The Restaurant: Chapter 9: Learning Magic (Patreon)

Isekai Restaurant

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 9: Learning Magic

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- Silas -

“Excuse me?” I asked, not understanding her words.

“Break up with Tohru-sama.” She said with puffed cheeks, which looked insanely adorable but for the life of me, I couldn’t make sense of her words.

“I know you have seduced Tohru-sama with your looks.”

“I think you are misunderstanding something here. Tohru and I are not in such a relationship.” I replied, trying to calm the situation.

“Liar! Don’t lie to me. I saw you both….holding hands….and you even patter her head. You….hentai!”

“Say what?”

“Slut.”

“That’s rude.”

‘“Netorare.”

“Oi.”

“Ero Demon.”

I could feel my eyes twitching because as adorable as this little dragon was, her words were not.

But before I could say anything more, she got up.

“If you don’t then I will….have you beat you up myself.” and with that she jumped on me, across the table.

I was prepared to defend myself but….she fell.

Yes.

The dragon girl….fell on the table, directly on her face.

She didn’t move for two full seconds and suddenly I was scared for a completely different reason.

“Are you alright?”

Her body shook and she picked herself up and I could see a red spot on her nose and tears in her eyes.

“You are bleeding. Did you hurt your nose in that fall? Wait here, I will get the first aid kit. Miss Lavinia, could you please watch over her for a second.” I said as I went upstairs to get the first aid kit.

When I came down, I saw the girl in Lavinia’s lap who was cooing at her and preventing her from crying.

Sigh.

Even if she was a dragon, I guess she was still a child.

When I tried to help her though, she wiped her nose with a handkerchief given by Lavinia and looked back at me.

“So are you going to break up with Tohru-sama now?”

….

“How about we talk about this when Tohru comes back. I am sure she can clear the misunderstanding. Till then, how about we get you something to eat? By the time you are done, Tohru will be back too.”

“I will not be swayed by your words. I….”

Grrr~~

Her stomach growled, making me chuckle.

“Alright, I will go and make something for you.”

I pat the girl’s head and went back to the kitchen.

I got some noodles and some Cherry Cake which I kept for Tohru to reward her for her good work.

The cake was made from Dragon Cherries which is apparently well liked by dragons. At least Tohru liked the cake.

“So you ran away from home?” I heard as soon as I reached the tables.

The little girl stiffened at the question.

“Oh you poor girl. You didn’t get hurt on the way, did you? No wonder you were so hungry.” She was hugging the girl while cooing to her.

I looked at the two in wonder.

Lavinia….was quite good with kids.

Actually, she was even smiling.

The poor girl had been through a lot and deserved some happiness.

I placed the plates in front of the two girls. “Here, have something to eat.”

Won’t lie, it was quite adorable to watch the girl look at the cake and then back at me, her empty stomach fighting with her supposed dislike for me.

Drool flowed from the corner of her mouth as she looked at the cake and she was going forward before suddenly stopping and pulling back and shaking her head. Then she took another sniff of cake and then shook her head again.

This funny scene continued until the door to the restaurant opened and a loud shout announced their presence to everyone.

“We are back, Boss!” Tohru’s voice broke the situation as the girl peeked from her seat to look at the two.

“Tohru-sama.”

___________________________________x__________________________________

I looked at the two dragon girls eating in peace.

Kanna Kamui, the white haired child….was apparently not a child.

She was over nine thousand years old.

After Tohru cleared the misunderstanding, she didn’t hesitate gulping down the food. Seeing her eat, Tohru drooled too and joined her.

“Come back with me, Tohru-sama.” The girl asked with puppy….baby dragon eyes? I am not even sure what it was but it worked.

“I can’t.” Tohru refused solemnly.

“But why?”

“I have to repay Boss and Naruto-kun for helping me out and giving me food. Also….the food here is so good~”

….

So you are just a glutton. Although maybe I should take it as a compliment?

The girl snapped in my direction.

“So it’s you! You have seduced Tohru-sama with your….your demonic charms and your….delicious food. I will fight you.” She jumped on me.

This time she didn’t fall but her punches….they were slow.

Yeah, I kinda figured out that she was either not strong or not at full strength.

Seeing the girl throw punches at me that wouldn’t hurt a stuffed toy, I picked her up in my hands and raised her to my eye level.

“You asked Tohru to go back with you, right?” I asked.

“Hmm.” She nodded resolutely.

“Alright.”

“What! But Boss, what about my job here? And the food….” The other dragon girl shouted.

I didn’t mind the last part of the sentence and concentrated on the girl glaring at me at the moment.

“But….where will you go? You have run away from home as it is. Do you even have a place to stay?” I pointed out, making the girl freeze.

“What! Kanna, you ran away?”

With Tohru on her case, I placed the girl back in her seat with a smile and let handle it.

I looked at them one last time before going back to the kitchen.

It was the opening time and I needed to prepare everything for the day.

As usual Cid came in first and a while later Naruto and Miu entered the Restaurant for their bento too.

I came out just in time to see Naruto and Kanna arguing with each other….or rather Kanna wanting him to give up on Tohru.

The funnier part was her trying to do so while eating her cake.

She looked like an adorable squirrel rather than a fearsome dragon.

Ultimately Miu intervened and proposed to ask her grandfather to allow Kanna to live with them as Tohru did.

I wonder how Hayato-san would handle a baby dragon living at his place.

Then again, knowing the guy, he would probably be happy about the whole thing.

I prepared their bentos and handed it over to them.

Miu and Naruto were getting late for school so they went ahead, leaving Kanna with Tohru.

Cid had some time till his school started so he stayed back for some breakfast but left soon after for his school.

Rimuru, Saitama and Ainz came in a while later.

“Silas, udon for me.”

“I’ll have some ramen.”

“Same for me.”

The three sat down at the table that was more or less reserved for them in the corner of the room.

“Oh, you are awake.” Ainz said, looking at Lavinia.

To her credit, she didn’t seem the least bit bothered by his bony face.

“Yes, I am. Thank you for your help.” She bowed towards and thanked them.

“Ah, don’t worry about it. We were just helping out a friend.” The guy waved it off but knowing him all this time, I knew that he was just embarrassed.

“So, you are waiting here for the contract, huh?” Rimuru asked and then looked at me. “I seriously thought you would just let her go.”

I let out a sigh.

“I probably would have if I was alone here but Sakura also stays with me and if something happened to her because someone came sniffing….” I was still wary of the outside world.

Gods and Devils….yeah, I wondered what would happen if someone really came for us.

“You don’t have to worry. I understand and appreciate your concerns. If anything your methods are comparatively tame since the supernatural world generally wipes out the memories of the normal people to hide themselves….and for a good reason.” The girl replied.

“I am sorry again. If there is something I can do to make this up to you, I will try my best.” I offered to her.

“You have already saved my life. That’s a lot more than I can pay for.”

I tried to offer her help but she refused so I finally gave up.

Around an hour or so Zeref and Irene-san appeared. They were followed by another old man who looked like a classic wizard from some fantasy world….which was actually not that far away from his actual identity.

Zeref introduced him as August, one of his most trusted people.

The man thanked me for curing Zeref.

“You should say that to Touma-kun. He was the one who did it.” I waved it off. “Come, would you like to eat something?”

The one who replied was Irene-san who was actually quite enthusiastic about the food.

In fact, I had noticed that she was a bit too happy when eating the last day.

“So, when did the girl wake up?” She asked after finishing her plate.

“This morning.”

“Do you have any problems with your health?” She asked, looking at Lavinia.

“No. I am completely fine. Thank you very much for assisting me.”

The woman waved her off as I placed another one of her orders in front of her.

“I guess you are waiting for the contract.”

I looked at Lavinia and she nodded.

“Alright. I have already prepared the contact. All you need to do is sign it and drop a drop of blood there. Here you go.” She brought out a scroll and handed it to Lavinia.

The girl did as instructed without any resistance.

Finally done with everything, she sat down with them as Irene-san was interested in the magic of other worlds and they talked about different things.

I too moved away to give them some space and cook the orders.

- Rimuru -

“So you guys had a sparring session. And the last guy tried to feed you a finger to take over your body. Is it just me or your life is weird?” He said, looking at Silas.

“Says the slime who rules over the village of goblins.” Silas retorted, rolling his eyes.

“Touché.”

“What happened then?” Ainz asked.

“Ughh….I apparently ate the soul”

“Digested maybe, not ate. That would imply you did it by your violation.” He interrupted, knowing the complex feelings Silas had about his newly discovered heritage.

“Well….that, I guess. I did feel a bit stronger after that happened.” Silas continued.

“That….makes sense in an odd sort of way.” Ainz nodded. “Still, you were quite careless, Sil. Maybe you need to train your awareness a bit. Who knows what kind of magic you might encounter with your Restaurant opening in so many other worlds. It never hurts to have some training.”

“Well, he’s not wrong.” Saitama added. “Just make sure your hair is taken care of.” He said, caressing his bald head with a sigh.

“Pfft!”

“Oi! Stop laughing.” Saitama scolded, making everyone laugh even harder while the guy pouted.

“How about this, the four of us can go on a training journey in my world?” He proposed.

“Oh, a training trip sounds good. Like power levelling and stuff, right?” Ainz agreed.

“Ah, I will have to pass. I have decided to register as a pro hero on Bang-san’s advice.” Saitama sighed.

We decided to postpone our plans for later.

“By the way, did you get the things I asked for?” Ainz suddenly whispered to Silas, the red light in his eye sockets looking round to see if anyone was looking at them.

“Oh….those. Yeah, Sakura and Tohru went shopping today and got everything. One moment, let me ask her.”

“H-hmm. Alright. Take your time.” Ainz went back to his fake royal persona and he chuckled at the guy’s roleplay.

As they were talking, Silas went upstairs and came down with two bags and placed them on the table. “Here you guys go.”

They quickly opened the bags to reveal the treasure in front of them.

“Woah….these are the classic gameboy advance. In my world they stopped making these over a century or so ago. I remember seeing one at a gaming museum when I was a kid.” Ainz said as he carefully picked up the device between his bony fingers.

They looked at the man in wonder.

Over a century….gaming museum.

“I asked them to buy the latest ones in the market.” Silas rubbed his head.

“And they are. Let’s see the games. Ohh, Pokemon Red, Blue and Yellow and is that Legend of Zelda and Mario? Man, it’s been a while since I have played these.” He picked up the games with a nostalgic look on his face.

“Then how about it, we pick one each and then battle each other later.” Ainz offered, picking Pokemon Red.

“Loser pays for the tabs that day.” Saitama replied as he quickly picked up Pokemon Yellow.

“You are on.” He picked up Pokemon Blue.

“….Aren’t you guys busy or something?” Silas looked at them blankly.

“Yeah, I need to grind some levels. The gym is the rock type one and Charmander sucks in those situations.” He waved it off, already on his character selection screen.

“My free food is at stake here, Sil. By the way, can I get some more udon.” Saitama replied, switching on his own console.

As they were playing, the door to the Restaurant opened. He didn’t pay attention to the person who entered the place….until he heard Sil’s voice.

“Welcome Shizuka-san. What would you like to eat today?”

Rimuru’s hands froze as he looked up slowly to see the same woman from all that time ago.

Even Ainz and Saitama paused and looked up at him and then her.

She too noticed their gazes and looked at them and paused at Ainz’s form, staring for a while. “That’s a cool Halloween costume.”

Her eyes then went over at him. “Haven’t seen you around. Are you new here?” She then threw Saitama a look. “Finally snagged yourself a girlfriend, I see.”

….

….

….

….

- Silas -

I held the urge to laugh at the look on Rimuru’s face.

Shizuka-san was never soft in her comments….even when she was sober.

She was a regular at the Restaurant and had been away for a while because she was out of town.

“Umm….Rimuru here is not Saitama’s girlfriend.” I offered, all the while pinching my hand to not burst out in a laugh. “Also….he is a guy.”

“Get out!” She exclaimed and looked at me incredulously.

Seeing my unchanging expression, she asked again. “Seriously!”

I nodded and she turned towards Rimuru. “Wow, aren’t you cute? And I thought Totsuka Saika was a trap.”

Ouch.

She slumped down in the seat beside them. “I bet girls will be all over you, aren’t they cute?”

“He’s single.” I threw in, earning a glare from Rimuru.

“Eh….no way.” She looked at him. “I don’t see why. You are cute. Maybe be more assertive. Hell, I would have gone out with you. At least I wouldn’t have been stood up like the last time by that bastard Satoru.”

….

I finally couldn't take it anymore and burst out in laughter.

“Silas, you bastard. Let’s take it outside if you are a man!” He stood up, angrily.

Even Ainz and Saitama joined me.

_______________________________x______________________________________

After calming down, I explained the situation to Shizuka-san and it took her two hours and three bottles of beer to finally get on level with the situation.

“So, you….are Mikami. That same guy….” She asked, once more looking at Rimuru in front of him.

“Yes. I am sorry for not showing up that day. I was….you know….dead and all that.”

We decided to give the two some space and I went to check on Zeref and others to see if they needed anything.

And there, something else was going on entirely.

“You will be going with them?” I asked Lavinia, surprised at the sudden turn of events.

She nodded. “I don’t really have much in that world and maybe a new place will help me come to terms with things.”

“That’s….alright.”

“Actually, you all should visit too. It would be a good opportunity for you to learn magic.” Zeref offered. “It will also give you all some time away till this whole incident calms down.” He added, making me consider the option.

There have been people sniffing around the place since that day.

I was able to stay safe only due to the Restaurant.

Even Sakura and Tohru went shopping in Hayato-san’s world to avoid the whole mess.

Our training trip was postponed either way so I need some place to chill out and I cannot stay inside my Restaurant all month.

I looked at Sakura and she didn’t mind so I agreed too.

“Well, I guess that sounds good.”

It was finally decided that we would go visit Zeref’s world and. My shop will be open in the mornings as Lavinia said that the Supernatural side of things are more active during the nights so I can more or less avoid them in the mornings.

“Then allow me to host you all at my place.” Zeref smiled.

We didn’t need to pack much as the shop was near Zeref’s place so we could return back at any time.

- Serafall -

She placed the reports back on the table and looked incredulously at Azazel. “This is a joke, right?”

The man stared back at her. “As much as I would like that to be true, it’s not. I am sure your people can verify the news just as well as mine.”

“But how is something like that even possible? To….selectively kill just the members of one organisation throughout the entire country.”

“Two organisations.” Azazel interrupted.

“Even worse. We have no records of anyone from that family having this kind of power.”

“There are no records of anyone from any of the Three Factions….or the entire world having this kind of power.” Azazel countered. “And yet, it happened. The facts are in front of us. We just have to accept it.” He finished before picking up his drink and finishing it in one go.

She did the same.

“My theory is that the Wizards of Oz and the Utsusemi Agency encountered him and had some kind of altercation. One of their members, Augusta, the second generation Witch of the East, was the current host of Incinerate Anthem. The guy must have felt danger and decided to go all out.”

“And wiped out everyone, from the footmen to Ultimate Class top officials?” She asked.

“Whoever it was, did leave the kids unharmed. Not something any member of that Clan would have done and yet there it is.”

“There were witnesses? Do they know what happened?” She quickly asked about the new information.

“No. They were the kids who were kidnapped by the Utsusemi Agency. The kids had been experimented on and are still in a comatose situation. They were under control during the fight so I doubt that they would have any recollection of what transpired there that night. But just the fact that none of them were killed and even safely placed in a park, is not the behaviour of a normal Lucifer. Whoever this person is, he is not a bloodthirsty murderer.”

That was….better than nothing.

“Can you at least tell us where the kids were found? Or if you have any idea about the location of the new Lucifer?”

Azazel looked at her strangely without any words.

“No.”

“Huh?”

“I said ‘No’. I don’t want anything to do with the new guy and I don’t want to risk the ire of that guy.”

Her face blanched. “We are not looking for him to fight.”

“Yes. But do you think I will take the risk? You know what this guy can do. Not to mention there is no guarantee that he is there. He could have easily moved on.”

She tried asking a few more times but Azazel was adamant so she didn’t push it.

Finding the place shouldn’t be hard but even she was unsure if she wanted to poke the hornet’s nest.

She would have to discuss this with the other three.

Just thinking about what could happen if someone like that decided to join the Old Satan Faction, made her dread.

- Silas -

“This is….amazing.” I whispered as I looked at the scene in front of me.

And indeed it was.

The vast castle in front of me was something right out of fantasy movies and the lines of guards kneeling as we passed by them was awe inspiring.

I mean I had heard that Zeref was an Emperor but the guy was so humble and all, it never felt anything like that.

Now, watching all this, it was striking me suddenly that this harmless looking guy….was really an Emperor.

“This is the capital city of the Alvarez Empire, Vistarion and this is the Vistarion Castle, the place where Emperor Spriggan lives.” August, the old man with Zeref explained as we walked through the streets.

Beside me, Sakura and Lavinia were looking at the palace curiously.

Sakura was more composed but I did see the surprise in Lavinia’s eyes.

“This really is a different world.” She whispered but I was pretty sure that everyone around us had heard.

We were led inside the castle and Zeref commanded. “August, show them their rooms and when they are rested, take them to the library and lend them any help they need with their magic.”

“Yes, your majesty.”

August led us to our rooms.

I looked in awe as even a single room was the size of my whole Restaurant here.

“If you all require anything, command the servants outside the door. They will take care of all your needs. When you feel like it, ask any of them to send me a message and I will take you to the library and we can check what kind of magic you all are compatible with. We can proceed from there.” August respectfully bowed and left us to our rooms.

All our rooms were near each other.

Sakura’s room was on my left and Lavinia’s room was in front of mine and there were five servants standing beside the doors.

Damn, talk about over the top.

We had already eaten when leaving the Restaurant so there was no need for food that said, all of us were tired from the day’s work so we went off to take some rest.

_________________________________x____________________________________

“Wow.” The word came out of my mouth as soon as I saw the library.

Even just by eyesight, the library was no smaller than a soccer field with shelves four times taller than me, all filled with books.

I couldn’t even imagine the number of books in this place.

“Are all these magic books?” I asked, looking at the place in awe.

“Most. There are also books on other subjects, history, geography, mythology and so on. We have a copy of almost every book available on the continent as well as a large part of the ones from the other continents. Although, magic books consist of more than 70 percent of the total collection.”

“Then how would we even find what kind of magic would suit us?” I asked, looking at the old man.

He smiled and led us to a large table with many chairs around it. There were already two girls sitting there.

One was a little green haired girl and the other was a blonde one.

Both of them were looking at us with curiosity in their eyes.

“These are my students, Brandish μ and Dimaria Yesta.” He introduced before motioning for us to take a seat and when we did, he explained further. “First we need to learn about the basics of magic and how it works in our world. We can proceed from there.”

I nodded and he continued.

“Magic is the physical embodiment of the spirit. When the physical spirit of an organism connects with the spiritual flow of nature, the spirit forms Magic as a product of the connection. Though Magic goes beyond reason, it is still born of reason and it takes an enormous amount of concentration and mental ability to use it. One's Magical Powers are also tied to one's life force.”

I nodded as I took in his words. 

“One's strength of feelings plays an important part in one's ability to properly use Magic. The key to Magic begins with a heart that has faith, similar to religion, healing and fortune telling, only those with faith can perceive it. Having faith in the existence of Magic, their own power and faith that they live alongside nature, are the ones who can use Magic.”

“In this world, Magic is classified into two types, Caster Magic and Holder Magic. Caster Magic is primarily Magic that is expelled from the body while Holder Magic is Magic that requires a Mage to use an external source such as a Magic Items to do Magic. It usually requires the use of a Mage’s Magic Power, though there are some exceptions such as Items that are powered by Lacrima.”

I saw that Sakura was taking notes while he said everything.

“Within these two divisions, there are several subdivisions. Ancient Magic, Lost Magic, Magical Items, etc. Ancient Magic is the magic used in the Ancient Times and Lost Magic are Ancient Magics which were erased or were lost in history due to the danger they possessed to their wielders and the high difficulty to learn them. Every mage has an affinity to certain types of magic. We will check your affinity with certain elements and see which ones you are suited to learn.”

“Can we learn any magic without having an affinity with them?” I asked.

“Yes. However they will progress much slower than the ones you have affinity with. Although there are many types of magic without any kind of affinity, they are quite hard to learn. We are going to start with something easier to let you get a hang of the magic.” He answered as he brought the device in front of us. 

“This is a device that Miss Irene has Enchanted with her Magic. It has several spells of different elements grafted into it. When the user puts their magic inside, it activates the spells to a different degree depending on the compatibility of the user with the specific element. With this we can know which element you have an affinity with.”

He started the device and turned it towards us. “Please put your hand on the crystal ball and inject your magic slowly.”

Before I could take the initiative first, Sakura stood up.

I looked at her and she nodded towards me before putting her hand on the crystal.

Three bars increased to the top. One black, one silver and the last white and there was another bar with Blue Colour which increased quite a bit. Other bars had much slower reactions.

August saw this too. “Hmm, Curses, Space and Non-Elemental and a High Water Affinity too. That’s quite good. In fact, it’s extremely rare to see someone with elemental affinities this high. Alright, next.”

I went up next. With a deep breath, I injected some of my magic in it.

The device lit up again.

Silver, Blue, Icy Blue, Black and White.

“Oh my, Space, Water, Ice, Curses and Non-Elemental and all are top class although Ice and Water seem to be the best even among these. That’s honestly the best result I have seen in all my time. Alright, Miss Lavinia, if you would.”

The last girl nodded and placed her hand on the crystal.

Icy Blue, Red and White, although the white one was lower than the rest.

“Ice, Fire and Non-Elemental. This is interesting. Having an affinity with opposite elements is very rare, almost unseen. It is especially so when the affinities are so high.” He grabbed his chin as he looked at the device. “Very well, let’s start with simple things then.” He waved his hand and several books flew from the shelves and landed in front of us.

Over the next hour, August explained several magics to us which we could use.

“So I can learn all the types of magic I have an affinity for?” I asked.

“That would be true. In fact with your affinities, you will probably be able to master several of them although I would advise against that.”

“Why?”

“It’s better to be a master of one type of magic and novice of a thousand.” He replied.

“Ah, the Bruce Lee thing, right?”

“Excuse me?” The man looked confused so I explained.

“There was a great martial artist called Bruce Lee. He once said ‘I fear not the man who has practised 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practised one kick 10,000 times.’”

“That’s an interesting phrase and a very true one at that but that’s not the only reason. There are other factors as well. You see untrained magic doesn’t generally have a flavour. As one trains one specific type of magic, their magic gains the flavour and properties of that specific magic and their aura undergoes subtle changes. Over time, these changes become more prominent and affect their magic, further increasing their power.”

Everyone listened as the man explained everything patiently.

“That’s why it’s rare for people to see someone using Fire and Ice magics and be great in both of them. It’s because their magic takes on the properties of one element and decreases the power of the other magic. To avoid this, people generally practise magics which have closer affinities with each other like Water and Ice or Fire and Lightning. On the other hand, practising Non Elemental Magic completely bypasses this problem”

We looked at Lavinia and August understood what we were saying. “You don’t have to worry. Her case is a bit different. She will not face the same problems.”

I selected the simple Ice Magic. According to August this was the best route for me as this magic as my magic already had an icy feel to it. This magic had other variants which could be raised to a very high level.

At the highest levels, someone could freeze even abstract things like emotions, free will and even other magic itself.

I won’t lie, that sounded so fucking cool.

Sakura on the other hand wanted to learn Space Magic and Lavinia wanted to work with her Fire Magic.

And thus started our stay in the Alvarez Empire Castle.

_______________________________x______________________________________

I controlled my mana and shaped the magic and watched in fascination as the flowers on the tree all froze, leaving everything else unharmed.

It had been two weeks since we had started learning magic and soon after, I discovered that I was apparently extremely talented with Ice and Water Magic. August, Irene and Zeref’s words, not mine.

I guess my Skills from Rimuru’s world had something to do with it.

Since then, I have started to focus more on control.

The lessons provided by Irene and August certainly helped with it.

“No matter how many times I see this, I am amazed. Your control over the element is really amazing.” Irene sighed. “Next, defrost the flowers and freeze the leaves.” She commanded.

I nodded and concentrated once more.

This was harder as if I directly removed the ice, the flowers would crumble and her order was to defrost the ice, not break it.

Sage ran as things slowed in front of me and my magic flowed to my command, slipping from the Ice as I changed the element to water and with another thought, covered the leaves with my power. It was much harder as there were too many of the leaves and I had to keep the branches from freezing.

Finally, after a minute or so later, the leaves were covered and I used my Ice Magic to freeze them.

She went ahead and checked the leaves, plucking some of them out and checked if they were frozen completely or not. After several minutes, she nodded.

“Good. Now defrost this. I like the flowers in my garden and I don’t want the plants to die so be careful.”

….

I controlled the corner of my lips from twitching.

In these two weeks, I had come to know them better.

Miss Irene….she was not a bad person. She just behaved like one more often than not to keep up a charade. She was more of someone playing the bad cop than an actual bad person.

It would not be obvious to people who didn’t know her closely and sometimes not even them but I had observed that her actions were contradictory. That said, I wouldn’t doubt it for a moment that she was dangerous.

The longer we stayed here, the more we learned about the whole Empire and the people whom I have been treating so casually till now.

Zeref was the Emperor of the Alvarez Empire….which was the only empire on the entire continent.

This guy had single handedly made an empire from scratch and ruled it with an iron fist. That was not to say he was disliked by the people.

On the contrary, the public here loved him and his subordinates, the Spriggan 12.

They were a group of top mages who assisted Zeref’s rule over the Empire. August and Irene were a part of this group.

Each of them had the power to bring down countries.

That meant that Irene could literally bring down a country by herself. Not that it was that much of a surprise.

From Tohru’s words, I knew that she was a dragon too. This much….was understandable.

Not only her, August, that old man was an utter hax.

His Copy Magic was one of the most broken things I had ever seen and I was someone who could cut through fate.

After my training, I was given a break so I went back to the library.

I was trying to learn the language of this world.

Yes, apparently I could speak all languages but couldn’t read or write them and I didn’t want to let go of so many books. This led to me taking lessons on the language of this world along with Brandish and Dimaria by August.

“And so she turned it tiny. His face was so funny when he looked at the cart hahahaha.” I heard the giggles of Dimaria.

“He was making fun of me.” The other voice complained, trying to justify herself. This was Brandish.

“That’s no good, Brandish-chan. You shouldn’t do that to other people.” A third voice, the one I recognised as Lavinia’s, reprimanded the girl.

I entered the room to see the two younger girls sitting on either side of Lavinia and talking to her. Sakura was sitting beside them and watching them with a smile.

Brandish and Dimaria were both young, around ten or eleven and there were no other kids that age in this place.

Actually, that wouldn’t be true. There was Invel but he was still sixteen and mostly outside. The only reason I even knew about him was because he was also an ice mage and came to see me when he heard about me.

This led the two girls to latch on to Lavinia who had a very friendly, albeit airheaded personality and this made her a hit with others.

In just two weeks, they were like sisters. 

In fact, it was not just these two, even Sakura was getting close to Lavinia and they got along quite well.

I was very happy about this as Sakura didn’t easily open up with others. Normally, she only talked with me and Tohru in the Restaurant and sometimes with Miu when she came but. This was not good for her as she was literally shutting herself down.

But Lavinia’s personality had won her over in this time. Maybe it was due to their pasts or just the chemistry between the two, they were becoming the best of friends in a very short time. And it was not just Sakura who was improving, even Lavinia was far more cheerful than she was that day. She always smiled and played or chatted with them when she had free time.

August had offered her an apprenticeship and she had accepted it under the persistent begging of Brandish and Dimaria.

They noticed me and turned towards me.

“Silas!” The two kids looked at me and cheered up.

They got to know me better when they visited my Restaurant with Lavinia and ate my cooking. They have been my fan since then and have constantly pestered me to cook for them.

Only August’s strict words stopped them but that didn’t reduce their enthusiasm.

I walked and sat beside Sakura.

“Did you finish your training?” Sakura asked as she summoned a towel and handed it to me which I took with a smile.

Requip Magic.

It was the Space Type ability Sakura had started with. She didn’t want to learn it for fighting purposes but rather to work as a waitress in the Restaurant.

According to her, with this, she could carry many orders easily.

I smiled at the girl's reply and nodded. 

According to August, this magic was very good for someone to start with Space Magic as it helped them sense space properly. As she progresses more, she can learn other types of space magic too.

In fact, I wanted to learn Space Magic as well, as I too had an affinity for it and Requip was quite convenient, I could get more or less an inventory of sorts if I learned it.

As for learning Advanced Magic, I was going to go forward with Ice Magic while Sakura wanted to try some non elemental ones to see if she could learn something new.

Irene told me that there was a Magic called the God Slayer Magic in their archives and that it could be suitable for Lavinia. They had both Ice and Fire Elements and they would be a perfect fit for her since she now had two Sacred Gears capable of killing Gods attached to her soul.

Yeah. Apparently, when I defeated that woman, her Sacred Gear was left inside her body and attached itself to her soul.

That’s the reason for her unusual dual affinities and why she could use both to a high degree without suffering any disadvantages.

I won’t lie, I wanted to learn Ice God Slayer Magic too but as it turns out, the Demon Seed which Zeref had planted inside me made me more compatible with the Ice Devil Slayer Magic.

A Devil Slayer Devil….as odd that sounded, it was the truth.

Perhaps that was due to the unusual name of the magic. While the Devil Slayer Magic was highly effective against Devils and Demonic Beings, it was in essence the magic used by Demons.

Humans had copied the magic and used it against them.

This however was not easy to do as the more someone uses the Devil Slayer Magic, the more they are affected by it. With prolonged use, a Devil Seed is born inside them and keeps getting empowered until it blooms.

When that happens, the human turns into a demon themselves. This more often than not leads to personality changes.

So in essence, you become the being you hunt.

The same was the case with Dragon Slayer Magic.

In fact, Irene-san was once a human too and was actually the person who invented Dragon Slayer Magic and was the first user of that magic.

She unfortunately didn’t know the effects of this power and by the time she realised it, it was too late. She had become a dragon.

That was however not the case with me as I was already a devil, so all it did was empower me.

I had also wondered if the God Slayer Magic would make someone a God but August had denied it.

According to him, Gods were above even Dragons and becoming a God was not that easy.

The last two weeks have been an amazing experience for us and if I was honest, this was the kind of magic I was expecting when I started learning Jujutsu, especially learning it with other friends like this.

We talked about a few more things before August came and began our lessons.

________________________________x_____________________________________

I was awakened in the middle of the night when I felt someone by my side. I was pretty sure I was sleeping alone.

I froze when I felt a breath on my back and soon after, there was movement and an arm fell on my chest and a leg wrapped around my waist.

I turned back almost mechanically and saw the view became clearer.

Blonde hair came to view first and finally I saw the one sleeping by my side, Lavinia.

….why was she here?

When exactly did she get here?

I tried to move but the movement only made her snuggle closer to me.

Suddenly I felt warm on my side and looking below, I saw white.

My mind blanked for a moment and I stopped moving.

What the hell was she wearing….or not wearing? A closer look gave me the answer. Was that my shirt? Why was she wearing my shirt? But most of all, what was she doing in my bed?

As far as I knew, she wasn’t someone of bad character and neither had she given me any indication that she was into me or something, so why did she suddenly jump in my bed?

I took some deep breaths and finally decided to do something about the situation.

I shook her lightly to wake her.

“Lavinia, Lavinia….”

“Hmm? Silas-kun?” She asked with a sleepy voice and half open eyes. “What are you doing in my bed?” She asked, confused.

….

“Your bed? This is my bed!” I replied, trying to not make a scene and wake others up. It really didn’t look good for any of the two of us.

“Eh? Why is your bed in my room?”

….

“It isn’t. This is my room….and before you ask me, that is my shirt.” I said pointing towards the unbuttoned shirt she was wearing.

“Huh?” She was really not into it.

“How did you get here?” I asked, trying to make some sense of everything.

“I….” She put a finger on her cheek and made a thinking pose. “Think I got up to go to the restroom….then I was feeling cold so I wore the shirt hanging there and came and slept. It was warm here.”

….

“Just that?”

“Hmm.” She nodded resolutely and her grip on my body increased. “You feel warm and cool at the same time. It feels nice.”

I looked blankly at the girl. “That’s it?

“Yes. Why, you don’t like snuggling?”

It really couldn’t be just that, right?

Was she interested in me….she hadn't shown any intentions like that.

Was she pulling a prank on me?

Are people watching?

Several thoughts came to my mind and I’ll be honest, the last one was looking the most reasonable.

Well, let’s see how far you can go for the prank then.

So I put up my best smile and faced her.

“Oh, I like snuggles alright. Normally when I get snuggles at night, I get a good night kiss before that.”

“Oh. I didn’t know that.” She answered and then before I could say anything, she leaned in and kissed my cheek. “There you go.” She smiled sincerely.

….

….

….

….

I tried to find a reply but couldn’t and she snuggled into my side and closed her eyes.

After fifteen minutes or so, her breathing became even and she had fallen asleep once more.

Was this really a prank?

What the hell was going on?

- Jiraiya -

“What do you mean you cannot find him?” He shouted as he banged the table, looking at the man he called sensei.

In the shadows the Anbu shifted but a light shake from Sabutobi-sensei made them stop.

“I have searched every corner of the village, sent out search teams all over the Land of Fire but there are no indications of him even leaving the village. Even his scent just disappeared from one place in the middle of the village.”

“Do you have anyone you doubt? Give me the names. I will make them talk.”

“Do you think I cannot do that, Jiraiya?” The man raised his voice and he sensed that the old man was already very unhappy with his own lack of results. The man finally sighed. “Things are not that simple. The village is in a very dangerous position right now.”

“Is this about the Uchiha?” He asked and the old man just massaged his eyes.

“The Uchiha are indeed agitated but they are not behind this. Things have calmed down a bit since I have put Danzo under arrest.”

“Could it be Danzo?” He asked.

The old man didn’t answer and just stared at the wall behind him.

“Old man, if this is really Danzo then he has crossed the line. You have to do something about him.”

“We don’t know if it’s Danzo.”

“But you doubt him, right?”

The man kept quiet and spoke after a few seconds. “Don’t worry. If it’s Danzo, I will personally rip his other arm off if I have to. He is not getting out of Anbu watch till Naruto is back. If that means he dies of old age in that room….so be it.”

For the first time Jiraiya felt a chill from his words.

The old man was really mad at the old bastard.

They talked about several things before the old man finally broached the subject. “I have a mission for you, Jiraiya.”

“Hmm?”

“Find Tsunade and bring her back to the village.”

He looked at the old man blankly.

“She won’t come back, sensei.”

“Then drag her back. This is an order from the Hokage. She will either return or be declared rogue.”

Jiraiya’s eyes widened and he found his mouth open slightly.

“We have all lost people close to us and yet we are here….dealing with everything. I have allowed her a very long break. I think it’s time that she dealt with her issues. If I have to force her to do so, then so be it. Consider it the last lesson from me.”

He shut his mouth and nodded seeing the resolute look on the old man’s face.

“I will also keep an eye and ear open for any news of Naruto.”

The old man nodded.

As Jiraiya left, he couldn’t help but notice that the old man….seemed to have aged a lot since the last time he saw him.

__________________________________x_____________________________________________________________________x___________________________________

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Author’s Note:

I am back with another chapter of ‘Isekai Restaurant’.

So many things happened in this chapter.

Kanna Kamui has arrived at the Restaurant. Is this the start for another group of dragons walking in the Restaurant?

Who knows?

Rimuru’s training plan was cancelled but hey, at least the guy got to reunite with Shizuka again.

Serafall and Azazel are shitting bricks.

And finally, everyone is now in the Fairy Tail World to learn magic.

Oh and Hiruzen is getting his act together.

Next time, I will probably write some Sakura pov.

We haven’t seen things from her perspective.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.