God Of Cooking

"..." Lisa had an uneasy look while looking at the man standing behind Ryu, never in her life had she seen this man, but she tell that this man was no simple human. it was said that the closer one strength nears that of the gods, the greater the suppression they would have on those mortals. although this man tried to hide it, that small bit that licked out was more than enough to make her uneasy. 

"Ryu... whose that?" She asked. hearing her words, I lazily told her how he was the undead from the forest of death, this of course shocked Lisa. and seeing just how that man stood behind me as if he was some guard, she was at a loss for words.

"Is it wise to tell her who I am?" Kankaal asked with a frown while looking at Lisa, to which I just shrugged shrugging slightly.

"She is a friend... now let's get work on the plans I have," I said softly, I was in a weakened state from using my blood to cast that spell, so I planned to have Kankaal do all of the work while I taught him a few things.

"the first thing I want to work on collecting money. form there, I will work on opening stores, and other such things. but for now, I will be forced to use the gold coins from the goblins. with that, I plan to give the world this. you both could try it." I said calmly while giving the two a chocolate bar. the two looked at the strange wrapping on the bar, and seeing this I told them to remove it before eating.

once they took a bite, their body froze. one should know salt in this world is rare. Sait was something for the rich, but this chocolate bar was on a whole new level.

"I will be selling it for only 1 silver, not too expensive but low enough for the poor. this would lead to everyone wanting to buy it. from among it are many other things I would be selling. I already have a store I will buy. the store next to Lisa, from my findings, they are being bullied by some underground power, leading to business being low. I will step in and offer and price to them." I said calmly, making Lisa frown

"the underground force that bullies them is called the 5 Skulls. they are the most dangerous power in the kingdom. it's not wise to make them your enemy." Lisa said. she had been paying them 20 slivers a month, to leave her alone. if not for them, then she could have at least 50% of the money she makes from the bar.

"You need not worry, for one this isn't the capital, it is Heleance City. Plus, the Holy Saorima Empire... we can draw some nobles over to work with us." I said with a smile, Lisa was unsure but remembering the man behind him, she said nothing else.

the kingdom they were currently in was one of the 5 empires ruled by humans. Saorima Empire was considered among the strongest kingdoms. it was supported by many gods of good nature, such as the goddess of justice, the god of the sun, and many others. their churches could be found all over the place.

even so, some evil gods have been trying to worm their way into this kingdom, trying to destroy it. after all, after all of those good gods lost their believers, their church could move in and collect believers. at least, that is what Ryu would do.

"Hey old man, we're back to collect the monthly protection fee." A man with a scar running across his face said while entering the near-empty store. the old man they called out wasn't old, he was a middle-aged man. with him was his wife and their son. the 3 of them worked at this store... well, it wasn't a store but a restaurant which also sold a few goods. such as plants, and other stuff.

"I told you last time, we do not have the money. our store isn't doing so well ever since those restaurants began opening up." the middle-aged man said with a hopeless look. he wanted nothing more than to just give these guys the money, and have them leave him alone. but thanks to these guys, the business has been low, they scared off most of his customers.

"Is that so? then you should pay another way, your wife there is the beauty. you can pay by having me and my brothers enjoy her now and then." the man with a scar said with a cruel smile, this was their main goal. come here and scare off customers, forcing them to pay them money that they couldn't afford, and allow them to have their way with this beauty.

"You bastards." the middle-aged man's son said through gritted teeth, how could he stand there and listen to his mother be spoken to in such a way? Just when he was about to step forward, a kick came from the door, sending the man with the scar flying to the side along with the so-called brothers.

"grittings. I hear your business isn't doing so well, how about you sell it to me? 15 gold coins." I said with a smile, stunning the middle-aged. he wanted to speak, but upon seeing Kankaal, he knew this man wasn't so simple. most likely, someone from above rank 6. Thinking this, he swallowed his saliva slightly while nodding his head. he wasn't even rank 3, but his years of experience, allowed him to be capable of reading people.

"Great... but thats not all. how about you 3 work for me, it would be a pain to look for people to work here. it would also be safe from some dirty pigs." I said with a smile, to which the middle-aged man's heart skipped a beat while looking toward the man with the scar before he nodded slightly.

if they just walked away, they would be a dead man in a matter of days. so this young man protecting them would be for the best.

"Good, Kankaal. deal with these guys. I want the power backing them to start looking towards this place with questioning look at least 1 month later." I said with a smile, Kankaal nodded slightly. looking towards the fainted man, he cast a spell to control their minds. he then went to have them do the same thing they always do to a few other stores before they suddenly ran out of the city never to be seen again.

meanwhile, Ryu finished sighing all of the papers needed to own the store. there were not that many, so it was quick. Ryu wasted no time, as he waited a whole month to have the good opportunity to step in and take the store,

but he couldn't help but wonder... they were clearly after beauty. why didn't they target Lisa? She was far more beautiful than this middle-aged man's wife. but I didn't care enough to look deeper into this, so I went on to be busy working on giving the store a makeover, and also teaching the middle-aged man's wife how to cook a few new foods...

"Hey, isn't that the Triad Family Restaurant? when was its name changed to the Gates Of Heaven?" a young man who used to eat at the Triad Family Restaurant said, causing his group of friends to look over with confused looks.

to not draw the attention of the 5 skulls, many people had stopped going here, and since more restaurants had begun opening up, they began going elsewhere. it was expensive to eat out, but now and then people would want to spend their money on something good. That was even more so when their wife's cooking wasn't good enough.

 after some hesitation, the group walked to the window to look inside. ad they were stunned seeing how the whole store went through some changes. it looked like a 5-star restaurant. they looked at each other for a moment, before entering and were greeted by the middle-aged man's son, Agori.

"Greetings gusts, are you dinning it or to go?" Agori asked with a gentle smile, causing the group of young man look towards each other with a lost look.

"we will be dining in." one of them said, causing everyone to look towards him. did they have the money? but after a moment, they realized why he said it. that smell in the air... it made them hungry.

Agori led them to a seat. and since there were 4 of them, and each table held at least 4 seats, they could all sit at one table while he took their orders. but since there was new food on the menu, they ordered what looked the best on the picture of the menu.

after he left to give their orders to his mother and father who were busy in the back, the group began talking to themselves

"What is chicken? or that thing called Ramen? Everything is too expensive," they said, indeed everything was expensive, with the cheapest thing being only 5 copper. the most expansive being being 1 gold. they of course got the cheaper stuff, which was something called fired rice. which was only 5 silvers. they of course split the cost and would be sharing amongst each other.

as they began talking amongst themselves, Agori returned with some bread, which confused them as they didn't ask for it

"this here is the appetizer. it's on the house, its called garlic bread," he said while placing the bow holding the bread on the table. in this world, bread was something everyone ate, be it the rich or the poor.

the group looked at each other before they took a piece of bread and closely looked at the new bread they had never seen before. they never heard of garlic bread, but they had to admit, that this bread looked better than the bread they normally ate. taking a bite, the group froze at the fact the bread wasn't so bland. it tasted amazing. unable to help themselves, they finished the whole bread in a matter of seconds, before they got another. there were 8, two per person.

"That was great... garlic bread. I never heard of such bread. what is garlic?" the young man asked, back on earth Garlic originated in west and central Asia. it evolved from a wild plant allium longicuspis, it would be a stretch to say that in other galaxies that followed different rules to the Milky Way, there would be the same plant.

"Garlic is a unique ingredient the new owner has found and is secretly growing. the god of cooking is tasking the new owner to spread good food across the land. so before you eat, place thank the god of cooking." Agori said with a smile, before turning back to go get the fried race they ordered. he was in a cheerful mood, just last week their store was dying. yet now he saw hope for a brighter future.

soon, the group of 4 was given 1 bowl of fried rice. they looked at each other for a moment, before taking the silver spoon Agori gave them. they were stunned to see such high quickly eating items. they swallowed some silva before they stood a bite... and instantly they sat back their eyes widened from the taste. their body shook as they realized the quality dish before them.

"... this is a gate to heaven. thank you. oh God of cooking." one of them said, as all of them nodded, they suddenly noticed one of their friends rushing to take huge bits. and like that, the group begins fighting over the food. Agori wasn't displeased at all by the sight he smiled as he and his parents were the same after they first ate Ryu's cooking.

the group of 4 soon finished eating and left behind 5 silver coins while they got up to leave, planning on saving enough money to come back here and eat.

"wait, before you leave, there is a special offer for you all," Agori said catching all of their attention, they looked at him with bright eyes, unable to wait for his next words

"for any new person you bring to our restaurant, you would get 1 bowl of fried rice for free," Agori said causing the group's eyes to turn heated before they all nodded. they quickly left to their spread the news, as if they were trying to spread the word of god. well, in a matter of days, the city was talking about the god of cooking.

"go... the goddess of the earth, what do you say about our partnership?" on top of a mountain, Ryu stood looking at the ground before him, slowly taking the form of a head. the head looked deeply at Ryu for some time, before it sighed.

"it protects..." She said softly. why would she pass on this deal? She would help Ryu become the god of cooking, but at the same time while spreading his name. he would spread her name as well. saying he gets all of the fruits and vegetables from her. this would lead more people to worship the goddess of the earth, as well as the god of cooking. as without the goddess of the earth, the god of cooking can't feed the world.

"Then I shall make an oath to my godhood," she said softly, just as Ryu nodded he looked towards the sky, where an avatar of a goddess slowly formed.

"... I too will support you." the goddess of the hunt said softly. If Ryu spread the news the god of cooking got all of the meat from her hunts, she would have many believers coming her way. she might even go from being a lesser god to being a mid-tier god.

"thats great, I look forward to working with you," I said with a smile, to which the 2 nodded while making their oath. 

how did I get these two to meet me you ask? simple, I prayed to them. a special prayer used through a technique I created on the spot. with this, their interest in the mortal who dared to and had the power to contract them as this grew. but the prayer he told them led to them looking towards the shop and how many people were praying towards an unknown god called the god of cooking.

"I should also make an oath on my broken godhood," I said with a smile, stunning the two, and seeing their looks of shock, I smiled

"You thought I was lying when I said I was a fallen god? you two and rest knowing my words are true. I will become a god, all I need is enough divinity to form my godhead." I said with a smile, the two goddesses looked at each other for a moment... where they just played

if they knew I had a godhood, they would have had their plans and made loopholes in the oath. but they didn't. now they truly had to work with me, and even protect me from the gods. the goddess of oath would block off the god's sight from landing on me, while also having to send down an avatar if a demi-god or another god's avatar came to try and kill me.

"good play... Ryu Tatsuya." the goddess of earth said with a smile, to which my smile grew. the goddess of the hunt just shook her head. She needed me to continue doing what I was doing. 

"by the way, those vegetables and fruits... where did you get them?" the goddess of the earth asked, to which I thought for a moment before holding out my palm. I cast a spell, and from my palm, an apple appeared

"I created them... but as you see, it has no mana within. so I wish for you to bless my future land so I can grow a high amount of these. At the same time, I wish for you to bless them, improving the taste. but this is for a later date. I will reveal to the world that the goddess of earth had blessed this, allowing for the good to taste far better than ever before." I said to which the goddess of earth nodded for a moment,

"the same for the meat," I said while looking toward the goddess of the hunt who nodded slightly.

"I will speak with my brother and see if he is willing to join in the partnership." She said calmly, the goddess of earth's elder brother was the god of animals. they were all under the demi-human beast god, she and her brothers were friends. they worked together, she made sure her brother's creation didn't grow too much and kill off another animal or something like that. In other words, she kept her brother's creations in check and made sure they were balanced with each other.

I nodded at her words and watched as they disappeared. with a faint smile, I returned to the city, where I sat back, and watched as the money came in. Kankaal was busy working on protecting the family of three while secretly training upstairs above the restaurant, within a sealed-off room where he could sense the outside world, but the outside world couldn't sense him.

"There you are... you're always running off somewhere," Lisa said softly while walking up behind me and hugging me from behind, her hands slowly moving down towards something in between my legs...

"Lisa is your last name Heleance?" I asked, causing Lisa to freeze all of a sudden. seeing this I smiled while turning around to look at her.

"i'm hurt," I said with a smile, Lisa bit her lips slightly, not knowing what to say. Heleance is a noble family that owned this city. They were powerful, and are said to have ears and eyes everywhere.

"So, are you a part of 5 Skulls?" I asked while pulling her into my arms. Lisa nodded weakly, in fact, her father was a high-ranking member of 5 Skulls. with her charm and beauty, she came to work at this bar to be able to get information out of people. her father would normally have powerful nobles come here, it's her job to charm them and get them drunk.

this way, her father managed to get many important information. after all, she was beautiful. what was shocking was that she was a virgin. but that was even a tool her father planned to use, after all her daughter had charmed even the prince. she was his way for 5 Skull to get into the royal family.

"I didn't mean to lie to you." She said softly, not knowing what to do. if Ryu just up and left, she would be heartbroken. upon first sight, she was charmed by Ryu. That very same night she lost control and had the best night of her life. from there, it has been a perfect life. she has even been sending her father false information, not wanting to have her father's interest land on Ryu.

"What do you think about leading 5 skulls?" I asked with a smile, stunning Lisa. She looked at me with a lost look for a moment, not understanding my words...