10 Uninvited Guests

The Valedge Inn was silent. Not a single person moved a muscle in fear that Mikax would deem them to be hostile next. They could see the man who had attacked him was turning to what seemed like ash.

"Should we report this?" Mikax had to ask because he wasn't sure what the usual protocol in this world was. E2 had automatically reported violent crime within a city, Mikax wasn't sure if he would be accused of anything since he had never been struck. On Earth what he had done could be argued as excessive force.

Gulping Lyra got the attention of her son working the front counter, "Onas can you please go get a guard." She had asked Onas to go for 2 reasons, the first being that she trusted him and knew he was quick on his feet. The second reason was she wanted him far away from this situation currently. Mikax hadn't even hesitated, putting that aside no one even saw him move which meant that he could slaughter the entire inn before they could react.

The man who had been turning to ash had finally collapsed on himself and was now a pile of clothing and dust. No one had seen anything like this before.

The only person in the room whose mood wasn't completely that of terror and fear of Mikax was surprisingly Mr. Akkar. To him, the man in front of him was both literally and figuratively a gold mine. As someone who dealt with the transportation and safekeeping of money, men like Mikax were always in short supply. Most people with strengths in fighting were recruited by noble houses and monopolized for their gains.

After a few more minutes of everyone waiting in terror, and Mikax ordering another drink, the guards finally arrived with Onas tailing behind.

The guards didn't waste any time and put handcuffs on Mikax, they claimed it was simply a precautionary measure until the truth was discovered. The next 30 minutes felt like ages as the 4 guards who had arrived questioned the few people who had been present. The guards were not inclined to believe the story they had been told it was just too far-fetched.

The man had to be identified by one of the other patrons since his lack of a corpse posed a problem, and then they had to wrap their minds around the amount of money that was being exchanged in broad daylight. In this sense, Mr. Akkar was a huge help. He had shown the guards the coins and said it was official business of the treasury. This was probably the only reason they finally released Mikax. To him, it didn't matter the outcome because he wasn't going to be drug to jail either way. He would simply have killed everyone present before moving on to a new town.

Once the questioning was over and the 'body' disposed of, the guests who had witnessed the incident immediately decided to high tail it out of the inn. For them, if they ever saw Mikax again it would be too soon. Lyra was seriously second-guessing her opinion of Mikax. Yes, it was true he merely defended himself but his combat ability was the real deal. The man he had slain was nearly level 80 and hunted wild beasts daily, he could be considered near the top among civilians in town. Yet, before Mikax he was nothing.

Before the end of the day, the name Mikax was synonymous with death and riches. Valedge also saw a significant decrease in customer travel for the next few days. Mikax didn't mind this. He was given a wide breath to enjoy his daily drinking. It wasn't until almost 2 weeks later that things changed.

"Good to see you again, Mikax." A man had sat next to him whose voice he had certainly heard before. He never expected to hear it in this place at this time.

Glancing up slightly bewildered Mikax was taken aback to see the Knight Captain Rotnam sitting at the bar. Feeling other eyes on him he glanced at one of the tables near the door. What he saw then nearly made his jaw hit the floor. Princess Hesa as well as 2 other ladies who both appeared to be in their early 20's.

"Well you didn't bring enough firepower Rotnam, I'm afraid you won't be able to take me back for my crimes." Mikax decided to ignore the ladies and focus on the man beside him.

"I'm more of a delivery man anymore." Rotnam laid a poster with a crude image of Mikax on it with the words 'Do not aid, report any sightings to the guards' on the top and bottom.

Laughing Mikax didn't worry about the poster he ordered another drink instead. Lyra clearly could see the poster and prepared for the worst. She didn't know who this man was but if he had come to claim a bounty on Mikax things would get messy.

"I'm not just here to deliver you the poster. The King believes if he sends his daughter to live with you then he will buy himself some time and possibly get your help. The other two women are from noble houses as well and are here for similar reasons. I am supposed to keep an eye on them and be your shadow." Rotnam laid it all out for Mikax. He had guessed lying to him would be far riskier.

"Oh, well that was smart. Was it the coin that led you to me? Or was it something else?" Mikax figured since he was being honest he might as well pry a little.

"The coin. I don't think a noble in the kingdom will ever forget them. I know I certainly won't." Rotnam had a pained expression. "I took 2 to my right side that day. If it weren't for the Princesses' healing magic I might have died. I wasn't high on the priority list to save in that room."

"Shoulda used the shield." Mikax felt just a small tinge of guilt about targeting Rotnam so heavily. He had made sure more coins would fly in that direction and deliberately at the Princess. The man was only around 25 and was one of the strongest in the Kingdom, Mikax needed to see if the Knight in shining armor would play the part to save the damsel. By need, he meant want, to him that room was filled with puppets on strings. Mikax was wondering if it would be worth cutting Rotnam's strings in the future, he didn't suspect that the future would be so soon.

Mikax took 2 gold coins out of his pouch and placed them on the counter, "Lyra, these 4 will need rooms for as long as I'm here it would seem." Finishing his drink he walked upstairs to his room.

Lyra looked at the man that Mikax had left behind at the bar before glancing at the women who seemed to try and hide their identities slightly. The man was wearing traveler's clothing but had a very expensive-looking shield, she hadn't been in this industry for the last 10 years and learned nothing, these were very high-class citizens.

"Sorry to bother you miss but like the man said, we will be staying here as long as he is." He bowed his head, "I'm Rotnam, thank you for your hospitality in advance."

Surprised would be an understatement for how Lyra felt now. She knew Mikax wasn't a normal man but to have the Knight Captain of the entire kingdom show up, unannounced, and tell her he was staying here because of him was shocking. Now she was extremely curious about the 3 young ladies who had accompanied him.

Lyra bowed her head in respect, and while bowing she began taking a closer look at the poster on the counter. "Are we in trouble for aiding him?" Even for the original gold coin, she wouldn't take Mikax in at this point after seeing the poster, maybe with Rotnam's help they could evict him.

"Of course not, truthfully you are doing this kingdom a great service by keeping him here right now." Rotnam knew that she was worried and he couldn't blame her. His presence and this poster were a beacon that Mikax was a high priority.

"Who is he? When we have asked nothing he says makes sense." Lyra squeaked out quietly not sure if she should push her luck.

"You probably know more about him than I do at this point. I only met him once and for a very brief period." Rotnam shuddered involuntarily, this didn't escape Lyra's eyes. "What I can tell you is he was summoned from another world to help us stop the demon invasion. However, we're not sure if that will happen as the King and Mikax aren't exactly buddies."

Lyra actually couldn't believe the words she was hearing. She sat down on the floor behind the bar and started to connect dots. He never made sense when talking about personal things, his strength was otherworldly, and his money was as foreign as could be, and because of this, she was struggling to figure out what type of person he was. She prided herself on reading people but he had been all over her spectrum. Now she had found out that Mikax had met the King and probably had pissed him off.

"I don't mean to bother you miss but can you show us to our rooms? It's been a long week of traveling." Rotnam had stood up to look over the bar since he could no longer see her. He knew that she must have been blindsided by what he just told her. He didn't have it in him to lie about such an important matter, Mikax was just that important. Lyra gave him a thousand-yard stare for a moment before nodding her head.

Like a robot, she went through the motions of checking the guests in. Valedge only had 10 rooms as it was on the smaller side of inns. It made up its income from the business the bar brought in during meal times. Now they had booked out half of their rooms, basically indefinitely, and had been overpaid for them all, most innkeepers would be jumping for joy. Lyra was not most innkeeper right now and would gladly exchange guests.

When she had asked the women for their names she all but had a heart attack. Her guest list now included Mikax the summoned 'hero', Knight Captain Rotnam, Princess Hesa, Kydorzia Ryb the daughter of Duke Ned Ryb, and Arlyne Quintas the daughter of Duke Caleb Quintas. These three ladies sat near the absolute top of the kingdom in status. Even Rotnam was lower than they were and he was an eternity above Lyra.

After they had all checked in and gone to their rooms Lyra locked the front door and put a temporarily closed sign out. She couldn't handle any more visitors right now. Mikax had made her age 10 years by attracting these guests.