Inside a tower covered in greenery, in one of its rooms, Victoria, dressed in a dark green dress, sat gracefully on her bed.
Though Victoria was already thirty-six, as a half-elf she still retained the youthful appearance she had at sixteen.
Her long silver-gray hair was tied up neatly at the back of her head, with flower-shaped ornaments pinned at both temples. On her delicate elven ears hung two green cone-shaped earrings.
Matching the color of her dress, she had a pair of beautiful emerald-green eyes that made her already exquisite face appear all the more noble and charming.
Just then, a few meters away from her, four identical white portals suddenly appeared in midair.
Seeing this, Victoria immediately stood up from her bed, her gaze filled with anticipation as she looked toward the portals.
Before long, Erina and Alice, along with Darkness and Eris, stepped out from within them.
At the time, both Erina and Alice were wearing the Tootsuki Academy uniforms. Darkness, as always, was clad in her knight's armor, while Eris remained in her goddess form.
"Victoria, we're here~"
The outgoing Alice was the first to approach Victoria with a cheerful smile, striking up a conversation.
Erina and the other two followed at an unhurried pace. When they reached Victoria, they greeted her with polite smiles.
"Good afternoon, Victoria."
"Good afternoon, Miss Erina, Miss Alice, Miss Darkness, Miss Eris!"
Victoria lifted the sides of her skirt and returned a noble curtsy, carefully addressing each of them by name.
Though they had already chatted for several days in the group, meeting in person for the first time still made Victoria a little nervous.
By contrast, the newcomers Darkness and Eris appeared much more at ease.
Darkness was never one for restraint, so she naturally didn't show the same nervousness as Victoria.
As for Eris, it went without saying. She was, after all, a goddess who governed an entire world, regularly overseeing the reincarnation of the dead. Having encountered countless humans over the years, she hardly felt nervous meeting strangers.
Meanwhile, Erina and Alice were veterans of the chat group. Situations like this were nothing new to them, so they too remained perfectly composed.
Hearing Victoria call her by "Darkness," a delighted expression instantly appeared on Darkness's face.
But her joy didn't last long.
"Lalatina, don't you find it tiring to wear such heavy armor?"
Alice had slipped away from Victoria's side and now stood beside Darkness, examining her knight's armor. She tapped it lightly in several places, producing a series of crisp metallic sounds.
"Please, Alice, I beg you, don't call me Lalatina!"
Blushing furiously, Darkness grabbed Alice's arm and shook it repeatedly, embarrassed beyond measure.
Darkness truly hated being called by her real name. It didn't excite her in the slightest; on the contrary, it embarrassed her deeply.
That was why she sincerely wanted the group members to call her "Darkness." Victoria's earlier choice of address had pleased her greatly.
Seeing Darkness's flustered state, Alice decided not to tease her further.
"Alright, alright, I won't call you that. Darkness, could you let go of me now?"
Relieved at Alice's answer, Darkness quickly released her arm, her expression awkward.
"Sorry, sorry, I got a little carried away just now."
"It's fine. But you still haven't answered my question."
Alice waved dismissively, her eyes returning to the armor.
"Oh, that. Honestly, the armor isn't that heavy. It's well within what I can handle," Darkness replied casually.
When Darkness wasn't making distorted expressions, she was the very image of an ice-cold beauty.
Tall and shapely, with a flawless figure, blonde hair, blue eyes, and a beautiful face—wherever she appeared, she was sure to attract attention.
Unfortunately, her perverse personality completely ruined that perfect image.
Afterward, Erina also formally reintroduced herself to Darkness and Eris.
Having seen Alice's example earlier, Erina didn't tease Darkness by calling her real name either.
"Victoria, did you manage to finish your magic refrigerator research?" Alice asked curiously.
"Refrigerator?" Victoria froze at the unfamiliar word.
"It's the storage box used to preserve food," Alice explained, using her hands to outline the shape of a small box, the same one she had seen in Victoria's memory images.
Realization dawned on Victoria.
"So the tool for preserving food in your world is called a refrigerator."
She had seen refrigerators in the memory images of other group members before, but she hadn't known the name.
And since refrigerators weren't magical items, she hadn't paid them much attention.
She nodded. "Yes, I've already made that storage box. But for now, I can't enlarge it beyond this size."
Turning, Victoria walked to her desk by the bed and took out a delicate little box from one of the drawers.
"This is the storage box. You must have seen it before in the memory images."
Holding the box, only a few dozen centimeters wide, in her arms, she opened it in front of Alice and the others.
Inside, it was completely empty—except for a small magic array running within.
Though Erina and Alice didn't know magic, they had some knowledge of energy studies.
So they could immediately see how the magic array functioned.
If they wanted, they could create the same kind of storage box using their own energy.
...
After chatting for a little while longer, they finally moved on to today's main purpose.
Led by Victoria, they went down the stairs to the next floor.
This room contained several tables and many bookshelves filled with books. On a few tables, bottles and jars were scattered around.
This was Victoria's workshop for magic research. Having seen the memory images, Erina and the others knew this well.
Without speaking, they walked deeper inside. Soon, they came upon a grand door standing proudly in the center of the workshop.
"So this is the portal to the Western Restaurant Nekoya. It really looks exactly like in the memory images."
Alice circled the door. Aside from the magic array beneath it, the door itself looked just like an ordinary wooden door.
Clearly, the real key to teleportation was the array, not the door itself.
Hearing Alice's remark, Erina couldn't help but roll her eyes.
"Wasn't that obvious? Of course it looks the same—it was a recording of real events."
"No need to be so sharp. I was just making a casual comment."
Alice chuckled, unfazed by Erina's words.
"Alright, enough talk. Let's head in."
At Erina's words, Victoria didn't hesitate. She opened the Cat House portal at once.
At the same time, she also started a livestream in the chat group.
[Ding, Victoria (Level 2, Stage 6) has started a livestream. Members can close their eyes and use Immersion Mode to watch.]
[Arifureta (Level 7, Stage 3 / Group Leader): Livestream's up!]
[Ruri Gokou (Level 7, Stage 2): Perfect timing, it's lunchtime. I'm going in first.]
[Asuna Yuuki (Level 7, Stage 2): Same here!]
[Arche (Level 7, Stage 2): Let's go!]
[Chika Fujiwara (Level 7, Stage 2): Took you long enough to start the livestream. I thought you'd forgotten about it.]
[Alice Nakiri (Level 7, Stage 1): Of course we had to spend a little time bonding with Victoria first. And it wasn't that long, just a few minutes, right?]
[Victoria (Level 2, Stage 6): We've arrived at the restaurant. Everyone can join the livestream now.]
[Eriri (Level 8, Stage 9): Here I come.]
Having just finished lunch, Eriri rested her head on Seraphim's lap, closed her eyes, and entered the livestream in Immersion Mode.
...
Since it was mealtime, the restaurant had more diners than usual—though still less than half the seats were occupied.
Among the guests were people of many races: beastmen, elves, and, of course, humans.
When Victoria entered the restaurant with Erina and the others, most of the diners instinctively glanced at them.
Those who had seen Victoria before at the restaurant nodded to her politely.
They then returned to their meals or waited patiently for their dishes.
Only one white-haired old man, drinking heavily with others, did not look away. Instead, he greeted her.
"Victoria, you're here. And you've brought quite a few friends today."
"Yes." Victoria smiled and nodded back.
For Erina, the others, and the group members watching, there was no mistaking this old man.
His name was Artorius, a great mage known as the Sage, one of the three heroes who once defeated the Evil God, and Victoria's magic teacher.
He had been her mentor for ten years. During her early years of study, he had often been at her side.
Aside from Artorius, the other diners were only fleetingly familiar to Erina and the rest. They had only glimpsed them in memory images, not enough to truly know them.
Even Arifureta, who had watched Isekai Shokudou in her past life, had forgotten most of the story—except for Eriri, who had edited the memory images herself.
Her edited memories focused only on the past and future of group members, not on background details of ordinary diners. It wasn't an anime anymore—it was a complete autobiography.
After greeting them, Artorius turned back to his drinking companions, not prying into the identities of Erina and the others.
Once Victoria and her group found seats, a blonde girl with blue eyes, dressed in a maid outfit, came out from the kitchen carrying a dish.
Seeing the cute girl with goat horns, Erina and the rest immediately recognized her.
Her name was Aletta, the restaurant's very first hire from another world.
Erina scanned the dining area and then the kitchen. She didn't see the second staff member. It seemed the story hadn't progressed that far yet.
The group members already knew plenty about that second waitress.
In addition to Victoria's autobiography, Eriri's memory images also included background information about the world.
It detailed the great battle between the Six Pillar Gods and Chaos in ancient times, describing each god to some extent.
The restaurant's second waitress was, in fact, one of the Six Pillar Gods—"Black."
Although Erina's main purpose today was to taste the restaurant's food, she wouldn't mind getting a glimpse of the pinnacle of this world's power as well.
...
After serving the dish to the waiting diner, Aletta brought over five glasses of iced water along with a menu.
Setting the glasses in front of Victoria's group, she smiled warmly.
"Welcome, Miss Victoria. And this time, you've brought friends with you."
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