The Innkeeper

Chapter 1756: Apologise

So there he was, standing next to Vera, who was awkwardly looking away from Giselle, who was trying not to stare at the whole situation, while Levi stared at Vera, Liz stared at Lex and Nemo, who had turned his tattoo invisible, was staring at everyone.

For some reason, the situation felt more taxing and exhausting than painting a formation at the base of a dormant, crystal volcano.

“How about we all take a seat and get a handle on the situation?” Lex asked calmly, as if there was nothing wrong. Honestly, he was the only one in that situation still maintaining composure. Everyone else was already acting like children. Seriously.

Before any of them could offer up any excuses, especially Giselle who looked like she was about to run away, Lex teleported the whole bunch of them to a park nearby. Of course, he teleported them using his own abilities instead of the systems, since the system was still upgrading, which meant that any of them could have tried to resist the teleportation – except Liz, who had a very weak cultivation level. Fortunately, no one did.

“Guys, this is my friend, Giselle. We sometimes fight terrorists together, and other times explore lost, ancient temples,” he said, looking at Liz and Levi. “Giselle, this is my sister, Liz, and her friend, Levi.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Giselle said, composing herself effortlessly, showing not even the slightest hint of awkwardness. “Unfortunately, I can’t stay for long. I was actually coming back to let you know that I changed my mind about the weapon-smith. It turns out that the Midnight Tailor is much better suited to my needs than an actual forger, so I won’t need your friends’ help anymore.”

Liz was suspiciously staring at both Giselle and Vera, and then at Lex, trying to discover if there was something amiss. To be fair, it was very easy for her to do. While fusing with Nemo had granted her an ability that was so powerful, she could basically never use it at all, it also granted her a passive which allowed her to ignore any and all barriers below Dao level barriers.

Now that didn’t just include physical barriers, but also mental and spiritual barriers. After a lot of experimentation, Liz learned that the rules of her ability were a lot more flexible than she assumed because what was a barrier, really? Apparently, whatever Nemo decided was a barrier would count as one, so…

“Hey Nemo, do you think that if someone is keeping a secret from me about my brother, that counts as a barrier?”

Nemo thought for a moment, considering the details of the question.

“I suppose it could be argued that they are building a barrier between you and Lex by keeping a secret from you,” Nemo finally concluded.

“That’s what I thought too,” Liz chimed in, and then stared at the two girls. She didn’t want to pry into their personal information, but wanted to know if anything was happening between them and Lex. As it turned out, while both of them were keeping some secrets concerning Lex, none of them were romantic in nature, so she relaxed.

“Well, it was nice to meet you Giselle,” Liz said politely, looking at the silver-haired girl with a smile. “Invite me as well next time you go exploring an ancient temple as well. I was ranked top of my class for survival tactics in Ventura, so you don’t need to worry about me holding you back.”

Vera looked at Liz oddly, shaking her head sideways, as if confused about something. Yet she quickly looked away towards Giselle.

“Well don’t bother inviting me. My future fiance is very possessive, and won’t like me putting myself in danger like that,” Vera said, adding in a bit of unnecessary information.

Lex suppressed a sigh as he tried to ignore Liz’s fluctuating emotions, and Vera’s mischievousness.

“Alright, well you can find me at the Inn if you need me for anything else,” Lex said, not stopping her from leaving. It was subtle, but Lex noticed that Levi, for some unknown reason, had her guard up, and put a small shield around herself and Liz while Giselle was there.

If Lex hadn’t specialized in defense so much himself, he never would have been able to sense it at all – or if he hadn’t been so familiar with the natural state of the Inns’ laws. It was going to be complicated to resolve all the tiny, budding misunderstandings developing with each passing moment. The good news, however, was that once Giselle left, Levi returned to normal.

“Good day to you, miracle oracle,” Levi said, bowing to Vera, and revealing her actual, teddy-bear-like form. “I am Levi Bear, and I have heard tales of your magnificent foresight. It is with great hope that I came to the Inn in search of answers, after hearing about your prowess. If it is not too much trouble, would you be open to seeing my future and helping me find an answer?”

Vera, who was not using her ability at all these days, and who couldn’t account for the actions of peak Celestial Immortals through her vision anyway, had no idea who Levi was, or how strong she was, so she felt no pressure at all.

“Hey Levi Bear, nice to meet you. Normally, I wouldn’t mind at all helping out but my powers have stopped working for a while, so I’m taking a break until they recover.”

“Oh, my apologies for intruding,” Levi said, looking disappointed. “In that case, please excuse me for a minute while I go into the Chamber of Secrets and take care of a small matter.”

Liz didn’t stop Levi from going, but Vera stayed there, smiling oddly as she looked from Lex to Liz. Lex glared at her.

“What? If you didn’t want me here, you shouldn’t have swooped me off my feet,” Vera said teasingly.

“I wonder how your future fiance will feel about you throwing yourself at other men,” Liz said, questioningly.

“Oh wow, talk about passive aggressive,” Vera said as she stuck out her tongue and stood up. “You know what, I feel like I should give you guys some privacy. I’ll go escort Levi to the chamber.”

Lex nodded, appreciatively.

“Don’t leave, though. There’s something I need to talk to you about once this is over.”

Vera raised an eyebrow, but resisted the urge to just look into the future to find out what it was. Boy, living in the present was a huge pain.

A few moments later, Liz and Lex were the only ones left sitting in the park. Lex was contemplating how to begin the conversation, but Liz beat him to it.

“Lex I… I wanted to apologise,” Liz said, her voice deeply earnest.