“I just got word, the plane has taken off and is on its way to London,” one of Wills assistants said. “We followed all the instructions you gave, there weren’t any issues. Bluebird agents here, and the Royal Guard agents in the UK will all look the other way to any people getting on or off.”
“Good, that will be all,” Will said, as he finally let himself lean back into his chair. It had not even been an hour since Leo came to him looking for the favor, but he had handled it well. Most importantly, no one other than him knew anything about the details of their conversation, and he had kept strict control on information about the passenger as well. Even he himself did not know anything about Leo’s ‘friend’ that was traveling in his private plane.
The driver that drove that passenger to the airport had been administered with a spirit disruption pill. It was not something that was harmful, but would cause the driver to forget everything that had happened during the past few days. It had no long term harmful effects, unless it was used frequently, and the driver was well compensated for it. The pilot for the private jet and anyone else who had been in contact with the ‘friend’ would undergo the same procedure. Will was documenting all of this and would submit a report about it to Leo before even he himself would take one of those pills.
One would think that by causing him to forget the details of what happened, Will would be losing out on the value of the favor. The truth was to the contrary. As a man of the world, Will knew exactly how to ingratiate himself to people in power, and by doing all of this he would show the Innkeeper, or at least Leo, that he was someone reliable, so that in the future if they ever needed help, they would come to him.
He did not fear them coming to him for help repeatedly, what he feared was them having no use for him at all. As long as he was reliable, he had great value. As long as he was valuable, he would be taken care of..
This was the fundamental difference between Will and all his partners in the Rose Society. Since the Council had taken over Earth, they had contacted Will and many of his partners to acquire resources from them. So while the whole world destabilized, not only did Will and his partners excel, the council was heavily investing in their operations to help them grow.
Of course, the Rose Society itself was still a hidden organization and no one knew that all of these influential people from across the world were actually partners. That was the primary reason they were able to attract so much business. The council’s agenda was to break up the monopoly held by certain groups that had previously been supported by the family heads. What they did not know was that they were, inadvertently, setting up another monopoly.
All of that was a matter for the future. What mattered now was that while his partners were indulging in their own success and celebrating, Will did not let success blind him. He was already making plans for what to do if he fell out of grace with the council by developing relations with the Midnight Inn. Slowly, Will was returning to his former glorious self, before he was struck with a nearly crippled body – and as his cultivation progressed and he regained his vigor, he would one day surpass his old self.
*****
Lex felt his thoughts wander as he sat in the private jet. This was the first time he sat on a private plane, but even with all the privilege it afforded, he did not think his experience was the norm. He didn’t even have any documents on him, no one asked for ID or a passport – he was directly escorted to the plane that was waiting for him on the empty runway.
Like most other people, he hated the extreme privilege of the rich and powerful. But he also had to admit, the sofas on this private jet felt incredible!
As he waited in the plane, and his thoughts wandered, it occurred to him that he could still be transported to the Inn from the plane. If he teleported to the Inn right now, when he teleported back, would he still be in the plane, or would he reappear in the space the plane was in when he left?
He asked Mary who responded immediately.
“Isn’t it obvious? You’ll reappear in the plane! If the Inn used absolute positioning for teleportation, then if you stayed in the Inn for a few days and reappeared, you’d be in space because your planet would have already moved away from that space that it occupied when you left.”
“Right, right, of course,” he said, thinking it made sense. Yet he still had a few more hours to burn and he didn’t feel tired enough to nap so he continued to have the randomest of thoughts.
“Hey, what if I get a guest that’s microscopic? How will I see it? What if someone has a baby at the Inn? Does the baby get special privileges? What do I do if someone I know comes as a guest? What if it’s someone I hate, do I still need to be nice to them? Where do the items I buy from the system come from? Is there someone called Botlam whose dew we are stealing? Where do the A.I.s come from? Does the system just make them out of nothing? Or does the basement have a creepy basement somewhere full of bodies to fit A.I. into?”
Lex kept asking questions, but never really gave Mary any time to answer. Eventually, after the longest seven hours of Mary’s short life, they landed in Heathrow airport. Before they landed, Lex looked out the window to see how the city looked. It was difficult to tell from so high up but he didn’t see any explosions so that was nice. After landing in the unusually empty airport, Lex was once again escorted to a private car. When asked where he wanted to get dropped, Lex pulled out his phone where he had saved his family’s address, to finally realize it was dead.
Fortunately, after a couple minutes of trying to remember, Lex was able to recall the general area where they lived and told the driver. He’d be able to walk to his parents house once he was close enough.
As they drove by, they passed through various security checks conducted by heavily armed guards. After a very long, long time, Lex once again pulled out an item that would help him identify anything he missed. He put on the Fancy Monocle.
Immediately he was informed that all of these guards were equipped with spirit weapons, not just regular guns, and many of them had various spirit tech on them. Lex’s war was being checked for weapons and explosives using some devices the monocle was able to identify, which gave Lex a small heart attack. He had the Heavy Harley on him. But it seemed like they did not care much for a single sidearm and let the car pass.
The city, while unable to match the regular energy New York had somehow managed to retain, was still quite busy. People could be seen walking around in small groups, keeping mostly to themselves. At least the city wasn’t deserted. This gave him no small amount of relief since this most likely meant his family was also alright.
Eventually, after getting dropped off, he walked the familiar path home. When he was growing up, his family never had a fixed home as they traveled a lot globally. His parents were fans of such a lifestyle, and the kids learnt to love it as well. It was only after Lex left for higher education, while throwing a tantrum that his parents weren’t letting them live normal lives, that his parents got this home in London. They still traveled a lot, but at least his sisters could stay in one place for high school and university.
He had three sisters. His elder sister, Belle, was the complete opposite of her name. She was cold and aggressive, and liked to do things her own way. When they were kids growing up, she used to wrestle with Lex a lot. He was not embarrassed about the fact that he never won. Anyone who knew her knew that maniac could not be completed with. But despite all that, in her own way, Belle took good care of her younger siblings.
After Belle, Lex was born, and after him came his younger sister Liz followed by the baby of the family, Moon. Moon was not actually a baby anymore, she was 16, or 15, or something along those lines, but as the youngest, she was spoiled by everyone. Not just the parents, even all the siblings spoiled little Moon. Her nickname ‘Moon’ originated from Lex’s father promising to gifting the moon to her. To this his mother replied that the man had given her the same promise. Before the embarrassed man could defend himself, little Moon fell in love with the promise and kept ranting about it to everyone.
Liz, who along with Lex formed the duo of middle children, was by far the most normal of all the siblings. She loved and hated her family, depending on the mood, loved making friends, loved traveling the world, and at one point declared she wanted to go to France and fall in love. Any time she mentioned wanting to fall in love Belle would beat her up, Lex found it hilarious, but of course as the victim of many beatings himself, never intervened.
Lost in his thoughts, Lex found himself in front of a small house far out in the suburbs. There was enough room for one car in the driveway and the house itself, despite its ground and first floor, looked extremely cramped. Yet this was home. And the front door of his home was broken – kicked in, by the look of it.
Lex’s face darkened as he pulled out the Heavy Harley.