"Good evening, Senator Ingenvinus."
"No need for any formalities, this is a private occasion. Since we've met here, would you care to join me?"
"No thanks, Canus. I do not wish to intrude on your free time."
"Very well, have a good night then, your Majesty," Canus says as he is directed away by a waitress.
Arriving at the reception, we are greeted by the wide smile of the Lamia receptionist.
"Good evening, Miss Aurelia, it's been a while since your last visit."
"Yes, I've been busy and out of the city in recent times," turning to us she continues, "let me introduce you two to her, this is the receptionist for the Interdimensional Restaurant, Slithori, she is what's called a Lamia," then turning back to Slithori, "these two are my friends, Cordelia and Lia."
"Nice to meet you, as you've just heard, this is the Interdimensional Restaurant. Here we serve guests from all the realms, Celestia, Spirit World, the Netherworld, the Boundary, the Subspaces created by the Lord of Eternity, and of course the Mortal Realm, or as most of its inhabitants call it, the Universe. The Boss has travelled across all the realms in search of delicious food, and this restaurant is the culmination of his lives work. I could keep on going but the Boss will get upset if I keep you waiting for too long, so a table for three right?"
Soon enough a waiter guides us to a table, at least I think its a waiter. It is made entirely of stone, yet moves with fluid movements. And just as Aurelia said, using my Draconic Insight just tells me that they exist outside the System and can't be identified.
Seeing my confusion, Aurelia says, "he's a Lithoid, a being comprised of rocks. If I recall correctly he is specifically a Granitoid."
Turning to us he directs his arm toward a large table, "correct, my name is Sioalko, a Granitoid. This will be your table."
Handing us a menu, he quickly takes his leave as he begins to direct another group towards a table. Looking behind Aurelia, I familiar face is once again spotted.
Just as I go to point it out, Aurelia stops me, "don't say anything. Just ignore him."
Since that's how she wants to deal with him, I keep my mouth shut as it isn't that important and bring my attention to the menu. The menu itself is as thick as my arm, with easily over several hundred pages. It's divided into different sections depending on the origin of the dish. Naturally, I don't know the contents of each item at first glance unless it has an obvious name like this Immortal Peach Tea. Thankfully, beside each name is a picture of the food and a short description written in several different languages. This is a little confusing for my eyes since I can read each one and I just keep seeing the same thing repeated several times, but it makes sense as this restaurant caters to people from all over the place, this would also explain the massive menu.
Seems each section of the menu is further divided up by more precise locations. The first section of the menu is Celestia and the first subsection is The Heavenly Court. Looking further, a couple of the other subsections are Asgard and Takamagahara. While I don't recognise most of the subsection names, they should correlate to the various groups of Gods. Skipping over to the Mortal section, I eventually find names I'm familiar with, cheeseburgers, fish and chips, and all sorts of food from Earth. But that was only in the Orion Arm subsection, which is a subsection of the Milkyway subsection, there are others that with food names I don't recognise at all, within the Milkyway subsection.
At the end of the menu is a small section called the Boss's Specialty with only two options, Nether Pepper Curry with choice of Primordial Grade Meat. and Nether Pepper Mapo Tofu with Primordial Grade Ground Pork. Reading further, these are the only two dishes made personally by the Boss and everything else is usually made by the apprentices. As expected, they are also the most expensive things that can be ordered. Although, looking back, everything looks a little expensive.
"Feel free to order whatever catches your eye, I'll take care of paying," Aurelia says, while calling a someone to take our order.
"Have you decided?" the waitress asks.
"Yes, I'll have the Seared Overlord Kalfin and..." Aurelia pauses, taking a look towards me and Lia, letting out a small sigh before continuing, "just some water."
"I'll have the Boss's Nether Pepper Curry with Chicken and the Immortal Peach Tea," Lia says.
"I'll be having the Nether Pepper Mapo Tofu with Primordial Grade Ground Pork and the Shi'zhivlo 98%."
As the waitress is writing down my order, Lia interrupts saying, "she won't be having that drink, give her the Spirit Jade Wine instead."
The waitress's face contorts slightly in confusion, as she asks, "are you sure, Ma'am? Your companion looks... very dissatisfied."
"That's because I am. The Spirit Jade Wine is only 20% alcohol content, why would I get anything other than the strongest drink available."
Ignoring me, Lia says, "Miss, if you don't want her turning into a giant Dragon and going on a drunken rampage, do not give her anything strong and do not let her have too much to drink. She isn't good at controlling her intake and will always try to get the strongest thing around."
With a look of understanding and pity, the waitress says, "I completely understand. We all have that one friend who can't control their drinking. Anyways, will this be all?"
"Yes, thankfully this is it," says Aurelia who is also ignoring my complaints.
"Alright. Your food will be brought out each dish as it's ready. And just to let you know, the two dishes that the Boss will make will take longer to finish. He is the only one who cooks these and there are currently two more orders ahead of yours," the waitress says, returning to the kitchen.
"You two really had to go and get the most expensive stuff on the menu, didn't you," Aurelia complains.
But just like she did to me just a minute prior I ignore her and continue complaining to Lia about my drink. After a couple of minutes of complaining the drinks arrive and I reluctantly take a sip of my Spirit Jade Wine. Unexpectedly, this stuff is amazing. Absolutely delicious and it slides right down my throat with practically no resistance. Being enthralled by it, I down the wine quickly and call a waiter over for another one. Aurelia's face looks pained as this wine is apparently on the more expensive side, while Lia just says to take it slow since she will block any attempt at getting more than three drinks tonight.
As we wait we end up just making small talk as to avoid anything important with Canus sitting right behind Aurelia. Seems he was just eating a small salad as he finishes up quickly and gives Aurelia a small nod as he walks up to the front to pay.
"I've heard Canus only eats small meals, but even so, I didn't expect him to leave as quickly as he did. Especially since there was only one person coming in between him and us, but this is still a good thing. Since there isn't anyone else from Grauntia here, we can talk freely."
So she says, but within two minutes of Canus leaving, yet another familiar face shows up. Taking Canus's seat, a certain Red Dragonoid sits down behind Aurelia.