Spending My Retirement In A Game

"Well, well, and you’re all my Grandson’s Squires now?" Eisen asked with a smile as he looked at the four half dragons in front of him, while Kiron was standing next to the old man, happy to be back around him, before the Paladin Argon and the Mage Selena excitedly nodded their heads, as they were seemingly quite attached to Kiron. Rudia just slightly smirked, apparently being happy with her current position as well, although she simply wasn’t as expressive of such emotions. When it came to Morgus, on the other hand, he just scowled annoyedly.

It was obvious from the start that he wouldn’t directly accept Kiron as his Leader, but they seemed to have a bit more of a Rival-Relationship instead of being enemies.

With a light chuckle, Eisen looked at the time and then cracked his knuckles. "Well, most of us just got back from a rather long trip, so I hope you don’t mind if we head to bed for now. I’ll be awake in maybe 5 hours again anyway, so I’ll get to work then." The old man pointed out, and then slowly turned toward the door, although Kiron quickly stopped him.

"Grandfather, you will not sleep here?" He asked, and the old man scratched the back of his neck. "I mean, the room is full enough as-is with you five sleeping here as well. And while the kids and I can sleep anywhere without issue, Sky and Bree can’t. So yeah, I wanted to get another room." Eisen explained, and Kiron’s tail slowly started drooping down toward the ground before the old man sighed in response.

"Fine, I’ll just get a room for those two, and-"

"You know we can do that ourselves, right?" Sky pointed out with a slight frown, and the old man raised his brows and slowly nodded, "Oh, right, sorry." He replied, and then watched as Sky quickly turned around and left the room, while Bree started slightly panicking at that sight and hurried to follow her brother.

"I guess I’ll just sleep here then. You three, will you be fine?" Eisen asked with a weirdly gutted feeling as he looked at the three kids next to him, although he noticed that Sal already made a hammock for himself, Caria was sitting on a mushroom just large enough for herself that grew right out of the ground, and Melissa was simply cuddled up on the ground, pushing her knees into her hoodie while her Bees crawled around her to make it more comfortable for her.

And with a slight sigh, Eisen just looked back at Kiron. "That’s a good enough answer, huh?" He laughed, and then just leaned against the wall with a smile, "Then-"

"Huh?" Morgus interrupted the old man, surprised at what he was doing, "You wanna sleep on the ground or somethin’? You’re old, so get in bed, I’ll sleep on the ground." The Half-Dragon pointed out, but Eisen just shook his head with a slight laugh, "Oh, no it’s fine, don’t worry. I’m literally unaffected no matter what situation I go to sleep in." He said, and then raised his brows curiously, "Although... Hmm, Parc, Rouge, we’ll have to try something out tomorrow, so make sure your hammers are in good shape." Eisen whispered curiously, and immediately, the two apprentices looked toward Kiron confused, to see if Kiron thought he was speaking about what they thought he was speaking about, so the Half-Dragon slowly scratched his cheek.

"Grandfather, you don’t mean you want to heat yourself up, right?" Kiron asked, and Eisen immediately shook his head with a laugh, "Don’t be silly." He said, and while they for a moment relaxed, that soon changed, "Parc and Rouge will be heating me up. Or maybe I should ask Denmir to... Either way, I’ll be asleep, so they have to do the work." Eisen explained, and while Kiron, Parc and Rouge were trying to figure out if this was a good idea, Rudia slowly spoke up.

"Erm, what exactly are you all talking about?" She asked and Eisen just started to laugh a bit and then winked at her. "I think you’ll understand in a bit. Well, I’ll see you in the morning. Goodnight." Eisen said with a wave before logging out of the game. He noticed that Rudia was rather confused as the old man became silent, but he would have to see their reaction when he came back in a little while.

For now, Eisen just got out of the capsule.

---

Once he placed his foot onto the ground, Benjamin placed all his weight on it and then proceeded to stretch his body out for a bit, and then made his way through his bedroom toward his door and stepped into the hallway. It was early morning right now, but surprisingly, Benjamin could already hear someone in the livingroom.

They were too silent to be Katy and Sean, and Sophia and Benji should still be playing the game right now, so the only choice left was Tony. But when he approached the Livingroom, the one voice he heard became two, and Benjamin immediately recognized the owner of that voice, and slowly stepped into the space in front of him.

He quickly saw the tall, blond, blue-eyed man that married his daughter in front of him, although he was vastly different to the last time the old man saw him. Now, he was practically a wreck. Dark rings under his eyes, messy hair, a dirty suit, and he was just shaking as he bit into his fingernails nervously.

And the moment that he noticed Benjamin, Michael jumped up, simply scared, although he soon saw Benjamin’s arm and couldn’t avert his eyes anymore.

His laughter started with a quiet chuckle, but quickly moved toward a maniacal exclamation, where neither Tony nor Benjamin were entirely sure if it really was a laugh or a terrified scream.

"You... You got what you deserved! You were punished by God for your sins! H-He took your flesh to repay me for what you did to me!" Michael yelled out, and Benjamin just glared at him as he took a few steps toward him.

"Quiet." Benjamin told him, although a bit of Eisen seemed to be slipping out right now, because not only Michael had his eyes focused on the old man with a shocked expression, but so did Tony, who was just about to make Michael stay silent. But in the end, Benjamin couldn’t really help himself. He’s just been so angry lately.

"Sit down." The old man added next, and Michael’s legs immediately gave in as he dropped back onto the couch, just cowering in front of Benjamin as he kept approaching and closed his eyes for a moment. "The only reason you’re here is to answer me a very simple question." He said, and then opened his eyes again, although they were now changed into their golden state. "Are these the reason you called me the Devil the last time we saw?"

The moment that Benjamin opened his eyes and Michael could see the light golden glow they gave off, the man just sunk into the couch, pressing his body against it as if he just wanted to escape from the old man.

"Hmm, that’s answer enough, huh?" Benjamin muttered quietly, and then sighed deeply. He honestly despised Michael on any possible level, but... He was still the man that Melody married as well as Sophia’s father. So, Benjamin tried to make use of another ability of his.

Heat coursed throughout Benjamin’s whole body, and he immediately felt dizzy in response to the extreme fever he immediately developed as his skin became red due to the heat. He had an immense headache and felt stinging pains around his shoulderblades, while his skin felt like it was about to be ripped apart.

It was hard for Benjamin to even stay standing despite all of this, but in a manner of luck hidden in demise, his body had gone quite numb over the past few days and weeks, so the old man was able to manage the pain he was feeling as he squatted down in front of Michael, speaking with a calm voice that somehow immediately made Michael stop shaking, while Tony was simply in awe.

"Michael, I... I think you misunderstood something. These eyes? They are nothing more tha... than a gimmick; a trick. Color-Changing, Electronic contact-lenses. I am no devil, I’m just an... old man. My arm had to be removed because I was sick..." Benjamin explained, and the moment that Michael registered what he just heard, he shook his head in response.

"No, no! You... you are the devil! I was told so, the night before then!" Michael explained histerically, and Benjamin immedaitely looked at the man in front of him with a deep frown, "Michael, I’m sick and dying... I lost my arm, and have to see a doctor every day. Would the Devil leave this world so easily?" Benjamin asked, and slowly, it seemed like Michael was being convinced of what he was saying.

"But that means... I tried to have him hurt you and them... An innocent man, and my own daughter..." Michael muttered quietly as he sunk in deeper into the couch, although now it was because his body was losing all of its strength and he couldn’t hold himself up anymore.

Benjamin slowly directed a light gaze toward Tony and locked eyes with him, and from his son’s expression he could tell that he was thinking the same thing. Michael was speaking about the Greg incident of him just appearing in front of the house like that.

With a deep sigh that seemed to take all of Benjamin’s strength, the old man said the last thing that he could while his body was being influenced by his attempted Yang Demonic transformation, "Life isn’t black and white. Think for yourself. Who do you care for, who do you want to be? Do you love your daughter and your wife more than your god?" Benjamin told Michael, before immediately stopping everything that he had been trying to bring over from the game-world and dropped down onto his armchair, holding his hand in front of his mouth because he felt like was about to throw up.

Benjamin’s body was still red because of how his body clearly overheated, but at the very least the stinging pains from his head and back were gone now, and his skin wasn’t being ripped apart anymore.

It seemed like despite his body not accepting it, Benjamin’s transformation worked at least partially and managed to convince the currently easy-to-influence Michael into questioning his own thoughts, and Tony slowly spoke up, giving him the last push.

"You see it, don’t you? Just speaking exhausts him so much now... The Devil would never allow anyone to see him like that, would he?" He pointed out, and Michael slowly sat up straight and then jumped up from the couch and immediately ran away from the livingroom. Both Benjamin and Tony were confused and surprised, but they soon saw that Michael simply ran to the kitchen to throw up.