The Innkeeper

Once the Liger was dead, Lex told the guard to pass the body to the gardener. The body of a powerful beast would probably serve as a wonderful fertilizer. Lex didn’t know the exact details of how to use it but he didn’t doubt that the gardener or turtle knew how to. Once that was done, Lex stayed in the detention room for a few moments longer, looking at where the Liger was held. Just as he was about to leave, his bodyguard appeared beside him.

“Do you mind if I ask you a question?” the bodyguard asked. His voice was deep and smooth, making it very pleasant to hear.

“Go ahead,” Lex responded.

“Why do you care so much about the beast? Why did it affect you?” The bodyguard was genuinely curious. In his mind, the Innkeeper was an existence close to itself, otherwise the bodyguard would have been able to view the Innkeepers cultivation. At their level, a lot of things became irrelevant. So then the bodyguard could not understand why Lex was burdening himself so much by caring, or to be more specific, by having an emotional response to killing an enemy?

“I just think it’s a pity,” Lex said, looking back at where the body of the beast used to be. “It was not a bad leader, and it stumbled upon an immense opportunity by coming here. It could have not only raised its own cultivation but also of all its followers, and exposed them to a much wider horizon than the one they lived with. Yet instead of availing the opportunity, in its arrogance it chose to become my enemy. Even when I tried to give it a second chance, it wasted it.”

The bodyguard shook his head. What Lex said was true, the Liger did waste an amazing opportunity, but he did not understand why Lex cared one way or another about the beast._.

“It doesn’t matter if you understand or not,” said Lex, feeling slightly contemplative after the incident. “Your belief or understanding of something only affects how you experience life, nothing else. Whether you believe you are the best, or the strongest, or better than others does not affect the universe at all. It only affects how you perceive the universe around you. And if one day, you encounter someone or something that challenges your belief, how well you can adapt will determine your outcome. The beast believed it was superior to humans, and thus lost the opportunity to better itself using an opportunity provided by humans. Similarly, if you believe that you are the best, you will never surpass your current self since you have already deemed it the best.”

The bodyguard quietly listened, trying to dissect what Lex had said. He was attempting to see the relevance or purpose behind Lex’s actions using this logic. Whether he would be able to succeed or not didn’t matter, for Lex only felt like being randomly philosophical. With his emotions vented, Lex put on a wide grin and returned to the manor.

He returned to the unusual scene of Marlo stuffing his face with spaghetti and meatballs with his left hand and arm wrestling Alexander, Helen and Jimmy with his right. A pale and obviously defeated Slag was standing in the corner, observing the situation. Hera was watching with a smile, and she watched her son finally interact with others. Even the previously morose Ayesha was standing in the crowd, cheering on the kids.

Harry and John had also appeared in the room and seemed to be egging them on. Harry was playing intense music on his phone, as if to set the scene. That made Lex realize he should hire a musician, but he put it at the back of his mind and watched his guests goof off.

He did not know how the situation became like this, but he was suddenly tempted to offer Marlo another job as the resident joker.

Just as Marlo finished his food his right arm came crashing down, defeating the kids without any suspense.

“Who’s next?” the now giant wannabe Marlo screamed as he swapped out the empty plate for a dish of lasagna. Lex felt personally offended when he saw Marlo eat the lasagna with a spoon.

Surprisingly, Chen stood up and sat opposite to Marlo, replacing the defeated kids. As he grabbed Marlo’s hand, Lily tied a rope around their hands and stood on the side, ready to pull Marlo’s hand down.

“I’m going to need some help, who else hasn’t gone yet,” Lily asked, looking around the room. Harry raised his hand as he hopped towards Lily and grabbed the rope. He changed the music as well, pumping himself up. At this point no one noticed Lex disappearing, and Leo running into the room. Lex’s bodyguard simply lost track of the Innkeeper, but did not put it to heart. His job was only to protect the Innkeeper while he was in the Inn. If he left of his own accord, the bodyguard did not need to be bothered.

Leo grabbed onto the rope excitedly as well, asking Harry, ” what’s going on?”

Harry did not react at all to Leo’s sudden appearance and said, “The loud guy sealed his body cultivation and challenged everyone to an armwrestling match. He said he won’t use any strength while he eats, but once he finishes you will win the match. The goal is to beat him before he finishes his meal.”

At this point Chen started trying to push Marlo’s hand down, and the others pulled on the rope. As one of the weakest cultivators there Lex did not expect his contribution to matter, but he was getting severe FOMO (fear or missing out) just standing there watching. The trio pulled hard on the rope and it seemed for a moment that Marlo’s hand moved down a bit, but no one could be too sure. Only a few moments later Marlo had finished the lasagna like a vacuum sucking up dirt, and slammed Chen’s hand down!

“Next,” he roared, though whether he meant the next meal or armwrestler, no one could be sure. Velma hopped towards him and put down a plate of fresh BBQ, politely handing him a fork as well. At this point, almost everyone in the room had already lost. Just when everyone thought that no one would step up, one of the suited guards sat opposite to Marlo. This guard’s cultivation was Peak Golden Core, so he was not weak at all. Yet the look Slag gave the guard was one of ridicule.

The people in the room cheered as the new match started, and someone started a chant of “kick Marlo’s butt!”. Jimmy was the most vocal with that chant, and stood up on a table to watch the exciting match. Hera almost cried, watching her son enjoying the festivity. Jimmy had been so reclusive the past few months, he was finally behaving like a child again.

The guard surprised everyone by putting up a strong fight. Marlo’s hand moved down till it was at a 45 degrees angle, but before he could move it down further Marlo had devoured his food and started fighting back. Unlike the previous matches, he was not able to simply slam down the guard, which prompted another round of cheering.

“You’re getting weak, old timer,” Alexander yelled, smirking at his former teacher. As if to answer Alexander, Marlo started exerting even more strength. His shirt ripped at the bicep and veins started running up his arm. Finally, after a tough fight, the guard was defeated.

A round of booing and cheering took place as Marlo chugged down a jar of mead and slammed it down on the ground. “Next,” his roar echoed, prompting Velma to reappear with a plate of deep fried cheeseballs, nuggets, sausages and french fries.

Marlo, like a ravenous animal, set upon the plate without waiting for his next opponent. While everyone waited to see if anyone would step up, perhaps another guard, John casually strolled to the table. In a great show of arrogance, instead of clasping Marlo’s hand, he only stuck out a single finger.

“Velma, be a dear and get me that drink you offered last time. What was it called, Pina Colorado?”

“Piña colada,” she said, handing him the drink.

John accepted the drink with a smile, and looked at Marlo. “I’ll give you until I finish this glass to defeat me. By the way, all my spirit energy is already sealed so you don’t need to worry about that.”

Marlo let out a viscous grin and grabbed the man’s finger. The match started immediately, but neither the hand nor the finger moved from the middle. The room was full of hooting and chanting, with Leo participating as well. John casually drank his drink while Marlo hurriedly swallowed his food. The two finished at the same time and after giving each other a dirty look, began using full force. The table cracked immediately, but they continued to wrestle as if the air itself was solid. For exactly 1 second it looked like it would be a tie, but then John smashed his finger down hard, throwing Marlo’s body across the room after a crushing defeat. Marlo’s body hit a window, and though the window did not break, cracks appeared

The whole room exploded in celebration as almost everyone had been defeated by Marlo. Even Slag let out a smirk. To everyone here, this victory was more dear than if they themselves had won.

The celebration, however, was interrupted by the Innkeepers voice giving an announcement in the room saying, “For broken and damaged furniture, Marlo and John will be fined 300MP each!”

Everyone started laughing, Marlo shrugged it off, but John started scowling! He was the most broke person here!