The Innkeeper

The Innkeepers' sudden departure left the audience in an awkward silence. When was the last time any of them had been dismissed in such a cavalier manner? Yet the Innkeeper leaving in such a manner did not arouse any suspicion, but only strengthened the perception that he was much stronger than them and that he really was only treating these as games.

Summoning his holographic assistant, Ragnar asked, "Is there some place I can have a private meeting? Some place I won't be overheard?"

"Naturally," the hologram answered. "You can rent one of our regular rooms, all of which comes with natural sound insulation and complete protection from outside snooping. You can also rent a room within the coliseum, which has the same benefits. Please note, should you choose to rent a room in the coliseum, the longest you can rent for is the duration of the event."

"Good, we'll rent a room in the coliseum till the event ends," he told the hologram, not bothering to ask about the price. It didn't make a difference though, the price was the same.

Turning to his followers, he started giving instructions immediately.

"Have the soldiers split up. Have the reconnaissance team 1 through 5 undergo the tour, and have team 6 explore on their own. Have the rest of the soldiers positioned within view of the zombies, and keep tabs on their movements. Have delegations approach each of the planet's leaders and set a time for a meeting. I've marked down the suspected leaders for the Beasts as well as the humans, but you can ask around just to be sure.

"Also, have Alpha team 1 follow the Devil's every move. No need to be subtle about it, I want them to know that we're following them. Send back someone to Vegus Minima to submit a preliminary report of events to the Command Carrier. But for now, in the report, no need to mention the trigger terms 'Loretta' or 'Celestial'. In fact, let all the soldiers know, all information about the Midnight Inn is considered platinum level confidential. Also, pass word to the commanders on Vegus Magnum and Vegus Prime to adjust their searching method according to the new information we have about the formation

"Once done with the report, have them run a full database search on the names Nibiru and Earth. I want to know any information we have about them. Slag, you're with me. It's time you gave your report."

As soon as Ragnar was done speaking, his soldiers dispersed in an orderly fashion, moving with direction and purpose. Their clear focus and discipline impressed the Earthlings, who were watching from afar. The display told them that their chances at the combat portion of the Games would be weak, yet some of them wanted to try anyway.

Ragnar and his entourage teleported directly into the room that he had rented. The first thing Ragnar did was sweep the room with his spiritual senses very thoroughly. When he found nothing, and noticed that his senses were not able to pry into neighboring rooms, he felt reassured. That did not mean he left things as is.

Simple eye contact with one of his followers prompted him to start setting up seclusion formation around the room. This would prevent prying spiritual senses from entering, as well as stop any signals from the room going out. The signal block was to stop any recon device, formation or treasure they may have missed.

Their actions were practiced and professional, and only ten minutes later the already secure room became even harder to spy on. But they were not done yet. Each man in the room summoned their private assistant and told them to give them some privacy until they left the room. The assistants obliged and disappeared.

Immediately it occurred to Ragnar that this could be a potential loophole in the Inns' security. If the rooms really were as private as they claimed, and if even the assistants were sent away, someone could easily commit murder in their room. Of course, getting someone into your room and then having them dismiss their assistant without arousing suspicion was a difficult task in itself. Maybe there were other ways in which the Inn provided security, but those were thoughts for another time.

"Lieutenant Slag, I've already gone through the report you compiled," Ragnar said, looking at the man. "Is there anything else of importance you would like to bring attention to? Speak freely."

"Yes sir! After investigating the Inn and its guests for the past few days, there are a few things I've speculated on. I could not investigate the guests too closely without offending the Innkeeper, but I took this opportunity to converse with almost everyone and have come to certain inferences.

"Firstly, in the time I've been here, I've only seen guests from Vegus Minima, Earth and Nibiru. Yet the Innkeeper claims that they have guests from all over the universe. Assuming that is true, I suspect that there is more than one Inn. The Inns should be divided either by the level of the planets, or more likely, there should be a separate Inn for a certain given quadrant of space. If that were true, this specific Inn might be the newest one which is why it is still only accepting guests from three planets. From time to time the Innkeeper disappears, so it would make sense if he was handling matters at the other Inns. Of course, I have no proof of this, so this is mere speculation.

"Secondly, from my analysis of the event and my conversation with guests who have stayed at the Inn previously, I suspect I may have gained insight into the true reason behind the Midnight Games. On the premise that there were no outside interference such as that of the Devils or our Empire, the three planets selected all would have civilizations below Star level. None of them would have exceeded the scope of their own solar systems. Keeping this knowledge in mind, along with the various facilities provided at the Inn that promote nurturing and trade, I believe the goal of the Innkeeper is to accelerate the growth of these planets or civilizations.

"Thirdly, I did not get an opportunity to meet guests from Nibiru, other than an incident where a Beast attacked the Innkeeper, so I have no information on them. Yet I did meet a lot of them from Earth, and spotted some guests I suspect are from Vegus Minima, but cannot confirm because they kept avoiding me.

"Earth seems to be a human dominant planet with no clear cut planet wide ruler. I cannot ascertain the level of the average cultivators, but I had a run in with two elites. One of them was a youth at the Foundation realm named Alexander. I did not even need my spirit sense to determine that his cultivation has few, if any weaknesses, and that he has great potential to grow. The second was a man named Marlo. You saw him at the coliseum, he's the one who asked the question about the combat arena."

At this point, Slag stopped for a moment. He would never even consider hiding information from his General, yet this next bit embarrassed him greatly and was not easy to say.

"My encounter with Marlo may not have been…under the best of circumstances. Seeing the potential of the youth, and the fact that he was from a planet supposedly free from intergalactic influence, I attempted to recruit him. Unfortunately, it seems Alexander was Marlo's student and the other did not take kindly to my recruitment attempt.

"Using one hand, with his cultivation sealed, Marlo defeated me in a competition of strength while I used my full force."

His last statement alarmed not only Ragnar, but the rest in the room. None of them knew Slag personally, how could they be expected to know each soldier when they had hundreds of thousands under their command? Yet the fact that he was a Lieutenant spoke for itself. It was impossible to gain rank unless you had the equivalent strength. However, he was defeated one handed?

"Fortunately, they did not drop pretenses and maintained a non-hostile relationship with me following. Marlo subsequently asked me various times to join if he could join the empire, but it is blatantly obvious that he has ulterior motives. I dared not promise him anything.

"Other than them, I encountered a businessman from Earth named Will. He was extremely eager to discuss potential trade opportunities. I told him I would refer him to the appropriate people when the time came."

Ragnar listened to Slag's report very seriously, but at the last statement, he could not stop himself from showing a smile. Ragnar had read Slag's report during the meeting, and also checked up on Slag's history in the army, as well as his personality report.

Very similar to Ragnar himself, Slag was an orphan and lived his entire life parallel to, or in the army. His early education had been in an Army Public School, and at age 15 he had enrolled into an army boarding school. His life and career path had been mostly straightforward, similar to Ragnar himself.

So then how could Ragnar not understand that when Slag said that he would refer Will to the appropriate people, what he really meant was he had no knowledge of trade and would let someone else carry that headache. Honestly, even at their level, the army was full of muscle heads. Ragnar was a very serious man, but even then, as someone who had spent every waking moment of his life in the army, how could he not be amused by the simple plights of his soldiers?