The Innkeeper

Chapter 2504: Nouveau Riche Lex

Lex groaned slightly. Honestly, he couldn’t wait for the thousand or so years of peace to begin. Okay, it wasn’t exactly peace - more like a period of extreme danger that could not be anticipated at all, one that he wasn’t even fully prepared for yet. But Lex was sure that they would be able to get things up and running in the few decades they had before the period began.

He half wanted to spend the first century of peace doing nothing but just relaxing. Although he was only 26, he felt like he deserved a century of peace and calm to relax his nerves. The only secrets he wanted to hear were from Velma, and they should only involve juicy gossip involving his guests or maybe his workers.

He was done with universe-shaking secrets, conspiracies and ominous foreshadowing of insidious deals or perhaps impending, unavoidable doom. It was like hearing that there was a 10% chance that your entire race could be wiped out in the next decade, but having no way to do anything about it.

It wasn’t like Lex couldn’t continue to work or deal with problems - he was just ready for a vacation. That was why he actually felt positively about going to meet Liz. Compared to Romulus, anything she had to tell him would likely be much more manageable, right?

Lex teleported over to the group just in time to watch Moon lead Z and his group away, wearing an extremely professional look, as if she was burdened with a grave responsibility.

Z, too, looked incredibly serious, while the rest who followed him - former members of the slave legion - looked around with equal parts wonder and caution.

They had never before come to a realm with such abundant, rich and pure spiritual energy. This was the kind of place that should have been some kind of holy land - kept safe and isolated from the external world. Never in their wildest imagination could they have considered that a place such as this was an Inn, open to all. Wasn’t that just inviting trouble?

That gave them a measure of the depth of Z’s background, and they began to understand why he was able to maintain such a calm confidence throughout.

Liz, meanwhile, had been chatting with some of the Inns workers when she spotted Lex appear.

"You! Who the hell are you?" Liz yelled as she dropped everything and threw herself at Lex, launching a hug with extreme vindictiveness! "Since when has my brother been so cool? Clearly some foreign being must have reincarnated inside his body!"

Lex rolled his eyes and hugged her back, clearly feeling the intense fear and relief in her body. Clearly she knew that he had not died, but it wasn’t until actually seeing him that she was properly relieved.

"What are you on about?" Lex asked. "I have always been cool."

That boastful claim filled Liz with even more relief, assuring her that he really was okay, before she flung herself back wearing a completely disdainful expression.

"Always been cool? Whatever you say, Suplex."

Lex’s expression suddenly fell and he felt an urge to kick her in the face - if only Nemo weren’t swimming there as a tattoo!

"You had so much fun without us Lex!" Nemo exclaimed, clearly filled with regret at missing out. "I also want to fight an ancient, primordial axe in front of the whole universe! I bet so many people will want to be my friend once they see that!"

Lex patted Liz on the back, the strength of his pat causing the very air around them to quake - though the force all dissipated externally. It did not actually harm Liz - at most it scared her a little.

"Oh don’t you worry. Next time, I’ll make sure Liz is there so you can join me," Lex assured Nemo.

"Hey, hey, hey, don’t drag me into this," said Liz as she pulled back. "I was giving you a compliment. I was saying you looked cool - for once. To think, the reward I get for worrying about you is to be manhandled and threatened."

Lex laughed, clearly finding the idea of manhandling his sister very appealing. But, poor Nemo didn’t deserve that, so she would escape that great honor.

Liz clicked her tongue as she saw Lex enjoying her displeasure before pulling out a small, blue badge. It read, ’My Sister Went To The Dream Realm And All She Got Me Was This Stupid Badge’.

"To think I wasted such a valuable opportunity getting this for you, and this is how you treat me. I should have known better and just gotten myself something."

Lex raised an eyebrow and grabbed the badge. He did not think for a single moment that it was only a badge. He was right.

The moment he grabbed it, he could feel that the badge was actually a dream that turned real. It was perpetually connected to the Dream realm, though it was uncertain what that connection meant.

"You got this from Oaka?" Lex asked, though he didn’t need to. He could feel the remnants of the merchant’s aura around Liz.

"What do you mean ’got’? I paid for it, okay. With my hard earned money. Okay fine, I didn’t use money but that’s besides the point. This little badge is going to be very useful for you in the coming period. It’s no exaggeration to say that it will grant you a head start in front of most of the universe."

Lex raised an eyebrow and looked at Liz questioningly. He didn’t think she was exaggerating, but he also found it difficult to take her too seriously. It was a very contradictory situation.

"Alright, follow me. You can tell me more about it in my mansion."

Ah yes, it was finally time for Lex to show off his mansion. It had started out as an apartment. Honestly, he didn’t really need too much room. But his room was also where he kept most of his stuff, so he expanded the apartment and turned a part of it to be like a museum or exhibition of all the treasures he’d accumulated over the years.

These were things he didn’t immediately need, but also things he didn’t want to get rid of. Since everything in it was very valuable, he’d never had the chance to show it off properly. Now, finally, he could. A gleam of excitement flashed through his eyes.

Meanwhile, Liz looked at him oddly.

"Mansion? Since when did you become so nouveau riche?" she asked condescendingly.

"Since I turned 25," Lex responded in a very matter of fact way.