Lex sedikit iba pada pekerja yang tertinggal untuk menjelaskan berbagai jenis susu—kacang, kelapa, gaharu, dan lain-lain—kepada seorang Dao Lord sapi yang sedang marah. Tapi itu bukan sesuatu yang ingin ia selami entah secara pribadi maupun profesional. Kegelikan situasi juga terletak pada fakta bahwa bahkan sapi memiliki Dao Lord, padahal manusia justru tidak, meskipun Lex tidak terlalu memikirkan itu.
Yang ia lakukahan adalah fokus memeriksa semua layanan dan fasilitas tavern-nya. Selama tidak ada masalah khusus, ia memutuskan untuk tidak mengganggu apapun.
Sadar bahwa setelah layanan umum seperti bar, toko hiasan, ruang kolam air panas, dan ruang rahasia, pasti tidak banyak lagi yang bisa ditawarkan kepada Dao Lord. Tapi, ternyata salah.
Meskipun enggan, Lex tidak menambahkan toko kecukaan karena dirinya tidak akan mampu memotong rambut siapa pun. Ia justru menambahkan Gamer’s Den. Permainan yang membutuhkan ketepatan dan timing tentu saja tidak menghibur bagi Dao Lord, karena mereka pasti sudah sempurna dalam hal itu. Satu-satunya pilihan yang tersisa adalah permainan dengan cerita kuat.
Agar tidak tampak memihak ke Bumi, ia tidak menambahkan permainan dari sana. Ia hanya menambahkan permainan yang dibangun oleh pengungsi yang tinggal di dalam Inn-nya.
Beberapa contoh judul permainan adalah Dramacat Simulator, Kronik Penjaga Inn, Kue Saturnus dari Neraka, FF-XXX, Call of Dragons, Marlo Kart, dan tentu saja, Mitos Burgundi: Si Pemuda Tangguh WuKong.
Ketika ia memasuki Gamer’s Den, ia melihat dua Dao Lord sedang memainkan Handsome WuKong, meskipun tidak terlihat tertarik untuk melanjutkan ceritanya. Mereka hanya terus mengulangi aksi karakter yang dapat dimainkan, seorang pria yang sangat tampan, agar ditamak-tamakkan hingga hampir tewas.
Ya, ini adalah perilaku yang sangat normal dan sehat. Itulah sebabnya ia menganggap terbaik untuk tidak mengganggu mereka.
Ruangan terakhir yang ingin dikunjungi sebenarnya merupakan gabungan dua layanan berbeda. Lex telah menggabungkan ruang rumor—tempat perasaan dan berita dikumpulkan dan dipajang—dengan gedung Midnight News. Namun, ia secara khusus mengatur agar berita yang disajikan hanya berupa cerita sepele tentang fana. Karena informasi berasal dari pekerja, ia bisa dengan mudah mengarahkan cerita berita dari permukiman mana saja yang dikumpulkan ke tavern.
Ia berpikir bahwa antara cerita olahraga, tren mode, ekonomi yang tidak berguna, politik, dan sedikit gosip sehari-hari, ia bisa memberikan gambaran kehidupan para fana. Secara keseluruhan, ia tidak mengharapkan ruangan ini akan menarik begitu banyak perhatian. Tapi ketika ia memasuki ruangan itu, ia terkejut menemukan hampir tiga puluh Dao Lord di dalam!
Meskipun Innkeeper tidak mengungkapkan apa-apa yang aneh, Lex terkejut dengan begitu banyak tamu di ruangan ini. Betapa menariknya berita tentang hidup fana? Ia hampir tidak memedulikannya ketika masih relevan baginya!
Lalu, ia mulai menyelidiki... dan segera menemukan kesalahan sederhana! Meskipun ruang berita hanya menyajikan kabar tentang fana, ruang rumor mencatatkan rumor populer di sekitar tavern. Untungnya, rumor tidak bisa mencatat rumor yang disebarkan oleh Dao Lord ke atas, jadi ia tidak perlu khawatir tentang klaim Eclipse yang mengatakan dirinya sebagai ayah Lex muncul di papan... atau Nuwa sebagai ibunya. Sayangnya, rumor yang disebarkan oleh mereka di level yang lebih rendah bisa dicatat.
"Hahaha, Tuan Penjaga, kau cukup berani untuk memajang sesuatu seperti ini," kata salah satu tamu. Meskipun sebagai Innkeeper ia belum pernah berinteraksi dengan tamu ini, ternyata ini adalah salah seorang dari mereka yang ingin bertemu dengan Innkeeper sejak awal!
Innkeeper tersenyum hangat.
"Ini hanyalah beberapa rumor acak, tidak perlu diambil terlalu serius. Ini hanya untuk hiburan sesaat," kata Innkeeper sambil berjalan ke papan dan melihat rumor yang ditempel di atasnya. Cukup banyak yang sudah terkumpul!
Yang lebih penting...mengapa begitu banyak di antaranya tentang dirinya?
"Haha, hanya bermain-main ringan," merespons Dao Lord, yang merupakan salah satu elemental kristal yang telah mengambil bentuk humanoid untuk mengagappe Innkeeper. "Seperti ini."
Dia menunjuk ke rumor yang sedang dibaca Lex tadi!
’ Dilamarankan bahwa Ratu Primordial terlihat memegang tangan seorang imortal manusia, melompat melalui kebun, mengajaknya ke tempat yang tidak diketahui. Apakah ini sekadar kencan kasual, atau ada kemungkinan akan ada bertingkah lompal? ’
Innkeeper berbalik dari rumor ke Dao Lord Kristal.
"Ya, saya tidak banyak terbawa. Crystal realm baru saja bergabung dengan Primordial Garden, jadi banyak manusia masuk ke kebun itu. Mungkin dia sedang mengurus lokasi mereka. Tidak perlu memikirkan ini berlebihan," kata Innkeeper.
Sayangnya, penjelasannya justru datang pada saat yang paling tidak tepat, karena sesaat setelahnya, seseorang lain berteriak.
"Aku ada! Konfirmasi baru tentang identitas Lexus! Cek ini!" berseru Dao Lord lain yang berada di samping papan rumor yang berbeda.
"Semua tamu tidak perlu datang ke sini, indera spiritual mereka sudah cukup untuk menemukan dan membaca rumor itu."
’ Dilamarankan bahwa Lexus menculik seorang penonton yang tidak bersalah dan mengirimnya ke Kota Dosa ketika penonton itu mendengar rencananya untuk menikahi Ratu Primordial. Orang itu berkata: "woah".
Innkeeper benar-benar koyang saat membaca rumor ini, karena... selain banyak hal lain, bagaimana seorang katak tahu nama atau setidaknya sesuatu yang sangat mirip dengan namanya?
Lex felt some pity for the poor worker left to explain almond, coconut, oat and other types of milk to an angry bovine Dao Lord, but this was not something he wanted to get involved in personally. The absurdity also extended to the fact that even cows had Dao Lords but humans didn’t, yet Lex didn’t dwell on that.
Instead, he focused on checking up on all of the tavern services and facilities. As long as there weren’t any problems specifically, he decided to leave things alone.
One would think that after the common services, such as a bar, gift shop, hot tub room and chamber of secrets, there wouldn’t be much else left to offer Dao Lords as a service. They would be wrong.
While Lex refrained from adding a barber shop because he literally would not be able to cut any hair, he did not shy away from adding the Gamers Den. Now, games that required precision and timing would not be entertaining for Dao Lords at all since they would all be perfect in that. The only option, then, were games with strong story elements.
Since he didn’t want to favor Earth too obviously, he did not add any of the games from earth. Instead, he only added the games that had been built by the refugees who resided inside his Inn.
Some examples of game titles were Dramacat simulator, Innkeeping chronicles, Saturn Cake from Hell, FF-XXX, Call of Dragons, Marlo Kart, and of course, Burgundy Myth: Handsome WuKong.
When he entered the Gamers Den, he saw two Dao Lords playing Handsome WuKong, though they didn’t seem too interested in progressing in the story. Instead, they were repeatedly just having the playable character, a certain handsome someone, just get beaten up to the brink of death.
Yes, this was totally normal and healthy behavior, which is why he thought it was best to leave them be.
The last room for him to visit was actually a mix of two different services. Lex had joined the rumor room, where rumors were collected and posted, with the Midnight News building. However, Lex had specifically configured the news within this room to only share mundane stories about mortals. Since the information was sourced by the workers, he could just divert mortal news stories from any random settlement they collected towards the tavern.
He figured that between stories of some sports, fashion trends, useless economics, politics and a little bit of mundane gossip, he could provide a glimpse into the lives of mortals. All-in-all, he did not expect this room to attract too much attention, but when he entered, he discovered nearly thirty Dao Lords inside!
Although the Innkeeper did not reveal anything amiss, Lex was surprised by the large number of guests in this room. How interesting could mortal news be? He hardly paid attention to it when it was still pertinent to him!
He investigated... and immediately discovered a simple oversight! While the newsroom only delivered news related to mortals, the rumor room listed down popular rumors nearby the tavern! Fortunately the rumors could not collect rumors being spread by Dao Lord and above, so he didn’t need to worry about Eclipse’s claim of him being Lex’s father showing up on the board... or of Nuwa being the mother. Unfortunately, the rumors being spread by those in lower levels could be recorded.
"Ho, ho, Innkeeper, you’re quite bold to put up something like this," said one of the guests. Although as the Innkeeper he had never interacted with this guest before, he was one of the people who had wanted to meet the Innkeeper to begin with!
The Innkeeper smiled warmly.
"They are just some random rumors, nothing to take too seriously. It’s just for a bit of entertainment," the Innkeeper said as he walked up to the board and saw the rumors that had been pinned up onto it. Quite a few of them had been collected!
Much more importantly... why were so many of them about him?
"Ahan, just harmless fun," responded the Dao Lord, some kind of crystal elemental who had taken on a humanoid shape to appeal to the Innkeeper. "Like this one."
He pointed to the very one Lex had been reading to begin with!
’ Rumor has it that the Primordial Queen was seen holding hands with a human immortal, leaping through the garden, taking him to some unknown place. Could it be a casual fling, or are there chances for wedding bells to ring? ’
The Innkeeper turned from the rumor to the Crystal Dao Lord.
"Yes, well, the Crystal realm just fused with the Primordial Garden so a lot of humans have entered the garden. She might have been dealing with their relocation. There’s no need to read too much into it," the Innkeeper said.
The timing of his explanation could not have been worse, because a moment later, someone else spoke up.
"I have it! A new rumor confirming the mystery human’s identity! Check it out!" exclaimed another Dao Lord who was standing by a different rumor board.
All the guests didn’t need to come up to him, their spirit sense alone was enough to find and read the rumor.
’ My sister’s brother’s mother’s daughter’s husband went to oaka and heard from a toad outside his shop that a male human, possible 3 to 5 thousand years old, named Lexus, had recently undergone the underground trial, with the final reward to clear the trial being a date with the Primordial Queen. It has been confirmed by my daughter’s mother that this so-called Lexus was the one holding the Primordial Queen’s hand! ’
The Innkeeper was dumbfounded as he read the rumor because... well, among many other things, how did a toad get ahold of his name, or at least something so close to his name?
Before he could ponder for long, the crowd became rowdy once more!
"Look, look, I found more details on Lexus!" said another Dao Lord.
’ Rumor has it that Lexus kidnapped a poor, innocent bystander and sent them to the City of Sin when the bystander overheard his plan to marry the Primordial Queen. The bystander had this to say: "whoa". ’
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