The Innkeeper

Chapter 1360  Tavern tales I

It sounded a lot like a sales pitch, mostly because it was. Lex wasn't exaggerating when he said he had gained a deeper understanding of the system and how it works. Entertainment value aside, each system had a certain range, as far as he could tell, that the system monitors for news and interesting events so that the system can give quests.

Many times, the quests themselves, or perhaps their rewards, would end up being exactly what the user needs to survive an upcoming disaster that is unknown to the user. This is because through various means, the system detected what was happening within its surveillance region, and reacted to it.

Responding to things Lex said or did counted as a part of this, which explained why the system often reacted to things Lex said to it previously. Heck, Lex got the tavern by gaslighting the system into thinking any decent organization should have subsidiaries, and got the overpowered Butter Knife by belittling the systems defensive capabilities.

Of course, this didn't always work or else Lex's constant complaining about the teleportation would have been long addressed.

"If anything, the current tavern proves that sometimes, sending a tavern can be more entertaining than actually going by myself," said Lex as he suddenly grinned.

His projection was, more or less, always at the Midnight tavern. It was quite relaxing, and even fun. He'd been using the tavern for a long time, acting out his fantasy of being the secret, mysterious tavern keeper who slowly yet silently affects the trajectory of an entire country.

Considering that his interference had saved countless lives, prevented innumerous tragedies and improved the lives of the populace as a whole, he had no intentions of stopping. Of course, he never did anything himself. Instead, he always just guided his guests, but taking the final actions would be entirely up to them.

The reason he was grinning was because something had happened in the Inn which he was sure could be qualified to be called entertaining. It was not dangerous to the tavern, or put any of them at risk. But at least for the people involved it was quite dangerous, and filled with suspense and drama.

He was certain that, upon witnessing what was about to unfold within his tavern, the system would agree to his recommendation of altering the way the system connected to new places.

Barin city had been in chaos lately, though such could also be said for the entire Attok country where the city was located.

The pressure from monster attacks on the borders had increased, and a neighboring country was also showing signs of aggression, hinting towards an upcoming war. To top it all off, internal strife was causing much anarchy within the country.

There had been an assassination attempt on the King, who had since then fallen into a coma. The crown prince of the country had disappeared during the attack, with rumors now being spread that the prince himself was behind the attack. Simultaneously, one of the largest noble families in the country, which had amassed a little too much power, was silently causing trouble for the nation by resisting the call to arms to protect the country, giving the excuse that they were too preoccupied protecting their own lands.

The Duke, the king's distant cousin, had taken this opportunity to take charge of the country, since it could not be without a leader in these troubled times.

A dozen other terrible things had happened including but not limited to a beast tide, food shortage, climate change, the spread of a plague-like school of thought called 'free market' and 'capitalism', banana pizzas, rebellion and revolt, the resurgence of an ancient order dedicated to evil, not to mention a decreased population leading to labor shortages.

The huntress did not know, nor did she care for what any of that meant. She had no allegiance to anyone, so she hardly cared for who ruled the country. Her new boyfriend, the alchemist, was a member of the Alchemy tower, so he was also safe from such worldly troubles as well.

No, what she cared about was that her latest hunt had gone wrong mostly due to the interference of a bumbling buffoon who looked like he had never set a single foot in the wilds before.

In fact, his interference had almost gotten her killed. But at least the buffoon had a chivalrous heart, and pushed her out of the way so that she was not harmed, and took the attack instead. Suffice to say it was idiotic to the extreme. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

But the forthright action moved the huntress's heart, so as soon as the fight ended, she picked up the buffoon and began returning to Barin city! By now she had entered the Qi training stage, and had become a well known figure within the city.

Even though her previous clan still caused problems for her now and again, with her own strength, and the guidance from a certain enigmatic tavern keeper, she had managed to survive.

That is exactly why, instead of going to the hospital, the huntress brought the buffoon to the Midnight tavern, which was always bustling whether it was day or night. The fact that their prices had not changed regardless of the food shortage, and that they never seemed to run out of food made it a popular place.

It also helped that the tavern maids, the triplet sisters, were as beautiful as the sunrise, and the bartender was stunningly handsome. Combined with their excellent service and warm environment, the tavern was the most popular place in the city.

Even so, when the huntress brought the bleeding, dying buffoon in, no one batted as much as an eye.

"Oh dear, what do we have on our hands now?" Nami asked with a hint of an exasperation in her voice. The huntress did not have an older sister, but whenever Nami looked at her or scolded her, the huntress liked to imagine this is what the care of an older sister would feel like. It was because even when Nami, the barmaid, scolded the huntress, the guest of the tavern, the huntress never felt any distress or agitation. She only felt warmth,

"A bumbling buffoon doing his best to die," the huntress said, and she allowed Big Ben to take the buffoon from her hands.

"I'll see what I can do to ensure he fails in his endeavors," Nami said with a shaking head. "By the way, the tavern keeper is waiting for you on the roof."

Of course he was waiting for her. The huntress shook her head, and began heading upstairs, completely unaware that she had brought in the escaped crown prince who was in hiding, and the new list of enemies she had suddenly made for herself.