Wichita blinked as she stepped through the portal, notifications flashing at the edge of her vision as she took stock of where they had landed. An old, kind-looking woman sat on a sofa right in front of the portal. A plate of cookies was on the table in front of her, along with a pair of cups and saucers. The glow of a fireplace was visible from behind her, though she could not see it from her position.

Wichita nodded, her eyes still on the woman. The one that looked like a kind grandmother here to guide her young. There was something very suspicious about it.

“Will you join me for some tea?” the woman asked in an innocent tone, ignoring the wariness that had taken over her party. Wichita was rather happy that no one had rushed to take the woman’s offer.

“What will it cost?” Wichita asked. If accosted by unknown entities offering tea and cookies, ask for their price. That was just standard procedure among the Arcana. The offering of any service that was plainly told to be free could be laced with spells that forced people into very unfavorable contracts.

“Who are you?” Rose asked matter-of-factly.

The woman’s smile thinned, her expression freezing. Wichita was rather surprised that someone pulling such an act had so little control over their expression.

“I am an innkeeper.” the woman stated. “And this is my inn. The tea and cookies are free, so is advice for the duration of your stay here.”

Wichita caught her words and searched for holes in them.

“And how much will staying here cost?” she asked.

The woman sighed and turned to her. “This is not a trap, I will not charge you for anything that would be reasonable for you to take. The furnishings, their enchantments, and the fires are not for you to take. The people are off limits too. The rest you can partake in as you wish.” the woman said.

That was…very clear. Wichita still wasn’t sure about the sentence that talked about ‘reasonable’ things, but the sentence after that cleared a lot of ambiguity.

“Why would you offer that?” Rose asked, sounding suspicious. Of course the girl was suspicious, she seemed to be suspicious of nearly everything.

“For that is my Story.” the woman answered, and Wichita felt a breath of power rush through the room. Not the most oppressive she had felt, not even as oppressive as the icy beast. But it was still far more powerful than them at the moment.

Where the heck had the cat landed them?

“I am the Innkeeper of Legends, and am here to offer you a place to rest and gather your wits between your adventures.” the woman continued. Wichita caught her words. Innkeeper of Legends. A class surrounding serving Legends? Couldn’t be Tier 9, those were too rare. The class rarity, then. Well, they did have two of those in their group.

“What do you gain from that?” Rose asked, looking at her with narrowed eyes. Wichita actually felt pretty sure that the woman’s offer was legitimate.

The woman in question seemed quite put off by Rose’s questions. “I suppose my Story has not travelled to every corner of the world. I would be happy to speak with you, but I fear I must ask you to excuse me for a moment.”

Rose opened her mouth, perhaps to protest or perhaps to throw another question at the woman. But she didn’t get the chance. The woman stepped past them in a single step, emerging behind them as they turned around.

Wichita felt it then. An ocean of mana pressing down on top of them as she felt the space expand. A spacial spell, but that was not what mattered. What mattered was the amount of mana the woman had revealed herself wielding. There were only two other times she had felt that amount of mana before.

“Rose.” she whispered as she looked at the woman wielding a Judgment’s worth of mana. “I think we might have to listen to her this time.”

The girl nodded, fear clear in her eyes as she looked at the self-proclaimed Innkeeper.

“I thought the portal was supposed to take us somewhere safe.” Jace muttered. The boy must be sensing the mana too, now that she had unlocked his magical abilities. Tully was the only one that didn’t have the ability now.

“The cat didn’t actually say that.” she pointed out, angry at herself for missing that. Of course, it was still unknown if they were truly in any danger.

An army stepped through the portal, the same portal they had entered through. Thousands upon thousands of bloodied spears, carried by soldiers that looked like they had just walked off the battlefield. A sigh echoed through the room, coming from within the army.

“I greet the Innkeeper of Legends.” a man sad, rising above the shoulders as he floated in the air. Wichita observed him with her mana sense. A lot of mana. An aura that seemed to bolster those around him. That was what he projected to her. Wichita could not be sure that was what was real, not with people that were so much more powerful than her.

“And I greet you, General of the Front.” the woman’s lips twisted into a smirk as she looked at the army without a hint of worry on her face. “A pleasure to have you here again.”

“The pleasure is mine, truly.” the General said. “I remember my time here fondly.”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

“Oh?” The smirk was still there on the woman’s face. Wichita was sure now that the mana was not an illusion. There was something about the woman’s confidence that told her that she thought little of the threat an army posed to her. An army that seemed to be made up solely of soldiers more powerful than Wichita.

That wasn’t rare considering how pitifully weak most Tier 2s were, but still you would expect some of the new recruits to still have low Tiers. Not here. This army had none of that.

“Will you be staying, or should I open the door for you? I am sure the Warrior will be happy to have his guard back.” the woman said.

The General’s smile froze. “Please, my lady, we are the Emperor’s guard. Do not insult us so.”

“Insulting you wasn’t my intention.” the woman stated. “Insulting your boss was.”

The General stared at her, and Wichita wondered if she should run for it. A fight between an army and what had to be a Tier 8 powerhouse was not something she wanted to be around. Even the Queen-Consort of Arcana had trouble preventing collateral damage when she really got into it. And that was on a battlefield, not a small hallway.

“If it would please you, my lady.” she interrupted, bowing as she copied the General’s form of address. “The four of us will take our leave.”

The woman turned towards them, her expression stony, “The rooms I have allotted you are on the ninth floor. The lights shall lead your way.”

The hardwood floor lit up with an array of arrows, leading in one direction. Wichita smiled and nodded at the Innkeeper as she hastily turned around.

An angry whisper she was sure came from the General reached her ears as the four of them stepped through the door. “Tell me which one of you idiots decided to take a Legend class without telling me? There is a reason we have rules against it, you know.”

The words did not fill her with confidence. An army had rules in place to avoid this inn. That did not bode well for their safety.

“This stinks of politics.” Rose said as they stepped through the door into what looked like a tavern. A bunch of people stood around the place, mostly sitting on the chairs partaking the food, but a few were standing on the tables too. And every one of them had their weapons bared.

Wichita tensed. The woman’s words prevented a debt trapping spell, but it was no oath of safety. There was still a chance that the people here would harm them.

“What stinks?” a large, muscled man standing on the table asked. Just about every inch of his skin and naked torso was covered in tattoos, extending even to the blade he held aloft. Rose froze in place, unable to form a reply.

Wichita tried to form one for her, but she could not get a good read on what was going on. In the end she went with the truth.

“An army just came through the portal.” she said. “Led by the General of the Front.”

The crowd groaned in seeming unison, looking like their day had been ruined. And yet she saw the blades go back into their sheaths, and people get off the tables. The General was apparently not a threat.

The tattooed man approached them, his sword buckled around his waist. The massive thing was thicker than both his legs combined, and nearly touched the floor from where it hung.

“Got caught in the Big Empire’s crosshairs, huh?” the man said, sauntering over to them.

Wichita tried to give him a friendly smile. “The four of us were simply having a conversation with the Innkeeper before the army arrived.”

“Interrogating me, more like.” a voice said from behind her. Wichita turned around slowly. The woman had as much mana as a Judgment. That was the kind of thing you only saw among the most powerful people in the world.

The ones on the Verge of Legend. The peak Tier 8s that had gotten all they could from the System. Even in Arcana, the woman would be leading a noble house of her own. Even the Queen-Consort of Arcana was ‘just’ a Verge.

A round of chuckles rang across the room at the Innkeeper’s comment.

“Did you offer them tea and biscuits?” the tattooed man asked, looking like he was barely keeping his laughter in.

“Yes.” the woman replied in a dry tone. The tattooed man burst out laughing.

“The Innkeeper’s tea and biscuits are in a league of their own.” the General said, coming up behind her while munching on one of said biscuits. The army seemed to have disappeared somewhere.

“Did they ask you what it cost?” the tattooed man asked, still laughing.

“Yes.” the Innkeeper said, looking quite irritated.

“I told you that you looked like a [Witch]” the man guffawed, looking like he was enjoying himself. Wichita wanted to run away and not be the center of attention anymore. The entire tavern looked about as nervous as her, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“Do not worry.” the Innkeeper said. “The General will not harm you, or try to sense your secrets while he is here. I have his word on it.”

The tattooed man leaned forward and mocked whispered into the Innkeeper’s ear. “Are you sure we can trust it? The General’s from the Big Empire, not really the most accepting bunch. I would expect him to start rounding up people any moment now.”

The Innkeeper looked at the man with irritation, but Wichita wasn’t sure if it was real. The question seemed almost scripted.

“The Empire of Farsighted Warriors Dancing Across the Flames is-”

“Big empire.” the tattooed man interrupted.

“What?” the General threw an irritated glance at him, his aura emerging again. The Innkeeper crushed it within seconds, but she still got a hint of what it was. An aura filled with the blood of thousands of enemies. The kind of thing you only got after many battles.

Still, it was less than she would have expected for someone of his power.

“The name’s too long. Shorten it.” the tattooed man said.

“The Empire of Farsighted Warriors Dancing -”

“Just look at that!” the man interrupted again as Wichita slowly walked away from them, following the lights. “Can’t even make your point without spending an entire minute on the name. Who even thought that was a good idea? Were they soft in the head?”

“DO NOT INSULT THE HONORABLE FOUNDER!” The General yelled. Wichita was sure his voice should have shaken the floors and made her ears pop. The Innkeeper did not let it happen, but she didn’t stop the argument either.

As if the petty thing was something she wanted to happen.

“What just happened?” Tully muttered as the lights led them to a flight of stairs.

Wichita walked onto them. “I don’t know, Tully. I don’t know. But I don’t think we should stay here longer than we have to.”