The Innkeeper

Chapter 1343  Survey III

Ming Jie looked at the oddly friendly looking human who had approached his face, and felt… well, odd. Firstly, the Mountain-manʼs instincts were telling him that in front of him was a mountain much taller than himself. That didnʼt make sense, but the former human took it as a metaphor for the old man to be more powerful than himself.

Before he could make a decision on something, he got a quest from his system. Apparently this mountain in the shape of a human in front of him was considered an NPC, and was the source for a very important chain quest at the S grade ranking, which was currently beyond him.

Fortunately, the first quest in the chain was not tough, and just required him to make contact and develop a relationship. Just that in itself would complete the quest, and the reward would correspond with the difficulty of the quest, meaning it would be S rank.

Although Ming Jie was depressed, and felt like he did not know what to do with his existence, seeing as the system was guiding him in a simple and straightforward manner, he decided to go along. Not like he had anything better to do.

”Yes, I suppose I could take a survey,” Ming Jie said, but then looked out at the massive audience he had gathered. ”But a more private conversation would be better.”

”Iʼll take care of it,” said Lex, who was standing nearby. ”Donʼt resist.”

He teleported Ming Jie, Ripley and himself to a secluded cottage where they could talk in peace. The cottage was not massive in size. Instead, it had a formation in place which automatically adjusted the size of anyone coming in so that they would fit in size easily. Even then, Ming Jie towered above the two humans, but at least it was much more manageable now.

”Before we begin,” Ming Jie said to Ripley, before turning towards Lex, ”is the Innkeeper still available? I would… I would like to meet with him once more.”

”The Innkeeper is slightly preoccupied these days,” Lex said, ”but Iʼm sure a meeting can be arranged. He did leave some words for you with me, if you wish to hear them.”

The Mountain-man looked towards Lex with a tinge of hope.

”Yes? What did he say?”

”The things that you seek are not easy to get, if theyʼre even possible. If you acknowledge that, then you have only two paths forward. Either you can move on, and accept your new reality, or you can grow stronger, and change your new reality to one you prefer. Either way, the choice is in your hands.”

They talked through their spirit sense, so Ripley did not overhear anything he wasnʼt meant to. Even so, he took a few notes on his clipboard. No matter what they talked about, it didnʼt change the fact that Ming Jie wanted guidance from the Innkeeper, and that the Innkeeper had already prepared some advice for him. Regardless of the content of their conversation, it was the type of relationship they had that mattered to the survey.

The Mountain-man took a few moments to himself to think things through, which for Lex and Ripley meant that they just sat there for three hours, chatting with one another. It was a testament to how slowly Mountain-men perceived reality and time.

”Please proceed with your survey,” he said softly… meaning that a mortal would have his ears popped due to the sheer volume of his voice. Fortunately, neither Lex nor Ripley were mortals.

”First, how did you discover the Inn and how long have you been here?” Ripley asked, getting the usual questions out of the way.

”I discovered the Inn in my time of need,” the mountain responded somberly. ”I had just woken for the first time, unaware of anything. My existence was in danger, and stumbled into the Inn by accident, or by some greater design.

”Since then, I more or less spent a majority of my existence here. I was unwanted anywhere else, and the Inn welcomed me and kept me safe. It was a place where I came to accept my existence, where I pondered the reality of my situation, where I was guided on the path of my future.

”Earlier… earlier, I was contemplating just spending the rest of my existence here, working for the Inn, or maybe just staying as a permanent guest. But the words of the Innkeeper… they reminded me that I am not one who accepts stagnation as my path. As uncertain as it may be, I would still like to walk a path of peril and danger and have meaning to my existence however short it may end up being, than accept indefinite, meaningless existence.”

Ripley nodded with an expression of appreciation as he took down notes. Their survey continued for a while longer, and just as it ended, Lex asked Ripley a question none of them had been expecting.

He asked Ripley how an individual may open a bank account with the Versalis Bank, and what kind of services they offered. Ming Jie and Ripley immediately understood that the reason Lex asked that question was for the Mountain-manʼs sake - even if Ripleyʼs immediate was in that very instant, and Ming Jieʼs immediate was two and a half hours later.

Then… then they had an entirely different conversation where the bank offered the Mountain-man numerous services spanning a period of many millenia, with the interest rate being applied every century.

Just as they were leaving, Lex also let Ming Jie know that a Mountain-woman had left her contact information for the very eligible Mountain-man should he be interested.

After that, Ripley continued to conduct surveys, some from guests and some from workers. He even surveyed the numerous animals, beasts, and sentient objects within the Inn, such as the golf cart, the tree, the living wind. Qawain and Anita, who were only a few decades away from having their very own baby, gave quite an emotional survey. Anita, who was having her mood swings, was eternally grateful to the Innkeeper, so much so that she promised the next dozen planets she sacrificed to increase her power would be dedicated to the Inn, while Qawain himself simply thanked the Inn for helping him overcome his introverted nature. The fact that he had hidden himself inside a rock, unwilling to come out no matter who tried to pull him out, for a very long time was a testament to his original quiet nature.

The fact that his wife was a living undead, who was more than likely prone to killing any living being near them, just made it easier for him to continue being introverted.

While taking notes of their survey, Ripley muttered a few odd lines such as ”housing homeless mass murderers and rehabilitating them…” and ”social work for swords” whatever that meant.

Then… then there were the surveys for the Drama-cats. That was destined to be a memorable experience as it was, but as it happened, when they went to interview them, the Drama-cats had a guest of their own.

Pontiff Faloofa, hero and nominal leader of the bunnies, had somehow encountered them, and turned them into his followers as well, equating him to the great and powerful Bob, first of the Drama-cats. The fact that Lex discovered that Faloofa was also in the Celestial immortal realm made that interview even more unusual - especially since Faloofa seemed unable to gauge his true strength, and thought that nearly everyone and everything he faced was stronger than him.

As such, whenever he fought, he always felt like he would manage to push out just enough power to win and survive, but never enough to excel.

After that they interviewed a couple of kids - though they were no longer kids - who were actually werewolves, and just seemed like they were farming addicts. They had a whole story about how their clan wanted them, away from combat, and that they should train their strengths, for which the Inn was perfect.

Lex personally just felt like they had become addicted to the feeling of planting carrots and harvesting them.

Little Blue gave an interview, though it said no real words, acting much like Fenrir who would only bark. A barking whale was a bit of an oddity, but a barking Kun Peng was in an entirely different league of unusual. Ripley, at least, did not judge. He only wrote down a note labeling it as ”cute”.

The Krab-man also known as J.F.K. gave an interview. Some of the refugees from earth gave interviews. A number of devils gave interviews. Jill, the fox who turned into a human and won the Lady Cosmos contest and was then being hunted by a race of disgusting slugs known as Gilati, gave an interview. Vera and her mother both gave interviews. Heck, even the rhinocentaurs gave an interview, and used it as an opportunity to mention countless times how merciful the Inn was in allowing them to live after they attacked the Inn in their ignorance.

Eventually though, the survey portion of the audit ended, and they moved onto the next part of it: services and facilities.