Chapter 733 - Patterns

Eisen walked through this small town with a curious mind. From his perspective, everything just seemed a little bit weird right now. It looked like he was walking through a normal town, but everything was just a little bit off here and there. 

For example, just having Askr be the same size as the old man was something weird enough. Otherwise, it was largely because of the grain of the buildings' wood that he saw. The grain of ironbark was at the same level as regular trees', so there was a lot more detail to it from this perspective.

Of course, as Eisen stepped through the town, he noticed a lot of other things as well. And the people living here did as well, as all of them were staring at Eisen and Askr as they walked through here. It was clear that they thought Askr to be a giant in some kind of armor, at least judging from the guard at the town's entrance.

On top of that, the fact that Eisen was wearing a cloth suit, even if it did have some metallic aspects to it, was rather unusual as well, since most people were wearing leather and hide.

Of course... Eisen's horns, gray skin, and glowing golden patterns flowing all over him didn't help with the fact that he was being stared at.

However, soon, Eisen just stopped at what seemed to be a regular old stall. With fruit that were just the right size for a giant. He picked up the apple-like fruit that was laying there, and then slowly looked at the giant standing behind the stall, "How much?"

"Three copper..." The Giant said, and Eisen quickly thought about it, "Let me guess, this country has its own currency, and you don't take money from the central continent."

"...We don't take that money, you're right. If you can't pay, then-"

"Haha, I didn't say that. By chance, could you give me a single copper coin for a moment? You can be sure that I won't leave, I just need to try something out." The old man said, and the merchant deeply frowned at him. However, since Eisen's royal aura still took effect, the giant swiftly agreed and handed over a single copper coin.

The old man grabbed it and placed a small item he was carrying with him onto it. The item enveloped the copper coin, and the next moment, Eisen was holding hundreds of regular copper coins in his hand.

"Hm... I see. So that's how value compares, then." The old man replied. The next moment, he made use of the same item to absorb all of those regular copper coins to turn it back into a giant copper coin that he quickly handed back to the man behind the stall.

And then, Eisen took out another item, and had Kiron help him put that item into one of Eisen's rings to make it easier to use. And the item that Eisen just used with the giant copper coin just now was also put into the same ring.

While the man behind the stall was waiting confusedly and curiously, Eisen finished up. He held his hand forward with his palm upward as a stream of regular-sized copper coins appeared on his palm out of nowhere. Each coin combined with another and created physically larger copper coins, before Eisen ended up with three giant copper coins in his hand The old man swiftly handed them over to the merchant with a smile, and then grabbed the apple-like fruit with a soft smile on his face.

Just like that, Eisen killed two birds with one stone. He managed to figure out the local currency and update one of the coin-compression items that he made using Komer's element, while also getting the chance to try a fruit he never had before.

And after a single bite, he managed to figuer out that it was really quite different to a normal apple, while still holding similarities. It wasn't as sweet, but had a slightly sour taste to it instead. The peel was snappy as if it was more like a shell, and there were no seeds in the center. At least they weren't like the seeds of a normal apple.

After Eisen took the first bite, he quickly pulled out Bai from his Soul Storage and turned it into a knife, which he used to cut away the part that Eisen bit into. He ate the part he cut away, and then continued cutting the apple up into a size where the pieces could be pulled into the Dungeon by Sigurd so that the others could try some of it out as well. And of course, to save parts of the apple for Eisen so that he could cook or bake something with it later.

For now, they simply continued on, however. Whenever Eisen came across something he was curious about in one of the few and small shops or stalls, he would buy it and then have it stored in the dungeon, or simply keep it with him if it was too big to be placed into the dungeon.

And just like that, they made their way through the town, soon reaching the other side. If they had to go around, this would have taken a lot longer and would not have been even remotely as interesting as it was for Eisen right now.

The old man took a deep breath and stepped back out of the town. Although, quite luckily, they managed to get their hands on a map that would make it possible for them to reach the city that the Grandour lived in a lot quicker than expected.

However, it was a path that could only be traversed by giants. Or rather, it was much easier for giants to travel here, since it was a 'thin' mountain path with steps carved into it. Since the steps took up the whole width of the path, it would be tough for regular-sized people to climb up that path.

Which was a great excuse for Eisen to stay in his giant form for a while longer, speeding the trip up a lot more in itself. Technically he had promised Girland to travel in his smaller form and have his group around him, since she said it would be better for diplomacy or something like that.

Eisen himself just enjoyed being t his huge. It felt pretty comfortable, so he tried to stay like this for as long as he could. Once they reached the top of the mountain, which easily broke through the clouds long ago, they were finally able to see something. In the distance, there was another mountain shaped like wild flames. That was the place that the city they were travelling to was at.

But for now, since night was coming rather close, they set up camp here on this mountain. It would take another couple days, maybe two or three, until they reached the city at the pace they were going until now.

For the night, they set the dungeon up properly so that Fafnir could sleep comfortably instead of being stuck in Askr's body like that.

All the golems would stay outside of the dungeon to protect and warn everyone in case some monsters showed up, including Askr himself of course, while everyone else rested in the Dungeon.

Eisen took a seat in one of the 'lounge' areas of the Dunegon, and relaxed with a nice cold whiskey while looking out a gate that was specially linked up with the main gate, so that Eisen could look at the scenery spreading out below him from this mountain.

He took a deep breath and started to think about what he was going to do while in the city, and most importantly, what he was going to talk about with the Grandour. He had no idea what was going to happen afterward, though.

"Is everything alright?" From beside Eisen, Kirisho walked up to him with a soft smile on her face. The old man looked at her with a nod, "Of course, everything is alright. Take a seat."

She sat down right next to Eisen and looked at the horizon beyond the gate, "Are you still worried about meeting the Grandour?"

Eisen stayed silent for a moment, and then let out a deep sigh, "Guess I really can't hide anything from you. You're right, I am. Well, rather than worried, I'm more... anxious. About what's going to happen afterward. What information will I get through meeting the Grandour? Will I change in some significant way without any control over it? And then, unrelated to all of that, what is the next step? Will the red notification give me any other task? I don't have an answer to any of this. I don't like that feeling."

Carefully, Kirisho placed her hand onto Eisen's arm and slowly turned her head toward him, as the two locked eyes with each other, "No matter what happens, we'll be here for you. No matter what happens, no matter what things you do that you might regret afterward. We will protect you, and make sure that you stay the Eisen we know and love."

"Thank you, Kirisho. Hearing that means a lot." The old man said, before he glanced down at the woman's body, "Ah, you're still wearing the dress I made for you? I'm glad you like it that much." The old man laughed slightly. It was obvious that he was just trying to change the topic, but Kirisho went along with it.

"Of course I do. It's beautiful, and you were the one that made it for me. There's no way I wouldn't hold it dear to my heart. And coincidentally, the patterns you chose are somewhat close to the patterns on your suit, so it looks like we're matching." Kirisho laughed quietly.

Eisen hadn't paid attention to that at all, but she was right. For some reason, the patterns on the dress were similar to those on Eisen's suit. And to those on Eisen's skin, even, as well as the coin around his neck.

"What..." Eisen looked at the patterns with a frown, and then turned his head to look ahead of himself. He let his mind wander, visualizing everything in front of himself. 

Eisen drew the patterns in front of him, the kind that he would often place on items that were important to him. But he didn't recognize the patterns, he had no idea where this subconscious obsession with it came from.

However, as he thought about it, he felt a strange sense of nostalgia. As if he would remember something connected to those patterns. 

None of this would have made Eisen so curious, if it hadn't been for the fact that the same patterns that Eisen was seeing in front of him now were on the currency of the Giant Country as well. They clearly had a meaning to them.