An Urgent News! : "I'm Willing"

Ray and Artoria arrived at the cafe. They saw that the reconstruction was 50% done.

With how fast the workers were going, it was guaranteed that they can open the cafe on the weekend.

Ray and Artoria entered the cafe, greeted by the workers.

Unlike the usual Indonesian local constructor worker, which usually only uses short pants and shirts that they wore at the day, their outfit was very professional.

They wore a t-shirt covered with the usual orange with light green vest, short baggy pants, and boots.

Although some used gloves, they were working on the intricate stuff that handles woods, flooring, etc. The rest were only there to either paint or putting tables and chairs to where they were supposed to go.

There was also a designer that superintends the construction. He wore a silver suit that was covered with similar green vest, silver pants, and shiny brown oxford shoes.

"Hello, Mr. Ray and Ms. Artoria," Said the designer.

"Ah, hello to you too. So, is there any problem?"

"Quite the contrary, everything went smoothly. Too smooth for my taste though. I hope that it will be like this until the reconstruction work is done." The designer sighed a little bit. Never in his life that work can be this smooth without any problems.

The designer was one of the famous designers in the whole world. He already designed interiors for many types of jobs, including a restaurant that was now known to be the best in the whole world located in Italy.

But since he was personally contracted by Angeline's father to help his daughter reconstructing the cafe where she worked, the designer told his subordinates to take care of his other works and he went to Indonesia.

Ray did not quite remember this particular designer. But since Angeline personally attested the designer's skill, Ray did not have any qualms about him and the rest of the workers.

"Where are the guys?" Ray asked.

The designer point towards the kitchen and said, "They were discussing something in the kitchen."

"Okay, thank you," Ray said.

Artoria and he walked towards the kitchen. They saw the employees were discussing while sitting in a circular shape.

"Hello, everyone." Ray and Artoria said at the same time.

"Ray? Why are you here in the afternoon? I thought you are not supposed to be here until 4 P.M." said Adrian, one of the chefs.

"Well, I was kicked out of the school and suspended for 1 week."

"What?! Why?" Greg asked,

Ray told them the full story of what happened. When Ray finished his explanation, they were surprised.

(A/N: Santoso is one of the chefs and Budi is a waiter.)

"Well, I figured as much. If my girlfriend did that, I would be pretty pissed as well," said Santoso.

"What do you mean "your girlfriend", huh? You don't even have one." Budi joked, which made everyone laughed.

Although Artoria did not understand the joke, she just chuckled because of the crowd.

"Oy!" Santoso yelled, followed by him saying, "Can you just let a man dream?"

Chika clapped her hands and said, "Okay, let's get back to what we are discussing." She then looked towards Artoria and said, "Angeline and I will take your measurements for the uniform."

(A/N: Chika is one of the waitresses.)

Angeline and Chika took Artoria to an empty room.

Ever since Ray became the owner, he had been changing some of the policies, including the employees must wear a uniform.

It was not truly necessary, but Ray wanted customers to have a good impression of his cafe.

Now that the girls were gone, the boys started to ask Ray's questions about what he is going to do next. Their only hope was that Ray will not get sad and impacted his performance.

Truth be told, Ray is the main player in improving the quality of this cafe. Although he did not bring that many changes, they can feel that the cafe has developed into something they believe will change their lives.

So, knowing that Ray was in the middle of a deeply personal problem made them anxious.

"You don't have to worry about anything. My goal is to make this cafe a success and probably upgrade it to a restaurant. With all of you helping me, I know that I can make that goal come true." Ray said, assuring them that nothing was wrong.

"Well" -Greg put his hand on Ray's shoulder- "it is reassuring if you say that. I promise that I will help you as much as I can."

"Me too," Santoso, Adrian, and Budi said at the same time.

Not long after they had their bro moments, the girls came back from measuring Artoria's sizes for her uniform.

"That didn't take long," Santoso said unconsciously.

"It was because she has the same size as me," Chika said.

Ray looked towards Artoria, then towards Chika. He thought that their body did look kind of the same.

As if she can read Ray's mind, Artoria looked at Ray, making a smile that was not a smile.

Ray shuddered and said, "Sorry..."

The people were confused about why Ray suddenly apologized. But then they remembered that Ray was looking to her and Chika.

"You know, Ray. You should have not compared a woman with another woman, even if they have the same body-" Santoso was interrupted by a punch to his head by none other than Chika.

"Owch!" Santoso rubbed his head.

"You're being rude!"

"I was just comment-" Before Santoso can finish his sentence, Chika interrupted.

"Do you want another bonk to the head?"

"...Sorry."

The people, once again, laughed for quite a while.

After they stopped, they started their discussion. Asking Ray about short and long term goals for the cafe.

Ray explained that the short term goal was to have more customers and his long term was to expand the cafe so that it can be known throughout the nation. He also explained that he wanted to challenge the international market.

Although he did promise Angeline about making his cafe becoming known internationally, he already planned it from the start.

Their discussion stopped when it was 6 P.M.

As usual, Ray voted for himself to cook the dishes for their dinner, including the construction workers.

Sometime after Ray started cooking, the construction worker stopped what they were doing because there was suddenly a fragrant smell coming from the kitchen.

They went to take a look and what they saw astonished them.

It was not a sight when someone cooks food, No. It was as if Ray was dancing in the kitchen.

It did not take more than 15 minutes for their dinner, fried rice, to be ready. So, after all of them washed their hands and sat on the prepared table, they ate.

The construction workers were surprised by how much food that Ray made just for Artoria. But they did not ask questions because they cannot wait to eat the delicious meal in front of them.

For the cafe employees, the taste of Ray's cooking never bored them. But for the construction worker, as well as the designer, it was blissful.

The designer never ate food that rivaled even close to Ray's dishes. Because of this, he cannot help but ask,

"Are all of the menus will taste as good as this?"

"Yes, but not immediately. When the cafe opened, I won't be the one that cooks. Although, I will direct Santoso and Adrian as they work."

"I see," The designer said as he continued devouring the food in front of him.

Everyone was focused on their respective foods, but their focus was broken by the fact that Artoria had finished her food.

They eventually finished their food. It took them quite a long time to finish their meals because they were enjoying their tastebuds being attacked by the foods.

It was enough time for Ray to whip up a dessert, chocolate lava cakes. Chocolate lava cakes can take 20 minutes to prepare, but he prepared the ingredients for the said dessert when he cooked the main dish.

Their reaction was the same as when they ate the fried rice, astonished.

Ray was admiring the sight of people enjoying his food when he was suddenly contacted by God.

'After you are done, please go to the [Training Ground] immediately with Artoria.' God said with a seemingly hurried voice.

'What happened?'

'I'll explain later. But for now, please finish your job.' And God's voice can no longer be heard by Ray.

Ray, feeling quite panicked, immediately washed the dishes. Although Ray can be said to have a perfect mask that did not expose his emotions, Artoria noticed it.

Of course, she will since she was a king back in her days. Looking through people's deception through body language was a daily occurrence.

So, she walked towards Ray and asked with a whisper, "What happened, Ray?"

"He contacted me, said that we should go to the [Training Ground] immediately after this. It also sounded very urgent."

"I wonder why..." Artoria said. To be honest, she was quite alarmed by what Ray just said. If God wanted to see them immediately, something must have gone wrong.

'Let's hope it is not something bad.' Artoria added in her mind.

But Ray thought otherwise. He felt that God wanted to told him about the enemy that he will face in the future. With that kind of urgent voice, something bad must have happened.

So, after washing the dishes, they excused themselves. They wasted no time in going to their boarding house room.

Once inside, Ray brought both of them to the [Training Ground] where they were greeted by God.

Both knew He was anxious. They can only hope that the news will not be as bad as they thought.

"Ah, you finally came. Let's sit down." God said as chairs, a table, a tea set, and some snacks were summoned out of thin air.

As an edacious person, Artoria usually will start eating the snacks as soon as she saw it. But the time was not right.

They took and sat down to their respective chairs. The teacups were full of tea already.

Sipping the cup, a flavor that Ray and Artoria never taste attack their tongue. The taste and the temperature of the tea calmed their nerves.

A sigh of relief came out of their mouths. Their bodies relaxed, their mind unstressed.

To be honest, Ray was quite nervous when he heard the voice of God some minutes earlier. But with the unknown tea, all of his nervousness was gone.

Artoria, however, was still on guard. She did not want to miss any information.

"Young Artoria, you should not be on guard. Although I do bring some bad news, it was not like time was precious, at least to both of you." God said.

He was right, with the time dilation inside the [Training Ground], they can essentially stretch out 1 day into more than millennia.

But there must be a limit to how [Training Ground] can stretch time, Ray thought.

God looked at Ray and said, "Although this [Training Ground] did have a limit, it is beyond your imagination on how you can stretch time here..." God stopped as he was in thought. Then, he continued, "After this, I should explain what this [Training Ground] really is. But the news that I bring today cannot be delayed."

"What kind of news can make you so anxious?" Ray asked.

"Ray, do you remember the enemy that you will face in the future?"

"Yes, I did."

"His seal was almost destroyed. Counting with Earth's time, the seal should be destroyed in 10 more years."

"...10 years," Ray mumbled. He already promised not only to himself but also Angeline to recover and bring the cafe to the international market. He had 7 years maximum to achieve this promise with the last 2 years to prepare and last moments before his voyage through many universes.

He can stay, for example, millennia per day. Ray did consider doing such a thing in the past, but he did not have the mental fortitude to do it.

Training for that amount of time can be exhausting and excruciating. Not only that, but he also has Artoria to consider.

She is a literal living being summoned before her death. No amount of experience can make her sustain such rigorous training.

In the end, he decided to put his focus more on the cafe first. 'Besides, 10 years is quite a long time...' Ray thought to his mind.

"I will help you prepare. But I can only do it if you have enough strength far surpassed the current young Artoria."

Ray made a dumbfounded face and said, "...Are you serious?"

"Yes. With how much physical and magical strength that you currently have, it is not enough for me to help you. By "helping you", I mean to forcefully did an ascension to your soul."

"Ascension my soul?"

"Making you a God. Being a God has some perks and combined with Dragon as one of your race, you can easily gain strength." Then God looked towards Artoria and said, "This includes you too, young Artoria."

"Me too?" she said as her eyes opened a bit.

"Of course, but you are one of the exceptions. I can make you a God right here and now. Because you already have some Divine fragments that came from wielding Rhongomyniad, I can accelerate those fragments and turning you into a Goddess. Although, the probability of your body being occupied instantly by the Divine Spirit that lingers inside Rhongomyniad is almost 100%"

The more God explains, the more shocking it became. But, Artoria needed more information about her former 'lance'.

"Can you... elaborate?"

"It is better if I show you." God then raised his hand and light much brighter than the sun came forth.

After the light died down, a 'person' suddenly was in front of the now standing Artoria.

Looking at her, it was like she was looking through a mirror that reflects the future. She saw her more adult version. Taller and more curvaceous that pissed of Artoria a little.

Bright lime green and soulless eyes stared at Artoria. For Artoria, it was like someone was staring dead in her eyes while using her adult body, menacing and creates jealousy.

The adult version, or popularly known as Goddess Rhongomyniad, is from a different version of Artoria of which she wields the holy lance as her main weapon instead of Excalibur, commonly known as Lancer Artoria by people.

But because of her trusted knight, Bedivere did not return Excalibur to the Lady of The Lake, Lancer Artoria that was fated to die become a wandering ghost while keeping the holy lance within her vicinity. Because of this, she became a Divine Spirit while she lost her human heart.

In short, Goddess Rhongomyniad came from the lancer version of Artoria that did not die and became a Divine Spirit, or a Goddess, while losing her human heart.

Both the Goddess version and the original Artoria were looking at each other, seemingly having a deep conversation using telepathy. After a nod from Artoria, the Goddess version disappeared after looking at Ray with her soulless lime eyes.

For Ray, it was as if someone was looking at a robot that perfectly mimics the human body, a horror experience.

No one knew what the Goddess was thinking when she looked towards Ray, except God of course.

God smiled amusingly and said, "So?" He already knew what Artoria wants. But it would be better if Ray knew about it.

"I'm willing."

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Hello readers,

I think I know the formula which I can use to become more active in writing, going outside. Truth be told, I don't really like going outside of my room. I'm not a hikikomori though, except if it's weekends.

If webnovel can display indentations, I did something different with the dialogue. Do tell if this is better or I should just stop pretending to be a genuine author and continue using the old one.

I wonder if I should delete my social media accounts. More of my 'friends' are going to graduate from uni this year. While I'm stuck here waiting for my uni to respond to my begging... I don't have anyone but myself to fault.

I really hope that the internet in my boarding house can cooperate once. I want to play MHW Iceborne with strangers but I keep getting internet error every time I went inside someone else hunts.

Well anyway, my rant stop here.

I hope you can enjoy this chapter. Thanks for reading :D.