Though midnight at Illue was no different than any other time of day, still bustling with people and danger, Grey Kat always had a long moment of peace at this time.
Because, yes, the bar provided alcohol 24 hours a day, and yes, the inn also provided dinner if you ordered. But unlike the non-expensive breakfast special that was cooked in a big batch, or the reasonably priced rooms, dinner and alcohol here were rather expensive.
Sell-your-soul kind of expensive.
Well, it was the inn of the best chef in Illue. And it was also the rare kind of place where you could get a 3 Cherubim-star, five-course meal made of S-ranked monster ingredients. Fresh. Sometimes still half alive, just to keep the thrill going.
Even the richest person in Illue usually treated themselves only once a year. It was supposed to be special. It was supposed to deter people from wandering into the inn at night, ensuring its patrons enjoyed the peace of a proper night's rest.
Luke was sitting behind the counter, his phone playing stitched-together videos of Asher entering the 88th-floor rogue rift that morning, achieving S-ranked clearance, and summoning the missing party back without fail.
How did they know it was S-ranked?
Well, 20 minutes after he entered, the rift was cleared. With everyone returning alive and intact.
For reference, F-ranked clearance was when the rift was successfully cleared, but there were no survivors.
D-ranked was when the rift was cleared, but only the ones who actually did something came out. Still injured, but alive. The non-contributors, though… gone.
C-ranked was when everyone inside came out, contributor or not, still injured. B-ranked was kinder: the ones who did the most in clearing the rift got healed, the rest were left to limp home.
Now, we enter the top clearance types.
A-ranked meant everyone in the rift was healed, no matter how close to death they'd been, and regardless of their contribution.
And last but not least… S-ranked.
Everyone was healed, contributor or not, mortal injury or not. And… whoever had perished inside would also have their bodies returned. Yes, even the ones who'd been reduced to decorative splatter.
Because, shockingly, before Kim Daechan's party investigated the strange phenomenon that turned out to be the rogue rift, a three-man party had been sucked inside. All of them had died.
And as you guessed, all the dead bodies came back too.
"...receiving gratitude from friends and families, for making it possible for a proper burial. Is this the start of Asher Fourstorm's return from retirement? Stay tuned on LCC News," the anchor said, right as Luke heard the bell atop the inn door ring.
He raised his face to see Asher striding in, tired. Somehow more tired than when he was filmed teleporting back from the rift after it was cleared.
"Boss," Luke stood up. "Welcome back. Did they stop you from going home immediately? Those associations—"
"No, it was the gold-to-solen exchange rate," Asher waved Luke off.
Luke blinked. Of course. This inn master, his boss, converted all his money into gold bars and stored them somewhere out there, savings from his meteoric rise to being one of the world's strongest.
The problem was the miracle alchemist who created the Ang Elixir had set a very specific price ceiling, maximum of three times its original cost if resold, locked in at almost one billion solen (999 million, to be exact) via an owner-inherited magic contract.
Even when it was gifted, the recipient still had to symbolically pay that amount to appease the contract. Meaning, in practice, it was usually handed over with something of equivalent value to pay it off so the paperwork gods could rest easy.
So yes, you could imagine how the Thief King must've had to leave behind something equivalent to 999 million solen when he stole his elixir.
In short, Asher was exhausted because he'd spent some time calculating the exact exchange rate between gold bars by weight and solen, then shipping it all to Giovan's place. Not because of the rift. The man had fought monsters and gods with less effort.
"Go. I'll take over the shift."
"Huh? Are you not going to rest tonight, boss?" Luke asked.
"It's fine. Go."
"Yes, sir!"
After Luke left for his dorm in the underground part of the inn, leaving him alone for the night shift, Asher took out some items from his spatial storage. Some change in gold-converted solen he unhurriedly put inside the safe and… boxes of expensive bottles of soap and shampoo.
He took some out of one of the boxes of each type, disguising it as not-so-new supplies… ahem, heaven forbid anyone think he was spoiling a guest. He then climbed the second floor to place it inside the storage room for guests.
Now, inside his spatial storage was one or two bottles of new expensive body soap and shampoo, alongside a glittering vial of Ang Elixir he just got from Giovan. One was priceless, the other just smelled like it.
He closed the storage door and walked downstairs, cleaning the counter of any proof of what he just did. Plastic bags and plastic covers from where he purchased the expensive supplies went directly to the trash outside.
Some inn patrons came and went through the night. Some went downstairs to get their delivered food. Yes, Illue was still a functional place, although lawless. And all of them greeted him with a lot more reverence than usual.
Ah. The news about his 'return from retirement' must've made people anxious.
At four in the morning, as usual, the kitchen crew woke up and started the usual breakfast menu prep. Asher, the chef, led them as usual, already busying himself with cutting fresh fruits when the next shift covered the counter.
The clock struck seven, and the breakfast hall started to be filled with patrons as usual. As expected, after yesterday's deal, something else buzzed in the conversations.
Asher took off his apron, making a beeline toward the second floor, took out the expensive boxes of soap and shampoo, and walked toward the door at the end of the hallway.
He knocked.
The beautiful lady inside opened the door, only in an inner robe for sleeping, raising her face at him.
"Morning. I'm here to distribute soap and shampoo," Asher said, nonchalant. Acting his best to show he was doing this for everyone.
She smiled, and as usual, her eyebrows didn't shift. "Of course. Please come in," Lim Miao said, letting him walk past her inside, straight to the bathroom.
The man did so without letting his eyes stray, and left with the unfinished soap and shampoo. This was an inn, not a hotel, after all, so even he wouldn't bother changing them between patrons… normally.
"Should I reset the hot water while I'm here?"
"No. But can you come later after dinner time?"
"Sure."
"Thankies."
When he came out, Luke was strolling toward him from downstairs with cleaning supplies. He saw him and said, "Oh, distributing new soaps? Boss, the one at room 3 almost ran ou—"
Asher dodged Luke's hand from taking one of the body soaps from the box. He glared at him until he heard Lim Miao's door close properly. "Take the usual ones from the storage room. These ones are off limits."
Luke blinked at him, making a dumb face, and nodded. "Okay."
The kid didn't get it, but that was fine. Not everyone was ready to understand the complex soap politics of the Illue Inn.