To become an innkeeper

In this world there are many gods that govern the world. There is a god of magic. There is a god of commerce and speech. There is a god of justice. There is a god of evil. And most importantly there is the god of creation. There are even more gods, but that is something told later.

But in the end of all these gods, there is one god that very few know the name of. Some call him Ulog and some call him Juglius. There are many names that this particular god is called, but his true name is *****. A name forgotten even by some gods.

This god is all that remains unspoken. All that is forgotten. All that is forsaken. And all that is forbidden. All the things lost to time, space, everything in between and over are this god's domain. Even the things that are forcibly forgotten by the world via the will of gods. This has given this particular god many tools to work with. And since things that are often forced to be forgotten are things that people don't want or should not remember, these things are often sinister.

But what is this god's stance on this? He simply stays hidden from all and enjoys watching all things transpire from the shadows. He has come to enjoy being a simple observer of this world ever changing. While he mostly carries all the bad things of the world, he is still quite a positive individual. As there is a god of necessary evil in this world, it is not his place to cause havoc on this world. You could call him even a bookkeeper of sorts.

But one day he got tired of simply being a bystander in this world he was part of and told the chief god of them all, creation god Teko, that "I'm going to live as a mortal for a while. Don't worry, my power will still work and absorb all the things that should remain unspoken."

Teko simply asked "What will you do as a mortal?"

To which the unspoken god had to think for a moment until he came up with an answer "I'm going to become an innkeeper."

Teko was puzzled for a moment and asked "Why innkeeper of all things?" The unspoken god smiled and answered "By doing so, I can meet many interesting people and take care of them when they are most vulnerable. I also have some power over dreams, so that also makes things interesting. I wonder where I should put my inn though?"

Teko also thought for a moment until he proposed "How about the town of Etsi in the kingdom of Terras."

The unspoken god thought for a moment and replied "That town does have a decent flow of travelers, merchants and adventurers. Yes, it sounds like a good place to settle."

The unspoken god smiled and waved his goodbyes to Teko and left the plane of gods.

Teko was left there by himself, so he muttered without thinking "I hope this won't cause too many issues. Also, what will he do about the money? Will he just create it with his power or is he going to do an actual job? *Sigh* I hope he won't get swindled too badly. Good luck *****, and may you find what you are looking for."

Then the unspoken god appeared in a forest near Etsi so that he wouldn't appear in front of people. He then continued to walk towards the town and soon he found himself in a line of other people who were coming to the town. Before he came in contact with mortals, he changed his appearance to a human male around their twenties with black hair and violet eyes. He also made a casual outfit for him to wear. He didn't mind since it was a nice day and he could chat with other people while he was at it.

During one of the conversations with the person in front of him, he realized he didn't have a name to call himself. So he thought for a moment to think of a name. He then came up with something that satisfied him. He said to the man in front of him "My name is Jes Tacitus."

After a while of chatting, it came to his attention that there have been more monster sightings recently, so the roads outside the walls aren't exactly safe anymore. Then came the turn of a man in front of Jes to be questioned by the guards.

Then soon after came Jes's turn. One of the guards asks him "Who are you and why are you coming to Etsi?

Jes answered with a kind smile and said "My name is Jes Tacitus and I came here to start a business. I'm an entrepreneur, you see."

The man asked for identification of some kind and Jes just created one behind his back out of nowhere. The guard inspected it and said "This seems legit." He then hands it back to Jes and then says "For an entry, it is ten copper coins."

Jes just created them out of thin air while searching for his pocket. He then hands them to the guard and the guard then says "Thank you. Is this your first visit to Etsi?" Jes answers "Yes it is." The guard then says "Welcome to the town of Etsi. I hope you have a pleasant stay. You may go." Jes then said thanks and left. He also thought that he might use that line when he gets customers.

Something that Jes didn't pay attention to was that the other guard had looked at Jes with a disgusted look. The other guard then asked the first guard "Hey, didn't he have violet eyes?" The first guard answered yes and the other guard told him "Those are the eyes of someone evil, you know." The first guard then laughed a bit and said "That's just superstition. Let's call the next one in."

Then Jes heads to a place that sold houses and land. When he entered the building, the clerk who saw him had a displeased look on her face when she noticed Jes's eyes. She still smiled and asked him "How may I help you sir?" Then Jes asked if there was land near the town that was being sold. The clerk started searching for some papers and came up with a couple of papers that had land that Jes could purchase. Jes found a place some way away town that was just besides the main road most people coming from north came through. He asked for a price out of courtesy and then gave the coins to the clerk. Then the clerk did some paperwork and soon Jes just had to sign his name and the land was his. Then happy as can be, Jes left the building. Something that the clerk didn't mention was that no sane person would buy land outside in these times when the roads aren't safe, but she cares little of Jes's safety, for he had violet eyes.

Then the next place Jes had to visit was a place where he could get a business permit. He eventually found the place and entered it. There was a line of people in the merchant guild so he had to wait for a while. People who got glances of his eyes were worried that a man with violet eyes came to their guild. They were sure he came there to cause some trouble.

When it was Jes's turn, he asked the clerk there how to get a business permit. He was told that he'd have to pay a fee first in order to get the chance to do the test. She also told him that after the test, should he succeed, he'd have to pay another fee to get the full permit. Jes went through with all of this and eventually got the permit.

Now that he had land to use and a permit to start a business, he went to build his new inn. He had to wait for it to get dark, so that no one would see him casting spells that make a building. When it got dark, he went to work. An entrance that is welcoming, a reception desk, a dinning hall where the guests could eat and spend time, a kitchen to make the meals for the customers that are hungry, a place where merchants could put their carriage for a night, and then most importantly the places where the guests could rest. He built ten rooms, two of which had beds for two and the rest were single beds. He was satisfied with how the inn turned out. Now he had put a sign that told the name of the place. He had already decided the name in the merchant's guild as it was mandatory to tell the name of the business. The name of the inn was "Unseen Moon Inn". He put a sign with a pretty logo on it where there were two moons and a hollow circle where there is space for another one. There are two moons in this world, so the unseen moon is the third.

He then came up with another sign that told the customers "One night free per person. No questions asked." This strategy that Jes came up with would only cost a little, but it served as free advertising. And when he was done with the signs, he went inside the warehouse and took some alcohol from his infinite storage and put the barrels in the warehouse. He wasn't worried about food, since he doubted he would get any customers on the first night and he could go buy some supplies from town later the next morning. During the night, he built up magical defenses that repelled monsters from entering the land that he owned. Jes thought they weren't that powerful, but it later turned out that they were powerful enough to repel tier 7 monsters.

There are eleven tiers of threat in this world. Each person and monster is given one. Tier 0 is something that can't defend themself in any regard. Tier 1 is an average person. It goes up to tier 10 that are considered beings capable of toppling kingdoms. There are very few people that have achieved tier 7 and even fever has gone beyond that. People tend to stay at tier 4 or 5 when they train hard and only special people can reach higher tiers.

As expected, no customers came the first night, but he was ready to welcome the guests regardless. He then went early in the morning back to town to get some more supplies. Of course he closed his inn during this time so no one would enter it. The house was near indestructible and impenetrable if Jes closed it, so he had no fear of being robbed. Though he only thought that he put a minor protection on it where minor thieves couldn't enter, but he made it much more durable than he initially thought.

While Jes was shopping for supplies, people were talking that a building had appeared overnight. Some thought something magical happened and some thought that people just didn't pay enough attention.

When Jes got his supplies in order, he returned to his inn and put everything in order. Then he waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Over three weeks passed and no one had entered the inn. First Jes thought "Was it because of my power?" But he noticed that he suppressed his power to a point where he seemed a tier 1.

Then one night a customer finally came. Jes greeted the guest by saying "Greetings dear guest. Are you looking for a room for the night?" The guest seemed to be an adventurer. He asked "Is the sign out there telling the truth? Can I just stay here a night just like that?" Jes answers "If you are willing to spend your only free ticket now then you are free to do so. May I have your name?"

The man said "It's Brutus." And so Jes wrote the name "Brutus" on the ledger and gave him a key to room 1.

Jes noticed while exchanging the key that the man reeked of blood. Jes decided to ask "Returning from a mission?" Brutus says "Yes, it was a tough one." He then leaves and goes to his room. Brutus takes off his armor and goes to sleep. While Brutus was sleeping, Jes decided to heal the man so he may be in "tip top shape". He also looked in his dreams and it had some anguish in them, so he tried to soothe his sleep somewhat and give him pleasant dreams.

The next morning Jes was preparing breakfast for Brutus, who soon woke up to a smell of tasty food. Brutus put his clothes on and went down. As he was going down, he noticed that he felt much lighter than he did yesterday. When he got down to the dining area he said "Smells tasty." Jes just responded "I hope it will be of your liking." Brutus then told Jes "I haven't ordered anything. I don't have any money right now so I can't pay you." Jes looked at Brutus and smiled as he said "This is on the house." Brutus just sat down and waited for the food to get ready. When it came to his table, he couldn't hold himself, so he just dug in as soon as he could. Jes could soon hear the words "Delicious!"

When Brutus was done eating, Jes decided to sit opposite of him and asked "Do you mind if I ask you what is troubling you?" Brutus looked down for a moment and said soon after "I lost my money in the forest while fleeing from a red horned bear." Then Jes asked him "How do you think you will enter the town? Do they take tabs?" Brutus answered "They do, but it costs double." Then Jes smiled and said "How about I pay your entrance fee and you pay me later with the same amount?"

Brutus looks at Jes and says "It's not that big of a deal. I'm an adventurer so I will make the money in no time." Jes kept smiling and said "Had you considered your reputation with the guards?" Brutus asked "My reputation?" Jes said "Yes, they must keep a record of people who have passed the gate without paying. That also indicates that they may have a point system where the more you have committed this misdeed, the more likely they will tolerate your entry."

Brutus just answers "I haven't thought about it that way. But I don't plan to repeat the same mistake." Jes answers with a swift "You don't plan to, but you don't know if there will be more incidents like this. Just take the money and pay me back later." Jes hands Brutus the entrance fee. Then he says "And then there is the fact that you lost to a red horned bear. Are you proud of yourself?"

Brutus looked at Jes with a bit annoyed look "Then what was I supposed to do? The red horned bear is tier 4 and I'm tier 3. I had no chance against something like that. And the safe way to deal with a monster like that is to have three tier 4 adventurers just in case."

Jes looks at Brutus with a bit of a disappointed look. Then he says "You say a tier 3 can't beat a tier 4? Sure, the tiers are there for a reason, but you are clearly someone who is about to reach tier 4. And then there is the fact that you have potential to reach tier 6. By the gods, you certainly may fail to meet the gods' expectations of you."

Brutus slams the table, coins flying everywhere, and shouts "What do you know?! You don't look like someone who has reached even tier 2!" Jes just calmly says "I have an eye for these types of things. Sure, being cautious of those stronger than you is a wise way to do things. It is a way people survive to meet the next battle. But you said that you fled when you saw the red horned bear without even trying? If you can't challenge yourself, then how do you ever expect to reach a higher level of being? Legends are born from those who challenged themselves. Are you going to just stay a mundane adventurer or will you become someone greater?"

Brutus starts to look in awe at the man who seems much weaker than him. While he questions the fact that how would someone weak know something like this, he can't feel any other feeling than inspired. But he still questions whether he can truly beat that monster? Jes notices the man's hesitation and picks something from his pocket. It was a ring. Brutus asks "What is this ring?" Jes just calmly answers "A simple jewelry that will give you strength to push forwards. Take it and return it to me when you feel like you don't need it anymore."

Brutus puts the ring on him and he feels like he is much stronger than he was before. He is still cautious, but feels much more confident about his ability. He then leaves while saying "I will come back soon." Jes just waves and says "Please come again."

In the forest, Brutus is searching for his opponent. He goes to the same spot where he lost his money pouch and picks the coins that he could find. Once he's done collecting what he could find, he starts his pursuit of the red horned bear. It took a while of tracking, but in the end he found it. He then took up his sword and braved the storm.

An hour later Brutus comes back to the inn and shows Jes the horn of the bear while saying "I got that damn bear. What do you think of that?". Jes smiled, clapped his hands and said "Well done dear guest."

Then Brutus collects his things and leaves the inn while smiling proudly. Jes was now proud to have done a good deed as he helped a customer.

While in the adventurers guild, Brutus told about what had happened during the time he was out and some other adventurers became curious of the inn that Jes had. Some would visit the Unseen Moon Inn and pay for their nights. Jes would now get customers more frequently, but he was lucky he got even one per week.

So was the investment this time. What other troubled customer would visit him?