The Innkeeper

A tall, beautiful lady sat with her legs crossed on a sofa, her long blonde hair falling over her shoulders. She was wearing a suit but had taken off her shoes, but the casual look did nothing to diminish her overwhelming charm. She was sitting in a private lounge, the table before filled with various sushi dishes. She was listening to a man making a report and she leaned forward and grabbed a California roll with her chopsticks and ate. Guards were standing in the corners of the room, all extremely serious.

The setting right now seemed quite harmonious, but everyone knew that the truth was contrary to how it appeared. The woman’s name was Sophia Ramos, formerly known as Sophia Bravi – Marlo’s wife! Officially the two were still married, but their separation had been quite public, and in the original sense of the word, epic. No one knew the exact reason for their separation, but the consequences were so drastic that multiple ICPA’s had to get involved. A small town had been destroyed in their fight, and the officials had to report it to the public as a sudden earthquake. It was said that when they were together no one had ever been in as much love as Sophia was with her husband, and when they separated no one could hate someone the way she did.

Like her husband, she was a Golden Core cultivator. She was also the head of one of the largest and most influential cultivator families in Europe, the Ramos family. However, she did not live in Spain, where her family’s strength was focused. She lived in New York, where she could keep a close eye on her ‘dear husband’.

Some time ago, the man disappeared from the public eye. It was not surprising as he was one of the strongest members, if not the strongest member, of the Bravi family. Although he had long since paid back whatever he owed that family, there were times when the family requested him to use his specific skills. This was not to mention that Marlo himself ran multiple enterprises, and sometimes they would require him to handle sensitive matters. But matters became different after the Egypt incident. Even ignoring the serious political waves the incident brought throughout the cultivation world, Marlo himself had a relationship with the Morrison family. An incident of that scale did not simply finish, there were repercussions that would last years if not decades. Everyone would have to make their stance clear, alliances had to be made or broken, forces strengthened, protections and precautions had to be taken. Yet the man still had no response. Even the Bravi family was alarmed by his absence, and quietly started looking for him. If he kept his silence for too long, and did not reappear, people might even begin to suspect that that he was directly involved in the assassination attempt, as he had disappeared right before it.

Whether other people were beginning to be suspicious of his actions or not was still unclear, but Ultimate Fighting Fortress, Sophia’s personal organization, was very open in their search for him. When traces of him could not be found using official methods, they started getting aggressive. A distant observer might think that perhaps the wife was concerned about him, that he needed to clear his name before the Morrison family took notice, but at least the people standing in this room did not think so._.

A phone rang, breaking the subtle peace in the room, but everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Sophia picking her own up and answering.

“Any updates?”

“We’ve finished looking up all of his recent students. He’s had a closer relationship with two of them, a Matilda Ross and a Lex William. The scope of his extra interactions with them has not been too unusual, but it’s still a lead. A background check of Lex revealed to be quite ordinary, but Matilda’s background is clearly forged. She also sent some of our men to the hospital. We’re looking further into her, but the latest report said that she disappeared from Bluebird custody.”

“Were you able to extract any information from them?”

“His other students said he gave them a week off before leaving, but they don’t know anything else. Matilda attacked our men as soon as they tried to intimidate her, and Lex pulled out a gun as soon as he made contact. Both of them showed a very aggressive response, which does not reflect their social standing or cultivation level. Although at the moment we do not believe Lex was related to his disappearance, for several hours our men were unable to locate him as he had gone without his Bluebird token, which is why he’s still under suspicion.”

“Keep investigating. Also, send my dear mother-in-law some flowers, and invite her over for some coffee.”

“Understood,” said the man at the other end of the phone before hanging up.

For a few moments Sophia was still, as if thinking, before her face warped into a grimace and she crushed the phone in her hand. She threw the broken pieces across the room before screaming, “THAT SCUM IS CHEATING ON ME! I KNOW IT!”

The men in the room trembled, but said nothing. Marlo himself had a fearsome reputation, but Sophia was the name people used to scare their children at night.

*****

Lex propped his broken door against the entrance where it used to reside and returned to his apartment. He took a look around before saying, “Mary I don’t trust my judgment right now. I need some advice.”

“I can’t tell you what to do, but I can give you a few suggestions based on what you want to do. What are you thinking?”

“I need to decide how to respond to this. I really don’t want to get involved in any trouble on Earth, but I’m also really pissed at those people for trashing my apartment.”

“Hmm that’s too vague. Let me ask you another question, what are your top priorities right now?”

Lex thought for a while before answering, “Raising my cultivation, developing my Inn and keeping my family safe.”

“In that case, you should plan according to what you want. Although originally a self defense class was not a bad idea, right now it has caused you problems. Drop out of the class immediately, and then figure out the easiest way to get out of the public eye. Focus only on your cultivation and the Inn. In fact, you should know that the Inn will allow you to have your own home in a separate space from the Inn. You should complete quests till you unlock that, and then completely move away from Earth until your cultivation is strong enough. There is no reason to put yourself in unnecessary danger. As for your family, simply introduce them to the cultivation world, and then tell them to remain lowkey as well. There’s no need to keep cultivation a secret from them, it serves no purpose.”

“Dropping out? Don’t you think that’s a little drastic?”

“Let me guess,” Mary said with a knowing look, “you don’t want to drop out because you’ll feel guilty or because you don’t want to compromise your relationship with Marlo. Is that right?”

Lex didn’t answer immediately, but eventually gave a reluctant nod.

“Lex you can’t risk yourself for such a stupid reason. You may like Marlo but his complicated life has directly caused you to be in danger, or at least some trouble. You have to get your priorities straight and act accordingly. With the system and the Inn you can grow so much stronger and be exposed to so much, but that doesn’t mean you’re immortal or won’t die. The system may feel like a cheat or a shortcut, but if it’s not used properly then that’s on you. Even the best cheat can’t help you if you don’t use it well and keep getting distracted.”

Lex felt like he was getting scolded, but ultimately agreed with the tiny floating projection. He was making things more complicated than they needed to be. He should focus on the Inn and his cultivation, and once he was as strong or even stronger than Marlo, he could do whatever he wanted on Earth and he would have no worries.

Just as Lex made his decision there was a knock on his broken door, before someone moved it aside and entered his apartment. Lex, to his great surprise, saw his old boss Jessica entering his apartment followed by a few men. She was dressed formally, in a beige dress, but the men behind her were in police uniforms.

“Are you okay? We were told there were intruders,” she said with some concern in her voice. Lex however was not buying it. Even if she worked for Bluebird, it was too coincidental that the one person he knew answered his distress call. Larry told him that even Bluebird was concerned about Marlo’s whereabouts, and it seemed they wanted to try and see if they could get any answers from him.