The restaurant was thick with surprise, muffled laughter, and confusion. All the world talking and indirect power flexing stopped dead on its track, forgotten like it was a thing from ancient times.
In the meantime, the culprit behind the chaos was sitting at one of the tables of the restaurant. His face was changing quite a lot, from surprise, disbelief, and acceptance, expressions Ludwig was really familiar with.
At the same time, the other slime in the room, or maybe even the strongest one around, was still looking at the young man. His body was turned against the bar, eyes staring. He didn't even try to be discreet about it.
Even though it's quite fun to see such a mischief incarnate getting pranked by the universe, Ludwig decided to put a stop on his staring. "Rimuru, you'll make the guy uncomfortable." His tone was steady, gone were the teasing tone from earlier.
If the new customer was someone like Rimuru or Kashi whose body movement and eyes told him about what kind of person they were, Ludwig wouldn't even bother himself from stopping anyone who might make them feel like an alien. But the young man with slime pets was polite; he was the only customer throughout his short time opening this restaurant that used 'Excuse me' after stepping through the door.
That, he could get behind. Reciprocating his politeness was not a choice, it was a must.
Rimuru's body twitched before it ever so slowly and stiffly turned back toward the bar. He then moved his hands to the table and clasped it together. When his shocked face turned serious, he opened his mouth. "That guy is dangerous."
Claire's head rose from the table, her eyes fell on Rimuru. Akane and Jade also did so, they craned their neck forward and looked towards the blue haired guy. At first, Ludwig wanted nothing but to shrug his words away, the politeness he felt from the guy was real, not something carefully fabricated. Moreover, the system didn't flag him either. No whisper, no caution, nothing.
However, Rimuru's tone was too serious for him to just ignore his words. Even though nothing inside this restaurant could ever slip past his control, prevention was always better than a cure.
"What do you mean by that?" Ludwig's eyes narrowed, his tone dipped lower than ever.
Rimuru's interlaced hands clenched each other harder. "I haven't felt anything like it before. Not even from you, from Ilea, or any enemies I fought in my world."
When Ludwig heard Ilea's inclusion on the list, an alarm blared in Ludwig's mind. That woman was scary, maybe the scariest person he ever met in both his life. Not even the hero of his party could make his knees buckled by a mere look like what she did.
Stronger than that woman would mean that with thoughts alone, the young men could pinned him down. Truly, never judge the books by its cover in a world full of magic.
Before Ludwig could ask Rimuru to explain further, Finka's crisp voice entered his ears. She stepped away from the table, steps as bouncy as a basketball, and skipped towards the bar. Her beaming and smiling face really contrasted what the customers in the bar felt.
"Sir, one order of raw tuna and one order of lemonade."
After letting out a disappointed air through his mouth for the first time after hearing an order, Ludwig nodded. "Coming right up."
Vilera moved even before Ludwig reached the countertop. Chopping board and tuna fillet was ready soon after. Freeing the sashimi knife from its holder, Ludwig started to work. However, since slicing wasn't a job that required extensive focus, he let parts of his focus hovered around the bar.
"I know well how scary Ilea is. So, what's the difference between him and her?" Claire asked, voice barely traveled through the air.
Rimuru's face went even more rigid, his jaw tightened. His two bright pupils had already become the shadow of its past self, shaking like leaves in a whirlwind.
"I…" Rimuru hissed through his clenched teeth. "I feel compelled to submit to him."
The knife stopped in the air as soon as Ludwig heard that. He raised his head to look at Rimuru past the separator. Even though the system whispered to him that his face dead serious when telling them that, he still couldn't believe it. He expected him to smirk after delivering that information. But no, the guy's state that his eyes saw was the same as his state that the system whispered to him. No smoke, no mirrors, just pure unadulterated fear.
Ludwig felt the tension that had been weighing him down for the past couple of minutes evaporated to thin air. It didn't require someone to be Master of a Magic Tower, a genius billionaire of the century, or a Kryptonians to know the reason Rimuru felt such a thing from the young men.
The guy was a tamer, a really good one at that. Those three globs that walked to the restaurant with him were not what they appeared to be. There were thousands if not hundreds of consciousness compressed into one. The one with the lowest numbers of consciousness was the glob was the clearish one.
From what he knew about tamers from his time in Ortus, it was easy to tell that the guy had some special connection with slimes, affinity they called it. Else, it was simply impossible to tame that many monsters of the same kind.
Ludwig shook his head as a wry chuckle left his lips. He pulled his consciousness away from the guy who was still talking to the other three people willing to hear his concern and moved the knife again.
After the knife in his hands slid through the red and oily meat and separated a bite-size chunk from the big chunk, he moved all the pieces he had cut into a plate. With no words needed, a helping hand carrying two small bowls of sauce appeared, completing the plating. The moment he pulled his hands away from the plate, Vilera took it and passed it to Zhark who was waiting in the bar.
Another sale, another perfect delivery.
Ludwig plopped down to his seat before his fingers coiled around a fogged glass with brown liquid inside. As he brought the coffee closer to his lips, he heard Rimuru calling for him.
"Ludwig. Why are you sitting there! I know you already heard about what I said about the guy."
Without even standing up, Ludwig replied. "Stop wasting my time." Tone as dry as the Sahara.
"W-what? He's dangerous! You need to do something!"
"He's only dangerous to you. The other customers wouldn't be affected." Ludwig said again.
"What about me? You aren't helping me?" He whined.
"Just get better. Once you are strong enough, you won't be affected anymore." Ludwig scoffed.
Ludwig opened a thick book he had placed on top of the table in front of him and popped it open, fully isolating himself from Rimuru's shenanigans. Night went deeper, some customers left, leaving empty seats behind. But it didn't last long as many more customers came in.
While reading the book again to pass time after cooking so many dishes for the overgrowing number of customers from Rimuru's world, another buzzing rang in his head. Ludwig closed the book in front of him as a smirk bloomed in his face and stood up.
"Oh, you are finally bored with that book of yours?" Rimuru snarled.
However, Ludwig didn't pay him any mind. His eyes were locked into the red haired woman who walked through the opening door.
"Welcome to Checkpoint."
The woman's face bloomed, her eyes twinkled. But the springs in her step didn't last long. Just after he stepped into the restaurant, her body froze. The reason was clear for everybody to see due to her eyes.
Gone were the twinkling eyes that longed for food, in its place, there was hesitation, anger, and disappointment.
"What are you doing here, old man!?" Kushina boomed, the malice she always suppressed within her exploded. As if resonating with her feelings, the atmosphere turned heavy and silent, the restaurant shaking.
To dispel the malice she exuded was nothing but a child's play for Ludwig, a will was the only thing he needed. But no, the thought of stopping her never crossed his mind. He didn't even shield the other patrons in the restaurant from the malice of the Nine Tails.
If indirect power play and introducing the potions were the carrot and the stick of the Great Sage, this is how he wanted to make Hiruzen Sarutobi understand.
The customers inside the restaurant naturally threw their heads towards the source of the malice. Some of them even jumped to their feet and drew their weapons, ready to react.
"Kushina." The Hokage opened his mouth. "This is a restaurant, isn't it? Why can't I eat here?"
The red haired woman clenched both of her fists. Then, her hair started to float into the air. "After what you've done to stop me from coming here, you are saying you come here to eat?" She spat.
The Hokage looked around at that moment, his face twitching. At the same time, Ludwig felt a burning sensation on the back of his head. When he turned back, he could see Claire glaring at him.
In front of such a hot gaze, Ludwig just smiled. He then raised his shoulder before letting it return to its original position.
Claire sighed, as if she didn't get the answer she wanted. The chair beneath her creaked as she pushed it back. Then, she quickly walked towards Kushina and slung her arm around her shoulders. "Calm down, Kushina. You are scaring everyone."
Kushina moved her ferocious gaze away from the old man at that moment. Perhaps because of Claire's words, or because she found comfort in her friend's presence. The malice slowly left the atmosphere, like water leaving the sand in the ebb tide.
Rimuru took that moment to stand up on his seat and waved his hands towards his subordinates. As if it meant anything, all of his subordinates as well as the denizen of Tempest inside the restaurant calmed down. Those who stood up with their weapon in hands also sheathed it and returned to their seat.
The chatter returned, filling the restaurant into the brim. However, the only chatter Ludwig focused on was between the black haired woman with black eyes, a red haired woman, and an old man cladded in white and red haori.
"Hello, Sir. It's nice to see you despite the circumstances." Claire started with a polite tone, a proof that she had gone full political mode. "I've heard a lot about you from my friend Kushina."
The old man chuckled, but eyes still glinted with seriousness. "I hope you only heard the good stuff."
"Of course." Claire beamed. "I've heard about all of your exploits. Such a grand adventure you have, truly an adventure that befits your title as the God of Shinobi."
Ludwig chuckled as the old man's face twitched again. It was the very first time he saw Claire acting like this. It seemed like she didn't just get her seat as the administrator of Ravenhall because no one else wanted the seat.
"That title is just an over-dramatization." Hiruzen said. "The founder of Konoha is the true God of Shinobi, not me. Not even close."
Ludwig mused, his lips stretching to the ear. It's really interesting to see people trading blows with words. Even more so when you had nothing to do with it.
"Even so, when someone is called a god, they have to act like one." Claire said. "I've read about it somewhere before, it said that God shouldn't bleed. Because once they showed weakness, those who aimed for their seat would come flocking."
After saying so, she took Kushina away from the old man. They went to the table where Cless sat, body hugged by Valerie.
A carrot, a stick, and an advice that sounded like a threat. How would he react now, Ludwig wondered.