By the time Yuto carried the udon out of the kitchen, Ainz and Rimuru had already arrived.
The two had deliberately avoided disturbing him while he was cooking and had instead taken seats beside Saitama, where they were chatting casually with him.
Once Yuto set Saitama's udon down, Ainz and Rimuru greeted him, and he returned the greeting while naturally assuming they would ask for their gaming headsets.
After all, that was what they usually did.
Today, however, neither of them made any such request.
Yuto looked at them with mild surprise.
"You're not gaming today?"
"We already said so last night," Ainz replied with unusual seriousness. "Until everything is settled, our gaming plans will temporarily be put on hold."
As he spoke, he swept one arm outward and made his heavy robe rustle dramatically around him.
Combined with the crimson glow burning in his eye sockets, the gesture made him look remarkably imposing.
Beside him, Rimuru bounced enthusiastically in agreement.
Yuto drew in a quiet breath.
What the two of them had discussed the previous night was nothing less than a plan to conquer their respective worlds, and judging by their attitude now, they really did seem to have finished making preparations.
"So what are you planning to do first?"
Ainz raised one skeletal finger, a red light flashing in his eyes.
"We'll begin with Rimuru's world. The first step will be taking complete control of the Great Jura Forest. Afterward, we'll annex the surrounding human nations."
He made the entire thing sound absurdly simple.
Yet behind those few casual sentences lay the reality of an actual war.
If they truly carried their plan through, there could be enormous amounts of bloodshed and death along the way, all because Ainz and Rimuru had decided that conquering the world was the cleanest solution to their problems.
"Every Guardian of the Great Tomb of Nazarick is already fully prepared for war," Ainz continued, clenching one skeletal hand. "This time, victory is inevitable!"
His bare white finger bones looked particularly intimidating, and with the crimson glow burning deep in his eye sockets, he genuinely resembled the terrifying final boss secretly standing behind everything.
"OHHHHHH!!!"
Rimuru cheered him on with ridiculous enthusiasm.
Yuto silently sighed.
He decided not to ask for any more details.
Since those two had already made up their minds, there was little point trying to interfere now.
At this stage, all he could really do was let them carry out whatever grand strategy they had come up with.
Not long afterward, Ainz and Rimuru headed directly toward Rimuru's world.
They had a world conquest to get busy with.
Naturally, the customers who had not been present for the previous night's conversation were left somewhat stunned.
After Yuto briefly explained what was happening, most of them more or less accepted the situation, although the shock did not disappear completely.
Rin was easily the most overwhelmed.
To her, something like conquering an entire world was so far removed from ordinary reality that it was difficult to properly process.
The world of magecraft might already be strange and mysterious by normal standards, but even that did not usually involve casually deciding to annex entire nations and launch a global conquest.
Besides...
She was still only a middle-school student.
The Gensokyo group, on the other hand, accepted the news with remarkable calm.
A few of them even looked as though they might happily join Ainz and Rimuru simply because it sounded entertaining.
Marisa, in particular, became noticeably interested.
Yuto could only smile helplessly and brush off her enthusiasm before she started seriously planning how to tag along.
After finishing his udon, Saitama did not leave.
He was still waiting for Son Goku.
The previous night, he had already made it clear that if staying awake longer meant getting another chance to fight Goku, he was perfectly willing to temporarily sacrifice his healthy sleeping habits.
Yuto glanced toward Reimu, who was still hanging in midair, and could not help laughing.
Still, after letting the situation continue for a little while longer, he eventually persuaded Yukari to put her down.
Having such a large and angry "decoration" suspended in the middle of the restaurant was not exactly appropriate.
The moment Reimu's feet touched the floor, she immediately looked ready to kick Yukari in the face.
Fortunately, what remained of her reason won out.
If she wanted revenge, she could simply wait until they returned to Gensokyo, where she would have far more freedom to settle the score.
After swallowing her anger, Reimu turned and shot another furious glare toward Saitama and Genos.
Saitama blinked in confusion.
Had he done something to offend her?
He genuinely could not figure it out.
Genos, however, interpreted Reimu's hostility much more seriously.
He immediately shifted into a combat stance, and the reactor inside his body began producing a low mechanical rumble as though he were ready to attack at any moment.
Fortunately, Saitama stopped him before things escalated.
Otherwise, Genos might genuinely have tried to fight Reimu.
As for who would have won...
That was considerably harder to say.
Reimu eventually gave a sharp snort and sat down with her arms folded.
Across from her, Yukari simply looked over and smiled elegantly, every movement radiating the refined grace of a proper lady.
That only made Reimu angrier.
"Ahahahaha! Reimu, you looked hilarious hanging up there just now!"
Marisa's laughter immediately gave Reimu a new target.
The shrine maiden slowly turned her head.
"Just now... you seemed to have a lot of fun poking me around with that crappy broom of yours, didn't you, Marisa...?"
Her expression had become dark enough to make the faint smile at the corner of her mouth look genuinely dangerous.
Marisa's confidence immediately weakened.
"A-Ahem... Reimu... calm down. You need to calm down..."
"Heh... heh... We'll wait until we get back to Gensokyo. Then the two of us can have a nice, long talk."
To Marisa, Reimu now looked like some terrifying monster whose eyes were glowing red.
The witch was genuinely beginning to regret her choices.
Yuto could not help laughing as he watched the two of them.
He had lost count of how many times he had thought Reimu and Marisa would probably make an excellent comedy duo.
Neither of them even seemed to be trying, yet somehow they possessed a completely natural talent for being funny.
Amid the cheerful atmosphere, the restaurant door opened again.
The moment Yuto saw who had arrived, one eyebrow lifted slightly.
The people Rin and Illya had been waiting for...
Were finally here.
...
"Yo! Kamisaka, good evening! The restaurant's as lively as ever tonight!"
Iskandar stood in the doorway and waved cheerfully at Yuto, completely unconcerned with the people around him.
Professor El-Melloi II stood beside him and released a quiet, helpless sigh.
"Good evening."
Yuto smiled calmly from behind the counter and gestured for the two men to take a seat.
They had barely started toward the empty chairs when both of them noticed Illya and Rin.
Their steps immediately stopped.
Surprise appeared on their faces.
At almost the same moment, Rin and Illya noticed the two newcomers looking toward them and sensed something strangely familiar about them.
As a Heroic Spirit, Iskandar gave off a presence somewhat similar to that of a Servant, while the faint aura of magecraft surrounding El-Melloi II was something both girls recognized extremely well.
Those two details alone were enough.
These were the people they had been waiting for tonight.
"You... should be from the same world as us, right?"
Although Illya phrased it as a question, her tone was already fairly certain.
In truth, she recognized Iskandar and El-Melloi II.
Unlike Rin, who had only visited the restaurant a handful of times, Illya came fairly often and had seen the pair before.
It was simply that during those earlier visits, she had never paid enough attention to notice anything particularly unusual about them.
During her first visit, Heracles had captured nearly all of her attention.
The second time she came, she was still searching for Heracles.
And during her third visit...
Her main goal had once again been Heracles.
Under those circumstances, she had barely cared who else happened to be sitting around the restaurant.
Tonight was different.
Tonight, her entire purpose was to identify other visitors from her own world, so naturally she was paying attention to completely different things.
Rin also watched Iskandar and El-Melloi II with a serious, guarded expression, waiting for their answer.
Even Archer, who had been standing silently against the wall in one corner, shifted his gaze toward the pair.
His eyes narrowed faintly, becoming noticeably sharper without him saying a word.
Hearing Illya's question, Iskandar gave a helpless grin and scratched the back of his head.
"Ahahaha! Looks like you finally noticed us! Ahahahahaha!"
His booming laughter filled the restaurant.
Beside him, El-Melloi II lowered his eyelids slightly and gave a quiet snort.
"So you finally noticed. I was starting to wonder how long you intended to keep overlooking us."
His tone was calm and carried a faint air of indifference, though it was not deliberate coldness.
That was simply the kind of man he had become with age—a little quieter, considerably more reserved, and far less emotionally transparent than he had once been.
Their answers immediately brought realization to both Rin and Illya, followed by a faint trace of delight.
Iskandar and El-Melloi II sat down beside the two girls, and neither of them bothered ordering anything right away. Instead, they immediately began talking.
Most of the questions naturally came from Rin and Illya.
Iskandar and El-Melloi II answered as best they could.
"Mister, are you a Servant too?"
Illya looked curiously at Iskandar.
She could sense something from him that resembled the presence of her Berserker, but the feeling was not quite the same.
Iskandar rubbed the back of his head, laughed twice, and then shook his head.
"No. I'm a Heroic Spirit."
Both Rin and Illya froze.
As members of ancient magecraft families and active participants in the Holy Grail War, they naturally understood the distinction.
A Servant could essentially be considered a manifestation, vessel, or copy derived from the record of a Heroic Spirit.
Across countless parallel worlds, there could potentially be countless manifestations of what was effectively the "same Servant."
But the Heroic Spirit itself...
That was something fundamentally different.
"Ahahahaha! Did I surprise you?"
Iskandar laughed heartily.
His entire bearing was so open and cheerful that people naturally found themselves liking him, and after taking a moment to recover from the shock, Rin and Illya gradually accepted what he had said.
That did not mean they were no longer stunned.
"Rider, you really shouldn't reveal things so casually."
El-Melloi II looked helplessly toward Iskandar, clearly bothered by how easily the man disclosed information that most participants in a Holy Grail War would protect with their lives.
"Come on, Waver. Don't worry about every tiny thing. It's fine."
The King of Conquerors had never been the type to conceal himself.
His personality was direct, explosive, and utterly straightforward.
Even during that Holy Grail War long ago, he had been the one Servant shameless enough to reveal his True Name openly to the others without the slightest hesitation.
That was simply how Iskandar lived.
"Eh? Rider?"
Illya suddenly covered her mouth.
"Don't tell me, Mister, you were also..."
Rin looked equally incredulous beside her.
"Ahahahahaha! Exactly!" Iskandar declared without the slightest attempt at secrecy. "During the previous Holy Grail War, this king manifested in the Rider class!"
The two girls became even more shocked.
"Oh... the previous one..." Rin started, only for the meaning of his words to hit her a second later.
She suddenly straightened.
"Wait, wait, wait... Hold on! The previous Holy Grail War?! Did you just say the previous one?!"
"Oh! That's right!"
Iskandar nodded without hesitation.
Rin sucked in a sharp breath.
Even Illya was temporarily stunned into silence.
"No need to be so surprised," Iskandar said cheerfully. "We can take our time talking about it. But before that—Kamisaka! Bring me a cup of wine! And make sure it's filled right to the brim!"
He turned toward Yuto and laughed loudly.
Yuto smiled before heading into the kitchen to pour him a drink.
At the counter, Rin and Illya quickly recovered from their shock and immediately began bombarding Iskandar with questions.
He answered them one by one, though there were naturally plenty of things even he did not know.
During the Holy Grail War, every Master and Servant had been busy fighting their own battles, and there was no realistic way Iskandar could have known every detail about what the other participants were doing.
A short while later, Yuto returned with a full cup of wine and placed it in front of him.
Iskandar immediately lifted it and took a hearty gulp.
"Whew—excellent! Excellent! Drinking at Kamisaka's place is still the best!"
He exhaled in satisfaction, set the cup down, and wiped the foam from his beard before an enormous grin spread across his face.