The Innkeeper

Chapter 2177: Alone

The Innkeeper stepped out of his office, a Mentholian sitting on his right shoulder, looking around. In truth, it had fallen onto the Innkeeper’s shoulder by mistake, but then became too afraid to move. Lex, on the other hand, decided to just leave it there because it smelled nice and refreshing. It was like wearing a cologne that never weakened.

Lex had entirely suppressed his aura as the Innkeeper, and chose to walk. The intention was to avoid causing a commotion due to his presence. After all, although many knew of the Innkeeper, very few had interacted with him. Moreover, everyone naturally associated the Innkeeper with tremendous power, so watching a random guy strolling with a Mentholian on his shoulder didn’t exactly fit the image.

Of course, the workers all recognised him, but they just carried on with their tasks. The number of things he needed to do were, honestly, too many. That is why Lex decided to procrastinate. It was a conscious decision, and not something he did to avoid work.

His current state was actually not suited to deep and critical thinking. A majority of his brain power was being consumed by the Masterless technique, of which he still understood nothing. The part of his consciousness that was controlling his projection of the Innkeeper only had enough mental capacity to facilitate a few hours of intense decision making and critical analysis a day.

For today, he had already hit that quota, so he decided to take a stroll through the Inn instead. To be clear, that did not mean Lex couldn’t make decisions now. Instead, it only meant that he wasn’t in the best state to think deeply about his decisions, considering the possible risks and benefits too deeply.

Since there was nothing that urgently required him to make a decision, he thought it would be better to delay the tasks until tomorrow.

Since he was strolling casually, not using his power to quickly reach any destination, and his aura was completely suppressed, he appeared like a casual mortal walking the fields. The Innkeeper’s office was relatively close to Main street, but at the Pace Lex was walking at, it would still take a couple of hours.

Even so, this distance did not mean that the area was empty. On the contrary, the vast open fields were a welcome spot for many families and picnickers.

Nearby, there was a group of goblins locked in a heated battle against a group of human kids. Their choice of combat method? Kites. Using simple cotton threads, technique and honed skill, they were trying to cut each other’s kites’ threads.

On another side, couples took a stroll through a newly developed apple orchard called the Whispering Woods - mainly because the trees could talk, and they would whisper compliments to wherever passed them by in hopes of receiving some attention.

Overall, compared to the ongoing war across the universe that was wreaking havoc and spreading fear, the mood here was quite relaxed and pleasant - exactly as Lex preferred it. At least for his guests. Personally, he didn’t mind some excitement from time to time.

Among the many groups of guests, Lex saw an old man sitting alone on a marble bench in the shade of a large willow tree. Lex did not need to scan him to know that he was a Mid Nascent Soul cultivator, approximately 300 years old, and probably wasn’t destined to rise any further in cultivation. That was, until, he experienced the baptism of the Sun Crow’s energy which had improved his talent and foundation, allowing him to possibly pursue a higher realm.

A mere glance was enough for Lex to determine all that. He had not even used his abilities, nor had he studied the man’s karma. It was just that Lex was so much more powerful than him, that he could see through him in a glance. This is probably something akin to what Dao Lords felt when they looked at normal immortals.

Considering that it wasn’t quite common to see many people here alone, Lex decided to strike up a conversation with the old man.

"Hey there," the Innkeeper called out as he walked towards the man. "How are you doing? I don’t normally see too many people around this place sitting on their own."

The old man had been looking at the hot air balloons in the distance, watching mortal guests use them until they reached the solid clouds in the sky. For one such as him, playing in the clouds had already lost its charm over a century ago, yet sitting here, watching the children play, he could not help but find a sense of joy he could not quite understand.

The old man looked towards the Innkeeper. His voice was faintly familiar, but he could not recall where he had heard it before. This was quite unusual for a cultivator, but he didn’t think much of it. In fact, that was because Lex himself did not wish to be noticed as the Innkeeper, so he suppressed his presence to the point where others could not recognise him.

"Aren’t you on your own as well?" the old man asked with a soft smile. "I am simply sitting here and... taking in life. When I first got trapped inside the Midnight Inn, I was in a terrible state because I wanted to go back. But the more time I spend here, the more I realize that the life I was living... might have been more of a prison than being stuck here inside the Inn."

The old man didn’t know why he could just speak whatever was in heart. That was not the kind of thing cultivators normally did, especially to strangers. However, this man seemed entirely trustworthy, allowing him to lower his guard and speak his heart.

The old man smiled at the Innkeeper, feeling as if he were speaking to an old friend - something he had not felt in... many years.

"What about you? Why are you walking here all alone?" the old man asked.

The Innkeeper looked from the old man out at his Inn, and all the guests who seemed to be enjoying the day.

"Just reminding myself to actually enjoy the life I work so hard for," the Innkeeper said softly.