The Innkeeper

Chapter 2070: The Innkeeper’s true identity

"My apologies. Yes, as suggested, we should stick to relevant topics," Bridget said with a knowing smile.

"Yes, yes I agree," said another Dao Lord. "In fact, there’s a question I was meaning to ask the Innkeeper, but since he left, I was wondering if I could ask you."

Mary’s expression remained polite as she nodded, channeling her innate arrogance. At the same time, though, she could not help but feel that she had outgrown such feelings. Maybe it was because her soul was damaged, or so much time had passed, or Lex’s influence, but she had a feeling that if she returned to her full power, she’d probably behave a lot more casually, similar to the Innkeeper. It was a whole lot more freeing than having an attitude.

"I have heard that the Midnight realm is creating a Hell, and even a Heaven within its realm," said the Dao Lord. "At the same time there are great forests for elves, great mines for dwarves, gardens for gnomes, and massive mountains for giants. It seems to me that, increasingly, the Midnight Inn is catering more and more for Humanoid beings. In that case, do you have any hidden affiliation with the Humanoid Alliance."

It was a layered, complex, and pathetic question to which Mary responded with a death glare and deadpan question.

"If you swear a Dao oath to never step foot in another forest, visit a mountain, enter a mine, go to Hell or Heaven, dip your foot in a lake, breathe air or simply even exist in a semi-stable environment, then I will admit that we are doing all of that to secretly cater to the Humanoid Alliance," she said, staring the Dao Lord right in the eyes.

The Dao Lord coughed awkwardly.

"No, I think there’s some kind of miscommunication. What I meant to suggest was that if the Inn can alter its environment for its guests, then I’d like to request a Voidwood forest in a vacuum for members of my own race to visit," he said, shamelessly ignoring the scathing burn Mary left on his ego.

Mary nodded.

"The Midnight Inn caters to all guests. We have probably encountered no guests from your race before, thus explaining the absence of the necessary environment, however I assure you that if they come, such an environment can be arranged," she answered.

Mary felt like getting up and ditching this group of people, but she had to remind herself that she was still a worker for the Inn. Thus, to make this meeting more bearable for herself, she stopped tapping into her dormant arrogance as much as she was, and instead allowed some of her normal personality trickle in.

From the guests, her gaze went down to her red dress. It was flattering and went well with her hair, but she wasn’t feeling the high heels, so she swapped them out for some white sneakers.

The strong color contrast drew too much attention, making it so that every eye would naturally gravitate to her feet rather than the rest of her. Somehow, that felt even more arrogant than before, so she added a pair of long, white gloves to her attire.

Now, feeling much more comfortable, she turned her gaze back to the guests.

"It has been a long time since I attended something like this - has the standard really dropped so low?" she could not help but ask. "There’s a war going on, and you’re all probing the Innkeeper who hasn’t done anything at all, and in fact provided you with a platform in which to discuss freely. Surely, there’s a better use of your time."

Mary suddenly sensed an odd familiarity, as if she had done something like this before. Tapping into that feeling, she found her memories missing, but her instincts still valid and present!

She leaned forward, resting both her elbows on her knees, her fingers intertwined with each other, with only her index fingers free and tapping on each other.

"Please, do not answer these questions - the last thing I want is some conspiracy that I’m mining for information. However, consider this, have you secured your Dao fields? A single polluted law could destroy countless years of work."

The question was unexpected, and at first alarmed some, but they promptly relaxed as they came to an answer.

"Mature realms cannot be polluted so easily - the laws of the realm are self correcting, and would need significant damage before they are polluted enough to affect the production of a Dao field," a Dao Lord answered, as if teaching her. Many others nodded, yet Ballom creased his brow.

He did not underestimate Mary, and so looked deeper into the question. How could someone working for the Innkeeper not have such basic knowledge?

Just as he expected, their answer almost made Mary laugh, and she didn’t hide it either.

"Hah! It seems there are a lot of misunderstandings today. Who told you I was concerned for the health of your field? I meant, if someone were to conspire to destroy your realm, the production of your Dao fields would begin to gradually decline, making it a clear indicator that something is amiss! It’s one of the best ways to monitor your realms health!"

Mary’s answer, once again, alarmed the group.

"Destroy a Major realm? What kind of insanity is that? Why would anyone want to destroy a Major realm? Wait, have you heard something?"

While the others hounded Mary, Ballom’s expression changed as he realized that he had been correct. The view and perspective of the Innkeeper, and even Mary, looked at things from a higher angle. They were not restricted by conventional thinking, which was something that could only come through experience!

"Who told you that a Major realm can’t be destroyed? There are many tactical advantages to the destruction of a Major realm, not to mention countless opportunities and resources produced as a result. I have not heard anything - it was just a simple question I proposed to you to make you consider the kinds of questions you should be asking in this meeting.

"Just because it hasn’t happened before doesn’t mean it can’t happen in the future. But that doesn’t even apply here, because Major realms have already been destroyed in the past. But... forget it, forget it. Why am I helping you out here? If that’s all, I’ll take my leave, I have many other guests to see to."

Her abrupt motion to leave alarmed many, and they all began to rush to stop her, their perspective of her changing rapidly.

Thus, without any original intention of doing so, Mary began to point out a few bits of knowledge she thought should be common sense, giving out extremely practical, strategic advice for manoeuvring in a realm war. She spoke with such familiarity that it almost created an illusion that she had personally commanded many such wars.

Even Bridget listened with interest. Only Ballom, the one with the most experience in the room, leaned back as he studied Mary with a renewed impression. Such familiarity with matters pertaining to the influence of Dao in a war... could not be attained through theory alone. Indeed, it seemed that the Innkeeper’s true identity was extremely sensitive, just as he had expected.