The Innkeeper

Lex led the way, guiding his peacock to follow the flowing river. Over the past few months, the planning division had slowly and steadily been providing him with plans and blueprints to develop the various 'empty' areas of the Inn.

A majority of the Inn was occupied by wilderness. That had not changed, but by organizing it somewhat, and doing some basic landscaping, the outlook changed drastically. Lex could not help but think back to when he originally got the Inn.

At that time, Lex was doing things randomly and halfheartedly, without really considering how things would work out. He recalled how, when he initially brought in various birds, he had not considered their feed at all. If it weren't for one of his guests, Helen, who began feeding them, many of them may have died. Speaking of whom, Lex hadn't seen her in a while. He hoped she was alright.

All in all, things had changed a lot in the last year and a half. But at the same time, these changes also made him excited for the future. It was a pleasant change from the days where he would wallow in his own depression.

"I would like to begin by apologizing to you both," Lex said as he addressed Aoi and the princess. "Truth be told, I needed to reach Kenta, and well… I had a feeling I could reach him through you."

Lex tried to give them an apologetic look before he recalled that he was wearing a mask.

"Does that mean that he doesn't… that he isn't obsessed with me?" the princess asked, her voice hopeful.

"Ah, no, he isn't," Lex admitted honestly, though a small part of him had wished the misunderstanding would have continued. It was quite entertaining to watch.

Instead of being angry at Lex, the princess only breathed out a sigh of relief. Kenta, who was listening to everything from the side, felt slightly offended at how relieved the princess was. Then he recalled that he too had been fretting about her being obsessed with him, and now that he knew it wasn't true he too… no actually, he didn't feel relieved, just disappointed.

Seeing that no verbal abuse was being flung his way, Lex felt relieved, and continued speaking.

"To make it up to you, I'll introduce you to the Midnight Inn. Moreover, I'll cover your stay here. Feel free to stay as long as you like and enjoy yourself. Whenever you wish to leave, you need only think about it, and you'll be teleported back to where we entered from. Moreover, you'll get a copy of the golden key, so you can come here again whenever you wish."

"Is anyone welcome here?" Aoi asked as she held out her hands and let them gently caress the leaves from the small bushes they passed. It looked like she was just appreciating them, but Lex could sense that she was actually communicating with the plants! Moreover, they were responding!

Even Lex had not talked to the plants at the Inn. In fact, he didn't even know that was possible. Maybe this was a unique trait of Nymphs.

"Was this your plan from the beginning?" Kenta asked, as he finally realized where Lex's confidence came from. "Are you a part of the Midnight Inn?"

"Haha, no I'm not from the Inn, just a normal guest. But yes, my confidence in taking you away came from being able to teleport to the Inn from anywhere. You may not know this but, here, inside the Inn, even a Celestial Immortal is not a big deal," said Lex, though the reality was far from the truth.

"There have been a few times people tried to attack the Inn, but each time the Innkeeper killed everyone of them. So, over here, I'm not really worried about anything. Now that you're here, you can finally run away from your wedding. If you raise your privilege level high enough, you can teleport away to another planet without needing to return to Tilaiya. You are officially free to do as you please."

Kenta smiled wryly. He was free, but at the same time, was he really? Could he give up the temptation of reaching an unbelievably high cultivation realm just so he could pursue some fantasy called 'freedom'? Moreover, was such freedom even a good thing to begin with?

Kenta shook his head without answering. Both he and his adopted father knew that he would return to Tilaiya, eventually. However… there was nothing preventing him from enjoying himself in the meantime. His grin widened.

"Lex, I have a fantastic idea. If anyone can teleport here from anywhere, then… then… isn't this the best place in the universe to get ingredients? I can get the best ingredients from across the universe and open up the best restaurant!"

Excitement filled his eyes, and he started to pant as more and more ideas flooded into his mind. If it was really possible… if he could really do this…

"Hmm, joining the Inn is not exactly easy. You have to take a test and completely join the Inn. That means if you would ever hope to return to Darmin, it might be an issue, since it's completely neutral and cannot be affiliated with any other organization. But who knows, maybe you can just rent out a place from the Inn and open your restaurant. You'd still have to prove yourself first, though."

Instead of responding to Lex, Kenta looked towards the princess with heated eyes.

"What do you say, Asami? With your divine produce, and my cooking skills, we could-"

Kenta was too distracted to dodge the shoe the princess threw at him.

She had suffered enough thanks to this idiotic heir, and wanted nothing more to do with him.

"Lex, how about a tour of this place?" she asked instead, her gaze turning towards their mysterious tour guide. "By the way, did you really write that poem yourself or was that made up as well?"

"No, that was really me," Lex admitted. "If you want a tour, I have a few ideas. If you want to see anywhere specific, I can take you there. But if you want to see the entire Inn, then the train is the best option."

Lex began to introduce the various features of the Inn, not at all noticing the unusual glint in the princesses eyes. Meanwhile, Kenta rubbed his nose as he began to rethink his plan. Apparently relying on his charm to procure the best ingredients was not feasible.