Ragnar was startled by the question, as that was not what he was expecting. "Your majesty… I… marriage, I…"
"Alright, alright, forget about it. Let's focus on other things. I admire your strength of character, child, but that's all you really have at the moment. Don't let your successful tribulation get to your head. You're too weak to be talking about the good or bad of the human race. These are things you're not yet qualified to even think about, so let's focus on something else. Tell me, why do you think you're being sent to your death?"
A hint of shame flashed through Ragnar's mind. It had been a very long time since he felt like a child being admonished by an adult, but before the emperor, that is what he truly was. Like the emperor said, there were too many things he was unqualified to know. But what he did know was that, despite the miniscule size of the empire compared to the origin realm, it was not just the humans of the empire who were being supported by the emperor.
Currently, the devils used the humans to farm their demons openly, but not many other races acted so blatantly despite feeling superior to humans. But this had not always been the case. As an immortal, Ragnar had access to a higher level authority on the Henali portal, and so he had read the history of the human race, as scarcely recorded as it was.
The human race was one of the most popular races to have as slaves realm-wide simply because they started out in the mortal realm, and unless they actively cultivated, they were unable to resist their superiors. As such, by restricting their ability to cultivate, most races took advantage of them. They had the intellect and mobility to be perfect slaves.
Back then, there were truly very few human forces worthy of note in the entire realm. Other than the Sephore family, there were only the Paladins, the Beast masters and the Merfolk. By the time the emperor rose to power, and single-handedly raised the prestige of the human race, the Merfolk had already been driven to the point of extinction due to the unique threat their bloodlines posed.
Although Ragnar was not exactly clear on what the emperor had done that changed so much, he knew that he himself was far from reaching such a level. He focused his thoughts and began listing everything that had raised his suspicions.
What greatly surprised him was that… even the emperor himself was shocked to learn of the Jorlam! It seemed the gap in communication in the empire was bigger than it had seemed. To some degree, it was expected. After all, the empire spanned galaxies. Not all places had access to the Henali portal equally. But something like this…
What Ragnar didn't know was that Jotun was genuinely much more alarmed that he let on. A growing Jorlam was not a rebellion against the empire, it was a rebellion against the Henali!
*****
After doing his research at the portal, Lex was relieved that the fruit he needed was not exceptionally rare. At least compared to the ore Lex needed to strengthen his own body, it was not a big deal.
Not wanting to waste any time, he teleported over to the Emporium and placed his order, while also collecting his latest batch of techniques for the library. They did not have the fruit in stock but they could get it soon enough, considering Lex's high customer level.
If Lex hadn't been suspicious that the Emporium was actually the result of a system, he would have directly given them a key and invited them to open a store at the Inn. It would be so convenient for the Inn.
When Lex returned to the Inn, he already had a list of tasks planned out for himself but two notifications made him pause. The first one was expected - someone had finally discovered the first Minor realm. Once the discovery had been made, the entrance to the Minor realm became a lot more evident and took the shape of a single wooden door. About a thousand guests had already entered the realm in the short few minutes Lex was gone to the emporium, and more were continuously entering. As for what was on the other end, there was no news yet.
The second news was unexpected. He had been sent a warning from Larry via the hologram. Apparently, there was someone identical to him at the Inn called William. The warning was not because they looked identical, or that William had expressed curiosity towards Lex once he found out about him. That was only a natural reaction someone would have once they learned someone looked similar or identical to them.
Instead, William and his brothers had displayed an interest in earth that unsettled Larry. Other than asking about Lex, they also asked a lot of questions about Marlo. They had explained the source of their curiosity was the fact that Marlo's name was high in the guest registry, and while that was a reasonable explanation for their curiosity, Larry felt extremely wary. He then also shared the news that Marlo was about to make a move against the prisoners on earth by himself and that Larry was intending on joining him. He invited Lex to join, if he was interested.
Lex sighed. The issue with William was a real headache, and in the back of his mind he had been considering returning to earth to confront his family. While he had been angry originally, he suppressed his anger and decided not to jump to conclusions until he heard their explanation. He also didn't want too much trouble caused on earth, as he still had lingering attachment to the planet he grew up on.
Yet there was also a part of him that wanted to forget all of that, and just stay at the Inn. It would be so easy to give up on those problems. But Lex had been trying to be more responsible lately, so he knew he couldn't just give up on it.
Lex sent him a letter telling Larry that he'd avoid William, and that he'd join him on earth. As for the repercussions… well, he couldn't control the whole universe. He would do what he could, but he held no expectations of becoming some random hero that protects the planet from every disaster.
