The Innkeeper

Chapter 2487: Trust and suspicion

Lex stood in front of Taro’s journal, placing his hand upon the massive book, contemplating what exactly he wanted to search. He did not let the urgency of the situation pressure him, but he also couldn’t focus on anything else until he resolved his current predicament.

Thus, it actually took him a couple of seconds before he realized what was happening in a corner of the Inn where nothing was supposed to be happening. Mary had woken up!

Lex was genuinely surprised, not expecting her to wake up for thousands of years. Everything always took thousands of years.

He was not complaining, though. The fact that Mary had woken up ahead of schedule was amazing as she had a whole lot more experience than him. Now that she was no longer restricted by the system, she could definitely help him a whole lot more! Hopefully her memories had completely recovered!

Even though she was awake, Lex did not go greet her, mainly because he could tell that she and Almira were heading towards him. He listened to their conversation and found it surprising that the little girl’s instincts could guide her towards things related to him. Unlike what Mary had assumed, Lex had not lowered his guard for anyone.

That meant that it wasn’t that Almira’s instincts were reacting to Lex. Rather, they were reacting to some unknown danger that could be avoided by waking up Mary. The danger, or perhaps trouble, would likely be something that would only trouble a little girl, otherwise Lex’s own senses would have informed him to wake up Mary.

It was definitely worth looking into, but later.

It didn’t take long before Mary, wearing a patient’s outfit, showed up pulled along by Almira. Lex would have considered it a part of her hobby of dressing up if he hadn’t known that she was coming here straight from recovery.

"Oh my goodness! Aunty Mary! What are you doing awake-"

Lex could not finish his exaggerated reaction to their arrival because Mary threw a boulder at him! Lex laughed as he dodged, and then winked at Alimra who looked extremely excited by the new game. It was like a snowball fight, except with boulders!

"Lex, should you really be antagonizing someone who knows all your little, embarrassing secrets?" she asked, her eyes narrowed as she thought about which blackmail material to use to get revenge.

Lex laughed, though he held up his hands to show that he gave up.

"I have no idea what you’re talking about. I was just surprised to see that you’re awake so quickly. I wasn’t expecting to see you any time soon!"

Almira’s hand shot up.

"It was me! Me! I woke her up!" she said, almost as if she was afraid someone else would steal her credit. "I told her it’s bad to sleep at lunch time."

Lex fondly rubbed the little girl’s head, all the while placing a few new rounds of protective techniques on her.

"Good job. Remind me to reward you for this once I’m free."

Almira stuck out her tongue because she didn’t know how else to react to the sudden news of a reward.

"Okay, I have to go now before mom realizes I’m cutting classes again!" she exclaimed and ran off, feeling a little shy from all the praise. It was funny - everyone praised her all the time and she never really cared about it, but when uncle Lex did it, she felt so shy.

A certain gleam passed through her eyes as she considered revealing her ultimate weapon to uncle Lex. That was bound to surprise him even more!

Lex looked fondly at the little girl, and then looked towards Mary who looked particularly uncomfortable in her new body.

"Everything okay?" he asked now that it was just them. "How’s the body holding up? Any issues?"

Mary shook her head.

"It’s still adjusting to my soul. Once my soul and this body fuse properly, I’ll feel a lot better. Right now I’m feeling drained and weak, like I’m recovering from a terrible fever."

Lex nodded, and then hesitated for a moment. He considered something, then pulled out Autumn Rain and tossed it towards her.

"What’s this?" Mary asked, alarmed by the strength of the aura coming off the small orb. She inspected it carefully, marveling not only at it, but the reaction her own soul was having towards it!

Lex explained the details of the item, causing Mary to freeze. She looked from the orb towards Lex. There were a few seconds of silence between them before Mary finally spoke.

"For someone as suspicious as you to give something like this to me... you must be feeling terrible," she said, a hint of a smile showing up on her face as she marveled at what Lex had handed her so easily.

Even if he might not understand how rare and valuable this was, he probably had a decent idea.

"You have no idea," said Lex as he turned away and walked back to Taro’s journal, placing his hand upon it. "Logically, I shouldn’t do it. You’re someone who knows all my secrets, strengths and weaknesses. If you recover to a Dao Lord level, as I am right now, I won’t be able to resist at all if you want to do something to me."

Mary was not surprised. She knew Lex well enough that she understood the extent of his suspicions went a whole lot farther than what he had stated.

"So then why give it?" she asked softly.

"If I can only trust you when I’m stronger than you, then that isn’t real trust, is it?" Lex said, turning to look Mary in her eyes. "Since I decided to trust you, and grant you freedom from the system, then I’ll go all the way. Logic is just what the pessimistic side of my mind is calling suspicions. The rest of my mind - the part that has gained experience across the universe and carved out a place for myself in it - says that you’re a friend. That... is enough to give you Autumn Rain."

Mary looked at the young boy who now had the bearing of a young man. The light beard was trying to grow made him look a little more mature than he used to. Or maybe that maturity came from something else. It was hard to tell.

"Do you understand how difficult it is to find an item that can heal fractured Daos?" Mary asked.

Lex shrugged dismissively. Rare and precious things did not impress him the way that they used to. He could grow those in his own garden.