The Innkeeper
chapter-1280

"Lex… Lex, wake up!" he heard a vague distant sound as he roused from slumber. Confusion filled Lex's foggy mind as he yawned, drowning out Mary's voice once more. He looked around, and for a moment didn't recognize his surroundings. This didn't look like his bedroom.

"Lex, wake up. The emperor has been waiting for hours!" Mary said once more, and Lex's mind suddenly snapped, recalling what had happened. He had entered the Hot tub to rest and recover a bit after his exertion from reading the governor's letter, but he must have fallen asleep at some point.

The unusual thing was that even after that long nap, he felt tired and drained. He made a mental note to avoid anything dangerous until he completely recovered, but then teleported to his room and quickly started suiting up.

"Sorry about that," Lex said. "I was more tired than I actually expected."

"I guessed as much. I sent word to the emperor that you were just finishing up treatment for your exhaustion from the battle. He was perfectly understanding."

Lex suited up and stood in front of the mirror, and as much as he wanted to see his familiar, youthful vibrance, what he saw looked like a college student who hadn't slept all weekend. He was pale with dark circles under his eyes, though that was the extent of it.

"I think I need to go to Harry and get a facial treatment done or something like that," Lex muttered.

Then he teleported to Jotun and William, who were sitting and chatting while watching the still ongoing Midnight Games.

"My apologies for the delay. I was in worse condition than I realized," he said, taking a seat opposite to them.

Ever since Lex had learned about the Seraphim Resort - a few hours ago - he'd been trying to look at his Inn from the view of an outsider to see what it would be like. Did it make a good impression? Was it cozy?

They were meeting in what looked like an English cottage far away from the cities, near the foothills of a mountain range. Vines grew along the brick walls, with flowers dangling down above them, filling the air with their sweet scent. There was a brook flowing nearby, so the sound of water accompanied the setting, making it seem like the perfect countryside escape. Lex liked it very much - he just hoped the others thought so as well. Or maybe they didn't think about it as much.

Lex suddenly caught himself, realizing his thoughts were wandering. It seemed like his spirit was still affected from reading the letter.

"No apologies needed. I was informed you had a meeting with the governor. I can imagine how… strenuous such a meeting would be, especially for someone at your level."

Lex smiled, but didn't say anything. It was not the meeting that exhausted him, but technically it was still the governor who was the cause for his current state, so there was no need to bicker about the details.

"Before we begin, this is a letter from the Innkeeper to the governor. Please ensure that he gets it."

The emperor received the letter with both hands, his casual appearance suddenly gone. In place, he wore the most serious expression he could as he took hold of it, then transferred it to a dedicated spatial treasure.

"He will get the letter, no wait, in fact…"

Jotun disappeared from the Inn, clearly in a rush to deliver the letter, leaving Lex and William sitting face to face.

Lex turned and looked at the man who was nearly identical to Lex, and tried to pretend like he didn't dislike the man greatly. In truth, Lex more or less developed a dislike for everyone in his extended family these days.

"Do you have any leads on Damian?" Lex asked, skipping the small talk that usually accompanied such meetings.

"Based on the information we've collected, Damian entered the inner circle of the organization shortly before the attack took place. It is believed that he escaped with all the other high level members of the organization, alongside the original Jeffrey. Of course, I only know the small bits that Jotun told me about. For the specific details, you'll have to ask him."

"In that case, what can you tell me?"

William sighed as he listened to Lex's polite, yet obviously dissatisfied tone. Was it his fault that one of his descendants, hundreds or thousands of generations down the line turned out to be a homicidal maniac? Maybe, maybe not. But there was no point in trying to defend himself. Even before this incident, Lex barely learned to tolerate William.

"There are a few things which fall under my domain. For example, I can offer some guidance in aiding your sister's situation. The Henali also used their own resources to find Liz for you. We have not approached her yet, considering the immense effort she is putting into hiding. We thought we'd let you decide how you want to go about that situation."

"Tell me about Liz. Is she alright?" Lex asked immediately. He hadn't forgotten that his rather introverted sister had run away after Damian tried to parade her around, looking for the best marriage candidates for her. Or at least that was the story. Considering how devious the man had proved to be, Lex doubted it was so straightforward.

"Yes and no. She is in good health, but she is on the run. There are some factions who have been hunting her down, and she has been running from them. Once we learned this we took some precautions to ensure she is not caught, all without being detected. It is up to you how to proceed."

Lex wanted nothing more than to go find Liz right that moment, but it was not so simple. Lex looked at William, a supposed Heavenly immortal cultivator, and tried to gauge how much stronger his ancestor was from him. The answer was… quite a lot actually. So the fact that Damian had managed to hide from him meant that he was no pushover either. He recalled Jeffrey mentioning that Damian was a Heavenly immortal as well.

"Do you know if… if Damian did something to her?"