Spending My Retirement In A Game

"Ahh, sure, because it’s cute... For sure..." Stahl replied as he slowly nodded his head, looking over at his Grandfather and Cousin with a frown, before Eisen tuned in.

"Yes, Kyla, it’s very cute." He laughed lowly before continuing with the explanation. "But don’t worry, those aren’t real tattoos. That’s Jyuuk’s Minion Storage. The bones represent undead he has stored, and the pictures of animals exactly those animals. I’m pretty sure any occupation has that kind of storage skill, at least high-grade ones. I have a skill that lets me store my tools in different accessories, if I currently had any, that is. What I was using just now was Soul Storage though, an innate ability that anyone can use as long as they can control souls." He explained as he finally waved his staff around to prepare a bit of seating for everyone with his element.

It might be slightly uncomfortable considering that it was all made of rock, but it was enough to relax a little bit. "That’s pretty cool!" A young woman exclaimed, who seemed to be Evalia’s recommendation. "But just curious, what’s that big seat for?" She asked, pointing at the rock-seat that was obviously too large for anyone there to use before Eisen just shrugged.

"Oh, that’s where I’m sitting." He explained, and the young woman slightly sighed. "No offense, Sir, but you obviously aren’t big enough to sit on something that size." She said and looked at Evalia, who was grinning, waiting for her reaction to what was about to happen.

With a laugh, Eisen changed to his Titan-size and quickly sat down on his seat, and the woman, Zyra, looked up at him in surprise, then turning to Evalia, Jyuuk, and Brody. "Can you guys do that too?" She asked them with her head slightly tilted to the side, but Brody shook his head and spoke up.

"Nah, sorry. Eisen’s a Half-Giant so that is why he can change his size." He explained, and his seemingly Hispanic wife Vardia looked at Eisen with a calm expression saying ’I understand.’"So he isn’t as tall as he was before either?" Vardia asked, and immediately both Stahl and Alnico quickly shook their heads and crossed their arms in front of their bodies to form a cross.

"He absolutely is, trust us. He came to visit my family and me a few years ago, and as he was carrying his suitcase into our house, he hit his head against the doorframe to the guestroom, and the wooden doorframe broke down before his face did." Stahl explained, and everyone was looking at Eisen in surprise, excluding Alnico, who knew about this kind of thing happening all the time, so the old man could only chuckle in defense.

"...The quality of it wasn’t that great; it’s not my fault..." Eisen told them, before immediately shaking his head so that they could move on. "Anyway, that’s not what we want to talk about now. We need to explain to you what’s happening next." He said, before swiftly telling the five of them about what would be going on from now on, meaning that they would go back to Handor and then use a large ship to make their way to a pretty dangerous group of islands.

"But don’t worry, you’ll have everything you need. You can get almost any group of Occupations from us, we can teach you about a few different skills, and you’ll be safe and supported by a lot of people. But it’s going to be quite a different experience to what other players will have." Eisen explained to them before Kyla immediately nodded her head.

"You’re saying that like it’s a bad thing! Doing everything the same as other people are just boring!" She yelled out before Eisen quietly laughed. "Is that so? Well, if you think so, that’s fine. Once you reach level 15, you can join our Guild as well if you want, but you can’t do that just yet. Oh, and I meant to give you something." Eisen muttered as he looked toward the carriage.

"Caria, Melissa, Aulu, could you please bring everything out?" Eisen asked, at first confusing the five newcomers, before the door at the back of the carriage opened up, and a slightly weird sight assaulted them.

A young girl in a red dress and an even younger girl in a black-and-red striped dress riding on the back of a golden wolf. All of them having numerous holes in their bodies that a few dozen bees were crawling in and out of, while all of them were holding a few items in their hands, or Aulu’s case, mouth.

"Wh-What the hell is that?" Alnico exclaimed as she took a step back at that sight before Eisen sighed loudly. "Melissa, it’s nice to see that you can turn other things than yourself into a hive, but please stop that. That’s not the proper way to introduce yourselves to new people, is it?" Eisen told them with a sigh, reaching over to them before picking the two young girls up and setting them down on his shoulders as the bees and holes disappeared from the larger girl and the wolf, while all the bees swarmed toward Melissa and vanished in her body. "Sowwy!" Melissa exclaimed as she leaned against Eisen’s head from the side, and Caria tilted her head to the side as she looked at the people in front of her.

"Eisen, who are these people?" She asked before the old man chuckled and picked Aulu up as well, setting her down on his lap as the mechanical wolf-lady handed Eisen the bow in her mouth and then rolled up on his legs.

"These are new friends, Caria. And all of you, these two girls are my tamed monsters. Caria here is a Rank 3 Lesser Myconid Druid, and Melissa here is a Rank 3 Empress Bee." Eisen explained, and the two girls waved at the new people they hadn’t met before.

"Wait, those are the monster girls you mentioned? Those are little kids!" Stahl said with a conflicted expression before Eisen smiled at him. "Yes, they are, at least so far. I’m expecting them to grow up slowly, the higher their rank becomes. Caria looks like she’s about Kindergarten age now, so maybe next time, she’ll be at around Elementary School-age. Then Middle and then High-School. At least that sounds like the kind of progression that’s going on." Eisen explained, and Jyuuk nodded his head.

"Sounds about right. I doubt that Caria and Melissa will suddenly end up with adult bodies or stay like young children forever." He added before Vardia pointed at Eisen’s lap.

"And what is that wolf there? Is that your pet?" She asked just as calm as before, her outward nature entirely different from Brody’s.

"Well, I guess? But not really. I made her, after all. She’s a clockwork automaton in the shape of a wolf, and the horse over there is also one." Eisen explained, and Zyra frowned deeply while looking at the golden-furred creature. "You’re trying to tell me that you made a robot that acts like a wolf? Seriously? You expect me to believe that? Nat- Evalia! That old guy can-" Zyra started saying, for some reason getting riled up, before Eisen sighed loudly and pulled out some of the strings holding the seams together and pulled the brass-fur covered leather-skin away from the back, revealing not only the glittering mana-crystal muscles but also the clockwork mechanism underneath.

"Yeah, about that..." Alnico started saying, and Stahl continued as he scratched the back of his head, "Grampa is the best craftsman in the world. Give him an empty room and some time, and he’ll build you a fully-furnished bedroom out of dust." He explained, and Zyra, who was now slowly starting to understand that Eisen really could do these things stayed silent, while Kyla tilted her head to the side.

"Out of dust? That’s a lie, though, isn’t it?" She asked, confused before Evalia began to chuckle. "Tell that to the chair you’re sitting on." She laughed, and Kyla stared down at the rock surface that appeared out of nowhere a little while ago, and Eisen chose to change the topic swiftly.

"Anyway, let’s not talk about that for now. I was told that you have some ideas of the type of characters you want to play. Zyra, here’s a bow, since Evalia told me you want that. And Vardia, a staff so that you can start with magic. Then, Kyla, I have some gloves that I had a friend of mine equipped with a little bit of a metal lining. They aren’t great quality, but they should do. These are comparatively old items. Right now, I can only make items with a stat or level requirement that should be too high for you, so until I get my crafting skills to Rank 4 and get the side-ability to be able to choose what Rank my items should be you’ll have to live with that." Eisen explained to them, before moving onto his grandchildren.

"Right now, because of those reasons, I can only give you a simple, boring sword without much going on, Stahl. And I don’t have anything for you right now in general, Alnico. I haven’t made many instruments, but I’m sure Evalia should be able to help you out or lend you some of hers so that you can at least get some skills and figure out what you want to do, right?" Eisen suggested as he looked over toward Evalia, who nodded her head quite quickly.

"Yup, I’ll help you as much as I can." She answered with a smile, gazing over toward Stahl for just a second, before Eisen once more moved on, slowly standing up while Aulu jumped off his lap and then onto the front bench of the carriage.

"Alright, I think that should be all we needed to talk about for now. Take a seat in the carriage, and then we’ll make our way over to Handor." Eisen said as he shrunk down and sat down next to his mechanical wolf.

"Already? Don’t you think that’s a bit quick?" Zyra asked with a frown, but Eisen just sighed loudly. "Not really, no. We’re leaving with the ship tomorrow morning, and I want to introduce all of you to the other people that are coming with us. On top of that, we also have some other stuff to take care of before then." He answered, and Zyra crossed her arms and looked over at Evalia.

"Can’t we stay here a bit longer? I started recording a little bit before you came, of course, I didn’t record the conversation just now, but I want to at least show everyone a bit more of the town here for content." She said before Brody interjected.

"Listen here, stop being so cranky, will ya? Come with us or don’t, I don’t care, but we’re leaving in a bit. Look, there’s nothin’ interesting going on in these small towns. Maybe you can get an interesting quest here and there, but none of your ’content’s gonna be unique. People are gonna watch it, sure, but it’s gonna be pretty short-lived fame once others reach a higher level than you. So take the chance we’re givin’ you to travel to islands created by the gods and be the first and only one that can show people seafarin’ content or some shit, as well as all the unique monsters on those islands. Take it, or leave it, but shut the hell up." Brody told her in a quite lengthy monologue, before turning around and entering the carriage with his wife directly behind him, while Zyra stood there basically shocked.

"I’ve gotta give it to Brody, he’s a bit of an idiot with anything other than fighting, but you’re a bit rude, Z," Evalia added before two horns appeared behind Eisen from inside the carriage.

"Oye, I heard that!" Brody complained, and Evalia began to chuckle as she followed Kyra and Jyuuk into the carriage as well. "I know, Brody. Anyway, Z, are you coming or not?" The artist asked her friend, who ended up sighing loudly and nodding, before following Evalia into the carriage.

Relieved that he didn’t have to do anything, Eisen helped Caria and Melissa climb into the back part of the carriage and had Aulu lay on his lap so that he could sew her leather-skin back together before he made space for his grandchildren to sit next to him.