The Innkeeper

The Midnight Inn day care service, which had existed for an entire 3 minutes 21 seconds, fell under the siege of the Peacock warriors. Astride their viscous mounts, they leaped over the padded, childproof boundary walls and right into the children's zone.

Some landed in the hedge maze, filled with ripe, delicious fruit ready to be plucked and eaten. Others who leaped over the walls landed in the ball pool, or rather, in the sea of colorful plastic balls. Others still landed in houses made entirely of trampoline like surfaces, while some landed on the jungle gym that stood above a massive pool. Delicious candy was stashed like treasure in the center of the jungle for all to see, but the path to it was perilous.

"Princess Layla, the enemy has laid booby-traps," Jimmy said, his eyes affixed on the jiggliest plate of jelly ever known to man, hidden in the center of a mirror maze.

"The Peacock warriors know no fear," she replied gallantly. "Forward march! The lands shall know our might!"

But before the march could even begin, the rabbits from Bunny nation appeared one by one, confused. They had been hired as caretakers at the daycare, but no one had come to drop off any children, so where had these little ones popped out from?

Unfortunately, no one would answer them.

The bunnies barely had any training on how to deal with kids, so they began hopping around trying to calm them down. Unfortunately, they only made themselves easy targets for the Peacock warriors.

Like this, the first of the great Peacock-Bunny skirmishes began.

Lex, woefully unaware of the plight of his workers, dismissed Mary and finally returned to the main hall of the tavern. Having regained control of the system, not to mention having attained great upgrades and benefits, Lex's mood was noticeably better when he returned to the Noel family.

The man on the bar was still crying with his head covered by a towel that Rick threw his way. Bertram and the other man were also sitting at the bar, casually sipping on a hot beverage as they waited for Lex to return.

Although the town needed their help and supervision, there was no longer any emergency so they could take their time. After all, all monsters were dead and the people who were trapped underground were only trapped and not harmed - probably.

Even if they were, understanding the truth behind not only the tavern, but possibly even that mysterious aura from earlier took precedence. After all, it would be too much of a coincidence for a tavern capable of surviving Zagan's attacks to appear at the same time as an unknown, powerful entity they had never discovered in the region before.

Even if it was not hostile towards them, they could not simply ignore it. After all, this was their territory, and they had plenty of secrets to hide. Even if they had no conflict now didn't mean there wouldn't be a conflict in the future if their secrets were revealed.

"Please excuse my behavior from earlier. There was a matter that required my attention," said Lex as he walked up to Bertram.

"Considering all that's happened here recently, it's completely understandable if there are a few fires to put out here and there," Bertram replied. "Allow me to introduce you. This is my father, Joseph Noel - lord of this territory."

"It's an honor to meet you," Lex said politely, though he only gave a slight nod instead of an elaborate bow as one might do before such an important person. It was already too late for him to start pretending to be ordinary, so there was no point in him being too deferential now.

"Your establishment provides surprisingly good service," Joseph said, as he raised his mug a bit. "I'm surprised you opened up in such a small town rather than one of the big cities."

"Small towns have their own rustic charm," Lex replied. "Besides, I was not really in the mood for too much hustle and bustle. A simple tavern in a simple town is enough for me."

"A simple tavern?" Joseph repeated with an amused tone.

"Indeed, in a simple town," Lex replied, looking the man in the eye. "By the way, I have something for you."

From his pocket, Lex took out a stack of papers and presented it to the man.

"Not to be rude or anything, but I'm assuming as the lord of the territory, you'll take care of the lodging and food expenses for all the survivors during this period."

The papers were an itemized bill for all the services he had provided during this time to all the people who had crammed themselves at the tavern. At first, in the name of humanity, Lex decided not to charge them since it was an emergency situation. But since the 'lord of the territory' was here, there wasn't any reason for him to continue to bear the cost. After all, he was running a business, not a charity.

Joseph struggled to keep his face straight as he received the bill and handed it to his son without even looking at it.

"Of course we'll take care of it," Joseph answered. "Though speaking of taking care of survivors during an emergency, it's quite impressive that your tavern was able to survive Zagan's destruction."

It was time. Lex had to give some kind of answer, no matter how vague.

"Very fortunate, I think," said Lex. "It was due to a protective formation left behind by a friend of mine who was very concerned for my health."

"God bless such friends," Joseph replied, though it was unknown whether he believed the story.

"Is your friend still around? With skill like his, even I wouldn't mind paying for his services to build a formation or two. After all, danger is around every corner in these parts. Even Zagan, the ocean King, himself was scared away by the aura of another powerful being nearby. Even I was startled by it, yet I noticed none of the survivors who escaped your tavern even felt the aura. Such protection truly is remarkable."

"My friend already left a while ago, though I'll thank you on his behalf for complimenting his skill. I'm not sure what aura you're talking about, since I didn't feel it either, but maybe you should check underground. There have been a number of strange auras coming from underground lately."

The words spoken were all polite, but the subtle testing and probing by the lord were all deflected by Lex. When Joseph hinted that Lex might know or have something to do with the aura that scared away Zagan, or that it might even belong to his mysterious 'friend', Lex replied by letting him know that he had no intentions of revealing anything, and that if questions needed to be asked, there were a few he could ask himself about what was happening under the town.

After all, even the Lotus on his back had been attracted to the aura that had been revealed earlier. Whatever was hidden down there was truly something unimaginably precious. Maybe, just maybe, the whole reason the town was formed here in the first place was to use a protection formation as a guise for a much more elaborate formation, the true purpose of which was to hide the treasures underneath.

There was a moment of silence after which Joseph was about to reply to Lex when the weeping man beside them quickly got up.

He removed the towel over his head and looked at Lex with eyes filled with red streaks!

"I want more!" he said hoarsely. It had been a long time since he had been as splendidly drunk as what he had just experienced. Unfortunately, the effects of the drink, while splendid, did not last a long time. With his cultivation level, he could barely remain drunk for an hour.

As an addict, he was naturally desperate to drink it again. Yet Lex did not forget his latest quest. He had to help the man overcome his alcoholism, and he had to do it in 3 days.

This would not be easy, but Lex would definitely try. In fact, he already had 2 plans in mind on how to tackle the problem.

The first was a complex plan that hinged on the man's own willingness to cooperate. The second was to turn him from an alcoholic into a druggie. It was not the most moral solution, but with only 3 days, he had to be a little creative.

"I'm sorry, but I only have one more serving of the drink left, and the price of the drink has changed."

"It doesn't matter. No matter what the price is, I can pay it."

"It's not a matter of money," said Lex as he said goodbye to the 500,000 MP he would get from selling it. "You have to do a few things for me. Let's start with this."

Lex let out a low whistle, summoning Fenrir from the kitchen wagging its tail.

"Take him out of the town and help him hunt the monsters for a bit. He's never had such an opportunity, so it's the best time to practice. Of course, you can't let it get hurt."

Honestly, since Fenrir's original role was supposed to be a protector of the Inn, it was about time it started training a little on how to hunt.