The Innkeeper

Lex really thought that he'd have felt a lot of emotions when he finally confronted his family members, but to be honest, he did not. The only thing he felt was a mild irritation, and a desire to get it over with.

Keeping that in mind, Lex directly teleported over to them. He did not prepare specially for the meeting. He did not don his suit. In fact, he didn't even maintain the illusion that kept his appearance from seeming older.

As nothing but a toddler wearing shorts and a T-shirt, Lex teleported over to the emperor as well as his ancestor.

They were at the Midnight manor, reading the guest registry, which had only just restarted working. A lot of names had been shuffled, but Lex's name remained right at the top.

Lex's sudden appearance was, of course, not unnoticed by the two, but for a moment they failed to realize that this was the person who they were looking for. But, besides his physique, Lex was not trying to hide anything so through blood resonance they immediately identified Lex.

"I hear you're looking for me," Lex said, his tone bland. Normally, Lex would be warm and enthusiastic, regardless of what the meeting was for, but at the moment he was really not in the mood.

"Are you... Lex?" William asked, hesitantly. "You look different from what I had imagined."

"I hold no responsibility for your imagination," Lex answered simply. Okay so maybe he was slightly enjoying being bitter and unreasonable. Lex blamed his baby hormones for it entirely.

"Your bone age and soul age are different," Jotun commented insightfully. "Have you suffered some grave injury recently? Is that why you shifted to a new body? But no, the bloodline of this body is the same. Did you recreate your body? Or clone it?"

Lex resisted the urge to sigh. Normally, he would find some clever way to explain how he had become a meat patty and then healed back into human form, but as previously stated, he was not in a chatty mood. But he had to admit that Jotun seemed very knowledgeable, which only made sense considering he was the emperor to such a massive empire.

"How can I help you both?" Lex asked, instead of answering the question. "I am quite busy and have many things to do. I'd like to get this over with as quickly as possible"

It would not take a genius to identify that Lex was not exactly eager to talk to them which was not exactly a great start.

"There are actually a few things we want to talk to you about. How about we find somewhere private where we can talk?" William asked, and Lex just nodded, letting them lead him to a room they had booked.

Then an awkward silence fell in between them, though Lex wasn't the one feeling awkward. Finally, William was the one who broke the silence.

"We have not been properly introduced, so allow me to change that. My name is William, and this is my brother, Jotun. We have been trying to look for you for a long time."

"I'm Lex, but I guess you already knew that. Like I said, I've been busy, and I'm still quite busy."

"Clearly," William responded, ignoring the hint to speed up their conversation. "Do you have any idea about why we have been looking for you?"

"Well, I can venture a guess. Is it because you think being related to me gives you some kind of connection or leverage over me? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but quite frankly, that does not mean much to me. If you think I can give you some perks at the Midnight Inn, then you're sorely mistaken."

"You're quite moody," Jotun commented once more. "Maybe your bone age and mental age are actually the same."

William could not help but chuckle while Lex only scoffed.

"Look I didn't come to you, you came to me. If you want something, get to the point. If not, I'm leaving. I am neither your subordinate nor do I have any obligation to sit here and just listen to your nonsense."

"Hey, hey, hey, we're getting to the point," Jotun said, waving his hand telling Lex to calm down. "Isn't it common to discuss a few random topics in any conversation? But forget it, I'll cut to the chase. We want to establish a relationship with you. I believe it will be mutually beneficial for us if we work together."

"What can you even offer me? And what can you possibly even hope to gain from me? I've told you, you will get no extra Inn benefits from me. Besides that, I don't see how I can help you."

Jotun glanced at William, who nodded and took over the conversation.

"Well, actually there are many things we can help each other with, even within our own private capacity. To start with… it seems like you have some… misunderstandings with your immediate family. Perhaps we can…"

"Misunderstandings? That's one way of phrasing being lied to my whole life as. I realize that I don't even know if anything those people told me is the truth at all. Did I even have sisters? Are those even my real parents? No, William, I have no interest in listening to explanations, especially from someone else. If Leon and Serene wished to clarify things, they had many years to do so. I am not interested in someone else coming in giving justifications on their behalf. If there's something else, you should mention it now. Or else, I think we're done here."

The ever calm Lex was no longer calm, as he let his anger get the better of him. An image of a sword reappeared in his eye after a long time, fueling his emotions even more, which was immediately spotted by Jotun and William both.

"I see," Jotun said carefully. "Well, there are still other things we can offer you. I will leave this here for you to check in your own time. Once you've had time to consider things, we can meet again."

Jotun placed an envelope on the table in front of Lex, and then stood up alongside William.

"We won't bother you more right now, though we hope that the next time we come, you can indulge us with one more meeting. Also… you might want to get that sword looked at. If you wish, I can help you with that as well."

Lex's anger, which was bubbling out of control, suddenly cooled down as he forced himself into the Flow state. It had been a while since he lost control of his emotions and let the sword take over. He had almost forgotten about it. Jotun's reminder immediately calmed him down, but perhaps their departure was for the best.

Lex only nodded, and put the envelope away before teleporting back to his meditation room. Understandably, his emotions were a mess. Slowly, he let go of his Flow state, and began to meditate.

Back in the Midnight manor, Jotun and William began discussing their plans among themselves. If Lex really had the bloodline mutation they suspected, then they had to build a good relationship with him.

This was best taken slowly, lest they mess up. Fortunately, William had anticipated the possibility that Lex might not be very receptive to them considering the unusual circumstances with his family, so this was not a real setback.

That envelope was just one of many plans he had made to build a good relationship between them.