The Innkeeper

“You’re nice. I think you’d really enjoy it in our crew. The Jolly Rancher is pretty big,” Pebbles tried to convince her. “Here, let me introduce you to my friend Monk. I sleep on his stomach sometimes.”

Velma only gave Pebbles an amused chuckle before following him deeper into the house where the crew was staying. Velma was actually quite interested in this particular crew, though she wasn’t the only one.

She had joined the Humanoid Alliance as a volunteer because it put her in contact with many high profile people from the alliance. With her well established background in the Midnight Inn, it wasn’t hard for her to join.

After all, she herself was a very promising human, and the Innkeeper was suspected to be an incredibly powerful Dao Lord from within the alliance as well. No one knew if he was a Devil or a Celestial or something along those lines, but his support for the humans was clear. Regardless of his race, with the Innkeepers backing, Velma was able to do some volunteer work.

Then her expertise in information collection was noticed, and she was hired to a special position. Publicly, she was in charge of hospitality for all the alliances’ guests, but in reality, it was her job to collect juicy information from them. She was exceptionally good at it.

So naturally when she saw the message about Jack the Hell slayer in the sky, and learned about a crew of sailors who all became immortal, led by a fairy captain also named Jack, she had her suspicions. Everyone had their suspicions.

A fairy who had the gall to proclaim himself leader of the whole fairy race in order to get the alliance to help him out was not an ordinary person. Unfortunately, she could not find any evidence linking the two besides the name.

After all, based on her understanding, it was impossible for a mortal fairy to steal back some of the racial traits that had been stolen from fairies – even with the backing of seven Dao Lords. If it were that easy, the Humanoid Alliance would have done it long ago.

“Hey crew, as your acting captain, I’d like to introduce you to Velma,” Pebbles said, sticking out his chest as he walked into the living room. However, he spoke with such enthusiasm, that he spat out a nut that he had been hiding in his cheeks. Everyone ignored it.

“Amitabha, it is a pleasure to meet you,” said Monk, who immediately bowed to Velma. “My name is Monk, and I am a monk. As a monk, it is my obligation to ask if you would like to go grab a drink-“

Before Monk could finish asking her out, Longbeard used his beard to lasso the bear and pull him away.

“My apologies for the children,” Longbeard said. “It’s not every day that they meet an angel in person.”

“Oh my, all of you fellas are quite cute,” Velma said, not bothered by the many attempts to ask her out. As someone with a massive fan club, and as someone who once considered having harem, she was used to people fawning over her. But she was more interested in learning about other people’s romances than having one herself. After all, as someone who had heard countless love stories, it was tough to tickle her fancy.

“You all must have so many interesting stories to tell,” she went on, appraising each one of the members.

Bob, she noticed, stood by the window, his hands behind his back, looking out the window wistfully. She’d heard about that. His vocal ability to influence probability and chaos had been disabled within the alliance headquarters, so he was sulking – or so she had been told.

“Oh yeah, I have a few stories to tell,” said Ollie, trying to make his voice deeper. He was standing atop Goldilocks’ fedora, using the duck like a mount. It was the best way to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid. When they came to the alliance headquarters, Goldilocks had somehow managed to get into the kitchen, turn all the bread into gold, and then proceeded to eat it. “It all started with this one tower Jack and I discovered that teleported us elsewhere?”

“You mean the Tower of Providence?” Velma asked, surprised.

“Yes, yes, that’s the one. Apparently, it’s supposed to offer up a great reward if you complete its tasks. All we got were the coordinates to find Bob. That’s how we ended up in the Folklore realm, and ended up growing the Jolly Rancher to its crazy size, and met the rest of the crew. But I’m getting ahead of myself. It all started with a tower, but we couldn’t use it because the realm we were in was sealed. I believe it was called the Midnight realm or something like that.”

Velma’s head snapped right towards Ollie, though she didn’t interrupt them. In fact, she began to use some of the authority she had accumulated at the alliance to remove all surveillance from the area and remove records of what had just been said.

Suddenly, she was convinced that the whole reason she was in the Artica realm to begin with was because the Innkeeper had orchestrated it. Clearly Captain Jack and Jack the Hell slayer were one and the same, because Captain Jack was secretly being supported by the Innkeeper!

The Innkeeper must have known that their connection might be accidentally leaked so he had orchestrated a way to send her here to keep things hush hush without attracting any attention to himself. He was, quite frankly, brilliant.

Now that she knew they were all on the same side, she would try to help them if she could. She also wouldn’t mind helping some of them on dates – clearly they wanted some.

An excited gleam passed through her eyes as she planned it out all in her head. This would be exciting.

*****

Jack teleported to the headquarters with Oroo, but instead of being led to his crew, like he had been hoping, he was instead brought to answer for his claims of being a race leader. Now, he wasn’t in trouble, per se, but that did not change the fact that the alliance wasn’t happy about it. To make things worse, apparently, he really could qualify for the position.

“Look, Oroo, how about I promise never to do that again and we leave things at that. I don’t think I’m set out to be a leader. Sitting in an office and leading just… it just isn’t me.”

Yeah, that was Lex’s department. Jack was more of a free spirit.

“The leader of a race isn’t a position that any organization can doll out,” Oroo said, rolling her eyes. “Ordinarily, it is given to the first member of that race ever born in the universe. Should they die, the position becomes vacant, but given the right circumstances, others can also attain it. Whether you like it or not, you are now one of the strongest fairies alive in the universe, and by claiming the position as your own, while you haven’t taken it, you have set yourself up on the path that may lead you towards it.”

“Wait a minute, what do you mean ’one of the strongest’ fairies? I was under the impression that there are only a few other Earth Immortal fairies, and I’m more than certain I’m stronger than any fairy in my own realm. And what do you mean I’ve set myself on a path that leads towards it?”

It wasn’t as if Jack was going to admit that he had been told by the Challenge realm that there were only 3 other Earth immortal fairies.

“You might be right about fairies in your own realm, but I’ve heard that within the alliance, apparently there is still a fairy in the Celestial Immortal realm – though I’ve never met him, so I’m not sure about that. It’s hard to believe it though, considering all the restraints on the fairies. Regardless, becoming a race leader isn’t about being the strongest anyway, although that would certainly help you with what you’re about to go through.”

Jack looked at Oroo, the beautiful Celestial with beautiful hair and looks that could stun even her enemies, and grimaced.

“Why is everything you say sounding so ominous?” he asked, which caused her to chuckle.

“Well, that’s what we’ve brought you here to prepare for. Whether you meant it or not, you’ve stirred ancient powers into coming into play. If you really do become a candidate for a race leader, you will encounter obstacle after obstacle, each one representing a roadblock faced by your race. Your only options will be to either succeed and become the leader, or die trying. So, now do you want to come with me and get our help?”

Jack took a deep sigh, which he regretted due to the stench plaguing him, but it couldn’t be helped.

“This is just wonderful,” he said, sarcastically. More work and responsibility, just what he needed.