-chan. We got everything for decorations.” Lavy entered followed by Shuna, Tohru, Yuri and Narberal.

Sakura smiled towards them. “Please get washed up. I will serve lunch for everyone.”

“Okay!”

…

Dammit…

I helped Sakura, serving the girls food and then we got together to decorate the whole place before the party… which wasn’t that hard.

Magic is a… magical thing… I guess?

With just a few snaps of the finger, everything was in place.

They did however spend some time in giving careful touches themselves to make everything look perfect.

Finally with everything done, we decided to take some rest before the start of the party.

__________________________________x___________________________________

“Woohoo this is awesome!” Milim cheered as she gulped down an entire bottle of Mellow Cola.

The first ones to arrive were Milim and Rimuru as well as some of the Oni, Shuna’s brother Benimaru and her close friends.

Saitama was the next to enter.

Milim looked like she would burst with excitement as soon as she entered. Rimuru was literally holding her back from floating and hitting the ceiling of the Restaurant.

To calm her down till everyone arrived, I passed her a bottle of Mellon Cola, something I had bought for today’s party.

It was extremely… extremely expensive, so much so that I wouldn’t even dare to buy it if not for the mind-numbingly huge deal I had made with Issac-san… but the taste… yeah, it’s worth it. Totally worth the price.

Now, looking at Milim, it seems that it wasn’t only me who thought so too.

“This is really good stuff. Why don’t you keep it on the regular menu?” Rimuru asked, taking a sip of the cola himself.

“It’s expensive.”

“Oh? How much?” He asked, taking another long sip of the cola.

“1.2 million yen for 350ml.”

He spat out whatever he had in the mouth and coughed violently. Even Saitama who was quiet all this time was looking at the drink in his hand… in fear.

“That would be around fifty thousand yen you wasted.”

“…you are joking, right?”

I didn’t say anything and just opened the menu and showed him the price.

“Holy crap!” he exclaimed.

Several guests came one by one after that.

Ainz arrived followed by a group of people, maybe his subordinates from Nazarick?

Each of them were wearing maid uniforms like Yuri and Narberal so perhaps they were their colleagues? There was also a bearded man in a suit who had a very… professional atmosphere around him.

“Silas.” Ainz nodded towards me and I immediately recognised it as the Roleplay mode.

“Ainz. Are they your subordinates?” I asked, looking at the rest of the group.

“Yes. You already know Yuri and Narberal. These are the rest of the Pleiades and he is Sebas Tian, the leader of Pleiades.”

The maids and the old butler guy bowed professionally in front of me.

“Silas-sama.”

I was a bit taken aback by their behaviour but immediately recovered, having already been used to it due to Yuri and Narberal.

“You said you needed some staff for today’s party. They can work here to cover for today.” Ainz added.

“Oh…” I looked at the group. “You guys are fine with it, right?”

“It would be an honour for us.” Sebas answered, representing the group.

“Great. Then Yuri and Narberal can explain the job to you all. You already know those two so it would be easier for you to coordinate with them.”

“Yuri has already explained everything to us, Sir. We are ready to start our work immediately.” Sebas replied.

“Oh…” That lady was too dedicated… “Okay then.”

I left them to work while Ainz directly went to the room with Milim, Saitama and Rimuru, probably in a hurry to get away from their sights so he could relax.

Sometimes, I felt pity for him… only sometimes.

The next to come in was Cid who directly went to the private rooms after greeting me.

I soon understood the reason for this… or reasons as seven beautiful girls entered the Restaurant together.

I had seen some of them before while some others were new.

They bowed to me too.

“Glad you could all make it here. Cid-kun is… inside but he is… not in his Shadow mode.” Oh my goodness, that’s weird to say out loud. “So enjoy yourself. Don’t mind him.” I smiled.

“Thank you for your kindness, Silas-sama.” The one in the lead, Alpha was it… bowed once more.

I moved on to the next guests while they went to meet Yuri and Narberal. These girls were getting along quite well.

I guess it was probably their names… both had Alpha in their names.

Well, it doesn’t matter as long as they get along.

Next to come were the Ryozanpaku members with Naruto and Kanna running in before anyone else while Miu chased after the two kids.

I greeted them and they took their seats, in the same corner where all martial artists in the Restaurant gathered.

Tohru’s friends came next and Fafnir just nodded to me before leaving for the room with the rest of the gamers.

I wasn’t offended however.

The fact that the guy even nodded to me was already saying a lot. This was the same guy who wanted to kill me the first thing after seeing me a few days ago.

Greeting me with a nod… that was already huge progress.

Lucoa-san on the other hand was happy to return and greeted me with a lot of enthusiasm. I showed her a place at an empty table.

Bang-san, his brother and friend also came and took a seat with the Martial Artist group.

Next, two groups entered back to back.

Kisuke-san came with his own friends, a new group of people I had never seen before. I didn’t see Ichigo or that Rukia girl anywhere however. Orihime did tell me that they have some tests. She had left early for Tatsuki’s house to study for it and will be coming later.

“Woah Silas-kun… this is a grand party you are throwing. Congratulations.” He greeted me with a laugh.

“Thank you, Kisuke-san. Are they your friends?” I asked, looking at the group.

“Oh yes. They found us coming to the Restaurant and joined in. I hope it won’t be a problem. Seriously, these guys have no sense of propriety at all.”

“You are one to talk about propriety, you shady candy store owner.” A blonde girl in a red tracksuit said with a scowl.

“Ahahahaha Hiyori-chan, so cruel.”

I smiled at their interaction. This guy really had the talent of annoying anyone. Still, it doesn’t change the fact that he has helped us a lot. “No, there won't be any problems. Please enjoy yourself.”

“So this is the place you have been hiding, Kisuke.” Another blonde guy with straight cut hair and slightly big front teeth said looking around the place. “If Yoruichi hadn’t told us, we wouldn’t even know.”

“Right? Can you believe it? He hid this place from me for so long.” Yoruichi spoke from the arms of another girl… or woman… dressed in a sailor uniform. She had a pony tail and was wearing glasses.

Hey… I am not one to judge.

My best friends are a skeleton, a slime and a bald hero who plays video games all day.

I have seen enough weird things in my life in the past few months to not be phased by this now.

Kisuke introduced them to me one by one.

They were his former colleagues and seemed like an interesting bunch to be honest.

“Please enjoy the party. Would you like a personal room for your group?” I asked.

“Oh no. This is fine for us.” Kisuke denied.

“Good, then pick any tables. I will send someone to serve you all.”

They took a table in one of the corners of the Restaurant while Ikki, who was with their group, waited back to meet the Ryozanpaku masters and talk with them.

Next up, was the group from Alvarez.

Zeref-san, Irene-san and August-sensei hadn’t returned from their trip yet so it was only Brandish and Dimaria who went to Lavy as soon as they entered and later joined the kids group.

The number of kids in the Restaurant was growing bit by bit.

And speaking of kids, the next ones to arrive were the people from the Jujutsu Academy led by Gojo-san.

“Silas-kun!” Gojo-san greeted everyone in his own way as soon as he entered the Restaurant. Behind him Yuji also waved at me, looking far better this time.

Nanami-sensei and Shouko-san were also with them.

“This is quite a party you are throwing, Silas. What’s the occasion?” Shouko-san asked as she looked around the place.

“It’s nothing. I just made some profits and wanted to do something for my customers.” And Rimuru blackmailed me… not that I am going to say that to anyone.

“Oh… good for you. Where is Sakura-chan?” She asked, looking around the place as if searching for her.

“She is in the kitchen, helping with the preparations. I will get someone to call her.” I asked Tohru to do that just in time for Naruto to also come running towards us and Kanna followed him.

“Gojo-sensei!”

“Oh hey, Naruto-kun. How are you doing? And who is she? Your friend?” He asked, ruffling the kid’s hair.

“I am great. This is Kanna-chan.”

“Ah, so she is Kanna. I heard you two had an adventure a few days ago?”

“Eh… hahahaha yeah… we sneaked into Konoha village… and got caught.” He sighed.

“Hmph, I could have beaten them by myself.” Kanna-chan pouted.

My lips twitched at her words… not because she was bragging… but rather because she was actually speaking the truth.

“Oho you are a brave one, aren’t you girl?” Shouko-san smiled at her words.

“Umu.” Kanna nodded, taking it as a compliment.

I decided to intervene in case they got some wrong ideas. “Kanna-chan could probably do what she said. She is a genuine dragon after all.”

…

“...seriously?”

“Umu.” Kanna nodded and her horns popped out of her head again. “I am a dragon.”

“...oh.”

As we were talking, Sakura came out.

“Sakura-chan!” Shouko-san dove at her as if finding her solace from the weird situation she got caught in now.

I noticed the slight hesitation on the faces of Yuta at Sakura’s arrival but he didn’t act on it so it was fine.

More guests came in so I left them to greet the newcomers.

It was Jiro-san and another old woman with him.

“Welcome Jiro-san. And is she your friend?” I asked, welcoming them personally.

Seriously, this guy was someone who talked about hunting continent breaking animals casually as if they were no big deal.

"She is my sweetheart, my partner, Setsuno." He replied looking at the woman with love filled eyes.

Oh…

"Ah Jiro-chan, such a flatterer. So this is the restaurant you told me about." She asked and looked around the place. “It’s a bright and happy place. I like it.”

“Thank you. Please have a seat and enjoy yourself.” I guided them to the seats and they joined the old people’s table.

I took some time to talk to them as Jiro-san was someone who knew a lot about the ingredients which I used in cooking and I wanted to see if I could find a way to get those ingredients outside of the Restaurant’s System Shop purchases.

“Oh, you serve Poison Potatoes here? I didn't know anyone could prepare it anymore."

"Yes. I came by the recipe recently and decided to prepare some for the party today."

"Hoho, such a great surprise. Jiro-chan wasn’t joking. This place is really magical.” She said, looking at the rest of the menu.

“You enjoy cooking, Setsuno-san?” I asked.

“Just call me Grandma Setsuno. Everyone else does.” She waved her hand with a smile. “And yes, I own a Restaurant too. I am Jiro-chan’s personal chef.”

“Oh…” His personal chef… means she cooks those same continent breaking ingredients… “I hope today’s food will be to your liking.” I said with a slight bow.

“Ahahahaha as long as a meal is cooked with love and care, it will always turn out good.” She laughed. “I am sure your food will be wonderful.”

“Thank you.”

As we were talking, the door of the Restaurant opened once more and this time it was Nakiri-san with two others. One was Erina and the other was another woman with salmon pink hair, who was looking around with a frown.

"Nakiri-san, Erina." I nodded at them in acknowledgement.

“Silas-kun. Thank you for inviting us to the party.” He shook hands with me.

“No no. I am glad you could make time. Please have a seat.”

They took their seats near Jiro-san and Setsuno-san.

"Father, are you telling me that you made me cancel my appointments for a party here? This no name place I haven’t even heard about…" The salmon haired woman spoke disbelievingly.

“Mana… behave yourself.” Nakiri-san scolded and looked at me with an apologetic look. “I am sorry, Silas-kun. Mana is a bit…”

Now if Erina had been snorty, this woman was downright looking down on the place, not even trying to hide her disdain.

“I don’t mind. It is only natural to be in a bad mood if things aren’t what you expect. I will get something for you all to drink first.” I called Lavy and asked her to bring them some drinks first.

Lavy returned with several glasses of Mellow Cola and one Emeral Wine for Jiro-san served them.

The woman however didn’t even touch the glass.

Nakiri-san looked at her helplessly and urged. “Drink.”

“Father, you can’t be serious.” The woman replied, offended.

… seriously woman… that’s a 1.2 million yen glass of cola. Don’t look down on it or you will have a stomach ache.

“Oho, is this Mellow Cola? It’s been so long since I last saw this. It sure brings back memories, right Jiro-chan?” Setsuno-san giggled as she took a sip of the cola and looked at Jiro-san.

“Ah yes… I remember it was our anniversary that day.” He replied with a reminiscing look on his face.

The Nakiri family looked at the two old people and then Nakiri-san looked at the woman, his daughter and repeated. “Try it. You will understand.”

The woman looked at him in shock but he still insisted so she gave up and took a sip of the cola.

Her eyes widened as soon as the cola went into her mouth and her breathing became quick. Tears came to her eyes as she took sip after sip of the cola until it was all gone.

I was taken aback by the reaction of the woman. Even Erina, her own daughter, was looking at her with a complicated expression on her face.

I had only seen such a reaction from Irene-san the first time she had eaten food but her case was different.

That woman hadn’t tasted anything for hundreds of years… it was understandable she would react like that.

What was the deal with this woman?

Anyways, I asked Lavy to refill her glass while Nakiri-san told us about her case.

"Our Nakiri family gives birth to a child with a special power every few generations called the God's Tongue. It allows them to taste anything to the minutest detail and makes them extremely good judges for the culinary industry. Erina and Mana both have this ability. This however is both a boon and a curse. Mana became so disgusted with food that she couldn't eat without getting sick. Nowadays, she has to inject nutrients into her body to survive."

Damn…

Wait. If she was disgusted by the taste of everything, her husband must be a very unlucky man.

Just imagine kissing her and she looks disgusted.

The guy wouldn't have enjoyed some….cough cough in his life.

But jokes aside, her situation was really similar to Irene-san’s.

"Oh. These two have such gifts. It reminds me of the Gourmet Seven from our world." Setsuno-san said.

We all looked at her.

"Gourmet Seven?"

"The Gourmet Seven are seven ‘Taste Masters’ chosen from the chief member nations of the IGO. They are an organisation of members who hold a miraculous sense of taste, said to be able to recognize the taste of a single grain of sugar in a 25-metre pool. All of them are the highest panel of judges for the cooking competitions in our world. Her situation reminds me of those people. I am sure if she trained her tongue well enough, she could reach their heights in our world. And as for the food, the only thing our world doesn't lack is food."

"This… you are."

"She is my partner, Setsuno." Jiro-san explained. I think he was there the last time Sanzaemon had come.

"Setsuno-dono, could you be a chef too?"

"Hohohoho I do have some experience." She laughed then turned at me.

"Eh, thank you."

"Why don't you come to the Dining Hall sometimes? I will cook you a nice meal as a thanks. You can bring a friend." She then turned towards the Nakiri family. "You three can come too. I will cook something which the two Ojou-chans like."

"I would be honoured too."

"In that case, I would like to extend an invitation to our Totsuki Academy as well. Please grace us with your presence. I will try my best to entertain you all."

In the next hour the rest of the guests also came and the party started in earnest.

On one corner, Shizuka-san, Shoko-san and Lucoa-san were drinking, while on the other side, Gojo-sensei and Kisuke-san were being clowns much to the annoyance of Nanami-sensei and Kisuke-san’s friends.

There was also a group of old people who were discussing martial arts. Even some of Kisuke-san’s friends were listening to them while eating hotpot and the group of gamers who were currently having a competition of a lifetime. I was sure the area around them would have disintegrated from the energy being released there had it not been for the protection of the Restaurant.

Milim, Fafnir, Ainz, Saitama, Rimuru, all were locked in a fierce battle and only stopped to take a sip of their drinks and go back into the fight again.

On another corner were the students of Jujutsu Academy, Miu, Lavy, Sakura, Ikki and others the same age talking about usual stuff.

There was also the group of maids and the friends of Cid-kun who were looking at everyone from another corner of the room.

Lastly, there was the group of kids who were having just as much blast as the gamers section.

Naruto, Kanna, Brandish and Dimaria were running around from one place to another as if they were on a sugar high… which they might very well be considering the amount of sweets they had eaten.

The scene of people of different ages, from several different professions, of several different worlds, getting together and having fun… it was really satisfying.

It was at this time that I heard a sound I hadn’t heard in a long time as something appeared in front of me.

Congratulations!

Restaurant Level Up.

Level 2 Privileges Unlocked.

Cooking Skill has leveled up to level 2.

Staff System Unlocked.

…

It levelled up… after so many months.

What exactly was the condition?

Staff System and Cooking Skill?

There were so many different things I wanted to check but I didn’t have time for it right now as the party was still going on so I decided to leave it aside for later…

__________________________________x___________________________________

Everyone had their meals and were talking together so I took this opportunity to ask Jiro-san and Setsuno-san about some things I had been thinking about.

“Mellow Cola? You want to know where you can find it in our world?” He asked.

“Yes. It’s an amazing drink. It’s just that… the price is a bit expensive so I won’t be able to serve it to my customers that easily if I don’t hunt it myself.”

“Oh yeah… that cola was amazing. I felt my entire body get invigorated with just a sip. Even my ki seems to have increased a bit and is flowing much better than before.” Hayato-san said.

“Eh, you felt that too? I thought it was just my imagination or because I am too drunk. This sake is amazing too by the way.” Shio Sasaki, the Karate Master of Ryozanpaku Dojo said.

“Hmm it indeed has such effects. I could feel my muscles getting nourished with every sip. The effects were much more pronounced than the salad or meat dishes from before.” Akisame-san confirmed. “Was it because of the ingredients?”

“Both ingredients and cooking. Any good ingredient only reaches their true worth when in the hands of a true chef. Silas-kun here is a good chef and will continue to grow in the future. Obviously, the ingredients matter too.” Setsuno-san explained.

She then went on to explain the different types of ingredients in her world and many of the people in the Restaurant listened carefully.

The ingredients in her world were graded based on the difficulty of getting them. Each one of them is assigned a number called the Capture Level.

It doesn’t necessarily mean that the ingredient has to be that strong by itself. Even the environment plays a great factor when assigning the Capture Level of an ingredient.

The higher the Capture Level, the more dangerous and difficult it is to get the ingredient.

She gave some examples for us to understand.

“For example, Stripped Salmon which you serve here has a Capture Level 1. It’s quite easily available. It can be priced for two thousand yen a piece. Every one in a hundred Stripped Salmon produces Golden Caviar which has a Capture Level 2 and can be priced at fifteen thousand yen for a hundred grams. This meat however is from a Crab Pig. They are agile little creatures, several metres tall and weighing over a ton and yet faster than a cheetah. They have a Capture Level of 8.”

“What is the Capture Level of Mellow Cola?” Rimuru asked, suddenly interested.

“Mellow Cola is a rare drink. It is produced inside the body of a Salamander Sphinx, one of the strongest beasts in the human world. It can destroy towns, even prefectures on its own if left unchecked. It has a Capture Level of 92. Mellow Cola can be released as Tears of the Salamander Sphinx… tears when it laughs from happiness, not from pain.” She added the last part making all of us gawk at her. The woman however just laughed.

Tears of happiness?

What did that mean?

We have to tell jokes to a monster who can destroy entire prefectures?

“... no wonder the price was that insane.” Rimuru nodded.

“How much is this drink for?” Sasaki-san asked, looking at the drink in his hand in wonder now.

“One million two hundred thousand for three hundred and fifty milliliters.”

…

Even Ainz, who had rooms full of gold looked slightly taken aback but he quickly went back to his aloof persona.

I am pretty sure only we, his close friends, saw this change. He was really good at pretending in front of his subordinates.

“Damn… Silas, let’s go and hunt in Jiro-san’s world. We can totally make a bank.” Saitama said, looking excited after a long time.

“...hunting sounds like… good training.” Cid-kun added although I was pretty sure I heard the hesitation before the training part.

“Hey, does that mean there are more of these things in that world?” Milim asked, her eyes shining in anticipation.

“Ohohohoho, there are indeed many delicious things in our world. Capture levels can go up to thousands and any being above one hundred capture level can destroy countries. Obviously, the more you eat, the better food you eat, the stronger you get so life is never boring there.”

“Ahahahaha that sounds interesting. What do you say, Bang, Issac… want to go out on a holiday to that world sometimes?” Hayato-san asked.

Suddenly everyone was excited at the prospect of going to Jiro-san’s world.

The two also told us some stories about their worlds and it was then that we found out that these two people… were both over five hundred years old.

It turns out that eating the food of their world not only increased the strength of people but also increased the lifespan of the people too.

Lifespan was never a problem for me.

According to Lavy, the Devils in my world had a lifespan of over ten thousand years. In fact, there has never been any devil who has died of aging.

There was also the age of Daemons of Rimuru’s world, since I was technically also an Archdaemon. Archdaemons were apparently Spiritual Beings and had nigh infinite lifespans so I didn’t really need these things however… I looked to my side at Lavy and Sakura who were sitting with the other guests right now… it didn’t hurt to have such things in hand just in case.

During this time, Orihime also returned and sat down with everyone and listened to their stories too.

Everyone left a little while later.

The maids stayed and helped with the cleanup. In fact, even Cid-kun’s friends helped with the cleaning much to my surprise.

In return, I gave them the leftover food. I had enough leftover food.

It turns out that I had cooked a lot more than I had expected.

Tohru for one was the happiest with this as she was the one who normally helped me finish up the leftovers.

While they were doing this, I took some time to check the System Upgrade.

My Cooking Skills had been upgraded, which was easy to understand.

I went to the kitchen and took out a piece of meat. As soon as I grabbed the knife, I realised the difference this time.

My Skills… they were far above the previous level. The meat was sliced in thin pieces, each a tenth of a millimeter within moments. I could even feel the difference in perceiving the ingredients compared to before.

It was an all around upgrade.

Next came the Staff System

It turns out that I could now hire Staff and give them some rights in the Restaurant.

I took some time to check the functions.

The Staff could get the protection of the Restaurant when the Restaurant was open for business. The Sous-chef and other chefs I hired will get a toned down version of my cooking skill.

I could give them more permissions like buying from the System Store accordingly.

Tomorrow I will ask the waitresses about this.

At the end of the day, I took a bath and was back in bed with Lavy and Shuna. They had been working the whole day too so they were tired so they immediately went to sleep on entering the bed.

I hadn’t slept for over a day so I decided to sleep too. While I didn’t need it, a nap was always welcome.

- Orochimaru -

“Are you sure this is the full information, Kabuto-kun?” He asked, reading the file with keen interest.

“Yes, Orochimaru-sama. This is everything I could find. After Danzo’s death and the Third Hokage’s abdication and Fugaku Uchiha’s ascension as the Fifth Hokage, the security of the village has gone up. Everyone is on an extremely high alert at all times and moving anywhere without notice is extremely hard. I was only able to send this clone with great difficulty.”

Oh yes. The Third Hokage abdicated… and now an Uchiha was Hokage.

He had the urge to laugh out loudly at the whole thing.

Sensei had shunned him and they had shunned the Uchiha too and yet… now an Uchiha was Hokage while sensei and his friends were all but ostracized.

The First Hokage was Hashirama Senju and after him, his brother Tobirama had taken the seat. No one back then had complained as he was indeed the most suitable person for the job.

The position of the Third Hokage however was not stable from the start.

After all, the circumstances under which he took the seat was anything but ideal.

The guards of the Hokage, escaping and being given the position of the new hokage… obviously he was doubted by many.

It was only due to the support of the Senju Clan, their allies and Mito Uzumaki and later his own strength in the war that he was able to shut up the voices and stabilize his position.

This support however was for various reasons.

Throughout history, everytime someone becomes a leader of a large organisation or state, their family and allies always rise and profit. It is inevitable.

There will always be some dark matters hidden when someone controls a position as high as that of Kage.

It was also one of the reasons why they always want the next in line to be one of their successors. So that they would keep the coffins buried, if not for them then at least to preserve their own credibility which could be questioned due to their relationship.

Poor Sakumo Hatake was also a victim of this. It was the same in other villages too. Sand was the same and so was Water, and Orochimaru didn’t think there would be any way this would change. After all, it was very easy for the leaders to control the public’s opinion.

A person becomes a kage when they are recognised by the public… what no one ever says is that this recognition… is controlled by the current leaders.

It is very easy to send someone they want removed to a suicide mission or just declare them traitors, completely elimination any chances they have of becoming a kage.

If things were truly fair, Danzo would have been six feet under the ground decades ago.

This time however someone had broken the cycle.

What would you do now sensei? All your failures have come out and now the person you wanted the least has become the Hokage.

Danzo was now blamed for the Nine Tails incident while the Uchiha Clan came out as victims of the whole thing…

What would happen next?

Would Fugaku let the buried skeletons rest or would he air their dirty laundry in front of the whole world?

Would the Uchiha, with their personalities, let everything go?

Orochimaru had planned to take revenge for his sensei’s betrayal by invading Konoha one day and taking his life with his own hands…but now it seems leaving him alive was the best revenge.

He shook his head and looked at the file and his expressions turned serious once more.

“Is this really true?” He asked. He had already known some of it from the rumours… but it was so strange that he found it hard to believe… and yet… here it was…

“This was something heard by Tsunade-sama herself… and after seeing their powers I couldn’t help but agree with them…” the clone spoke, his eyes staring off in space as if remembering the incident.

Yes… the power…

Indeed, the power that was displayed was beyond anything he had ever heard.

Even the Valley of the End, the legendary site where the God of Shinobi had fought Madara and the Nine Tails paled in comparison… 

A country wide trench, the power to instantly freeze everything in the said trench and a large part of the surrounding ocean and finally… the moon…

Dragons and Gods…

They really existed.

All of a sudden, there was a whole new world opened in front of him.

Orochimaru has had a contract with the Ryuichi Cave and even the White Snake Sage of the Ryuichi Cave could only dream of dragons… and yet, now they exist.

Not only do they exist but also have such great power, power far surpassing anything ninjas can imagine.

He had visited the trench which was filled by the debris of the moon and found that it had been covered by forests. Not only that, the entire place was now full to the brim with Natural Energy and a different type of energy. In fact the concentration of Natural Energy in the forests was even better than that of the Ryuichi Cave. 

He had even captured some animals from the forests to research them and find out their secrets.

What he had discovered was that the leftover energy in the forests was invading and changing the bodies of the animals, turning them into chakra beasts.

If things progressed like this, it wouldn’t be a surprise if another Sage Land rose up in those forests in a few decades.

What kind of existence could bring about such a change with a stray attack of theirs… he didn’t know… but he was fully willing to devote everything he had to find out.

“...maru-sama, Orochimaru-sama…” His thoughts were broken by Kabuto’s clone’s voice and he looked at him.

The clone brought out a packet with a… ramen bowl and several pairs of chopsticks…

“What is this?”

“Apparently, another dragon, a young one… had visited the Ichiraku Ramen with the nine tails jinch… Naruto Uzumaki…” Kabuto suddenly changed his words. “There they had ramen before the Third Hokage and Jiraiya arrived. This bowl and chopsticks… are from then.”

Orochimaru’s eyes widened as he understood the meaning and quickly grabbed the packet and looked at them carefully. Could it really… could this chopstick really contain the DNA of a Dragon?

- Fugaku Uchiha -

“The situation in the Northern Border is tense. There have been several skirmishes across the borders but they haven’t attacked us outright.”

“They must be testing our response to see how we react after the… incident in the village.” Shikaku responded.

“Kiri is in a Civil War after the war with Konoha stopped just two years ago. Iwa won’t be the first one to make any moves, knowing Onoki’s character, he would sit on the fence and watch. Suna is officially in alliance with Konoha so they have better ways to test waters than to send someone to cause trouble at the borders. It was mainly Kumo who had been waiting for a chance.” Hiashi said, a dark glint passing through his eyes was not missed by Fugaku.

The incident with the Kumo Head Ninja must still be a thorn in his side. While a politically correct decision, something which had avoided much bloodshed, handing over Hizashi Hyuga was probably the last thing Hiashi wanted personally. It was no wonder that he accepted standing against the Third Hokage and his regime so easily.

“We have managed to crush each and every one of those skirmishes. Might Guy, Kakashi Hatake and Jiraiya-sama are personally leading the defences so the borders are stable.”

“Good. Make sure any attacks on the borders are repelled with extreme prejudice. We must not give anyone any chance to think that Konoha has weakened due to… the incident.” He completed.

“Yes Sir.” 

“What of the investigations of the Yamanaka’s investigation of the captured Root Members?” He asked Shikaku.

Shikaku frowned. “It’s not good. There are just too many things which could drag Konoha’s reputation down through the mud, even have the Fire Daimyo ban us as an organisation if it comes out. We cannot disclose many of those or Konoha would be ruined completely. If it hadn’t been Inoichi himself leading the project, I would be having second thoughts about removing the ones involved completely.”

“Have the information sent directly to me. Is it enough to have the previous advisors brought under custody?” He ordered.

“More than enough.”

“Good… make sure they don’t commit suicide when they are brought under. Have every Yamanaka sign a confidentiality contract, if possible reinforce it with Fuinjutsu.”

“Hmm, I will talk to Inoichi about it.”

As they talked there was a knock on the door.

“Come in.”

Tsunade entered the room and sat down in one of the empty chairs, letting out a sigh.

“The Daimyo?” He asked.

She nodded. “Yes. They are getting impatient.”

“How is the matter of the shrine going, Hiashi?”

“The construction has been completed with the help of the Wood Style ninja Yamato they were hiding. I personally assigned him to finish the shrines before moving to other parts of the village. The rest is the decoration and idols of the… Gods… that will be taken care of by the monks of the Fire Temple. I expect the work to be completed by tomorrow or the day after.” Hiashi reported and Fugaku could also see the four shrines in place of the four heads of the Hokage on the mountain. The stairs to the shrines were still being constructed.

“What does the Daimyo want now?” Fugaku asked.

“He wants the shrines to be under the monks of the Fire Temple.”

“... that’s not possible.” He denied immediately.

The Fire Temple was a force of its own. They had their own ninjas and while they didn’t participate in any conflict except protecting the Daimyo, it didn’t change the fact that they were a force different from Konoha.

Letting another force, one not under the control of the Hokage, take room within the borders of Konoha would be the same mistake as Hiruzen Sarutobi who allowed Root to take hold. Moreover, these Fire Temple people wouldn’t even be answerable to the Hokage, making them even more of an unstable factor.

“Well, the Daimyo is still playing around with the idea. It is not exactly an order… yet.” Tsunade continued.

“Shikaku?” He asked.

“Hmm… it’s troublesome. Let’s see. Daimyo is currently scared out of his mind. I don’t blame him. Even I have nightmares. If we downright deny his request… he could make things difficult for us… and we cannot afford that to happen. Especially now when all villages are looking at us from all sides. We need the Daimyo’s complete support. Hmm… we could propose a middle ground. The Fire Temple monks could stay here but they will have to sign a contract with Konoha… something we can decide to term however we like. If they deny it, it would prove that they have other intentions and the Daimyo can then be swayed to our side. If they don’t… well, having a few monks monitored in the village wouldn’t be such a big deal.”

Fugaku thought about it for a while and nodded. “Then let’s go with it.”

There was another knock, this time on the window of the room.

He turned around to see… a toad.

Ah, Jiraiya’s toad.

He opened the window and received the message scroll from the toad.

The toad nodded and disappeared.

He opened the scroll and read the contents and a frown appeared on his face.

“What is it?” Tsunade asked.

He passed the letter to her, letting her take a look.

She read and sure enough there was a frown on her face too. “Mutated Animals in the forests of the moon trench? Natural Energy… this…”

“Do you know about Natural Energy?” He asked.

“I have some ideas.” She explained the basics and soon enough the whole room was silenced.

“Send Jiraiya a message to investigate the whole forest. Have some of our people capture some animals from there. Tsunade, since you have a contract with the Shikkotsu Forest, you will be in charge of inspecting the changes in their bodies. We need to deal with it as soon as possible. Since the entire trench was destroyed and recreated the number of animals there would be quite low. We need to act quickly before it becomes a bigger problem.”

“Yes.”

It was just one thing after the other.

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Author’s Note:

I am back with another chapter of ‘Isekai Restaurant’.

Several things happened in this chapter.

Silas and Sakura had a moment.

We had the party and finally the System Level Up.

As promised here is the Orochimaru Pov as well as the struggles of Fugaku Uchiha as the Hokage.

The trench made by Milim has magicules from her which are known to mutate animals and plants. Sure it was covered up by Lucoa’s magic, one belonging to a Goddess of Creation but that also means the place now contains remains of her magic mixed with the Magicules.

How will this change the Land of Fire and the Elemental Nations as a whole…

Next chapter we might see the much anticipated meeting between the servants of the ‘Supreme Beings’ and I might write something about the Dxd side of the story.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.