The Innkeeper

Jolene maintained her smiling appearance while Lex spoke, and did not show any changes, keeping her thoughts hidden. Naturally, such a thing was completely ineffective against Lex. Not only did he have his sixth sense giving him feedback, his intuition was also providing him with a sense of what she was feeling. Moreover, after confirming with his intuition that it was safe, he conducted a little experiment with his soul sense.

He used it to observe any fluctuations in Jolene's soul. Lex could not observe in too much detail, as she would likely sense something amiss even without a soul sense of her own, but it was enough to simply observe from afar.

Although her thoughts did not cause any prominent changes to her soul, Lex could clearly determine that she was in an excited yet tense state. Basically, she knew she had stumbled across an opportunity, but also knew that she had to be cautious to make use of it.

After noticing that Lex did not respond to any of her previous hints and suggestions, she decided to make one final attempt. If that did not work, she would employ less direct, and more long term measures.

If there was one thing she was adept at, it was finding spouses for her children. Considering that noble and powerful families existed for thousands upon thousands of years, they naturally had many children. As such, many noble families had their children marry one another.

Obviously, not all noble families had an equal status or power, but it was impossible to expect that each child would marry into an equally powerful, or even more powerful family. That was one of the reasons the Noel family had an opportunity to connect to theirs in the first place - besides the obvious developing business connections.

Now that she had encountered a new independent and potentially untapped power, there was no way she wouldn't try to secure the connection for one of her children. The fact that he had a friendship with the genius crown prince only added more legitimacy to his establishment.

"I envy your freedom. Between managing my husband's estate, and all the numerous political appearances I have to make, I barely get time to attend my own childrens weddings. My husband Is Laurent Phillips, Duke of the Phillips province, home to one of the few Etherium mines in all of the crystal realm. The fact that King Cornelius let our family maintain operations of the mine, instead of controlling it themselves, speaks of the close bond and trust we share with the royal family."

Lex was, naturally, familiar with Etherium, though it had to be admitted that the only reason he remembered it was because of his improved memory and intelligence. He had taken a list of all the commonly sold valuable items at the Infinity Emporium, as well as their uses. Etherium was listed there, with its description stating that it was an incredibly valuable ore used in the manufacturing of machines, gear and weapons suited for immortals. Etherium mining was one of the profitable businesses in the entire Origin realm, so much so that inter-galactic wars had been fought over especially large mines.

If what Jolene said was true, then they truly were very closely associated with the royal family. That posed both an opportunity and a risk for Lex. He wanted to avoid the king and his attention, but the close relation meant that the Phillips family probably had all the valuable information he needed.

"I'm sure their trust is well placed. It is an honor for me to host you at my humble establishment."

"Not humble at all," she rebuked, waving her hand. "Don't think I will let appearances fool me. Although you've styled your place to seem nondescript, I can immediately identify Dribble Oak wood. Even my husband would not complain while staying here."

The Dribble Oak wood she was talking about came from a round of upgrades the tavern underwent when the Midnight Inn underwent the star rank increase. Since the star ranking of the tavern couldn't be increased, since it was not in a separate realm, the entire tavern building and its entire structure was upgraded.

The Dribble Oak wood was a special kind of wood that was especially sturdy, and generally was considered indestructible. That was because the more physical force that was applied to it, the stronger it became. Cutting the tree required immortals using their personal strength and vast amounts of spirit energy.

Other than being sturdy, it also cleaned the air of impurities, gave off a fresh smell and would generally attract spiritual energy around itself.

Lex only smiled at her comment but said nothing else.

"Now that we have been properly introduced," Jolene began, "let's talk about the issue at hand. Although it was not my wish, it is clear that Jasmine has taken a great liking to young Pvarti. It seems inevitable that they will get married, regardless of what anyone says."

"Indeed that seems to be the case," Lex said while nodding. "Though I don't see why you wish to discuss that with me. I am only here to provide services should anyone need them. I do not interfere in my guests' business - at least unless they are about to harm my tavern or my guests."

Lex did not even flinch as he lied shamelessly.

"Hmm, indeed I do not wish for you to interfere in this matter, nor would I want someone else to handle my business. No, what I wish to talk about is the potential political repercussions that we'll have to face as a result of this. I was hoping to have your cooperation so that we can mitigate any potential fallout, and keep the event going as smoothly as possible. After all, not everyone will want to see this union take place. Anything can happen at any time.

"As such, I'll be assigning one of my most competent daughters to work with you, so that she can coordinate on my behalf as events unfold. Naturally, with all my duties, I cannot be here all the time, so she will take care of that for me."