Chapter 424 - Prince
And so, Eisen and his entourage made their way through the area over toward the others while being led by the Guard that ran up to them.
"Good morning." With a smile on his face, Eisen stepped up to them, just for a moment decreasing his size to his regular size to extent his hand over toward them, while Komer looked at him with a wry smile.
"Eisen... Nice to see you again, but you’re talking to the Lord of this Town and the Prince right now." The young Merchant explained quietly, while the two men that the old man just mentioned simply looked Eisen up and down to try and see what kind of person this man was, who was running around the streets barefoot, wearing only a pair of seemingly loose pants as well as a dirty, soot-covered leather apron, although they were more than surprised to hear Eisen respond.
"I’m aware, don’t worry." The old man told Komer with a wink, and then turned back toward the men in front of him. "But they’re still men, aren’t they? And I don’t bow to men." Eisen said with a broad smile, and although all the Guards and the Lord seemed to be more than just upset, the Prince just started to laugh.
"How interesting. A Mere... poor Craftsman with such an attitude..." The Prince chuckled, holding his gloved hand in front of his mouth, and while Komer already turned around and rested his forehead against the door in frustration over how this conversation is about to go, Sigurd quickly transported herself in front of the Prince with an angry expression.
"Heh? A Poor Craftsman?! A Poor, Craftsman?! Do you even know who this man is? You wouldn’t even hope to be able to pay for his services if you sold your left leg, you mutt!" Sigurd yelled annoyedly, and while Bree was looking around panicky and Sky started to laugh loudly, the Prince, Lord, and Guards just stared at the small figure that appeared out of nowhere, although one of the Guards, seemingly the one leading them, quickly pulled out a spear and held it in front of Sigurd’s Throat.
"If you value your Life, I wouldn’t say that again." The Guard pointed out, but Sigurd just side-eyed him and clicked its tongue. "Right, as if you can ever hit me." The Core Guardian said with a sigh, something which the Guard didn’t seem to take lightly to, and pushed his spear forward trying to ’threaten’ Sigurd further, although before he knew it, its figure disappeared in mist and re-appeared directly on top of that Spear, while Fafnir started paying attention to this as well and slightly opened his maw, threatening to shoot out flames out of his throat toward the Guard, although he soon stopped when Eisen started to laugh.
"Come on you two, don’t escalate this situation. I have to admit, I don’t look like the wealthiest person right now. But how about we head inside for a moment and have a little bit of a talk?" Eisen suggested, and Komer nodded his head in response, "Let’s do that..." He muttered, and it seemed like the Prince and Lord were intrigued enough to accept that suggestion and turned to follow Komer inside, altough Eisen looked at them with a smile and moved his fingers through his beard.
"Oh, where are you heading?" The old man asked, looking over toward Fafnir with a smile while mentally telling him to open the gate, and then slowly held his hand over toward the tattered wooden door. "With ’Inside’, I meant a rather different place." Eisen pointed out, and Sigurd swiftly opened the door from the inside, showing the space beyond the door, before Eisen slowly stepped inside, just waiting for them to come in, while Komer smirked wrily and nodded his head.
"Alright, let’s herd inside there, then." The young man said as he looked at the Lord and Prince, holding his hand toward the Gate, who slowly stepped inside, following their Guards.
"What... is this space?" The Prince asked, looking around and across the room, just staring at the Goblins sitting behind the counter, before Eisen smiled at him.
"A Dungeon, obviously." Eisen pointed out, swiftly stepping through the door to the outside, and the Moment that the Sky behind the wooden wall appeared, Komer immediately followed him with excited eyes.
"Holy- You really pushed this beyond, right?! How did you make that sky?" The Merchant asked, and Eisen chuckled in response. "Evalia painted it. It’s basically real, isn’t it?"
"It definitely is..." Komer muttered quietly, and the Lord just stared at Eisen intensely. "What is this supposed to mean? In no way whatsoever is this a Dungeon! It has to be something else!" The Lord exclaimed, and Eisen immediately shook his head.
"It is very much a Dungeon." Eisen explained as he placed his fingers to the edges of his mouth and whistled loudly to make a certain Monster come to him, the Blacksmith Kobold. "Just appraise this guy here." He said, and seemingly not only the Prince and Lord did so, but all of the Guards as well, and they were all more than surprised to see this Information unique to Dungeon Monsters in front of them.
"So, now to the main business. My name is Eisen, Guild Master of
, which is built on the central Island on the Group of Islands to the North of this Town, and I have been personally asked by the Gods to construct a country there, meaning that I’m soon to become a King." Eisen explained quite clearly, and without hesitation, the Prince and Lord snapped their heads over toward Komer to see if Eisen was telling the truth, and the young Merchant simply nodded his head at them, before Eisen kneeled down directly next to sigurd and placed his hand onto its shoulder.
"By the way, I must thank you for the possibility of us getting some Maroon, otherwise I would have never been able to create this little one here." Eisen explained, before Sigurd stared at him annoyedly.
"Do you have to call me ’Little One’? Not my fault I’m so short..." The Core Guardian complained, and Eisen just slightly sighed and shook his head. "You spend way too much time with Sky, you two are far too Sarcastic."
After he muttered that quietly, Eisen looked at the Prince and Lord, who were trying to process everything that Eisen just said, before Eisen turned toward exclusively the Lord.
"For now, I would like the possibility of being allowed to place this Dungeon somewhere within this town, or within the direct vicinity of this town. Is this in any way, shape or form possible?" Eisen asked him, and it took a little while for the Lord to react to that sudden question.
"As long as it’s done in an orderly fashion, I don’t see any issues with it... I will speak to someone about a good location later." The Lord replied, unsure how he should react know that he knew who Eisen was, before the old man nodded his head with a smile on his face.
"How about the Central Plaza?" Eisen suggested, and the Lord looked at him close to shocked. "What? The Central-"
"The Central Plaza? As long as there’s enough space and it’s handled properly, that should be an alright location. But most importantly, I will pay you as much as you want if you sell this Dungeon to me." The Prince said immediately, but Eisen just shook his head without hesitation.
"No thank you." He replied, and the Prince ground his teeth and continued, "I said I would pay you anything at all. If you’re about to found a country, you need money, right? Sure, there is the deal about supplies, but even you must know that supplies aren’t enough to found a country."
"I’m aware, but still, no thank you. I’m not going to sell Fafnir and Sigurd to you for your little war." Eisen said with a smile on his face, and the Prince ripped his open wide.
"How do you-" He asked, and Eisen sighed out slowly. "It’s not that hard to figure out, Kid." The old man laughed, and the Prince just once more stared at Eisen, now angrier than before.
"Do you not realize that saying such things can lead to war?" The Prince asked, and Eisen simply laughed loudly. "Right. Listen, it doesn’t matter in the slightest what I say, you aren’t going to start a war. Your father is nobody but a coward who wouldn’t hesitate for a mere fractured thought to bow to me and lick the ground I’ve walked on. And if you think that even if a war started, you have the slightest chance of beating us, you are more than just mistaken. What do you have? Ten, twenty thousand Soldiers? Maybe some Rank 7 or 8 monsters you’ve tamed? And what we have is a base that you didn’t hope to be able to conquer over the hundreds of years that you’ve spent in this land, companions and allies that are strong enough to wipe out your whole army with a single swing of an arm, as well as personal life experience that overwhelms anything that such a measly young man like you may hope to have." The old man said, although he didn’t really recognize any of what he was saying as his own words, but those of Eisen, using the memories of his old self.
And while the old man was trying to properly organize his thoughts again, because he was currently in deep disarray, the Guards surrounded Eisen without a moment of hesitation, while the Prince was just staring at him confused, before he turned over toward Komer.
"Who is that man?" The Prince asked, and with a slight sigh, the young Merchant stared at Eisen, who nodded his head and looked at the Prince.
"I’m going to explain it to you as long as these Guards and the Lord of town leave." Eisen said while rubbing the bridge of his nose, and while the Guards just came closer to Eisen with their weapons drawn toward him, the Prince slowly nodded his head.
"Fine... All of you, leave." The Prince said in a commanding tone, although the Guards wanted to protest. But without a second of hesitation, the Prince repeated his words, just louder and angrier, and the Guards made their way outside hesitantly, bringing the Lord outside as well. It was obvious that the Prince was nervous being left alone in this situation, which was understandable, but it seemed like the Prince was aware that this was an opportunity that he couldn’t miss.
And while the Prince was just looking at Eisen, Komer, Sky, Bree and all of the others nervously walked up to him. "Are you alright?" Komer asked, and Eisen slowly nodded his head.
"Yeah, I’m fine, I’m just feeling a little overwhelmed right now, don’t worry about it." The old man said reassuredly, not wanting another wave of the mental manipulation to come over everyone in here, before Eisen turned toward the Prince.
"So as to not beat around the bush, my name is Eisen, as you know. But I’m not just any ’Eisen’, but the Eisen. The First that peaked, half Giant, half Dwarf. A while ago, me and the four other that peaked lost our Experience and were reset to Level 1 without any memories of our lives until now. The Artificials that are appearing all over the place are creations made of that Experience."