Benjamin and Alexander continued talking for a while as they drank the Whiskey for a few hours until the first guests seemed to leave, so Benjamin, of course, made an effort to say goodbye to them.
Soon, it was also time for Alexander and his family to leave, and around the same time, Samuel also decided it would be the right moment to head off.
"Well, I'll see you tomorrow at 11 then," Samuel said with a smile before he made his way over to the Uber that would bring him to the train station, and Benjamin replied with a calm nod before sending this young man off.
And then, after everyone was gone, Benjamin, his children, and his grandchildren now began to clean everything up, although they stopped after bringing loose things such as tableware and food into the house, deciding that they could take care of the tent and benches tomorrow.
Once the four youngest kids were sent to bed, Benjamin sat down with his children as well as Sophia, Benji, and Kyle, since there were a few things to talk about.
First, the issue of how long Melody, Kyle and Sophia would be staying with Benjamin. "Do you want to go home and talk to Michael? Sophia can stay here if she wants, and if Kyle's parents are okay with it, then-" Benjamin began before Kyle immediately shook his head.
"I can't stay here longer than planned, and it was super hard to convince my father already." He explained quietly, and Benjamin slowly nodded. "I see… Melody, what will you do?"
"I think I should go home at the end of the week and talk to Michael to figure things out… And I'd prefer it if Sophia stayed here at that time because I'm not sure what he would do. He was always pretty extreme like that, but he never got violent, and I'm scared that he would do something to Sophia when we got home." Benjamin's daughter responded, feeling tired and confused at what happened today.
"Alright. You can have the car if you need it since Michael took yours with him when he left." The old man answered before looking at Kyle. "Sorry that you had to be here for all of this, I hope you still had a somewhat fun time today."
"Yes, I did have a lot of fun… don't worry!" Kyle reassured him, looking over at his best friend whose head was leaning against his shoulder tiredly. With a smile, Benjamin then looked at precisely that friend with a smirk.
"Well, Sophia, I have something to ask you. And I know Benji is inevitably going to complain, but Samuel told me that I could give out another recommendation. Would you like to play the game from next Monday forward with Benji and me?" He asked before the tiredness in Sophia's whole body immediately disappeared as she jumped up.
"What?!" She and Benji asked at the same time before the latter of those two spoke up first. "Wait, didn't you give this to me as a graduation gift?"
"Yes, yes, of course. But Sophia is going to be a 'Senior' this coming school year and so her graduation isn't too far away. So I'll also make this an early graduation gift for her, on top of which I'd have her help me out here and there in the game while you can go off and do whatever." Benjamin explained, which Benji seemed to accept, while Sophia was completely freaking out.
"Holy fucking shit, yes!" She yelled out before Melody deeply frowned as she looked at her daughter. "Sophia, language! And Dad, really? You want her to play that game with you? But you're doing that constantly, and I don't think that would be good for Sophia. She should go out and socialize with people at her age instead, right?" She asked, concerned, apparently really trying to make an effort to learn why Benjamin liked the game so much before the old man explained why it was so great.
"But that's exactly the thing! In the game, time is sped up, so an hour in real life will feel like four hours in there. Even if she were only to play while sleeping at night, she would have a lot of extra time on her hands that she could spend with friends. If others from her school play as well, then she could even work on school projects with them inside the game. And even though I'm calling it a game, it doesn't feel like it is, it just seems like I'm actually there, with a much more sturdy and healthier body. Also, if something like today might happen where Sophia should get the idea to drink, if she's going to do that inside the game, it won't affect her health in the slightest, because that's not her real body. It only has good parts, in my opinion." Benjamin explained while Melody was thinking about it for a while.
"Fine, I'll allow it. But you have to stick to your grandfather while you're playing it, okay? If it is as realistic as he says it is, then I don't want you running around on your own." Melody said before Sophia immediately nodded. "Of course! Thank you grampa!" Sophia yelled out, only a slight bit drunk after resting for a few hours, making her way over to Benjamin to hug him.
"No problem, then. The capsules will arrive next Sunday or early Monday morning, and they'll be set up by a crew. You can set up your Virtual Desktop before then and familiarize yourself with everything a bit." Benjamin explained and then continued to tell them about what will happen when the game starts and how they will be able to customize their characters.
Once that was done, the three teenagers made their way to their beds, with Benji and Sophia incredibly excited while Kyle was a bit jealous that they were able to play a week earlier than him.
And now, Benjamin was alone with Tony, Melody, Natsuo, and Christie. They continued talking about some of the more severe aspects of what happened that day, mentioning things that needed to be said. Like divorce, or therapy for Melody and Sophia, since both of them seemed to be struggling with a lot of things. And then obviously about Melody moving if she and Michael split up, and where they could go that was safe for them.
Michael was a very controlling person, after all, so nobody expected him to 'let it happen,' primarily due to his immense religious beliefs that went against getting a divorce as well.
After a good while, it was time for them to get to bed as well, and so, Benjamin laid down in his capsule and began to play the game.
---
Slowly, Eisen stood up from the bed he was laying in and saw almost everyone from his and the other originals' groups standing in the room and talking to each other. Eisen logged in at a quite late time in real life, so it was around noon when he woke up in the game, meaning that they had to make their way over to the Church for the fight soon enough.
"Ah, Eisen! There you are!" Brody exclaimed, already wearing the Mythril-Plated combat gloves that the old man made for him. With a smile, Eisen stood up and slowly nodded, greeting the large group as he helped Caria and Melissa stand up from the bed.
"Good morning, everyone." Eisen greeted them, and Brody smiled brightly. "Man, these gloves are damn great, gotta admit. Usually, I prefer fighting with weapons, but these gloves make up for the lack of reach and the increased danger." He explained, leaving Eisen to do nothing but chuckle happily.
"Well then, I'm glad to hear that. Once I have the time, I'll make some more weapons for you, and it's going to be a good chance to gaining proficiency at many skills since you can use a lot of different weapons." Eisen explained with a smile, looking around the room as he did before inevitably laughing.
"Although I think that is also going to happen just because everyone here has a quite different skillset, huh?" He said with a grin on his face before Brody began to laugh a bit as well.
"Hah, definitely! Well, go ahead and eat something for now and then we'll head over to the church." The Demon-Orc said before the old man nodded and chose to do just that, being accompanied not only by Caria and Melissa but also Komer and Kiron who both wanted to report to him.
After sitting down in the restaurant and ordering, Komer immediately began with just that. "So, Eisen… The sales went really, really well. We sold out a lot quicker each day, and now we only have enough items for another two or three days. I'm not selling anything today, because of what's going on at the church. Oh, and there were some custom orders this time as well, three to be exact. One was for a Pyromancy-concentrated staff, one for an Aquamancy-concentrated wand, and then one was a bit too complex for me. I couldn't tell to what extent it was possible, so the customer gave me his contact information and I told him we would reach out." The young merchant explained as he showed Eisen his notebook where he wrote down the expenses and earnings of the past few days, which the old man quickly looked over with a satisfied nod.
"I see, thank you. I'll look into it after we get through today." Eisen gratefully said before he looked at the Half-Dragon Knight sitting next to him. "Seems like you want to tell me about something as well?"
Immediately, Kiron nodded and began to speak. "Yes. We went to the church a few times to see the situation there, and it seems like, despite the people currently working and living in the facilities not having to leave just yet, the staff has already been replaced."
With a frown, Eisen nodded. "I see, I thought so. In that case, things may get quite troublesome after we win." He muttered, wholly convinced that Brody would never lose in a one on one fight. He watched some of his matches on TV before, and Brody was known never to lose even a single time, and in tournaments, Brody was known for never even letting the opponent get a hit in before the finals. "If they already have replacements, then I'm not sure how well it will go throwing those replacements out. Say, I was wondering, how important is a church for a town?" Eisen asked, feeling a bit troubled because he wasn't sure what to do, but got a small idea in this regard.
Surprised, Kiron thought for a while before explaining. "Well, I'm not sure if it may all be superstition, but it's said that a town will gain some benefits from churches. For example, since this town mainly puts their faith in Krogh the God of Magic, it's said that it is easier to learn magic, while the natural mana in this town is a lot purer and as such magic related to using already present mana is more effective. In a town that believes in Abel, the God of Harvest, exactly that harvest is said to be more abundant, and the harvested produce is more nutritious and delicious. But as I said, these may be superstitions, and I don't know much more than this anyway." He explained before Eisen slowly nodded.
"I see… I think I will ask the head priest at the church then. I'm sure he should know." Eisen said, happy about the information he got from Kiron before starting to enjoy the food that just arrived.
Not too long after this, Eisen stood up, and he, the two monster girls, Kiron and Komer made their way back to their room to meet with the rest and make their way to the church for the duel.