The Innkeeper

Chapter 1471  The return of the warriors

Lex took in a deep breath, allowing the fresh, energy filled air of the Midnight Realm to fill his lungs. Even though mature realms were filled with greater energies, had more potent laws, and held so much more potential, Lex enjoyed the atmosphere in the Midnight Realm the most.

Maybe it was the attachment of a place that was his own, or the fact that he was intrinsically linked to the realm itself through the Lotus. Either way, there was no place like home.

“There’s an issue,” Gerard said with a troubled expression. “I just got a report. Someone has been targeting guests from the Inn, while outside the Inn. All the guests who’ve been targeted are from a metropolis space station housing a few million living beings, associated with a powerful mining company.

“Although no one has officially complained to us, we’ve had other guests report to us that all citizens from that space station have been banned from returning to the Inn.”

“How do you know that the ones being targeted were guests of the Inn if they were attacked outside of it?” Lex asked as he checked the Inns satisfaction ratings. It hadn’t dropped by much, but there had indeed been a change in it. All his costs had increased by 0.5%, which did not sound like it was a lot. Yet when his daily consumption was in MT, not MP, 0.5% was a tremendous amount!

“It’s said that all those who were being targeted all gambled in support of a specific Beast army. The Beast army has been winning a lot of battles, so naturally it has a lot of supporters, yet only the ones from that space station have been targeted after their wins.”

“How could others even know they gambled on that beast army? All bets are anonymous,” said Lex, though he felt like he knew the answer.

“Naturally, after they won, they couldn’t help but brag about it publicly,” answered Gerard. “The issue now is how to respond to this situation. Technically no crime was committed within the Inn, and we have no idea who the perpetrator is. This is a tough situation to resolve.”

“Not at all,” answered Lex. “Send Z and Roland. Have them investigate the situation. Keep their own safety as a priority, and look into who the murderer is. If they think they can apprend the murderer, bring him in. If they can’t, just wait for me to come back. I have to go to the Seraphim Resort – I’m on a deadline and not much time is left.”

“Do we have the authority to arrest people outside of the Inn?” Gerard asked hesitantly. “Going out and doing such things in other territories might cause tension between the Midnight Inn and other forces.”

Lex did not answer immediately, but studied Gerard for a while, as well as the Inn. He himself also took a minute to think things through and decide. Once he took an action, he could only live with the consequences and never take it back.

After a while, though, he just smiled.

“Isn’t it a little too late to be asking such a question? We’ve already started 2 wars in other’s territories,” Lex said, and pulled up an image of a group of former Earth refugees fighting against a horde of insects. “More importantly, we are now on the big stage. For better or for worse, we are being watched by numerous forces across the universe.

“I think it’s better that you already assume that there are countless forces already conspiring against us, and though we can prevent many of them, it will be impossible to prevent all of them. The most important thing, then, is to strengthen your weaknesses and be prepared to face trouble.

“If we don’t defend the guests of the Inn for fear of offending others, we will show ourselves as weak to the universe, and they will use that against us. If we show ourselves as strong, even that will be used against us. In such a situation, where trouble and conflict are inevitable, the most important thing is to maintain your conscience and uphold the prestige of the Inn.”

Gerard’s expression became determined, and immediately began communicating with the other security staff through his spirit sense.

Lex, meanwhile, kept looking at his system interface. What was interesting was that it showed the drop in satisfaction ratings, but didn’t show the reason why. In fact, there was no hint of anything that might suggest this issue had occurred.

The only way for Lex to have known was if he was surveilling his guests’ conversations, which is not something he did unless absolutely necessary.

With how vast the universe was, and how unpredictable the powers that various beings had, anyone could at any time figure out if he had overheard them. It was too risky.

In fact, he was certain that listening in on someone’s conversation gave him some kind of eavesdropping Karma, since each and every action and inaction produced Karma.

The best way to not get caught was to not do the crime.

Fortunately, the security team had caught onto the issue, and it would be resolved soon.

“Gerard, if this is a probe, then someone might be expecting a response. Tell Z and Roland to be careful in their actions. Try to stay hidden if they can.”

“I don’t think that will be necessary anymore,” said Gerard with an unusual expression.

“Oh? How come?” asked Lex.

“Well… the situation has been resolved. Apparently, the head of the space station was involved, and this indeed was a probe by them. Someone was instructing them from the background”

“How did you find out?” Lex asked. This problem was solved way too quickly. He’d just heard of it and it was already resolved? That sounded much too convenient.

“Well…”

*****

Within the Origin realm, rainbow colored lights flew through the vacuum of space, attacking the yellow shield that surrounded the space station. Thousands upon thousands of spaceships lay destroyed, floating all around the station, so that none dared to leave the protection of the ship anymore.

“Surrender peacefully, and I’ll leave you a full corpse,” Jimmy said boldly, repeating the words Big Brother Z had taught him. “Otherwise, you should know, the Peacock Warriors are not to be trifled with.”

An army of peacocks shrieked, the voices carrying even in space, as they waited eagerly for the shields to drop.