This time, it was Tsukika who couldn't keep it together.

Wait, what? This restaurant had this kind of play too?

You can actually get on the table?

But that's not what I meant. I didn't want you to be the plate. I wanted you to be the dish.

Now that even the "human platter" route existed, Tsukika couldn't even begin to imagine what "being the dish" would look like.

Her mood turned slightly complicated, and deeply shaken.

People always said demons were cruel and lawless. Turns out I'd underestimated how perverted you humans are.

No... maybe I'd underestimated how perverted elves are too?

For the first time, Tsukika, a true master of innuendo, felt like she'd met her match. She looked at the elf she'd dismissed before, pressed her soft pink lips together, and a dangerous light flickered in her crimson eyes.

At that moment, in the stage prep area, Vivian still hadn't stopped watching what was happening below.

She didn't care about Li Wei himself. But it was hard to ignore the possibility that he might mock her after learning she'd come to do this kind of performance.

And yet, after Tiffany stabbed her in the back, Li Wei showed no reaction at all. Vivian realized the first emotion that surged up in her wasn't relief, but something far more complicated, something even she couldn't name.

Especially when she saw Tiffany talking to Li Wei so intimately, one of her hands unconsciously pressed against the edge of the nearby table, her fingers tightening without thinking.

Crack.

The poor table corner got snapped right off by Vivian.

Vivian couldn't understand it. Li Wei wasn't even part of Dawn anymore, so why could Tiffany still talk to him so closely?

And why was he always so natural with Tiffany, but whenever he talked to me, it was always in that lecturing tone?

Just as Vivian absentmindedly crushed the table corner, a timid voice spoke up.

"Miss Vivian..."

"I know. It's time for the performance, right?" Vivian took a deep breath and forcefully steadied her emotions.

"Uh, there's still a little time. What I wanted to say was..."

"If it's something else, I don't have time right now."

"B-but... I wanted to say... the table corner you crushed... you'll have to pay for that," the maid beside her said carefully.

It was something expensive. If she didn't report it, she'd be the one paying for it.

And she absolutely couldn't afford that.

"..."

"I got it."

Vivian ground the words out through clenched teeth.

It's all Li Wei's fault!

...

Back at Li Wei's table.

After Tiffany gave her reply, the atmosphere froze for a moment.

Even Tiffany realized something felt off.

Mainly because of the way Tsukika was looking at her. It suddenly made her feel like a fish stripped bare and laid on a chopping board. What came next wouldn't be Mr. Li Wei gently savoring her with tender care, but a gleaming butcher's knife falling from Tsukika's hand.

D-did I get too carried away and say the wrong thing?

Tiffany felt wronged. For a moment, she really couldn't figure out what she'd done wrong...

Wasn't Miss Tsukika the one who'd handed her the setup?

Could it be she was the same type as Mr. Li Wei, someone who liked speaking in hints? And because Tiffany had said it too directly, she'd gotten mad?

"I'm hungry. Can we order now?"

Thankfully, just as the air was turning stiff, Yue Lin's voice suddenly rang out.

Like sweet rain after a long drought, she always stepped in at exactly the right moment.

The hero has arrived!

As Yue Lin spoke, she shot a glance at the speechless man beside her.

Hmph. He's always smooth-talking when he's talking to me, so why's he gone mute at a time like this?

What an unreliable man. Can he only fool little girls?

This whole family would fall apart sooner or later without me!

Yue Lin's interruption quickly eased the stiff atmosphere.

Tsukika reined in her chill. Li Wei came back from his thoughts. Tiffany obediently took out paper and pen, acting as if nothing had happened and helping with the order.

Yue Lin raised the menu. "I want this, this, and this."

Li Wei and Tsukika almost leaned in at the same time to look. The sight made Tiffany's gaze dim slightly, but she quickly smiled again.

The better Mr. Li Wei gets along with his wife, the more it proves he's worth it!

Worth stealing away, that is.

While Tiffany was quietly building up her ambitions, Li Wei and Tsukika, now leaning together, both fell into silence after seeing the menu in Yue Lin's hands.

The dish names on it were all... very tasteful.

Yue Lin, who couldn't read, had no idea what was written there. She'd just picked whatever had the thumbs-up recommendation.

But when Li Wei and Tsukika looked down that list of dish names, their expressions became rather colorful.

"If you're a Chosen Hero, charge the Demon Lord seven times over" — special sliced beast tripe hotpot.

"If you're a Chosen Hero, make the Demon Lord surrender her weapons" — limp razor clams with garlic.

"If you're a Chosen Hero, make the Demon Lord take it both soft and hard" — cashew stir-fried vegetables.

What the hell, can you not write a menu unless you shove in "Demon Lord" and "Chosen Hero"?

Li Wei and Tsukika exchanged a look on instinct. Both felt personally offended by the menu.

In the past, Li Wei had made Tsukika suffer through plenty of this kind of thing.

And recently, Tsukika had made Li Wei suffer through plenty of the same.

Besides those standard AOE dish names, there were also themed dishes aimed at specific Demon Lords.

"If you're the strongest, smash Devourer to pieces." — dry pot sheep head.

"If you're the strongest, twist off Annihilation's head." — steamed crystal lobster.

"This one is pretty interesting."

After several seconds of silence, Tsukika suddenly smiled and pointed at the final dish, the one marked with "Danger" and "Order with Caution."

"If you're the strongest, stir-fry Undying to death."

Li Wei: "?"

He didn't know whether this restaurant owner had a grudge against him, or whether the world itself had one, arranging a coincidence like this.

But after seeing the ingredients listed under the dish, Li Wei's gaze shifted slightly.

Demon-Bane Peppers stir-fried with beast blood balls.

Looking at Tsukika's teasing expression, Li Wei said flatly,

"You should skip this one."

"Ordinary people can't handle it."

Demon-Bane Peppers were the kind of chili that felt like they punched you in the mouth the moment you ate them.

Li Wei had discovered them by accident while searching for spicy seasonings in the wild. And they had a rather magical property.

When humans ate them, it felt like their mouths were getting beaten up. When demons ate them... it was pure agony, almost like being poisoned.

That said, it was only pain. Other than the suffering, it didn't actually cause extra damage to demons.

Back when Li Wei first discovered those peppers, humans even used them for a while as a way to identify demons.

And the name Demon-Bane Pepper came from the hopes humans had placed in them at the time.

"Why skip it?"

Tsukika tilted her head, looking playful. "Are you afraid of something?"

Li Wei shot her an annoyed look.

He reached out and tapped the ingredients list. "If you really want it, ordering one is fine."

If not for the need to keep his daughter's identity and Tsukika's identity secret, he wouldn't have bothered warning this Demon Lord so kindly.

Tsukika gave a dry little laugh. She was about to say something else, but the moment her eyes landed on the words "Demon-Bane Pepper" where Li Wei was pointing, her smile vanished at once.

"Since the Chosen Hero says so~ then I'll listen to you."

She immediately put on a neat, obedient, well-behaved look.

She hadn't forgotten what happened back when Li Wei first discovered Demon-Bane Peppers and treated them like treasure. She'd secretly picked some and taken them back to try for herself.

That day, she hadn't even gotten the chance to jump out and do anything to Li Wei before he defeated her without lifting a finger.

Their cryptic exchange left both Yue Lin and Tiffany completely confused.

But compared to the simple-minded Yue Lin, the more mature Tiffany clearly had her own unique interpretation.

Tiffany noticed where Li Wei's finger had pointed, and her eyes flickered slightly.

Would Mr. Li Wei really be afraid of Demon-Bane Pepper's heat?

Impossible.

Then she looked at the string of zeroes after the dish's price, and suddenly understood!

As one of the restaurant's signature dishes, it was frighteningly expensive.

The ingredients weren't cheap, sure, but a full three thousand gold coins was still enough to scare anyone off.

For Mr. Li Wei, this definitely had terrible cost-performance value, right?

Tiffany thought back to what she'd been taught before. When it came to using resources, Mr. Li Wei was the kind of person who wanted to split one portion into a hundred.

Frugal!

Maybe that was one of Mr. Li Wei's principles.

Which meant this was her moment to shine!

...