Hell Inn: Rebirth - I Became a Chef in Hell

Chapter 131 Flower Vine-S01 E05

"Ah! A mysterious Eastern power... I have indeed heard of it!"

"But please forgive me, I don't know much about your hometown. I think you'll understand, Miss—"

Alastor feigned surprise, widening his eyes before slowly lowering his head to look at you, saying, "However, I'd rather know how long Miss Chef intends to waste her time here?"

After learning your name, Alastor didn't pursue the question he had been harping on.

The United States was entering its golden age during Alastor's era. After going to hell, he was probably the type to be busy with his career, so it's not surprising that he didn't have time to learn about the Porcelain Country at that time...

Although you're a little annoyed, his slightly sharp new questions are clearly more likely to grab your attention.

"If you want to play a quiz game, I can stay here and play with you forever—I mean, I don't know."

Faced with a Wendigo's latest question, you, already in a bad mood, replied irritably.

"Okay, I understand... So, can you get up now?"

Alastor, seemingly no longer caring about your tone of voice, raised an eyebrow and indifferently swept his gaze over your shattered body.

"..."

"Do you think I look like I can get up?"

You glare at him.

Can't this guy who knows the answer to just ask stop teasing you?

"...Ha! But at least you can still talk! Right? My poor but quick-witted lady."

Faced with your anger, Alastor, who seemed to have no intention of calming down at all, suddenly became unhurried—or rather, he was never in a hurry from beginning to end.

Even when he asks for your name, he just repeats the same question a few more times.

The dragon girl's body shattered like a clay figurine, and even her always expressionless face was reduced to half.

The wicked Wendigo was simply enjoying watching her destroyed state, as if admiring a beloved work of art.

Out of fear of offending others, you kindly chose to remain silent: "..."

"Hahahaha... Don't make that face, sweetheart!"

"Oh my god, this is hilarious, don't you think?"

Seeing your face turn pale and then red, and how you feel particularly good when others are in a bad mood, Alastor stared at you with wide eyes and a strange smile on his face.

"But no matter what, I'll leave with my business partners, don't worry~"

"But you always have to pay a price, don't you?"

Perhaps noticing that even the Dragon Girl's "expressionless" face, which was almost as solid as his "smile," had cracked, Alastor, who seemed particularly pleased, propped his head up and said with a smile.

Hearing his meaningful tone, the ominous feeling and premonition in your heart seemed to have finally come true at this moment. You immediately glared angrily, but you did not immediately reply to him.

...You knew Alastor was up to no good! So this guy was waiting for you here all along!

If you get angry, he won't be able to know your name, but after you tell him your name, he'll act like it doesn't matter!

If being infuriating had a Grammy, this guy would definitely be a legendary double-crowned master!

Your face couldn't have looked uglier than you were, as you nearly jumped up from the ground.

However, it's far more important not to let Alastor realize that you're a bit vulnerable right now, so you can only suppress your anger and curse this cunning Western devil in your heart without using any profanity...

It has to be super loud!

If it weren't for the fact that you are indistinguishable from a clay figurine at this moment, Alastor would surely have seen your chest heaving violently with anger.

you:"……"

Faced with your "usual" silence, the old gentleman, whose stern anger concealed a hint of anxiety, let out a few genuine laughs that seemed particularly irritating.

He seems to always treat making you angry as one of his forms of entertainment.

But Wendigo, who hadn't expected to really make you so angry, rolled his eyes like a truly cunning fox.

"So, Miss ■■■, do you think you can make my three meals a day even more luxurious than they are now? Or, in the future, it would be nice if I could choose the ingredients?"

He winked at you, his smiling expression practically innocent.

Upon seeing your surprised expression, Alastor practically had "Are you thinking of me as something wicked, terrifying, and opportunistic? You're such an inhuman and ungrateful woman!" written all over your face.

……

Just like every time before, he's been manipulating you, trying to elevate you to a high position. This time, he's even misled you! In this...critical moment...

……

That bastard!!!

"..."

"what ever."

To avoid making the situation too embarrassing, you gave a brief, forced smile with a twitching corner of your mouth.

You're afraid your voice will tremble with anger if you speak in long sentences.

"What's wrong? You don't sound very happy." Seeing your strange expression, Alastor, who seemed to have nothing to do with you, raised his eyebrows and immediately asked in a deliberately caring tone.

"Of course, those words were all a joke~ How could a proper gentleman kick someone when they're down at a time like this~? My dear hotel chef, I'm relieved to see that you're still as funny as ever."

The demon, seemingly answering its own questions, lazily stares at you with drooping eyelids, while one hand casually twirls up your unevenly long hair on the side.

"..."

"...You're definitely the type who'll stand on the edge of quicksand, laughing as you watch others sink."

Suddenly feeling like you'd aged hundreds of years, you lay quietly in the sand, muttering to yourself as if you'd given up on something, your voice sounding half-dead.

"A reasonable and interesting guess, miss! But you must have some misunderstanding about me, darling~"

Alastor widened his eyes and covered his mouth with his hand in feigned surprise.

"Devils are often driven by the purest self-interest, and clearly I have gotten what I wanted—and at least I won't stand by and watch our dear inn chef fall into quicksand."

The demon spoke in a low voice.

He smiled and smiled, speaking to you in a persuasive tone.

You were about to say something to refute him, but after Alastor said that, he reached out his hand to you.

Driven by a keen sense of danger and a distrust of Alastor, you instinctively turn your head away like a dying beast awakened from its slumber.

You don't know if the broadcast demon felt your violent tremor. Wendigo's red hair brushed against your ear like bird feathers as he leaned close and whispered:

"But, sweetheart, you know... it's very difficult to find a partner and chef like you in hell."

"..."

Before you could reply to him, the gossipy devil was trying to lift you, who was now only half-formed, from the flower bushes surrounding your body.

Because your body was almost completely buried in the white flowers, Alastor lifted you up with a rather elegant movement, but you felt that his movement was particularly like pulling up a radish.

The white flower vines, like veins spreading from the ground, try to hold you back until Wendigo tries to break them.

But when the dark green roots emitted a cracking sound unlike that of vegetation, deep red blood unexpectedly gushed from the broken sections caused by the forceful pulling—

...A sharp pain suddenly swept through your long-dormant nerves.

Even though you know you're practically flesh and blood no longer, you still groaned in pain.

Seeing Alastor still acting as if nothing was wrong, pulling at the flower vines, your eye twitched involuntarily.

"..."

"……pain."

Although you said the word with a blank expression, the pain was actually much stronger than the feeling of your limbs being burned off.

Because Alastor was so focused on his elegance that his movements didn't slow down at all, you might even suspect for a moment that he was doing it on purpose.

You never said the word "pain" after you went to hell, but if you did, it must be because it really hurt.

However, Alastor didn't seem surprised that the word "pain" still existed in your dictionary, nor did he make time to visit you.

Although you didn't expect him, a severe NPD patient, to apologize, you could clearly sense that he became much more cautious in his actions afterward.

At least he didn't try to forcibly pull you out of the flower bushes like he did before.

...It's a pity that it seems you can only leave by cutting off those flower vines.

In Wendigo, with great patience, I finally managed to lift you off the ground, and tiny hermit crabs and fragments of seashells fell from your body along with the fine sand.

The rustling sounds were buried by the white gravel.

Seeing this, the broadcasting demon raised an eyebrow as if it were both regretful and apologetic, and said, "Hmm... what a pity, but their perfect home has more important things to do."

Dragon Girl was held by Wendigo like a broken vase.

He held her head in his arms, and the woman's uneven black hair fell from his fingertips like streams of ink.

Alastor toyed with the dragon girl's shattered body like a beloved doll, his sharp claws tangling around her hair, but a few thin strands still escaped from between his fingers.

The broadcast demon has already wasted too much time on the dragon girl.

But strangely enough, he never got angry from beginning to end... This must have been a strange thing for the demons who feared him.

But putting all that aside, the dragon girl, who was forced to lie in his arms, actually had her whole face resting on his shoulder.

This forced dependence made her feel so uncomfortable that her skin was practically wrinkling.

■■■ Her throbbing forehead could feel that Wendigo, who was holding her, seemed to be trying his best to avoid touching her with his body, even though she was now only half a head and a hollow chest.

Rather than holding a [illegible], Alastor now seems more like holding a bouquet of flowers.

His embrace was cold; if you couldn't feel him holding you and hear his heartbeat, you would almost think you were enveloped by a clump of rotting bushes.

Moreover, although she knew that if she wanted to leave this place, she could probably only rely on this broadcasting demon who had somehow appeared here... she definitely didn't want to thank Alastor!

"So, darling, perhaps you can tell me now what to do next?"

Just as you were silently cursing Alastor to yourself, you suddenly heard him say this to you.