Chapter 7 - New Worker?

Chapter 7 – New Worker?

If one saw this sight, they would do a double-take, rub their eyes and then stare without blinking, since this looks like something straight out of fiction.

It looked as if time itself was being rewinded, since indentations on the floor, broken houses and broken vegetation started reforming themselves.

But too be honest, time was being rewinded.

All those who saw such a sight quickly fainted before re-awakening and carried on the day like nothing happened.

All those who died as an accident woke up like nothing happened too, and just carried on with the day.

All in all, apart from those involved directly in this farce, everyone had their memories rewritten, and artificial ones were used to replace the missing time gap they experienced.

In other words, nothing happened

...

"So, the aveng-- *cough people have assembled." Rimuru smiled whilst talking, "so, is the wish to your standard then?" He asked Shirou.

"Oh, em yeah actually, thank you." He did a 90 degree bow at Rimuru. "I really appreciate it."

The others soon followed, apart from Artoria of course, since she was a king. Although currently she didn't look like one, since she had black armour.

"Hm." She nodded.

"Umm, about her..." Ilya started. She got an explanation regarding what happened and quickly just accepted it as a miracle granted by the grail.

"Oh, then allow me to explain. Basically, she has two egos, one that is corrupted and one that is not. The one you are all seeing is the corrupted one, she's very quiet and quite strong in human standards. But both had made an agreement that they will change over every week, starting today, which just so happens to be Monday."

"Hm." She nodded, then walked away.

After a couple more questions and answers later, they left and went their separate ways.

Well, not separate. They all decided to live in Shirou's house, even Artoria.

(Lucky bastard) Rimuru couldn't help but think.

But then felt a shiver down his non-existent spine.

...

"Fufufu, looks like someone needs a beating..." (Ciel)

...

He came back to the café and flopped down on a chair.

"Welcome back." Medea greeted Rimuru. He nodded back and smiled.

"Welcome back *master." Ciel then greeted Rimuru, with a baseball bat in one hand, "did you enjoy yourself."

Normally, Rimuru would look at her in fear and start running, but not this time. He also had his reasons to be very annoyed.

"Yes I did, but I didn't enjoy the fact that someone wrote on my face when I made a public appearance."

At this point, it was Ciel who froze, before dropping the bat and started running, followed by Rimuru, "COME HERE!"

The next morning, Medea could've swore that Ciel's butt seemed a bit larger. She left it to her imagination on what happened last night.

There were no changes to their behaviour however, Rimuru just acted like normal and became that lazy guy at the counter again, whilst Ciel went back to the kitchen again and carried on with doing whatever she was doing, but this time it was a little inconvenient every time she sat down.

(Hehehe, I turned her pain nullification off. Let's see what will happen if you do it again...)

The morning was uneventful to say the least, but around noon, an unexpected group arrived.

"They're open!" A familiar teen's voice sounded, before he entered followed by more familiar faces, Rin and Artoria.

Rin was here because she was the one who recommended this place to them, and also the fact that's he knew Rimuru would be here.

Shirou was here because he was interested in the menu and dishes.

Artoria was here because she was intrigued by the food, and the fact that she was a glutton.

Sakura, Medusa and Ilya didn't come this time since they had some admin stuff to do with all the chaos they caused, so they went to the clocktower to report about this.

As usual, Medea was very professional and experienced in her ways of composing herself, so she just went to the greet them, "welcome, please take a seat over here."

They went to the table and sat down, although it was strange since no one spoke a word. It wasn't until they all looked the menu through and through before some sort of communication took place.

Shirou put his hand up, "can I see the cook?" Medea was unsure how to reply, but when she saw Ciel's thumb through a window she nodded at him.

Rin ordered a Milim's Iced Tea, whilst Artoria, the corrupted version, asked for everything.

It was Rin's turn to be surprised, and was about to protest when one look from Saber shut her up. So she ended up sulking there whilst patting her poor purse.

Just like normal, the food pretty much came instantly, even with the insane order.

Rin just sipped on the drink and appreciated how all the food here was more than satisfactory, whilst Saber stared in shock. All the cakes looked perfect.

Hm, this food is worthy enough to eat. She put down her utensils, then opened her mouth and just... consumed... the food. Rin just deadpanned, she knew she was a glutton, but this technique or skill she used, was a bit ridiculous in the sense that it was totally unneeded.

Meanwhile, Shirou was currently talking to Ciel in the kitchen.

"So, if you add this bubbling liquid into here..."

Shirou nodded in approval and observed.

"... then you add this bar of pure gold..."

Needless to say, after this step, he became confused but just accepted it as it is. Mentally jotting down notes whilst occasionally asking some questions, he quickly acknowledged the vast experience and knowledge Ciel had regarding cooking. He soon realised that she wasn't cooking strange because she couldn't follow the rules. No, more than that. It was because she became so good at cooking that she was able to produce results even when bending the rules.

It's a bit like learning a language versus knowing it fluently. If one knew for example, Japanese, then there is no need to speak in perfect grammar to someone else who is fluent. One might literally say 3 words, a subject, noun and object, and the other would understand it perfectly. Compare this to someone who is learning the language, they have to learn perfect grammar and sentence order, when speaking, it becomes monotonous and repetitive since they don't know a big range of vocabulary. (A/N As a trilingual myself, I can confirm this fact.)

Shirou was like the person who has learnt the art of cooking to a masterful level, but compare that to Ciel who was, in this case, completely fluent in it, he still had a very long way to go, so he didn't even mind the fact that she was better than him. On the contrary, he became eager and inspired.

And that was how this strange sensei and student relationship came into being, so Shirou thought, but Ciel thought otherwise.

After an hour, they then decided to leave. Rin reluctantly gave a massive bill in, before dejectedly walked to the door.

But Saber had other plans, she walked to Rimuru and slammed the table.

"I wish to work here." She demanded quite pridefully.

Perhaps, if it was any other manager, then they would immediately reject the request. After all, it was too forceful and full of pride. Not the attitude you would expect from someone who wished to be employed.

But this was Rimuru...

Hebsquinted his eyes at her, before suddenly lighting up mischievously, "oh? Of course you're more than welcome. I welcome you with open arms, in fact, you can move here tonight if you want since we have more space than necessary and..."

Then a baseball bat was smashed onto his head, before he comically fainted and laid dead on the floor.

"Sorry about him, if you wish to work here then we will need to talk about the more boring stuff."

"Oh, I'm fine with living here and everything, I don't really mind the salary as long as I can get food."

"Ah, of course. We'll decide on the salary later but we do have group lunches together so you can join in if you want."

"Then I will be in your care."

Ciel nodded, and then went to talk to Rin and Shirou about it.

They immediately agreed since, to them, having Saber living in the same building as them was akin to having a time bomb. They all loved and trusted her of course, but the corrupted version was so unpredictable sometimes that they would rather not risk it.

After this and that, Artoria was given the 23rd floor.

She and her uncorrupted version agreed on a compromise. They would split the room into two, and the Alter would only decorate her half how ever she liked, but was forbidden to touch the other's half without permission, whilst the other was the same. This way, there was not an imbalance between them.

Although, the other half would have to be refurnished next week since she doesn't manifest until the next week, so the room currently just looked weird.

On her half was completely dark and black. Unsurprising since her entire colour scheme was black, which represented her accepting her dark past.

The other half, although not decorated yet, would look like blue and gold, once again reflecting the colour scheme of the respective person. And yes, there were two beds, since neither wanted to sleep in the other's bed.

The next morning, Artoria got up and began her first day, just like with Medea.

She also found it very enjoyable and fulfilling. Breakfast was amazing since there were just plates of godly food on the desk free for the taking, definitely made by Ciel.

It was quite quiet, which she appreciated. She always sat in the corner of the shop, beside the counter.

Lunch was very good as well. She didn't feel left out despite her appearance and personality. If she wished, she could've talked, but she mostly just stayed quiet and listened to the others' conversations.

Business wasn't too good, even she could tell. When she wanted to join, she thought that she would be at least somewhat busy. Maybe a customer every 30 minutes? But no. Literally, the only customers are the ones that have come before, but apart from that, no one.

She had the pleasure of sometimes meeting someone called Kobayashi, who was always either drunk or very quiet. Her personality was very confusing and almost juxtaposed each other when she was drunk. Artoria even wondered if she was like her, with two egos inside of one body, but then dismissed the thought since she was somewhat special in this regard.

Actually, the low/non-existent amount of customers was one of the topics that Rimuru brought up in their lovely dinner-time-banter every day. He always would complain about being a failure for not being successful.

Saber questioned if this should be how a god should behave, but decided to just ignore it.

Medea, with one look, could tell what Artoria was thinking.

"Don't worry, this is very common. It happens every day."

"Hm, I can tell."

...

(A/N Fate arc done!! I decided to have one more chapter regarding the powers of everyone who has appeared so far.

I'm also going to call it chapter 8 even though it is not really considered a chapter, just for OCD's and convenience's sake. I mean, I don't mind but hate it when an author has a perfect row of chapters, and then just one chapter named 'disclaimer' or something and ruin the pattern.

I will not do this, so the titles would look neat and I can look at it without being annoyed.

Thanks for reading this so far!)