There was a saying on the internet Ludwig read back in his precious life. 'Those who did what they love will never get tired.' But today, he realized that it was not true. From going to the market in the morning, prepping ingredients for the special menu of the day, cooking, serving drinks, bringing the food to the customer's table, taking the dirty dishes away, and washing the dishes. He did it all by his lonesome today.
Ludwig flicked the warm water clinging to his body out of existence, then he let his body fall to the bed. He wanted to start looking for an employee or two tomorrow. However, his daily timetable was already busy as it was. He couldn't really squeeze any other thing into it. In other words, he had to cut one or two things from it.
Since he couldn't really cut opening the restaurant from his timetable, the only choice was either not going to the market in the morning, or not prepping the ingredients at noon. Either choice would lead to the restaurant not having a new special menu tomorrow.
Ludwig's mind ran through the list of ingredients he still had. He should still have plenty of chicken meat, beef, and seafood since he always bought it in bulk. He still should have plenty of chicken and fish fillets as well as the pre-fried chicken he always prepares for the cats and dragon. The vegetables too, he should still have chunks of them ready to be cooked right away. But aside from them, he also had the meat for today's burger patty.
Hmmm… I can cook quite a lot of dishes with the available ingredients. Ludwig thought as his eyes locked into the ceiling above. He could repurpose the patty for dishes that need ground beef in it. But as he shifted through the recipes he knew, only few met the criteria of not needing too long of a process. The dishes like Mapo Tofu, Stir-friend ground beef with vegetables, and Kofta were the only things left he knew how to cook. If only he had an oven, he could just turn the ball of meat into meatballs, but alas, he didn't have any oven in his kitchen right now.
With three dishes ready, Ludwig decided to use those three dishes for tomorrow's beef menu. In the meantime, the menus for the chicken and seafood wouldn't change much, at least for tomorrow. He only needed to make the curry for the curry rice with chicken katsu because he ran out of them.
But, the problem about the special menu for the day still lingered. Something that didn't take long to cook but still good enough taste wise. Before long, a menu came to mind. Even though it needed some prep, it shouldn't take too long. It's Haemultang—Korean Spicy Seafood Soup. He just needed to make the broth, the seasoning, and clean some of the seafood. At most, the prepping would only last for an hour.
With the menu problem being resolved, Ludwig steadied his breath and cleared his mind, letting sleep claimed him. But suddenly, he was forcefully awakened by the buzzing of the system. As the sight of the ceiling returned to him, his mind was fed by the reason for the system's action.
Several men covered in masks and tactical gear were trying to force their way into the restaurant. In an instant, Ludwig knew who they were. The black-ops personnel of Konoha, either Anbu or Root.
Ludwig sat on his bed as he watched the men trying to barge into his restaurant. Then, something bubbled in his heart. No, not anger, but mischief. But when he tried to dissuade himself from doing it, his mind tried to feed him some reasoning. Aside from pushing down Kurama's malice from Inside Kushina, he still hadn't tested the full extent of the [Blessing Of The Restaurant] function. With such an opportunity presenting itself like this, wouldn't it be wise to test it now?
Ludwig cocked his head to the side and scrunched his face as he put his arms in front of his chest. The devil's whisper was tempting, really tempting. Moreover, after living as the member of the Hero's Party, not fighting for so long had made his body quite itchy for a fight.
As Ludwig kept entertaining the whispers from the devil and angel on his shoulder. he saw one masked figure trying to push straight to the door. So, he finally decided. He willed the restaurant to let the several masked men enter. Though not through the window or anything else but through the door. After all, fixing them would be a pain.
The door creaked open in his sight, but rather than rushing straight inside, the man in front of the door stopped. He moved his hands, making a sign with it. But it turned out, it wasn't to release any jutsu as a few moments later, 4 people who were scattered around the shop in Konoha gathered around the men.
Looking at their numbers, Ludwig couldn't help but click his tongue. What is this? They only send 5 guys? Didn't the canon and fanfic portrayed the higher ups of Konoha as people who will not act if they don't have layers upon layers of backup plans?
He felt he was being looked down upon. He was sure Minato had told the Hokage about his spatial power. So why did they just send 5 guys to him? Those five guys also had inferior chakra to Minato. Was it because they thought he's just nothing but a chef?
Ludwig snapped his finger to close the door as soon as the five masked figures entered his restaurant. But after seeing what they did next, he couldn't help but find them admirable. Rather than panicking because of the sudden development, the five masked figures just lowered their stance.
He chose that moment to disappear from his bedroom and appeared in the dining area. The five figures flinched a little as he made his presence known, but they didn't attack. So, like any business owner worth their salt, he opened his mouth. "Welcome to Checkpoint."
Ludwig could feel their malicious gazes boring into him as he said so, but he didn't let the smile on his face melt even a bit. "Dear customer, I regret to inform you that our operational hours are already over. If you really want to have a taste for the food we serve here, I will ask you to come again tomorrow."
The restaurant fell into silence after Ludwig said so. But before long, the man standing in the front of the group opened his mouth behind the mask. "We are not here for food. We came to inform you that the Hokage wants to meet you. Come with us." His voice was low, and Ludwig could see the meaning between the lines.
Ludwig raised his brows before speaking. "The Hokage? What business did such an established person have with a humble restaurant owner like me?
"You dare question the Hokage's action?" The man growled. "Come with us or face consequences!"
"Consequence you say?" Ludwig smirked, his eyes turned ferocious. "What kind if I might ask?"
But before the man could answer, Ludwig flicked his wrist. He commanded the mana around the restaurant to gather around the leg of one of the masked figures before willing them to erase everything inside its domain.
"AAAHHHHHHHH!" The masked man screamed and tumbled to the side as one of his legs was suddenly gone. The rest of the masked figures quickly moved, the masked men who had been talking with him went straight towards him with sword in hand, while the rest moved to surround him on all sides.
With a wave, Ludwig sent the sword in the man's hand into the void while displacing the man into his left side which had another masked figure closing in with his fist clenched. The two collide, tumbling into the ground before appearing on the far side of the dining area before he rolled into him.
But then, his body stopped doing what he wanted. At the same time, he could feel some kind of pressure trying to enter his mind. Nara and Inoichi?
Rather than forcing his way to break free from their influence, Ludwig decided to test the system. In a snap, his body became his again and the pressure in his mind was gone. A smile appeared on his face, after all, the test told him that he didn't have to fight against anything the system deemed hostile inside the restaurant by himself.
Ludwig moved, his mind already fixated on the next test. Back in Ortus, any blessing someone got would strengthen them in a roundabout way. For example, the blessing that the hero got made his learning ability shot through the roof. He achieved what people in Ortus achieved in decades in just years.
He caught the Nara ninja in the neck and told the system to pin the other guys to the floor. As he already used his space ability aplenty around the restaurant, he already knew what kind of effect the blessing of the restaurant gave him regarding his spatial power.
His time power in the meantime hadn't been tested too much yet. He could only feel there's some great reduction on mana needed to use it, but then again, what he used around the restaurant wasn't really mana extensive.
Fast forwarding time inside his domain for an hour or two is something he could do without breaking a sweat in the first place. The technique he decided to test right now was techniques that could be said as his ultimate technique in time manipulation.
He pulled a pure white sword from his Storage Dimension with his left hand and cut the left hand of the ninja in his grip. Another scream filled the restaurant, but Ludwig didn't pay any attention to it. His mana moved, enveloping the cutted hand of the man and his arms. His body glowed, illuminating the restaurant in blue. Then, the hand on the floor as well as the blood that had fallen floated into the air. The blood entered the man's body through his open wound first, then the hand moved closer and closer to where it originally was before reattaching itself into it.
Reversing damage from mundane attacks still cost me some mana, but not as extensive as it should be. Ludwig made a mental note about what happened. He then threw the Nara ninja aside and summoned the ninja that had lost his leg from his space manipulation to his hand.
He did what he did to the nara ninja without the cutting. His mana flared, his mana pool drained more rapidly than before. But as the leg returned to the masked figure, Ludwig could feel not even 10% of his mana had been drained. He whistled in glee. 70% mana reduction against attacks with mana. When he used this technique before, he was not in a state of fighting by the end of the treatment. But now, he was ready for another fight or ten.
Ludwig fished a flash with blue liquid inside from his Storage Dimension. The next test should be mana intensive. He didn't want to risk running out of mana while doing the test while surrounded by the enemy. He bit the neck of the flask before willing his mana to gather around the heart of the man. With another will, he vanished the heart of the man, killing him.
After he's sure the man was dead, he enveloped the man with his mana. As he reversed the time, his mana pool was drained. But unlike before when it's like a tap emptying a tank, it's like a gate of a dam had been opened. His body grew more and more strained as the man's heart returned.
But even after the mana crossed a dangerous threshold, the heart still hadn't returned to its state before Ludwig sent it to the void. So, he angled his head up and threw the blue liquid into his throat. The draining and the refill plate a tug war for a few seconds, but then the refilling won out.
Once his mana stopped regenerating thanks to the potion, Ludwig sighed. The cost of doing the technique was also reduced inside the restaurant. However, the discount was not as big as the previous technique. Only around 30%. Well, to be honest, even the saintess of the hero party needed a ritual to revive the dead shortly after their death, so he thought it was a win. The problem was he couldn't just use the technique every time he wanted it. After all, the mana potion he drank in this test wasn't something any alchemist workshop had.
Popping another one of the miracle potions, Ludwig refocused his thoughts. He still had 2 ultimate tests to do. One of them was a technique that made him wealthy after rumour about it spread through the continent. If it's not for the hero's party, he would be able to build his restaurant right after his first time doing this technique.
A/n I almost forgot posting this chap because I was reading, LMAOOOO.