The Innkeeper



The conversation with the dua about the distance to the Crystal nation did not last too long. Unlike the other races, which had a clear positive or negative relationship with one another, the Crystal race equally shunned all the other races. They kept their territories closed, and did not usually bother much with the outside world.

That did not mean that no one was allowed to enter their nation - just that they were extremely selective in who entered. In a way, one would have to prove themselves worthy of interacting with the crystal race.

The duo mentioned nothing about that, for they assumed that Lex already had some kind of relationship with the Crystal race if he was heading over, and they were technically correct.

Lex did not have much else to discuss with Bertram, as the man had already promised to provide Lex with a map leading to his destination.

That would have to suffice for now, though the two were still being very vague about how far the nation was. That was Lex's next great concern. The Crystal realm was as big as the entire solar system, and if the distance between him and his destination was equal to the distance between planets, it would take forever to reach! He could only hope there were enough teleportation formations.

He did, however, have something left to discuss with Jolene, and even Jess! Fortunately, it appeared as though Jolene knew about it and on her own requested that they 'have a word in private'.

Lex manipulated space and created a separate 'room' around the two of them, putting up opaque barriers so that no one could lip read what they were about to discuss.

"Are you satisfied with the results of your request?" Lex asked, without waiting for her to broach the topic. It was as if he already knew what she was going to talk about.

A random stranger had left a box with unknown contents at the tavern, with the hope to use the place as a drop off point for certain items, allowing Jolene to take the box at a later date. It was a discreet way of passing along whatever it is she wanted delivered, as she would never actually cross paths with whoever was delivering the package.

At first, she had only left a package at the Inn for 3 days, testing to see if the tavern was capable of isolating its aura. Once she discovered that it actually could, she had the real package delivered to the tavern to collect it herself later.

All of this was fine, as far as Lex was concerned. Or at least, it would have been normally. The fact that it seemed like Lex was aiding and abetting in probably illegal, or at least highly suspicious behavior did not phase him. What got to him was the fact that the aura from Jolene's package… was extremely repulsive!

The box she had left at the Inn to test if the aura leaked already disgusted Lex, even though he had no idea what it contained. The actual package itself was even worse. Technically speaking, Lex's real body had not been here when the package was delivered and received, but even the aura it left behind was so strong that Lex was still disgusted by it when he felt it.

Whatever the package was, illegal or not, he decided he no longer wanted to facilitate it. Although the purpose of the Inn and tavern was to host all guests equally without discrimination, Lex was not a mindless slave of the system's directives. Since it was disgusting to him, he no longer wanted a part in it.

"Extremely," Jolene stated with a massive smile. "You do not know how much you have helped me with this."

"I'm glad you are satisfied with our service," Lex said with a soft smile. "That is also why I feel extremely regretful to inform you that the tavern will not be able to help you in such an endeavor in the future."

Jolene was genuinely startled, as she was not expecting such an answer, especially since the previous exchange had gone off without a hitch.

"Can… can I ask why?" she asked hesitantly. She did not forget Lex's powerful aura, so she was hesitant to get on his bad side. Yet at the same time, this task was genuinely too important to her to let go of so easily.

"Rest assured, you did not break any rules of the tavern, and so there will be no effect on any other services you acquire from the tavern. But the matter of fact is, while I usually do not interfere in the matters of guests, the aura of the item you exchanged was… I found it too revolting. I did not investigate its contents, for I thoroughly respect the privacy of all my guests, but I cannot, in good conscience, continue to facilitate this exchange."

A hint of fear appeared on Jolene's face, despite the fact that Lex said he did not investigate the contents. This was an extremely sensitive matter, which she could not risk exposing, but at the same time could not give up either. Since Lex did not want to help out anymore, she would have to figure out another way.

"Please do not misunderstand," she explained while smiling weakly. "My… 'transactions' are not what they might appear to be. These are related to an extremely important issue that needs resolving. But since you do not want to facilitate them anymore, I will not bother you with them anymore. Not that it matters, as I am scheduled to depart soon anyway."

They talked a bit more while Lex ensured that he was not drawing any conclusions about her affairs, and simply did not want to participate in this particular one anymore.

Once they were done, Lex removed the barriers, ending their private conversation.

"I'll leave you and Jess to it," Jolene suddenly said, standing up. "There are countless matters relating to the wedding to get to, so there's no doubt you two will be holed up together for quite a while."

Amazingly, Jolene was completely back to her normal self, returning to her antics of trying to set up Lex with her daughter!

"I wish I could stay and help, but I just dropped by to introduce you to Jess. She can get in contact with me at any time, and if for some reason she can't, she knows full well what to do for the wedding."

Jess, with an extremely serious face, nodded, as if accepting a task that would determine the life or death of millions.

But while Lex joked in his mind, he was unaware that this wedding really would be such an affair. The interest of the nation, and thereby any family connected to its interests, determined the life or death of billions on the regular.

"I'm sure our cooperation will bear fruitful results. Believe it or not, I'd say I'm more invested in making this wedding a success than even you."

Jolene smiled at Lex's remark, but she was unaware that he really did care more about it than anyone else. He was determined to get a SSS+ ranking for this quest!

Once Bertram and Jolene departed, Lex was left alone with Jess who silently stared at him. Rather than feel like an awkward silence was building, Lex felt relieved. If she was as determined as her mother in her ulterior motive Lex would find this matter quite problematic to handle, but since she wasn't, things would be simple.

"Although we have six months until the wedding, I don't think we should waste a single moment," said Lex with a warm and confident smile. "Do you?"

Before Jess had an opportunity to reply, Lex stood up and opened the door to the private room, waving at Roan to send someone in.

As soon as he got this quest, he had delegated a lot of research tasks to the planning division, and even asked Mary to look up the best wedding consultants they could find - not to mention conduct extensive research on Indian wedding culture. What he did not expect to learn was that there was such an expert within his own planning division. The moment he learned about her, he decided to bring her to the Crystal realm and have her help out.

A tall, caramel skinned woman walked with, dressed quite casually instead of the usual formalwear associated with the Inn. Yet even in a T-shirt and pants, she looked stunning - though one should not expect less from a worker at the Inn.

"This is an expert I've called in who will be handling a lot of the wedding preparations. Since you'll be working closely together, why don't you guys introduce yourselves?"

The woman from the planning division looked at Jess, and gave her a soft, welcoming smile as if she was looking forward to working together.

"Hi Jess," she said, her voice calm yet confident. "My name is Aishwarya-Rai, but my friends call me Ash. It's a pleasure to meet you."