1 Chapter 1: Food and Wars.

- ??? -

I looked at the empty tables of the restaurant and stared at the door, waiting for a customer to come in today.

Why am I even doing this?

Oh, yeah. Because of the virtual screen which appeared in front of me.

A System.

Normally as a reincarnator, I would have been happy. But why is the fucking System a decade and a half late?

And why is it this System of all things?

Restaurant System.

Then again, it's good enough for a normal slice of life world like mine.

It was like the plot of one of those anime. I don't even remember most of those from my last life.

I rarely watched any anime. Basically, I was dragged into it by my roommate who was a fan. I knew the big names like Dragon Ball Z and Naruto but not everything in detail. A decade and a half can do a lot to your memories.

The shop provides me with the ingredients for money so I don't have to go out to buy anything. Even the ingredients are always fresh and of top notch quality.

I did learn the art of cooking from my dad, well adopted but I'd not trade him for anyone else. Even when both my adopted parents passed away.

They are just that special to me.

A Restaurant.

They only passed away last year and I chose to complete my education.

One of the local businessmen however scammed the original shop belonging to my dad and all I was left with was this restaurant in a secluded alley.

I was almost screwed with meagre funds which wouldn't have covered my college tuition and thus I gave up going to one.

Thankfully I got another chance.

My System awakened when I opened the restaurant for the first time for business.

It has very basic functions right now.

First was a Store to buy ingredients.

I can sell things or even exchange money for points and vice versa in the store.

The second was the Cooking Skill.

It was the only Skill I possessed. I could increase it through practice or when the Shop upgraded. That's it.

This System did nothing else.

The door of the restaurant opened and I looked up to see what looked like a Japanese Salaryman with a strange mask filter that he proceeds to take off, too exhausted after the day's work.

"Welcome. What would you like to eat, Sir?"

He nodded and sat down on the table and looked at the menu.

"I'd like some Udon Noodles?"

"Certainly. What kind of Udon would you like?"

"Your recommendation."

"Anything else?"

"Some Tempura would be nice."

I nodded to him and got to cooking.

The Udon noodles were prepared by me in advance using the ingredients of the shop.

Sun Wheat.

I don't know where it got these ingredients from, actually I knew but I didn't know what or where this Mathias' farm was but I knew one thing for sure.

This was the best darn wheat flour I had ever worked with,

Even the water from the Store was of a different level. From some special water making tree or something I had no idea about. It did a lot of good to the body and tasted amazing.

The noodles glowed with a light golden light when I served them with the soup. In the meanwhile, the tempura was done frying and the scent spread all over the restaurant.

I picked up the dishes and served them myself. No staff at the shop. I am broke.

The guy looked stunned at the noodles and hesitantly took a bite of the noodles and then began to slurp down the noodles like it was the last meal of his life.

I smiled and sat down a bit away to watch him eat with gusto.

To be honest, this life wasn't bad at all.

I can chill out and work at my own pace.

And I can enjoy the reaction of the people when they eat my food.

It was fulfilling to see them enjoy my craft.

"Boss, this is the best Udon I have ever tasted in my life. And this Tempura is so crispy and juicy. I love this."

"I am glad you like it." I smiled.

He ordered some more or both and I served him when a second person arrived.

He looked like a fucking giant at over two meters tall with long hair. I think he was old but he certainly had the energy of a young man.

"Hahahaha is this a new restaurant in the neighbourhood? The atmosphere looks quite nice." He laughed loudly while taking a seat.

"What would you like to eat, Sir?"

"Bring me a large serving of Soba Noodles and a Sukiyaki. When did you open this restaurant? I don't remember one in this area the last time I visited."

"Today is the first day, Sir."

"Oh, lay off with the formalities. My name is Furinji Hayato. Just call me Hayato, Mr. Neighbour."

"My name is Silas Evans. Please take care of me." I replied while preparing his Soba.

"Not from around here?"

"My parents came here around a decade and a half ago. I was basically raised in this place." I cut the vegetables for the Sukiyaki or what is commonly known as Hot Pot.

My cooking skills were much better due to the Restaurant System and this included my Knife Skills.

Every cut was fine and equal with the accuracy of a tenth of a millimetre.

"Hoh, that's some nice knife work. You have got a good potential for Martial Arts." He said as he looked at me from what was a minimum eight metres distance.

I waved it off as a compliment and thanked the guy.

I served the Soba first and passed on the bill to the first guy and went back to work on the hot pot.

He paid the bill and left but not before introducing himself.

Suzuki Satoru.

Another guest appeared while I served the Hot Pot. He was an elderly man with white hair and a moustache. He was wearing a black full sleeved shirt and white trousers.

"A new restaurant?"

He took a seat on one of the seats near Hayato and picked up the menu and ordered the Hot Pot.

I served Hayato on his order first and went to collect the bill from Suzuki's table.

It was the bills he left that made me pause.

I didn't recognize the bills.

"Is something the matter, Silas?" Hayato noticed the oddity.

"It's nothing. It's just that the bills were a bit odd. I think he might have made a mistake."

"Hmm? Did he do a dine and dash? Let me catch him up."

"Ah, please don't bother about that. Enjoy your food while it's hot."

"I have never seen such bills. Oh, look at the date on those."

And I did only to be gobsmacked.

Year 2297…

The funny thing was that the System recognized them as legitimate bills which was odd.

The guy had by then walked up to me and noticed the bills. Even the other old guy had noticed the oddity. "Hmm, I don't recognize these types of bills either. Are they from some other country because I have never seen anything like this in Z City."

Z City?

I looked at the old guy at the strange name of the city. "Oh. My name is Bang. You can call me Bang or Silverfang if you want. Do you want an autograph?"

Autograph?

I looked at the man a bit weirdly. Was he famous?

"I'm sorry for my ignorance, Sir but I don't recognise the name."

Now, it was his turn to get shocked.

Hayato added his two bits. "I haven't heard the name either? Are you famous or something?"

The guy was shocked for a few moments but broke out of his daze. "I'm Silverfang. The third Ranked S Class Hero."

….

….

"Excuse me?" I replied confused.

"Are you what the kids call a chunni? I admit it's my first time seeing one." Hayato thoughtfully said.

The man didn't look offended but was rather depressed.

"Have you really not heard of the Hero Association and me?" He asked again.

"… I am sorry Sir but I really haven't." I replied while I was thinking of the oddity.

First a guy leaves bills of 2297 and now a chunni old man.

Suddenly a thought struck me and I mechanically turned toward the old guy. "Sir, could you tell me something about your city?"

"Hmm. I am from Z City."

I looked at Hayato and asked him the same question.

"Near Tokyo."

…

"What happened, Silas? You look a bit off?"

"I… this shop is near Kyoto."

…

"What?" Hayato blanked out.

"What places are those?" Bang asked, confused.

"Mr. Bang, I know I am being a bit rude and my request seems a bit odd but can you please take us to Z City?"

He looked at my urgency and didn't question anything as he opened the door and what greeted us outside was a completely different scene from what I knew.

Hayato followed and was speechless as well.

….

I was feeling a bit faint.

All I wanted was a chill life but what the fuck was this?

[hr]

A month had passed since I opened the shop and found out that my restaurant connected to different worlds.

There was something odd going on because the customers just seemed to accept it. No one questioned about anything or why I could do such a thing or anything.

I chalked it up to the System.

Well, I guess it did help me out so it's fine.

I did discover some things about the System though.

The door opened by a person only leads to their own world and they could only go to other worlds if that world's guests agreed to it and… if I gave permission.

I on the other hand could go to any world I was invited in.

I didn't choose which world or where the door to my shop will open.

Lastly, I was invincible within my shop basically. I could just throw someone out and even ban them from the shop with a thought.

I kept this a secret for my own safety.

My shop has hosted several other people from different worlds since then.

Bang and Hayato got along like two peas in a pod. Both being martial artists and all. They even invited each other to their worlds for sparring and what not.

Bang was a Hero in his world and is like a world class celebrity which is why he was shocked when we didn't recognise his name.

Hayato on the other hand calls himself the owner of a martial arts dojo but considering the fact that he could fight Bang on an almost equal footing, I doubt it was a normal Martial Arts Dojo.

They were sometimes joined by another old man called Isaac who was a hunter. They were the super powered oldies group who occupied a corner of the shop talking about Martial Arts and Hotpots while chilling out together.

Suzuki came often and spent more time in the shop. His world was… how to say this… depressing.

He was joined by another salaryman called Mikami Satoru and a guy from Bang's world called Saitama who was training to become a Hero.

They bonded over their love of video games.

Suzuki's world had super advanced VMMORPGs.

Saitama on the other hand worried about his hair loss. He has been training for almost three years now and has been losing his hair since he started training. He didn't give up though. But I don't know why, with each hair that fell from his head, he became more and more… blank? Was that the correct word?

It was not like he was turned into an emotional husk but more like his emotions were getting muted.

Yeah… muted.

He did love it when I added extra toppings on the dishes.

Apparently, training to become a hero didn't pay much so he was a regular Soba club member. Suzuki and Mikami just enjoyed the taste more.

"One more glass." The cup slammed on the table in front of me while the woman, who was clearly drunk, asked for another cup of alcohol.

"I think you have had enough, Miss Hiratsuka." She stifled and then looked up to me with a glare that made a chill go down my spine.

"Miss Hiratsuka… are you making fun of me for being single? Huh?"

….that was not even remotely close to the topic.

"Obviously not. You are still so young, being single is normal. Right, Mikami?"

I pushed the baton over to Mikami who had walked over for another plate of Tempura. He literally had the look of a deer caught in the headlights.

"Ughh yeah. You are still young…" he started speaking but was cut off by the woman.

"Sob, now even middle aged single men are pitying me. I will grow old alone with a cat in a house and my neighbours will find me due to the stench of my dea…"

Mikami looked like he had been punched in the gut by the middle aged and single statement and looked at me aggrieved. I just apologised and added extra tempura on his plate.

Shizuka Hiratsuka, was a teacher in a nearby school.

She was normally a very free woman and positively cheerful albeit with a strong personality but that was only till she got drunk.

She came to the shop every week or so on Saturdays to drown herself in alcohol because her apartment was nearby and she didn't have to wake up early the next day.

It's just that when she gets drunk, she becomes well, like this.

She left soon after. I did get surprised at her ability to walk when drunk at first but now it's normal.

The door opened after a while and a black haired kid came in. He had a white shirt and black pants and looked like any typical Japanese Middle School student. He looked around a bit and then ordered a ramen as he sat down.

The curious thing about him was that he was looking around alert as if something wrong was going to happen or he was going to be attacked from somewhere.

"Here you go. Your Ramen. Enjoy."

"Thank you."

"Also, I don't know why you are worried but this shop is completely safe. No one is coming here to attack you so you can eat in peace."

"Eh! Oh I'm sorry. I didn't mean to look like that. It's just that…."

And then the guy told us about how he is always unlucky and gets drawn into one mess or the other.

Kamijo Touma was from a place where Espers or those with Psychic Powers lived in a highly advanced city compared to the rest of the world and were divided into several levels.

Basically one to five as was currently known. The larger the number, the stronger their abilities.

Touma was a Level 0 and his power was nullification of other powers using his Right Hand.

Other than that he was pretty normal.

I won't lie but it sounded like the plot of an anime.

A city full of power users and what not… that was amazing.

His words attracted the attention of other people in the shop who were very interested in different worlds.

"You could always train your body, you know. When you have nothing else to rely on, use your fist." Hayato chimed.

"Umm. The Almighty has given us this body of ours. It's already the biggest gift we could get. Hone it. We can crush mountains with our fists alone." Netero nodded sagely.

"If you want to join, I can recommend the Ryozanpaku or my own Flowing Water Rock Smashing Fist Style dojo." Bang added his two cents.

He looked at the three in a bit of confusion and I decided to give them a push.

"They are very accomplished Martial Artists. I know you cannot do anything about your luck but you can train your body to become strong enough to be able to survive, right?"

"That… does sound quite reasonable." He shifted his bowl near the Old Guy group and began talking to them about Martial Arts.

It looks like Hayato can get a student.

"Still, a city full of such people sounds amazing, doesn't it? I mean, except for Saitama, our worlds are pretty normal." Mikami spoke.

"The monsters are just a nuisance though." Saitama said boredly while taking a slurp of his own soba.

"In our world, the humans have done enough so we don't need any monsters either. Also, I have Yggdrasil so…" Suzuki wasn't interested either.

While they were very interested in fantasy games, they didn't want anything to do with it in real life.

I kinda agreed. Such a world would be scary to live in.

"By the way, did you play the new Eroge I gave you? "

"Oho, I did. The art in the future is really… *cough* *cough*. I mean the work of the VA was really something." Mikami changed the topic quickly.

"Umu. She was a member of our Guild."

"Really! Can I get an autograph?" And there went all that composure.

And just like this, another day ended in the restaurant.

[hr]

Three months had passed since Touma joined the Ryozanpaku.

Surprisingly, two months ago both Suzuki and Mikami stopped coming to the shop suddenly. I don't know what happened to them but poor Saitama was very lonely. Coupled with his training, he lost all of his hair.

"Cheer up Saitama. There are many great people with bald heads, ya know. You know what, today's food is on me. I'll cook you a special meal."

That brought some light back to his eyes. "Really? I knew it, Silas. You are a really good guy."

"Hahahaha don't mind it." On the side, Touma was being tortu… I mean trained by one of the Ryozanpaku's masters.

Kensei Ma was a master of Chinese Martial Arts… and a true *cough* gentleman.

Touma had almost given up after the first day but some pep talk by Hayato's granddaughter helped him continue further.

Since then he was trained by several teachers of Ryozanpaku every single day till he dropped. I cooked him something in my shop after which he left for his home. This was his daily routine.

The progress he made was visible too. Now he could take a lot of beating.

According to Hayato, the food from my restaurant was magical. I somehow couldn't refute it either because all I knew about my food was that it came from the farm of a guy called Mathias and tasted better than everything I had ever eaten in my life.

Coming back to Touma, apparently, he couldn't properly use Ki which the masters of Ryozanpaku used because of his nullification powers. Due to this, Bang also lent a hand and was teaching him his own Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist on the side.

Currently he was punching air.

I stopped chopping the vegetables to look towards my side. A pink clad ninja girl with black hair was looking at my cutting board.

"What do you want, Miss Shigure?"

"Your knife skills… are good." She answered while not removing her eyes from my hands. A small rat came out of her pocket and nodded but was eying the food instead.

"Thank you." I answered while getting back to my work.

Shigure was just like this. Quiet and eccentric but incredibly skilled.

She had once chopped Kensei's Hat in two halves when he tried to teach Touma something perverted… with a rolling pin.

I didn't even think it was possible.

I mean where even was the cutting edge?

"Pork Ramen." She uttered when I was done cutting.

I nodded. "I will get it done in a minute, and a cheese cracker on the house." I smiled looking at the rat who gave me a salute.

I finished the dishes for Saitama and served him before getting back at Shigure's Ramen.

It was during this time, I heard a smashing sound of someone hitting on the wall and overturning the tables and quickly came out.

People were surrounding a black haired guy who was slumped against the wall. He wore a weird black and golden coloured robes with a white shawl-like cover and looked like a scholar from the middle ages.

Touma was already on his knees, apologising to the guy while Hayato checked up on him.

The guy on the other hand probably had a broken jaw or something and was bleeding from mouth as he looked at the blood on his hand in shock.

It took me a short moment to know what had happened. Touma, who was practising his punches, was hit by Kensei on his knees to correct his posture. He slipped and punched the guy who had just entered the shop, sending him flying and crashing into the wall.

"I… I'm not healing?" The guy looked in shock as if he couldn't believe it. He checked it again and a few more times before I saw some tears in his eyes.

"Saitama, get the first aid kit. It's on the second floor. Check the storeroom." I instructed as I helped the guy stand up and tried to take him to a seat.

He however got up and went straight to Touma. I saw Kensei tense up slightly but what happened next stunned all of us out of our minds. He bowed down and thanked Touma.

"Thank you. You have done me the greatest favour of my life."

….

Saitama who had returned with the First Aid Kit whispered into my ears. "Is he, you know… one of those masochist weirdos?"

… The worst part was that I had no idea what to say.

"I am sorry, I didn't mean to hit you, Mr?"

"Zeref. My name is Zeref Dragneel. You don't have to feel bad.I don't know how you did it but you have helped me and for that, I will be eternally grateful."

At this point all of us were confused. The guy sensed it and explained to us.

"I was cursed. You just somehow broke my curse. Please don't feel bad about it."

Ohhh.

Ohhhh. That made sense. Touma's power negation actually removed his curse.

The people around were shocked for a moment before they gathered around the new guy Zeref to know his life story.

Zeref Dragneel's life story was both tragic and terrifying at the same time.

A guy who just wanted to have his brother back did something in his youth which cursed him to become something like that. I felt pity for the man. For someone who wanted to live a peaceful life, that kind of a curse. Apparently, even his lover had been afflicted by the same curse.

"Zeref, I don't know how it worked but if you want, I can help your lover too. My power is to negate the powers of those I touch. I can try using this and see if it works." Touma offered. "I still don't know the exact range of my powers so I can't say anything for sure."

The man's eye widened slightly and he nodded. "Thank you."

"But that really scared me. I thought that the kid messed up." Kensei laughed and we joined in awkwardly while I gave Touma some water.

The other customers explained to Zeref about the shop while I prepared the dishes and brought them out, taking a seat nearby to hear the stories.

"Still I didn't expect this kind of place to exist. A restaurant connecting several worlds and that too run by a demon. In my world, Demons are mostly cruel and lean towards destruction and chaos."

….

….

"Say what?"

"Are you not a demon? I did sense that you have a demonic nature even though it seemed to be under some kind of a seal, but I don't know your race. But then again, it was presumptuous of me to assume that every world will have a similar race."

"What do you mean Demonic Nature and Seal? Explain." I sat down when I realised that he didn't seem to be joking.

He placed two fingers on my forehead and I heard a gasp as I felt something odd on my back.

I turned back mechanically and found two leathery black bat-like wings sticking out from my back.

….

That was the last thing I remembered before passing out.

[hr]

When my eyes opened, I saw the worried looks of others around me.

Remembering what had happened before I fainted, I got up in a flash and checked my back.

No wings.

I let out a sigh.

"Damn, that was a bad dream. I saw a weird wing on my back." I whispered awkwardly.

"That was real, you know? I thought that it looked cool." Kensei commented while still looking at my back.

Touma was keeping his distance but not out of disgust and I saw Zeref sitting beside me.

"What happened to me just now?" I asked the guy who started all this mess.

"I removed the seal on you and those wings were released but you apparently didn't have enough demonic power if any at all and thus fainted when it started running in your body. I checked and found that your demonic power reserves were negligible. In fact, you are a demonic being who doesn't have any Demonic Power at all….well, almost. I did a quick fix on you by implanting a Demon Seed in your body. It's producing Demonic Power and nourishing your body as we speak."

"I am not a Demon." I gritted out. I am a human dammit. I have been since I remembered it.

What the fuck Demonic Power and what fucking seal?

"I think you are misunderstanding something. Demonic Beings are not all mindless killers. You shouldn't hold prejudice against them."

Saitama placed a hand on my shoulder but I was having an existential crisis at the moment.

"I….I need some time alone. I will excuse myself. I'm sorry for the inconvenience."

I got up and walked back to the second floor of the restaurant which also served as my home.

[hr]

I walked out on the roads on the outskirts of Kyoto. The sky was cloudy and the nearby lights weren't working but I could see everything clearly.

Demon.

Were my parents also demons?

Wasn't this some normal world? Why did demons pop out all of a sudden? I suddenly found the familiar world became completely unknown within just a few minutes.

The fact that I was meeting with people with supernatural powers all along had reduced the amount of shock I was under but it was still something I was having a hard time wrapping my head around.

Did mom and dad know of this?

I didn't know and I don't think I would ever know.

I sat down on the bench in a park, letting the breeze calm down my thoughts.

But tonight was just not for me.

A crashing sound came and I looked back to see a boy of around 15 or 16 jump down from the first floor of a building followed by what looked like a black puppy.

He crashed into the shrubs near me and rolled to the ground.

I quickly got up to my feet and helped pick him up.

"Run. They are coming. Run." He frantically shouted.

"Who is coming?"

"Them." he pointed towards the building, specifically the window where he had jumped from and out of it came what looked like a spider with a boy on its back.

Fuck!

The boy had sprained his leg so I picked him up on my back and ran.

For the first time in the last hour, I felt a little grateful for the Demon whatever was within me because each of my steps were covering several metres as I dashed towards my shop. The puppy surprisingly followed us and was able to keep up with us.

Wings.

Where the fuck are those wings? How do I get them out?

Come out. Come Out. COME OUT!

And I felt the same sensation on my back as a pair of black bat-like wings came back on my back.

I just knew how to use them.

My feet kicked the ground and the puppy jumped and latched onto my trouser as I flew straight towards my shop.

"What the hell are you?" The boy shouted loudly at me.

I looked at him, tired. "Believe me, I am having a very confusing day as well. Let's get to safety first."

Thankfully, whatever was following us didn't have any way to follow us in the air.

We reached the shop quickly and I locked the door and slumped to the ground.

"Okay, what the fuck was that?" I asked the guy.

"What do you mean, that? What even are you?" he shouted back as his dog stood protectively in front of him.

"I….I don't know."

"Huh?"

The dumb look on his face made me angry for some reason.

"I am the guy who just saved your ass. So what the fuck was that following you?"

The Dog growled as a black coloured blade came out of his head but too bad for it, I was in my shop. I glared at it and it fell to its knees.

"Keep the blade away. If you continue being an ungrateful brat, I'll have no difficulty throwing you out."

He quickly held his dog and backed up a little.

Then he went on to explain what happened just now.

The guy's name was Tobio Ikuse. He is a high school student. The thing chasing us was supposedly his classmate who had disappeared two months ago on a cruise during a trip along with the rest of his class. He was absent back then and survived along with another girl.

"The puppy came out from a magic egg…."

He looked a bit abashed but aggrieved at the same time. "Believe me. I am not lying."

I sighed.

Obviously. What's so unbelievable about it?

It's not like I have a shop which connects to different worlds? It's not that an hour or so ago, I found out that I was supposedly a demon.

What's so surprising about a puppy hatching from an Egg? I mean Pokemon's did that, didn't they?

"So, where's its pokeball?"

"What?"

"So a Digimon kind of thing then. Sigh. Do you have anyone you can call? You can use my phone to call them."

He nodded and brought out a cellphone from his pocket and dialled a number.

In the meanwhile, I got back to my room and changed my clothes and gave him some leftovers from the stock to eat. The guy looked famished.

The puppy enjoyed some pork ribs while I just had a plate of Ramen.

He explained more of his story and how he was in such a mess because he wants to help save his childhood friend.

Damn, that's a shounen protagonist right there.

Too bad this is the real world and I am not interested in becoming spider food.

Half an hour later, a knock was heard on my door and I checked out to see a blonde girl standing outside.

"Is she your friend?" I told him to take a look first.

He confirmed and I opened the door.

She looked at me and was surprised for a moment before becoming alert. "I didn't know there was a devil in this area. From what I know, this area is neutral ground and no members of the Three factions lived here." She asked cautiously but I picked up several words in her sentence just now. Devil. Three Factions.

Need to search.

Her cautious tone told me that I shouldn't ask her because then she would know about my situation and can lead me to anything. Better not take risks.

"I am pretty sure that I have lived here for over a decade and a half. If you didn't know about me, that was your lack of information. Not my fault."

"In that case, I'll thank you for saving my friend's life. Come on Tobio. Let's go."

He left after thanking me once more and I closed my shop's door to go back and sleep for the day.

When in too much stress, a good nap always helps unwind me.

- Suzuki Satoru -

He closed the door to his room and slumped on his bed.

How did this happen?

How did he get stuck in a game?

All he wanted to do was spend the last hours and give Yggdrasil a well deserved goodbye and then maybe go and live in Mikami's world which seemed still livable.

Everything was planned. Mikami even found out where they could get some fake documents and in return, he could sell the technologies to make money for themselves.

It was the perfect plan.

Alas.

During the last hour of his time he reminisced about everything in the game. He even took some liberties with changing the programming of some of the characters.

Albedo….

A green light surrounded him and he calmed down.

But he was not a selfish guy. He even made some maids for his bros at the restaurant and was going to show them the videos to let them bask in the glory of A VMMO's maids created by some of the most brilliant minds in the world.

Mikami liked the cheerful and calm types so he programmed Aureole Omega and Lupusregina Beta for him. Saitama was becoming more robotic and he wanted to tease him with CZ2128 Delta. And for the man who made his exit plan viable in the first place, he changed Yuri Alpha and Narberal Gamma because he remembered him wanting to hire waitresses for his restaurant.

While he couldn't give him waitresses, a promotion video was good enough, right?

*Sigh*.

Now though, even if he could give him the waitresses he wanted, he had no way to get back. Life took away from him when everything started to look better.

He punched the wall in frustration and one of the cupboards moved revealing a door on the other side.

….

….

This door?

Wasn't this?

Then the thought struck him. Wasn't Silas' Restaurant connected to many other worlds? Did it mean that he could go back?

He quickly went ahead but paused in his step.

His current form would draw too many eyes so he created a full plate armour with Greater Item Creation Skill to cover his entire body and used Perfect Warrior to completely drain his mana away incase it had clues that could give away his new status as undead before he has a chance to explain himself. Checking himself in the mirror once more, he seemed alright for now. Maybe, he could pretend to be cosplaying so he can explain everything first?

Yes.

Sounds like a good plan.

Just in case, he informed the residents of Nazarick to not enter his room unless permitted.

- Mikami Satoru -

He put the stone on the grave and markedit with her name.

Shizue Izawa.

The face of her smiling in her last moments appeared in front of his eyes.

Too bad monsters can't cry or at least Slimes couldn't.

The last few months of his life had been full of ups and downs.

One day he was planning to start a Game Company with Suzuki and the next thing he knows, he gets stabbed and becomes a slime.

He did find some friends in this place but damn if he didn't miss his life back there. Especially now that he was feeling this pit in his stomach.

A glass of sake with some fried tempura would be just the thing he needed to drown his sorrows in.

He wondered how his friends were doing. Did they miss him?

Suzuki would be so disappointed.

They had planned so much to get him out of that world of his.

But as the saying goes, the best laid plans of men and mice….

Maybe he can do the same with Silas or Hayato. Their worlds were not that developed as well.

He mimicked Shizue-san's face in a form comfortable for him and returned back to the village.

"Rimuru-sama, Rimuru-sama. T-t-there's something in your hut!" Gobta came running as soon as he reached close to the village?

Something in his hut?

He picked Gobta and flew as fast as he could towards the hut which was in the middle of the village. If there was something in his hut, it could be a danger to the entire village.

On reaching outside the hut, he saw several people gathered around it.

Rigurd kneeled and apologised.

Sigh… these goblins or rather Hobgoblins were too serious.

He walked directly into the hut and what he saw there made him rub his eyes in surprise.

Was that?

No way. It couldn't be.

He walked shakily towards the door and touched the familiar handle but stopped before informing the ones gathered outside.

"Don't worry. This is something that was planned recently by me. Carry on with your own work. I will be out for a while. Oh and ask the dwarves to build a wall and a stronger house around and do not touch this door.

"Hai, Rimuru-sama."

– Natsume Minagawa –

"There are too many of them. Why is your Governor-General not here yet? We can't fight all of them with just ourselves." She shouted as she supported Tobio.

"There were some problems and they were delayed by an hour. We need to retreat from this place for now." The girl called Lavinia shouted while creating a wall of ice between them and the monsters chasing them, giving them a chance to take a breather.

Tobio was almost useless in the fight because of his injuries from the previous chase.

His Sacred Gear did his share of work but there was only so much it could do alone.

The enemy was prepared for them and had planned out an ambush.

And now they were fighting for their lives.

"W-we could go to the restaurant." Tobio suggested.

The restaurant?

"Are you mad? It belongs to a Devil. Who knows what he might do?"

"He did save my life and the first thing he did was ask me to call someone to take me away. I don't think he meant us any harm. We are trapped anyway. Might as well try our last alternative."

She bit her lip in frustration. He was not wrong about that. They were trapped as it is. They would die if they didn't do anything.

"Tch let's go. Gryphon." Her Sacred Gear grabbed her hand and carried her and Tobio to the nearby road. "Lavinia, follow us."

– Silas –

Eight hours of sleep had calmed my head a lot.

I got up and cleaned myself before cleaning the shop and opening it again.

I will have to apologise to the customers later.

I got down and prepared the stock for today. I will cook them something special from my side as an apology. Yes, that sounds good.

I chose a particular dish which I had been eyeing for a while now.

Cheese Rabbit.

It was a hundred and eighty kilograms rabbit which was the size of a human adult.

I could barely afford the price for it but the thing looked too good to pass.

With this thought in mind, I got to cooking.

[hr]

The first one to come was Saitama.

"Silas. Man, are you alright?" He sat down beside me. If I didn't know better, his rather bland tone would have made me feel worse instead but I knew that the guy cared in his own way.

"I am alright. I just… it was too much for me to take all of a sudden. I am sorry that I overreacted."

"Don't mind. Don't mind. It's fine." He waved casually.

Suddenly, there were two more people whom I didn't recognise.

One was in full plate armour and the other looked to be a cute girl with light blue hair.

"Silas."

"Silas."

Eh?

"Excuse me? Have we met before?" I asked because this was literally the first time I had seen them.

Saitama, beside me, looked confused as well.

"I am Mikami."

"It's me, Suzuki."

"Huh?"

Over the next fifteen minutes, they explained what had happened to them.

"Man… that's rough isn't it? By the way, now that you are a skeleton, what do you eat? Also, if you eat Bone Soup, will it be cannibalism? And do you poop?" Saitama asked, curious, making Ainz facepalm.

"I do not need to eat anything. And what do you mean by cannibalism?"

"And poop?"

"Obviously I don't need to poop either? What would I even poop, bone powder?" He bristled before a green light flashed around him and he calmed down.

"Still, three of us four suddenly became something else. Only Saitama is a normal human now."

"It doesn't matter. We are friends." Mikami cheered everyone by bouncing on the chair in his slime form.

He looked cute though.

But the guy was hiding his pain.

"Well look at the good part. Now all three of you are bald." I joked, running away before they could throw anything at me. I did hear shouts from those three soon enough.

Their anger calmed down soon when, I brought out the rabbit dish.

This dish comprised of five parts: Lièvre Ensemble, Rabbit Blood & Chocolate Sauce, Royale Custard, Chestnut Confit and a Fig-Apple Purée Sauce.

It was a dish served to the French Royal Family and something I looked up and learned myself.

"Ohhh, this is so cool." Mikami or rather as we know him as Rimuru cheered. It was hard to know where his eye was but his voice conveyed his emotions quite clearly.

"Oi, Suzuki… ah, I mean Ainz, can I take your share?" Saitama said, eying his plate.

Ainz in reply picked up the plate and we saw in wonder as he cut the meat and took a bite and the food just disappeared in his mouth. It didn't just fall down on the chair.

"You liar! You said you couldn't eat." Saitama shouted pointing fingers at him.

I don't know why but that bony face seemed a little smug at the moment. "Correction. I said I don't need to eat. I never said that I couldn't. How do you think I use potions?"

….

Rimuru and I burst out in laughter looking at Saitama's dumbfounded face.

It was a strange scene. A bald hero, a talking skeleton, a slime and a devil walked into a restaurant… I can make a fucking joke out of it.

And yet, even in this strange scene, I felt strangely normal again.

One after the other, my guests came back and I apologised to the ones I had walked out on yesterday.

Zeref himself apologised but I waved him off. He was actually trying his best to help.

He was followed by a red haired woman in what looked to be a witch's costume.

The expression on her face when she ate the rabbit dish was amazing. She ordered several dishes after that and there were literal tears in her eyes when she was eating them.

Touma came in and I noticed a pair of gloves on his hands. He did that to avoid touching someone and accidentally destroying something magical.

Wise choice.

"So, you were chased by pokemons and their trainers and you saved a boy with a pokemon?" Rimuru summarised.

"It was not a Pokemon. He couldn't keep it in a pokeball." I countered.

"That doesn't prove anything. Ash doesn't keep his Pikachu in the Pokeball. Still a pokemon." Rimuru countered and I was completely speechless.

He did make a fair point.

"He might not have a pokeball." Ainz pointed out.

"Ohh. I mean what's the possibility of him not knowing how to use a Pokeball?"

"Nah….Nobody can be such a noob."

"Agreed."

"Agreed."

"Agreed."

Well yeah.

"But, Silas, you were in danger today." Rimuru pointed it out and I realised it myself. He took an empty glass and sprayed some bluish liquid in it. "This is a full restore potion. I can make it within my body. Use it if you are ever in any danger."

Ainz nodded and brought out a complete set of equipment and rings to cover me from head to toe. "I don't know if you will fit the level requirements but these should work. We can get you power levelled with some EXP. Potions in stock if they work for you. I still have a few of those stocked up from some events. I will also send two Pleiades as maids to help and protect you."

"Ainz, you have maids?" Rimuru asked, shocked.

"Umu. I am the King of Nazarick now. Obviously I will have maids." He nodded proudly.

"So… are you rich now?"

I believe I saw a smirk on his bony face if that was even possible. "I have more gold than everyone in the room and the room itself… together.

"Holy fuck! And here I was living in huts made by dwarves. Ainz is paying for everyone today."

"Hmm, hmm. Ainz pay."

"Very well. Today's bill shall be paid by me… Ainz Ooal Gown."

The customers all cheered, already being familiar with Suzuki. Well, except Zeref and the woman who didn't seem to care about it at all.

Ainz went on to show the pictures of the maids he had assigned to everyone and Rimuru was fanboying while Saitama seemed almost uninterested.

As we were discussing this, the door to the restaurant opened once more and this time three people rushed in.

The same faces from a day ago.

All of them paused looking at Ainz and Rimuru, especially Ainz and then the girl in the lead shouted.

The bird with her got protectively in front of her but didn't attack or even try.

"Ohh, is this the Pokemon guy?" Rimuru jumped from his seat, looking at the dog and the bird carefully.

Tobio limped to the front first, "Please let us stay here. Those monsters… they are…" he huffed but I saw that the sprain on his leg was worse now.

He didn't get to stay much as we heard a loud thud on the wall of the restaurant. There was no damage to the restaurant but the sound of the nearby houses being attacked was easy for us to understand.

I looked outside the window to see over a dozen of those monsters trying to break in.

"What exactly are those?" Bang asked.

"Those are Pokemons alright." Rimuru commented.

"They are… our classmates. Some people kidnapped them and bound monsters in them and now they are like this. Those people are after us because of our Sacred Gears."

"Your what?" Rimuru asked while a question mark formed on his head.

Literally.

"Our Sacred Gears. This is mine, called Gryphon." The blonde girl informed us while the other girl strangely took a seat and started to look through the menu without a care in the world.

"They are not Pokemon?!"

"What?! No!"

"I will see what is going on there." I said and started to walk towards the window. I was safe inside the shop anyway so it didn't matter.

A hand fell on my shoulder and stopped me.

"Silas. You are not used to fighting. Let me." Ainz stood up, his bony frame towering over us as his voice took on a royal tone. He was in full on roleplaying mode right now.

Rimuru changed into his own blue haired human form. "I'll help too."

Zeref stood up and walked ahead too. "Let me also help out a bit to make up for the inconvenience I caused earlier."

"I'll help out too. I'm a Hero after all." Saitama stood up. "I just need to get my hero costume first."

"Please. Our friends. They don't want this. They are just being controlled. It's the people after them." Tobio pleaded to the ones walking out.

"You take care and get healed, kid. We will solve this mess." Rimuru laughed before applying some of the blue potion on his leg and I watched in awe as it was healed instantly.

Ainz on the other hand had taken the lead and stood outside the shop, in quite a grand manner if I might add.

He started facing the one who seemed to be the leader of the group.

"We are Ainz Ooal Gown. This place is under our protection. We do not believe they have caused you any harm. For what reason do you attack this place?"

The reply he got was not favourable in the least.

"Heh, just a lackey of a mere devil and a weak one at that. Do you even have the right to speak in front of our organisation? The world runs by strength. It doesn't matter if those four Satans are behind you as long as you are weak." The woman spoke in a clearly disdainful manner. The target of the whole thing was me however.

"The Five Principal Clans have really fallen. To let these abominations exist in our country. Do you still think they deserve to rule?" The guy in the lead spoke to Tobio while looking at me.

….

….

I haven't even spoken and I am getting dissed already?

Ainz however was completely unmoved by their crazy banter.

"You are correct. The weak have no right to speak. They can only listen. But I am a kind man, so I will give you a choice… Do not cause any trouble here. If you choose to not listen to advice, both you and your entire organisation will burn."

….

….

What the fuck, dude?

Is he really Suzuki? Did he go off the deep end already?

"Hehehehe they are so funny, teacher. A little warrior, a young girl, a pretty boy and a weak devil. They want to take down the Wizards of Oz and the Utsusemi Organisation. Can I kill them please?" The girl beside the woman laughed.

"No need to waste time on trash. Get the targets and kill the rest. Attack." The guy commanded.

The children and their monsters surrounding us rushed towards us at the same time.

"I see. So you have chosen death. Very well then. Die." Ainz raised his hand. "Grasp Heart."

A shadow-like heart appeared in front of him and he crushed it.

As soon as he did that, the man controlling the monsters collapsed.

Silence reigned for a moment as I am pretty sure I was not the only one who got chills down my spine.

The monsters attacking us were as if they lost all control and went mad.

"Rimuru-kun. Can you bring one of these children to me? I will try to see if I can fix their problems." Zeref spoke politely.

"Ou." Rimuru jumped and spit what seemed to be spider threads all over the place.

The monsters were tied in cocoons almost instantly as he pulled one towards us and passed him to Zeref. He then jumped towards the crowd once more.

The rest of the people had also started taking action.

Ainz was fighting against the woman who was making a purple fire which chilled my spine just by looking at it. He had summoned what looked like those elementals from the video games to keep her attacks at bay.

"They have enchanted some kind of monsters on the children and done a terrible job at that. The monsters are loosely attached to their souls and are acting almost like parasites, overwhelming their minds. If their goal was to give them power, a gradual process would have been much better than just shoving a monster inside them." The red haired woman had appeared beside Zeref before I realised and checked the children before speaking.

"Can you use your Separation Enchantment to remove the monsters from them?"

"I can but it will take some time." She replied but had already started working on one of the children whom Rimuru had captured.

"Hmm. Let me try something." He turned towards Touma. "Can you try to remove this? I believe you deactivating the enchantment will do the work."

The boy in question went hesitantly towards the tied up boy, removed his glove and touched it.

The boy spasmed before fainting while the monster roared and collapsed.

The woman looked at Touma in awe and shock.

"It's as I had guessed. Your gift is really something Touma-kun. Although, I'd suggest not touching the members of the restaurant because some of them are purely magical beings and might get seriously hurt by it."

The boy in question nodded profusely.

"Now, since we have found a way to cure the children, I guess I will put an end to this." With his words said, Zeref walked towards the place where the fight was going on just as Ainz dodged back from a wave of purple fire attack.

He had however taken out a chunk of the woman's chest.

The woman looked hatefully at him. "You! You are not a warrior. What are you? How did you do that?"

"We are Ainz Ooal Gown. With that name at stake, there can be no defeat." Ainz spread his hands grandly and I wouldn't lie, he looked kinda cool too.

"You think you have won? You will all die. My people will not let you live in peace so long as any of us still breathe. You will be hunted down till the end of hell." She screeched.

"The wailings of a defeated foe." Ainz waved it off and was about to kill her but was stopped by a voice..

"Please let me. I have a score to settle with her." Surprisingly, the girl called Lavinia stepped forwards, right upto the face of the woman with a wand drawn to her face. "This is for my teacher."

Ainz didn't interfere and watched.

The woman looked at her with a smile that can only be described as… creepy.

"Your teacher… Glenda… she's alive."

"... you are lying. I saw you kill her with my own eyes."

"I didn't kill her. Whose research do you think these monsters are? All from Glenda's research."

"You people extracted information from her forcibly." She gritted out.

Ainz walked to my side and whispered into my ear. "This looks like a classic anime plot, doesn't it? I bet five bucks That Glenda woman is the traitor."

"I think she is just trying to mess with her by lying to make her switch sides for more information. Ten bucks." Rimuru whispered back.

These guys, are they monsters?… oh wait…

In the meanwhile, the woman took out something from her waist and did something to the talisman. "Glenda."

Another voice appeared on the other side. "What do you need from me, Augusta?"

I saw Lavinia pause, her body freezing completely.

"Your former apprentice is seeking you and wants to kill me. Don't you have anything to say to her?"

"... Lavinia? She was an interesting subject because of her Longinus but that's it. Her Sacred Gear helped my research. I have no use for her now." The call was cut.

"Tch." Rimuru passed ten gold ingots to Ainz.

Wasn't it just ten bucks?

The girl Lavinia looked as if she was devastated and Augusta laughed before quickly swiping at her but the next second Augusta's body fell down as a flash of light surrounded them.

I looked around at the people who were just looking at the scene.

Do something dammit.

Why are you all playing classic Vegeta?

Lavinia stood up and a figure which looked like a doll of ice appeared behind her as purple flames appeared around her once more.

She laughed but her voice now seemed to be overlapping with Augusta's. "You wanted to kill me, right. So die. You, your friends, this entire country DIE!"

"Possession?" Ainz said.

I looked around and there were still some monsters left and that's where Zeref stepped in.

The woman with Zeref looked towards Zeref with a smile. "It's not everyday you get to see Emperor Spriggan in action."

"Emperor? Is Zeref a King or something?"

– Ainz –

Ainz watched as the harmless looking guy walked forward and the next moment, his eyes widened… or would have if he had eyes. The amount of magic power he was releasing was insane.

"Since we will not be able to rest while you live, there is only really just one solution to this. I just have to make sure there are no survivors. But I will still give you a chance… surrender… or perish."

The woman however had lost her mind already and a wave of ice and fire rushed towards us.

Zeref joined his hands in the position of prayer and opened them to show a sphere of magic circles formed between them. "Very well. You have chosen your own fate. I invoke… Law."

The sphere of black magic expanded almost instantly and Ainz didn't even have the chance to resist before it passed over him and then went beyond the horizon till nothing could be seen anymore.

Before he could ask what was happening, the remaining monsters all crumbled apart and the children fainted. The women also fell to the ground, lifeless.

Lavinia fell to the ground too but I could see that she was breathing slowly.

"Wh-what was that?" The other blonde girl struggled but finally asked.

The red haired woman who was giving off a feeling of danger from the very start explained. "Spriggan Law. It defeats anyone the user designates as an enemy. No defence works against it. With the Emperor's strength, he can easily cover a large country with its effect. Once you are hit by it… you lose."

….

….

A green light flashed over him.

"I see." Was all he could utter but not because he didn't have any thoughts.

His thoughts were on hyperdrive.

An AoE, targeted OHKO with a defence ignore, covering an entire country.

What the hell? Someone call the admins! This guy is hacking!

Really. He didn't even doubt the woman's words because she was talking about it as if she had witnessed it more than once already.

The harmless maze with the sad backstory turned out to be a fucking raid boss in disguise. Even now he looked at the open jaws of everyone else.

This kind of Skill was gamebreaking and would have been nerfed to the lowest pits of hell in the very next patch and here, this guy looked as if he wasn't even bothered.

What if the world where Nazarick had landed had something like this guy too?

Wouldn't he go to sleep one day only to continue sleeping forever?

It was good that he asked Demiurge to search the other areas first.

Maybe he can establish some trade agreements with Zeref and Mikam… Rimuru too.

Yes.

Slow and steady was the way to survive.

"Did I miss something? Where are the monsters?" At this time a voice came from behind them and Saitama walked out with a yellow costume and white cape.

While all this was going on, Silas only had one thought in his mind. 'How did my slice of life world turn into a fantasy action world?'

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