The Innkeeper-Chapter 2181: What a mess
"I can’t believe we did it," the old man whispered, looking at the completion banner in a daze. Although he had only attempted one challenge before, he understood how low the completion rate in this place was. He’d seen so many people studying so seriously, discussing the most efficient ways to go through the courses.
Entire groups were formed only to study and analyse the patterns of the challenges, because the prestige that came with completing a challenge could not be understated. The reason it was informally called the Playground of Legends was because those who completed it were considered legends!
Yet now, what was meant only as a way to pass the time ended up with him completing the challenge. The incredible part was that it wouldn’t have been possible if he had focused solely on the objective. It was the well dressed young man, taking his time to learn the lore and appreciate the intricacies of the maze, that ended up serving as the key to success in the end.
He could not help but feel that maybe there was a hint about life somewhere in that experience. Unfortunately, whatever the lesson was, it could not apply to him.
"Congratulations, we did it," said the Innkeeper as he walked up to the man. "Do you want to leave your name behind on the achievement board?"
The old man woke up from his stupor, and then looked at the Innkeeper with some guilt.
"I never thought that we’d actually succeed. It’s... better that we leave it as anonymous. If your name is linked to mine, then it might cause you some troubles in the future."
The Innkeeper smiled softly, almost as if he had anticipated such a response.
"Then let’s leave it as anonymous for both," he said, submitting the names and allowing an announcement to take place across the playground. Such announcements were quite rare, to the point that it drew a lot of attention.
Yet while millions of beings were going crazy about the fact that someone had actually chosen to leave their name as anonymous, the Innkeeper and the old man were walking in silence back to their golf cart.
The Innkeeper was naturally thinking about his own affairs, but the old man, for some reason, felt guilt. It was not a feeling he had experienced in hundreds of years. How ironic that the thing that caused him to feel it was something as simple as this, compared to all that he had done these many years.
When they reached the cart, the old man looked at the reliable young man and couldn’t help but shake his head.
"You should take the prize from the challenge - I feel too embarrassed to take it. Consider it my apology for depriving you of the glory of your achievements," the old man said.
The Innkeeper looked at the small spatial ring containing the prize, and then at the old man.
"I am not lacking in glory," he said, as he pushed the ring back. "I just hope that you eventually see the day that you do not need to hide your name."
The old man could not help let out a bitter laugh as he heard the Innkeepers wish.
"Not in this life," he said. "Not after everything that has happened. I am cursed."
Lex said nothing, though he found it interesting that the man thought he was cursed, and yet had no curses on him. Lex, instead, had many, but did not feel like it.
After a minute of laughter that sounded more like crying, the man looked at the Innkeeper. For some reason, he felt a sudden whim. He wanted to lighten the burden in his heart... he wanted to speak all that he had done, though he knew there was no redemption for him. In fact, he sought no redemption either.
"My name is Will Miller, such a simple name for a farmer. An honorable name, I once thought. Now though, it is the name that has terrorised entire worlds. It is the name that has spread fear in the hearts of billions," he said, shaking his head.
The young man did not react, as if he had never heard the name before. It was not surprising, considering the number of guests inside the Inn. Yet the bounty on his head was quite real.
"Was it because of your daughter?" the Innkeeper asked, his voice oddly soft, startling the man. That was not a question he had expected to hear. Who would ask such a thing upon hearing such a declaration?
"It happened when she was seven years old," the man said, suddenly losing all his energy. "I was on the farm working when some men working for the lord came, demanding money. Since there was no money at home, they took my wife, my daughter, and whatever else they could carry. It was... days before I finally learned who had taken them.
"By the time I reached the city, weeks had passed. By the time I managed to get an audience with someone with even some remote power, months had passed. No one helped me. No one... helped," the old man said, his voice filled with unbearable bitterness even now.
"Filled with anger, filled with hatred I swore revenge. Years later, when I returned and burned the city to the ground, I tore through the memories of the lord and learned what happened. My wife and daughter were sold as slaves. My wife died working in a mill, but my daughter was sold to royalty - to serve as a handmaid for the young noblewomen.
"Yet when I traced her down, hoping despite the constant dread in my heart, I discovered she had already been killed too. A young prince had shown a liking for her, but nobility could never mingle with the common folk, so she had been killed off to smother that budding emotion. So... I swore to smother their empire, one country, one planet at a time."
There was venom in the old man’s words, but much more than that, there was pain. While the old man talked, Lex looked up his information.
Within the Midnight Inn, he had been incredibly well behaved. In fact, he had been downright friendly and amiable. Yet through the Midnight News room, he learned that the man had a tremendous bounty on his head.
He came from a star system in the Origin realm that was fairly weak. The strongest person, across four habitable planets, was only at the peak of the Nascent Soul realm. Within that star system, this man, Will Miller, was known as the Lord of Death.
The number of people that had died at his hands...
Lex sighed internally. Did he feel sympathetic for the man? Definitely. But at the same time, he could not excuse what he had done either. If it were up to him, such sinful guests would not be allowed inside the Inn. But if that were the case, most nobility, most presidents and prime ministers and kings and queens would not be allowed inside the Inn too.
What a messy tangle of emotions.
The old man looked at the Innkeeper, expecting a look of judgment, or maybe even horror. Instead, all he saw was pity.
"Your hate has made you become worse than the thing that you hate," the Innkeeper said as he thought about what to do. He certainly couldn’t take justice into his own hands. Unfortunately, Will was far from the worst inside the Inn. Yet now that he was directly in front of him, Lex’s conscience couldn’t allow him to ignore the man either.
What a mess.
