Finally back from working out of the city. I don't feel right to write while working on another job, so sorry for the delay. I will still release 4 chapters this week though, maybe also releasing 1 chapter that I miss last week. So stay tuned guys.
Agent Looker did not order food immediatley. Ludwig noticed that immediately.
On the other side of the same coin, Oak had already accepted a glass of water with an absentminded thank you. His attention was clearly not on them, it was drifting between the kitchen, his employees, and the people in the dining hall like a kid left alone in a museum after hours.
Looker, on the other hand, remained standing for a full ten seconds after introductions. A timespan long enough for him to map the room as well as short enough to pretend he wasn't doing exactly that.
Then he sat straight.
Ludwig leaned both forearms on the counter and waited. Silence was useful. People who dealt in authority hated it more than threats.
"So…" Looker said at last, voice even, neutral. "Checkpoint."
"That's the name." Ludwig replied.
Looker's eyes landed on Ludwig squarely at that moment. "I assume you're the owner."
"Yes." Ludwig smiled and added lightly. "And the head chef, by the way."
Looked nodded once, maybe cataloguing his answer. "Then, you should have been the one who control the access."
Ludwig looked at the agent before letting out a chuckle. People always assumed he controlled the access, like he was the one who chose which world the door would connect to. If he really could do that, he would of course make modern Earth the first priority. He wouldn't have to go to a great length of making sure Tempest made something he needed just to push the cost of ingredients down.
"Let me ask you this." Ludwig started. "By controlling access, what do you mean by that?"
Looker said nothing for seconds. His eyes went from Ludwig to the door and back again. Then, "I assume you can ban someone from entering if they make trouble for you. Or even cut off an access granted to a world if the problem is big enough."
Ludwig hummed again in his mind. That's a no, not even the restaurant should have that kind of power.
As if the restaurant agreed with him, it hummed. The next moment, Ludwig opened his mouth. "No, that's not the way I control access. If someone made trouble here, we removed them. Make them sign an agreement to not repeat it. If they break them, well… let's say every time they come here, they will be kicked out."
Looker's brow creased slightly. At the same time, his eyes were glinting with recalculation.
"So you don't lock doors for troublemakers. Instead you escort them out."
"Yes." Ludwig replied. "Repeatedly, if necessary."
"And the access itself?" Looker asked. "You don't sever it?"
"No." Ludwig said plainly. "I can't even if I wanted to."
That earned him another long look. Looker's fingers tapped once against the edge of the counter, slow and deliberate.
"That's… unusual for you to accept that." Looker said.
Ludwig chuckled. "Brave of you to assume I accept something. The place just fell to my lap one day."
The restaurant hummed at his answer, as if it was nodding its head to the statement.
Oak, who had been quietly observing the exchange like someone watching two very different instruments tune themselves, finally spoke up. "If I may… Then yesterday, you didn't choose my world? I just arrived because the door opened in Pallet Town?"
"Yes." Ludwig nodded. "In fact, every first customer in this restaurant experienced that."
Claire and Rimuru nodded at the words, their faces went blank like they were remembering the first day they crossed into this nonsensical restaurant.
Looker leaned back a fraction in his chair.
"So you are not a gatekeeper." He said slowly. "You're… a custodian."
Ludwig smiled. "That's a much better word. But I prefer a host."
The restaurant hummed softly, approving of the terminology. Ludwig noticed. But Looker did not.
"How about your authority?" Looker continued,."Did it extends only to behavior inside this space?"
"Yes." Ludwig said. "This place has rules, something that I made to make all customers feel safe and comfortable. But outside? I don't think they will agree to my way of doing things."
Claire took a slow sip of her whiskey befroe chiming in. "Trust me. We've tested that distinction."
Looker's gaze flicked to her. "I'm sure."
He turned back to Ludwig. "Then let me be direct with you."
"Please do."
"If someone entered this restaurant with the intent to exploit that door. Let's say for smuggling, trafficking, and military reconnaissance, what would you do?"
Ludwig didn't answer immediately. Instead, he placaed his hands on the table surface before looking straight to Looker.
"I would stop them." He said.
"How?"
"First, by refusing service." Ludwig said calmly. "People underestimate how unsettling that is here."
Rimuru grinned. "It really is."
"And if that fails?" Looker pressed.
"Then they will be removed." Ludwig continued. "Physically, if necessary. After that, the restaurant will remember them."
"Remember?" Looker echoed.
Ludwig nodded. "And it doesn't forgive."
Looker did another recalculation. A deeper one this time. Then, he exhaled slowly. "So your deterrent is certainty. Not force projection."
"Yes."
"And the restaurant enforces it."
Just before Ludwig answered, Claire reentered the conversation. "No, not the restaurant."
Looker's eyes left Ludwig and land on Claire. Her posture had become straight, not her usual posture when she's just enjoying herself. It was her 'Administrator' stance, and Ludwig couldn't help but shudder because of it.
"What do you mean by that, miss…" Looker started.
"Claire. You can call me Claire." She answered. "And what I mean by that is… Just look around you."
She paused, letting Looker's eyes roamed around the restaurant first.
"Everyone here knows each other to a degree. Not because we know each other before, but because we learn about each other here in this place. And let me tell you this, everyone who visits this place regularly, loves this place. They will do anything they can to support this place. It already happened before."
Looker's and Oak's eyes opened a little bigger at the revelation. Ludwig could see it in the round eyes of his, once again he was recalculating. It showed him just how serious he took his task. What a boon for Pokemon World.
"Can you elaborate on the last part?" Looker asked, quietly this time.
Claire didn't answer immediately.
She leaned back slightly, fingers resting against the rim of her glass, eyes no longer on Looker but somewhere deeper.
"There was an incident." She said at last. Her tone was even, stripped of embellishment. "A few days ago, or maybe a week ago, one of the worlds connected to this place thought they can bring the rules of their world here."
Ludwig felt the restaurant hum again.
Looker did not interrupt. He had gone still in the way of people who understood that anything said next mattered.
"They didn't come to eat." Claire continued. "They came with soldiers and an agenda, assuming that because this is a place between worlds, it could be pressured into choosing sides."
Oak's lips parted slightly. He said nothing.
"They were wrong." Claire continued as she grinned.
She didn't describe the attack at all. She skipped all of that like it was irrelevant.
"What matters is…" She said, "Why they came."
Looker's voice was quiet. "Why?"
Claire finally looked at him again. Direct. Sharp.
"Potions."
The word landed with surprising weight.
"It was a restorative concoctions." She clarified. "Medical-grade and battlefield-capable. They were things that close wounds, purge poisons, stabilize people who should be dead, and even restore lost limbs."
Oak's eyes went wide as a saucer, mouth wide opened as he inhaled softly. "That level of medicine wou—"
"Change wars." Ludwig finished from behind the counter even when he knew that was not what Oak wanted to say.
Claire nodded once. "Exactly that."
She lifted her glass, took a small sip, then set it down untouched afterward.
"That world wanted access to those things and assumed force would be enough for us to cough those for them."
"And instead?" Looker asked.
"They learned two things," Claire replied.
She raised one finger. "First: this place does not break under pressure."
A second finger. "Second: everyone here reacts very badly when you threaten it."
Ludwig watched Looker absorb that. The way his jaw tightened just slightly. The way his eyes flicked, involuntarily, to Rimuru, who was smiling pleasantly, and then to the rest of the room, where patrons laughed, ate, talked, utterly unafraid.
"What happened after?" Looker asked.
Claire smiled. Not kindly.
"They left without what they wanted plus broken bones and bruises." Claire gave the man a predator smile as she said that.
"And the potions?"
"They will still get it. But not as much various as if they came in peace." Claire said before leaning forward. "They signed a document acknowledging this place as neutral ground. No military presence, no coercion, and no attempts at seizure or control. In exchange, limited trade will start. Though, heavily monitored."
Oak blinked. "They agreed to that?"
"They had incentives." Claire said.
Looker exhaled slowly through his nose.
"And you're telling me this because you want me to understand that your leverage isn't expansion?"
"Yes." Claire replied. "It's restraint."
Silence again. Deeper this time. Then Looker nodded once.
"Then, you are not an invasion risk." He said with tone that seemed like he was talking to himself rather than Claire or Rimuru or him.
"You don't mobilize, you don't occupy, and you don't pursue dominance. You just react and defend. And you trade from a position of refusal."
Ludwig smiled faintly.
"That's a relief." Rimuru said cheerfully. "I hate invading things. Too much paperwork."
Oak laughed, a little shakily. Looker looked around once again. But his sight lingered too long at the species that wasn't human. However, he didn't say anything else.
Then, he spoke up again with an even tone. "I can grant you access to visit our world. To move within it legally. Observe, eat, talk, and even… catch Pokemon, if that's something you choose to do."
Oak's head snapped up at that, eyes bright behind his glasses, but he restrained himself from saying anything.
"But," Looker continued, smoothly reclaiming the room. "Before that means anything, you need to understand what kind of world you'd be stepping into."
Ludwig tilted his head slightly while trying to stop his emotions showing on his face. An explanation about Pokemon World from someone who had walked the darkest part of it. It should be exciting and eye opening.
When he moved his head slightly, he could also see Rimuru doing the same thing as him.
"Go on." Claire said.
Looker folded his hands atop the counter. "On the surface, our world looks calm. Structured. Cities, routes, gyms. People raise Pokémon like companions, athletes, or partners. Most days, that's exactly what it is."
Claire snorted quietly into her glass. Rimuru smiled, already sensing the turn.
"But." Looker said, eyes never leaving Ludwig, "That surface only holds because something pushes back when it cracks."
He didn't gesture. Didn't dramatize. Just stated it.
"There are beings in our world that don't fit into cities or routes. Creatures that influence weather without meaning to. Creatures whose presence changes land, sea, or air just by existing."
Oak nodded once, solemn. "Some ecosystems are… delicate."
"Others are volatile." Looker added.
Ludwig just looked at them. He already knows that part of Pokemon world. However, the other thing that kept him from being surprised was he also had seen beings so powerful they affect their surroundings.
The Demon King was one, and the other was the dragon sleeping in the mountain range where the restaurant stood in Ortus.
"And then…" Looker continued. "There are people."
That, more than anything else, sharpened Ludwig's focus.
"They are groups that see Pokemon not as partners, but as tools, resources, and weapons. They exploit gaps, borders, and naivety." Looker said, careful not to give them names
Rimuru leaned their cheek into one palm. "Ah. The universal constant."
"I see you have that kind of people too." Looker nodded. "Those groups watch anomalies. They watch anything new. A door between worlds would attract attention very quickly if mishandled."
"I wouldn't advertise it." Ludwig said.
"I assumed as much." Looker replied. "But attention doesn't require invitations."
He tapped the counter once.
"And finally, there's the consequence."
Ludwig raised an eyebrow.
"Catching a Pokemon isn't theft." Looker explained. "But removing the wrong one from the wrong place can destabilize an area. Moving creatures between regions has effects. Sometimes subtle. Sometimes… immediate."
"Mister Oak here had told us about that." Ludwig said carefully.
Looker nodded, but then Rimuru chimed in.
"Have he?"
"He have, when he first visited this restaurant." Claire explained.
Oak finally leaned forward, unable to restrain himself any longer. "To elaborate on what Looker said, Pokemon aren't ingredients." He added gently, but firmly. "They're participants. Whatever you do in our world would have to respect that."
Ludwig nodded once.
"I'm a chef." He said. "Not a butcher without permission."
Rimuru grinned. "And he's very annoying about consent."
Claire hummed in agreement.
Ludwig saw Looker's eyes moving between them. Probably not the jokes, but the way none of them pushed back. The way the answers came without defensiveness.
"That." Looker said. "Is why I'm having this conversation instead of shutting the door."
He straightened slightly.
"I'm willing to authorize access." He repeated. "Limited at first. Just quiet and observational. You don't bring people that look far from humans. And you don't bring anything back unless you understand them. You also don't move people through without notice. And if something goes wrong…"
"We talk." Ludwig finished.
"Yes." Looker said. "We talk."
Oak released a breath he'd been holding. "That's… more generous than I expected."
Looker glanced at him. "It's not generosity. It's triage."
The restaurant hummed again, chirpier this time.
Then Looker added, almost casually, "And if, at some point, something happens in our world that exceeds our ability to handle quietly…"
His gaze flicked just for a moment. To Claire. To Rimuru. To the room full of people who had defended a restaurant like it was home.
"…I'd prefer to know who's on the other side of the door."
Ludwig smiled at the words. He understood the meaning well enough.
"That's fair." He said.
Looker nodded once, satisfied.
"This isn't an agreement." Looker said. "Not yet. It's still a understanding."
Claire raised her glass slightly. "Those tend to last longer anyway."
Rimuru beamed. "Wow. Dinner and international relations. Five stars."
Oak laughed softly, shaking his head. "I came to eat after a day work in the wild and somehow ended up here."
The restaurant hummed again.
Ludwig reached for a clean glass, filled it with water, and slid it toward Looker.
"You're welcome here anytime." He said. "Whether because you want our help, or just for food."
Looker looked at the glass.
Then, finally, he took it.
Making him just another customer in the restaurant, not someone who came because of interworld business.
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