The Innkeeper

“Velma, has Helen’s mood improved at all while I was gone?” Lex asked as he walked towards the hills that carried the meditation room. His Host Attire which was in sync with the Inn let him know where all his guests were at all times, so he had no problem locating her in the large area of the Inn. But while normally he teleported directly wherever he wanted, this time he chose to walk. Firstly it was because he was considering a good place to place his greenhouse, and secondly he wanted to understand how his guests felt walking around.

“Her mood did seem to improve when she had the cake, and instead of sulking in one place she’s been wandering around the grounds of the Inn. Still, she hasn’t interacted with Gerard or I much, and hasn’t eaten much food.”

Lex nodded as he continued to stroll through the Inn. For now the grounds around the Inn weren’t too big, just a few acres in fact, which meant you could see end to end easily. However, walking from one corner to another, such as the Recovery room to the Meditation room, still took a bit of time.

It was fine for him, but he had to keep in mind that not all of his guests could traverse the area easily – such as Will. He twitched his lips, but mentally bought a golf cart from the Midnight market that he parked beside the manor. He then instructed his A.I. to offer to drive his guests around whenever they saw them walking to a specific destination.

Eventually, even with his slow pace, he reached the hills and found Helen sitting in the grass with a couple of rabbits playing around her. She also had one in her lap that she was gently stroking, her gaze off into the distance. She was brought back from her thoughts by the sound of someone approaching, and looked to see the Innkeeper. She had seen him when she had just arrived at the Inn, but since then the mysterious man had disappeared. She had been too preoccupied with her thoughts and had completely forgotten about him._.

“Good afternoon,” the Innkeeper greeted her, his voice smooth as butter. “I hope your stay here has been satisfactory.”

“Yes, it has been great. I wanted to thank you for the cake, it was delicious.”

“You’re very welcome, it is a delicacy from the Jotun System that is fairly popular. I plan on opening up a patisserie for my guests in the future, but until then it should hold them over.”

The Innkeeper spoke softly and calmly, with a warm and easy going presence. He sat down in the grass nearby, and a few rabbits hopped on over to him, as if attracted by his aura. He gently petted them, as if he were meeting an old friend after a long time.

“If you don’t mind my mentioning,” he said, turning his gaze from the fluffy animal to her, “my staff told me that you haven’t eaten much. Although you have been healed from your poisoned state, it has extracted a lot of strength from your body. If you do not take care of yourself then you will fall ill.”

Helen blushed, and for the first time in a long time she felt like an admonished child. She felt like she had been behaving like a spoiled little girl, throwing a tantrum at being treated unfairly.

“I will take better care of myself,” she said meekly. Helen was not a meek woman – she was confident and strong, and while she gave respect to her superiors, it was not out of weakness but from her upbringing. As someone being raised for political marriage, she was not raised to be only a pretty face but a strong asset and ally for whoever she ended up with.

She was extremely capable and was always treated as such. Even Alexander, who generally treated her very well, knew that she was more reliable than most and so treated her as someone strong and someone who did not need to be looked after. After all, treating someone strong with delicacy was not care but disrespectful.

However, for some reason, she did not seem to mind it when this mysterious man was looking out for her like this.

“I’m glad to hear it,” the man said, a smile appearing on his handsome face. “If you have any other troubles, feel free to talk to me about them. Maybe I won’t be able to offer you any direct help, but as someone who has been to many worlds and seen many cultures across the universe my perspective is probably different from anyone you’ve met.”

Various thoughts ran across her mind as the Innkeeper made his offer. She was not having a small crisis but one that overturned her whole life. Even though she knew she was being raised for a purpose, she loved her family dearly. Yet she had been thrown aside, and there was nowhere left for her on Earth unless she returned with a new identity. And even if she returned, what would she do? She had lost her direction in life. She did not want revenge, but she also did not know what she did want.

“Thank you for the offer,” she said shaking her head, “but this is something I must figure out on my own.”

“I understand,” the Innkeeper said, getting up. “If you need me, feel free to reach out through one of my staff. If you get bored during your stay, I recommend you try out the Mystery Trial behind the manor – it is something I just added to the Inn. First try is free for guests, so you have nothing to lose and the trials are perfectly safe.”

The Innkeeper smiled at her one more time and then disappeared. Helen felt a sense of loss when he left, but she picked herself up and started walking back to the manor. She would eat something, and then she would continue to think. Moping was not her style, but she needed to figure out her new direction in life before she would feel better.

Lex was slightly disappointed when the girl refused to confide in him, but he could not insist on getting her to talk. He had to maintain his mystique. He reappeared at the northernmost point of the Inn and prepared himself for some heavy spending. Spending 5000 MP in the Midnight Market, he bought himself a relatively powerful array that was arranged from trees. As soon as he made the purchase pine trees started growing around, and ultimately covered an entire acre of land around him. Then in the center of the new forest, he chose to purchase the greenhouse for another 425 MP, transforming the land five thousand square feet around him into arable land. After all his expenditure he was left with 11,836 MP. That was still quite a lot, but did it really allow him to spend his MP so randomly?

The answer was, this was not a random purchase. The forest array served an important purpose, which was that it would redirect anyone who entered away from the center without letting them realize. The effect was very simple and did not harm anyone in any way, but it was exactly for that reason that the array could affect even those of a very high cultivation level. This way his greenhouse which was directly in the center of the forest would be out of reach for the guests. Of course, as the owner and controller of the array Lex could choose to allow someone to pass through if he wanted.

What was an array exactly? Similar to how spirit techniques used spirit energy to give rise to different effects, and talismans used spirit energy as well as the complex science of spirit engineering to give birth to seemingly magical results, arrays used natural treasures and spirit treasures to have different effects over a certain piece of land. By arranging treasures, or array flags (spirit treasures that served a single, very specific purpose) in a complex design one could arrange an array that served various purposes. It could be a protective array that stopped incoming enemies or attacks from entering an area. It could be an attacking array that attacked enemies with it. It could even be a spirit gathering array that gathered spirit energy from the atmosphere and filled the area of the array with concentrated spirit energy – a boon for cultivation. In short, it could have various effects and all depended on the user’s purpose.

With that out of the way, Lex spent another 2000MP to purchase a permanent A.I. worker for the greenhouse. Despite the heavy cost, the A.I’s that Lex purchased could only be human shaped and could have no special abilities, only a certain amount of knowledge regarding certain fields. Lex didn’t name this A.I. and instead decided to just call him the gardener, to keep it simple and easy to remember.

He handed The Gardener all the seeds and cuttings he brought from Nibiru and told him to begin planting them, and try to save as many of them as he could. As he watched the gardener begin to work, he came to the painful realization that he may have to hire an actual living person with an affinity or ability for raising plants as the Inn let him know of the various special needs of each plant that was being planted, and they were not simple to say the least.