Chapter 2303: I swear |
Dr. Charles Best stared at the fairy with an incredibly odd expression, and then looked at the letter in his hands. It contained a list of topics about which Jack required detailed information. He then looked back at the fairy.
"What is the meaning of this?" the doctor asked, looking at Jack oddly.
Jack rubbed his temples, as if he was an exhausted worker, on the end of his rope from being overworked.
"What do you mean, what is this? These are things I need detailed information on. You can get it from Taro’s Journal. Naturally, the one who told me to go to you to collect all this information was the Innkeeper. You can go ask him if you want confirmation, just hurry up. I have other things I need to do," he said, his tone filled with complaint.
Charles would, naturally, confirm with the Innkeeper if he was available. Unfortunately, for months already, he had disappeared. Such an occurrence was actually quite common inside the Inn so they weren’t too bothered by it. This, however, was very sensitive information and he couldn’t just hand over this information without confirming the situation.
Since he couldn’t contact the Innkeeper, he reached out to Mary, who appeared the very next moment. Unlike Charles and the rest, she was aware of the fact that Lex was missing and that something had happened to him. To now encounter a random Fairy who not only affected the progress of the whole realm, but claimed to have instructions from the Innkeeper was... well suspicious was not the right word, but she found it hard to believe nonetheless.
After studying the fairy, she realized that she had no strong impression of him, nor had Lex ever mentioned anything regarding the fairy to her.
"When did the Innkeeper give you these instructions? What did he say?" she asked, skipping the preamble and getting right into the thick of things.
Jack shrugged.
"I’m a respectable pirate- I mean, I’m a respectable trader with a respectable crew, conducting proper, legal business. This mission is just something I’m doing on the side - I don’t work for anyone."
The more Jack tried to insist that he was independent, the more Mary became sure that he was actually someone who secretly worked for Lex. As for respectable and proper...
She glanced sideways and saw the hamster trying to fit an entire almond tree inside its cheek to carry it away. In another section, the gnome was getting his beard treated and trimmed, but every time someone combed through it, some stolen gold would fall out of it.
In another section of the Inn, a golden duck was awkwardly stuck inside a solid gold pool. To be clear, it was normal water when it entered - the pool had just turned to gold afterwards, causing it to get stuck in its place.
An elemental with a physical body was exceptionally rare across the whole universe, but he had two of them in his crew, with the crystal alligator being the second.
To say that he was doing nothing dubious would be one of the most absurd lies, but she didn’t press him on that. She was concerned about the timing for when the instructions came. Was this something Lex had arranged before he disappeared, or was it something he had done after?
Or was this possibly a probe from some enemy who had targeted Lex?
She did not let her thoughts show in her expressions, but Lex knew Mary well enough to be able to determine her thought process.
"Listen, I don’t enjoy this either. How about I swear a big oath or something and get this show on the road?" asked Jack as he placed one hand on his heart and raised another in the air.
"I swear on the Heavens, and on my very wings, the instructions given to me were by the Innkeeper, and I only want to fulfil them before getting onto my own other tasks."
Mary raised an eyebrow. Various oaths had various levels of binding power. While there were occasional loopholes, they weren’t so easy to make use of. In this instance, for example, he only proved that Jack thought he was working for the Innkeeper, that’s it. If he was fooled, this oath would still work.
After deliberating for a while, Mary could only internally sigh. She couldn’t take actions on behalf of Lex, and she could at most manage some things. Since the journal was a closely kept secret, this should be a part of Lex’s plan. Maybe it was a contingency he set in case something went awry.
Mary nodded towards Charles to let him pass on the information, and disappeared. She had to focus on building her body as quickly as possible. The situation was so precarious that she did not even know exactly what dangers they were facing. She only hoped that Lex would return soon.
She wasn’t the only one with that thought. Ever since Almira had returned, and Lex had disappeared, the staff of the Midnight Inn had become oddly... silent. Prominent members of the staff seemed to have disappeared, and their jovial attitude was hard to find. Now, they were strictly professionals, acting to fulfil their orders.
Meanwhile, in the Temple of Fasting, the training of the Inn’s staff continued, but this time the main focus was not on new cultivators at lower levels. No, the main focus was on stronger, higher leveled cultivators, who were learning about the laws of the universe in the most orthodox and standard ways designed for humanity.
Each of them had enough unique experiences - now it was time for them to raise their foundation as high as possible.
Of course, they didn’t spend all their time inside the temple. Some of them occasionally had to go back when their holidays were used up. In that case, they would continue their training while they worked.