Spending My Retirement In A Game

Eisen looked around the plaza. This place really was quite filled up, with both Giants and non-Giants, of numerous different races or clans. The capital city was a neutral ground; it wasn't a place like most other clans that had mostly one clan living there, but it was truly a mix between nearly all of them. Of course, that did exclude some clans. Eisen hadn't seen a Cloud Giant yet, for one.

And the forest giants were also a rarity here, but both of those things were to be expected. Cloud giants refused to engage with others, something that is deeply engrained in their culture, while Forest Giants simply strived in nature. And a giant city like this was really anything close to nature. Though there were still a few of them here and there.

As for the places created for the non-giants, that was handled pretty well too. The buildings around the plaza were pretty high, decently taller than your regular giant. And that was where the places for the non-giants had been built, so that they could view the arrow without the danger of being stepped on by the giants.

Everywhere he went in this country, Eisen kept seeing pretty smooth ways that a lot of these issues were solved, though everything was somewhat obviously still centered around the giants.

Non-giants did feel like an afterthought a lot of the time, despite making up the vast majority of the population, but considering the body of a giant as well as their natural inclination to prefer their 'base', giant size, cities really had to be constructed in this way for it to make any sense at all.

For now, Eisen made his way toward what seemed to be the liveliest pub. It was getting later in the day, so people were finally starting to gather at the end of their workdays. Eisen stepped through the giants' entrance, and carefully placed Kiron and the kids onto a platform made for non-giants, or for giants who wanted to shrink down for a bit. Something that Eisen also briefly did.

It was rather tough talking to the others when he was a giant, at the very least without being overheard by practically everyone around.

"Alright, for now, let's just enjoy ourselves a bit, alright? You kids don't worry about things too much. Have some food as well, I'm sure you're all rather hungry," Eisen smiled, glancing down as Melissa tugged at his hand. He looked down at her with an apologetic smile, "I can't join you just yet, I wanted to talk to some of the people here.

I'll join you later though, alright?" He asked, and though Melissa pouted slightly, she did still nod her head.

The others didn't seem that excited about it either, but Eisen did tell them that this was how it was going to go from the beginning. Even Kiron seemed a bit worried, though at least he understood that what Eisen was going to do here was more than just necessary, "We'll also mingle with some of the people here.

Knowing these three, it shouldn't be too hard to get people into a talkative mood," the half-dragon pointed out, and Eisen nodded in agreement, "You can say that again. But really, just eat some food, relax for a bit, and chat with some people if you can. Don't make it the absolute priority. I'll join you four soon, alright?"

"Of course. Be careful though, grandfather," Kiron advised, "Ever since we got to this city, I've had a slightly... awkward feeling in the back of my neck. I don't think I can explain it properly, it's just..."

"It's an instinct. Don't worry, I feel similarly from time to time. And especially in a place that must seem just so enormous to you, I can understand your worry even more," the old man pointed out, and Kiron seemed to relax a little. And of course, Eisen understood. Places like this tend to be incredibly anxiety-inducing.

These buildings were practically like skyscrapers; even to Eisen, this city in particular was an extremely unique place, but so far, he had only walked through here in his giant form. To someone that's used to the architecture on the central continent, this country overall must be quite stressful. Not to mention that big cities like these do tend to have quite the sinister side to them.

A trained Knight like Kiron would obviously have his instincts screaming at him from every corner of his mind to be particularly careful here. For now though, it seemed like Eisen was able to help him relax a little.

And with that, Eisen stepped off the platform and shot back up to his full size, and he started making his way toward the giants' bar. The seating area for the non-giants was rather large, and seemed to have quite a few employees working there. There were actually multiple different bar counters at different locations, considering the sheer size of this place.

And with that, it didn't seem to take long until Kiron and the kids found a place for them to sit down. They picked one of the busier parts, one that actually also had some younger folks and even some kids there, that seemed to already be excited to see some new faces.

Eisen quickly ordered something at the bar after taking a seat on the enormous stone pillar padded with some giant beast's hide. The cup he got as well could be used for large-scale brewing in other places. Eisen just smiled lightly, and downed some of the liquor in the cup. With that, it was time for him to talk to some of the giants around him.

And luckily, it didn't take long for him to end up tied up in some kind of conversation either. While he did use some of his demonic and royal influence to strengthen his charisma stat, a lot of people actually ended up striking up some smalltalk with him, which he quickly turned into a longer conversation.

Everyone seemed to be in a decently good mood, and though there were a few sob-stories mixed in everywhere, Eisen didn't mind listening to them either. They were sort of a nice escape from his own troubled life. That being the case, Eisen didn't only do this to enjoy himself, and before long, an interesting topic came up.

"A gang?" Eisen repeated, and the giant next to him nodded his head with a disgruntled expression, "Aye, fuckin' bastards, that lot... they keep stirring up trouble everywhere... Tried to destroy the God of the Mountain too,"

"Excuse me?" the old man was somewhat dumbfounded. At that point, you couldn't really call them a gang anymore. Rather, they were...

"A cult! That ain't a gang, it's a cult!" another nearby bar patron spoke up. Eisen was thinking of 'terrorist', but that sort of behaviour did also fit to quite some cults here in this world. On earth, they tended to do their own thing most of the time, but here, they often ended up involved in some big ploys to try and get power or simply cause havoc.

Destroying the god of the mountain was certainly a good way to do the latter.

"Nah, they're just a buncha nutjobs!" the initial giant replied with a loud scoff, "They were just trying to get attention, they weren't even able to put a scratch on that big ol' thing!"

"Of course they did, ya drunkard! They chipped off some stone off the surface!"

"What? Ye're one of the ones that really believe all that crap? It was a trick! A trick! Some illusion magic, or paint, or something!"

Eisen quickly interjected, "Hold on, what are you talking about? Pain? Illusion magic? It's just stone, isn't it? Granted, stone enhanced through its creator's power, but still stone. It breaking a bit shouldn't be too much of a surprise," the old man pointed out, but the second patron shook his head, "No, no, that's not the issue.

Every once in a while, every few years or so, a bit of that thing falls off on its own, or cracks, or whatever. That ain't the issue, what was the issue here was what the cult showed us that day!"

"Tsk, ye're soundin' like one of them," the other giant shook his head disappointedly.

"Hah! No way! While I know what I saw that day, I know there's no way what they're sayin' is true. It just shows that the God of the Mountain is much, much greater than we thought!"

"At least we can agree on that," was replied, as the two giants looked at each other with an acknowledging nod. Eisen still didn't really get what exactly they were talking about though. And certainly, he definitely didn't expect the answer he got. He looked at the two patrons beside him, "So, what do they say about the statue?"

"That it ain't a statue," the first giant said bluntly, and the second continued, "They're sayin' it's a real man!"