The tension finally settled an octave lower than before.
The Checkpoint hadn't completely returned to normal. There's still a lingering edge inside. However, Where earlier the air had been tight, as if the patron was there eating their fill while waiting for the next explosion, now it felt like the long exhale after a held breath.
Goblins and orcs from Tempest were currently sitting shoulder to shoulder while talking in low voices with the newest customer of the Restaurant called Lee Han. From time to time, Ludwig could feel it through his sense that they were casting a glance toward the corner where he, Ilea, and Hokage were.
Near the door, a Dragonewt rolled his shoulders every few minutes as if expecting the hinges to open on another armed squad as Vilera slipped between tables with a tray of replacements.
The scents of fried chicken, thick stew, and other fried food fought a quiet war with the lingering tang of ash and ozone. Slowly, they were winning.
Ludwig gave a small nod. "That'll do for now. Next item: rules."
Hiruzen gestured for him to continue.
"Checkpoint is and will always be a neutral ground." Ludwig said. With finality. "The door doesn't belong to you, or Tempest, or Elos, or any one world. Even if the door is present in your village, what's beyond it is not Konoha. It's here. My rules. And my number one rule for outsiders is no dragging people out in chains."
"What if my shinobis are attacked inside?" Hiruzen asked. pointedly. "I know you know we have enemies."
"Then we will defend yours against immediate threat." Ludwig said. "Same standard we hold to everyone. If someone draws a weapon on you here, you're not required to smile and die. But at the same time, you will not turn it into a raid. You don't use 'enemy pursuit' as cover to grab the bartender on your way out."
He tilted his head slightly.
"You tried that version already." He added. "Didn't go well."
Hiruzen's mouth twitched, almost wry. "No. It did not."
"And if Konoha refuses to acknowledge these rules?" He asked. "If my successors decide this place is a smudge to their authority?"
Ludwig shrugged. "Then I guess, I'll have to turn two of your ninjas into an old guy and a kid once again before your successor comes marching in and gets defeated. Maybe at that time, there will be no negotiations. Just straight killing and be done with it."
Hiruzen's face went dead serious as his hands on top of the table clenched harder. Since he already knew about his power, and Ludwig already told him there should be no second time, he should be thinking that he was really serious about his words.
And he was serious.
He chose a restaurant rather than a crown simply because he wanted to avoid something like this. Posturing against another Kingdom or Empire was just not appealing enough for him. One or two times doing that was plenty enough. He couldn't imagine doing it for the rest of his life.
Yet right now, he was in that precise situation he really hated. So, to make sure there wouldn't be a second time, he decided to tell the Hokage this is his last warning.
"Isn't that a little too much?" Hiruzed tried to argue.
But Ludwig just shook his head. "Hokage, you should know that consequences are always heavy. That's just the way of the world."
"Besides, you're not stupid. You've seen enough today to know how badly a second attempt would go for you. I am telling you just in case someone with the same hat as yours decides to try anyway. So, you should make sure they don't even try."
Hiruzen's reply died on his tongue. His hands eased a fraction, fingers uncurling on the tabletop.
"I understand." He said at last. "Konoha will treat this place as neutral ground, not territory. I will make that clear to anyone before they ascend to the seat."
"Good." Ludwig's shoulders loosened, just a little. "Then let's move on to something that doesn't involve hypothetical massacres."
He let the silence settle, let the room's hum creep back into his awareness. Someone at Lee Han's table laughed too loudly, then caught themself.
In the meantime, Hiruzen still watched him, waiting.
"You said you wanted three things," Ludwig said. "Kushina, rules, and… potions." He gave the last word a dry tilt. "Let's pretend this is a normal merchant conversation for a minute and talk about that."
He could almost feel every ear in the room tilt their way. Valerie's included.
Hiruzen didn't pretend otherwise. "From my last visit here, I heard about medicines that would change the nature of war in my world. A medicine that would close wounds in seconds when a team of medics would need hours to do and even regrow severed limbs."
"Well, they aren't really a slover for all, but I guess they are quite helpful." Ludwig shrugged.
"Then… for the sake of my people, I must ask: will you trade? Not gifts. Not theft. Purchase. Contract. I will not insult you by pretending my first approach was the right way to get them."
"Good." Ludwig said. "Because if you asked for charity after today, I'd start checking for genjutsu."
Ludwig thought for a second, then laid it out.
"Limited trade." He said. "First tier stock only, at least until your village proves you can handle that without making me regret it."
Hiruzen's eyes narrowed. "Define 'first tier.'"
"Basic healing potions." Ludwig said. "Things that close shallow to moderate wounds faster, help blood clot, keep someone from bleeding out if they get to a medic in reasonable time. Antidotes for common poisons. Stamina restoratives that pick you up without snapping your nerves if you chain them."
He lifted a hand before the Hokage could push.
"No advanced regeneration. No long-term life extension. No things that regrow limbs overnight. Definitely nothing that lets you hold someone halfway between life and death for days because you're not ready to let them die."
Hiruzen's face went serious as Ludwig's told him about the potions he had, at least in his world. Then, "You fear we would misuse them."
"I've seen what happens when people like Danzo get their hands on things that let them hurt someone again tomorrow." Ludwig said quietly. "I will not build your torture chambers for you."
"I do not run my village the way he would." Hiruzen said, voice sharpening.
"I know." Ludwig said. "That's why you're tolerated on this table and he's not. But you won't be Hokage forever. But let me tell you this. I'll get you the top-shelf potions if you really need it. With condition of course."
Hiruzen curled his eyebrows. "Define 'When I really need it' and what will that condition be?"
"When one of your top ninjas was in grave danger. Bring them here, pay the price, and the potions should be used here."
Hiruzen paused for a heartbeat before continuing. "What if the injury happened outside? Can we buy the potions and send them to the frontline? I assure you Konoha will do nothing you don't want us to do with the potions."
Ludwig surrendered his back to the chair. His mind started to think about the counter offer.
As someone who once fought in the battlefield he knew the importance of such potions. Winning and losing hung on such items. That's why he couldn't really reject the Hokage's counter offer.
But, agreeing to it was also difficult. He knew just because the Hokage guaranteed it didn't mean the potions would be delivered without a hitch.
That left him with just two options he could be satisfied with. Either bringing the potions to the battlefield when Konoha made a purchase or bringing the potions himself in the battlefield.
Those choices would benefit him and guard the potions at the same time.
After thinking so, Ludwig decided to speak. "Such potions are expensive, at least in my world."
Ilea saw him looking at her and opened her mouth. "Should also be expensive in my world."
Ludwig nodded. "So we can't just give it to everyone you see fit no matter how much you want to pay us."
"How much are we talking about?" Hiruzen asked.
"Well…" Ludwig sighed. "You probably should ask Claire about that later. Even if I gave you the number now, she would probably veto it. But… If an agreement was reached later, and Claire accepted my proposition, I can do this for you; If an emergency that needed you to ship a potion or two to the frontline ever arises, I'll personally send it to the frontline. Free of charge."
Ilea looked at him with curiosity. Even Trian and Kyrian from one table away moved their heads at them.
"I'll see the injured get tended to normal and return. Just that. No fighting. Unless someone decides to challenge me or something."
Hiruzen looked at him, eyes slightly wider than before. "You are willing to do that?"
"Why not?" Ludwig shrugged. "One step from the door, then one blink away. It's not hard."
Ilea chuckled at his words. "Well, if I have your power, I wouldn't sleep just anywhere and return to my house every night before fighting again the next day."
"Team building matters you know." Ludwig chuckled.
"Not when you mainly hunt alone." She shot back.
"True." Ludwig smiled. Then, he lookd at Hiruzen. "By the way, I have another thing I wanted to talk about with you."
Hiruzen frowned. But rather than pressing him, he just let go. "And what is that?"
"Regarding all the potions, you won't just get it from my world. For now, I'll just include Tempest and Ravenhall." Ludwig said so and looked at Ilea who just shrugged her shoulders. "Checkpoint is connected to more than one world. If we do this, I'm not dragging Ortus into a war economy by myself."
Hiruzen watched him, wary but interested.
"I'll have to bring Claire in." Ludwig went on. "She handles Ravenhall's side. Moreover, she's more sharp than me when it comes to contracts and enforcement. She will insist on clauses you and I haven't even thought of yet. And Rimuru will have to be looped in too. All in all, you don't just get 'Ludwig's shop.' You'll be talking to three powers, minimum."
"So any agreement with you." Hiruzen said slowly, "Is, in truth, an agreement with three nations."
"Well… Two cities and one wo–continent." Ludwig corrected. "Claire's city, Rimuru's nation, and the continent I lived on. All of them care about not feeding the wrong kind of fire. Which means you'll have three sets of eyes on how you use what you buy."
Hiruzen absorbed that without protest. "You will coordinate with them before any trade begins."
"Yes." Ludwig said. "I can promise you intention in principle today. The shelves don't open until Claire and Rimuru sign off. And if either of them thinks Konoha is too big a risk, I won't overrule them."
Hiruzen's mouth thinned, but he nodded. "That is… understandable."
"There's one more condition for your side."Ludwig added. "You don't get to quietly reverse-engineer what you buy into mass production without a separate agreement. If your labs crack a formula through their own work years from now, fine. If they do it by murdering anyone or tearing apart stolen samples, we're done."
"You would keep your monopoly." Hiruzen said.
"I would keep control of how fast very dangerous knowledge spreads." Ludwig replied. "Monopolies die eventually. I'm not naive. But I'd rather see them die because better healers learned more, not because some shinobi stole a crate and Danzo decided to see how many uses a human body has when you can glue it back together."
Hiruzen didn't argue with the picture.
"Supply limits?" he asked instead.
"To start?" Ludwig said. "Small batches. Enough to stock your hospital for emergencies, not enough to outfit every genin with a personal miracle bottle. We'll watch how you use them. If we don't see my work turning up in ways that make Claire start sharpening her pen and Ilea start sharpening her fists, we can talk about scaling."
"And if war makes more 'emergency' than your shelves can support?" Hiruzen asked.
"Then you prioritize." Ludwig said. "Same as you always have. Just at a slightly higher ceiling. I am not becoming the sole pillar holding up your side of a world war. That's your job."
Ilea nodded. "He's right. You start depending on him like that, you'll break faster when something goes wrong."
Hiruzen sat back a little, eyes half-lidded in thought. He didn't look offended. He didn't look relieved, either. He looked like a man fitting new rules into an old machine, already anticipating which gears would grind and which ones would snap.
"A limited supply, monitored use, and three parties watching my head." He said slowly. "You drive a hard bargain for a man who claims he prefers kitchens to thrones."
Ludwig's mouth twitched. "I prefer kitchens. I just don't prefer people using my kitchen as a battlefield."
Hiruzen's gaze slid, briefly, toward the warped floor ridge and the cracked beam. Then back to Ludwig.
"And your offer…" He continued, "To personally deliver emergency potions to the frontline… free of charge." The words were careful. "That is either generosity… or a leash."
"A leash would be a contract clause." Ludwig said. "This is me refusing to let a kid die because paperwork was still arguing about prices."
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