The Innkeepers' sudden departure left the audience in an awkward silence. When was the last time any of them had been dismissed in such a cavalier manner? Yet the Innkeeper leaving in such a manner did not arouse any suspicion, but only strengthened the perception that he was much stronger than them and that he really was only treating these as games.
Summoning his holographic assistant, Ragnar asked, "Is there some place I can have a private meeting? Some place I won't be overheard?"
"Naturally," the hologram answered. "You can rent one of our regular rooms, all of which comes with natural sound insulation and complete protection from outside snooping. You can also rent a room within the coliseum, which has the same benefits. Please note, should you choose to rent a room in the coliseum, the longest you can rent for is the duration of the event."
"Good, we'll rent a room in the coliseum till the event ends," he told the hologram, not bothering to ask about the price. It didn't make a difference though, the price was the same.
Turning to his followers, he started giving instructions immediately..
"Have the soldiers split up. Have the reconnaissance team 1 through 5 undergo the tour, and have team 6 explore on their own. Have the rest of the soldiers positioned within view of the zombies, and keep tabs on their movements. Have delegations approach each of the planet's leaders and set a time for a meeting. I've marked down the suspected leaders for the Beasts as well as the humans, but you can ask around just to be sure.
"Also, have Alpha team 1 follow the Devil's every move. No need to be subtle about it, I want them to know that we're following them. Send back someone to Vegus Minima to submit a preliminary report of events to the Command Carrier. But for now, in the report, no need to mention the trigger terms 'Loretta' or 'Celestial'. In fact, let all the soldiers know, all information about the Midnight Inn is considered platinum level confidential. Also, pass word to the commanders on Vegus Magnum and Vegus Prime to adjust their searching method according to the new information we have about the formation
"Once done with the report, have them run a full database search on the names Nibiru and Earth. I want to know any information we have about them. Slag, you're with me. It's time you gave your report."
As soon as Ragnar was done speaking, his soldiers dispersed in an orderly fashion, moving with direction and purpose. Their clear focus and discipline impressed the Earthlings, who were watching from afar. The display told them that their chances at the combat portion of the Games would be weak, yet some of them wanted to try anyway.
Ragnar and his entourage teleported directly into the room that he had rented. The first thing Ragnar did was sweep the room with his spiritual senses very thoroughly. When he found nothing, and noticed that his senses were not able to pry into neighboring rooms, he felt reassured. That did not mean he left things as is.
Simple eye contact with one of his followers prompted him to start setting up seclusion formation around the room. This would prevent prying spiritual senses from entering, as well as stop any signals from the room going out. The signal block was to stop any recon device, formation or treasure they may have missed.
Their actions were practiced and professional, and only ten minutes later the already secure room became even harder to spy on. But they were not done yet. Each man in the room summoned their private assistant and told them to give them some privacy until they left the room. The assistants obliged and disappeared.
Immediately it occurred to Ragnar that this could be a potential loophole in the Inns' security. If the rooms really were as private as they claimed, and if even the assistants were sent away, someone could easily commit murder in their room. Of course, getting someone into your room and then having them dismiss their assistant without arousing suspicion was a difficult task in itself. Maybe there were other ways in which the Inn provided security, but those were thoughts for another time.
"Lieutenant Slag, I've already gone through the report you compiled," Ragnar said, looking at the man. "Is there anything else of importance you would like to bring attention to? Speak freely."
"Yes sir! After investigating the Inn and its guests for the past few days, there are a few things I've speculated on. I could not investigate the guests too closely without offending the Innkeeper, but I took this opportunity to converse with almost everyone and have come to certain inferences.
"Firstly, in the time I've been here, I've only seen guests from Vegus Minima, Earth and Nibiru. Yet the Innkeeper claims that they have guests from all over the universe. Assuming that is true, I suspect that there is more than one Inn. The Inns should be divided either by the level of the planets, or more likely, there should be a separate Inn for a certain given quadrant of space. If that were true, this specific Inn might be the newest one which is why it is still only accepting guests from three planets. From time to time the Innkeeper disappears, so it would make sense if he was handling matters at the other Inns. Of course, I have no proof of this, so this is mere speculation.
"Secondly, from my analysis of the event and my conversation with guests who have stayed at the Inn previously, I suspect I may have gained insight into the true reason behind the Midnight Games. On the premise that there were no outside interference such as that of the Devils or our Empire, the three planets selected all would have civilizations below Star level. None of them would have exceeded the scope of their own solar systems. Keeping this knowledge in mind, along with the various facilities provided at the Inn that promote nurturing and trade, I believe the goal of the Innkeeper is to accelerate the growth of these planets or civilizations.
"Thirdly, I did not get an opportunity to meet guests from Nibiru, other than an incident where a Beast attacked the Innkeeper, so I have no information on them. Yet I did meet a lot of them from Earth, and spotted some guests I suspect are from Vegus Minima, but cannot confirm because they kept avoiding me.
"Earth seems to be a human dominant planet with no clear cut planet wide ruler. I cannot ascertain the level of the average cultivators, but I had a run in with two elites. One of them was a youth at the Foundation realm named Alexander. I did not even need my spirit sense to determine that his cultivation has few, if any weaknesses, and that he has great potential to grow. The second was a man named Marlo. You saw him at the coliseum, he's the one who asked the question about the combat arena."
At this point, Slag stopped for a moment. He would never even consider hiding information from his General, yet this next bit embarrassed him greatly and was not easy to say.
"My encounter with Marlo may not have been…under the best of circumstances. Seeing the potential of the youth, and the fact that he was from a planet supposedly free from intergalactic influence, I attempted to recruit him. Unfortunately, it seems Alexander was Marlo's student and the other did not take kindly to my recruitment attempt.
"Using one hand, with his cultivation sealed, Marlo defeated me in a competition of strength while I used my full force."
His last statement alarmed not only Ragnar, but the rest in the room. None of them knew Slag personally, how could they be expected to know each soldier when they had hundreds of thousands under their command? Yet the fact that he was a Lieutenant spoke for itself. It was impossible to gain rank unless you had the equivalent strength. However, he was defeated one handed?
"Fortunately, they did not drop pretenses and maintained a non-hostile relationship with me following. Marlo subsequently asked me various times to join if he could join the empire, but it is blatantly obvious that he has ulterior motives. I dared not promise him anything.
"Other than them, I encountered a businessman from Earth named Will. He was extremely eager to discuss potential trade opportunities. I told him I would refer him to the appropriate people when the time came."
Ragnar listened to Slag's report very seriously, but at the last statement, he could not stop himself from showing a smile. Ragnar had read Slag's report during the meeting, and also checked up on Slag's history in the army, as well as his personality report.
Very similar to Ragnar himself, Slag was an orphan and lived his entire life parallel to, or in the army. His early education had been in an Army Public School, and at age 15 he had enrolled into an army boarding school. His life and career path had been mostly straightforward, similar to Ragnar himself.
So then how could Ragnar not understand that when Slag said that he would refer Will to the appropriate people, what he really meant was he had no knowledge of trade and would let someone else carry that headache. Honestly, even at their level, the army was full of muscle heads. Ragnar was a very serious man, but even then, as someone who had spent every waking moment of his life in the army, how could he not be amused by the simple plights of his soldiers?
1 second. That was exactly how long it took for Ragnar to absorb all the information Slag had given him, remove the unnecessary parts, focus on things he thought were unimportant but actually might be, and form his own theories different from what Slag originally thought. He was quick not because the information was brief, but because his thoughts worked imperceptibly faster than normal humans.
There was one, very important thing that Slag had not realized in his assessment of the Inn. His mistake wasn't really his fault actually, it was a result of his understanding of the universe being limited.
Guessing on the possibility of there being other Inns was not something that could be done at the moment, because early conjecture without sufficient evidence would blind them to other possibilities and cause them to misinterpret new evidence to somehow fit into the narrative they thought most likely.
It also led to an entirely different line of thought such as, were there different Innkeepers for each Inn, or did the same one manage them all? How were they formed? Where did they exist? How were they hidden?
All of these questions were extremely important, but also distractions. Everything had to be done in a systematic manner, haphazardly making guesses would lead to inefficiency. One of the first things that needed to be focused on was where the Inn was.
Before arriving at the Inn, Ragnar had equipped a special device that would transmit his location to any Jotun carrier, planet, server, satellite, or basically anything that could connect to their main database. He did not expect to get a result immediately, but based on their latest technology, if within 24 hours the signals were unable to reach such a device, it would lead to a few very interesting possibilities.
The first and foremost of those was that the Inn was in an alternate space, cut off from the main universe. This was the most likely option, as such a thing wasn't altogether uncommon. Another possibility was that his signals were somehow blocked. This was a little more unlikely. This signal was based on the newest technology that most did not even know existed yet. Basically, so long as any form of energy existed, the signal could use it to carry itself forward. This went beyond just common forms of energy such as kinetic, light, gravitational, spirit etc. Even higher forms of energy, that most beings could not even perceive or interact with, could be used as a medium..
Another possibility, one that Ragnar thought had a high chance of being correct, was that the Inn was so far from anywhere in the known universe that it was taking much longer for the signal to be transmitted.
Such a theory also meant that the entity known as the Midnight Inn was a power from the uncharted territories of the universe, and the Innkeeper was a cultivator that no existing topmost cultivator had ever interacted with yet. This theory was troublesome.
Still, he would not speculate until he had more information.
"Good. You will follow me from now on, and if you think of any new information you may inform me directly via spirit sense. Anthony, start running tests immediately. I want to know the density of the spiritual energy, the gravity index, the day cycle, the oxygen concentration of the air, basically everything there is to know about this place!"
"Yes sir," answered the relatively weak looking man who had asked Lex about setting up a recruitment stall.
Without waiting to see what they did, Ragnar exited the room, Slag following behind him. Outside a soldier was waiting for him.
"Did the Devils agree to the meeting?"
"Yes sir, they've invited you to their room for the meeting. All of them are there, none of them have split from the main room. Only one is waiting outside for you to invite you in."
"Good, let's go."
Ragnar decided to meet the Devils first as he had a very important task he wanted to complete. With the other delegates, there were actual important matters that needed to be discussed. With the Devils, Ragnar simply wanted to vent by insulting them!
The man had spent over a thousand years fighting devils, and had long since evolved past mundane emotions as hating Devils for righteous reasons. The way he saw it now was simple. Since they were the enemy, he would take pleasure in their discomfort.
"You can only enter alone," the Devil standing outside their room told Ragnar as he approached. He had a mischievous smile as he waited for Ragnar to argue with him, but this Devil had never interacted with Ragnar before. How could he know the butcher's personality?
"Then let's get on with it," he said bluntly, as if he could not have cared less even if he tried. Ragnar did not put even a second thought into the fact that he had discovered a security flaw in the room earlier. As far as he was concerned, nothing would make him happier if the Devils would ambush him in the room.
The remaining soldiers stood face to face with the Devil as he teleported Ragnar inside. They grinned at him, as if welcoming any trouble he would cause. These were the elitist soldiers in their battalion. If they didn't face a near death experience every day, it would feel like they were wasting their time.
Inside the room, several Devils sat on sofas and on the bed, like a group of friends hanging out. Somehow, they already had drinks and food in the room and there was one, particularly emo-looking Devil playing a musical instrument in the corner. What did an emo Devil look like? Like an 80 year old man dressed like a teenager, with a single piercing that looked out of place and long unbrushed hair that covered his eyes.
Loretta was sitting in the corner, eating jumbo shrimp with a look that screamed avarice. This was the first time she had tried a 'shrimp' and had decided that she loved them.
"Tell me, Loretta, you wouldn't happen to be Stefan's daughter, would you? Or would it be son? Or some other third thing that I don't know the name for?"
Ragnar's voice was very serious, as if he was not asking a question and insulting her at the same time.
"Why would you link me with Stefan, General? Do I look like a progeny of the elves?" she asked in return, unbothered by the man's attempt at an insult.
"Not really. But I've already killed three of his sons. I thought killing one of his daughters would be a nice change of pace."
Though this time he was not insulting her, the hostility he received from the Devils was manifold. Basking in their killing intent, Ragnar revealed a generous smile, as if he were receiving the most relaxing of massages.
After glaring at the man for a moment, Loretta relaxed again. "I'm a little disappointed, General. Is that why you came here? To insult us? I would have expected a little more from the Son of the Empire.
Ragnar grinned and looked around the room. He looked each Devil in the eyes, and none turned away from his gaze as if challenging him. Both parties knew that in a situation where a Celestial could potentially be offended, there would be no combat. That effectively turned any interaction between the parties moot as they could not fight, and would not parley. In that case, it really did seem that Ragnar only came to insult them.
Finally, when he had looked each Devil in the eye, he turned back to Loretta and said, "12 Devils. Other than Warheil Heil Fendal, who is a confirmed anomaly, the rest don't seem to have an affiliation with Stefan the seditious. That means it's already time for the new generation to enter the battlefield, and you're probably the first, right? I'm sure the alliance will be interested to know that things are about to get heated once again."
Without waiting for a response, Ragnar left the room. He would have liked to stay and bask in their discomfort, but he could not risk letting them realize what he had actually done.
The new generation of Devils sat there ignoring the man known as Hell's Butcher, unaware that he had absorbed all of their auras in a special recording device implanted in his eyes. They thought he only meant to provoke them, yet how could such an important man waste his precious time just to antagonize them?
Soon, they would learn of his cunning.
"Who's next?" Ragnar asked his soldier, already moving away from the room.
The humans of Earth seem to be conducting a meeting of their own at the moment, so the Beasts of Nibiru will be next. Only the sloth and deer agreed to meet, the rest have either already returned home or started preparing for the games.
"Lead me to them," he said, as he started planning out his moves in his head. So far, this meeting had been very fruitful for the Empire. He was eager to see what other gains he could harvest.
Unlike the Devils, the Beasts did not rent a room to host the meeting in. The sloth and the deer both were simply sitting in the grass that hosted the meditation room, chatting amongst themselves.
"I don't understand," said Greens Haven. "You say that it is your job to protect 'Nibiru' and select talented Beasts, but why have I never heard of you? Or of any Beasts getting selected?"
"The universe is a cruel place," the sloth said slowly, suppressing a yawn. "Staying on a small planet, living out a peaceful life is already a great gift. Only the most talented can be selected to be transferred off planet. Not all Beasts have a powerful presence in the universe. If those talents belonged to a species that do, It is my job to send them there. If those talents do not belong to a species that have such a presence, then they are most likely subordinate to someone else. In that case, I would send the talents to the superior species."
"Then what is the qualification to be classified as a 'talent'?" Green Haven asked. Its question was asked casually as it seemed to have already accepted that it was not good enough. After all, it had never heard of any Beast stronger than itself, and its predecessors who had reached its level did not know of the sloth either so obviously, their realm was not good enough.
The sloth did not answer immediately, but looked at its single hair that had a golden tip. It really liked it.
"Actually, you and that little wolf have already surpassed the qualification level. When we return, I can get in touch to find out who will be recruiting you."
The deer was astounded. What did it mean they had already surpassed the qualification? Why then had they never heard of anyone else being recruited?.
"Then how come you waited so long? I've been in this realm for hundreds of years."
"I was sleeping," the sloth replied, as if it was the most natural answer ever.
The deer was dumbfounded. HOW LONG HAD THE SLOTH BEEN SLEEPING?
But before their conversation could continue, a party of very strong humans approached them. Even though Greens Haven knew that they were safe at the Inn, the thought of humans stronger than itself made it feel unsettled. Yet the sloth besides it was also very strong, so that reassured it a little.
"Greetings. I am Ragnar Asulf of the Jotun Empire. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me."
"Greetings, Ragnar Asulf of the Jotum Empire," the sloth replied with declining energy. For some reason, the atmosphere at the Inn made it feel so comfortable all it did was want to sleep.
Both the deer and Ragnar watched the sloth, waiting for it to introduce itself, but only saw it struggle to keep its eyes open.
"Greetings Ragnar Asulf of the Jotun Empire. I am Green Havens," the deer introduced itself loudly, hoping to wake up the sloth. Its knowledge of the universe still bordered on nonexistent, but it was beginning to get concerned for being assigned such an irresponsible Beast.
Startled awake the sloth looked around, before remembering where it was. "I am…I am…I am…" the sloth said a few times, suddenly realizing it did not remember its own name. "You can call me Golden Hair of the Three-toed Bradious clan," the sloth proclaimed, renaming itself.
Ragnar quickly went through all the Beast clans he knew of, but could not recall this cla. Still, that did not mean that this clan was small or weak. The universe was vast and Ragnar's only concern had always been the demons, so it made sense that he was not familiar with it.
"It is well that you came," Golden Hair continued, "the others at the meeting promised to fulfill my request to bring the Beasts of their planets – only you did not. I request you again, bring the Beasts and expose them to broader horizons. They should not miss out on such an opportunity."
Greens Haven looked at the sloth with a confused look, wondering if it realized how many Beasts had missed out on opportunities because it was sleeping.
"Our presence on Vegus Minima is fairly new, and we have not had time to establish relations with the Beasts yet. However, I will try to reach out to them. If they are willing, I will invite them."
"Thank you," the sloth said simply. Its eyelids started to get heavy again, and Ragnar recognized the potential for an awkward silence building up once again, so he decided to be upfront with his questions – it was quite clear that a long conversation was out of the question.
"Earlier you said that your planet is not without allegiance. I was wondering to whom you were referring. The Jotun Empire has many allies, it could turn out that our relations are deep."
"Nibiru is one of the nurturing planets controlled by the Fiery Mammoth clan," the sloth replied with eyes practically closed. His answer doused any interest Ragnar had in building an alliance. In fact, he was suddenly grateful that the Devils were ready to create some trouble for the sloth. He hoped that they would succeed.
"I can see that you have important matters to deal with so I won't take up more of your time. I look forward to seeing your performance in the Games." With that Ragnar quickly left. It almost seemed like he was doing his best not to run away. Suddenly, on observing the humans reaction at hearing the answer to his question, Greens Haven was very concerned for its future.
"Anthony, when we get back I want you to compile a report on our latest status on relations with the Fiery Mammoth clan. Also, send someone back to Minima Vegus to immediately request a diplomatic relations officer from home base. I refuse to deal with this myself."
"Yes sir," Anthony replied, but looked at the General with pity in his eyes. They were too far from home base, it would take weeks for a qualified officer to come, meaning Ragnar would still have to deal with it should a situation arise. Furthermore, there was no need to look up relations as everyone was clear on what the status was. Who here did not know that scandalous story? It was the talk of the empire for centuries, when one of the noble families of the Empire had…
Anthony shuddered. His rank was too low to gossip about such things. All he could say was, some men really had…heavy…tastes.
"What's next?" Ragnar asked, already setting the matter behind him.
"The humans from Earth are still conducting their own meeting. The meeting with the Devils and Beasts went by faster than expected, so we still have some time. Might I recommend that you tour the Inn in the meantime."
"Slag, do you have a recommendation for what I should investigate first?"
"Of the services I've tried so far, Battle Ax and the Recovery room are very interesting. Although they have limited effect on higher level cultivators, they are still worth investigating. Other than those, I would recommend investigating the Mystery trial, but that takes a long time so you should wait till after the meeting for that. Apparently, there is a prize for completing the trial, but I have been unable to do so. Yet despite that, I gained a lot during my various attempts at the trial. True to its name, it is very mysterious."
"Understood. Let's investigate Battle Ax first."
The soldiers made their way to Battle Ax, only to find a large crowd already waiting. Most of the Beasts had already left the Inn, so it was the humans of Earth that crowded around the building. As most of them were at the Foundation realm and had limited resources and heritages, a chance to get a technique based on your own requirements was unbelievable to them. As soon as the first person discovered this hidden treasure, its popularity exploded!
John could not be happier and was working nonstop. Yet even with his expertise, each technique would take a few hours at the least. His greatest regret was that he could not split himself so that he could work on more work.
Similar to the Battle Ax, there were crowds outside the training room and Gamers Den as well. If Lex were awake he would have used this opportunity to buy more Training and Meditation rooms to meet the demand, but he was asleep so for now the problem would persist.
The crowd at Gamers Den didn't consist of Earthlings, oddly enough. They were already familiar with the games so they had no interest. It was the soldiers who had discovered the AR gaming mode that Lex had installed for Chen's 'training' that crowded that building, much to Z's chagrin. He had never dealt with so many people before. He hated it. All he wanted was to watch some Tv, was that too much to ask?
Since all the services around had sizeable crowds and long queues, Ragnar instead decided to walk around the Inn and observe everything for himself. He investigated the Mystery trial as well, but it could only accommodate one person at a time and was already in use.
He saw some people sitting and eating in the garden. Some of them were eating spirit food – a huge surprise for Earthlings but nothing special for Ragnar. He walked to the Meditation room as well as the Recovery room and saw first hand their capabilities. Although he could not be sure about the effectiveness of the Meditation room, judging from the level of all the other services he could garner a guess.
The more he saw, the more he believed that the Inn was designed to cater to low leveled cultivators, and really only served the purpose of a vacation spot. Naturally the services were a great boon for Earthlings and Beasts from Nibiru even, but anyone with a certain amount of standing in a Star class civilization or greater could receive the same benefits through spending money.
All in all, the Inn seemed unique enough to attract attention, but was generic enough not to step on any high leveled toes. Perhaps the Innkeeper did not have any hidden, ulterior motives, and was only fulfilling a whim of his to run an inn. Who knew what these ancient, powerful beings did to pass the time?
Since he had to pass the time waiting for the humans to conclude their meeting, he decided to try out their food. Thorough reconnaissance required every part of the Inn to be investigated.
*****.
In a private room in the coliseum, the five human Nascent cultivators were sitting along with the observer sent by the lady in the hologram, and Audery, of course. Who said ancestor level cultivators can't be simps?
The observer, Adrian, did not contribute much to their discussion, much to the frustration of the others. They were hoping he would provide some insight about the forces of the universe, but he told them nothing.
All Adrian said was, "My role on this mission is to only record everything down so I can report it later. I don't have the qualifications or the authority to share information with you freely, as it may affect plans that I am not aware of. All I can say is, you do not need to worry too much. The Jotun Empire is a friendly force, and not our enemy. Having said that, you should maintain the facade that you have no contact with anyone outside of your galaxy."
"What about the Devils?" the fat man asked. Out of everyone here, he was the only one who had little to no combat experience. Even with his strength, the stigma of Devils affected him.
Adrian let out an exasperated sigh. "I keep telling you, I am just a clerk. I don't know these things, I am only here to observe! Before this, I didn't even know that Devils were a race! Instead of asking me, you should ask the soldiers from the empire these questions. They will have answers for you."
"How long are we going to drill him on useless things?" Brandon asked in annoyance, before anyone could question Adrian some more. "Let's focus on what really matters. How has there been no progress on those rebels? My grandson suffered an assassination attempt just so that we could get a few leads. Several families on Earth and the Moon were implicated, not to mention an ICPA. We had the entire country of Egypt on lockdown, yet still we got nothing besides a few deadends."
Brandons question caused everyone to grimace. This really was a conundrum. Many years ago, the five families had noticed a certain force manipulating people and events to harm their interests. For a while, the force tried to sow discord between the families – something that could have worked if they weren't all actually secretly working together.
Losses, scandals, assassinations and more threatened to bring the families to war. Yet, for reasons unknown to the rest, they never worked against one another. At a certain point it became evident that such a strategy would not work, which suppressed that mysterious forces movements – but did not completely finish them. Slowly and steadily the force kept working in the shadows, slowly chipping away at the families' influence and strength. Yet that was also meaningless since the foundation of their strength were the Nascent cultivators and there were few that could threaten them.
At one point, those forces instigated Beasts to act out so that the Nascants would be forced to act. That was actually the incident in which Marlo had also been caught, the time he was in Australia. Yet that yielded no results either. The five families did not actually feel threatened by the force, they were just concerned that they may become desperate and do something that would harm the masses.
Yet despite their best efforts for years, they were not able to learn the details regarding whoever was behind it all. They did not even know the name of the organization or entity, choosing to call them 'rebels' for simplicity.
"It was handled too cleanly, as if they were already expecting to be traced. The entire Sigmund family has been implicated, but we have not been able to find any actual proof of their involvement in the matter. It seems as if they themselves were duped. It's the same with every other lead we have."
"Then I think it's about time we ask the hard questions. Why do they always know what steps we are going to take? Why are they familiar with our forces and how we are going to act?" Brandon's last question caused the rest to grimace even more.
"Are you saying some of our families are involved?"
"No," Brandon said, shaking his head. "I'm saying at least one person from EACH family is involved. And not just any random person, someone with influence and knowledge of how the family operates."
Silence filled the room, but no one chose to refute him. At this point, even if no one said it out loud, they had all been thinking about the possibility.
"I think the Midnight Games will be an opportunity. It's impossible for them not to know that we would be going, even if they weren't involved with the families. They must be planning to make a few big moves during the games. If we're still not able to trace them, then we need to start planning on how to investigate the families themselves. Meeting at the Inn will be the most convenient, as we can teleport here directly with no one aware of when we'll be meeting."
Everyone eventually came to a consensus, though what they were actually thinking could only be speculated. How easy was it to suspect one's own family?
With their dirty laundry handled, it was now time to meet with the Jotun soldiers. The Queen had one of her followers let the empire's soldiers know they were ready to meet. At the same time, Marlo was also brought into the meeting.
Marlo, in fact, was not too popular. Other than the Morrison family, the other families all had a bad impression of him, or at least wanted to keep some distance. But he had interacted with both the zombies and a soldier of the empire before, so his input could serve to be useful.
After a short wait, Ragnar entered the room followed by Slag and Anthony. Marlo flashed Slag a grin, but did nothing else. Despite his boisterous behavior he was a shrewd man, and knew when to behave.
"Greetings, I am General Ragnar Asulf of the Jotun Empire. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me."
"Not at all General. I think we both have much to gain from this meeting" spoke Sam somewhat directly. "My name is Sam, and this is Elizabeth," he said, pointing towards the Queen. "This is Fateh," he said, pointing towards the fat man. "This is Richard, and this is Brandon. We have been looking forward to meeting with you."
"Indeed, it can be quite productive for us both. I've heard a little about Earth from my subordinate," he said, pointing towards Slag. "And I'm sure you've heard a little about the Empire as well. We can spend more time getting to know one another, but I think the first and foremost thing on everyone's mind is how we can benefit one another."
Compared to the Beasts, he was more direct with the humans. There were two reasons for this. Firstly, he was sure that of the three planets, Earth was the weakest in terms of military strength. And secondly, in the entire universe, the Jotun Empire was the biggest backer for humans. So whether the Earthlings realized it or not, they were already in the same camp. And if they were in the same camp, they were already Ragnar's subordinates. He just had to make them aware of that fact, with some tact of course.