The Innkeeper

True to his expectations, Z was hard at work convincing people to leave him alone. As usual, the computers in the store were mostly unused, while the AR rooms were fully booked. Z was trying to convince a horde of aunties that he would not make a good boyfriend for their daughters or granddaughters and that he simply just wanted to be lazy. Yet the more he refused, the more adamant they became in their choice. Lex let out a genuine smile and decided he would meet Z another time.

He disappeared, returning to his apartment. His little feel good moment was over, it was now time to focus on the real task at hand. He stared at the opaque bottle, trying to discern anything. Of course, with his distinct lack of cultivation, he would learn nothing new about the bottle.

He put on his suit and prepared to use a loophole he had discovered to learn the details of this bottle. Unlike with guests, he could not analyze items and identify their properties. Yet what he could do was put his belongings into the Gift shop for sale. As soon as he entered an item in the Gift Shop, a description of that item would appear. All he needed to do was add the bottle to the shop to learn about its properties. This was a little something he discovered after Mary told him to start looking for loopholes. He was a little proud of himself when he did._.

Truth be told, he did not anticipate anything harmful in the bottle or the other gifts the Devils had handed out. This was because should such a thing happen, the system would warn him the same way it had warned him about Devils putting trackers on his guests. But he needed to identify what their goal was and any little bit of information would help.

Lex added the bottle to the Gift shop, read its description and quickly removed it. As he suspected, there was no tampering with the item. It’s description was:

Purified Wraiths blood

The purified blood of a wraith. In this purified form, it has a soothing effect on the soul by strengthening the cohesiveness of the body. Only effective for cultivators below the Foundation realm.

Lex set the bottle aside for later and decided to keep a close eye on the Devils. It was likely that, because they recognized him, their interaction with him was different from the one they had with other guests. He watched a replay of their interactions with a few different guests, and indeed there was a small detail they had missed out on when talking to him. They told all of their guests they will return to the Inn every 100 days or so, so if they were interested in meeting again they can time it accordingly.

Every 100 days signified a dedicated, strategic plan. The Devils definitely had some kind of ulterior motives. Lex would have to watch out. They mentioned wanting to join the Inn, maybe that was their end goal.

Either way, that was a matter for later. He turned his attention back to the various performances and looked for the stages with the largest crowds. He immediately picked out a pattern – whether the performers were Earthlings, soldiers or Beasts, the stages where they were playing music gathered the largest crowds. Maybe it was because such a thing was easier to appreciate and didn’t require the level of attention the snake’s performance did, or maybe there was a greater hidden secret to the matter. Either way, they were the most popular.

For Earthlings, the music they played was not that of bands or popular songs, but cultural music from unusual or lesser known instruments. He listened to each one, taking in their unique charm. It was as if each instrument had a personality.

The bagpipes, because of course there were bagpipes, were like loud and boisterous children, laughing and playing in the open, sharing their joy with everyone. Lex personally did not understand why people enjoyed listening to it, but he could certainly admit it was great to set a mood.

There were a few different kinds of unusually massive guitars. Lex could not identify what they were or what was special about them – he was not trained in music theory – but it sounded nice enough to gather crowds and that’s what mattered.

He recognized the zither, but only because he’d seen it mentioned in so many novels. It sounded nice, but not as soul shakingly beautiful as it had been described in the novels. Of course, in the novels, the instrument was also always being played by a devastatingly beautiful girl who, often enough, ended up being the protagonists’ love interest. Just to be safe, Lex decided to keep a distance from the bearded old man who was playing the instrument.

There were a few different variations on drums as well. There was one particular one that was being played by hand instead of sticks, which had a rhythm and tempo the others could not match. The man playing the drums by hand also happened to be a cultivator, much like the ballerina, so it made sense that his craft seemed better than the rest.

Yet out of all the various musical performances, once again, Lex’s favorite was the one being performed by Beasts. On a particular stage, birds sat in organized rows and sang in a coordination that would put symphonies to shame. Parrots, Mockingbirds, Ravens, Blue jays and many more different kinds of birds Lex either did not know the names of or had never seen before combined their voices together to produce music that was so sweet and pure to listen to.

Lex closed his eyes and let himself be swept away by the sounds. It was filled with a freshness and vitality that was hard to explain. It was like the first gust of wind in the early morning after a night of rain, like the soft tickle of dew felt on bare feet. It felt like a deep breath of fresh mountain air, chilly enough to wake you up but not enough to cause you to tremble.

Lex enjoyed the music for an unexpectedly long time. Prior to this, he was confident that the humans would have this competition in the bag, but suddenly he wasn’t so sure.

Still, there were many other stages to visit and Lex went through them one by one. He saw Igishima’s display – the tree that needed time to prepare. His stage was covered in soil, out of which grew a field of flowers. In the center stood the tree, tall and firm, overlooking its children. The flowers bloomed and waned in a wave, traveling from one corner to another. Each flower lived just long enough to let out its beautiful smell, which, when combined with the smells of the other flowers, made Lex feel a freshness entirely different from the ones the birds made him feel.

It was so unusual, Lex had never used his sense of smell so much and so consistently without losing the ability to distinguish smells. Yet here it was, happening clearly and with direction. Even without the smell, watching the flowers move in such an organized way was already entertaining, yet the smells only elevated the performance. This was most likely another strong contender.

He viewed the other performances, each one unique and interesting in their own way. He could not say for his guests, maybe they would enjoy a different kind of entertainment, but Lex thoroughly enjoyed himself. He felt like this was the perfect activity for a vacation. It was not strenuous, yet was interesting and exciting enough to keep him captivated. There was no doubt that a lot of them were waiting for the second portion of the games, however. As enjoyable as these performances were, there was always a crowd ready to watch the excitement of battle.

With that, the day slowly passed and the first part of the cultural event came to a close. The guests could sleep here, or they could return to their planet, as the next portion would only begin in the morning.