Spending My Retirement In A Game

Gonor looked around the room and stared deeply at the two people in front of him who he instinctively knew to have learned about the truth of this world. But in reality, he was rather interested in something else. And that was the one that revealed such information.

"The first couple ones were rather boring... but now it is you? You conceited old man..." Gonor muttered quietly, but Eisen just smirked at him, sitting in place as he started ripping the piece of paper in his pocket into pieces, the piece of paper that he had found in his Apron after waking up this morning that was left behind by Raziel. He wasn’t aware how she got into the Smithy, but Eisen was sure she had one or two tricks up her sleeve that she didn’t want him to be aware of.

The note said that whatever Artificial reveals the information will be killed by Gonor without any hope for revival, while the people of this world will have their ’current’ them killed, resetting them to what they were like before the information was given to them. The only person that could do both of these thigns at the same time was Gonor, the god of Combat, and it seemed like he was given the task to take care of these things amongst the gods, despite his other responsibilities.

"Now then, let’s get this over with." Gonor said with a rather blank expression as a blade formed in his hand, although he was basically stuck in place when he heard what Eisen said next, "Samuel is lying to you, you know?"

With a deep glare, the God of Combat stared at the man in front of him, "What do you even know? You’re just some random old fart that doesn’t know anything of this place, aren’t you?" Gonor said with a growling voice, and Eisen’s smile swiftly disappeared.

"Gonor, sit down." The old man said with a deep voice, pointing at the couch opposite to him, and while Gonor seemed to want to do anything but that, his legs brought him over toward the seat and he lowered his body onto it.

"This world is no game." Eisen said in a clear voice, and Gonor just laughed in response as he crossed his arms, "Nonsense! The Administrator said so, didn’t he?" Gonor pointed out, but Eisen sighed deeply and then stared at the god in front of him.

"You’re scared of Brody, aren’t you?" The old man asked, and Gonor just frowned deeply and glared at Eisen in return, "Scared? What nonsense!" He exclaimed, practically yelling, but Eisen returned a glare that made even a god shrink in his seat.

"Lower your voice, stop being so disrespectful. You don’t need to hide it. While you may not be scared in a usual sense, you surely must feel threatened. The god of combat, unable to beat a single man? Sounds impossible, doesn’t it? Amongst the gods, you are the one with the greatest singular might. So what would happen if Brody had chosen to take you and the other gods on? Would you have survived, or would you have ended up killed?" The old man asked, but before Gonor could respond, Eisen already continued speaking.

"You know, just recently, when I spoke to that man ’over there’, he was crying. A man of such might, brought to his knees by the actions of a single person. And that is Samuel Morgan, the man you know as ’Administrator’."

"Of course, he is...!" Gonor started, although he was obviously incredibly agitated at what Eisen just said, as if filled with anger over not having been the one to inflict such defeat on Brody himself.

"He is what? Stronger than you?" Eisen asked, and Gonor immediately stood up from his seat and stood in front of Eisen, "The Administrator is above me, of course! I am not a true existence, I am a fake! A fake that couldn’t beat another fake!"

"But this anger is real, isn’t it?"

"Of course it is! If he is just as fake as I am, then why did he have to be better than me?! I am supposed to be the strongest, but if what that man says it’s true, we were both created at the same moment!" Gonor yelled out, making the inside of this room shake while both Jaz and Garon were close to passing out while standing due to the sheer pressure that Gonor gave off, one that Eisen may have been able to feel, but somehow didn’t mind in the slightest. And with a grin, Eisen continued to bathe in that pressure.

"So you’re not angry about someone being stronger than you, but that someone is stronger than you without having earned it?" Eisen asked, and Gonor pushed the blade that he had pulled out of nowhere directly onto the old man’s throat, albeit only strong enough to draw a few drops of blood.

"Don’t speak as if you know me, you real one. A fake like me-"

"As I just said, you’re not fake in any way. You’re real, completely real, just like anyone else in this world. You were born, you grew, you ascended to godhood, and made choices yourself that brought you here. You earned your place, Gonor." Eisen said reassuringly, and with a light growl, Gonor pulled the blade away again.

"What do you want from me?" The God asked, and Eisen swiftly stood up and smiled at him. "A few things. For one, I want you to gather everyone that doesn’t believe in the words of Samuel and try to convince as many other gods that he is lying. And two, I want you to give me immunity. Don’t worry, I will not just shout the truth out on the street, but I will tell it to those few that I need to put my trust in."

"And why exactly would I do either of that?" Gonor asked, and with a clear voice, Eisen replied as if it was obvious, "So that you can get out of Samuel’s control, of course. Don’t worry, I doubt there will be any repercussions for this. Since you are even being swayed by me, it’s obvious that Samuel can’t brainwash you, and killing you will also be rather hard." Eisen reassured him, and with a laugh, Gonor looked at the old man in front of him.

"I’m giving you one year. If, within that year, you can’t show me absolute proof that you can get rid of that bastard, I’m killing you and anyone that you told about the ’truth’." Gonor said in a clear tone, and then turned around toward Jaz and Garon with a grin that showed his white, sharp teeth, "You lucked out this time. Let’s hope he finds that proof I want to hear." The God of Combat told those two, and then stepped back into the black space behind the crack in space that had formed before, and both Garon and Jaz immediately collapsed onto the ground, luckily while still being conscious.

"Wh-Wh-What was th-that?" Garon asked with a deep, fear-filled stutter, and the old man turned toward him with a broad smile on his face, "More proof of who I am, don’t you think?" Eisen pointed out, and then swiftly took out a small piece of paper and gave it to Jaz.

"If you’re going to take the offer I spoke of last time, go to the place shown here and speak to ’Komer’, a young man with bright red hair. I’m going to let him know that you might get there, and he will give you a spot on a ship going to Prototype, the town where you will set everything up in. The rest will be taken care of then and there. Don’t worry, you’re not in a rush, though. Take care of whatever you need to first and foremost." Eisen said with a smile on his face, and then silently left the room, leaving the two people in there behind for now, just stepping through the hallway and back down the stairs into the main space of the Adventurer’s guild, with everyone just staring at him, since they obviously noticed the screams that came from there before.

And so, stepping through that small crowd, Eisen made his way back outside and then directly toward the Stall.

Since he could now do it, he wanted to just tell them about everything right away, just completely reveal all of the information about this place and what was going on on the other side, and the fact that the Artificials are basically otherworldy travellers. He wanted to tell them about everything, each and every part of the truth.

But for now, he didn’t. For now, Eisen just greeted the others with a smile on his face and made sure that everything was working out properly. That there were enough items to sell there on the stall. He helped out Parc and Rouge a bit, instructing them on what they could do better, and practically just trying to be a good teacher to them.

Of course he also took some of the load off of Sky and Bree by helping out to actually sell some of the items, although he could rather constantly feel the glare of a certain spirit on the back of his head. Kirisho, who was looking at Eisen both nervously and suspiciously, and Eisen did really understand the reason for that. He had been acting rather weird lately, after all, and it seemed like Kirisho noticed that more than anyone else.

But hopefully, all of these things would change once Eisen revealed the truth. And while Eisen was rather tense the whole time because of this, he also felt pretty relieved since this meant that he finally didn’t have to lie to his friends like this anymore.

"Eisen, are you alright?" Sky asked after a little while, noticing that the old man wasn’t really paying too much attention to what was going on at the moment, a state in which Eisen couldn’t really be found that often, and Eisen raised his brows surprised at suddenly being spoken to and nodded his head.

"Oh, yeah, I’m fine, don’t worry." The old man said with a light smile, and although Sky seemed rather unsatisfied with that answer, he didn’t want to push further while there were this many people around. Instead, the group simply continued on working for the rest of the day, and then packed everything away in the Dungeon as the five half-dragons made their way outside with satisfied expressions after properly testing their new weapons.

And then, the group made their way to the Inn and were swiftly led into another private room, where everyone else was already waiting for them, but instead of sitting down, Eisen had Fafnir open the gate to the Dungeon and then stared at everyone while standing in the doorframe, "Everyone, come inside of here. I have something to tell you."