The Innkeeper

Chapter 2236: One year

Both Hiran and Bori were taken aback, though they were also somewhat pleased that the Innkeeper was directly offering a deal to them. The strategic importance of the Innkeepers taverns were immense, which was why they both had offered to protect the taverns.

They didn’t doubt that the Innkeeper could protect the taverns, but if they made use of the taverns, they would most likely be targeted actively rather than passively! It would be best to contribute in their protection than leave everything to the Innkeeper!

The next step they were thinking of, that they hadn’t mentioned just yet, was to limit the availability of the taverns for others. After all, if everyone gained the same advantage, it would cease being an advantage at all.

"Contrary to what many have been thinking, the purpose of the Midnight Inn, and the taverns, are not to act as transport hubs," said the Innkeeper, causing the other two to feel a sudden sense of awkwardness. They had not been cheap in their offers to the Innkeeper, and yet it seemed that monetary items could not tempt him at all!

He cared more about that 50 MP he could earn through a genuine guest staying at the Inn than he did about Dao Fields earned by renting out his taverns as ’transport hubs’. Truly unique, and extremely content.

"I do not normally interfere too much in my guests’ activities, but leasing out assets of the Inn will interfere too much with the experience of other guests, and give the Midnight Inn a bad name. Thus, allowing you to use the taverns for an extended period of time is impossible. However, contingent on a few conditions, I can allow unimpeded access to the taverns for one year in the Dream realm, meaning nine years MIST (Midnight Inn Standard Time)."

One year? Hiran and Bori were both stunned. Even one year of use was better than having no access at all, but one year was hardly enough time to make decisive strategic use of the taverns.

The treasure hidden within the Dream realm, whatever it was, would no doubt cause bloodshed, even among Dao Lords. Of that, there was no question whatsoever!

"The only reason I am allowing this to begin with is because the Dream realm took many of my workers, and more of my guests. So, the first requirement of being allowed to use my taverns to enter the Dream realm is that both your organisations must make a full, dedicated effort to help find and bring back everyone who went missing from the Midnight Inn.

"That means search efforts need to be made by those who travel using the taverns, but by all assets of your races or organisations within the Dream realm. At the same time, you need to publicise that the reason you are being allowed to use the taverns for one year is to help the Inn in its search efforts. Even those related to the Inn, but weren’t taken from the Inn itself, need to be found."

Hiren resisted the urge to blink. The Innkeeper had given up 2 Dao Fields... in exchange for a search and rescue operation? The worth was completely incomparable.

"Innkeeper, you realise that Dao Lords are sent to an entirely different section of the Dream realm, cut off from the rest, right?" asked Bori. "The Dao Lords won’t be able to find them, unless you lost a Dao Lord as well."

The Innkeeper shook his head, and looked at Bori with an amused smile.

"Even if they are separated, that doesn’t mean they won’t have means to search. There is no need to appear pedantic - we all know what can and cannot be done."

On the surface, it seemed like the Innkeeper was making it clear that he would not accept Dao Lords simply going through the motions. They would need to make a dedicated effort to search for the workers, and use all their means at their disposal.

In reality, though, Lex had no idea what could or couldn’t be done so it was best to leave everything to the imagination of others.

"Will you offer the same deal to everyone who offers to search?" Bori asked seriously.

The Innkeeper didn’t reply immediately, and once again went silent for a moment.

"You both wish to keep this a deal between us, but how does that favor the Inn?" the Innkeeper asked, shaking his head. "I’ll tell you what. If your progress in searching and rescuing all Inn related personnel is sufficient after the first three months, I won’t offer the deal to anyone else. Your progress will be reviewed every three months. Hopefully, it shouldn’t take two supremely powerful organisations more than a single year to simply search for a few people."

The Innkeeper was making his stance clear. Although he did not accept the resources they offered, they could not make use of his taverns cheaply. They would actually have to exert themselves in that search.

In a way, they would have preferred to simply trade the resources than expend their personal efforts within the Dream realm. But it was only for a year - it would not set them back by much. They could send in many Dao Lords during that period, and even if they spent the first year searching, they could more than make up for it later on.

"To keep this offer exclusive to both of your organisations, we can establish a small, token payment. Your one year period will begin when one of you submits the payment. I hope, during that time, our organisations will cooperate well during this time."

The two of them received identical lists, and going through them they found that the items on the lists weren’t too valuable. They were simply hard to find.

Of course, the matter of value was relative. The lists didn’t contain anything too valuable to the Henali and to the Humanoid Alliance - two organisations both led by beings above the Dao Lord. For others, especially for those below the Dao level, the items on this list were invaluable.

"When one of us submits the items on the list, does the time for both of us begin?" asked Bori.

The Innkeeper nodded.

"Of course. However, even if the time begins, the others won’t be able to access the tavern until they submit the items on their list either."

By doing it like this, he could make sure that they wouldn’t take too long. Thus, very soon, Lex was going to have a lot of allies in the Dream realm searching for Almira. Whoever the opponent was, he could bet they didn’t see that coming.

Moreover, the lists weren’t random either. Both lists contained everything he needed to make Mary’s clone. It was time that Lex got himself a powerful and capable ally.