The Innkeeper

The conversations in the restaurant hushed. All the guests looked at each other, then turned to look at the Innkeeper who stood behind the bar.

“Excuse me for a moment,” the Innkeeper said to Slag calmly, as if he was in no hurry, but then disappeared from his place. The resident teenagers, namely Alexander, Helen and Ayesha rushed to the window to peek at what was happening outside. After a few moments, the rest joined them.

Outside, a pale and trembling Gerard stood before an eight feet tall beast that looked something akin to a Liger. Its whiskers were thick and long, waving in the air with ferocity. Its feline eyes stared angrily at the human before it, its fangs exposed threateningly.

Lex quickly looked at its status.

Name: Useless Scrub

Age: 432

Sex: Male_.

Cultivation Details: Doesn’t matter

Species: Dead meat

Midnight Inn Prestige Level: No

Remarks: Those who disrespect the Inn do not deserve to live!

If Lex wasn’t in such a serious situation, he would have chuckled. The system was clearly pissed!

“What seems to be the issue here?” Lex asked calmly. He thought that as the great and noble Innkeeper, he needed to handle the situation maturely and-

“ANOTHER CRETIN! HOW DARE YOU STAND WHILE IN MY PRESCIENCE?” the Liger roared. Its anger lit its fur in a blue flame causing the air to ripple from the heat.

“Calm down, you are-” Lex’s speech was cut short by the Liger roaring in anger and smashing its paw towards him. Its claws extended out, covered in blue flames as well. Yet before the claw could even reach near Lex it was stopped mid air by a hand. The hand did not belong to Lex’s bodyguard, who would have simply disintegrated the Liger, but one of the ten security guards above the Nascent realm that Lex hand rented for the Midnight Games.

The Liger tried to pull back its hand, but realized it could not. Sensing that the situation may be getting out of hand the Liger tried to retreat, but discovered that its entire body was frozen solid by an extremely domineering aura. It could not move, it could not speak and it could not even initialize its spirit energy anymore.

Looking at the Liger, Lex frowned. Screw maturity, now Lex was pissed. But he did not want to kill the Liger directly, the way the Liger had tried to do to him. No, he was not so easily satisfied. Even if he knew his emotions were running amok, this time he did not try to control them. Sometimes, it was better to let himself feel whatever it was he was feeling.

Silently Lex spent 2500 MP then looked at the guard and said, “I’ve created a detention room in the Greenhouse. Take this…well it’s no longer a guest, so take this deviant and hold him in the detention room. I will join you shortly.”

The guard nodded with an emotionless face and effortlessly used his spiritual sense and carried it in the air behind him as he casually walked towards the greenhouse.

“How are you feeling, are you okay?” Lex asked, looking at Gerard. The old man was still trembling, but he tried to put on a brave face.

“I’m good sir, thank you for asking.”

“Go to the Recovery room and have Nurse Jubilation check you out. Then take a rest, you’ve earned some time off.”

“Thank you sir,” Gerard replied, and teleported away.

Lex looked back at his guests who were peeking from the window and smiled at them, then disappeared as well. In the forest near the greenhouse, a square building had cropped up. It was gray and had no windows, only a single door in the front. This was the detention room Lex had spent 2500 MP making. It was small compared to his other buildings such as the Gamer’s Den and the Barbershop because Lex didn’t need much out of it. It was a small, reinforced and soundproof building where Lex was planning on interrogating the Liger…sorry, where Lex was planning on interrogating Useless Scrub. The reason it was near the greenhouse was because he didn’t want customers accidentally finding it.

Inside the room was simply an incredibly bright room with chains on the far wall, and a chair for Lex to sit in. He waited a few minutes before the guard finally showed up with Useless Scrub who now looked incredibly afraid. It had been trying for a long time to get loose, but still could not move.

“I want to know everything about it. I want to know where it came from, what its background is, what it does, everything,” Lex instructed the security guard. While Lex wanted information, that did not mean he was condoning violence or torture. He was angry, not cruel. The security guard was of such a high cultivation level, if he had no methods to extract a truthful confession then Lex would be disappointed. Even simple intimidation should probably work.

*****

Back at the manor everyone returned to their seats, not at all surprised by the outcome. Yet despite that, the mood in the room was much more serious. The beast that had attacked clearly gave off an aura of a Golden Core beast, many of the guests there recognized that. It was the security guard that had most of them confused, he was so immensely powerful but gave off no aura at all. Only Slag saw some signs of what the guards’ cultivation level could be, only because of the kind of exposure he had as a Lieutenant. He was suddenly very happy that he left the Recovery Pod early.

“Well, at least we know the upcoming event will be secure,” said Will. He was speaking to Hera but his voice was loud enough for everyone to hear.

The man’s words immediately caught Slags attention. The soldier immediately made sure he looked presentable before approaching the old man.

“Excuse me, I couldn’t help but overhear. Did you say there’s going to be an event here? Do you know what it’s about?” Slag paused for a moment, before continuing, “Where are my manners? Let me introduce myself first. Lieutenant Slag of the 7th Forward Battalion of the Jotum Empire, at your service.”

Slag analyzed the two as he introduced himself. The Innkeeper was a different matter but he was sure he could easily read these two who had a lower cultivation than him. Their lack of reaction at the mention of the Jotun Empire told him they either also had a similarly powerful background or were unaware of the Empire. He was more willing to bet on the latter, which only meant one thing. They were from an uncharted part of the universe. That in itself was very important information.

“My name is Will,” said the old man. “This is Hera and little Jimmy. Please, have a seat.” Slag took a seat at the table with them and carefully analyzed them without making it obvious. Their cultivation levels were pathetically low, that much Slag could tell even without scanning them with his spiritual sense. For now he was avoiding scanning his guests with his spiritual sense as he felt his host might not like that.

“In around a week’s time, the Innkeeper is planning on having an event for the guests of three different worlds, namely Earth, Vegus Minima and Nibiru. In two days, the Innkeeper will release the details of the event so that interested guests may prepare. There will be a cultural portion of the event, as well as a combat one.”

“Do you know the purpose of the event?” he asked, slightly confused. Why would half of it be cultural and half combat? And why was the event targeted towards these three planets? What was the Innkeeper trying to achieve? How will it benefit him? Little did he know that Lex’s bodyguard was also wondering the exact same thing since he arrived.

When Will indicated that he did not know the exact purpose of the Innkeeper, Slag asked “I am not familiar with Earth and Nibiru. Are they a part of some Empire? Or alliance?” He was hoping to get more information about why these two planets would be selected in addition to Vegus Minima but his question only confused the two. Will and Hera looked at one another, unsure of how to answer. Will was fairly certain that Earth had never contacted any other civilization out in space, so could not join any alliance nor was it under the rule of any empire. The closest thing he could think of was the Morrison family owning. Speaking of the Morrisons…

Will looked towards Alexander and Helen who were sitting nearby. Perhaps it was best if they were involved in this conversation as well. Will himself wasn’t so sure if he should share information about Earth to begin with. But he also did not want to completely end this conversation as this Lieutenant could be a great source of information on other civilizations.

“I think I know someone else better suited for this conversation. Follow me,” the old man got up and walked towards the teenagers.

“Excuse me, your highness,” Will said, bowing to Alexander. “I was meeting with Lieutenant Slag of the Jotun Empire, who was curious about Earth. I thought perhaps it would be better that you answered his questions.”

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