The Innkeeper

“Wait, so you’ve launched a hunt for Marlo?” asked Alexander.

“Yes, when you told us to look at Marlo’s recent actions we noticed that he disappeared shortly before the assassination. We did not suspect his involvement at all until then, it’s a good thing you tipped us off. We haven’t started looking for him directly, but we’ve already hinted to a few organizations on Earth that we want to know his whereabouts. They’ve already begun their hunt, it won’t be long before we find him.”

“No no no! He was not involved at all, that’s not why I told you to look for him. I already know where he is, I wanted to know about his recent actions because I wanted to know who could hurt him so badly. This is what happened…” Alexander began explaining to his family where he saw Marlo, unaware that his casual remark had inadvertently caused the mysterious Innkeeper to move out of his apartment and escape Earth.

*****

The next day Lex woke up, unrested and groggy. He was not in his room, but in the meditation room instead. Yesterday he had tried meditating, but found he could not stop himself from having random thoughts. After trying to avoid daydreaming for thirty minutes, he had accidentally fallen asleep. When he woke up Mary told him that mediating would be harder for him than others because his spirit was currently unstable, but that was exactly why it was so important that he keep trying.

After another short period with no success, it occurred to him to try the meditation room. The change was drastic, and he immediately felt much calmer once inside. Lex was not sure exactly what state constituted as meditation, as he never fully went without a few random thoughts crossing his mind, but he had a firmer grasp on his thoughts at least. Still, it got boring pretty quickly. However the young Innkeeper persevered.

At some point he had once again fallen asleep without realizing, and was only waking up now. He got up and stretched, cracking his various joints as he stood up. Sleeping whilst in a sitting pose was not comfortable at all, even with his improved physique._.

He had breakfast in his room and then teleported back to Earth. It was time to complete his quest. He made his way to the particular coffeeshop he had requested as the meeting location on his eBay ad. After exchanging various messages with the people who contacted him and waiting for a few hours, he finally selected four men to help him complete his task. Three of them were older, and wore old, worn out clothes. The fourth looked like a teenager, and though he was also wearing old clothes looked very presentable.

“Your task is simple, and should not take more than twenty minutes. I’m shooting a film and you’ll be helping me during a scene. You’ll all wear blindfolds, and I will lead you somewhere. I’ll give you all a check which you will have to hand over to someone in exchange for a bottle of ‘Botlam Dew’. Once you’ve received the bottle I’ll bring you back. We may shoot the scene a couple of times. Once I’m satisfied with the result, I’ll pay you all in cash.”

The four men didn’t seem too bothered by his instructions and were just impatient to get started. Lex led them to a secluded area in Central Park and handed them all blindfolds and handed them signed blank checks, as well as a Golden Key each once they were wearing the blindfolds.

“Action,” Lex yelled loudly while pretending to record them from his phone. He helped them activate the keys, and they were all teleported to the Inn. Lex used his control over the Inn to teleport them directly to the Gift shop, he didn’t want anyone to see what was happening

Velma greeted them all, and one by one they handed over the check and asked for a bottle of Botam Dew. Once they all had their bottles, he ejected them from the Inn.

When they all returned they all received a Golden key each, for buying something from the Inn. This way Lex didn’t need to buy them for them himself again, which was a hefty cost. The base price for a Golden key was 100MP, but every time he bought the key again during the same week the price would double. This double price wouldn’t count if a guest would buy a key themself from the Gift shop, but for Lex buying these 4 keys had already cost him 1500MP! Fortunately, even though the checks these four people used to buy the Botlam Dew were from Lex’s own account, the System did not discriminate and accepted the MP so he recovered 480MP.

With one successful transaction he told them they were going to shoot one more time and quickly repeated the process. As soon as the four returned back to Earth, he got the notification for Quest Completion.

Quest Complete! The Host’s rewarded is being calculated:

– No upgrade applied

Reward Rank: D

Reward: Midnight Inn Prestige

Remarks: If you put in all your effort, work hard, and focus with all your might, somehow you might succeed at being even lazier than you are.

New Quest: Hire a permanent Employee

Quest details: Due to the system’s serious doubt in the Host, no restrictions are being placed on the kind of employee. Please hire anyone who will not somehow harm the Inn, and you will be rewarded accordingly.

Quest reward: Subject to change based on performance.

Lex’s lips twitched once again at the heavy criticism, but he had come to expect it now. Why was the system so much more annoying than Mary? She was so cute and adorable, the system should be more like her.

At least with that out of the way, Lex turned his attention to his ‘actors’. He quickly took back the blindfolds, keys and Botlam Dews as the ‘props’ he had given them and paid them all $50. Some of them tried to argue for more, ready with the intention to create trouble, but Lex was a cultivator now. As soon as he frowned, his intimidating figure promptly shut them up.

The last ‘actor’, the teenager, didn’t leave immediately after receiving his money. He kept staring at Lex for a bit, and just as Lex was ready to brush off any attempts for more money, the kid said, “Your haircut doesn’t suit your face.”

“Huh?” Lex said, not expecting such a remark.

“When you get your haircut and the hair is freshly cut, it may not look so bad, but once a few days pass and your hair becomes more natural the look changes. Your current haircut makes your face look round, and bigger than it is. You should try out a different style. If you want, I can cut your hair.”

Lex smiled, amused at the boys’ attempted hustle.

“And how much will you charge for the haircut?” he asked, not dismissing the kid immediately.

“The first time is free. If you like the haircut, and decide in the future that you want me to continue cutting your hair, you can give me a call. You should also get a shave too while you’re at it, by the way. I can tell you shave using a trimmer instead of a blade. That causes your hair to be cut unevenly and doesn’t give you a clean look. A close shave will improve your look and make you more presentable. I perform hot towel shaves, which will not only help you relax, it’ll completely change the way you feel about shaving.”

Originally Lex wanted to leave immediately as he was in a hurry to see what the prestige system did. However the prestige system had been unlocked and implemented, so whether he learnt about it immediately or a little later did not matter.

“What’s your name kid?” Lex asked.

“Harry, just Harry. I used to go by Harry Styles when I started cutting hair, but I just found out that there’s already some guy who goes by that name, so until I think of a better one I just go by Harry.”

“Alright Harry, I could go for a haircut. Where are we doing this, right here?”

“No, I don’t have my equipment with me. You’ll have to follow me to my apartment, I either do house calls or do my grooming at my apartment.”

Lex didn’t mind, and he liked Harry’s enterprising attitude so he followed him back to his apartment. Harry lived in Harlem so they had to take the subway but it did not take too long. Lex walked into the small studio to find a messy but cozy place. In the corner Harry had set a barbers chair in front of a full sized mirror. Although the place was small, it did not look like something a broke teenager should be able to afford on his own.

“This is your apartment alone?” he asked, curious if he shared the place with someone.

“Pretty much,” he said, gathering his supplies.

“How do you afford the rent?”

“I cut hair for the whole building,” Harry replied casually. “And some of the neighboring buildings as well. Don’t underestimate my skill, trust me, you’ll look like a whole other person once I’m done with you. Now, have a seat.”

He dusted the chair and welcomed Lex to sit down as he filled his spray bottle with water. Lex sat, impressed by the child. Now all that was left to see how good he actually was.