The Innkeeper

Lex was honestly not even bothered. It only made sense that peace would arrive as soon as he left the tavern, but chaos returned as soon as he returned. All was right with the world.

His smile did not reduce even as he looked at Bertram. The man was Pvarti's brother, and was an earth immortal.

Pvarti's father was also an earth immortal. The fact that a family which ruled an entire region, and had two earth immortals, was so afraid of the family that had arrived could only mean that they were much stronger.

Pvarti, however, did not react the way his brother expected. He was still completely relaxed. In fact, he was now taking even longer with his food, as if to make sure he would stay long enough to run into them.

"What are you doing?" Bertram asked, with a tinge of defeat in his voice.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Pvarti asked with a grin. "I'm eating."

There was a moment of silence where the two simply exchanged stares until Pvarti finally admitted defeat.

"Okay fine, I'm relaxing at the Midnight tavern. What can they do to me here? And if things really get out of hand, I'll head to the Midnight Inn. I'm completely safe."

"It's not about that and you know it," Bertram couldn't help but say, but then promptly realized how publicly they were speaking. He shifted the conversation to his spirit sense.

Lex didn't say much, and only silently decided to wait for a while to ensure no problems occurred. He was not really afraid even of Earth Immortals inside the Midnight tavern.

When he had established this place, he had access to a much higher authority than he actually had with the system. As a result, a number of incredibly powerful formations protected it.

For example, there was the formation which let him control the space inside the Inn. He could closely control the space around his guests' bodies and trap them where they stood. This power was useful against even earth immortals - probably.

This would have been a moment where having Zagan as a bodyguard would have been useful, but he was not completely defenseless without it.

"Barkeep, a round of drinks for everyone, one me!" Pvarti exclaimed, eliciting cheers from the various onlookers. The flutist picked up the tempo and the dance became faster. Bertram felt completely defeated, and found himself a spot on the bar as Roan started to pour out drinks.

"Why the long face?" Lex couldn't help but ask as he poured himself a drink too. Since Pvarti was paying, there was no reason he couldn't treat himself.

"To be honest, I was not in favor of Pvarti being kicked out of the family," Bertram said as he chugged a drink of his own. "But even with him kicked out of the family, he's still bringing us problems."

"I mean, the way I see it, you should have just not forced him into a forced engagement."

Bertram wanted to say something, but he just didn't have the energy.

"Cheer up, it's not the end of the world," said Lex as he patted Bertram. The man, however, was in no mood to talk.

Instead of focusing on him, Lex made his way to the roof to get a good view of Babylon. The old town had been all but destroyed, yet in only a few months one would not be able to tell. Other than the fact that all the buildings in sight looked brand new, it looked as if Babylon was an old port town that had existed for a long time.

The layout had changed, sure.The port was much larger now than it was previously, and the walls around the town looked much more impressive. There were many more guards than before, and patrols were more common.

There was a massive tower in the center of town with a glowing light in the middle, like a lighthouse, meant for land instead of the sea. Though there was a flock of Sol birds in the sky, illuminating the land, so the lighthouse was useless, but it was kept lit nonetheless.

In the distance, at the very opposite end of town, Lex could see a newly built mansion. He guessed that was the local residence for the Noel family, whenever they stayed in town.

His sharp senses picked up an unusually thick crowd, moving slowly from the docks towards the mansion. He guessed that Pvarti's so called ex-in-laws were in that crowd.

While their presence presented a huge problem for the Noel family, for Lex it was an opportunity. As much as he wanted to roam around the Crystal realm in search of treasure and opportunity, he was in a time crunch. He needed to learn whatever secrets were being held about the Kraven as soon as possible.

He planned on using the Noel family's understanding of the Inn to leverage a trade, where he would provide them with some help or resources, and in exchange they would tell him whatever they knew about the Kraven.

He seriously doubted that simply learning the secret about the Kraven would complete his quest. A realm seed was a remarkable treasure, and it should not be so easy to get. Most likely, learning about the Kraven would only point him in the right direction to begin his real search.

Initially he expected to encounter some trouble convincing the Noel family to divulge their secrets, but if they were encountering some kind of pressure, or trouble, it would be a lot easier to get what he wanted.

To be sure, he closed his eyes and focused on his intuition. It was a lot harder to channel when compared to his spirit sense and soul sense, but he could somewhat point it in the direction he wanted sometimes. Probably. Maybe.

Currently, all he wanted to know was if his planned sequence of actions would cause him any problems. Surprisingly, this was within the range of capabilities of his intuition.

His intuition worked in the form of vague feelings, either positive or negative. It was not a strict language, but for reasons he didn't know, he could almost always understand it perfectly. He wondered if it was because of his universal language translator.

Lex felt like there was opportunity waiting for him, but to avail it, he needed the help of a trusted companion.

After a few moments focusing on his intuition, he finally opened his eyes. He got everything he wanted, but discovered that there was actually something very important to him in the vicinity, but instead of on land, it was under water.

He summoned Fenrir, his trusted companion, and pointed towards the unusual crowd that was moving from the docks to the mansion.

"There should be a lady in there, go attract her attention. Don't cause any trouble, but bring her back to the tavern. Got it?"

The pup, who was excited to be back in the Crystal realm, and away from the terrible influence of the big turtle, howled and directly hopped off the building. Lex wasn't too worried that Fenrir would do something he shouldn't. After spending enough time around guests at the Inn, he knew what he should and shouldn't do.

With that done, Lex quickly made his way down to the main tavern hall, and found Pvarti still sitting there. Bertram had already departed.

Lex made his way over, bringing a spare chair, and sat down opposite to the troublemaker.

"How have you been, Pvarti?" Lex asked with a devious smile.

"I'm great!" he answered enthusiastically, but then suddenly hesitated. The timing of Lex's arrival, and the look on his face told Pvarti that something was up. "Wait, should I not be great? Is something up? Don't tell me the tavern will kick me out because of trouble? I haven't done anything!"

"Haha I know you haven't caused any trouble," Lex said, leaning back into his chair. In the Crystal realm, he had not bothered hiding his identity, so although he was burdened with the noble title of tavernkeeper, he could also just be himself. After all that pretending to be other people, he sometimes wondered if he hadn't just become like that normally either. But, he discovered, that as of late, he liked being mischievous when he was just himself. Maybe the search for excitement had seeped deep into his bones.

"But I just have a vague feeling that trouble is about to find you, and not the kind you're expecting. If you don't mind me asking, why did you break up your engagement?"

Some other kind of trouble? Pvarti was slightly disturbed at the thought. He was depending on the tavern and Inn to keep him safe. He hoped not to face anything they wouldn't be able to handle.

Hesitantly, he answered.

"Normally, I wouldn't share this, but seeing as it's you… I'll trust it's alright. Our families arranged our engagement, for business reasons, and I was okay with that. But when I met the girl, I asked her if she was willing to go through with it. If she was being forced, or had someone else in mind, I would break off the engagement myself and take the burden onto myself. That way, she would be free to pursue what she wanted, and I wouldn't live a life knowing that I was the tool used to rip a young woman from her freedom."

Lex smirked. Poor Pvarti. He hoped the man would be able to deal with what was about to happen.