The Innkeeper

Chapter 2073: Interesting people

Nulli was awfully close to Mary’s face as she spoke, their noses almost touching. There was a teasing smirk on her face, as well as mischief in her eyes. Mary, on the other hand, did not react at all. She looked Nulli directly in the eyes without so much as a single emotional fluctuation throughout.

Then, once Nulli had offered the drink, Mary kept her waiting for a good few seconds before answering.

"I noticed that you sniffed the Innkeeper when you arrived, and now you’re pretty close to me too," said Mary with a neutral tone. "Is smelling each other some kind of greeting among the Nullith race?"

Many from the crowd observing the exchange nearly gasped, but managed to stop themselves on the account of the fact that they were Dao Lords. That did not, however, change the fact that they couldn’t believe Mary would burn Nulli in such a way. Queen of War & Conquest indeed.

Yet before they could even properly process what had happened, Nulli gave a response no one save Eclipse expected.

"It’s not really a norm among the Nulli, but if you want to get to know each other better, I wouldn’t mind smelling you a little more."

If Mary had a real body, she would have been tempted to slap Nulli. This was blatant harassment, even if it was coming from an unfairly attractive woman.

"No thank you, but feel free to smell this," said Mary, handing Nulli a small pamphlet about sexual harassment in the work place, as well as appropriate behavior in a public setting.

Eclipse burst out laughing while Nulli only smiled with an admiring expression, not bothered in the least by Mary’s words. Instead, she seemed to have approved of her to a certain degree.

"You’re not bad," Nulli said. "You feel like a Celestial, but don’t have the aura of one - quite interesting. Since you don’t want a drink, then at least join us for a bit so we can talk in private."

Nulli glared at the following crowd as she said ’private’ as if to send them a hint to clear off. The crowd was disappointed, mostly because they wanted to see how this meeting progressed. Mary had proven herself to be remarkable, and no one could deny it. Though she had not revealed her strength, her insight was not something that could be casually gained.

Then, her identity as the Innkeepers assistant, if that even was her position, made her even more special. No one could ignore her, but Eclipse wasn’t just anyone either.

As the crowd cleared off, Nulli slowly stepped back and sat beside Eclipse, calling Mary to take a seat as well.

"Greeting, Primordial Queen. The Innkeeper had to leave momentarily for an urgent task, so he sent me in his stead. He asked me to let you know that he will personally give you a new flower to pay for my attendance," Mary said as she walked up to Eclipse.

Eclipse waved her hand as if this wasn’t a problem at all.

"Please, forget it. You gave me a good laugh and that’s more than worth any payment to attend this tea party. And call me Eclipse, none of that Queen nonsense. That’s reserved for the uninteresting people who have nothing but flattery going for them."

Mary raised an eyebrow, but then she decided she liked the logic and took a seat.

"You had quite the crowd following you. Even the Innkeeper didn’t have such a crowd behind him," said Nulli, stating her observation. Considering the people in attendance, that’s quite the feat."

Mary shook her head, not agreeing.

"Actually, it’s not. As a host, I need to make sure my guests’ needs are met and provide them with the space to do whatever they want. In that regard, the Innkeeper is better. I got a little too involved with their matters, and one can argue that such a thing is even more hospitable. However, they will only say that as long as my interference has a positive result.

"The moment I make a mistake, or my advice leads to an undesirable result, even if the result is a positive one, the interpretation will change. Moreover, I’m also pushing the limits of my neutrality by interfering. So, on the surface, while it seems like I did a good job, the truth is the opposite. Or, well, at least that is the ideology we maintain at the Inn."

Nulli shrugged, while Eclipse nodded.

"Your Inn sounds like an interesting place. If it’s still running once I finally get free from here, I’d love to check it out," Eclipse said.

She meant it as a compliment, but that statement gave Mary pause.

"Do you think we won’t survive until then?" she asked, looking at the owner of the Primordial realm.

"Not necessarily. You all might just stop running an Inn. Who knows? Once you’ve been alive as long as I have, you’ve basically seen everything. Everything changes sooner or later, including people. Even if you do survive all the trials and hurdles that will no doubt come your way, there’s no guarantee you’ll be the same people, or want the same things when you come out the other end."

Mary did not respond, and instead thought about the words. Just a few hours ago she had been reflecting on how her previous arrogance no longer suited her current personality. It seemed that... time really did change things.

"Maybe you’re right," Mary finally answered, once she was done reflecting. "But I’d be willing to bet that the Midnight Inn would still be around when you finally leave this place. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that it would stick around for a long, long time."

Eclipse smiled, admiring her loyalty to the Innkeeper. Lex had that loyalty too. Loyalty... it was such a rare commodity, and it was exactly the thing that made the Midnight Inn so interesting.

Then she thought about the influence of time, and the incredibly long Energy Wave from the universal boundary, and could not help but worry.

"Tell me, does the Midnight Inn have sufficient defenses?" she suddenly asked. "If the Inn gets pulled into a conflict, do you have a way of getting out of it besides the Innkeeper? Because if you want, I can help you out a little."