Spending My Retirement In A Game

Eisen didn't know what these patterns were supposed to be, but he knew that there was some kind of meaning to them. It couldn't just be a coincidence that the pattern that Eisen was subconsciously obsessed with could be found on the coins of the country that he was born in.

Maybe he would be able to find something out in the city that they were heading to, something that the Grandour would be able to tell him if he asked. He should know the history of the currency, at least. Or so Eisen hoped.

"Is something wrong?" Kirisho asked with a concerned frown. Eisen turned his head toward her and smiled, "Everything is fine, I'm just a bit confused about something. It seems like I'm subconsciously obsessed with those patterns, and I honestly don't know why that is." The old man explained as he scratched the back of his head.

"Oh? It is not just because you like how they look?" Kirisho asked. Eisen looked at her dress to look at the patterns on it, "Of course, I do like how they look. But I don't understand why I'm particularly obsessed with this pattern to let it influence my craftsmanship to this extent. That usually doesn't happen with me, at least not all too often."

"Not too often? So this kind of thing happened before?" The Mist Spirit inquired. The old man thought about it for a moment and nodded his head, "Of course, I think it happens to everyone at some point. You have some kind of signature thing you add into your work, your own 'style'. That's why you can see similarities between two different artworks painted by the same artist, and two different songs written by the same musician. Of course I had that kind of thing myself at some point."

Eisen thought about the last instance of this that he could really remember, "Although... I've tried my best to get rid of that for a long time. So that what I made would be more 'neutral', and more fitting to what the customer wanted. But when I was just making something for myself, I would let my mind slip and made something like how I wanted to make it, you see? And during those times, something like a 'pattern' presented itself to me. But it was never a literal 'pattern' like this."

Kirisho smiled softly and pulled at Eisen's arm to get him to sit down and relax again, "Don't worry, I'm sure there's some reason behind it. After a hundred thousand years of working as a craftsman, wouldn't it make sense for your own style to have developed itself? Especially since you never really had 'customers', and only made the things in the way you wanted to make them. That's what I heard in stories about you, at least." Kirisho explained.

Eisen looked over to her and nodded his head. That would make sense, at least. He felt ridiculous for freaking out like that now. That was probably the reason behind it. And maybe because Eisen was a Giant and lived here in this country for a long time, even presenting himself as a Giant most of the time, this country made the pattern that Eisen placed on a lot of his items the pattern of their currency.

That would make sense at least, Eisen and the other Originals were beings that basically everyone knew. They had to have an immense impact on culture all around this world, as weird as that sounded. Eisen slowly closed his eyes and deeply breathed in through his nose, before breathing out through his mouth to calm himself down a bit again.

Eisen placed his hand onto Kirisho's and smiled at the woman sitting next to him, "Thank you. You really helped me calm down a bit." The old man thanked her, while Kirisho smiled back and leaned over toward the old man.

--- 

Eisen took a deep breath as he stepped out of the Dungeon and felt the fresh air on his body. The giant country was in the northern part of this world, so it was obviously rather cold here. Since winter was approaching in this world, a lot of the trees were obviously losing their leaves already, and it was getting incredibly cold. At least compared to the weather that Eisen experienced in this world so far.

But it was a nice change of pace, honestly. He just had to make sure that the golems would be alright. If it would start snowing, their joints might freeze over and they could have trouble walking. He might have to add a self-heating function to prevent that.

It seemed like during the night, since they were rather high up on this mountain, some of the golems were actually already affected by something like this. Askr could simply infuse himself with flames for a moment to get rid of the ice, but the other Golems were quickly taken care of by Eisen's element.

He spread the flames around them, and made them just hot enough to melt the ice while not damaging any part about them,

And after that, they all continued. Luckily, for now, Eisen could continue with his justification for moving around in this giant form, since they still needed to get down from this mountain. It once more had the same sorts of steps downward as it had upward.

Although, that in itself made Eisen pretty curious. Why would someone create steps like that leading to nowhere special? There wasn't any sort of temple up here or anything. Sure, it was a nice spot to relax, but that was it. 

Well, Giants were deeply connected to nature most of the time, so it made sense at least to an extent for them to want the ability to easily get to a spot like this.

As Eisen was walking down the steps, he actually spotted another Giant walking up them. It was an elderly Giant, meaning that he had to be at least 700 years old. Probably even older, at around 800-900 years. 

Of course, being a Giant, he was still physically fit and didn't really look his age. Eisen was able to spot that he was elderly since his situation was basically the same.

When they were passing one another, Eisen and the other giant gave each other a quick nod. But surprisingly, despite Eisen being in his True Demonic form, the other elderly Giant didn't really react in the way that Eisen expected.

Everyone else he met was at least a little bit surprised, but this one really wasn't. But then, when they locked eyes for that single moment, Eisen felt a weird sense of nostalgia creep up on his mind.

He stopped in his track and nearly had Askr accidentally crash into him. Considering where they were, that would have been a bit dangerous.

"Excuse me, but could it be that we know each other?" Eisen asked with a soft smile on his face.

The other man looked back at Eisen and then shook his head, "Sorry, I don't think so. I don't know any Demon-Giant Halflings." 

Eisen raised his brows surprised. It was true, he did look like he was a Demon-Giant halfling. Considering that he looked like a bit like a Demon when in his normal size, that was a fair assumption.

"Ah, actually..." The old man released his True Demonic transformation. He shrank down quite a bit, but the elderly Giant in front of him raised his brows surpised. Or rather, shocked, "By the gods... Eisen! Long time no see!"

The old man grinned in response. He was right. These two did know each other before, "I guess you could say that. Would you mind coming along with me for a while? I think there's something the two of us should talk about."

"Hah! Of course! Didn't see ya in a hundred years, and when ya show up again, all you do is complain! What's it about this time?" Despite the fact that this Giant's words seemed rather disgruntled, he was wearing a broad smile on his face. The kind you have when seeing a friend again for the first time in forever. 

"I'll explain on the way. It's kind of complicated." The old man entered his True Demonic transformation again, and the two started walking down the stairs. The other giant complained with a loud groan, "And here I was, hoping to get some time to myself up there!!"

"Sorry about that, I'll let you go back there later." Eisen laughed slightly. But the other Giant just chuckled once, "Right, as if I'm going back up these damn stairs one more time! Either way, who's your friend? Don't see his kind 'round here too often."

"...His kind?"

"Ascended wood giants, of course! What'd you think I was talkin' about?"

"Well, he's not actually a giant." Eisen replied, "He's Giant, but he's not alive, technically. He's a Golem I made out of an Ironbark tree that grew on top of a mana source."

"...Huh, that so? Really looks like a wood giant. Well, doesn't matter. So, what did you wanna talk about?" The Giant asked. Eisen looked at him and let out a deep sigh as he thought about how to explain this situation. But in the end, he simply started at the beginning.

Once Eisen and the other Giant reached the bottom of the steps, the old man's story was finished and the Giant stared deeply at the old man's face to see if he was telling the truth or not.

"And when you just saw me, you recognized me? Remembered stuff 'bout me?" 

"Not... exactly. You see, when I see something or someone, or hear certain phrases, or get into specific situations that have the potential to make me remember something, I'll feel a weird sense of nostalgia gathering in my mind. And then, the next time I sleep, since I actually need pretty regular sleep again, I can end up remembering a couple of things." 

"Ya really did forget everythin', huh..?" The other Giant asked.

"I didn't just forget everything. I'm a different person now. I lost all my abilities. Well, nearly all of the, I guess. I still have... some memories."

"Ah, those from yer life in that other world you would sometimes talk of?" The Giant asked as if it was natural. Eisen stopped in his track and stared back at him, "I told you about that?"

"Eh? Of course ya did? How else could I help you with your troubles?" The Giant groaned loudly and annoyed.

Eisen looked back at him with a deep stare and locked eyes with him, deeply wondering about what exactly was going on. How did he just coincidentally meet this man, "I told you my story... Now you tell me yours."