34
After arriving at the soon-to-be restaurant I notice boxes outside and a lot of tables and chairs on the side of the building. I approach and see Naliyi looking over everything and checking off a list.
"Everything came in?" I ask from behind her startling her.
"Hey Nova, yea all the tables and chairs, also some benches and boards as you asked for. there were also some utensils and other things, I put up the curtains you asked for all that's not here is the lighting but you said you would handle that." she looks over the list again and at all the items that were delivered before setting the list aside.
"Good I will get it all moved inside, can you get all the girls to show up here tonight? I will show a few that will work here how to cook the items on the menu and serve all the cooked food to everyone so it doesn't go to waste." Naliyi nods and heads off after bidding farewell.
"What are you going to make Nova?" Alice asks as I throw everything in my inventory and head inside.
"Some soul food Alice, the best for your soul that you will ever find." all three of my companions look at me oddly but I just go about putting out all the chairs and tables and setting up the booths. after reinforcing everything with some dragon langue just in case some fights break out I head to set up the kitchen as the others set up the table cloths. I set all the appliances out and mount them in place and make sure to have some runes up to put out fires and head back out into the dining area.
"Is this what it's supposed to look like?" Athena asks and I get why the lights are too dim and you can hardly see in here so I let out my wings and float up to each like I am in creative mode and adjust them to a good brightness. setting back down on the ground I look around and it could use some decoration but it gives off a southern vibe with all the wood and white tablecloths.
"This is pretty close, it needs some bull horns and maybe some saddles mounted on the wall but other than that it is pretty good, serves the point at least. let's go buy what I need to cook tonight and take Alice back." Alice jumps off the bar stool and puts her hands on her waist.
"I want to eat what you're making tonight!" she puffs up like a peacock and puts her foot down.
"Whatever, not a big deal to me but we need to tell Shea so she knows where you are at." after that, we all gather up and I take us to the palace in the store room. we head out and head to find Shea and let her know the plan since it's getting late and she will likely send the guard out looking for Alice if she doesn't know we still have her.
Walking through the halls we check all the usual places and can't seem to find her. after checking her study I get fed up with hide and seek and decide to call her as I should have done, to begin with.
"Hey Shea we came looking for you and couldn't find you so just know we are keeping Alice out late since she wants to try the food on the menu at my restaurant." there is no response for a while which kind of spooks me, Shea is usually pretty quick to get back to me. but before I can teleport to her location thinking she got kidnapped or something she responds.
"That's fine I was just taking a bath after trying out territory power again, tell her to check in with me when she gets back later and thanks for watching her." and that's why it's smart to not just teleport to her directly, she would likely burn me alive if I teleported into the middle of her bath. looking back at everyone following me I give a thumbs up and Alice's fist pumps in excitement.
"Alright let's go shopping she said to check in later Alice." Alice nods and I teleport us as close to the market as I can get without being spotted.
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"So you just push a small divot into the mashed potatoes and then pour this gravy on it then with the other sides spaced enough not to touch you are ready to serve." a succubus who is standing a bit too close raises her hand. "yes Jessica what is it?"
"Why can't the food touch? it all goes to the stomach anyway." I almost throw the plate at her head, she doesn't understand the way civilized people think, or wait is it some kind of OCD? I can't remember but I patiently explain the nuance of food touching being inedible unless your at home then it doesn't matter.
"So it's all made, the gumbo usually will be made earlier than we open so it has plenty of time to simmer and if it doesn't get sold then you can have it or just give it to the wyverns they will eat anything."
The girls with a history of serving to bring the food out and distribute it and I head over to sit with my girls. approaching the booth Kia is the only one sitting on her own so I slid in beside her. a great demon girl named Katarina sets out some food and we begin eating and I wait for them to try it all before asking how it is because the servers who ask you how the food is when you only took one bite are the most annoying thing there is.
"So how is it?" I get three thumbs up as they continue to eat and feel pretty good about this place.
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Waking up I head back out to work some more while I am waiting for a few things to happen. we have a guest from the capital tomorrow and also sometime soon Catherine will be going to the town Leia and I need to intercept her as Chen Rui did. from what I know it was around the old man Kanders birthday and that is in roughly a week. after settling with the visitor from the capital I will head over there and get more solid info and try to reenact the chance encounter.
After having a woodworker make all the custom-made tables for the Casino I plan to try to make some slot machines. It will be pretty intricate, it will have three spinning dials and each combo landed on will result in a different effect. I already plan to have the slot machines empty, money goes in and teleports to the basement and if a winner happens it will print a ticket with the reward amount that has to be turned in. this also gave me the idea of making a bank and doing loans and having the money all stored in a very secret place that can't be accessed except by people I reincarnate so they can withdraw money to give people. putting that idea on the back burner I begin work on the machines.
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While fiddling with my new machine that only half works I get a summon request through the slip I gave Shea. it's not the emergency one so I take my time to wipe myself off and make myself presentable and then teleport to her location. arriving in her study she is pacing back and forth behind her desk and notices me as I come from a bright magic circle.
"Nova, we have just received a magic transmission that the guest that is coming is Lady Isabella, she is on the surface coming at the behest of the finance minister but she is also very scheming and this is probably only a cover to come and make trouble. we need to be on high alert since she will be looking into a lot of things during her stay." I nod along as she gives me information she has on Isabella and act like I have no clue who she is, but in reality, I know more about her than Shea does and this is a perfect opportunity to recruit her. she works for blood fall against her will as they poisoned her or something like that, but in reality, she does it so she can kill Brock and Sabrina the ones responsible for killing her family. there is also the matter of her living on a clock so to speak with a curse on her body that is made of the purest light element and is slowly leeching her lifespan and causing her pain.
I already have made the plan to offer to reincarnate her as a devil, I know for a fact that even if she dies the curse doesn't leave. but the body is almost completely remade during the process of reincarnating and acts as a rebirth I am almost completely sure it will remove or even integrate the light curse. even if the process spits out all that has been stolen from her and doesn't return what was stolen by the curse she will be fine she will gain a devil's immortality and she is already a demon emperor. if I promise to help her avenge her brother and father then she will likely agree even if she doesn't believe in the reincarnation. the only problem is she hates men and would never believe me if I just walked up to her talking about saving her life and granting her the revenge she has always wanted.
There is also the problem of not being able to kill Brock till after a few more events so he puts things into motion that I need to happen. he is useful alive until after Paglio's treasure incident with Delia. there are a few ways to go about this and all have some pretty high risk, she is an early demon emperor at this point in the novel so a direct tier above me in everything but strength. she is also a Belphegor which has extremally high movement speed techniques and even a few short distance dash skills, also she is a master with daggers. I could always try to bait her into a trap to temporarily stun her and then explain the deal but she would be so pissed after and would not be interested. tricking her in any way is going to put respect at negative levels since she is always betrayed and burns bridges easily.
That leaves me with only one real option that doesn't have too many risks and it's to have a quick escape route and just tell her like it is. even if she hates all men she shouldn't just instantly try to kill me the moment I tell her I want to make a deal with her right? but she most likely will try to kill me the moment I talk about blood fall or her curse so how do I offer to reincarnate her and also say I will help her get revenge without actually saying it? I could just show her some of my unique abilities and let her know I can help her gain power and live forever so long as she works with me. this visit of her is coming at a bad time I needed to save as many points as I could for Catherine but I might have to cash out enough for some black potions and queen pieces for Isabella to show I will help her get stronger if she joins up with me.
The gains of having her join me are immense though, she likely can get me into the secret vault of the fallen angel empire where the Lucifer royal family artifact is. the sword of the fallen angel is overpowered it does double damage to all targets and disintegrates the soul with each attack as well as healing the user for each attack done. it can also fly around with the user's mental commands and gives immunity to light and dark attacks for a limited time once a day. I am almost a hundred percent sure I will be able to use it with the alter that has a slot for a sword in the temple in the system. or maybe I am being hopeful because I know the seven royal family artifacts can be crafted into one item and that might be what those are for. either way, if I can't use it Shea most likely can and it will also prove her right to rule since the sword chooses the rightful ruler somehow according to the story and since Obsidian cant use it Shea showing off she can use it would be a huge hit to him. No matter what I can't miss this opportunity to flip Isabella to my side.