The Innkeeper



A full moon illuminated the land with its gentle, silver light, yet the massive trees in the forest blocked the light from reaching the forest floor. Only a few scant, thin streaks of light reached the ground. Shadows flickered through the silver streaks, one after another, as a wolf pack ran through them.

An abnormal silence took hold of the forest wherever the wolf pack passed, as even the crickets singing in the night froze out of fear. A war for territory was being waged between the Bark Brown wolves and the Winged leopards, and the collateral damage had already claimed countless lives.

Such a thing was quite common in the Mystic Forest, for the forest had an unusual effect on beasts. Often, a seemingly mundane and ordinary beast would randomly undergo a mutation or unlock a deeply hidden bloodline, thus becoming more powerful. With its new status, it would naturally have to expand its territory, and would begin a search for a suitable area.

Survival of the fittest was the rule that dictated the forest, and with the forest's perpetual augmentation of beasts randomly, the fittest were often tested.

One would think that with such never ending fights, the population of beasts in the forest would plummet, but for some reason, that was far from the truth. In fact, the population of beasts would often grow so high despite the constant fights that beasts would be forced out of it, and end up invading the neighboring lands occupied by humans.

None of that mattered to the wolves, though. Whatever secrets the forest held, whether it was why the population of the beasts never fell, or why some beasts randomly grew stronger, could not concern them even if they unlocked a higher intelligence. Such concerns would only bother those who did not have to struggle to survive every day. What did it matter if there was some conspiracy at large, if they could not survive to see tomorrow?

The fight with the invading Winged Leopards had put a lot of pressure on them, and their pack almost considered migrating somewhere else. But then, a new, younger and more powerful pack leader arrived. Under its leadership, not only did their own casualties dwindle, they even began to retake some of the territories they had lost.

At the front, Fenrir led the way, its abilities muting the sounds of the pack as it traversed the forest. Although the wolves in the pack it was leading were not dumb, Fenrir's own intelligence far surpassed them. Despite its inability to speak, Fenrir had a deep understanding of strategies and formations. Moreover, it was constantly being influenced by Lex, so it knew how to frustrate its enemies to death.

But, for once, it had surpassed Lex in a certain aspect. While Lex had sped through his mission designated by the tower, ensuring the best outcome in the least amount of time, Fenrir was taking its time. That was because it noticed something as soon as it became the pack leader. The worship and obedience of its pack had somehow activated Fenrir's bloodline on a deeper level, and it began to unlock the true powers of its bloodline.

It did not know if this was a result of the forest's unique quality or being the pack leader, but it knew that it had best utilize this chance to the best of its abilities. Comparatively, Lex was in too much of a rush to exit to consider any possible benefits he was receiving, let alone the fact that he was not really attracted by random benefits at the moment, either.

As a result, he had not noticed at all that while he was in a position of leadership at Ferigo, similar to how he led the Inn, his leadership styles in both situations were extremely different. At the Inn, he was more or less mellow, and took things slowly. He also could not use his workers the way he used the soldiers of that country. In comparison, in a single day he changed the destiny of the entire nation by being more strict with its policy and its people.

Although it could not be claimed that Lex was cold-blooded and emotionless when designing the future policies for Ferigo, he certainly did not shy away from putting them in harm's way to get the best results.

He was completely oblivious to the drastic difference in result a simple mindset change had brought about. He could not be blamed for it though, as it was the hardest to pick out flaws in one's own behavior without it being pointed out. After all, everyone always assumed they were behaving the most logically, given their circumstances.

After Lex concluded his final meeting and dismissed the final ministers, as he expected, he was teleported away. He did not know how the ministers of Ferigo would behave after his disappearance, or how they would handle the selection of a new King without interfering with his established policies, but that was not his concern. The tower would take care of it.

After being teleported out, a stream of information entered his brain. The first thing he learnt was that the tower was called the Tower of Providence, and it had a very specific purpose. While entropy was the nature, or rather one aspect of the nature of the universe, it was not the nature of life. The tower worked against the forces of chaos to give the worthy a chance of survival. Although the effects of its efforts were extremely subtle on a universal scale, they were surely there, and guided the direction of the universe with a gentle hand.

Such things were too far removed from Lex and were too abstract for him to comprehend or deal with. All he cared about was how to leave. But the tower was not done yet. More information entered his mind.

Having completed the objective of the tower, Lex had now become an agent of providence and had become connected to the tower. Their relationship had only just begun.