The Innkeeper

Chapter 1836: Lex Williams the inn worker

Thirteen months after the end of the auction, Giselle returned to the Midnight Inn, her appearance a little pale, as if she were recovering from a grave injury.

She closed her eyes and sighed, letting out all the tension she had been holding in. Inside the Inn, she was safe. It was such a simple thing, and yet it meant so much. Over the years she hardly ever came to the Inn, she had too much important work to do that she couldn’t waste time, but it was the closest thing to a home she had.

Her origins were... complicated. As such, she had no true home, nor did she need one to be honest. She had her goals, and all she needed was to work towards them. Wherever she stayed in the meantime hardly mattered, especially since she moved around a lot. A place like the Inn which was warm, friendly, safe and accessible from anywhere was about as close to home as she could expect to find.

She did not immediately go to find Lex, though that was essentially the reason she came to the Inn. First, she rented a room and took a nice, long bath. Although she was immortal, and cleaning herself was easier than snapping her fingers, the habit of bathing to relieve stress and relax was not one she could brush off so easily, nor did she want to.

Her health did not improve, but then again, this was not the kind of injury she could easily recover from let alone from a simple shower. She didn’t have time to seek help either, for her recovery would take, at the very least, several weeks even with the best of care.

This moment, sitting in the tub, soaking in the warm water, enjoying the pleasant aroma wafting through her room, was all the rest she could afford. Despite the simplicity of her pleasure, she felt much better, so much so that she even dozed off for a while in the tub. Alas, such a time could not last forever. Before long she woke up, fixed herself up, and set off.

Finding Lex was not hard because all she needed to do was tell her personal assistant hologram that she wanted to meet Lex Williams, and it would soon come back with word. But something unusual happened that day. The hologram actually did not respond for nearly an hour, though when it did, it told her that Lex had been informed of her meeting request and that he would meet her at a designated spot in fifteen minutes.

Considering she got her response, Giselle did not think anything of the delay and promptly went to the meeting spot. Yet instead of finding Lex at the spot, Giselle only found a massive creature that looked like it was a blend between a hippo and a leopard. Considering the Inn’s tendency to shrink truly enormous guests into a smaller size, the large size of the creature was quite telling about how big it truly was.

"Are you Giselle?" the creature asked, looking at her oddly. "One of the workers told me you wanted to meet me. What can I do for you? And how do you even know me?"

"Huh?" Giselle muttered, looking up at the ferocious thing.

"Lex?" she asked, confused for a moment.

"Yes, that’s me," the leopard-hippo thing confirmed.

"I’m sorry, I think there’s been a mistake. I wanted to meet with Lex Williams, and the hologram must have confused you for him."

"No, no there’s no confusion," said the leo-hippo, looking down at her. "My name is Lex Williams."

Giselle was stumped. Well, she guessed it was possible for multiple people to have the same name.

"I was looking for Lex Williams who works for the Inn," she said, referring to the Midnight Inn.

"Yes, I am Lex Williams who owns and runs an inn," Lex, the hippo-leopard said, emphasising he was who he said he was. He could not understand the confusion. This was not the first time he had run into a situation like this, and if it weren’t for his impeccable service ethics, he would have already stopped showing up any time someone informed him that there was a person who wanted to meet Lex.

He was a native of the Midnight realm, and often came to the Midnight Inn to buy supplies for his own inn. It was a great place, except for when stuff like this happened.

Giselle coughed, now turning a shade of pink as the whole exchange was kind of embarrassing. She pulled out a projection of Lex - the human Lex - and showed it to Lex.

"I mean, I was looking for my friend, Lex, who looks like this. I’m sorry for the confusion."

Lex, the hippo leopard, looked at the image and snorted.

"I’ve met him before. Someone hired him to make fun of my short height. Well, whatever. If you’ll excuse me, I have errands to run."

"I’m truly sorry for the misunderstanding. I’ll pay a visit to your inn if I ever get the chance, I’m sure it’s lovely."

"Yeah, yeah," grumbled Lex as he walked away.

Giselle coughed, and then searched for an actual worker instead of reaching out to a holographic assistant. She explained, in detail, that she wanted to meet Lex Williams, the Midnight Inn employee and human, and that she was a friend of his.

The worker was extremely helpful, if a little confused at her over-explanation, and brought her to a cafe where he informed her Lex would meet her soon. Fifteen minutes later, Lex teleported right into the shop, though he looked like he hadn’t slept in a year and crawled right out of a dungeon.

"Hey, sorry for making you wait," Lex said, looking as if he was still distracted by something. "I’ve just been really swamped lately. What’s up? Did you find a Defiler?"

Instead of answering, Giselle looked at him oddly. Even while talking to her, Lex was clearly distracted, more than half his attention clearly somewhere else.

"I’m fine but... are you okay?" she asked hesitantly. "You look like you’ve been through hell."

Lex looked at her, and could not help but smile wryly.

"I have been through hell - in a way. Come, let me show you."