The Innkeeper

Zagan stumbled through the door once again, his humanoid body battered and bruised much worse than ever before. It never occurred to him how strange it was for a monster born of darkness to take on a human form. It was as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

Though he was in bad condition, his concern extended to none of that. His eyes wandered the familiar room in search of something, and when he saw the resplendent Alysha disappointment welled up in his chest, though maybe deep down, he was also happy.

"Why are you still here?" he asked as he tried to wipe the blood off his face. "You should have left long ago."

The moment he finished his words, a door appeared behind Alysha as if signaling a way out. Yet she did not hesitate to once again pick up her med kit and approach the bleeding humanoid-monster.

"Why do you keep going back?" she asked, instead of answering his question. "Everytime you go through that door you only come back worse for wear. What are you looking for?"

She moved his hair from his forehead to see a massive cut, bleeding into his eyes. With a sigh she got to work, washing all his wounds. By now she knew he was not so delicate that he would die from these wounds, so she always prioritized cleaning them first so she would have a good understanding of his actual condition.

"I don't know," Zagan whispered as he closed his eyes. A moment later, he felt the cold water she poured over his face. "I guess I… I'm searching for something that will… provide me with meaning."

As a monster born from darkness, he was not actually afraid of light, but the more time he spent in darkness, the stronger he would go. Monsters from the crystal realm were born with limited intelligence, so they compensated for it by having extremely strong instincts that would guide their actions.

Zagan had lived for millions of years, and so had grown to the level where he achieved self awareness and a decent amount of intelligence, yet he continued to act in accordance with his instincts. Yet over time, he began to wonder why it was he listened to his instincts. What was it they were leading him towards? Was there something more? Was there a point to being alive?

These questions did not elicit any strong emotions from the monster, as it did not quite have the emotional range of naturally born animals. Still, with time, a subtle curiosity had taken hold of his mind. Lately, his curiosity was being tingled by Alysha. Why would she always treat him? He knew she was alone during the time he left, and unlike him, she did not like being alone. Still, she never left. Why?

Unlike Zagan, Alysha's thought process was a lot simpler. Though she happened to have forgotten her life, the feeling of loneliness and abandonment stayed with her. There was no one around to help her when she needed it, for a very long time. So if someone else needed her help, she would not abandon them. It was that simple.

Unknown to both of them, their each and every action was being judged and measured. Zagan had actually been failing his test miserably, mostly because he did not understand what was required of him. That all changed when he interacted with Alysha. The parameters of his test changed, and while he was failing the test for his original role, he seemed to be acing the test for his new one. Soon, both their tests would come to an end.

*****

Lex scanned the devil and read the results.

Name: Rocketfellow Rothsfather

Age: 44 (fake)

Sex: Male

Cultivation Details: Golden Core early (fake)

Species: Devil

Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1

Remarks: Don't let appearances fool you, this devil is rich! His trenchcoat alone is worth several MTs!

There were a few interesting things to note in the status, the name of the devil being only one. The name was so popular and influential, he doubted there were barely a few working adults on the planet who had never heard the name. Though not everyone understood the full gravity behind the name, it was enough to understand that they were incredibly rich.

In fact, in one of the files filled with rumors that Velma had given him revealed that the patriarch of both those families were also actually political prisoners being held on the planet.

But compared to those who were instigating wars and conflicts for entertainment purposes, those two seemed pretty tame.

The second thing that interested Lex was the man's name and cultivation. They had a 'fake' written in front of them, which is something Lex had never seen before. When he focused on the word, more information was revealed stating that the man's actual details were being hidden by the trenchcoat he was wearing. The system could detect the interference, but could not overcome it. Just that on its own was a great testament to the man's background and depth. Lex did not treat him lightly at all.

"I hope you were not waiting for too long," said Lex with his usual warm tone. Regardless of the man's background or depth, the 'Innkeeper' would not be phased by it.

"The fault is my own for showing up unannounced," Rocketfellow said with a fairly warm tone of his own. Much of his face remained hidden behind his trenchcoat so Lex could not see his expression, but his tone at least was earnest and calm. Moreover, using his 6th sense, Lex could tell the devil had reacted normally to his statement.

"Please, Mr. Innkeeper, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Rocketfellow Rothsfather, and I am a businessman. I absolutely fell in love with your Midnight Inn when I first saw it, and wanted to form a joint venture with you immediately! But, for the first time in my life, my scope was too small to match up to your establishment. Although I am still working on that, and have a few plans, for now, there is one other business idea I would like to talk to you about."

"The Midnight Inn is open to all guests, and so naturally, is also open to your business as well. Please, tell me, how can I help you."

The extremely formal devil opened the small black notebook in his hand and showed Lex a list of names. Immediately he picked up on a few familiar ones: Leo, Gerard, Z, Luthor. At first he thought the list was based around the Inn workers, but then he began to see other names, belonging to the various guests.

He was confused and he was unable to pick out any significant detail connecting all the people, except for the fact that they were all male.

Instead of making an unfounded guess, Lex remained silent and waited for the devil to elaborate, which he soon did.

"I'm sure you're able to see what connects all these names," the devil said with a hint of excitement. "At first, when I realized the potential, I thought it was too good to be true. I waited patiently to be proved wrong, but when nothing happened, I had to pinch myself. I've hardly ever seen anyone miss out on such an obvious business opportunity like this. Mr. Innkeeper, after I watched the Lady Cosmos fashion show, I was awaiting the arrival of the Mr. Cosmos show, but it never came!

"Obviously whoever had the idea first never thought to extend the show to the other gender, but I think it's a huge waste! Obviously I can't reuse the same name as I want to build my own brand, and I want to do things a little differently as well! Instead of ust beauty, I want to focus on strength and cultivation as well. After all, men are looked at differently than women. But there's so much more than that.

"Mr. Innkeeper, I know that if I simply want to host my own competition it should not be a problem, but what if I want to partner with the Inn itself? Or, if that's not on the table, how can I get some of the Inn's workers to participate in my event! I've never seen anyone with a fan club as dedicated as Gerard, and I don't know if you know this, but the recent performance of Leo has managed to grow his popularity quite a bit as well. Now just imagine, after we work out the kinks, your workers' faces are known across the universe, not only because of the Inn, but because they finally get the recognition their good looks deserve!"

This… was not what Lex had been expecting from this meeting. Let alone his own Leo persona, he didn't want to let any of his workers near this weird trench coat creep! Has he been stalking them?

"I'm thinking, since the first show will be a test run to figure out how to run the competition, of keeping a small budget of 5 MTs. What do you think?"

"Mr. Rothsfather, the Midnight Inn is exactly the best place to launch your endeavor. I want to congratulate you in advance for a successful venture."