The Innkeeper

Chapter 2374: Picking sides I - Idorian Bazaar

The Idorian Bazar was a cornerstone realm in Vaelûn, one that had existed since the Primordial Age. It was one of the oldest realms in existence, with an incredibly rich history. It had been invaded not just once or one hundred times, but countless times by many who had thought themselves powerful, but from the day of the Bazar’s founding to date, its owner had not changed.

Despite its odd name, the whole realm was not actually a market place, however it did house the most famous market in the universe: the Idorian Bazar.

While they couldn’t sell anything and everything, if a certain item was not available for sale in Idorian, then it was unlikely that it would be for sale anywhere else. At the beginning of the current, unnamed Age, the Idorian Bazar even featured a Dao Lord slave who could be controlled by whoever bought the slave contract!

Even now, many still recall that auction, if only because the sale of a Dao Lord slave wasn’t even close to being the main item of that auction! Major realms had been auctioned here. Wars had been sold here, and peace bartered.

When Dao Lords wanted to shop, this is where they used to go while the universe was still connected. These days, Idorian also sold access to a special entertainment channel showing the armies trying to invade Idorian, and how they died. There was a different channel that showed the Tribulation Fiends.

It was the ultimate market place where anything and everything could be bought. Naturally, such a place also had tiers and restrictions, and not everyone could access every area of Idorian.

One of the easiest ways to get higher level access was to have a high cultivation level, but even being a Dao Lord did not automatically allow access to every area. There were certain regions where access was restricted unless one had very special qualifications. Those qualifications were, naturally, not announced for if one needed to ask what they were, then they likely weren’t eligible to begin with.

In one such area sat a Primordial Marzu, also known as a Primordial Tyrannosaurus rex. He was not from the Primordial Garden, no, he was a genuine survivor from the Primordial age which could easily be discerned from his antiquated fashion sense.

A violet, velvet cape hung down his back, though it was not so long that it would touch the ground. The cape was pinned to his suit with tangerine colored round pins the size of a watermelon, while the suit itself was navy blue, and felt quite refreshing to look at.

Such clothes were in stark contrast to modern Marzu, who preferred magicians robes which were less restrictive and free flowing. Then again, modern Marzu also used wands instead of magicians’ staffs, like he did.

"I’ve seen a new rumor spreading around in the chat rooms," the Marzu said with a light chuckle, as if he was sharing a joke. Opposite to him sat two other figures holding onto their cards, clearly showing that they were in the middle of a card game.

"Just shut up and do your turn," said the Primordial Stormwarden, annoyed at the Marzu. "Riri and I barely take a decade when it’s our turn, but you haven’t made a move in nearly a century!"

Beside the Primordial Stormwarden sat a Primordial Djinn, who looked at the Stormwarden angrily.

"Who the hell are you calling Riri? Your mother’s Riri. Your father’s Riri, but I. Am. Not. Riri!"

The other two Primordials only chuckled at Riri’s tantrum, ignoring him completely.

"Someone is claiming that the plan is to destroy 3000 Major realms," the Marzu continued as he finally played his move and put down a card. "That rumor appeared at the same time all across the universe, which is why I’m seeing it in countless chatrooms. Someone is trying hard to spread fake news."

If one looked down at the card he placed down, they would see a living Dao Lord trapped within it, standing in a certain pose, acting like the artwork within the card.

"Idiot, you tell him to stop calling me Riri!" the Djin bellowed at the Marzu, which caused the Marzu to falter.

"It’s Ido, not Idiot. Don’t drag me into your games, Anthol. I have quite a respectable reputation, not like you two."

The three friends glared at each other, frightening the Dao Lords trapped within the cards they were playing with. The trapped Dao Lords no longer even felt humiliation at their situation - they only felt frightened that they may suffer if these three friends began to clash with one another again.

The Marzu, Ido, was the oldest of the three - although the age gap was a measly one and half years - and was thus the leader of the group they had formed when they were naught but little children.

The Stormwarden, ancestor to a majority of dominating avian races such as eagles and kites, was called Ricordan, and was the second oldest.

Anthol, the Djinn, was the youngest, being a total of three years younger than Ido. He was also notoriously mischievous, which was a key reason why his entire race had been punished by the universe into being born trapped inside various household objects.

When they were kids, they formed a group called Idorian - a mix of Ido, Ri and An from their names - and then terrorised the other kids in their community back then. Later on, they dominated and tormented the entire realm, until they eventually became its owners.

At least, that’s the version of history these three friends had publicly announced. What was true and what was false, who could say, especially with anything involving Anthol.

Ido shook his head, and turned his gaze to his system interface. As the owner of the chat room system, he had created countless chatrooms through which he collected information and influenced the universe.

The System-hunter groupchat was, in truth, just one of the chat rooms he had running. Naturally, then, he also had a chatroom with his two other friends in it, wherein he forwarded extracts from conversations and screenshots of the rumors he had been referring to.

Ricordan snorted dismissively as he looked at the chats.

"3000 Major realms? Do they think this is some kind of joke? Just destroying three realms caused the descent of the Tribulation Fiends. Can they even imagine what would happen if they destroyed 3000 Major realms?" he asked in an irritated tone, though his gaze was firmly locked on his cards. He needed to decide the best strategy for his next move. He might need to rely on his Forbidden Dungeon System to trap one of his prisoners into a new card at this rate.

"Don’t rile up Riri, Ido," said Anthol as he leaned forward to study the card Ido threw down. "But on that note, I do have a piece of news that I have been meaning to discuss with you two. Over the past few millennia, I’ve bought a number of random items containing hints from the bazaar.

"Only recently have I been able to discern something from them. I fear... an old friend is making a move this time. The rumor about 3000 Major realms being destroyed is just a diversion. In truth... I fear the plan might be to only leave behind 3000 Major realms."

This time, neither Ido nor Ricordan joked. They, instead, looked at Anthol as if waiting for him to chuckle or reveal that it was a joke, but that didn’t happen. He stayed calm and serious throughout.

"3000 Major realms... you mean the exact same number of Major realms as Pentagal before its destruction?" Ido asked gravely. "That can’t be a coincidence. How did you learn of such a thing? Can you even imagine what the repercussions will be?"

Anthol shook his head, and opened up his Bazaar system interface for everyone to see, and showed them the feature of the system that let him buy hints of universal secrets over a period of many years. A system feature, especially of a Divine rank system, was no joke.

With those hints combined together, the revealed truth could not be doubted.

"That’s not all," Anthol said as he leaned back in his chair. "The moment I learned of this truth, I received a letter from the ’old friend’ that I mentioned. Or, to be more specific, it’s an invitation."

Anthol showed his two friends the invitation without concern that the Dao Lords trapped in the cards would hear or see what they were saying. What could prisoners from the Forbidden Dungeon even do in the presence of Ricordan?

The other two founders of the Idorian Bazaar read the invitation very seriously, and found that the invitation was to either stay put, do nothing, and become one of the remaining 3000 Major realms, or act out, and become one of the many realms that would be destroyed.

Silence. The only response that the three had was silence. The legendary founders of the Idorian Bazaar, able to resist invasions across multiple ages, and carve out a permanent position for themselves in the universe, could only sit in silence as they read the invitation card.

"Now read the back side," Anthol continued.

The two flipped the card over and saw the contents, and almost immediately their expressions changed.

"The Idorian Bazaar... will continue to maintain its position as a neutral organisation, and will not interfere with what is happening beyond our borders," said Ido, his voice carrying a certain power as it spread out from the room across the universe.

In the Void around Idorian, a silent, undetectable army silently vanished, unbeknownst to all.