"That's..." Morrom muttered quietly after hearing the full story that they were all just told, feeling rather complicated about all of this being revealed, and at the same time, Folmirra seemed to grow rather nervous, "There's Millions of people here that think of us as lesser than them, to who this world is just a game... What if they get bored and end up going on sprees of slaughter here... I doubt they would care too much..." Folmirra pointed out, and it seemed like everyone else was starting to get just as nervous about the possibility of this.
And that was when an idea that Eisen had before popped back into his head, "Then how about you all come to Prototype. It would be incredibly useful to have you around there." The old man suggested, before they all just stared at Eisen in surprise.
"Us? Come an' join yer country?" Denmir asked with a slight frown, and the old man just nodded his head, "Yeah, I think it's a good idea. I mean, you don't necessarily have to stay on Prototype. Once we take over some more of the islands, there will be the Island of the God of Craftsmanship as well." Eisen pointed out, and before he knew it, Morrom leaned back on his seat and was the first to nod his head.
"You know what? Sure. I don't really have too much of a reason to stay here forever." The Elf-Dwarf Halfling replied with a light smile, "And if what you just told us is 100% of the truth, then I would feel more comfortable in a place filled with those that might know more of the truth." He added, and Jekyll also slowly nodded his head as he leaned forward.
"I can't make that choice myself, but ya can bet that I'll speak to my wife 'bout it. Of course, without tellin' her about all this..." Jekyll said, which Denmir immediately agreed with, "Ye've got that right. Although, me an ma' wife have been speakin' about movin' before, so it might not be too much an issue." The Dwarf pointed out, before Folmirra sighed deeply.
"My Husband and I have also spoken about it, but that would have only been when the girls were ready to move out." She explained, "They have their friends here, so I don't want to drag them across the world like that. But I will agree with Morrom, I would also feel safer for them if they could stay in a place like that... You surely have patrols set up there to make sure these Artificials don't try anything, right?" Folmirra asked, but Eisen immediately shook his head.
"Nope, patrols are unnecessary in that town. Well, making a few Golem Enforcers and connecting them to the town might be good... Anyway, there's a Core Guardian connected to the Town Core, and he can see everything that's going on in the town. Of course he limits himself to the streets if there isn't any imminent danger inside of a building, so don't worry." Eisen explained, and Folmirra then opened her eyes wide, "Well, then that does seem to be something that would make the town rather safe, indeed." She pointed out, and the old man just nodded his head with a light chuckle.
"True enough, yes. Either way, I'm waiting for your guys' answer. I will most likely be heading back to the islands after getting to meet the last two Dragons." He explained, "The Islands seem like a better place to level up quickly. But the Dragon business seems to be important to unlock the puzzle-box, so..." Eisen explained, "And all three abilities I have from it are insanely useful as well... Anyway, I did the same with Jaz and Garon from the Adventurer's Guild, but I'm going to give you all something like a small letter that you just need to give to a kid called 'Komer' at the Harbor Town, and he's going to know what to do." The old man said, and once he was done, he heard a small chuckle from next to him.
"Aye, it's gonna be very lonely without all of ya 'ere." Gralmar chuckled out, and Eisen looked at him with a slight frown, "The invite extended to you as well, you know?" Eisen replied, and the Innkeeper looked at the old man rather surprised.
"Ye sure about that? I can understand these four, they're Grandmasters, but I'm nothin' more than a regular old Innkeeper." The Dwarf tried to say, although Eisen didn't really believe that at all.
"Yes, you're the only Innkeeper in a town filled with four Grandmasters and some of the highest natural Mythril Production rate on the continent. Then you also just so happened to be able to refer me to a Master Brewer after I mentioned that I was interested in learning about it. You can't trick me, Gralmar, you're more than you let on."
With a slight sigh, Gralmar just shook his head in response to that, "Sure, I know a couple great people, but I meself am nothin' much to speak of. Just a regular person." The Dwarf once more tried to explain, but Eisen still didn't believe that.
"That's exactly what I'm talking about. A regular person doesn't just happen to be friends with people like that. When I went to meet Gordon, he was basically pushing me away rather forcefully when I first came in, but once I gave him that letter you gave me, he immediately changed and accepted me like one of his closest friends. Even if you really are just a regular Dwarf that chose to become an Innkeeper without doing anything else extraordinarily amazing in his life, the fact that you happen to know people like that is great in and of itself. You have something that I would love to have in my country, Gralmar." Eisen explained to the Dwarf in front of him, and Gralmar himself just ended up loudly laughing in response to what was just said, and then looked at the old man with one of his brows raised.
"Ye sure ye want me there?" Gralmar asked, and Eisen nodded his head reassuringly, so the Dwarf himself looked at Eisen with a broad grin. "Then I will try me best, ya geezer." The Dwarf exclaimed as he stood up.
"For now, I think we should head back out and have a proper drink, don't'cha think? After that conversation, every one of us should want to down a few." The Innkeeper suggested, seemingly genuinely touched by how Eisen thought of him, and then made his way to the door together with the four Grandmasters, while the rest stayed in the dungeon for a bit longer to speak to Eisen alone again, since they had experienced the old man a lot more intensely than they did in the past.
And the moment that the five of them left, Bree jumped onto Eisen and immediately hugged him while practically sobbing, "I-I-I'm sorry I didn't-didn't-didn't notice you were going thr-thr-through that!" She exclaimed and grasped the old man's apron, while the old man himself just placed his hand onto her head with a smile on his face.
"Don't worry, how could you have? Something like this is the last thing you should expect, after all." Eisen pointed out, and Sky slowly nodded his head, seemingly experiencing rather complicated emotions right now.
"Even so, we- Or rather I- didn't think about the fact that there really could have been something like... this, going on with you. You were just acting so different lately, and it was kind of scary... But now that I know there's a reason for it, I'm sorry for how I acted toward you as well..." The Boy said, and Eisen just sighed with a light smirk and pulled him into a hug as well. And while his eyes were drifting, he noticed his two apprentices looking at him with sad expressions as well.
"Are you two alright?" The old man asked, and both Parc and Rouge swiftly nodded their heads, "Yeah, it's just similar to what Sky was saying, I guess. We didn't really expect that something like this could even be going on..." Rouge explained, and Parc then swiftly added, "For sure, but... That makes you even more amazing! Knowledge from a different world, and then a hundred thousand years to refine that knowledge... You really are the greatest Teacher we could've hoped for." The boy said, and Eisen just lightly smiled at them with a thankful expression.
He was glad they were taking this so well. Although on the other hand, in a world filled with actual magic and different overlapping realms, the idea of another world might not seem as far-fetched as it would on Earth. So maybe Eisen was expecting a bit of a stronger reaction to everything, although in the end, he really wasn't complaining.
On the other hand, someone else was complaining a bit, "Another fuckin' world, that shit's crazy!" Morgus exclaimed as he stood up with a deep frown, and Eisen looked at him rather surprised in response to that reaction, "So we're just gonna have to accept that as the truth? Isn't that insane?" The Black Half-Dragon asked, and Eisen looked at him with a light smile.
"I know that it sounds crazy, but that's what it is. Don't worry, even if you don't fully believe me now, I'm going to try my best and make sure that you will believe it at some point." Eisen explained, although before Morgus could say anything, Kiron swiftly stood up and replied in his stead, "Don't worry, Grandfather! You would never lie about such a thing, I am sure of that! And it does actually explain a lot, especially if you consider the seemingly random relationships of different artificials of random races claiming to be siblings, or even parent and child... But either way, Grandfather, I fully believe in your words!" Kiron exclaimed, making Eisen just slightly chuckle in response.
"Thank you, Kiron. I really appreciate it." Eisen pointed out, and then looked over toward the Dungeon entrance, "Go ahead and make your way back into the Inn if you want. I think you could all really use a drink right about now." Eisen suggested, and with his arms stretched into the air triumphantly, Sal was the first to rush out, although the old man glared at the Spider's back as he did so, "Oh, and the children are just getting juice. Don't you dare try and drink anything else without me exactly knowing what it is." The old man pointed out, and could immediately feel Sal's disappointment as the five Half-Dragons simply pushed the Monster-Boy into the room, followed by Caria and Melissa, as well as Sky, Bree, and Eisen's two apprentices, and even the Core Guardian who seemed to at least want to pretend to give Eisen and a certain Mist-Spirit a little bit of alone-time.
