The Innkeeper

Lex's thoughts wandered back to the map of the Crystal realm. He'd seen it for less than a minute, but even so, it had revealed a lot of information to Lex. Of the many things he learned, the most unbelievable was that the Crystal realm was flat!

It consisted of hundreds, possibly thousands of continents, and how deep the ground went was not revealed on the map, but the borders where the realm ended were clearly marked. About 1000 miles (1609 km) from the edge, on all sides, was an absolute dead zone, where no living thing could enter. The edge of the realm did not open into nothingness, leaving the realm as if floating in space, but was tightly blocked. On this, there was too little information, but a preliminary guess Lex made on his own was that there was a solid wall of space blocking off the edge. Of course, Lex's understanding of space was entirely based on fiction novels, so there was likely a better explanation for it.

He had a few other theories, and at another time it would make a good subject for research, but currently he had other priorities, so he left it as something unbelievable.

Something much more pressing, and relevant to him, was the information he gathered on the Kraven. Unlike the rest of the races, which were spread out across the entire realm, the Kraven were inside a bubble. Slowly they were expanding their borders, and reaching the rest of the realm, but nonetheless, it was a fact that they were concentrated in a certain region of the realm. Lex had too little information regarding the matter, but based on what he knew, he could venture a bold guess that they either originated in, or adjacent to, the Poliod territory - the first race to encounter, and then be defeated by the Kravens.

This meant that if he wanted to discover their origin, he would have to venture into that territory. It was a quest he had from the system, but not one he was actively trying to fulfill. His first priority now was to develop the tavern as his base, and start collecting those energy filled crystals.

The first step to that was spreading the tavern's popularity. He opened the event management panel, created a one-day event called 'Opening Celebrations' and printed out a few hundred fliers for the tavern. He didn't need anything else from the panel, and wasn't planning on doing any mystical or magical advertising, so these fliers would suffice.

Lex took a few and walked over to the three guests, who were laughing amongst themselves. Even though they hadn't had a single drink after Jade Heart, they seemed intoxicated already.

"Lads, you seem to be having a good time," Lex said, putting down some fliers. "But what's a good time if you're having it alone? Take a few and spread them out, invite a few friends over. Remember, drinks are free only today."

"Hahaha if you think you'll have any drinks left for tomorrow after offering them free today, then you're dreaming! Don't worry, I'll spread the word. Just after one more drink."

The way the man insisted on 'just one more drink' Lex gave up any hope of the man getting anywhere. Lex returned to Roan and instructed him to make sure no more incidents like 'Big Ben' happened, before stepping out of the tavern, fliers in hand.

Bakers street, where the tavern was located, was an extremely busy street. Buildings lined both sides, filled with various shops and offices, and the wide road was filled with bustling crowds.

The crowds were not just limited to humans either, as just from his doorstep Lex could see some Sentinels, with bodies seemingly made of metallic skeletal frames held together not by joints, but some strange visible gas. Once or twice he saw some kind of plant walking around, and rightfully assumed that they were the bodies some Trelops were using. To this day, Lex still did not know what their actual bodies looked like.

There were a few other, less common races as well, such as fairies, but the most common other than humans were the Varn. The Varn had two forms, their common form in which they walked on all four legs, their scales covered their body with a smooth flow and other than their relatively sharp claws and fangs, they did not look too scary. In their combat form, their bodies would expand, they would stand up on their hind legs, their scales would shift and form spikes all over their bodies, and they became the stuff of nightmares.

Lex took in the sight, and then started walking down the street. He familiarized himself with the shops beside his tavern, as they would be neighbors, and made a mental note to visit them on his way back. His current objective was the docks, where he imagined most of his upcoming clientele would be. At the same time, he wanted to learn more about the town.

After all, it would be strange for him to open up a new business without knowing anything about the town itself.

Babylon was far beyond the borders of the Hum nation, or any of the other nations for that matter. These were neutral lands, considered property of powerful families or organizations. The rules in these lands were a lot more lax, and besides the basics, such as paying tax, and avoiding arson and murder, there was limited enforcement of various laws here. Well, at least, that was the case for normal neutral lands. Considering the supposed wealth surrounding this region, Lex imagined that security was somewhat better.

The town itself was surprisingly beautiful, and well planned out. The streets were wide, the buildings beautiful, and there was greenery everywhere. Most importantly, it was clean. It was a bit backwards, though. All around Lex were beast pulled carriages, people carrying swords and spears, people dressed in either simple cotton tunics or leather armor. It was as if he had stepped into a fantasy themed renaissance fair.

In a corner, he spotted a few children selling newspapers, or rather, news crystals. With a smile, Lex walked towards them, fliers still in hand.

"Hey there, mister," called out one of the children, dressed in blue overalls. "Want to buy the latest news? The Babylon killer, the Green reef pirates, Lord Bori's latest divorce, we have all the news right here, just 6 copper pieces." The kid held out a green quartz crystal.

"Nah kid, I'm here about a job. I opened up a new tavern on Bakers street. If you hand out all these fliers and spread the word that drinks are free, today only, then you and your friends can come to my tavern and eat for free for a week."

"Hey I'm not a kid!" the kid protested fiercely. "I'm 13 years old now, and I'm the man of the house! And as a man, a job with no cash payment sounds like a scam. No deal."

Lex laughed despite his best efforts not to. The kid was attempting to look serious, but his chubby cheeks and tiny brown eyes just made him look like a teddy bear.

"Alright fine, spread the fliers and I'll pay you. You can find me at the Midnight tavern when you're done. "What's your name?"

"Roland," the kid replied, as he pulled the stack of fliers with a grin. He picked one up and looked at it from all angles, extremely fascinated by the material. It seemed these kinds of fliers were not common here.

"Well, remember Roland, drinks are free, but only for today. Spread the word."

Outsourcing his task to Roland, Lex put his hands in his pockets and continued to explore. He was not too concerned about money as with his newfound authority, he could convert MP into local currency, though the exchange rate put him at a loss. For example, if a customer spent 1 gold coin making it equivalent to 1 MP, Lex would have to spend 10 MP to get 1 gold coin back.

Furthermore, for the foreseeable future, he expected the tavern to run at a loss, or at most, give him very little income. This was because, unlike the Midnight Inn, where compared to the common man, the prices were very high, the tavern's prices were very low. Well, they weren't very low, just that he only expected to sell the low priced drinks.

It would be a while before he could start earning a decent income from here. But, as a new MP billionaire, Lex didn't care about these minor expenses. Much.

As Lex continued to explore the town, most things were within his expectations. When he reached the docks, however, Lex had to pause. It wasn't the massive wooden ships, warehouses, shipyards, fishmongers or anything else that caused this. No, it was because the moment he stepped here, he felt his instincts act up. This place... was dangerous.