[Yahallo~ Akarin here!
Just a quick update: daily uploads for Gourmet: Cooking for the Multiverse are officially bumping up to 2 chapters a day!
Also, regarding the confusion about Azazel (Helltaker) in chapter 205... yeah, that was totally my bad. I've gone back and fixed it, so you can check the end of chapter 205 again.]
Chapter 206: The Difference Between Lucifer and Lucifer
Seeing the genuinely surprised expressions washing over the faces of Lucifer and the others, Azazel felt a familiar, smug sense of satisfaction bubbling up in his chest.
He leaned back slightly in his chair, casually adjusting the crisp collar of his dark trench coat.
After all, the person sitting directly across from him was very likely the Devil King Lucifer of Another World.
To be able to effortlessly awe a queen of her terrifying stature with his mere presence... it seemed the Azazel of this world was also a highly successful, influential figure.
He allowed a confident, charismatic smirk to grace his lips.
"What is wrong, Queen Lucifer?" Azazel asked smoothly, resting his elbows on the wooden tabletop. "Does my existence also appear in this world?"
Lucifer stopped tapping on her smartphone screen and slowly looked up.
She nodded with absolute seriousness, her glowing crimson eyes staring right through the Fallen Angel Governor.
"Yes, but she is an angel," Lucifer replied, her tone completely flat and unimpressed. "And a female."
Azazel blinked, his charismatic smirk instantly faltering.
"And most importantly, she is a student," Lucifer added casually, returning her gaze to her game. "She should be diligently collecting research materials in Hell right now."
"Re... research materials..."
Azazel's mouth twitched uncontrollably.
The image of a nerdy, highly-strung female angel version of himself scurrying around the fiery pits of Hell with a clipboard completely shattered his inflated ego.
Ren chuckled softly from the side, wiping down the polished wooden counter with a clean, damp cloth.
"It seems Mr. Azazel has fully accepted this setting now," Ren said with a warm, welcoming smile.
He set the cloth down and gave the flabbergasted Fallen Angel his full attention.
"So, would you like to rest for a while or eat something?"
Azazel looked at Ren with a renewed sense of intense curiosity.
The young man possessed an aura that was completely ordinary, completely devoid of magic, yet he casually commanded the space around the fearsome Queen of Hell.
"More than that, I am far more concerned about exactly how I get back," Azazel admitted, sighing softly as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"After all, I am not a student with infinite free time to loiter."
Ren simply raised a hand and pointed toward the front doorway of the restaurant.
"You just need to open the door and walk back," Ren explained gently. "It is not as troublesome as you imagine."
Azazel stood up, his heavy boots clicking softly against the pristine hardwood floor of the dining area.
He walked slowly toward the entrance, his sharp eyes scanning the intricate woodwork of the doorframe and the polished brass handle for any hidden runes.
He reached out, half-expecting a lethal magical trap to trigger, and slowly turned the knob.
As the heavy wooden door swung outward, a gentle, swirling expanse of white light greeted his eyes.
He narrowed his gaze, carefully extending his supernatural senses to examine the luminous gateway.
It was remarkably similar to the holy light of the Lord he once served, but this light was far gentler, lacking any coercive, judgmental weight.
Most importantly, he could not detect a single trace of spatial magic or teleportation arrays present within the threshold.
It was a purely conceptual gateway, defying all magical logic established in his universe.
Azazel nodded slowly, trusting his own rigorous analysis, and pulled the door shut with a soft click.
He walked back to his seat, a newfound sense of genuine ease washing over his tense shoulders.
"So, young man, exactly who are you?" Azazel asked, tilting his head as he sat back down. "You look like a simple shop owner... yet you are so exceptionally close to the Queen of Hell."
Upon hearing the question, Lucifer let out a haughty, aristocratic snort.
She immediately shifted her weight, leaning intimately against Ren's side.
Without a single word of explanation, she wrapped her slender, pale arms around Ren's arm, pressing her soft curves against him in a blatant display of possessive ownership.
She pulled her phone back out and continued playing her puzzle game, completely ignoring the Fallen Angel Governor.
This silent, devastatingly clear answer was overwhelmingly effective.
Azazel rubbed his temples, feeling a dull ache forming behind his eyes.
"These are truly all sorts of incomprehensible things," Azazel muttered, shaking his head in defeat.
He looked around the cozy restaurant, finally taking in the warm amber lighting and the faint, mouth-watering aromas lingering in the air.
"Well, it would be a terrible shame not to eat a meal in such an incredibly interesting place," he concluded, a relaxed smile returning to his face.
Ren smiled and nodded.
"Okay. So, what would you like to eat?"
Azazel looked around the empty table for a laminated sheet.
"Is there no menu?"
"With the ingredients we currently have in stock, almost anything you want can be made," Ren replied confidently.
Azazel raised an eyebrow, genuinely impressed by the young chef's sheer culinary audacity.
"Oh? Impressive!" Azazel leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest. "Let me think..."
He recalled his highly unsuccessful afternoon hobby just before arriving here.
"I did not catch any fish today, so how about a fish dish?" he suggested. "The specific dish is entirely up to you, and then pair it with 1 glass of red wine."
Ren nodded, his dark eyes sparkling with immediate culinary inspiration.
"Then please wait a moment, the dish will be ready soon," Ren said softly. "As for the red wine, are you absolutely sure you only want 1 glass?"
Azazel thought for a moment, stroking his goatee as he evaluated the relaxed atmosphere of the room.
"Just 1 glass of wine," Azazel confirmed.
"But add 1 bottle of whiskey to the order. I have a very strong feeling this will be a magnificent dish."
Ren smiled warmly. "Mhm. Your feeling will not be wrong."
"Then please wait a moment."
After speaking, Ren turned and pushed through the swinging wooden doors into the pristine domain of his kitchen.
The moment he tied his crisp white apron around his waist, his entire demeanor shifted from a polite host to an absolute master of his craft.
He approached the massive commercial refrigerator and pulled out a stunningly fresh, silver-scaled sea bass that had been delivered just hours ago.
The fish's eyes were crystal clear, and its gills were a vibrant red, a true testament to its flawless quality.
Ren placed the fish onto his heavy wooden cutting board, retrieving his gleaming, razor-sharp Yanagiba knife from its sheath.
With a fluid, almost hypnotic motion, the steel blade sliced seamlessly through the delicate flesh.
He separated the pristine fillets from the bone in a matter of seconds, leaving not a single ounce of meat to waste.
His hands moved like a blur, meticulously plucking out the tiny pin bones with a pair of stainless steel culinary tweezers.
Next, he grabbed a heavy cast-iron skillet, placing it over the roaring blue flames of the industrial stove.
He drizzled a generous splash of high-quality olive oil into the pan, waiting just until the oil began to shimmer and smoke slightly.
Ren seasoned the sea bass fillets generously with coarse sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper, pressing the spices gently into the flesh.
Carefully, he laid the fillets skin-side down into the scorching skillet.
*Sizzle!*
A violent, magnificent crackling sound echoed throughout the kitchen as the moisture in the fish skin instantly reacted with the blazing hot oil.
The rich, savory aroma of searing fish erupted into the air, riding the thermal currents directly out into the dining area.
Ren tossed in 2 crushed cloves of garlic and a thick pat of golden, unsalted butter.
The butter instantly foamed, turning a nutty brown hue as it mingled with the natural, oceanic juices of the sea bass.
He grabbed a sprig of fresh thyme, tossing it into the foaming butter, which released an intoxicating, earthy fragrance.
Using a large silver spoon, Ren began to expertly baste the top of the fish, cascading the hot, aromatic butter over the raw flesh to cook it perfectly from the top down.
Simultaneously, he grabbed a smaller copper saucepan to prepare a delicate beurre blanc.
He reduced a splash of dry white wine with finely minced shallots, then whisked in heavy cream and cold butter until it formed a luxurious, glossy sauce.
The sheer sensory overload of the sizzling butter, the sweet garlic, the acidic tang of the wine reduction, and the rich scent of the ocean was utterly divine.
Out in the dining room, Azazel's nose twitched wildly as the heavenly aroma hit him like a physical blow.
His stomach let out an undignified, rumbling growl.
He swallowed hard, his eyes widening as he suddenly realized just how ravenously hungry he truly was.
Lucifer simply smiled, looking highly amused by the Fallen Angel's visceral reaction to her beloved's cooking.
She elegantly crossed her legs, resting her chin on her hand.
"The Lucifer of your world really is utterly useless," she stated bluntly, shattering the comfortable silence. "To actually die."
Azazel was startled, immediately snapping out of his deep culinary trance.
He looked at her in absolute confusion. "Eh? Queen Lu..."
He caught himself before the title fully slipped out.
"...never mind, Lord Lucifer then. Lord Lucifer, why do you have such a harsh opinion?"
Lucifer tilted her head, her pristine white hair swaying gently.
"Is the title 'Queen' really that strange to you?"
"No..." Azazel hesitated, trying to find the right words to explain his universe's history. "It is just because the Lucifer of our world is a man."
He leaned forward, his expression turning serious.
"He was called the Progenitor Devil King, his wife was the Mother of Devils, Lilith, and it seems he even had a child before his demise..."
"A child..."
The moment those words left Azazel's mouth, Lucifer's breath hitched ever so slightly.
Hearing this, she felt a sudden, inexplicable sense of burning envy gnawing at her cold heart.
The Lucifer of Another World, as pathetically weak as he sounded, actually possessed offspring?
She bit her lower lip, her crimson eyes involuntarily darting toward the swinging kitchen doors where Ren was currently basting the fish.
*How impressive...* she thought to herself, a faint pink dusting her usually pale cheeks as her imagination briefly ran wild.
Suddenly, a flurry of chaotic movement broke her train of thought.
After the 3 identical demon dog girls known as Cerberus merged back into 1 single entity, she bounded over to the table.
[Akarin's Note: Cerberus from Helltaker is a single soul occupying three separate bodies. She can seamlessly merge back into a single physical form with dog ears whenever she desires.]
Cerberus tilted her head, her silver hair bouncing as she looked at Azazel with wide, innocent eyes.
"Eh?! The Progenitor Devil King?" Cerberus gasped, her tail wagging furiously behind her.
"How handsome!"
She turned to look at the Queen of Hell.
"Lucifer, you are also... Oh..."
Cerberus paused, blinking rapidly.
"...Wait, you're not..."
Lucifer's mouth twitched violently.
Her perfectly manicured fingers curled into tight fists, threatening to snap her smartphone in half.
She genuinely did not know why Cerberus was particularly fond of inadvertently backstabbing her pride today.
To be called out for being entirely childless by her own pet dog was a uniquely painful kind of emotional damage.
However, she also knew the goofy demon dog meant absolutely no harm by her blunt, savage observations.
Taking a deep, calming breath to compose herself, Lucifer glared at Azazel.
"Then you can simply call me 'Lord'," she commanded smoothly, her crimson eyes flashing dangerously.
She waved a hand dismissively. "As for your previous question, the answer is very simple."
A condescending smirk played on her lips.
"Because, as the entity known as Lucifer, how could one possibly only use basic magic to blast things? That is far too foolish."
Azazel was stunned for a moment, trying to process her sheer, unapologetic arrogance.
He frowned, his golden eyes narrowing as he spoke in a deep, defensive voice.
"Because the Progenitor Devil King Lucifer's absolute ability was divine artifact nullification," Azazel explained firmly. "And the Lord did not really use divine artifacts during the Great War, so that is why he fell in battle..."
Silence descended over the table for exactly 1 second.
Then, Lucifer burst into genuine, unrestrained laughter.
"Pfft—Hahahahaha!" Lucifer threw her head back, her melodious laughter echoing through the restaurant. "Divine artifact nullification?! Hahaha!"
She slapped the wooden table, wiping a tear of mirth from her eye.
"Cerberus, did you hear that? As a Devil King, is his core ability really that embarrassingly weak?!"
Azazel felt a sudden flush of defensive embarrassment hit him.
He asked somewhat confused, "Is there something wrong with that, Lord Lucifer?"
Cerberus was also violently stifling her laughter on the side, her hands covering her mouth while her dog shoulders shook uncontrollably.
Lucifer finally managed to calm down, elegantly clearing her throat as she completely straightened her posture.
"Listen carefully," Lucifer said, her voice dropping into a chilling, commanding register that made the very air in the room feel suffocatingly heavy.
"Lucifer was cast out of heaven, so in a strict sense, she is indeed a Fallen Angel. But calling her a Devil is also not factually wrong."
She rested her chin on her interlocked fingers, her crimson eyes glowing with an ancient, terrifying light.
"And then there is Lucifer's true power. I honestly do not know how the Lucifer of your world managed to become a Devil King with such a pitiful parlor trick."
She gestured to herself, absolute confidence radiating from her every pore.
"I am the Queen of Hell. Not to mention possessing countless forbidden spells, just Lucifer's inherent conceptual power itself has not even been mentioned yet."
"Inherent power?" Azazel parroted, his eyes widening slightly.
He suddenly became incredibly interested in the history of the divine system within this strange world.
He also desperately wanted to know exactly why the Lucifer sitting before him looked down on the legendary Progenitor of his own world with such absolute contempt.
Lucifer smiled, a chillingly beautiful expression that commanded absolute obedience from all who gazed upon it.
"I was once called Lucifel," she whispered, the ancient name seeming to carry the weight of untold millennia. "The most powerful Archangel in the highest echelons of heaven, possessing raw power not much different from that bastard God himself."
She stood up slightly, her overwhelming presence dominating the room.
"I was the singular Archangel who governed the Morning Star, and it took 9 grueling days and nights of endless descent to finally fall to Hell."
She leaned forward, locking eyes with the Fallen Angel Governor.
"You should know exactly what the conceptual term 'Morning Star' means, right?"
Azazel's pupils constricted into tiny, terrified pinpricks.
A cold sweat broke out across his forehead, and his breathing hitched.
If this concept of the Morning Star was truly the same primordial Morning Star he imagined from ancient theology, then the Lucifer of his world could be said to be ridiculously, laughably weak.
She used the literal power of stars, commanded the dawn itself, and wielded the infinite genesis of light.
And the Lucifer of his world? He just got divine artifact nullification.
[Akarin's Note: Divine Artifacts, or Sacred Gears, are items created by the God of the Bible in the DxD universe, bestowed upon humans. The original Devil King Lucifer's unique power was specifically tailored to nullify these human-wielded tools.]
Adding to what Lucifer had just casually dropped—that her raw power was almost entirely equal to that of the Creator God Himself—it meant that the Lucifer and God of this universe were on a completely different dimensional plane of existence compared to those on his side.
*(The biblical system in High School DxD was significantly altered. I've always wanted to complain about the original Lucifer's ability being nothing more than divine artifact nullification...)*
Azazel gulped heavily, his brilliant tactical mind racing.
He no longer thought this Lucifer's magic would be weak in the slightest.
How could an ancient, primordial entity that controls the dawn and the stars themselves possess weak magic?
Plus, just as Lucifer clearly stated, the Lucifer of his world was merely the Devil King Lucifer.
But the Lucifer sitting right here... she was the highest Archangel who fell from grace, dragging a massive fraction of heaven's absolute authority down with her.
Seeing the look of profound realization and terror on his face, Lucifer's suffocating aura instantly vanished.
She replaced it with a casual, playful smile.
"Well then, Mr. Azazel," she said brightly, playfully clapping her hands together. "It is time to talk more about the current situation on your side."
She glanced over at the silver-haired dog girl standing nearby.
"Cerberus, go back to sleep now. I will take you out to play tomorrow."
"Eh? Yay!"
Cerberus, who had originally intended to stay and eavesdrop on the juicy gossip, immediately perked up upon hearing Lucifer's promise.
Without a single moment of hesitation, she turned around and happily ran off toward the back rooms of the restaurant, her tail wagging wildly behind her.
With the distraction gone, Azazel let out a long breath to steady his racing heart.
He began speaking in a deep, measured voice, detailing the complex political matters, the Great War, and the current power structures of his world.
As he spoke, Lucifer sat quietly, looking at Azazel with a strange, highly critical expression.
She did not know why, but as she listened, she always felt that something was fundamentally not quite right with that bizarre world.
Why were there only Four Great Satans ruling over the Underworld?
And their combat power scaling was simply so... subtle.
Some individuals in Azazel's stories were so ridiculously strong that she found it downright absurd, while other legendary figures that absolutely should not be weak were inexplicably useless.
However, as Azazel continued his recounting, Lucifer's crimson eyes suddenly lit up with profound intrigue.
She found herself becoming intensely interested in the concepts of the Longinus and the legendary Heavenly Dragons of that world.
Weapons capable of killing gods and dragons that defied the very laws of the universe?
Now that sounded like an incredibly entertaining concept.
On the other side of the restaurant, standing behind the swinging kitchen doors, Ren expertly plated the beautifully seared sea bass.
Listening closely to their conversation, Ren chuckled softly under his breath.
He knew Lucifer would instantly become hooked the moment she heard the intricate details about the Longinus.
This little, arrogant Queen of Hell, it could be definitively said, was now completely addicted to exploring the vast specialties and lore of Another World.
[Author's Note: I'm not saying High School DxD is weak, just that some characters are too different from their prototypes, which is why Lucifer felt it was subtle....]
[Akarin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/AkarinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/AkarinTL
🔗 All My Links: linktr[.]ee/AkarinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]