The Innkeeper

Chapter 1139 Martial law

The waiting room was not nearly as large as Lex expected, and had space for no more than a hundred people. Besides Lex only a few dozen others were waiting in the room, showing how genuinely difficult it was to even get this far.

Unfortunately for Lex, the rancher was not in the waiting room. Since his tracking techniques still told him that the rancher was still in this building, that meant that the rancher had been directly selected for the convention. Good for him.

Lex sat down cross legged, closed his eyes, and began to meditate. The thing about having just two seals instead of three was that the pressure on the remaining seals would increase. They might not be able to hold on, and could end up bursting, which is why he would need to regularly refresh them.

It was not that he could put up a third seal of a different kind himself, but the three seals he selected formed a careful equilibrium that supported each other, and putting up a seal of a different kind would mess with that. His one treasure and the Glyph he could manage to recreate and refresh himself, but the final one required Lotusʼ help.

Lex was using his time efficiently, since he was not really interested in the convention, but everyone else in the waiting room was using this opportunity to mingle. After all, since their purpose was to find a partner in the convention, they did not really need to wait till the convention to get to know one another.

If, by happenstance, they found the perfect partner before even entering the convention then it would be for the best. Everyone here had the same objective. That was precisely why Lex stood out so much, and attracted everyoneʼs attention.

”What do you think heʼs doing?” a nymph asked, looking at him with wonder. The way angels were the antonyms of devils, nymphs were considered the antonyms of succubi. But despite being considered their opposite, they contained the same, irresistible charm that would attract anyone. The only difference was that unlike succubi, nymphs would usually only ever be with one partner.

”Maybe heʼs confident in being selected,” whispered another person.

”Does anyone recognise him?”

”Never seen him before…”

All these conversations were, of course, happening via spirit sense. Everyone here had sharp hearing, so they knew better. Even so, Lex could feel their gazes on him from time to time. He just ignored it.

Over the next few hours very few people entered the waiting room, until, eventually, the screening was over. A Druid came in and read a list of names of everyone from the waiting room who had been selected, and as it happened, Lexʼs name was right at the top.

But, instead of calling him by his name, they called him Lex Dragonsbane, which raised a few eyebrows. Lex himself was taken aback by it. It seemed like their background check had got them some results.

Lex followed them to a large room with a big teleportation formation, with the rest of the contestants already standing within the formation. Lex looked through them and immediately found who he was looking for - a tall, bulky Druid wearing wolf-skin robes and extremely unkempt hair.

His tanned skin and rough around the edges look made it obvious why he needed to go to a dating convention to find someone - not that Lex was judging.

Even as he was being escorted towards the formation, Lex directly reached out to the Druid with his spirit sense.

”Rancher Sim, my name is Lex, I believe Powell told you about me. Iʼm here to buy the Velvet Goose King feathers. He told me you asked me to come in person to buy them.”

The Druid, who otherwise looked menacing, was startled so bad that quite a few people looked over at him.

”What are you doing here?” the Druid hissed back using his spirit sense. ”Do I look like Iʼm working right now?”

”You are the one who insisted on me coming in person, and when I came you were gone. Obviously I was going to look for you.”

”How was I supposed to know youʼd come over immediately? Just… just go away! Iʼll deal with you once Iʼm done.”

”Rancher Sim, I am in a rush. I need those feathers. If you donʼt have them on you, you can tell me who I can talk to back at your ranch. I can pay you, and we can both get on with our lives.”

By now, Lex too had been brought to the formation and stood in with everyone, though he was not concerned. He could teleport to the Inn whenever he wanted, and as long as was resigned to spending a few days on Dunya he could link it to the Inn as well. It was still much quicker than waiting months.

The Druid was clearly flustered, but with everyone looking at him, he was forced to compose himself.

”Look, yes, Powell told me that someone was interested in buying feathers. But you know what, Iʼm no longer interested in selling them. Get lost.”

Lex frowned. This was less than ideal. The man was being very uncooperative. He understood that no one wanted to be disturbed during their private time, but he was the one who raised the condition to meet him in the first place.

”Look Sim, Iʼm trying to be cooperative here. Just help me with the feathers. Iʼll pay you very handsomely, and we can both move on with our lives.”

”Donʼt you know what ʼget lostʼ means? I ainʼt selling.”

Lex frowned, and then subtly spread his Domination aura across the room, without concern of being noticed. In fact, he planned on being noticed. That was because his control over Domination had reached extreme levels now.

Whereas earlier, it could only completely suppress his targets, now he could use it for other things. Such as using the power of his aura to suppress his competitors and attracting the attention of suitable mates.

Using their Dragonʼs Might was one of the ways dragons courted each other and found mates. Lex learned about it but never expected to use it.

Suddenly, every man in the room felt stifled, and every woman in the room looked towards Lex, a gleam of interest in their eyes.

”Suit yourself then. If weʼre dropping all decorum, then how about I make sure you canʼt find a single date?”

The Druid felt incredibly stifled. Since he was socially awkward and had little to no experience with women, he had gone his entire life without finding a suitable partner. Now that he had enough success to his name that he might be able to use it to attract someone, his big mouth and his even bigger ego ended up bringing a client to the convention!

As if he wasnʼt nervous enough, now with a client here looking for him, how was he supposed to focus on finding a partner?

But his ego wouldnʼt allow him to admit fault, so he told him to get lost. How was he supposed to know that the man he was pissing off was a natural casanova? Just standing there, without doing anything, he attracted the attention of every woman in the room!

With such a powerful contender, he had no hope, especially if that contender was out to get him. Now he had to choose between his ego and his desire to find a mate.

Lex had no problem waiting for the rancher to decide, since his skin was thick and he was more than capable of pretending that he was not feeling embarrassed.

Like that, the two had an embarrassment standoff, unaware that of the events their confrontation was setting off!

”Quickly, start the formation!” yelled the director, as his eyes turned into literal stars. ”This is going to be the best season of Lovers Island yet! Have we brought in the other contestants from the other planets?”

”Everything is ready, sir.”

”Excellent. Then activate the formation and letʼs get the show on the road. I can practically hear the spirit stones raining from the skies!”

In his excitement, the director had the formation activated before all the normal formalities were complete, teleporting all the contestants away. Just as he got up, ready to follow all the contestants, a much larger formation that covered Dunya was activated, blocking anyone else from coming or going.

”What? What the hell is going on?” the director yelled at his assistants, fearing the worst. Every minute they wasted, they were losing money.

As if to answer him, a loud broadcast was announced across the planet.

”Dear residents, a powerful and notorious criminal has been detected on the planet, and martial law has been declared. Everyone return to your homes immediately. This is for your own safety.”

While the director started to have a mental break down, since the broadcasting for Lovers Island would begin regardless of whether he was there to direct or not, he was unaware that in the corner of the studio a truck had appeared, its headlights slowly dimming, pointing towards the formation that had teleported the contestants away.