Eisen stepped out onto the ship's main deck. He took a deep breath, smelling the fresh ocean air, as the sound of the bustling port grew louder and louder. Since the last time that Eisen had been here, the port had grown incredibly. Since Prototype was the capital of an archipelago country like Asgard, it made sense of course.
Not only were there a lot of materials and items coming in and out of prototype, but a large amount of people and monsters were traveling to and from the island. In the roughly two months that Eisen had been gone, it seemed like prototype's population more than doubled and became much, much more diverse.
Slowly, the ship came to a halt in the area of the docks specifically reserved for Eisen's ship, the 'royal vessel'.
As the ship approached the port, Eisen was able to see two figures standing at the port, a faint blue mist still clinging to them. One of them being the dutiful Town Core Guardian Serio, while the other was the strict and imposing Country Core Guardian, or practically Eisen's secretary, Girland.
Once the ship came to a halt and the bridge connecting to the port itself was set up, allowing those still within the dungeon to finally head out back onto the land of their hometown, Eisen also stepped down and was immediately faced with a deep bow from both Girland and Serio.
"We welcome you back, your Majesty," they said in unison, but Eisen just let out a deep sigh. He still wasn't perfectly comfortable with things like this, but he knew that he couldn't stop that from happening when these two were involved.
"I'm glad to see you two again. How were you while I was gone?" Eisen smiled, as Girland quickly started tapping the notebook in her hand, "Quite busy, to say the least. There are a lot of matters for you to look after as well, your majesty."
"...I barely even arrived, let me take a break first, alright?" the old man asked with a wry expression, and Girland slowly nodded, "There is time for a short break, yes. But at the latest tomorrow morning, you need to take care of some matters."
Eisen slowly nodded, accepting his defeat, "Fine, fine. For now, could one of you two take care of the soldiers? It looks like the island has changed quite a bit since we've been gone, and I don't want them to be too overwhelmed."
Serio quickly agreed, "Yes, I will make sure they are accomodated properly. We already prepared all the payments for this special expedition, and due to the special circumstances they experienced, we added some extra rewards as per your wish, as was conveyed to us via Lady Xenia."
"Right, thank you. In the meantime, Girland. How are the preparations for the meeting between the Giants' country and the central continent going?" the old man asked, and Girland gave a quick nod as she replied, "Yes, it's going very well and according to schedule. The site for the meeting is currently under construction in the suggest location, your Majesty."
Girland's ears perked up, and she quickly looked up at Eisen, "Speaking of, it seems as though Lady Xenia has managed to finish her analysis your personal 'Meeting Room' just in time for your arrival."
The old man raised his brow, "Really? She did say she was close, but..." the old man let out. After Samuel's attack at the Giants' capital, Xenia had really gone all-in on the research behind the method at which the originals' hidden meeting room blocked out Samuel's perception.
It seemed like she had some sort of epiphany recently, but Eisen didn't expect her to be able to understand it all that quickly.
"I see. I'll head over to see her once I'm done with everything I need to do here then," the old man explained, "We have a new quest from the Giants' Country."
"Have you picked up another child, your Majesty?" Girland asked, glancing toward the dungeons' entrance, but Eisen just sighed and shook his head, "No, I haven't. It's an old friend of mine. I'm not sure if you know about him, but it's Khan, a Giant Swordsman."
"...Khan... the name certainly sounds familiar," Girland replied, trying to see if she could remember anything, but soon dismissing the thought, "I see. I will prepare an accomodation for him, then."
Eisen started rubbing his fingers through his beard, "About that, actually... He's affected by the giants' curse, and can't properly leave his giant size behind for too long, and not without extensive help from me. So we'd need to create a house for him to stay as a Giant."
Girland thought about it for a moment, but then just slowly nodded, "I see. There is a yet unused plot of land near the royal castle. Shall I order for a construction there? How much space will he require?"
"I don't think he needs too much. I spoke to him a bit, and he prefers spending his time outside anyway. I'll design the building later, for now just have the plot cleaned out so I can take a look later. Ah, but please have a large amount of cotton and silk prepared for me as well."
Girland quickly nodded her head, jotting the requests down in her notebook, "Anything else?"
Eisen thought about it for a few moments, and then sighed lightly, realizing that now that he was back here, he did have to finally deal with this, "I'm going to visit Ambriel soon."