The Innkeeper

It did not take long for Lex to realize that his thoughts had been a lot more random since the very moment he arrived on the planet, long before he began to contest against the Dragons Might. But he still could not be sure this was caused by something external. After all, he could just be in a thoughtful mood. Moreover, he had felt no threat, nor perceived any lapse in his attentiveness to danger or his surroundings. At most, he was just a little more pensive than usual.

Lex made a mental note to focus on his state of mind a little more while he was here, and continue his journey.

He was a lot more observant towards the interior of the castle as he moved deeper into the labyrinth, and finally noticed two things. First, if he moved away from the outer wall of the castle, and ventured towards its depths, there was a slight decline in all paths. It was as if he was slowly descending into the bowels of the castle. Second, the temperature was increasing the deeper he went.

Soon, the two encountered their first door. The halls which had built up the castle so far had all been open and interconnected, forming an open outermost layer. But it seemed they were about to enter the second layer of the castle.

Lex prepared for trouble as he attempted to open it, but surprisingly found that there was no problem at all. The door, which was nearly 20 feet (6 meters) large, opened easily, leading to yet another series of halls. But these halls contrasted from the previous ones in that they were filled with various carpets, decorations, statues, paintings and more.

There were also some Frigals patrolling, though they all looked incredibly weary and exhausted, as if they had not rested in a long while. Despite their drained condition, Lex could tell that they were doing their best to be as attentive as possible. If it weren't for Fenrir, Lex would not have been able to escape their scrutiny. Or the detection of the few assassins he saw as well.

What the hell was going on, and how were there so many assassins with such incredible stealth capabilities? If it weren't for his soul sense, Lex would never know about them. In fact, even Fenrir had failed to detect them.

As it happened, one of the assassins seemed to be going in the same direction as Lex, so perhaps he would get an answer soon. As the odd group navigated the ostentatious halls, Lex could not help but wonder what the life of an assassin was like?

Did they have friends? Did they like to read books or watch plays? Did they snack from time to time? He imagined that, regardless of the stereotype of being cold-blooded, they would need to enjoy life sometime, right? He wondered if assassins got married and had little assassin babies.

The thought was so odd that Lex once again caught himself, and realized that his thoughts had wandered again. He frowned, and redoubled his efforts to stay attentive.

Soon they reached the room Lex's instincts were guiding him to, and it seemed like it was occupied. A couple of Frigals were inside talking, though Lex found it difficult to assess their age and genders just by observing them. It was tough to do these things with a race he had only just met. He moved closer to try and hear what they were saying, as did the assassin.

"... is only a matter of time," said one of them.

"Is it really? It's already been weeks, and my memory has not recovered, nor has anyone else's. No one knows what truly happened, and the royal family is acting too strangely."

"How do you expect them to react? Who could have predicted that an army of those icy abominations would suddenly rise from the ground and attack the castle? They have to fight with all their efforts, or if the Lord Dragon is disturbed, the royal family will be too ashamed to continue on living."

"I don't know why the Lord Dragon doesn't just kill them with a single swipe. It's been over six months since these creatures suddenly appeared in the south, and they've been a growing nuisance since!"

Lex was immediately intrigued. 'Over six months' was the translation of what the Frigal had actually said, and it had automatically been translated into terms that Lex was familiar with. The more important thing was that the timing seemed to be similar to when the mysterious man had told Lex to come here.

"More than those icy creeps, I wish the royal family would just kill those foreigners! How dare they blaspheme the great Lord by claiming he has died? Can they not feel the magnificence of his aura gracing this world with its presence?"

One of the Frigals, the one fanatically praising the dragon, grabbed something from its belt that immediately attracted Lex's attention. It was a strange, orange colored vine that was emitting a soft glow. The vine had been snipped off of wherever it originally grew, and was dying, but nonetheless it gave off an intimidating aura. This was exactly the thing that his instincts had guided him to.

Lex was not the only one who noticed the vine, as the assassin started to make his way towards the Frigal as soon as he brought out the vine. Instead of interfering in the matter, Lex decided to just sit and watch. He was interested in learning what exactly was going on here, and perhaps observing their interaction would give him some clues.

As soon as the assassin came close, something unbelievable happened. The light emitted from the vine actually managed to reveal the assassin's figure, alerting the two Frigals of the intruder.

Immediately they began fighting one another without holding anything back. In the corner of the room, Lex and Fenrir comfortably sat on a couple of sofas and watched the fight as Lex summoned out a bag of Doritos.

"Want some?" he offered the pup as he pointed the open bag towards him. Very politely taking out a pair of chopsticks, so as to not dirty its paw, it took a few. That was the moment Lex realized his pup also had a spatial treasure!