The Innkeeper - Chapter 2023

Capítulo 2023: A favor

Now, technically speaking, the Masked Tyrant had still made appearances now and again. He would show up from time to time, take care of issues that cropped up, and then disappear. The reason why it always felt like he barely showed up was because of how quickly he took care of things. It was so swift that his presence barely made an impact.

That was not the case that day. No, that day the guests of the Inn learned that while the Inn did its best to be polite and avoid causing a ruckus, it had a ruthless side too. So many new guests came, and not all of them understood the background of the Inn, or how they adhered to their rules.

The general case in the universe was that many forces and organizations waived the banners of righteousness, but gave special permissions and allowances to those with sufficient backgrounds. That was not the case with the Midnight Inn.

Not only did the Tyrant publicly beat, and humiliate the Celestial Sourworm, he then proceeded to use the worm as a massive whip as he continued to go and beat up all the other troublemakers across the Inn.

While his actions were incredibly refreshing for those who had been wronged, the Midnight Inn also thoroughly offended a lot of powers. In fact, many guests even escaped the Inn altogether, expecting a heavy handed response from many of these forces.

But how could Lex have not already planned for that? Now was the time to be bold in his actions, decisions, and even risks. Not only was Lex prepared for a retaliation, he was hoping for a very strong and public one.

Naturally, with the Dao level Butter Knife, Lex was confident in taking any force that came his way. But that did not mean he was going to be wasteful with his Butter Knife. After all, the conversion rate was terrible. After all, according to the Pay-to-Play feature, the conversion rate for Dao materials to fully charge the knife was anywhere between one to ten items! That was incredibly wasteful, and Lex had no intentions of being wasteful.

The Butter Knife, especially the fully powered Butter Knife, was reserved for emergencies only. No, for this situation, where Lex acted out almost anticipating some retaliation, he had another plan.

Since, for whatever reason, the system could never find Wu Kong inside the Inn, he asked Mary to look for him and let Lex know where he was. It didn’t take long for his faithful assistant to find that particular guest, thus, while the Masked Tyrant wreaked havoc across the Inn, thoroughly venting all the frustrations in his heart, a projection of the Innkeeper appeared inside a certain spa.

To his… mild surprise, Wu Kong and Lorelei were both laying down on a couple of sofas, some cream covering their faces while cucumbers rested on their eyes, getting a foot and fin massage.

Oddly enough, the entire floor was booked by Wu Kong, so it was just the two of them in there.

“You seem to be making good use of the Inn’s facilities,” said the Innkeeper with a hint of amusement in his voice. “I’m glad.”

“Well, it’s exhausting seeing so many distinguished guests visiting, but restraining my hands,” Wu Kong said with a smirk as he picked up a cucumber and looked at the Innkeeper.

The Innkeeper, in turn, only shook his head.

“You restraining your hands… I find it hard to believe. But did you restrain your legs? Or your tail? Heck, I bet even a single unrestrained hair is enough for you to tease many of my guests,” the Innkeeper said knowingly.

Wu Kong coughed awkwardly, but then quickly returned to his casual self.

“Yes well, there is only so much one can change in a small time. But surely you are not here over something so trivial, no?”

The Innkeeper chuckled, but did not answer immediately. Instead, he turned to look at Lorelei, who had fallen asleep from the massage, and was snoring softly. She looked… at peace, which was not a look she wore easily while awake.

“I am here for a couple of reasons,” said the Innkeeper, eventually. “For one, I am here to invite you to a small tea party I am having with a few other… distinguished guests. I believe you will enjoy the company.”

The Innkeeper held out the invitation letter, as well as the wooden key for Wu Kong to take.

“Oh?” Wu Kong said, taking the letter and reading it with interest. But besides the invitation itself, the letter did not explain much.

“The second thing I am here to let you know about is that your request has been fulfilled. The Inn is now connected to a certain garden, and this tea party might be your one and only opportunity to visit the garden.”

Wu Kong suddenly jumped out of his seat, his excitement getting the better of him as he stared at the Innkeeper with disbelief.

“You… you really managed to find the realm? You absolute mad lad! And the owner, she didn’t say anything, right? Everyone is so afraid of her, but I’m telling you she’s absolutely a reasonable person!”

The Innkeeper chuckled because, for once, he had to agree with the monkey. As far as he could tell… Eclipse was a pretty cool person.

“I have to correct you on something. I didn’t find the realm, one of my workers did. As such, I found it only reasonable that I give him the fruit you gave me, since I have no more use for it,” the Innkeeper said casually, as if the Gabana fruit were just some random fruit, and couldn’t literally transform lives. “Additionally, since my worker was the one who found the realm, connected it, and got permission to bring guests into it, I told him he was entitled to make a single request of you… since, you know, he has no interest in Kyrons.”

Wu Kong was taken aback, not only because the Innkeeper was basically saying he had no interest in Wu Kong introducing a new race to work for the Inn, but because he so easily passed on a favor from him to one of his workers. Now, Wu Kong was not self absorbed, but he was pretty certain that others could not do what he could do, and a favor from him was not something that should have been so easily dismissed.

“As it happens, he already had a request ready to ask of you the moment I informed him,” the Innkeeper said calmly, and then looked in a certain direction. Right in front of him was a wall, but far beyond that wall, Lex was bowling with the Sourworm as the bowl and a bunch of Ents as the pins.

“He said he was pretty certain he was about to offend a whole lot of people, so he would really appreciate it if you could help him out by scaring them so that they don’t dare to attack him at the Inn.”

For a moment, Wu Kong was stunned. Then he burst out laughing.

“You mean to tell me that he, that little twerp Lex, used a favor from me, Sun Wu Kong, to help him clean up after him?” Wu Kong asked loudly, sounding incredibly amused.

“Well, alright then, consider it done. From now until the tea party is concluded, anyone who even tries to look at Lex wrongly will get a visit from me. Let him go crazy as much as he wants. With me as a backer, I’m curious to see if he will live up to his name of Kidnapping King!”

The Innkeeper just shook his head, as if he was dealing with a bunch of kids, and then disappeared.

Wu Kong kept chuckling to himself as he plucked out a few of his hairs, turning them into clones, then sending them towards Lex. This was the first time someone had used him like a bodyguard, and he found it terribly amusing.

Wu Kong was so focused on Lex, he never even questioned why the price to attend the Tea party, for him, was so unusual. There was one flower, and one Dao Ingredient, which seemed somewhat normal. But the nine trillion tones of high density Celestial Core Energy Sources – a special kind of energy source utilized by Celestial Immortals – seemed very random, and slightly unfitting for a tea party hosted by the Innkeeper.

Yet he didn’t care. He just needed to rob a few, and he could easily get his hands on all of the required items to attend the tea party. No, Wu Kong was much more focused on whether or not he should teach Lex some techniques on how to improve his kidnapping. The kid had serious potential. After all, even Wu Kong thought twice before messing with any of the Ventura schools.

Meanwhile, Lex did not know what his newfound bodyguard was thinking. All he knew was that his back was covered, so he beat those miscreants mercilessly.