Spending My Retirement In A Game

"Thanks for all your work, Askr," the old man said with a smile, looking the emotionless wooden giant into its face. Somehow, although Eisen expected otherwise by this point, Askr didn't show any particular sign of emotion or specific personality, as though he were just a regular golem. But well, there were people like that as well, so Eisen didn't worry about it for now.

Though he would make sure to look into it at a later point. He placed his hand onto the platform and slightly pushed down as he released his transformations, shrinking rapidly and dropping down onto the platform just a moment later. From there, Eisen walked into the building carved into the wall, where some guards were already protecting the entrance.

Eisen nodded at them as he walked past, already starting to take off his armor. He placed it onto the mannequin in the storage space, and then continued walking to the central reception hall. Despite just being a building inside of the bedchambers, this place was practically a mansion on its own.

It wasn't directly enough for all the soldiers, but it seemed like Fafnir moved inside and set up the gate here, so that everyone could rest in the dungeon if necessary.

"Eisen!" Sky jumped up from his seat, walking toward the old man. Quickly, the others also gathered around him, and the old man filled them in on the things that they had to know. Kiron rubbed the underside of his chin in thought, "I see, so that's the first place that you'll head to?"

Eisen nodded, "Yes, I'll be going over there and talk to some people, see if there's anything else I can find out as a Giant. You all are of course also free to spend your time here as you would like to. Though it would be great if you didn't go anywhere without telling anyone," the old man said with a smile, placing his hand onto Caria's head as she practically pushed it against his palm.

Sky frowned lightly, "Are you sure that you don't want to relax a little bit before the other chieftains arrive? You haven't taken a proper break since we got to this country," he pointed out, but Eisen just nodded, "I'm fine, don't worry. I'll take a bit of a break until the meeting starts, but until then I have to figure out more about what's going on with this country's king."

"Would you like me to come with you?" Kiron asked, and Eisen smiled at him, "If you would like to, then you can go ahead. Though I don't know if we can really spend time together if I want to talk to the giants for a while. That being the case, most places have sections for non-giants anyway, so there should be things for you to do as well."

Kiron nodded, "I see. In that case, I would like to join you in your investigation."

"Me too!" Caria quickly exclaimed. Eisen looked down at her, as well as Sal and Melissa who stood right next to her, who both also seemed rather eager to follow along. They didn't really get that many opportunities to really spend time with Eisen since they reached this country; or rather, they didn't get as much as they would like.

They did still always stick to his side whenever he was with the group, but he did understand that with kids their age, and especially considering that they were tamed monsters, they tend to be a bit clingy.

"Alright. Would anyone else like to join?" the old man asked. Though, it seemed like the others all had their own plans already. The other Half-Dragon Knights were going to catch up on some proper training and then head out into town to do some sight-seeing.

Everyone here had heard about this country, and especially this city, since they were kids, so they were pretty excited to take a closer look and then report back to the people back home. Bree would do something similar, but to Eisen it seemed like she just wanted to relax for a while first.

She did help everyone out wherever she could during the trip, so now, given the opportunity to just take a break, she gladly took it. And in the meantime, her brother was going to go to every single bookstore or library in the city to see if he could find something interesting.

Any new stories that he hadn't heard of before, or retellings of historical events, particularly related to the creation of this city and the 'God of the Mountain' statue that protected it. And with that, now that all the plans were made, everyone split up and got ready to do their own thing.

Eisen changed out of the suit that he wore underneath his royal armor, and then changed into his casual set of clothes. Not even his work clothes, that he usually preferred to wear, but some simple shirts, trousers, and shoes. They weren't anything special, but just a regular outfit that you could see anywhere.

This country did tend to have slightly weird fashion choices sometimes, but for the most part, he should be able to fit in here even if these clothes had been made before they even came to this country. He didn't feel as comfortable in this outfit compared to his work clothes, the leather apron and baggy cotton pants, but it was much easier to blend in like that.

And so, they made their way out of the building, and back onto the platform that Askr was holding, "We're going to head out for a while. Please keep watch until we're back, alright?" Eisen asked of the wooden golem, and he just replied with a silent nod. Eisen jumped off the platform as wings sprouted on his back to catch his fall, before he shot up to his full size.

It was still a bit shorter than the height of a full giant, but it was enough for now. Not everyone in this city was a full giant, or one at all, after all. He hasn't had too many issues walking around as a half-giant until now, at least.

Eisen picked up Kiron and the kids, and then made his way outside of the castle. He tried to hide himself well as he left, to make sure not too many people outside could see that he came out of the castle, but there were still a few here and there that he couldn't fully hide from.

Even then, he was able to simply start walking through the streets without worry, with Kiron, Caria, Melissa and Sal seated on his shoulder.

Compared to the other larger cities that they had been to, this one seemed a lot more developed. Most buildings that had been created for the giants outside of this city were built into nature; either into large trees or carved into hills and mountains, but in this case, they had simply constructed full-sized buildings for all the giants.

And that didn't surprise Eisen either; with the God of the Mountain in their sight every single day, the artisans and craftsmen of this city must have had the urge to show off their own skill. At least, that's what Eisen was feeling right now, but he was able to hold himself back a bit.

It didn't take all too long for them to reach their destination, though. As a giant, places always ended up being a lot smaller than they initially appear. And so, they made their way to the Giant's Blood Plaza, which had been built around one of the few 'supporting' statues beside the God of the Mountain. There were things scattered around that painted a much bigger picture here.

Objects belonging to the Statue, like a sword and shield, both in extreme disrepair, as well as some pieces of jewelry that had fallen off the God of the Mountain as he so strongly tried to protect this city. And then, there was this place. In the center of the plaza, an arrow dug into the ground, with splatters of stone blood clinging to it, dripping off it and forming a small puddle on the ground.

The wound the blood came from was somewhere on the Statue's leg, it seemed.

Either way, this arrow and the giant's blood had become one of the symbols of the city, and the place that many people visited in their day to day life to pay respect to the god of the mountain, as if praying to it. In all honesty, it wouldn't surprise Eisen if an actual god had created the statue, using it as a sort of substitute for a church.

At the very least, this whole mountain and the art carved from it was a lot more awe-inspiring than any other structure that he could remember seeing thus far.

That being the caes, Eisen wasn't here to marvel at this wonderful creation; he was here to figure out what was behind the mysteries of this city. Cause it was clear that there were many questions floating around his head.