In the front hall—
After Yuto entered the kitchen, Rias began carefully observing every customer in the restaurant with curiosity and caution.
When her gaze passed over Iskandar, Gilgamesh, and the others, who were laughing loudly while drinking, there was a hint of speculation in her eyes.
When she looked at Asuna, Erina, and the others, her expression was much calmer.
Then, when she saw Ainz, Rimuru, and Fafnir wearing headsets, shock appeared in her eyes again.
When her gaze finally moved to Lucoa and Tohru, Lucoa narrowed her eyes and asked in a slightly questioning tone,
"You're a Devil, aren't you?"
Lucoa's expression looked somewhat natural and innocent.
Her soft voice made people feel very at ease.
Rias paused briefly before nodding.
"Yes, I am."
After receiving confirmation, Lucoa's face showed a faint "as expected" expression.
"Looks like I guessed correctly."
Rias smiled lightly with graceful etiquette.
"Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Rias Gremory, the eldest daughter of the Gremory Duke House, one of the 72 Pillars."
Rias naturally revealed a trace of noble bearing.
Hearing her introduction, Lucoa and Tohru looked at each other.
Tohru was rather confused.
She did not understand what Rias meant, she only felt that Rias's identity sounded somewhat impressive.
"If we go by the rank system among Devils, then a duke should belong to one of the top families."
Lucoa thought for a moment, then spoke in her naturally gentle manner.
Her age meant that the knowledge she possessed far exceeded that of most others.
"Lucoa, do you know about Devils too?"
Tohru looked at Lucoa curiously.
In their world, Devils did exist, but the mainstream powers were dragons, humans, and gods.
The Devil race was not considered an especially powerful race.
As the daughter of the leader of the Chaos Faction dragons, Tohru did not know much about the Devils of their world.
She had only occasionally heard about them.
"A very, very long time ago, the Devils were actually quite strong too. But later, they were beaten down by the Emperor of Demise, and after that, they withdrew."
Lucoa smiled innocently as she spoke.
She was very, very old, several times older than Tohru and the other dragons.
She had personally experienced some of those hidden histories.
Tohru nodded with an expression that said she had learned something new.
Today, she had gained another piece of knowledge!
However, Rias, who stood before the two of them, had a rather strange expression on her face.
She roughly understood that she and the other customers in the restaurant were not from the same world.
She was a very intelligent Devil.
Using existing information to make deductions was something she was good at.
But even if they were not from the same world, hearing that Devils of the same race as her had once been beaten down...
Rias still found it a little difficult to accept.
"Then the ones who defeated the Devils back then... what faction were they? And this Emperor of Demise... what is his identity?"
Rias could not help asking.
"Oh, they were dragons. As for the Emperor of Demise, he is the leader of the dragons. He is also Tohru's father."
Lucoa smiled as she spoke and even patted Tohru on the shoulder.
The dragon girl smiled a little bashfully in that dazed, adorable way.
The two of them did not think much of it.
But Rias's expression became somewhat complicated.
She looked at Tohru in front of her.
The dragon girl was so adorably dazed!
Where could one possibly see that she was the daughter of the king of dragons?
Moreover...
The word "dragon"... In Rias's world, those two words represented the ultimate form of power.
A power that neither Devils nor Angels could match!
Rias looked at Tohru, then at Lucoa.
One was adorably dazed.
The other was naturally airheaded.
'Dragons...'
Rias silently sighed in her heart.
For a moment, she did not know what to say.
"All right, Gremory-san. Please enjoy."
At that moment, Yuto came out carrying the steak and cream of corn soup.
His five senses were far sharper than ordinary people's, so he had naturally heard Rias's self-introduction from the kitchen.
Rias returned to herself and looked at Yuto with gratitude.
"Thank you." She quickly spoke.
"No need to thank me. Please try it and tell me how it tastes. Speaking of which, this is my first time cooking for a Devil, so I'm quite curious about your evaluation, Gremory-san."
Yuto made a harmless little joke.
Rias was also slightly amused by him.
"In that case, I shall gratefully accept."
Rias teased Yuto back with a little extra politeness.
Then she lowered her head and looked at the steak and bowl of soup in front of her.
The steak was medium-rare.
The outside looked seared, but the inside was actually still somewhat raw.
This medium-rare style was the most stimulating and wonderful way to experience ribeye steak.
Compared with steak, he preferred stir-fried beef strips.
Rias, however, seemed very interested in the medium-rare steak before her.
Perhaps that was thanks to her identity as a Devil. o((⊙﹏⊙))o
Rias elegantly used her knife to cut into the steak.
When the blade pressed down against the surface of the meat, a golden meat juice seeped out.
But when the knife sliced deeper into the meat, faint traces of blood appeared.
This was the characteristic of a medium-rare steak.
With a fork, Rias picked up a piece of beef and placed it into her mouth.
Her expression instantly became especially pleased and graceful, almost as if she were experiencing some relaxing massage.
After a brief moment, Rias exhaled softly.
Her crimson eyes opened again, and lingering delight and enjoyment still remained within them.
"A wonderful taste! Even in the royal palace of the Underworld, this would be considered exceptionally fine."
Rias gave a very high evaluation.
"That's good."
Yuto laughed lightly.
"Eh? The royal palace of the Underworld? Rias, can you tell us what the royal palace of the Underworld is like?"
Tohru grew curious after hearing that.
Her personality was already rather lively and straightforward, so whenever she encountered something interesting, she liked to ask directly.
On top of that, dragons did not care much about small details or formalities.
So she directly called Rias by name.
Fortunately, Rias did not mind.
After hearing Tohru's question, she very willingly began explaining.
For Rias, she was also happy to get along well with Tohru.
Although she did not understand what exactly this restaurant was, that did not stop her from judging its value.
She had already formed a judgment in her heart.
Perhaps...
Coming to this restaurant today...
Might change her life from this moment onward.
Yuto also joined the conversation.
He had already met gods, youkai, and dragons.
But this was his first time meeting a Devil.
People always seemed to carry a special curiosity toward Devils.
This race, which clearly symbolized evil and darkness, was somehow even more likely to stir curiosity and fascination.
When Rias began talking about the conflict between Devils and God, Yuto could not help thinking of the gods he had met.
Leaving aside strength for the moment, just judging by outward behavior...
Yuto felt that from a rational perspective...
The Devil girl in front of him seemed more reliable?
"If Gremory-san has time, why not stay here for a while? Perhaps later, you'll get to meet a god." Yuto spoke with a hint of teasing.
Rias's eyes shrank slightly.
Clearly, she thought of many things at once.
"I am a Devil. Generally speaking, gods should feel disgust when they see me, shouldn't they?"
Rias smiled bitterly.
"That may not necessarily be true. Not all gods are like that. There are always some special gods."
Yuto spoke with implied meaning.
He had actually wanted to say "idiot," but after thinking about it, he changed the word to "special."
He could treat it as showing a little respect once in a while.
╮(╯▽╰)╭
Rias's crimson eyes moved slightly.
She did not quite understand what Yuto meant.
In her impression, God was the mortal enemy of Devils.
There should be absolutely no goodwill between the two sides!