To everybone sparing their time to read this story... I thank you all ocne again! I hope you get the break you need here before continuing whatever epic journey you are on! I wish you a sucessful hunt!
Ludwig couldn't help but chuckle when the system told him the identity of the group who was about to enter the restaurant. Of all the species that the restaurant had seen, the very first set of customers his new employees would face was a group of customers who were the only ones who didn't look humane—at least in their usual appearance. Well, it will be a good welcome for them.
The bell on top of the restaurant chimed as the door creaked open. Closing the book in front of him, Ludwig rose to his feet. "Welcome to Checkpoint."
His employees followed suit, "Welcome to Checkpoint." However, out of the five, one employee who stood the closest to the restaurant couldn't even finish her words. Her eyes were opened wide as he saw the two cats walking into the restaurant with springy steps.
The greyish and crimson cat gave Vilera a fleeting look as they walked closer to the bar. But it was just that, fleeting. They lost their interest in her a second later and hopped into the bar and meowed at Ludwig.
"Where have you guys been?" Ludwig angled his body closer to the cats before stroking both of their heads one after another. At the same time, he could see the dragon landed on the separator between two sides of the bar, eyes locking on him.
The two cats meowed again after hearing his question, as if answering. But of course Ludwig couldn't even understand what they were saying. "You guys want the usual?"
After hearing another answer in cat language, Ludwig walked into the kitchen. "Bilo, get me two fish fillets and the fried chicken from the same cabinet as before."
Bilo, who was still looking at the cats, regained his focus before answering. "Y-yessir."
While Bilo ran to get the thing he asked him, Ludwig jolted the rune beneath the frying pot alive. At the same time, he summoned two frying pans from the shelf and put it on the stove. While waiting for the oil on the frying pot to reach the desirable temperature, he dumped a healthy amount of butter into the two frying pans.
Once it turned from blocks into liquid, Ludwig took the fish fillets Bilo put in the countertop and laid it skin-side down. When the crackle became sharper and sharper, he willed his mana to press the fish down firmly, making sure every inch of the skin was kissing the pan properly.
He then moved towards the frying pot with the pre-fried chicken in hand. He dunked half a chicken into the bubbling oil, creating even more bubbles. "Bilo, red sauces. Should be beside the bowl of chicken."
"Yessir." Bilo moved. In the meantime, his focus was back on the fish. He tilted the pans to the side, pooling the butter below before scooping it and splashed it into the fish. Only when the skin peeled easily from the pan did he flip it.
Before long, he moved the fish fillets into the plates. "Give them to the cats." Ludwig told Bilo who gave him a nod as the answer. At the same time, he fished the chicken from the bubbling oil and placed it on the drying rack. He fastened the time around the chicken, just a little bit before taking half of the chicken into the bowl full of red sauce.
After tossing the chicken in the bowl a few times to make sure it was coated evenly by the red sauce, he moved it to the plate. The other unseasoned chicken followed right after. As the finishing touch, he sprinkled a dash of sesame seed and green onions on top of the chicken.
However, rather than telling Bilo to send it to the customer, Ludwig took the plate himself. He then placed it beside the grey cats, an empty seat for everybody else in the restaurant but one with a peculiar black dragon in his eyes. "Enjoy."
Ludwig smiled after telling them to enjoy, then he pivoted and looked straight at Bilo. "Get 3 small bowls and put water in it and serve it to them."
"Yessir." Bilo answered.
Ludwig nodded before sitting back down on his seat. But before he opened the book again, he opened his mouth. "Don't look at our customers like that, it's rude." Those words were meant for all of his employees who were looking at the bar.
Another silence enveloped the restaurant, only the sound of chewing and meowing could be heard. Already used to it, Ludwig returned to his book. His eyes scanned every word and paragraphs written on the white pages. It was really an interesting book in his eyes as a human. After all, throughout the wars, he always heard that demons were creatures driven by their instinct. But this book told him otherwise. It even told him about the most memorable invention the demonkin ever created.
As he got more and more pulled into the culture, the way of living, and hierarchy of demonkin, he felt something landed in front of him. When he lifted his eyes from the pages he was currently reading, he could see the small black dragon looking at him.
Then, the mana around it stirred. The green glow that he could see surrounding it every time it was in the restaurant vanished. "Human." The dragon child-like voice echoed through the kitchen.
Ludwig smirked as he realized the dragon was calling him. At the same time, he could hear a sharp sound of metal falling as well as a sharp intake of air from his back. "The great dragon finally decided to grace this humble human with its presence?"
The dragon raised its head smugly as soon as Ludwig finished his words. However, its stretched mouth and bright eyes couldn't match its haughty attitude. "Yes! This great dragon, Raon Miru, has decided to show itself to you, Human!"
Ludwig chuckled inwardly as he heard its answer. It seemed like his guess about the age of the dragon in front of him was correct. It was still a young one. Throughout his journey, he had seen his fair share of dragons. Most of them were haughty—like what the little dragon in front of him tried to be. However, not one of them was as curious as the little guy in front of him. They either have anger issues, a shut-in, or have a hoarding disorder.
"So your name is Raon Miru?" Ludwig asked.
"Yes, Human! It's a name the Weak Human gave me." The dragon, no, Raon Miru answered, head still perched high.
"I see!" Ludwig laughed. "Bu, who is this Weak Human you are talking about?"
"Weak Human is Weak Human. Why are you asking me that?"
Ludwig tilted his head to the side at Raon's answer. "Is this Weak Human the one who always came with you guys? The guy with red hair?"
"Yes! That is Weak Human!"
Ludwig thought back to the red-haired man that always came with these three kids. Compared to him, Rimuru, or Kushina, he was indeed weak. However, his guts feeling told him he would be able to go punch to punch with Claire, so he shouldn't be that weak. Ludwig decided to ask the dragon. "I don't think he's that weak, though? So why are you calling him Weak Human?"
"He is weak." The dragon scoffed. "He fainted and needed a long rest after just using one spell!"
Ludwig winced at the explanation from the dragon. Well, no matter how strong someone was, if they fainted and needed a prolonged rest after using one spell, that strength meant nothing. Though, if the power of that spell was devastating, he would still be a good asset to have.
"Is he resting after using a spell right now? Is that why you guys haven't been visiting the restaurant?"
"No. The Weak Human brought us to visit a faraway place. He said he has business there. But because we are bored, the great me teleports here!"
"Is that so?" Ludwig asked. "If you can teleport together with the cats, why don't you teleport him too?"
"RIGHT?" The dragon huffed and jumped into the air. "I told him so many times! It will be faster to teleport around rather than riding a carriage, but he doesn't listen!"
Raon kept complaining about the red-haired guy after he started. He was venting about how stubborn the guy was even though he's weak. But he also told Ludwig he's kind. However, most of its complaints boiled down into one thing. He wanted to return to the city this restaurant was located at—which turned out to be their home—and visited. After all, the food here was good. Even better than the food that their chef cooked for them. Poor chef.
As he kept talking with the little dragon, he could feel his employees looking at them with weird eyes. Of course, one young demon was an exception. She was looking at the dragon like it was the cutest thing it ever saw. A dangerous one, that one.
Before long, the system buzzed again. So, Ludwig rose to his feet, the dragon full weight was pushed upwards by his head. When the door creaked open and a familiar woman walked in, he opened his mouth. "Welcome to Checkpoint."
"Welcome to Checkpoint." His employees followed suit.
However, the familiar black-haired woman was not the only one who walked in. Behind her, a woman with black hair and blue eyes draped in ash-coloured clothes followed suit. There was also a man with brown hair and black eyes draped in noble clothes, a tall man with black hair and grey eyes draped in armor, and a child with blonde hair and blue eyes.
Claire froze as he looked at him. From her eyes, he could tell that she was surprised because of the dragon that had made his head its temporary nesting place. In the meantime, the other people were looking around the restaurant with their bodies ready to react. A testament that every single one of them was a veteran fighter.
"L-Ludwig… What is that?" Claire stuttered as he came closer and closer towards the bar.
"Why don't you introduce yourself to her, Oh Great Dragon?" Ludwig said in an amused tone.
The Dragon went silent for a few heartbeats. Then, he answered. "Fine."
Raon took off from his head and landed in front of Claire. He then started his introduction, as haughty as when he did it to him. Letting out a chuckle after seeing its antics, Ludwig looked at the other four people who were still not sitting yet.
"Please take any seat you want. My employee will help you with anything you need." Ludwig said to them. Taking his words as the cue, Vilera moved and guided them to the closest seat. Of course since the closest table to the bar was a four-people table, another chair was dragged to the table by Zhark to accommodate their number.
After they took their seats, Vilera stood close to them. She then proceeded to explain the power of the restaurant to them. But probably because Claire had told them beforehand, they accepted it rather easily.
In the meantime, Claire was still locked in conversation with the dragon. She was asking the same question as him. A reasonable question when the dragon kept calling the red-haired guy 'Weak Human.'
At that moment, Vilera arrived in front of him. "Sir, the customers order a bottle of liquor Miss Claire often ordered, 3 hamburgers, one today's special. 1 Chicken dish—it should not be spicy because it's for the kid, 2 fish dishes, and the skewers."
Ludwig's eyes went wide as he heard the order. That's quite a big feast for a party of five. Moreover, they ordered three hamburgers. In his plan, he didn't want to cook hamburgers today as that was yesterday's special. However, since he still had some ingredients from yesterday, he decided to just take the order.
He bought a new bottle of whiskey and put it in the separator. He then summoned a whiskey glass from the shelf, put a round ice in it and called Bilo. "Make three more glasses like this and a glass of water."
"Yessir."
"Vilera, once the glasses are ready, serve them all together with the bottle." Ludwig commanded.
"Yessir." Vilera answered.
"Also, send your sister and Finka to the second floor. The resting rotation should start now."
"Understood."
After hearing her answer, Ludwig walked deeper into the kitchen. Since Bilo was currently busy, he used his mana to pull the ingredients he needed for the orders. Then, the kitchen turned into another battlefield. Clank of metal hitting each other, sizzle of ingredients meeting a hot pan, cutting board being pounded by knife, and bubbling of hot soup echoed through the kitchen.
Before long, the food was delivered to the customer one by one. The only thing still in the making was the dish for the kid. Ludwig quickened the pace of him pushing and pulling the big wok in front of him. The rice and other ingredients coated in soy sauce flew for a second before coming back down into the hot metal. Once he finally could smell the smokiness from the fire from the rice, he moved the wok and poured the contents into a plate. He then cut the chicken Katsu he had fried earlier into pieces and put it on the same plate as the rice.
"Bilo, give this to Vilera." Ludwig said.
"Yessir." Bilo took the plate away. But before he could handed the food to her, she opened her mouth.
"Sir, additional order. One today's special."
Even though he was slightly taken aback, Ludwig still answered. "Sure. Please tell them to wait a little bit."
Just like that, he started cooking once again.