The Innkeeper

Chapter 1532  Growth plans

It did not take long before the three entered his office, though the arrival of the Sovereign turtle in his office resulted in a new phenomenon that Lex hadn't experienced before. Usually, when someone large entered his office, or any building within the Midnight Inn, their size would automatically be reduced to easily fit within the building.

One prominent example was Ereboth the Insatiable, who was a very large planet. However, when it entered the Innkeeper's office, it was reduced to the size of a disco ball.

Yet when the Galactic Sovereign turtle entered his office, instead of reducing in size, it caused the Innkeeper's office to grow bigger to accommodate it instead.

Nobody other than Lex seemed to notice the change, nor did they find it odd in any way. Truthfully, Lex too should have expected nothing less from a Sovereign.

"I have called the three of you here today to discuss the new direction that the Midnight Inn will be focusing its growth towards for the next thousand years or so," said the Innkeeper with a warm smile, causing the three of them to relax.

"Gardener and turtle, you two are here because even before you form a Heaven, I plan on integrating your efforts into the new growth plan. From now on, while we will continue to host all guests, our attention will specifically be focused on improving our service towards mortals.

"Allow me to expound on this topic a little, and then you all can contribute your ideas. To become the best Inn in the universe, we need to offer more than room and boarding. Our services, while numerous, are too generic and not specialised enough. As such, we will begin by focusing on a certain segment of guests first and improving their experience until we can improve no further, and then see what we have learned before implementing it on the rest.

"Gardener, turtle, even though you have not yet formed a Heaven, the foundation you are setting, in itself, is already more than sufficient to be considered a holy land by mortal standards. As such, I want to develop a number of services and facilities centered around mortals in your fledgling heaven.

"Recently, a worker ventured to a Heaven to stay at the Seraphim Resort, and upon his return had many positive things to say. They decontaminated his body of harmful auras, addressed his mental and spiritual needs, strengthened the foundation of his body, increased his strength in various ways, all while providing him with a pleasant and enjoyable experience.

"The Midnight Inn has more than enough facilities and resources to be able to provide all these facilities and more for mortals. I want to create services that help mortals find meaning and enlightenment, regardless of the troubles they are facing. I want to create services geared towards training, towards healing, towards socialising, towards education, and everything else we can possibly provide.

"But there's more. Not only do I want to start providing such services, I want the Midnight Inn to become the go to place for numerous official organizations and powers, to host their training or other events. The more the Midnight Inn is used by properly recognized, official powers - specifically at the mortal level for now - the better.

"For this, I want you to reach out to two of the existing most prominent groups who already use the Midnight Inn for various purposes in their organization, and conduct a review of what their experience is like, and how it can be improved. The Paladins and the Diplo have been using the Inn in an official capacity for a very long time, and so are the perfect candidates to question about this."

Even as Lex talked about the two groups, he thought about the Diplo. They were a small, fly-like insectoid race that had a horrible reputation. In fact, Lex didn't want them as guests at the Inn, yet they never broke any rules here, so Lex had no reason to justify expelling them.

They were evil, he knew, but they were also decent guests. The Midnight Inn would be hosting all kinds of beings, and it would not always be obvious at a glance who was evil and who wasn't, which is why he needed to distance himself from the mentality of judging others based on their actions outside.

It wasn't easy, and in fact it troubled Lex's morality a bit. If it was up to him, he would not offer any services to a race which had such a terrible reputation. But the mental argument always came back to the same thing - the Diplo were easy to judge because their actions were publicly known. Theoretically, he could oust them.

But the truth of his guests would not always be so evident, and it would be hard to discover their character and history. As such, instead of a guest's past, he needed to learn to focus on their capacity as a guest more than anything else.

Actually, that was exactly why he wanted the Paladins and Diplo interviewed. As an organization or power, they were both as far apart in terms of their reputation as possible.

"There are three things we are going to be focusing on when improving services for guests. The first is utilizing the unique resources of the Midnight Inn to create new services for mortal guests. The second is creating various packages so that mortal guests who come to the Inn with a very specific purpose have an easier time getting what they want. Finally, the third is partnering with official organizations to increase the prestige and renown of the Midnight Inn on all levels.

"Now, if any of you have any ideas or questions, you may state them."

Without a second's hesitation, the turtle spoke.

"I have a question, Innkeeper. What is that box on your table, and why does it feel so attractive?"

The turtle had ignored everything the Innkeeper said, and had eyes only for the box that his previous esteemed guest had left behind.