Book 2: Chapter 350
An enormous circular lobby.
Dozens of doors were connected to this lobby. It seemed that meals were served in private rooms.
There wasn’t any noise coming from behind the numerous doors, but considering the waiting line outside, it definitely couldn’t be because there were no customers. This meant that the soundproofing of these rooms was exceptional.
“Please come this way.”
Following the maids’ guidance, they entered one of the rooms. The interior of the room was much too large for just three guests.
Lukas, Peran, and Nix sat down at the table positioned in the center of the room first. A maid politely handed a menu to each of them with both hands. Lukas didn’t pay her much mind and instead skimmed over the menu.
[Hotter than Ash’s Love ★ Garlic Hot Steak]
[As sweet as Jamie’s voice ♥ Honey Bread]
[Thaws even Luna’s frozen heart → Karul Mountain Tea] (PR: what, no emoji for this one? xD)
“…”
He forcibly suppressed the sound that almost escaped his lips.
Apart from the special names of the menu items, the prices were also quite startling. They were unreasonable enough to be described as extortion.
When he turned to glance at the girl waiting beside him, she smiled brightly and said,
“We hope Masters will enjoy the food we made!”
“…”
‘1 person per menu, per customer.’
As such, their voices overlapped as they recited their lines.
…Since he hadn’t eaten anything since they’d disembarked, he was quite hungry.
Lukas ordered grilled skewers. Peran ordered steak and a glass of wine.
As for Nix, she tilted her head to the side as she looked at the menu in front of her.
“Which ones are delicious?”
“Everything is delicious!”
“Then I want everything.”
“Wow! I love you! Mistress!”
“…”
Lukas turned to look at Peran with an expression that seemed to ask if it was fine for her to do that. Since he would be the one paying for everything. But Peran simply shrugged his shoulders like it didn’t matter.
“We will prepare them right away! So please wait a moment!”
They spoke in sweet voices as if there were hearts attached to the ends of their words.
The girls smiled cheerfully before carefully closing the door behind them as they left.
Peran took a sip of cold water before speaking.
“The service here is much more thorough than in an ordinary restaurant. I can see why the food is so expensive.”
“…”
Lukas was beginning to have an inkling as to the real reason why Peran wanted to visit this store.
Beautiful women who entertained guests with bright smiles, all of them much more beautiful than the noble girls who gave their all to maintain their appearances. Their features were so flawless that it seemed a bit unrealistic.
Not to mention the maid outfits that they all wore…
Lukas knew of a man who had such a wicked hobby.
Hector.
The red Dragon, the prisoner of the Demigods, and a man who had a large role to play in the creation of Anastasia.
To make Anastasia, Lukas had found and gathered the best experts at golem creation.
Among them, Hector was a particularly key figure. At the very least, when it came to ‘golem crafting’, he was probably the only person whose knowledge had managed to surpass that of Schweiser in the past.
‘It’s highly likely that Hector knows Anastasia’s whereabouts.’
…He never would have thought that he would be hiding(?) so openly in a store like this in the City of Pleasure.
No. On second thought, such a place was a perfect fit for Hector.
“We need to meet the owner of this place.”
After saying that, Peran took another sip of water.
“Maybe we can tell the employees we want to meet him.”
“That will be hard. The owner here… he’s like a zombie.”
He spoke like he knew Hector well.
‘He’s secretive…’
To put it nicely, and to put it badly, he closed himself off.
Even in the past, Hector had shown no particular interest in the happenings around the world.
Hector was an alchemy master, the highest authority when it came to golem crafting, and the owner of a vast amount of knowledge that he accumulated over a very long time. He could acquire an astronomical amount of money just by using a fraction of what he had in his head, so opening this store was probably just a simple extension of his hobby.
“Your meal is here!”
Following the lively cry, the door swung open. Then, the food, from which fragrant smells instantly filled the room, was brought in.
…It was a good thing that the table was so big. If it were even a bit smaller, it wouldn’t have been able to hold all of the food.
“…”
Nix looked at the spread of food with bright eyes like a child looking at treasure.
While Peran elegantly unfolded his napkin before cutting into his steak.
“Bon appetit.”
Lukas looked up at the maid who just spoke from beside him.
The first thing he noticed was her strange orange hair. Her pale skin and almond eyes drew his eyes next. From the outside, she looked no different from an ordinary human, but all of the maids in the room were probably golems.
Since Hector had always had a kind of fanatical obsession with the external aspects while neglecting actual performance, it was not easy to pinpoint any differences with the naked eye.
Suddenly, the maid turned her face to him and met his eyes.
“Ah. Did you fall for Ash?”
“…Ash?”
“That’s my name, Master!”
“…”
Her way of speaking in 3rd person caught him by surprise.
When Lukas remained silent, Ash smiled gently.
“Would you like me to feed you?”
“…no. It’s fine. We didn’t come here for that.”
“Huh? But the other Master over there…”
Ash drifted off at the end of her words and her gaze turned to another side of the table. Following her gaze, Lukas was met with the sight of Peran who was leisurely eating the steak that was being fed to him by a maid.
“…what are you doing?”
“Mm. Since we’re paying for it, shouldn’t we enjoy the full services? The steak here is excellent.”
After saying that, he smiled at the maid beside him.
“I think it would be better if the steak was cut into thinner slices.”
“Yes! Master!”
The maid nodded with an enthusiastic expression before feeding Peran another piece of steak which he ate happily.
…Obviously, in the past, Peran hadn’t seemed to be very experienced in relationships with the opposite sex and had even been reluctant to go along with his family’s arrangements. But it seemed a lot had changed in 10 years. (TL: Yes Lukas, not everyone can last for thousands of years)
Nix seemed to be wary at first, but after she reluctantly ate a piece of meat offered by a maid, her attitude changed completely. Afterward, she just sat back in her seat and opened her mouth without a word, waiting for the maid to feed her as if she was a chick waiting for its mother.
There was still no emotion on her face, but her eyes were sparkling.
Lukas couldn’t understand Peran’s relaxed attitude at first, but he soon realised his disposition.
Peran was probably the type who progressed steadily, albeit slowly.
That was why he could still leisurely eat steak despite being more worried than anyone about Snow’s injuries.
Lukas’ disposition wasn’t much different, but there was one crucial difference.
There were times when he pushed forward despite everything.
“We would like to meet the owner of the restaurant.”
Lukas brought up the main point right away, but Ash simply responded with a professional smile.
“I’m sorry. But the Owner isn’t here right now.”
“When will he be back?”
“That is a very difficult question to answer. The Owner is like the wind… Ah. But if Master is here when the Owner gets back, Ash will tell you right away!”
“…!”
At first glance, this seemed like a normal response, but Lukas was certain that this answer was more like an ‘indefinite hold’.
Perhaps even if he were to visit the store every day for a year, he would not be able to meet the ‘Owner’ Ash had mentioned.
“That’s an interesting lie. There’s no way Hector would go far away from you all.”
“…”
Clink.
The movements of the maids froze at the same time.
Their smiling expressions disappeared like smoke, and instead, the only thing that remained was emotionless doll-like faces.
Peran looked at Lukas with a slightly startled expression, and Nix, who had just been about to eat a piece of bread like a baby bird, closed her mouth with a small pout.
“…who are you?”
Ash’s tone changed, becoming stiff and unfriendly.
Before Lukas could answer, Peran opened his mouth first and took the initiative.
“We are acquaintances of Hector’s. We came here because we really need his help.”
(TL: This is why Lukas can’t get nice things, he doesn’t know how to enjoy them.)
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