The Innkeeper-Novel

"A curse?" Noman repeated, startled. The scariest thing was that he could tell Lex wasn't lying. Moreover, everyone's reaction told him that they believe him too.

"Well, to be specific, I don't know if it's a curse or a technique or something, but yes someone has definitely done something to you. As for the tracking bit, that's purely my guess as well, but it makes sense. If I was kidnapping you, and came close enough to mark you, I would definitely leave some kind of tracker on you as well."

Noman frowned but relaxed just as quickly. He leaned back into his chair comfortably and said, "well I wasn't planning on leaving the Inn anytime soon, anyway. If they have the guts to try to kidnap me here, I say they should go for it."

Lex was taken aback by Nomans' cavalier attitude, but it seemed like whatever he said made sense. Since the 'curse' was not harming him, and he was not planning on returning, there was no point in being worried. Besides, there was a very decent possibility that one day he'd be able to remove the curse on himself right from the Inn.

Lex shrugged and leaned back into his own chair. Regardless of the curse, Noman was worthy of keeping an eye on. The truth only thing was tricky, but with his intuition always reminding him to be careful of what he said around Noman, there wasn't a chance he'd forget.

The group was also taken aback by Noman's attitude, but it wasn't their place to comment.

With Anakin and Noman starting to share already, there wasn't much point in holding back. But unfortunately, not everyone was as open as the other two.

"Knowing my secret is not really relevant to anything we're doing," Souta said calmly, "but for the sake of building trust I'll share with you what I shared with the rest. For certain reasons, I had to obey Suzuki's every instruction, regardless of whether I wanted to or not. He took advantage of that to make me do many immoral acts for his own profit. I was more than happy to see him disposed of, and I did not hesitate to let them know that unless they fought him some place he couldn't call me, he would force me to participate. If that were the case, their chances of success... let's just say they were really bad."

"What about why you're still hanging around?" Lex asked, not worried that his excessive attention towards Souta would cause curiosity or suspicion. After all, the man was a former assassin. It would in fact be strange if Lex weren't wary at all.

"Not to sound too critical, but Rafael was not wrong to question my motives. I still don't understand yours, though. You have been freed of your master's control, so why are you still around?"

This time, even the cool and collected Rafael turned to look at Souta. With Noman present it was all but guaranteed that they could not lie, so while asking such a question was normally pointless, in the current situation it was a good way of ensuring no one was plotting against them.

Souta did not seem perturbed by the questioning though, and responded calmly.

"I had intentions to make amends to those that I have wronged. Anakin suggested that he knew a way that would allow me to make up for my sins. Since I lacked any ideas of my own, I decided to stick around."

Anakin nodded firmly, as if proud of his role in making Souta stay. Lex was unsatisfied with the answer, but he didn't press on. It seemed like he would have to take a more direct approach if he wished to get real answers. For now, that would have to wait.

"Before I share mine," said Rafael, once silence fell between the group and it was obvious that Lex had no more questions. "Why don't you share the source of your information first? That way, when I explain my part, everyone will have a clearer picture of the situation."

Lex looked at Rafael silently for a moment. Of the entire group, he was the one who gave Lex the most trouble. Even Noman's ability didn't put as much actual pressure on him. He did not at all behave like Lex expected. For a brief moment he wondered if someone had reincarnated in Rafael's body the way Ming Jie had reincarnated in the mountain. But he dismissed the thought the moment it entered. If he started suspecting everyone he met of something so absurd, he himself would go insane.

"My source is fairly simple," Lex said lightly, as if it wasn't really such a big secret. "Have you seen the Midnight news building? Well, if you've been inside you'd know that other than what they sell on the newsletter, you can also purchase additional information. This file is available there."

"Impossible," Rafael said, shaking his head. "If news like this was being sold so openly, everyone would know about it. I haven't been to the news building, but I'm positive they wouldn't be selling such news. At least, it would not be so simple to get one's hands on it."

Lex flashed Rafael an amused smile, and then eyed Noman. His meaning was clear. Noman had not mentioned he was lying, so clearly it meant it was the truth.

Yet Lex did not mean to leave things at that. It was clear that everyone in the group had intentions of their own with the group. Anakin wanted to make money, Larry wanted revenge, and Rafael clearly wanted something too - though he didn't know what that was yet.

Even Souta must have had some other ideas - he was sure of it.

But amongst them all, Lex was perhaps the person with the most to gain. Not only did he want to hire them at the Inn if they showed potential, he was about to use them to link his multiple identities together.

"Well of course that's not the kind of stuff they sell to the public. That kind of news is only available to the Inn's staff. Like me."

Lex summoned his Clark Kent glasses and put them on. "Let me introduce myself again. My name is Leo, and I run the Gamer's Den."