- Silas -
"Oh. These two have such gifts. It reminds me of the Gourmet Seven from our world." Setsuno-san said.
We all looked at her.
"Gourmet Seven?"
"The Gourmet Seven are seven 'Taste Masters' chosen from the chief member nations of the IGO. They are an organisation of members who hold a miraculous sense of taste, said to be able to recognize the taste of a single grain of sugar in a 25-metre pool. All of them are the highest panel of judges for the cooking competitions in our world. Her situation reminds me of those people. I am sure if she trained her tongue well enough, she could reach their heights in our world. And as for the food, the only thing our world doesn't lack is food."
"This… you are."
"She is my partner, Setsuno." Jiro-san explained. I think he was there the last time Sanzaemon had come.
"Setsuno-dono, could you be a chef too?"
"Hohohoho I do have some experience." She laughed then turned towards me.
"Eh, thank you."
"Why don't you come to the Dining Hall sometimes? I will cook you a nice meal as a thanks. You can bring a friend." She then turned towards the Nakiri family. "You three can come too. I will cook something which the two Ojou-chans like."
"I would be honoured too."
"In that case, I would like to extend an invitation to our Totsuki Academy as well. Please grace us with your presence. I will try my best to entertain you all."
In the next hour the rest of the guests also came and the party started in earnest.
On one corner, Shizuka-san, Shoko-san and Lucoa-san were drinking, while on the other side, Gojo-sensei and Kisuke-san were being clowns much to the annoyance of Nanami-sensei and Kisuke-san's friends.
There was also a group of old people who were discussing martial arts. Even some of Kisuke-san's friends were listening to them while eating hotpot and the group of gamers who were currently having a competition of a lifetime. I was sure the area around them would have disintegrated from the energy being released there had it not been for the protection of the Restaurant.
Milim, Fafnir, Ainz, Saitama, Rimuru, all were locked in a fierce battle and only stopped to take a sip of their drinks and go back into the fight again.
On another corner were the students of Jujutsu Academy, Miu, Lavy, Sakura, Ikki and others the same age talking about usual stuff.
There was also the group of maids and the friends of Cid-kun who were looking at everyone from another corner of the room.
Lastly, there was the group of kids who were having just as much blast as the gamers section.
Naruto, Kanna, Brandish and Dimaria were running around from one place to another as if they were on a sugar high… which they might very well be considering the amount of sweets they had eaten.
The scene of people of different ages, from several different professions, of several different worlds, getting together and having fun… it was really satisfying.
It was at this time that I heard a sound I hadn't heard in a long time as something appeared in front of me.
Congratulations!
Restaurant Level Up.
Level 2 Privileges Unlocked.
Cooking Skill has leveled up to level 2.
Staff System Unlocked.
…
It levelled up… after so many months.
What exactly was the condition?
Staff System and Cooking Skill?
There were so many different things I wanted to check but I didn't have time for it right now as the party was still going on so I decided to leave it aside for later…
__________________________________x___________________________________
Everyone had their meals and were talking together so I took this opportunity to ask Jiro-san and Setsuno-san about some things I had been thinking about.
"Mellow Cola? You want to know where you can find it in our world?" He asked.
"Yes. It's an amazing drink. It's just that… the price is a bit expensive so I won't be able to serve it to my customers that easily if I don't hunt it myself."
"Oh yeah… that cola was amazing. I felt my entire body get invigorated with just a sip. Even my ki seems to have increased a bit and is flowing much better than before." Hayato-san said.
"Eh, you felt that too? I thought it was just my imagination or because I am too drunk. This sake is amazing too by the way." Shio Sasaki, the Karate Master of Ryozanpaku Dojo said.
"Hmm it indeed has such effects. I could feel my muscles getting nourished with every sip. The effects were much more pronounced than the salad or meat dishes from before." Akisame-san confirmed. "Was it because of the ingredients?"
"Both ingredients and cooking. Any good ingredient only reaches their true worth when in the hands of a true chef. Silas-kun here is a good chef and will continue to grow in the future. Obviously, the ingredients matter too." Setsuno-san explained.
She then went on to explain the different types of ingredients in her world and many of the people in the Restaurant listened carefully.
The ingredients in her world were graded based on the difficulty of getting them. Each one of them is assigned a number called the Capture Level.
It doesn't necessarily mean that the ingredient has to be that strong by itself. Even the environment plays a great factor when assigning the Capture Level of an ingredient.
The higher the Capture Level, the more dangerous and difficult it is to get the ingredient.
She gave some examples for us to understand.
"For example, Stripped Salmon which you serve here has a Capture Level 1. It's quite easily available. It can be priced for two thousand yen a piece. Every one in a hundred Stripped Salmon produces Golden Caviar which has a Capture Level 2 and can be priced at fifteen thousand yen for a hundred grams. This meat however is from a Crab Pig. They are agile little creatures, several metres tall and weighing over a ton and yet faster than a cheetah. They have a Capture Level of 8."
"What is the Capture Level of Mellow Cola?" Rimuru asked, suddenly interested.
"Mellow Cola is a rare drink. It is produced inside the body of a Salamander Sphinx, one of the strongest beasts in the human world. It can destroy towns, even prefectures on its own if left unchecked. It has a Capture Level of 92. Mellow Cola can be released as Tears of the Salamander Sphinx… tears when it laughs from happiness, not from pain." She added the last part making all of us gawk at her. The woman however just laughed.
Tears of happiness?
What did that mean?
We have to tell jokes to a monster who can destroy entire prefectures?
"... no wonder the price was that insane." Rimuru nodded.
"How much is this drink for?" Sasaki-san asked, looking at the drink in his hand in wonder now.
"One million two hundred thousand for three hundred and fifty milliliters."
…
Even Ainz, who had rooms full of gold looked slightly taken aback but he quickly went back to his aloof persona.
I am pretty sure only we, his close friends, saw this change. He was really good at pretending in front of his subordinates.
"Damn… Silas, let's go and hunt in Jiro-san's world. We can totally make a bank." Saitama said, looking excited after a long time.
"...hunting sounds like… good training." Cid-kun added although I was pretty sure I heard the hesitation before the training part.
"Hey, does that mean there are more of these things in that world?" Milim asked, her eyes shining in anticipation.
"Ohohohoho, there are indeed many delicious things in our world. Capture levels can go up to thousands and any being above one hundred capture level can destroy countries. Obviously, the more you eat, the better food you eat, the stronger you get so life is never boring there."
"Ahahahaha that sounds interesting. What do you say, Bang, Issac… want to go out on a holiday to that world sometimes?" Hayato-san asked.
Suddenly everyone was excited at the prospect of going to Jiro-san's world.
The two also told us some stories about their worlds and it was then that we found out that these two people… were both over five hundred years old.
It turns out that eating the food of their world not only increased the strength of people but also increased the lifespan of the people too.
Lifespan was never a problem for me.
According to Lavy, the Devils in my world had a lifespan of over ten thousand years. In fact, there has never been any devil who has died of aging.
There was also the age of Daemons of Rimuru's world, since I was technically also an Archdaemon. Archdaemons were apparently Spiritual Beings and had nigh infinite lifespans so I didn't really need these things however… I looked to my side at Lavy and Sakura who were sitting with the other guests right now… it didn't hurt to have such things in hand just in case.
During this time, Orihime also returned and sat down with everyone and listened to their stories too.
Everyone left a little while later.
The maids stayed and helped with the cleanup. In fact, even Cid-kun's friends helped with the cleaning much to my surprise.
In return, I gave them the leftover food. I had enough leftover food.
It turns out that I had cooked a lot more than I had expected.
Tohru for one was the happiest with this as she was the one who normally helped me finish up the leftovers.
While they were doing this, I took some time to check the System Upgrade.
My Cooking Skills had been upgraded, which was easy to understand.
I went to the kitchen and took out a piece of meat. As soon as I grabbed the knife, I realised the difference this time.
My Skills… they were far above the previous level. The meat was sliced in thin pieces, each a tenth of a millimeter within moments. I could even feel the difference in perceiving the ingredients compared to before.
It was an all around upgrade.
Next came the Staff System
It turns out that I could now hire Staff and give them some rights in the Restaurant.
I took some time to check the functions.
The Staff could get the protection of the Restaurant when the Restaurant was open for business. The Sous-chef and other chefs I hired will get a toned down version of my cooking skill.
I could give them more permissions like buying from the System Store accordingly.
Tomorrow I will ask the waitresses about this.
At the end of the day, I took a bath and was back in bed with Lavy and Shuna. They had been working the whole day too so they were tired so they immediately went to sleep on entering the bed.
I hadn't slept for over a day so I decided to sleep too. While I didn't need it, a nap was always welcome.