The Innkeeper

Lex spent the next few hours accompanying the princess, Asami, as well as Aoi and Kenta. He had introduced various aspects of the Inn to them, while at the same time learned a lot about them and their backgrounds as well. It also expanded his understanding of Suera.

A galaxy, any galaxy at all, was usually occupied by millions of different races. Most galaxies were not owned, over controlled, by any one race. In fact, most galaxies barely had any civilization capable of proper interstellar travel.

Suera happened to be one of the galaxies which had seen the advance of two different races, so much so that over the course of time, they occupied a majority of it. That was not to say other races were exterminated, but that most races that would try to fight against the expansion of those two races had been eliminated.

Those two races were elves and dwarves. All other races that existed and prospered within the galaxy were linked to those two races in one way another, similar to how Aoi usually worked with elves.

The elves and dwarves used to be at war but only recently called for a cease fire and, surprising everyone, even became allies.

Since he was mostly with elves, he learnt a lot about their culture and learnt that the elves… well, a nice way of putting it was that they were quite conservative. And racist. And traditionalists.

The main body of elves consisted of various clans and organizations who joined together to form the Central Elven Alliance. The elves in that alliance were quite conservative in the sense that for millions of years they had adhered to the norms and traditions of their ancestors, did not like change, and shunned anyone who tried to bring change. But if one adhered to those few principles, they were quite friendly.

But when the race spread so far and wide, there were naturally outliers. Many elves did not want to spend their lives worshiping trees, being vegetarian and adhering to rules that did not make sense to them. The existence of this group nearly caused a civil war. How exactly that dispute was resolved was unknown, even to the younger generation of elves such as Asami and Kenta.

What truly mattered was that these outliers eventually split from the main, and formed their own organizations and their own traditions. Both Asami and Kenta belonged to such factions. Aoi was, naturally, a subordinate of Asami technically speaking, though due to their friendship they did not treat it as such.

Unlike Kenta, whose background made it so that he was limited in what he could do, Asami did not come from a neutral organization. In fact, her background was quite polarized because they had a monopoly on what was called the Sacred Harvest.

The elves weren't too keen on elaborating what the Sacred Harvest was, just that it was very helpful for elves' growth.

To be honest, taking the group around the Inn was originally to get rid of his guilt for using them and wait for the Celestials arrival, but as time went by, he was glad he was doing this. Although he did not mind continuing to cultivate rigorously as he had been, it was beginning to build up a pressure that he had not noticed.

It was only now, that he was casually strolling around with a few acquaintances, that he realized how long it had been since he just relaxed with a few friends. But all good things must eventually come to an end.

"Lex, Kenta's father has arrived at the Inn," informed Mary.

"Send someone to guide him to us," replied Lex, and turned to look at Kenta. "It looks like your old man is about to arrive."

Indeed, just as he finished his sentence, the heirs father arrived as if teleporting over. The only thing was… he wasn't alone. Beside him was another elf… in a wedding dress made of flowers and leaves.

"Congratulations my boy, you're married," the heirs father said, a sly grin on his face.

"Congratulations," Asami said immediately as well, as if mocking him.

"Congratulations," Lex followed along as well, a wide grin on his face though no one could see it. By this point, he was just being petty about the whole payment thing.

Kenta froze, unable to process what was happening, until eventually he turned to look at his 'wife'.

"It's nice to meet you," he said, somewhat awkwardly.

"It would have been nice if you attended your own wedding," his wife responded, clearly not happy with him.

"Ah… I was kidnapped," Kenta quickly defended himself.

She turned to look at Lex, as if she knew he was responsible for what happened.

"Your father-in-law and I had a bet over whether I could do it or not. I'm quite competitive, and got carried away. My apologies, it won't happen again," said Lex proactively.

She only shook her head and turned and looked back at Kenta.

"My name is Sohee Haru, now that I have taken on your last name."

"Wait, Sohee, does that mean…"

"Yes, before you, I was the heir of Tilaiya."

Kenta froze again, and this time, so did everyone else. Did Kenta just get married to the person… he replaced? How awkward was that? It seemed that no matter how petty Lex was, he could not match up to the standard of Kenta's own parents.

Looking away from them, Lex turned his attention to the Celestial Immortal.

"Senior, I was giving everyone a tour of the Midnight Inn. Would you like a tour as well?"

"Little brat, I have over a hundred thousand guests waiting for me back at the palace. I have no time for a tour. I'll be leaving my worthless son here for a while, but come by after two days. I will do as I promised and help you remove your inscription. As for the tour… it will have to wait for a while."

With that, the heirs' father left the Inn, leaving them in silence. Everyone turned to look at Kenta and Sohee once again, who were just staring at one another in silence.

Suddenly, Lex felt glad that he was single.