The Innkeeper

After winning his race, Lex's emotions finally calmed down a bit. He spent some more time as Leo, going around the Inn and interacting with various guests. The Gamer's Den had various sites now that he visited, all of which were thoroughly packed.

That was because other than the weekly events that would be updated every so often, many smaller events were concurrently happening everywhere. In the Gamer's Den there was a tournament for a very popular game called 'Cooking Simulator: Gourmet Oreos' (CS: GO). Compared to something like racing, this was a very niche tournament. Still, the crowds it drew were very big.

Considering that he himself, with the identity of the owner of Gamer's Den, had done very little to actually run it, he felt like he should give Z a raise or something. In fact, the moment he thought about the idea, he implemented it.

His employees' salaries were never counted as a part of his total MP, for he always estimated how much he would need to pay them monthly, and then directly pay the system for 6 months in advance. That way, in case he ever became tight on funds, like when he spent it all on the hearth, he wouldn't have to worry about paying his workers, of which there were many.

Once he was done with the rounds, however, he teleported back to his apartment and began meditating. Lex was not one to put off things he needed to do, at least on purpose, so it was time to meet the emperor.

The meeting did not incite any nervousness in him, though admittedly he was curious about why the emperor wanted to meet with him. He asked Velma if she was able to discover anything about his purpose, but she was not able to provide him with much.

What she did mention, however, was that from the moment he had appeared, the entire gossip trends in the Inn changed. Apparently, he was a man of significant influence, even among other species, though actual information about him was scarce everywhere. Instead, there was a lot of information available about his four advisors, who followed him everywhere.

Apparently, 3 of them were the founders of the 3 strongest noble families in the empire, right under the royal family, namely the Butt family, the Togoldor family, and the Knight family. The Butt family acted as the financial advisors to the royal family, the Togoldor family as military advisors and the Knight family handled the secret intelligence for the royal family.

The fourth advisor was more secretive and relatively unknown, but it was said that he was the emperor's right-hand man, and most trusted subordinate. There was one story about him that was very famous, though when Lex read about it, it seemed more gossip than anything realistic.

It was said that when the emperor was young and weak, he was once targeted by a succubus - a devil of extreme capabilities. While everyone else succumbed to the succubus' charm, the fourth advisor remained completely unaffected and, in fact, made the succubus fall in love with him, and act as a double agent on their behalf.

Lex nearly gagged when he read that. It was a typical story spread by men with over inflated egos, trying to market their 'prowess' as exceptional. He would be genuinely disappointed if this story was actually being spread by the man himself, but Lex highly doubted it. He was familiar enough with celebrity culture to know how wild stories can be created and spread without any actual proof.

If only Lex had heard how the same was being done with the Innkeeper, but the ones gossiping were Dao lords and deities.

Once Lex had adjusted his state of mind, and he was ready to hold the meeting, he teleported to his office, and instructed Luthor to personally go and escort the emperor and his group over.

A fleet of especially luxurious golf carts which Xeon had especially designed for the Inn could be seen driving over to the Midnight Manor, attracting a lot of attention. The emperor had already been informed by a hologram message that the Innkeeper had returned, and was sending someone over to have him picked up.

Emperor Jotun had met with many important beings in many prestigious places. He had been escorted in spaceship, advanced vehicles, on the backs of eminent mounts and in carriages pulled by dangerous creatures, yet he had to admit, this was the first time he would be brought to a meeting in a golf cart.

But while the emperor was admiring the golf carts, his four advisors had their eyes trained on Luthor. In the past few days they had realized that many of the workers at the Inn, despite being human, had a bloodline that they had never even heard of before! While that in itself wasn't rare, when considering the ridiculous might their bloodlines delivered, it should have been impossible for them to not know of it!

After all, they lived at the center of the human civilization in their realm. How could they not know of such a broken bloodline? They were even tempted to bring all their sons and daughters to the Inn and immediately have them begin courting their workers.

But fortunately for their sanity, all of them seemed to have the same bloodline. As unusual as even that fact was, they could accept that there was one bloodline that had eluded them, regardless of how amazing it was. Yet now, Luthor displayed an aura of a different bloodline. They could not directly deduce what the bloodline did, regardless of how powerful they were, and even the Regalia Bloom they were only able to draw some deductions based on old videos of the workers using them in fights. But now that Luthor was displaying an aura of a different bloodline, their minds began working in overdrive. His cultivation was practically nonexistent, yet if he was the Innkeepers assistant, his bloodline must be exceptional as well. Never, in recent memory, had their emotions been toyed with as much as it had been these last few days.

The emperor instead only nodded to Luthor and got in the cart. He did not take offense to such a display, for he knew different cultures and beings followed different customs. He was, however, thoroughly amused. As for Luthor's bloodline? Jotun had created his own bloodline for his descendants, and he was perfectly confident in its abilities. He did not need to envy others.

Actually, all four of his advisors had also created their own bloodlines as well. But while the same experience brought indifference to Jotun, to his advisors, it brought a reverence for anyone who had the power to create such formidable bloodlines.

The various random thoughts, however, ended when he entered the Innkeepers office building. The reception hall radiated an aura that intimidated even him, though he could tell that he was not the target of the aura. It simply existed and, moreover, it suppressed everyone equally.

He, as an emperor and a person with immense cultivation, found it just as hard to take a single step as his four followers.

The emperor had no intentions of being haughty to begin with, but this display immediately reminded him that the person he was about to meet had garnered the attention of the Henali. An entity of such caliber… was definitely above him.

But while it was difficult, none of them were people who would shy away from difficulty. They walked through the entire hall from start to finish without letting their struggles become apparent. An outside observer would only see them walking normally, if a bit slowly, across the hall.

Before the meeting had even begun, Lex had used the innate feature of the Innkeepers office building to establish himself in the emperor's mind, so that, in the unlikely scenario, he did lose control of his spirit sense, no one would question him.

This was not something Lex consciously planned, but something he had just become adept at doing. Otherwise, whenever someone wanted to meet with him, Lex would usually teleport over himself. Not this time.

Having established a psychological advantage, Lex welcomed the emperor and his four followers into his office, and immediately almost lost his composure.

It was not the emperor who drew his attention, nor was it his three named advisors. Instead, it was the fourth and more mysterious advisor whose existence startled Lex.

He looked like a young man in his early 20s, with fair skin and dark hair. He wore very little expression on his face, but his brown, deep-set eyes and sharp jaw worked well with his seemingly impassive face to give him a mature yet handsome look.

Though since when did Lex care about someone else's look? No, what grasped Lex's attention was… the fact that the man looked completely identical to himself. It was like he was looking at a twin. Then, Lex checked the mans' status.