Spending My Retirement In A Game

Chapter 950: A Won Bet

"Hey! Eisen, Brody!" Jyuuk waved his hand, running over toward the pair. He jumped over the river of lava in front of him and smiled, "Finally we caught up to you two."

Xenia and Evalia were following closely behind as well, joining up just a few seconds later. Eisen quickly gave each of them a big hug to say hello, "I’m very happy you guys are finally here!"

"...What’s going on? We just saw each other a couple hours ago for dinner," Xenia pointed out with a confused stare, pulling back slightly. The other two also seemed a pretty confused, but Eisen just kept on smiling.

He held his hand over toward Brody, wiggling his fingers with a smile. The half-orc groaned and pushed his hand into his pocket, taking out his coin wallet. Pushing the small slider on the side, he selected ’1 Copper’, and the coin quickly popped out. This was a mass-produced item made from Komer’s magic element, which was now sold for pretty cheap in every beginner city. Brody’s was one with a much higher capacity than normal ones, of course.

Eisen happily took the coin and pushed it into his own wallet, and the other three looked at each other briefly.

"You guys took out a bet on-" Evalia started, before connecting the dots and realising what had been going on these past couple of days, "Oh holy shit, is that why you kept messaging us, Brody? And Eisen, is that why you told us all that stuff from outside the capsules?"

"So you do something when you logged out earlier!" Brody practically barked, and Eisen shrugged a bit.

"I just told the truth," the old man replied, looking back at his friends, "And yes, I’m sorry but we did bet on when you guys would get here. And I’m sure you’re very happy to know that I won."

"We gathered," Xenia replied, "You gonna split your winnings?"

"... Can you do a lot with a quarter copper?"

"... Whatever. Anyway, a pretty crazy dungeon, huh?"

Eisen immediately nodded, "That’s a good way to put it. We’re about to reach the end of these volcanic floors. With you guys here, and neither of us sabotaging each other anymore," the old man said while looking at Brody, who quickly averted his gaze, "we should be able to proceed a lot faster. I still thing we should have everyone here keep fighting, levelling up, and getting used to the monsters in this dungeon before we just fully head down, though."

Evalia thought for a moment, "We just go ahead, and then have Brody stay with them and follow behind."

"Wait, what?" the half-orc asked confused.

Jyuuk shrugged, "He lose the bet."

"Yo, hold on, that’s not what the bet was about, I ain’t letting you rush on ahead and do all the fun stuff without me while I babysit these guys," Brody complained. Luckily, they were all a fair step away from the soldiers, so Brody wasn’t overheard or anything of the sort.

Eisen smiled, "Calm down. No, we’re not going ahead. We’ll just... speed up a bit, okay? Evalia can cast buffs on us and debuffs on our enemies. Xenia’s magic can further boost our soldiers, while providing large-scale support and crowd control. Jyuuk can give us any additional fighting numbers and versatile support. I can provide items that are needed for unique situations, and Brody is the best tactician and fighter in the world. So... I think we should be able to speed up a little, yeah?"

The others seemed to agree without much of an issue.

Xenia quickly said, "So, Brody gave us all the updates that we needed. Maybe a couple updates, now that I think about it. But either way, is there anything else we need to know, or can we get going right away?"

"Well, we’re right in front of the volcanic boss and were just waiting for you at this point. Bree is going to fill you in a bit more on what she guesses the boss is like. She was usually pretty spot-on."

"Wait, really? Bree?" Evalia asked, raising her brows a bit, "I didn’t realise she knew so much about that kind of thing."

"Oh, yeah, she’s absolutely fantastic," Xenia nodded in agreement. She looked over to the side, where her own companion had already quickly made his way over toward Bree. Dien was looking a lot different these days. Back when Eisen first met him, he completely covered most of his skin up to his chin. But now, he wore some more... normal things. Clothes that showed his arms and neck, his legs and even lower back. Rather, he was showing more skin that most at this point. He used to try and hide his ’monster’ parts. Being a blood-chimera, his body was completely covered in patches of scales and feathers and fur, all mixed together from the generations of cross-breeding between different species of monsters and people.

Maybe because he lived in a country of monsters now, but he felt much more confident in showing that side of himself now. And maybe being with Bree helped him there, as well.

Eisen smiled a bit. He was glad that he had joined this expedition. Dien had gotten pretty busy with managing the backend of Xenia’s magic tower. Frankly, none of the originals were particularly keen on things like paperwork and just shoved that work off onto others whenever they were able.

"Anyway, do you guys need to rest a bit? We should be pretty good on our side," Eisen explained, and the trio that had just arrived looked at each other.

"I’m fine," Jyuuk said, "I could get started whenever we need to."

"Same with me. Though I guess it might be nice to hear what the boss could be first. I’d like to brainstorm some songs or paintings beforehand," Evalia added.

"Yes, of course. Let’s try to give Dien and Bree a few minutes, and then we can head over there," Eisen said, "You guys want to eat something?"

Evalia smiled broadly, "You made food?"

"It’s actually pretty good," Brody replied, shuddering a bit, "And weirdly... nostalgic."

"... What do you mean with ’actually pretty good’? Eisen made it, so of course it’s good." Xenia looked at the half-orc nervously. He just smiled.

Eisen quickly walked over to one of the nearby tents, grabbing a tray covered in what seemed to be massive, rolled-up pillbugs that would be the size of an arm when scuttering around.

"You want us to eat this?" Xenia asked confused, and Eisen laughed.

"They’re really tasty, trust me. Juicy. A bit spicy, somehow," Eisen replied, "You don’t have to, by the way. It’s just similar to the cuisine that some of the soldiers ate, so I figured I’d make something to lift their spirits. We have regular rations as well."

While Xenia was a bit taken aback, Jyuuk grabbed one of the bugs without hesitation, "I know what you mean, Brody, this feel nostalgic! Eating this might even spark a memory or two!"

The monkey-beastman smiled, quickly peeling back the carapace to take a bite of the pill-bug, "Juicy, just like you said!" he said with a full mouth.

Evalia also quickly grabbed one, having a quick bite. She was always pretty adventurous. Though Xenia was the most apprehensive, she also slowly took one, "Urgh... if you say so... I hate it, but it does seem weirdly... familiar."

And so, the three of them quickly dug in, and Eisen also grabbed himself another and started eating. It really was tasty. Had something lobster-y to it. Jyuuk and Evalia clearly enjoyed it quite a lot, though Xenia still seemed held-back by her mind. It was a bit funny. Eisen actually remembered Xenia liking this sort of food back then.

"So," Eisen said after swallowing, "After we finish, let’s get to planning, yeah?"