The Innkeeper

Chapter 1697: I didn’t kill your pets

His clear disdain for a fairy was the first time Grimshaw actually displayed any kind of negative emotion at all. Even then, he was not entirely dismissive of it, nor did he excessively degrade fairies. Instead, he, in his own way, asked Bob if a fairy could tolerate the influence of his presence.

Besides Bob, Grimshaw did not seem to treat the others in the crew as being anywhere near his equal. That was likely why he did not even react negatively to how Bob repeatedly insulted him. The effect he had on others was not lost on him, which is why he found the notion of a fairy being Bob’s captain so interesting.

“The question is, will you be able to tolerate the consequences of crossing the captain?” Bob asked dismissively. Since Bob had decided to follow the captain, how could he be ordinary? How many fairies did one see sailing across the universe in a wooden ship? One. Just one – the captain!

“Oh my, this is definitely a conundrum we should solve immediately. Fret not, I will take care of it,” said Grimshaw, as he waved a hand and pulled out a single, silver thread from the bodies of all the crew members – including Bob.

He stood up from his seat, his towering figure all the more daunting when he was at his full height, his presence all the greater. Yet he did not focus on spreading his presence. Instead, Grimshaw walked over to the edge of his private booth and knocked gently on an invisible wall, summoning the Jagged Stallion once more.

“Would you be so kind as to go fetch the captain of my friend’s crew?” Grimshaw asked the stallion politely, holding the thread out. “This should lead you right to him.”

“Of course, it is not a problem. I will go find this captain right away,” said the stallion deferentially, and even bowed to Grimshaw.

The friendly figure came and sat back right beside Bob, friendly and nonchalant, as if he had no care in the world.

“Would you like some snacks while we wait for your captain to come and resolve this issue?” he said, holding up a bag of some great smelling confectionery.

“Perhaps you should save the bribe for when the captain arrives,” said Bob, looking away from Grimshaw towards the stadium centre. A flash of weakness passed in his eyes, before returning to normal. “I do not think he will be too pleased with what the alligator is going through.”

“Then I will just have to placate him, won’t I?” Grimshaw asked, his constant, casual smile never leaving his face.

*****

“Listen, guys, we can talk about this,” said Jack weakly as he smiled at the tentacles erupting from the waters beneath him, aiming for him.

Naturally, the tentacles belonging to the numerous kraken within the water did not slow down at all, and just kept aiming for him with the precision of guided missiles.

Jack danced in the air, dodging them masterfully, mainly because his life depended on it.

“I really need to lodge a complaint with the Artica race,” Jack muttered to himself as he barely kept himself from getting skewered. “What kind of expo is this?”

The kraken, who were unable to land a single hit on him, became more and more enraged as he continued to dodge. One of them emerged from the water, showing its massive head, and then screamed at Jack in frustration.

“Listen, I keep telling you guys, I just woke up surrounded by those corpses. I did not kill all your pet sharks. Let’s be civil about this.”

The kraken, unfortunately, did not want to be civil. Just like Jack, they were all Earth Immortals, but their situation was rather unique. Unlike most immortals, who gained a level of invulnerability to various environments, the kraken could still not leave their ocean. They could not fly around, though a particularly heart attack inducing moment earlier had proven to Jack that they could jump out of the water from time to time.

As a result, their ocean became their domain, making them far stronger than other immortals in and around their territories. Unfortunately for Jack, that included the air above the ocean. He had tried to fly high up until he could reach space, but that plan had not worked.

A level meant to accommodate immortals, had an environment that could contain and even endanger immortals. As a result, the dangers of space here were far greater than the dangers of space back in the Origin realm.

Thunder rumbled overhead as dark clouds began to gather over the ocean, trapping Jack between the clouds and the water. While the kraken attacked from underneath, they also used bolts of lightning to attack from above.

During this time, Jack was doing his best to quickly learn how to use his powers so he could escape. He had learned that the trick to an immortal fairy’s powers was, predictably, related to the wings. Humans used their tenets to influence laws, and fairies used their wings to do something as well.

But unlike tenets, which could influence laws from the moment they formed, Jack had managed to figure out that he needed to temper his wings somehow, or improve them, and that would allow him to interact with laws much more easily. Unfortunately, he knew not how to do that, nor had he had any time to try.

“Guys, how about I bring you new sharks? Huh? I’ll go capture them from other oceans, and bring them here to you.”

That statement finally caused the kraken to pause their attacks for a moment as they considered the possibility of his suggestion. Seeing that the distraction had worked, Jack wanted to quickly escape, yet he restrained himself. If he could genuinely resolve his issues with the kraken, then there were some pearls underwater that he wanted to get his hands on.

The standoff had merely only begun when a portal opened in the air beside Jack, surprising him. He had tried hard to teleport out of here, but the kraken had sealed the space shut.

A Jagged Stallion emerged from the portal, relieving Jack. Fortunately, someone had come for him. But before he could relax, his wings began to vibrate, constantly creating fairy dust at a rate incomparable to earlier. His wings had detected trouble.