Another bonus chapter. This time, because we finnaly achieved 50 power stones! You guys rock!
Ludwig found himself sighing as he heard Rimuru's question which was not really a question. To be honest, he was also wondering why the man walked into the restaurant. After what he did to two of Root operatives, he thought more Root members would walk in, or even Danzo himself. He never thought the Hokage himself would walk before his twisted friend and his pet project.
"Welcome to Checkpoint." Ludwig said, his voice was still respectful. But he couldn't help but to not put all of his professionalism in his voice.
"Welcome to Checkpoint." His employees echoed his words.
Valerie, who stood closest to the door, shadowed the newcomer. The man looked like he was merely taking a stroll and stumbled into a peculiar restaurant. However, his eyes betrayed that calmness. It was scanning, searching, mapping. From the layout of the restaurant to everyone inside; a precaution if a fight broke out. His body was also ready. He could feel thrumming power from his small frame.
As the man brushed his haori to the back before moving to an empty chair and sat on it, Valerie moved closer towards the man. But before she could explain the power of the restaurant to the man as it was the first thing all employees needed to do for new customers, Ludwig stepped in.
"Valerie, I'll take care of our new customer. I'll call for you once I'm done."
"Okaaaay." Without even a question, Valerie answered cheerfully before returning to stand close to the door.
Ludwig stepped closer towards the man. But unlike usual, he didn't have any plan to explain about the power of the restaurant to the man. He knew why the man was here, at least a portion of it. But two could play that game. If he wanted information, he would give it to him. But of course, whether it was the truth or not, the man had to think about it himself.
"It's an honour for this restaurant to be visited by the Hokage himself." Ludwig opened, a smile bloomed on his face.
"Oh?" The old man gave him a smile, the very same smile that the man always gave his citizens back in the anime. "You know me, young men?"
"I do. You are Konohagakure's Leader, the third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi." Ludwig explained. Even though he thought such words should be enough curveballs for the man, Ludwig decided to throw another one. "I'm sorry I couldn't fulfill your summons back then. Please understand, my hands are quite tied because of the restaurant."
As he expected, the Hokage's face twitched and turned serious. However, it was gone before it could be seen by most people. If it's not for the system, Ludwig felt he wouldn't even be able to see it.
"Summons?" Hiruzen's words came in a questioning tone. "What kind of summons? I never tell any ninjas to summon you."
Ludwig hummed inside his mind. It seemed like that was the angle he wanted to take. Painting himself as someone who was neutral throughout. Well, it would be quite believable if his face wasn't cramping for a split second. After all, from that twitch of face, Ludwig came to know everything he wanted to know.
If someone heard what he was thinking about, they might say he was quite vindictive against the man. However, how can't he not? He knew that to lead a country, someone had to be ready to take a hard decision. And even though not each and every Hiruzen decision throughout the canon was satisfactory, it was still adequate.
The reason why Ludwig decided to go hard against Hiruzen was because of Naruto. Not his old self, but the small Naruto. He could have lived as the son of the hero and loved by everyone around the village. Yet, that was taken away from him using a flimsy excuse which the Third Hokage didn't use for his sons and his grandson.
"Is that so?" Ludwig creased his forehead. Of course it was nothing but an act. "If it's not your order, then you should be careful Sir. I know you are currently at war. Nothing is more dangerous in a war than allies ready to stab you from behind."
"Wise advice. I will take it to heart." The Hokage smiled and nodded sagely.
"Please do so. Since my restaurant is connected to your village, I will be sad if it gets razed to the ground." Ludwig said. "Serious thing aside, anything you want to order, sir?"
"Hm…" The Hokage moved his hand and proceeded to pinch his chin. At the same time, his eyes scanned the menu board he put on the separator. "I heard from Kushina and Minato that you served a good Ramen here. But why didn't I see that on the menu?"
"If you are talking about the ramen that they ate before, we currently didn't have any stock of that. But I have another noodle dish, do you want to order that?" Ludwig lied through his teeth. He of course could just buy instant ramyeon through his shop if he didn't have it in stock, but for Hiruzen, nope. That was something reserved for his regulars.
"I'll take that then. I still have to eat dinner at my house, you see. Else, my wife will be upset with me," Hiruzen chuckled.
"Understandable." Ludwig answered. "We also have lemonade, iced tea, orange juice, and cucumber mint cooler for the drinks. Does anything catch your fancy?"
"Hmm…" Hiruzen's face turned contemplative."Do you have any alcohol?"
"Currently we only have sake. Do you prefer that?"
"Yes. I'll take sake, then."
"Understood, Sir. Please wait a little." Ludwig answered and moved towards the kitchen. Even though he could just whip the simplest Aglio e Olio and serve it to Hiruzen, the chef part of him prevented him from doing that even though he quite hated the man. "Vilera, grab me seafood used in our lunch menu from yesterday. You know what they are, right?"
"Yessir." Vilera walked towards the cabinet where the time inside didn't flow and opened its door. In the meantime, Ludwig went to the stove and put a wide pan and a pot of water on it.
Water bubbled, the pasta turned noodly, tongs hitting the metal pots, the oil sizzled. Before long the food was ready, the salty smell of the sea wafted around the kitchen. Before he even opened his mouth, Vilera took the plate from the counter and placed it in front of the man. "Please enjoy the food. If you need anything, you can call that server over there."
"Thank you, young lady." Hiruzen smiled.
"My pleasure, Sir." Vilera also smiled before walking back to the kitchen and gathered all the things Ludwig used and brought it to the sink.
When Ludwig was back on his seat, he felt a sense of Deja Vu. The guy across from him was looking at him. But rather with disappointment and anger that he saw from earlier, it was full of mischief and madness. Looking at that, his lips curved into a smirk as he realized what the guy was about to do. The old man was in for a surprise.
"About the wyvern hunting you told me a few days ago, when do you plan to go?" Rimuru asked, his voice louder than it should be.
Ludwig let out a soundless chuckle.
"In a few days, probably the day after doing the weekly prep." As he said so, he could feel the old man looking at them through the corner of his eyes using the help of the system. But he's not the only one, Akane and Jade also looked at him.
"Need any help?" Rimuru asked, tone casual but in high volume.
"Nope. Those monsters aren't that hard to fight." Ludwig shrugged.
As if playing along with their antics, Jade opened his mouth. "You are going to hunt wyvern, owner?"
"Yes." Ludwig nodded after moving his gaze towards the black haired guy. "The wyverns in my world get more delicious in summer. I want to serve it to my customers, but buying it was not an option because of its price. That's why I decided to hunt it myself."
"Yourself? I know your ability makes you strong, but can you really do it alone?" Jade asked, his worry and disbelief was palpable in his voice.
Ludwig smiled inwardly. Well, those two still didn't know about his past, he just knew him as a restaurant owner and chef with strong ability. So, the concern was valid. "Even though I looked like this, I have my fair share of fighting. And for me, wyvern and chicken are no different. I can hunt them in one move."
Jade and Akane's jaws dropped for the umpteenth time today. It seemed like the thought that he was strong never crossed their mind.
At that moment, Rimuru chimed in. "So you guys don't know, huh? If you hang in this restaurant for long, you'll see that Ludwig is strong. Show them your scars, would you?"
Ludwig sighed at the sudden ball thrown at his court. Even though he knew Rimuru would cause mayhem to the Hokage, he never thought the conversation would arrive at the topic of his scars. However, rather than declining his request, he just went along with it. He rolled the sleeves that always covered his hands and let their eyes land on it.
"W-what the…"
"S-so many scars."
After hearing their reaction, Ludwig let his sleeves drop again.
"Are you some kind of adventurer before you open this restaurant?" Jade asked after he calmed down.
"You could say that." Ludwig chuckled.
"You could say that my ass!" But Rimuru quickly butted into the conversation. "This bastard is the hero of his world. He fought a Demon King and killed it."
"W-wha…"
"Seriously?" Jade shot that word out even before he realized.
Ludwig gave Rimuru a pointed look. He knew why he did that. However, understanding it and accepting it were two different things. He didn't want his identity as a hero to be known by all the regulars. Moreover, the way Rimuru phrased it made him look like the only hero of his world when there's 7 of them in the party.
He felt fine if his close regulars like RImuru and Claire knew, but those two who just came? Not even Kashi over there and the red haired guy that Raon called 'Weak Human' knew even when they came earlier than the two.
But on the flipside of the coin, Rimuru phrasing might work wonders on how Hiruzen saw him and this restaurant. After all, even Minato only got called a hero after he died in the process of preventing the attack of the nine tails.
"I didn't do it alone. I have comrades. Moreover, all kingdoms in my continent help by sending their army." Ludwig explained.
Akane looked at him, eyes full of admiration. "Still… Standing up to danger is not something everyone could do even if they have the power."
"Wiser words had never been spoken in this hall." Rimuru chuckled. But after he finished, he looked at Ludwig again with a serious expression on his face. It seemed like he, or rather the Great Sage, had developed more plans for this indirect show of power. "Man, I forgot to ask you earlier. Have you ever thought about erasing those scars, Ludwig?"
Ludwig felt his lips twitching. The Great Sage truly lived to its name. After indirectly giving Hiruzen the information about his power, now came the carrot. The Potion from his world. Well, to be honest, not like Ortus lacked a powerful potion that could heal his scars, but that's beside the point.
"Well, I would be lying if the thought never crossed my mind. But now, I don't really want to anymore. I looked cool with all the scars, didn't I?" Ludwig chuckled before playing along to the tune with another question. "Why? You can erase it from me or something?"
Rather than answering, Rimuru just raised his hand from the table. Like a sleight of hands, a bottle of bluish potion appeared. "Let me introduce you to High Potion. This small bottle can heal most major injuries. But of course, lost limbs couldn't be healed. I think this will work on your scar."
Ludwig chuckled in his mind as he heard Rimuru's salesman-like introduction. But before he could even open his mouth, Jade beats him to it. "Potions, huh? We also have it in our world. Though the potency shouldn't be as good as that potion."
Rimuru whipped his head to look at Jade with a smirk. Only then Ludwig realized. It seemed that the Great Sage didn't just use the chance to promote the potion from Rimuru's world, but also to make the restaurant look more attractive to the Hokage by banking on the chance that other worlds also have it.
"Is that so?" Rimuru asked. "It seemed like it's quite a normal thing in the multiverse. How about in your world, Lud?"
After knowing what plan the Great Sage was making, Ludwig decided to answer the question with nothing but the truth. "We also have potions in Ortus. But, we also have potions that can restore missing body parts and blindness even if it's a damage that occurred a long time ago. It's pricey, though."
As his words fell, he could feel through the system that the Third Hokage of Konoha finally failed to control his expression. Because of that, Ludwig couldn't help but to smirk.