The Innkeeper

Chapter 2497: Letter of Dispatch

Lex listened to their conversation, and slowly diverted his attention away from Lotus and his own cultivation as they neared his office. Even though he had many things he wanted to do, the closer the delegation came to his office, the more his instincts told him that this was a crucial meeting. It would impact his own future, as well as that of the Midnight Inn.

Lately, his instincts had been a lot stronger than they used to be. He originally credited it to his own growth, but soon discovered that the same was true for all humans. It seemed like some other human in the universe besides him had finally decided to pull their weight a little.

When the delegation came in, they found the Innkeeper sitting behind his desk, looking at them with a pleasant smile and a welcoming aura. Everything about him matched what they had been told. They could only hope that he continued to match their expectations of him.

"Greetings, Lord Innkeeper," said Adana as he bowed deeply. "We come before you bearing an epistle from our ancestor, Lord Hiran Kokan. Our ancestor hoped that you would treat it as such, rather than a Letter of Dispatch."

The Innkeeper smirked, as if amused by their tense state, though internally Lex was asking Mary what a Letter of Dispatch was. According to her, this was an official and formal letter sent from a major power rather than an individual with the intention of announcing a declaration instead of a request or something along those lines.

Technically speaking, it should not be a big deal for the Henali to send out Letters of Dispatches as a standard practice, especially during such unstable times - though technically the Inn had never gotten one before. The reason, then, that they were so worried might be because the Henali had never really taken such a firm stance with the Innkeeper before, or that the dispatch contained some bad news. He did not bother speculating.

"Be at ease. Regardless of what the epistle contains, you will not come to harm. Within the Midnight Inn, only those who break the Inn’s rules have reason to fear. And please, it’s just Innkeeper - no need to add Lord into the title."

Adana bowed deeply once again, as if to display his utmost gratitude before he and the rest of the delegation stepped forth and kneeled in front of the Innkeeper. This was the type of behavior Lex generally discouraged, but this time he didn’t interfere because once they kneeled, a white stream of energy emerged from within their bodies, fusing into a letter.

Mary could no longer see into what was happening inside the office, but Lex shared a vision of everything happening within the office with her so that she could continue to advise him on things he didn’t know.

"This is a demonstration," she said, her voice taking on a subtle hint of solemnity. "By dividing the letter into the bodies of a few immortals, they are demonstrating that though they are sending a Letter of Dispatch, it contained no Dao radiation whatsoever. This is the kind of thing they would do when they expect even the slightest hint of Dao radiation can cause offence - or perhaps some other issues."

Lex did not respond to her, and instead held out his hand so that the letter could fly to him. He picked up the Innkeeper’s Letter opener and paused. An unexpected notification popped up in front of him.

New Notification: Innkeeper stationary requires an advanced energy source which is no longer available. Please submit energy yourself, or a Dao material to properly power Innkeeper stationary.

It made sense. With Mary’s soul no longer providing energy to the system to empower its services, and with the system incapable of creating such high level energy itself, it could now only rely on his Dao level resources.

Unfortunately, his supply for those was limited so he would need to be careful of how he used them. Yet not opening the letter also wasn’t an option.

Lex submitted a Dao material - the lowest level one he owned - and proceeded to open the letter. Fortunately, the Dao material could empower his stationary for a while until the energy was all used up.

He turned his attention to the letter and, for once, read it at a leisurely pace rather than as fast as possible since there was no Dao radiation to be wary of.

’Respected Innkeeper, Guardian of Midnight and Protector of Mandates,

I write to you during this time of transition and tumult to inform you of some changes that will be occurring within the Origin realm, as well as to share with you some news as an apology for the imposition.

As you surely already know, the Primordial Queen has emerged from her self imposed seclusion, and has heralded the transition between Eras. The universe has entered uncharted territory, though the Henali have made some conclusions about how the process will most likely proceed.

We suspect the transition will be completed within three phases, with the first and most critical phase lasting up to merely a thousand years. Though this period is extremely short, it will witness the most drastic changes that will occur during the transition, and is an extremely sensitive time.

Thus, the Henali have decided to impose an immediate curfew on the Origin realm. All Dao beings wishing to remain within the Origin realm during the first transition phase must subject themselves to Henali supervision, and will be restricted to a specially allocated compound.

Any Dao being who does not wish to be subject to such constraints must depart from the Origin realm within 15 seconds of receiving the notification. Furthermore, effective immediately and until the first transition phase is completed, no Dao beings will be allowed to enter the Origin realm, nor are they permitted to use any clones, avatars, or techniques of such nature touching at the Dao level within the Origin realm.

This rule is without exception and all who transgress will be immediately executed with extreme prejudice!’

At this point in the letter, Lex paused. Well, he finally understood why Adana and the rest were so nervous. It probably wasn’t the safest job to go and deliver threats and ultimatums to Dao Lords as mere immortals. Lex could not help but look at the delegation with a hint of pity in his eyes.

Then again, being sent to him meant they were quite lucky as he never took such things to heart, and was very understanding.

He conveniently forgot that he himself was also a ’mere immortal’ and not actually an all powerful Innkeeper.