Hell Inn: Rebirth - I Became a Chef in Hell

Chapter 101 I believe the claim that couples look alike is baseless slander.

Although you can't imagine Alastor becoming as adorable as a kitten, you decide to treat this possibility as a bizarre fantasy until you actually see him do it.

And it's obvious you're not the only one who thinks this kind of thing only exists in dreams; Pantheon and Angel probably think so too.

Angel was so shocked that he loosened his grip.

"...Don't look at me like that. He hasn't done these things for a long time!"

Perhaps because your expressions were too strange, the blonde witch touched her short blonde hair with her hand.

Can I have some more of this?

She habitually reached out to Hersk, offering him her empty glass, but the Big Cat Sinner was no longer there.

"...Sorry, I'll do it. Hesker seems to have had to leave temporarily."

With effortless magic, you gently snatch the cup from the other person's hand, then fly three desserts you just made today from the neglected long dining table and hand one to each of the magicians sitting at the bar.

"Since I don't know your taste, I've chosen one of my specialties. I hope you like it—may I ask what kind of wine you prefer? Do you have any preferences regarding spiciness, thickness, or texture?"

The dashing Eastern sinner's words revealed an exceptional upbringing rarely seen in this hellish place, not to mention her androgynous and striking appearance.

Although they were currently in hell, Mimz's polite demeanor still piqued some of his interest.

"Oh?...Then give me a surprise? A striking little cutie!"

Out of respect for a beauty more charming than many handsome men in hell, Mimz, seemingly finding this amusing, rested her chin on her hand and winked at you.

"Unfortunately, I'm not good at creating surprises, beautiful lady."

With a hint of helplessness but with practiced ease, you pulled out a pair of black gloves that looked like they were made of a special material and put them on. Then, with your bare hands, you shaped a square, perfectly transparent piece of ice.

"But I'm willing to do my best for you."

You then winked at Mimz, who was standing in front of you.

A light, white mist escaped from your palm and then fell like snowflakes onto the blonde woman's shoulder.

"..."

"Oh, damn... wait, is this real snow?"

Mimz widened his eyes, took off his gloves, touched his wet shoulders, and asked in surprise.

But the wet sensation on her shoulder quickly disappeared.

"Hmph, this is just the tip of the iceberg of this weirdo who isn't gay but has a particular fondness for flaunting his charms on other women... Hey! Stop showering your irresistible charm on people you're not going to sleep with!"

Angel, unable to stand your behavior, rested his chin on his hand and patted your tail.

The Eastern sinner who was being photographed twitched at the corner of his mouth, but did not turn around to look at the disrespectful Angel.

She rolled her eyes and focused on the glass of ice that had been placed in her hands, as if she couldn't be bothered with him.

'Two ounces of bourbon whiskey, 1 2/3 sugar cubes, two or three drops of bitters, and orange peel garnished with squeezed butter and lemon slices.'

With the classic (old-fashioned) recipe memorized like a textbook, you hold the cocktail shaker between your slender fingers, your expression indifferent yet serious, your movements swift and efficient.

The liquor popular in the 1930s was not difficult to make.

Previously, when you made cocktails for Alastor separately, you would add more bitters according to his taste, but you chose Classic mainly because Mimz once said that he knew Alastor when he was alive.

You really wanted to mix Mimz a pretty, low-alcohol fruit liqueur, but you wanted to avoid the risk of her calling you tasteless... Besides, she didn't seem like the type to drink low-alcohol beverages.

Besides, Alastor has already given you a tasteful answer, so why humiliate yourself further?

"what about me?"

Angel leaned on the bar, puffed out his cheeks, and waved his empty glass at you.

Although you weren't a bartender, you did have a bartender certification.

Unfortunately, bartending is mainly about skill proficiency and experience, just like how people prefer experienced drivers to novice drivers with formal training...

But you're still quite good at mixing some beautiful waste and some recipe-based drinks.

After all, you have a good memory and are good at being flexible; occasionally, when you feel like it, you'll take advantage of the meal delivery to deliver drinks you've made yourself to a few demons at the inn.

To avoid digging your own grave, you would usually give the beautiful trash to people like Shirley, Vicky, and Angel, who aren't particularly picky about alcohol.

Sending wine to Hesk and Alastor... you're basically just going to exchange experiences with wine connoisseurs or get scolded.

……

But now you're a magician approved by Hesker and Alastor! You're confident you can mix drinks for a beautiful lady!

"I'll make you a cup of 'love brain'."

With a blank expression, you pulled a long, round glass from under the bar and quickly mixed a beautifully shoddy drink with a red gradient from bottom to top for the spider sinner in front of you.

(Add half an ounce (15 ml) each of vodka, gin, rum, Cointreau, tequila, and lemon juice to a shaker with ice and shake well. Fill a glass with ice, add homemade grenadine syrup, pour in the liquor, top with sparkling water, and garnish with a lemon slice.)

It features a base spirit that's high in alcohol, making it easy to get drunk.

Most of the edible items in the inn are homemade, including but not limited to meals and drinks.

So even if Angel doesn't stir the pomegranate syrup in his cup, it won't be too sweet... but if he weren't a sinner, he would definitely get drunk.

"As for you, you can drink Coke."

You then pushed a glass of cola with ice to Pantheon, whose eyes were sparkling.

Pantheon didn't make a fuss and obediently drank it.

That's great, no wonder she's the easiest to coax in the whole inn.

As you sighed, you touched the head of Angel, who seemed a bit silly, sitting next to you; he was staring blankly at you, lost in your love-struck state.

"It's amazing that I can actually get a sip of authentic classic whisky in a place like this?"

Mimz looked genuinely surprised, cupping her round cheek with one hand; she had already downed more than half of the wine in her hand.

"I thought the only drinkable thing here was beetle juice!"

She let out a few laughs that sounded a lot like Alastor's.

……

No wonder she's a lady who can hang out with the radio demon.

You listened to her laughter and sighed inwardly.

But you're still more curious about what Mimz's peak was like, as Alastor previously mentioned.

Because Mimz, with her short blonde hair and dancer's attire, reminds you of the radiant, beautiful, and charming sweethearts of the early days of the United States.

—At least in this respect, you envy the radio demons who once feasted their eyes on such a spectacle.

"Of course, there's an inn chef here who looks like a couple with Alastor! Her impeccable manners are entirely expected."

Angel took a sip of the "beautiful waste" you made for him, and with just a few words from his lips, he could utter something that would leave you speechless.

Your specially made ice cubes clinked and sizzled in his glass.

"...I believe the claim that couples look alike is baseless slander."

Your cold expression almost faltered as your lips twitched, and your fist hardened.

This is even more absurd than Angel asking you to have sex with him.

"I feel so too……"

Pantheon held the Coke and looked at your face with suspicion.

"The chef is far better than the broadcast devil, a hundred times... no, ten thousand times better! She deserves better!"

The serpentine sinner closed his eyes, flicked his tongue, raised his head, and solemnly declared.

"You're such a hopeless idiot... I mean them... uh, can't you really tell?"

Angel, who looked disgusted with Pancius, rolled his eyes, still clutching the drink you had mixed for him.

"You must have never been in a relationship, right? Or have you ever been pursued by someone?"

"...Wh...what!? This gentleman certainly has it!"

Faced with Angel's questioning, Pantheon's face flushed red, his eyes widened, and he shrugged, glaring angrily at the spider sinner in front of him who had a somewhat gloating expression.

“That only makes you look more pathetic, my dear.” Angel raised one eyebrow, deliberately emphasizing the last syllable.

“…Enough! I’m not going to sit here and tolerate your rudeness!” Pantheon was both ashamed and angry.

"Don't fight, Angel, don't bully him." You said expressionlessly.

Angel: "...Tch, I was still hoping you could help me win back those two hundred dollars." (You: "? What two hundred dollars?")

Pantheon: "Yes, ma'am."

A chaotic argument.

"...But maybe this guy is right? Although I've never seen that slender, dark figure like anyone, either in life or in death, except for himself, I've certainly rarely seen him be so 'docile' to anyone."

Mimz, who had smoothly joined your conversation, put her fingers in quotation marks. After seeing your expressions, she immediately sat back down and burst into laughter without any restraint.

"But he treats all ladies the same. Maybe he'll be all docile and submissive to your little princess too? Who knows! After all, he's an incomprehensible and incredibly neurotic weirdo!"

She waved her hand as if she were a close friend chatting with you.

……docile?

When did this word come to be used to describe that sinner lord who struck fear into the hearts of demons?

You pouted.

To be honest, when you think of Alastor, most of your memories are not pleasant.

For example, sarcastic remarks that can cause blood pressure to spike.

Annoying, corny, and sarcastic double entendre jokes.

Even after being warned in your kitchen, they still continue to sneak food as if no one else is around.

A scary prank that doesn't care about any space or location.

Sometimes they get angry and threaten for no reason, like a damp time bomb.

The terrifying male ghost's behavior, capable of hiding in any shadowy spot in the hotel... and his red-haired head that can rotate 365 degrees and never tires of it.

……

But you do have some good points, don't you?

For example, he'll watch gore movies and most horror movies with you, even if nobody else wants to, but he's also willing to watch other things with you.

For example, the most meticulously written restaurant review card in the entire hotel.

For example, his erudite conversation and unique philosophy of life.

Although he has a terrible temper and looks down on many things, he has indeed listened to you properly, helped you in the kitchen, and at times, out of his gentlemanly nature, offered you protection that you didn't really need.

You assume he will ignore you or pretend not to see you most of the time, after all, you don't have a very good relationship with him and you always bicker with him.

But you suddenly realize that he seems to always respond to every single thing you say.

Is it because he wants something from you? But you've already become his bodyguard, what else does he want now?

Perhaps Alastor's docility is relative... but surely he wouldn't treat all demons with the same attitude he has towards Vox, like "I'm going to curse you to death today, or you'll curse me to death."

……

"What are you thinking about? Are you wondering if you and Alastor look like a couple?"

Perhaps seeing that you had fallen silent, Angel cheekily rested his chin on his hand and leaned close to you to ask you this question.

"Are you really unaware that Alastor always likes to follow you around, or are you pretending not to know? And haven't you noticed that he's never yelled at you?"

"...If you get beaten up by him for spreading rumors about him, I won't save you."

Your thoughts interrupted, you push Angel's head away expressionlessly, your tone cold, "First, he doesn't like following me. He follows me because he gets the most amusement from torturing me in the whole inn."

"Secondly, why don't you go ask Alastor if he dares to... Ask him if threatening me in front of him can solve the problem. He'll definitely tell you in a friendly manner why he never gets angry in front of me."

"Third, a little-known fact: people can live without a sex-oriented mindset... And do you know what the fans of the broadcasting demons will call your current behavior? A menace! You're currently using an unknown innkeeper's chef to ruin a valiant lord who has achieved great military exploits and seems uninterested in anything related to love! You..."

"Oh~ I'll be waiting for the day you cry your eyes out after missing out on true love!"

"...You don't mean you think Alastor is my true love, do you? If you make this into a horror movie, I'll classify it as NC-17."

You first expressed your surprise, then, unusually, gave Angel a look of disdain.

"Everyone who watches this movie will be scared to death in the theater, and the ending will be accompanied by the sound of a demon laughing loudly on the radio."

Out of rebuttal to Angell's absurd ideas and astonishingly misleading speculations, you ruthlessly added your own interpretation.

But Angel didn't seem to listen to what you said; he was still looking at you with that mocking expression in his eyes.

It gives you the creeps.

You: "...You're really hungry, you can eat anything."

Angel: "But weren't you also pointing and commenting on Alastor and Shirley's backs?"

You panic: "...What...I...I'm only because they're really close! And I never talk to other people..."

“I would never say anything offensive in front of them...besides, Shirley and Vicky are destined to get married!”

"I just occasionally find the interactions between the Radio Demon and Shirley quite healing and uplifting."

Angel: "Oh my, look at you, you're so anxious. I think you're just feeling guilty, aren't you? Well, isn't it possible that you and Alastor will marry in the future?"

"..."

“...Shut up, I’d rather kill myself.”

Your face turned green in an instant.

"Oh...you really are a real iron tree, darling."

After seeing that your complexion was indeed terribly bad, Angel, with a hint of unease but not much, exaggeratedly rubbed his forehead.

"She certainly does look like it, otherwise how could someone with such a pretty face still be single in hell?"

Mimz, who seemed to have completely joined in your conversation, affectionately pinched your cheek and expressed his agreement with Angel's statement.

"...But people don't necessarily need to be with another person to survive. I can live a good life on my own. I can do what men can do, and I can do what men can't do. And what I can do, men may not be able to do, and even if they can, they may not be able to do it as well as I can."

You frowned, strongly objecting to the statements of the two people in front of you, and then delivered a speech that sounded like a tongue twister.

……

"...God, look at her, she's beyond saving..."

Angel looked at you with an exaggeratedly sorrowful gaze.

"Indeed...did she suffer some kind of trauma?"

"The chef has suffered psychological trauma!?"

“I think she’s just sexually frigid. Look at her, she’s just like Alastor in that respect! How could a demon from hell be completely uninterested in sex? This is fucking hell! She…”

"boom!!"

Just as Angel, Pantheon, and Mimz were getting into the swing of things you didn't want them to say, the entire Hell Inn suddenly shook with a loud bang.