Chapter 2 Part 4

- Ainz -

"Silas!" He quickly reached beside him and caught him before he could fall.

The Goal of All Life is Death is a spell which had a one hundred hour cooldown time and bypassed all the immunities and defences against instant death spells but… it had a large preparation time and it rendered him defenceless for the twelve seconds till the casting was complete.

He knew that the monster was stronger than him in raw stats, a boss level monster. It was easily stronger than many floor guardians combined and thus he didn't even hesitate before using his trump card. He even used everything he could to buff his base stats and reduce its stats.

Still, the way Silas handled the fight was really masterful.

In the past two weeks, he had seen the progress made was incredible. Maybe it was his inborn instinct as a Devil.

As much as he tried to brush it off, it was a fact that he was a natural born devil and did inherit the powers of one.

His personality might not be like one, and in fact, Ainz might not have been surprised if he were actually an Angel but he wasn't and it showed when he got lost in fighting.

Each one of his attacks hit where it hurts.

When he had asked him how he knew about where to hit, he had replied that as a Chef, he must know his ingredients.

That Chef Skill was cheating.

The only problem was that he often got lost in fighting. Just like now and didn't realise that he didn't have much mana left.

The enemies fighting Rimuru had risen up. The orc had lost an arm but now it looked like it was eating birdface and regenerating.

He checked his mana and it would take a while to recover. Not to mention the cooldown on his spells.

"Rimuru, do you need help?"

"No." A very fast answer. "This fight, don't interfere."

The answer was brief but this was probably the first time Ainz had sensed this level of seriousness from Rimuru.

The orc walked ahead and ate the remains of the clown but Rimuru didn't interfere and just kept on watching. Even when the orc changed and looked like it was evolving, he didn't interfere.

Well… if he was so serious about this, let him be. He will smash that orc with one of his one time usable items if push came to shove.

He checked on Silas and found that his Magic Power was rising at a very fast pace. Was it because of the white light he ate? A soul perhaps?

Devils were known to eat souls but he had never seen Silas do something like this all this while so he was unsure if the Devils from his world did the same but now it looked like they did.

It was quite similar to what that orc had done on the other side and looking at it, it seemed as if it was done evolving, so maybe Silas was also in the process of evolving.

So he did the only thing he could and sat beside him to protect him while he completed his transformation.

- Rimuru -

"I take all your sins, Geld. Rest in Peace."

His mood right now was quite difficult to describe. The memories of the Orc Lord… no, it was the Orc Disaster now, was heavy for someone like him who had lived a normal life till now. How could he bear to hate someone like him?… He could only hate the circumstances and the ones who took advantage of innocent people in bad circumstances.

"What is Silas' condition, Great Sage?"

'The individual, Silas, is undergoing an evolution. His original power was just a step below a Greater Demon but the soul he consumed was of a Demon Lord Seed level being. This has caused him to gain more energy than his body can handle even with a single evolution. Moreover, the evolution to an Archdaemon is not possible with the energy since the Individual Silas is not a Spiritual Being.'

He observed Silas' power as it continued increasing until a black cocoon of magicules formed around him.

"What is happening, Great Sage?"

'The individual Silas' body has reached its limit. The energy is trying to change it.'

"Assist it in any way possible and see that Silas isn't in any danger."

'Establishing connection to the Sage.'

'Connection Established.'

'Guiding excessive energy to find an alternate evolution route.'

'Alternate Evolutionary Route found. Initiating Evolution to Daemon Chevalier.'

Unique Skill Gained: Amplifier

Evolution to Daemon Chevalier completed.

'Individual Silas has gained a Demon Lord Seed.'

'Excess energy found in the body.'

'A second incomplete Demon Lord Seed found in the body of the individual.'

'Attempting to evolve the incomplete Demon Lord Seed.'

'Energy Insufficient.'

'Sacrificing Unique Skill: Amplifier.'

'Guiding the excess energy to evolve the incomplete Demon Lord Seed.'

'... Evolution Successful'

Unique Skill: Chef has evolved into the Unique Skill: Masterchef.

'Evolution Completed.'

The black cocoon burst and what was revealed was the body of Silas who seemed to have grown a few inches and now looked to be in his twenties.

"Was the process successful? Is he alright?" Ainz asked.

"What happened, Great Sage?"

'Great Sage found an alternate evolution route to a Daemon Chevalier. When a powerful Greater Daemon gains a material body, they can evolve into a Daemon Chavalier who is much stronger than normal Greater Daemons. They can kill a Greater Daemon with a single attack. Great Sage then noticed an incomplete Demon Lord Seed inside the Individual Silas and guided the excessive energy to evolve it into a complete Demon Lord Seed. The individual Silas now holds two Demon Lord Seeds in his body which is only possible because of a Daemon Chevalier's body and the unique race of the Individual Silas.'

"What is a Demon Lord Seed?" Sounded something like a super mini boss level thing.

'A Demon Lord Seed is gifted to monsters upon completing the requirements and becoming eligible to evolve into a Demon Lord. These beings have the potential to evolve into True Demon Lords. Host also gained a Demon Lord Seed from consuming Orc Disaster Geld'

"I did?" He asked, shocked.

'Yes, host.'

The orcs had stopped fighting and with his order, even the ogres had stopped fighting.

He looked at Ainz and he nodded as if understanding what to do already. He brought out a robe from one of his rings and covered Silas while Rimuru left towards the orcs and ogres.

Since he promised to take all of Geld's sins, he will not break his word and take care of his people as his own.

- Silas -

I opened my eyes to the same scene as the last time but this time, there was a pink haired girl with horns on her head in the room while the same goblin as last time ran quickly when he saw me waking up… Am I that scary?

"Silas-sama, you have awakened." The girl whom I didn't know asked me and I could only nod my head lightly.

Less than a month in this place and twice I have fainted and ended up in this situation.

Man, becoming strong is hard.

Why do I even need to train to run a restaurant in peace?

Oh, yeah… I live in a world where children can be born with NotPokemon which can destroy countries because God… thought it was a good idea… somehow.

And also the fact that God, well exists and I am a Devil. *Sigh*

While having a deja vu, I got up from my bed but this time, I was naked. I grabbed the bedsheet and tugged it towards me in order to wrap it around me only resulting in a surprised cry as I dragged the girl on me accidentally while trying to pull the bedsheets.

The girl fell on my chest and I felt two soft lumps on my body, causing heat to rush to a certain part of my body.

I did notice that I had grown… in more than one way. And I was sure that the girl felt my growth too due to our close vicinity.

The girl's blush made it look like she would bleed from her face.

"I'm sorry. I was trying to get the bedsheets." I apologised and released her, trying to untangle the bedsheets.

"I-it's o-oka-y." Her blush was even redder somehow.

"Silas! You are awake?" Rimuru bounced into the room only to freeze at the door. "Oops, should have knocked. Carry on." He jumped back.

I got a headache.

"Oi come back. It's not what you think."

That bastard was waiting outside the door. "Silas….while you might have certain *cough* exhibitionist *cough* tendencies, I am not a voyeur and I don't think little Shuna is one too. You should consider her feelings."

"Fuck you, whose an exhibitionist?" I hurried to tear the bed sheets to get out of this mess but somehow, things were not going my way as I ended up tearing the girl's kimono as well.

"Sorry!" I bowed but little Silas in attention didn't help so I quickly turned around and grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around her quickly and then tied the torn up bed sheets around my waist like a towel.

With that said, I rushed out of the room where Rimuru was waiting for me and I didn't need to look at his human face because I could just sense his smugness dripping from his slime face.

"Who would have thought that the shy and cute ones were your type. Still, you play fast." The blob of slime wiggled annoyingly and I reflexively kicked him directly into a nearby tree, causing several of the trees to collapse in a row.

"Fuck! Rimuru." I rushed to see if he was alright.

"Ah, I am fine. I have physical damage resistance." He just bounced back as if nothing happened just now.

….

"Can I kick you once more?" My lips twitched.

"No."

I sighed.

"So, having trouble controlling your power?" He asked and I took a moment to check my condition. My Demonic Power alone was far beyond what I had before.

"Is this going to be a regular thing? How did this happen anyway?"

"You ate the wrong food."

"What." I deadpanned.

"What you ate at the end of the fight was the soul of the clown who we later found was a Deathman, an undead. This particular Deathman was someone made from the amalgamation of countless corpses and was very strong. In fact, it was too strong for you to digest so your body had to change in order to get the energy settled. So, what you had was basically a case of severe indigestion." He explained quite excitedly.

"This is too troublesome." I sighed and lay down. "How long was I out this time?"

"A week but hey, now you are stronger than me and Ainz in terms of base stats."

"I am?"

"Surprisingly, yes. I can still kick your butt though."

"Then I will reopen my shop. I think this level of strength should keep me safe for a while. I will continue my training in my off hours. I don't think my customers would like it if I closed much longer."

"They wouldn't mind but sure. I think you should try getting used to your strength and rest for a while." He agreed with me.

"Where is Ainz? I haven't seen him."

"Oh, I named him because I got enough power after the fight. It caused him to bind with this world's system and break his game's level cap. He's out hunting."

"He broke his level cap? Isn't that hacking?"

"We are jumping worlds. If that's hacking then you and your shop are the hack."

"... point."

"You should have seen his happiness. It looked like he had jumped directly out of a horror movie. Even the little goblins were scared."

… yeah, I can imagine that.

"Also, who was that girl? New one?"

"Oh, she was the pink haired ogre in the village which we saved. She is the princess of the ogres. They evolved when I named them."

"So all those ogres… they turned into…?"

"Kijin."

"That. Yes."

"Not all. Only a dozen. Naming even half a dozen of them almost drained me and caused me to sleep for a day. I also have to name the hundred and eighty thousand orcs who joined me. Great Sage made a ritual to name them without using my own magicules but it will still take me around a month or so to name all of them."

"How many orcs?" I asked, incredulously.

"Oh, the ones we fought were just a small battalion of soldiers led by their leader. The real camp was in the swamps, led by his friend. They were under the influence of the Orc Disaster's Unique Skill: Starved and were out of control. I promised them food and safety and they joined me."

"Food for that many will be a problem."

"Not really. I am planning to make a deal with Zeref for the restoration potions in exchange for the food. They can supply us enough food for a million, let alone one hundred and eighty thousand. With the new workforce, we will be able to produce our own food in a year, enough to feed everyone."

"That's… a surprisingly great plan."

We talked around for a while about various topics.

"Rimuru."

"Hmm."

"Thanks."

"Don't mind. We are friends."

"Hmm."

"Are you sure that you want to join me, Shuna?" I asked the girl again who looked determined to follow me. The young princess of the Oni nodded resolutely at my question.

"Your place is just behind the door. It's not like she is going anywhere too far after all." Rimuru offered.

In the past week, when I was asleep, she was the one who was taking care of me.

She wanted to repay me for saving her village.

In fact, even Ainz was offered the services of the ogres but Nazarick is not a good place for them. At least, not currently. Ainz was looking for undead from this world to take under his wings.

The current leader of the ogres, Benimaru was actually supportive of Shuna's decision because it would keep her in a relatively safe place which was just a few steps away from him.

I could understand his reasoning.

I did need some people for my restaurant.

Ainz would offer the maids he said but there was a problem with it and that was actually funny if nothing else.

What he was actually worried about was that if any of the Nazarick people worked in my restaurant, he would have to keep up his chunni act all the time and my restaurant was the only place where he could be who he actually was.

I agreed. He did say that if I opened any businesses outside my restaurant, he would lend me anyone I needed.

"Alright then, go in. I will get a room ready for you just in case." I still don't know how to allow others to use the shop door without me being present all the time.

It might be something I unlock when the restaurant levels up.

I opened the door and let her in while stopping on hearing Rimuru's voice.

"Oh and by the way don't get too hard on her." The ero-slime wriggled his eyebrows making mine twitch as well.

This bastard also told Ainz about the incident and I had never thought that I would see a lewd look on a skeleton face. It was disturbing in many different ways. They would just give me smug looks about Shuna and say nothing which was even worse.

"You guys are not going to stop this, are you?" I asked, resigned.

"Not until it stops being funny. I mean, you lucky bastard had an anime type ecchi encounter. We'll be damned as friends if we drop this without squeezing every drop of fun from this."

….

….

"Well, at least I can get hard." I quipped.

The slime froze.

"Bastard! You wanna fight huh…."

I closed the door after me, ignoring the engaged shouts of the slime behind me.

- Lavinia Reni -

She got up as the bed sheets slipped from her body, revealing another person in her bed. The green haired girl who was in an equal state of undress as her was breathing peacefully beside her.

Almost a month had passed since she came here, following Grandpa August. The life in Alvarez had been treating her much better than she had expected.

She was just looking for a place to stay for a while to forget about what had happened that day.

When Grandpa August had offered to take her in as a student, she was reminded of the previous time but Silas had supported her and encouraged her to try.

"If we stop trusting people just because of meeting one bad person, wouldn't that be ruining our own lives? Why are you letting the person's shadow ruin your life when that person doesn't even care about you. Live your own life."

She had taken her first to a different world just because of those words and that choice didn't let her down.

According to Grandpa August, he owed a lot to Silas, the restaurant owner and the boy called Touma. He never said why exactly but it must be because of Emperor Zeref's curse being removed.

In this place, she met another one of his students, Brandish μ.

She was a young girl whom August had taken in a year or so ago after the death of her mother.

She was kinda lazy but they got along surprisingly well despite her outward show of reluctance. She was such a tsundere, just like Va-kun.

In fact, both of them were quite similar and had latched onto her.

She let out a sigh.

She had been in Alvarez for around a month because Silas had been out for some training. August had offered her instructions and she had learned to control both her Sacred Gears much better now.

What irony, the woman whom she had hated the most for the past years, not only revealed the truth to her but also inadvertently gave her a gift which more than half the world would kill for.

Still, she heard that Silas had reopened the shop and she was quite worried about Va-kun so she will go back to check on him.

And maybe find a way to thank Silas for giving her this opportunity.