Spending My Retirement In A Game

The group looked at Benjamin. His conclusion made sense. They didn't know the exact mechanism through which they switched between the worlds, but it being connected to the system didn't seem completely off. It practically controlled everything in that world, after all.

"So what else is he supposed to do?" Andrew asked into the group, "It's not like we can just have Eisen sit shit out from now on; all five of us are needed over there."

"But we can't expect him to give up a life on earth either," Haruo pointed out, "That would be just wholly unfair."

"I don't want that either, obviously, but... frankly... as bad as it sounds, earth can go on without Eisen... the other world can't," with a solemn expression, Andrew looked at his friend, who just looked down at the ground in contemplation himself. However, Nataly seemed to have a different opinion in the first place.

"I mean... is it really certain that Eisen's not going to be able to log in or out again?" she wondered, and the group looked at her. She continued, "Like... Eisen, you can still use your skills, right? And if Jasmin's whole idea is right, then the system that we interact with just guides the force inside of us. The system is just controlling the natural powers of the other world.

And I'm 100% certain that the power to connect souls between two worlds comes from there, and not earth."

Jasmin thought about it for a moment, and then slowly nodded, "Right... Eisen didn't say that his skills got weaker, he just wasn't able to control them as well for a little while. So we should be able to control the forces there even without the system. Even if the process could get a lot more complicated, switching back and forth should be possible.

And Eisen might not even need the capsule at that point anymore."

Eisen was thinking for a while, but soon just spoke up, "It doesn't matter," he said bluntly, "I'm going to keep on going over there. Even if it does turn out that I can't log out again... if that's so, then I can't change that at that point anymore."

"Wait, what?" Andrew asked confused, "Why the hell? What about your kids? Your grandkids? Literally this whole town, you'd-"

"Be dead as far as earth is concerned, I know. But come on... before all of this, I didn't have long left anyway. A few more years, maybe. The cancer's apparently been inside of me for at least five years. The mana probably just made it a lot stronger, made it grow faster.

Now, my body is strong enough to stop more from popping up, but... at the end of the day, without this whole thing, I would have just been and old man who lost his reasons to fight death a long time ago. And like this...

if by dying on earth, I can make sure that Samuel will never have the power to turn this world into a hell that he can rule as a literal god while destroying and sacrificing the other world, then I think that's a really easy choice," Eisen didn't give the others a chance to say anything else, and just got up from his seat, "That being said, I do think that I'll be able to control all my abilities perfectly well.

After all, whatever is behind this all is making sure that I can."

Jasmin looked at Eisen with a frown, "What do you mean?"

"Come on," the old man said, "This isn't 'actually' a skill. It's not 'actually' an ability inside of me. If my abilities exist regardless of the system, then this can't be anything like that. It's a blocker for the system. If it needed or wanted to, then the whole system could be blocked all at once, but it's basically just slowly weening me off the system so that I don't completely lose control.

So that I get used to doing things without 'help'."

---

Eisen opened his eyes, watching the metal transformation on the kids' bodies slowly coming undone. Just as he expected, they immediately looked up at where the old man was supposed to be, shaking nervously. Before any of them were able to say anything, Eisen held them tightly and just smiled at them, "Everything is fine, don't worry. I'll explain things to you in a second, okay?

For now, just calm down. As I said, I'm not going anywhere."

He managed to calm the kids down for now, and then began to explain the situation of this new 'skill' to them. Of course, they weren't particularly excited about this, "But... isn't the system what is linking us together?" Caria asked, but Eisen looked at her with a light smile, "No, of course not."

He rubbed the tears away from the girl's cheek, and explained to them how he understood things, "We are connected forever, alright? We are inseparably linked, and we always will be. With or without the system. And I'm not even just talking about the bond built by the fact that I originally tamed you children as monsters, but the bond that we built as family.

Even if the system and all of our powers forever disappeared, that wouldn't change who we are to each other."

The children held onto Eisen tightly, once more not wanting to let go of him. For a short while, he just let them stay like this, until they felt good enough to continue things on their own. They knew that even if they didn't want to go, what Eisen was saying was right. And more importantly, none of them really had the time to dawdle. There was still a lot that had to be done.

A lot of work they needed to get through in their efforts of rebuilding the town, treating survivors, and recovering the bodies of those who were lost. And Eisen still had to keep working on the new statue; without him, things couldn't continue on.

The kids headed off to do their part, and just a bit before Eisen could leave and continue, a stream of smoke poured out from the necklace around the old man's neck. Without even having properly formed her body yet, Kirisho was holding onto Eisen, with a similar fear and worry in her that the children seemed to have had.

"Will you be alright?" she questioned, and Eisen nodded his head. He ran his hand over her head and hair, "I am fine, don't worry. More importantly, are you alright? You've been asleep for a while. While I was using all that mana before, you were helping me out, right?"

Kirisho slowly nodded, still not moving her face away from Eisen's chest, "I knew that you were straining yourself... very clearly so. You were wholly concentrating on releasing all the mana you could, and at some point along the way, I noticed that your control was slipping... you were slowly letting go, so..."

"...so you were there and guided me along. I know. Thank you," the old man replied. These days, Kirisho was really just an immense emotional support for him. She wasn't a strong combatant or extremely skilled in a particular non-combat area. But she was kind to the children, and she was there when Eisen needed her.

Frankly, without her to let his guard down around when the others weren't there, Eisen would have had a much, much harder time until now. But even so, that didn't mean that Kirisho was completely unskilled. She had a unique connection to magic, as her whole being and existence was made up of mana and magic in a special way.

Her mind was connected to the amulet she was housed in, but her mind and will itself is what gave shape to her being. And with how much time she had spent with Eisen and being exposed to his mana, as well as the deep trust that existed between them... it seemed as though Kirisho had gained the ability to assist Eisen in his magic.

The old man held forward his hand, and Kirisho slowly glanced at it. Both her and Eisen wanted to know what was going on, and the old man released some of his mana from his hand. And quickly, Kirisho took over and manipulated it. She dyed Eisen's mana in his elemental magic shaping it into an intricate flower of magical steel. The way she did it was different to how Eisen shaped his magic.

To him, it was still as though he was shaping a physical object into what he wanted; as though he was hammering or pushing his magic into shape. But Kirisho simply made the mana take on the shape naturally, as though that was the innate shape that it wanted to take all along. It was a much more refined and beautiful way of handling mana.

And over the past few days, after this ability awakened within Kirisho's mind, she had rested and grown accustomed to it and became far more magically intertwined with Eisen.

As the two stood there, looking at the metallic flower, Eisen saw his brother approaching from the side. Kirisho pulled back, softly smiling at him as she deeply bower forward. Taken aback, Silber looked at Eisen, who had been holding onto this woman so tightly, "Erm... who is that?"

Eisen placed his hand onto Kirisho's back as she stood straight again. She looked at Silber and spoke quite confidently, "I am deeply sorry that I am only able to introduce myself now. My name is Kirisho, and I am your brother Eisen's lover."

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