Spending My Retirement In A Game

"Here you go, this is the new Inn... we had to build one after all those Artificials started coming here." Brak pointed out, and Eisen swiftly nodded his head with just a light smile, "Got it, thank you. Well then, is the market around here as well? Oh, and do you need a permit to set up a stall here?" The old man inquired, and the Bear-Beastman that guided them through town after his shift ended just looked at Eisen surprised.

"You want to set up a stall? I mean, you can just sell stuff from the streets. Technically you could set up your own stall as well, but most people that sell from proper stalls rent one from the town for a day."

"Oh, perfect!" Eisen replied immediately, "So we can just pick any spot?" He asked, and Brak slowly nodded his head in response.

"Yeah, basically." He said with a bit of a puzzled expression, and Eisen turned over toward his group, "Alright, we’re setting up the stall over there, and then you two are heading out of town again, right?" The old man asked as he ran his head over Fafnir’s snout, and before Brak could ask who he was talking to, a short figure appeared on top of Fafnir’s back.

"Yup. I’m really curious about how people around here fight. They should be able to navigate the forest really easily, right?" Sigurd asked excitedly, and Eisen moved his fingers through his beard in thought, "You would think so. Let’s just see. For now, let’s do that then. I’ll head inside and get us rooms for tonight already, so go ahead and pick a nice spot for us." The old man suggested, but was quickly stopped when some mist streamed out of the amulet around his neck.

The woman that was formed from just that mist simply smiled at Eisen and shook her head, "I will do it. You can go and choose yourself." Kirisho suggested. Smiling, the old man replied, "That would be great, thank you."

"Of course." Kirisho replied, and then swiftly turned around and headed toward the Inn, before Sky looked up at him, "You think we should really let her do it alone?" He asked, and Eisen nodded his head in response.

"Yeah, why not? She’s a lot better with people now, and she doesn’t freak out as much in general. If there’s an issue, she can just return to the amulet instantly anyway. So let’s believe in her for a bit."

"Fair enough." Sky replied with a light shrug, before the group started making their way toward the marketplace, followed by a nervous Brak, "H-Hey, that just now, was that a Ghost?" He asked Eisen, who nodded his head as if it was completely normal.

"Yeah, she is. Why?" He asked, and Brak just returned a wry smile and shook his head, "Nevermind..." He muttered, and then looked over toward Parc and Rouge with a nervous expression, "A-And what kind of monster-blood do you two have in you? Or are you full monsters as well?" Brak asked, and both of them just looked at each other before Rouge stared back at him, "We’re just humans..." He pointed out, and for some reason, Brak didn’t really know if he should be relieved or disappointed at this revelation.

Either way, he didn’t have much time to think about it, since he had something else to worry about once the group reached the marketplace and found the right spot. Because immediately when that happened, Sigurd hopped in and out of the dungeon and started setting up the whole stall piece by piece, and within just a few minutes, it was mostly set up and just needed to be sorted properly by everyone. And then, Eisen had a bit of a question for Brak.

"Alright, so... Is there any place where I can properly smith around here?" Eisen asked, and Brak scratched the back of his neck and pointed down the street, "Well, the smithy is down there... It’s a bit set into the ground though, because it would be pretty dangerous otherwise..." Brak explained, and Eisen moved his fingers through his beard with a light grumble.

"So I can’t just smith out here?" Eisen asked, and Brak looked at him confused, "Erm, no? There’s no smithy out here... And even if there was, that would be too risky. Even if the whole forest can’t properly catch fire, some smaller parts of it can, and will." The Bear-Beastperson pointed out, so Eisen just slightly sighed in response.

"Got it. Then I think I’ll head off to meet that Copper Dragon instead. If I hurry now, depending on the trial, I might be back by tonight or tomorrow morning..." He muttered to himself, and Brak looked at him confused, "Hey, hey, not everyone can take a Dragon’s trials. And even if you could, wouldn’t you be taking it a little lightly?"

"I think it’s the opposite, really." Brak was swiftly interrupted, by none other than Kiron who proudly stepped up to the side of his Grandfather with a broad grin before that old man could even say anything, "I think every Dragon whose trial my grandfather took so far vastly underestimated him. He will pass any trial with ease!"

Once more utterly confused by what he just heard, Brak looked at Eisen, hoping for him to clear up what Kiron was speaking about. And so, the old man did just that. "Yes, I’ve already taken three trials and passed them. The trip we’re on right now is to get to the last two dragons in the first place." Eisen explained, and Brak really didn’t know how to react anymore. He wasn’t sure if he should even believe this story he was just told.

"Erm... Yeah, if you want to find him, I’ll draw you a map, I guess?" Brak said with a wry smile, "Just come to my house with me, I’ll give it to you there." The Bear-Beastperson suggested, so Eisen just nodded his head with a smile and looked over toward Sigurd and Fafnir, "Alright, then you two, come along as well. We’ll head out of town together. Parc, Rouge, try to make some smaller items if you can to replenish the stock a bit. And you five, please just make sure nobody messes with the stall or Sky and Bree, alright?" Eisen asked of the Half-Dragons in front of him, out of which Kiron was the first to agree.

"Of course, Grandfather! Good luck on your trial!" He exclaimed, and Eisen just lightly chuckled and nodded his head, "Thank you. I’ll try not to disappoint you." The old man said with a light smile, and then just slowly turned around, following Brak together with the three monster kids as well as Sigurd and Fafnir to his house. Of course, they also took Aulu and Cabarum with them, so that they could later actually get to the Dragon quickly.

Brak’s house wasn’t that far away, actually, just a ten minute walk that Eisen used to properly take a look at the town. Or rather, for the town to take a look at Eisen, since the old man was still walking around with his size fully increased. It just felt comfortable to him to be this large, so that’s the choice he ended up making, no matter if he pulled that much attention to him. In the end, it didn’t really matter anymore anyway.

Once they reached Brak’s house, the Bear Beastperson stepped inside and took a few minutes to come back out with a folded up piece of paper in his hand, swiftly giving it to Eisen, "Here you go. It’s not a complicated trip, but just to be sure. Mostly you have to just go directly east. There will be a rather large and obviously unnatural tree. And with unnatural, I mean that it’s made of things like metal, crystals, rock, and so on. You can’t miss it, really. Either way, on the far side of that tree, there is the entrance to a cave built underneath that tree. That’s where the Copper Dragon lives."

With a curious expression, Eisen took the map and tried to imagine the tree. And in the end, he also managed to come to one conclusion. That the ’Experimental Seeds’ really were something created through this Copper Dragon’s Gift. It would be too big of a coincidence otherwise. Crystal Seeds, and Metal Trees. Those had to be connected somehow.

"Perfect, thank you." Eisen replied, "I’m treating you to a drink once I’m back." He said with a wink, and Brak just looked at him with a wry smile, "Sure you will. Well, either way, be careful. The whole area around that large central tree is made of unnatural materials, and are pretty dangerous. There’s some plants that are basically just needles or daggers, and then there might just be random fruit falling down from the trees that can be really really dangerous if you’re hit by them. They’ll also be made of metal, rock, or crystals after all. So just be careful, it’s not a fun area to be around. But at least there aren’t any monster there." Brak explained.

With a broad grin, Eisen crossed his arms excitedly, "Seems like we won’t have much of a material shortage anytime soon, huh?" Eisen muttered with a loud laugh, and then extended his hand to shake Brak’s again, just as another proper ’Thank you’.

And then, rather excitedly, Eisen looked down at the map and made his way out of town in the direction that it sent him. Just a little while outside of town, the smaller group stopped again, however. Since now, it was time to set the Dungeon up.

They needed a good spot to do so, of course, since now they would be opening the largest gate. It would naturally draw some attention to it, which is exactly what they wanted, but it would require a fair amount of space, which was hard to get in the jungle.

But luckily there was a little bit of a clearing directly at the side of the road that wasn’t really that hard to find. You could spot parts of the Dungeon Gate pretty easily while walking down the road, at least.

"So, all the floors are ready to go and properly set up?" Eisen asked Sigurd, just to make sure that everything was really ready and he wasn’t pushing it to open the dungeon, but the Core Guardian just shook its head immediately in response.

"Don’t worry, everything’s just perfect. We can properly get started now. You just go and get your fourth Champion title." Sigurd suggested, and with a light chuckle, Eisen nodded his head.

"Fine. I’ll be back soon. Just try to somehow let me know if anything is wrong, alright?" The old man asked, and then swiftly climbed on Cabarum’s back together with the three monster children, to finally meet the Copper Dragon.