The Innkeeper

"When did you get a spatial treasure?" asked Lex, not hiding his surprise. "Actually, where did you get one from?"

The pup had originally not felt like this was a big deal, but seeing how Lex reacted it suddenly felt prideful. He growled and barked as it communicated with Lex, yet the man seemed to understand everything. The oddest part was that no one noticed the two talking, and not just because the other three in the room erupted into a battle for life and death!

"Oh, that's an unusual bloodline ability," Lex commented. Apparently, after Fenrir finished his task inside the tower, the reward he had received was information on how to unlock his bloodline abilities as quickly as possible.

Fenrir had begun to implement that knowledge, which was beginning to unlock more and more of his bloodline abilities. The particular one he used was not exactly equivalent to having a spatial treasure - although the effects were similar in a limited capacity.

It created small folds within Fenrir's fur which seemed to be linked to some unknown domain. For now, Fenrir could store small items in that domain, although it was best not to store anything too private as, technically, that domain could be accessed by anyone with similar abilities.

This bloodline ability was a part of a more powerful ability to be unlocked later on, though Fenrir did not know or care about that. It just liked putting anything and everything within that space. So far, besides chopsticks, he had put a lot of mud, some rocks, and other random small objects.

Lex listened in with interest as he watched the Frigals fight. Although the fight had just begun, it was almost over as well. Although the assassin had lost the element of surprise, his combat ability was nothing to belittle. The two random workers were not its match, although the assassin also suffered some injuries.

A few minutes later, everything was concluded. Lex watched with interest as the assassin ate the glowing vine excitedly. If eating the vine had any effects, they were not apparent. Besides the glow disappearing, resulting in the assassin once again turning invisible, Lex noticed nothing significant.

However that quickly changed when the assassin disabled his invisibility on his own a few moments later. He sat down in a corner, as if to rest, and took out a small device and began speaking into it.

"I've infiltrated into the first layer of the castle, but have received injuries. I will need to recover before I can continue to proceed further. Please be advised, I encountered an unknown object that can disable invisibility when exposed to its radiation. Let the others know, in case such means are applied throughout the castle. I have still discovered no signs of any of the members of the royal family."

Lex felt that the assassin was being deceitful in his report, for if the 'object' had really been unknown, he would not have proceeded to eat it, right? At least Lex discovered that the objective of the assassins seemed to be the royal family, quite predictably.

 "Acknowledged. If recovering from your injuries will take too long, retreat instead. Your Band of Neglect can only allow you to tolerate the Dragons Might for so long. The closer you are to the entity, the faster it will be drained."

"Affirmative," the assassin replied, and put the device away. But then he continued to act suspiciously. Instead of focusing on healing, he approached one of the Frigals he killed and stabbed them with a particularly demonic blade.

The blade began to absorb the entire body, and after a few moments, it completely vanished. The assassin, instead, began to morph just a bit, and moments later assumed an appearance identical to the Frigal that had been absorbed. Or at least, Lex felt like he did. With these unusual creatures it was very difficult for him to distinguish facial features.

But the assassin was not done acting suspiciously. He then stabbed himself once as well, though with a different knife, and allowed himself to bleed out a little, before cauterizing the wound.

Lex and Fenrir exchanged looks, before returning their attention to the assassin who was not limping away. Before he left, however, he took out his small communication device, and crushed it.

Naturally, Lex followed the assassin. Considering that he had no idea how to navigate these halls, and didn't know where to go, following this suspicious person may lead to some unexpected rewards.

Unlike Lex, the assassin seemed to know exactly where he was going, and soon ran into guards.

"Assassins have infiltrated! They are searching for her majesty Seishan! You have to let her know at once!" the assassin pleaded, as if the very meaning of his struggle was to send the warning. Quite conveniently, he also collapsed just as he found the guards.

They immediately checked on his wounds and discovered something quite serious.

"Although he seems to have cauterized the wound, he did not manage to stop his internal bleeding. Immediately bring him to get treated, I will go and warn her majesty!"

The group of guards split up, and Lex now had the option to either follow the guard to whoever this 'Seishan' was, or continue to follow the assassin. After a moment's deliberation, he felt like the assassin was just diverting attention, and that his motives lay elsewhere. 

Ultimately, Lex decided to keep following the group with the assassin. Considering the urgency of the situation, the group moved quickly, and Lex found himself entering deeper and deeper into the castle. The temperature had almost risen to above freezing, which was quite a big deal for a planet with no star nearby.

Just as they reached the makeshift hospital, which was filled with countless other patients, the castle trembled, and many decorations fell on the floor. Everyone in the room froze, as fear suddenly gripped them.

Something had attacked the castle? Was the Lord Dragon going to be disturbed?

The castle trembled again, and this time, it was much worse!