Long after the Jamils as well as Ryouma bid their farewell, not many customers flocked into the restaurant.
If it's not for the builders from Konoha as well as Minato and one particular customer, the restaurant would enter its usual lull segment between Lunch rush and dinner rush.
That very customer was called Lee Han. Someone who never explicitly said he was someone who got reincarnated but everyone in the loop already knew about it as well as someone who pulled more denizens of Tempest to his table rather than any other humans who often dine at Checkpoint.
The man was big. Outrageously so. His build reminded him of Gorruk, the living fortress of the Hero's Party. One of the differences between them was that Gorruk was an Orc while the man was human, as hard as it was to believe.
The other differences between the two was what took Ludwig by surprise. Lee Han didn't have any mana in his body. Well, that was an exaggeration. But his Mana was pitifully low. It was as plentiful as the mana of a goblin.
Not Tempest goblin, those guys were abnormal. What he meant was just a normal goblin that a newbie adventurer could hunt.
However, even with the lack of Mana he had, the guy still gave off a feeling of a predator. Of course, the feeling he gave off was not as strong as the feelings Ilea gave or Rimuru. But it was there nevertheless.
That was where Ludwig was at a loss. In Ortus, Mana was the separator between those who could be adventurers and those who couldn't. Both in Elos and Tempest, that should hold true also.
Yet, the man had proved himself as a capable fighter. Someone who could take several Anbu operatives alone without breaking a sweat. From what Ilea told him, his moves were all precise and deliberate, but inside, it packed a punch to tear through a boulder.
His curiosity was whirring. It was telling him to go to the man's table to ask about it. But, the chef and the restaurant's owner inside him couldn't bring himself to do so. It was crossing the line of customer privacy, something no business owner should do.
Thankfully, before his curiosity tortured him even more, a blonde ninja that oversaw the builder team inside his restaurant sat in the seat across from his usual station.
Ludwig lowered his gaze from the big man and opened his mouth. "Anything I can do for you, Minato?"
The future Yellow Flash of Konoha looked straight to his eyes before bowing his head deep. So deep that his nose was just a skin away from the counter.
"I want to apologize about what my village did to your restaurant."
Ludwig stilled.
Not because of the words themselves. He had heard apologies before, either delivered with elegance, desperation, fear, or calculation, but because of how Minato did it.
There were no audience around. There was also no leverage to be taken into account as well as expectation of forgiveness. He was just a man lowering himself when no one asked him to.
"Minato." Ludwig said quietly, reaching out to place two fingers under the edge of the flak jacket collar and nudging him back upright. "Sit up. You're making my counter uncomfortable."
Minato straightened immediately, cheeks faintly warm, posture returning to proper but not defensive. He didn't laugh it off. He didn't minimize it. He only nodded once.
"I still mean it." He said. "Whether you accept it or not."
Up close, Ludwig could see it more clearly now. The faint tiredness behind the eyes. The restraint in posture that came not from arrogance but discipline. The guilt.
"I accept it." Ludwig said. "Not because you bowed. But because you showed up."
Minato let out a quiet breath. Relief but restrained. He didn't let it turn into ease.
"I didn't want to assume anything. After all, I don't represent policy. Only responsibility."
As Ludwig heard what he said, he thought that was the core difference.
Most shinobi who came here yesterday spoke as if Konoha were speaking through them. This one in front of him spoke as if he would be the one held accountable if things went wrong.
"You know." Ludwig said, resting his forearms on the counter, "Yesterday, plenty of people wore the same flak jacket you're wearing."
Minato nodded. "I know."
"And yet…" Ludwig continued, "You're the only one who came with sincerity."
Minato blinked at that, then shook his head lightly. "I'm not…"
"You just don't know." Ludwig cut his words with a smile.
Minato let out a faint smile, a quick one that disappeared soon after. Then he continued. "I was ordered to accompany the builders. But apologizing wasn't part of it. I requested permission to do that."
"Permission?" Ludwig echoed but in a different tone.
"Yes." Minato met his eyes. "I didn't want it to be misinterpreted as a formal stance."
Ludwig studied him quietly.
Careful. Precise. And still chose to lower himself.
That combination was rare.
Moreover, since he knew what Minato would become in the war that was said to be looming in the shinobi world, he couldn't help but to sigh about something that never happened.
Konoha led by the fourth. Naruto grew up with loving and strong parents. Sasuke never lost his whole clan.
A complete package of fanfiction storyline.
But with him here. He would help Minato to be one. Even when he couldn't do anything directly to Hiruzen or Danzo for now, the leash was already there in the shape of the contract. He just needed them to breach it.
One breach. One simple breach that looked inconsequential and he would have Danzo's head.
"I will never interpret your apology as Konoha's stance, relax." Ludwig chuckled. "Your Hokage had signed a treaty with us. Something more of a leash than a mutually beneficial agreement. Though, you know why we do that, right?"
Minato's face went solemn. "Indeed. The winner dictates the terms. And I thank you for adding Kushina into the terms."
"No thanks needed." Ludwig waved his hands. "Even if I didn't include her treatment in the terms, Claire will. Rimuru will. We treat her as our little sister here."
Minato shifted in his seat, a small smile now adorned his face. "I can't thank you enough for that. For thinking about Kushina's well-being. Even I…"
"You can do what we do, Minato." Ludwig cut him from whatever self-depeciation he wanted to say.
Minato looked at him, his emotions saying more than silence.
"You just have to be strong. Strong to the point law became a mere suggestion. From the meeting we have, as sparse it was, I know you. You have a good heart. No power will corrupt you. So, you just have to be strong enough. Period."
Minato smiled wryly, probably flattered by his comment and embarrassed at the same time.
"Do you think so?"
"I know so." Ludwig said with a toothy grin.
"What if power corrupts me?" He asked quickly.
Ludwig's grin became wider when he asked that. "Then, Kushina would slap the life out of you. If she's not strong enough, we will. I will. When you are finally old like that Hokage of yours, I will still be the current me. So there is no chance you will win against me."
Minato blinked.
Then again, slower this time, as if he was checking whether he had misheard.
"…How?" He asked, quietly. Not disbelief. Curiosity. Honest, unguarded curiosity. "How can that be?"
Ludwig leaned against the counter, one elbow resting on the polished wood. For a moment, he didn't answer. He watched the builders in the corner, the way one of them carefully tightened a joint that didn't strictly need it, just to be sure. He listened to the restaurant hum, steady and patient.
Then he shrugged.
"I cheat." He said simply.
Minato let out a breath that might've been a laugh if it had gone on a fraction longer. "I thought you might say that."
"I'm serious." Ludwig replied. "But, it's not in a way that matters to you."
Minato tilted his head slightly, attentive.
"I don't age the way normal people do." Ludwig continued. "Not because I'm immortal. Just because when someone has the attention of the Time Element… they made sure you would last a long long time."
That was as far as he went.
Minato absorbed that in silence. Then, he continued.
"So you've been like this for a long time…"
Ludwig chuckled at his conclusion. Wrong, but it still made sense. "No, no, you misunderstood. I am still aging right now. But soon, it will become slower and slower."
That was what the temporal power of him told him before. Not through words, through the experience. However, that was when he was still in Ortus. With how the Voice of The World recognized him, he was sure his lifespan had stretched quite a bit. And if he evolved—not like he wanted to—his lifespan would become infinite.
Minato frowned slightly, processing that. Not unsettled, just recalibrating.
"…That sounds too good to be true." He said after a moment.
Ludwig barked out a short laugh. "You have no idea."
Minato relaxed a bit at that, the tension in his shoulders easing. "So you're not frozen in time. Just… slowing down."
"Exactly." Ludwig nodded. "I'll still get some wrinkles. But by that time, most normal people would have died two times over."
"What did it cost, though?" Minato asked, tone careful.
"That's the question people with good instincts ask." Ludwig smiled before he tapped the counter once. "It cost nothing. But from what I learnt from those who live a long life... Sanity will be the first thing that goes."
Minato blinked at his words. But he then just exhaled slowly.
"I see." Minato said. "Then what you said earlier wasn't a threat."
"No." Ludwig agreed. "It was a promise."
Minato smiled, small but genuine. "That's reassuring. Strangely enough."
From the corner of the hall, one of the builders called out that they were done for the day. Minato stood immediately, instinct taking over.
"I should make sure they secure the temporary supports." He said. Then paused. "Thank you. For telling me."
"For what?" Ludwig asked.
"For trusting me with that much." Minato replied.
Ludwig waved a hand. "You didn't react like an idiot. That's all the trust you get for now."
Minato laughed softly, bowed once—proper, not excessive—and headed back toward the builders.
Ludwig watched him go, then let his gaze drift back to Lee Han's table. The big man was still there, surrounded by Tempest folk, laughter rumbling low like distant thunder.
Strength really came in many forms, Ludwig thought.
Some of it came in the shape of punching through stone.
Some of it came in the shape of a willingness to bow first.
But only one of those lasted long enough to matter.
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