"Yaaaaaah~" Rimuru let out a satisfied sound as soon as the additional serving in front of him became empty. "That's a good meal."
Ludwig's feet moved quickly towards the guy, once he stood across from him, his hands quickly took all the empty dishes in front of the blue-haired guy and refilled any empty glasses. "Glad you like it, Sir. Do you need anything else?"
Rimuru's face was still relaxed, eyes glossed over like he was in nirvana. But probably because he found something that Ludwig could help him with, his eyes focused and his posture became straight right away. "I have something to ask you, will that be okay?"
Ludwig chuckled as he heard Rimuru's answer. Of course he had some questions to be answered, who's not? Every single customer that had entered this restaurant always had questions. Well, except that red-haired guy who came with his animal entourage. "I'll answer it if I can."
"Are you someone from Earth?" Rimuru nodded and cut to the case, tone serious.
Ludwig shook his head as soon as he heard the question. To be honest, he had expected this question to come sooner or later after Minato and Kushina walked into the restaurant. After all, Ninja World was just one of many fantasy worlds that was written in his past life. Many other worlds revolved around someone from Earth getting either reincarnated or transported into the fantasy world, so he was sure he would meet those protagonists at some point of time. He just didn't expect the first reincarnator he met to be the slime. But at the same time, it was like a blessing in disguise since the slime was one of those easy-going protagonists. "Yes, I am someone from Earth. Or to be exact, was from Earth."
"Was?" Rimuru's face became tense, her eyes also narrowed.
"I died." Ludwig answered in a straightforward manner. "Then I got reincarnated in Ortus, got my cheat, and now I open a restaurant."
"Finally!" Rimuru's serious demeanour vanished, replaced by a beaming smile. "Comrade, it's good to finally meet you!"
Ludwig made his brows go upwards, showing that he was shocked about the revelation. He already knew Rimuru was also someone who got reincarnated. But, he couldn't really tell him that could he? After all, it would only make things more complicated that it is. "Are you also someone who gets reincarnated?"
"I am!" Rimuru answered. Then, his body started to melt, his clothes fused into his body. "But, I got reincarnated into a slime, not human."
Ludwig's eyes glimmered with interest as he saw the blue glob sitting on top of his bar seat. He used to think that Rimuru's slime body was slightly see-through even though it was shown as blue both in the manga and anime. But, it was really blue, not see-through too.
At the same time, he could see Claire looking at the glob like it was an alien from the corner of his eyes. Well, that's not surprising at all. If seeing a talking slime couldn't faze someone, the fault lay on the person. There must be something wrong with them. Moreover, they also talked about the fact that the slime was someone who got reincarnated, so it was only natural that Claire was quite surprised.
"I need another drink." Claire said under her breath, but of course Ludwig heard it. He promptly refilled Claire's glass before walking back towards Rimuru.
"Should I say you have the worst luck? From what I read, when someone is reincarnated as a monster, they tend to have an evolutionary path, so what's yours?"
The glob deflated, the two lines that acted as his eyes also curved downwards. "Ugh, don't remind me about that! No matter how strong I am, or how strong I'll become, I'll stay a slime!"
Ludwig chuckled in his mind while his face donned a perfect poker face. That's Rimuru alright, a slime with unimaginable power with a penchant for mischief; a character with a wide spectrum of emotions, not some poorly written character who could only feel lust and anger. "Look at the bright side. Once you grow so strong, no one can see you as a mere slime anymore."
The glob became firmer at that moment, his eyes also elongated to the side. "That's the plan! Hahahahaha."
At that moment, Ludwig could feel Claire rising from her seat so he looked at her. But before he could open his mouth,
"I don't think I'll have any energy left if I stay too long here. How much did I owe you?" Claire opened her mouth as she scratched her cheek.
Ludwig walked closer towards her and opened his Currency Exchange window and started to do the math. A bottle of 750ml Glenfiddich 21 cost him 5 gold. So, with a normal serving of 25ml, he could use the whole bottle for 30 shots. In other words, 1 shot cost him around 1,7 silver. Or in Ortus currency, 1 silver and 70 bronze. However, no sane business owner would sell a shot in that kind of straightforward way. After all, selling liquor was more profitable when it was sold in shot, not per bottle.
Ludwig decided to sell a shot for 2 silver last night, so Claire's bill for the whiskey alone was 1 gold 2 silver. Her food, the fried chicken, cost him quite a lot since he had to buy most of the ingredients in the shop. But, he decided to sell it at a loss for 4 silver.
As he got the number of Claire's bill, he input the number to the currency exchange. But what he got from the window even after the exchange was still the same amount of gold and silver from what her bill was. Meaning, Elos also used gold and silver as their main currency.
"It came out at 1 gold and 6 silver." Ludwig spoke.
Claire's brows furrowed at that moment, and Ludwig's heart started to beat harder. Was it too expensive? If it is, damn, I will have to take more losses! Taking more losses was not sustainable, after all, who knows when someone from modern times would appear. It could be as soon as tomorrow or as late as forever.
But then,
"Only that much? Are you even profiting?" Claire opened her mouth again, tone serious, the most serious she ever was throughout her 2 visits.
Ludwig sighed in his mind, he was really relieved. "I still have a good margin. But thank you for asking."
"Is that so?" Claire raised her eyebrows, but then, she fished out two coins of gold from her pocket. "Treat the change as a tip for you, Ludwig. I had a great time today."
Ludwig took the two coins from her and put them on the register. Then, he looked at her and donned his owner persona. "Thank you for your generosity, Dear Customer. I'm hoping to see you again soon."
"I'll be back." Claire nodded before walking towards the door.
As the door closed behind her, Ludwig could see the childish voice of the slime entering his ears. "Thank the lord she's not muscular. Are you sure she's not from the future?"
Ludwig chuckled at the words RImuru threw. Even though she looked so stoic, he was one hundred percent sure he was not an android. Her action from yesterday was the furthest thing from how an android from the future should act. "I don't think so. But even if she is, I think you can handle it for me?"
"What do you mean handle it for you?" Rimuru's tone went up. "Don't you know how scary they are? I don't think my regeneration can keep up against modern weaponry!"
"Don't you have magic? You can shapeshift, so I'm sure you have some kind of attacking and defending spells." Ludwig said playfully, his owner persona cracked under his normal mischievous persona.
"Even so!" Rimuru retorted. "Don't you see what happened to those people of the Middle-Ages when the JSDF went to their world? Even dragons were powerless against them!"
From that point, both of them bickered back and forth like an old friend. Meanwhile, Benimaru could only look at them with wide eyes, probably didn't catch all the references they threw here and there.
But, their fun had to be cut short.
"Chef, bring me more dishes, please. The same order as before!" The red haired who sat in the far corner of the room opened his mouth. It's not loud, but Ludwig heard it anyway.
Ludwig moved towards the kitchen and quickly whipped another servings of Fried Chicken and Fish and Chips. Once he was done, he brought it to the red-haired man's table before returning with all the empty plates.
When he sat across Rimuru again, he was alone. Benimaru was nowhere to be seen. However, Ludwig knew where he went and why.
Not knowing that Ludwig knew about everything that happened in his restaurant, Rimuru—who was back on his human form—spoke up. "You don't mind if I brought more people here, right?"
"Of course not." Ludwig chuckled. "What kind of restaurant owner doesn't want more customers?"
"Right…" Rimuru nodded. "By the way Ludwig, I see you have some seasonings from Earth in your kitchen. Do you perhaps have a cola tucked away somewhere in your kitchen?"
Ludwig could see Rimuru's expression brightened with anticipation as he asked him that. But he could only sighed. Selling something straight from System Shop was something he wanted to avoid due to how ridiculous the price was. He felt even more so when it's something which was cheap in his precious lives. So before saying he had it, he decided to explain the circumstances to Rimuri first.
"Before I answer that, you should know this first: I indeed could get many items from Earth, but it's limited to ingredients and drinks. However, the price is high, especially for something so cheap like a cola."
Rimuru nodded as he digested the information Ludwig had given him. But he still asked, "How much is it?"
"1 gold per bottle." Ludwig deadpanned.
"Ridiculous!" Rimuru shouted. "1 gold? 1 effing gold? Whoever your source is must be out of their mind!"
"Right?" Ludwig sighed. He knew that transporting items from Earth was almost impossible to do for a mortal like him, but still, 1 gold was ridiculous for things that would only cost 3 to 5 dollars back on Earth.
"But I'll take it." Rimuru deflated and spoke. "It's been a while since I drank cola. I really crave it after eating fried chicken."
"You sure?" Ludwig raised his brows.
"Yep."
"Then, I'll just charge you at cost."
"You sure?" It was Rimuru's turn to ask.
"As long as I'm not at loss, I'll consider it a win." Ludwig just shrugged. After all, asking more when it's already costly didn't seem ethical in his book.
"Thanks." Rimuru nodded, seemingly happy.
Ludwig quickly opened his shop window and clicked on the panel that showed him the cola. But he didn't just buy one, he bought two of them. After all, he also craved it after all the cooking he did.
Two clear bottles that showed the dark liquid inside appeared on top of the table. At least the system is sensible enough to sell it cold. Ludwig said so to himself as his hands felt cold as soon as he grabbed the bottle.
When he placed one bottle in front of Rimuru, the slime quickly took the cap off and chugged it down. After he emptied the bottle and burped, he finally opened his mouth again. "1 more! It's so delicious."
"Didn't you say the price was ridiculous earlier?" Ludwig's brows raised.
"But it's worth it!" Rimuru spoke again. "You don't know how many days I thought about drinking cola again!"
Chucking ruefully, Ludwig handed Rimuru the bottle he was about to drink before opening his shop again.
However,
"Bring me four bottles of cola, owner! Don't worry about the price, I can afford it!" The sound of the red-haired man echoed in Ludwig's ears. So, he brought 5 more colas from the shop before delivering the 4 into the table of the red-haired man.
Only after he returned to the bar did he finally drink the cola he brought for himself. The fizzy drink slithered down his throat, leaving a prickling sensation to every area it passed by. It was truly refreshing, the greasiness he felt after doing so much frying vanished in an instant.
Yeah, it's really worth it.