Mystic Knight Online
Disclaimer: I should come up with something witty saying that Harry Potter and Sword Art Online aren't mine. Or I will simply acknowledge that doing this falls under the principle of fair use under the Copyright Act of 1976. Either way, I am not making any money off of this
Chapter 2
November 13, 2022 – Aincrad 1st Floor – Town of Beginnings
Keiko woke up as the morning light entered the room of the inn that had been her current residence for the last week. She looked at the increasingly familiar ceiling blankly for a few seconds before she closed her eyes and sighed as, once again, she realized she was still in Aincrad. She was not thirteen year old Keiko Ayano here; she was Silica.
She glanced to the upper corner of her HUD and noticed the time and was actually surprised that it was only seven, given that she tended to sleep in if given the chance. Hadrian was right, she thought. You do feel better if you actually go out and do something.
She had spent the first five days and nights since being trapped in Aincrad not really doing much of anything; just remaining holed up in her room, or wandering around the town feeling sorry for herself. At least until Hadrian tracked her down each evening to take her back to the inn when he got back into the town after a few hours of fighting monsters, or mobs to use the slang term that was already becoming used, in the fields. Two days ago, he asked her if she would like to accompany him out into the fields, given that he could tell that she hadn't been sleeping well.
"I think a chance to take it out on the mobs will do you some good." He smiled. "I'll be with you if you want to go out and try. I will protect you."
He had been right about that. After teaching her how the sword skills worked, she would then spend the next four hours taking her anger and frustrations over her situation out on the boars and wolves that had littered the field he took her to. Outside of his intervening a few times, mostly when she had gotten an extra monster's attention, he let her do it herself. Before she knew it, she had received a level up notification and found herself five hundred col richer. She also felt considerably better than she had that morning.
That night, after a hot meal she had insisted on paying for, she found herself sleeping more deeply than she had previously. She had also decided to accompany him in his forays outside the town again. A part of her was ashamed that she had done nothing for those five days, but Hadrian hadn't said anything about it until the previous night, and that was only because he made his offer.
After using a water basin to wash her face and wake herself up some more, she opened her menu and equipped her gear. Taking a look around her room to make sure she hadn't forgotten something, by habit if nothing else, she opened her door and walked out. It was time to get something to eat and find out what ideas her companion had for the day.
Harry looked up from his meal of porridge as Silica sat down at the table he occupied in the small restaurant that the inn had. "You're up early," he remarked as he watched her look over the menu.
"I woke up and didn't feel like going back to sleep," she replied as she made her order. She looked at what he was eating. "How can you eat that?"
He shrugged. "It's not much, but I've had worse." He replied. He took another bite and grimaced. "I just wish there was something to add to it, like honey or sugar, though. Plain porridge is just bland. Still, food is food."
Silica nodded, accepting his reason. She looked at what the NPC waitress placed down in front of her and sighed to herself. Simple black bread, a little bit of fruit, and some weak tea to wash it down with. Not much better than Hadrian's choice, to be honest, but the inn's selection was rather limited, though cheap, in the mornings. Not that the afternoon and evening choices were any superior, given that the inn was cheap and they usually hit the stalls in the markets for an evening meal.
More the kind of food someone would eat when they simply wanted something quick and cheap.
"What's the plan for today?" She asked after taking a few bites of the bread.
Harry pulled up the floor map. "I was thinking of heading to an area to the west, or heading to the next town. Heading west and hunting mobs will give us more experience and col, but I've heard of some quests in the next town which can help us with our gear." He looked at her. "What do you think?"
Silica gave both options some thought as she drank her tea. "Well, I can use some more experience and get my level up a little more." She admitted.
Harry nodded. "True, and hunting the mobs will get us the col to buy better gear anyway. Not to mention finding a better place to stay." He smiled. "I've heard of a place near the West Gate that has some very good food and even offers baths."
Silica felt herself perk up at that bit of knowledge. The possibility of a warm bath sounded real good right at that moment, provided that what he had heard was true. "You sure about that?" She asked hopefully.
Harry shrugged. "It won't hurt to check, and it's in the same direction anyway."
Silica grabbed Harry and started to drag him out of the inn. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
"Silica, hey leggo!" Harry protested.
"But Hadrian, a bath!" Silica cheered.
He heard the laughter of several patrons as Silica manhandled him out of the inn. At the same time, a part of him was glad that she had found something to be happy about. It beat the depression she had been exhibiting beforehand. Of course, the opportunity to enact some violence on mobs yesterday probably helped as well.
Also, a chance to relax in a warm bath did sound pretty good, all things considered.
After confirming the rumors about the inn, and making a reservation that set Harry back three hundred col for the only room with a bath left available, they made their way to the western parts of the floor.
Three hours of wandering and fighting later, they stopped for a break, and Harry took the time and looked over the drops. Given that the average level of the monsters was slightly higher than his, he figured that another two hours or so would net the two of them another level increase. They were also getting more drops and col, possibly as a reward for taking more risks.
"Hey Silica, how are you holding up?" He asked.
Silica looked up from browsing her inventory. "Um, not bad. I still have plenty of potions left." She then noticed something in her inventory. "Looks like I got a weapon drop called the Hornet's Sting." She materialized it and saw that it was a dagger. Idly looking at the stats, it was an improvement over her Iron Dagger, with an increase to her accuracy and damage when attacking from behind. She looked at Harry. "You get anything?"
"Nothing more than the usual you can expect from mobs." He replied, shrugging. "We can probably find a use for the hides, fangs and stingers later, if only as a source of extra col." He materialized some bread from his inventory. "Well, it looks like a good time for lunch." He said as he handed her a piece of bread.
Silica materialized a couple of water skins and handed one to Harry as she accepted the bread. They ate in companionable silence for a bit when Silica wondered something. Ever since that first day, Harry had constantly wandered out of the Town of Beginnings and fought mobs. In fact, he probably would have done so on the first day, but he decided to stay with her.
"Hadrian, how do you do it?" She asked.
Harry gave her a confused look. "How do I do what?" He asked.
"How do you keep yourself from being scared?"
"It's not like I'm not scared." He replied. "I'm scared every time I step outside the town." He sighed. "Silica, I am scared, but I won't let that stop me."
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"If I do nothing, Kayaba wins, it's as simple as that." He replied. "Someone may clear the game and get us all out, but if I don't do something, if I don't try, then he still wins."
"I see." She replied quietly. "You're braver than I am."
Harry chuckled. "You're out here, fighting mobs, I think that's brave, don't you?" He remarked. He looked at the time in his HUD. "Well, why don't you equip that new knife of yours and we go back to killing mobs? I think we should gain another level soon, and we can then head back to town for dinner and that bath."
They returned to town about four hours later, both having gained a level, and Harry getting his own dropped piece of gear in the form of a shield called a Carapace Shield. While he hadn't decided to equip it, he was happy with it. Walking into the inn, Harry remembered something.
"Oh, bloody hell." He said in English.
"What?" Silica asked.
"We only reserved one room." He replied with some embarrassment. "I'm going to see if there's another room available." He walked over to the counter and talked with the NPC innkeeper before walking back.
"Is there another room?" Silica asked.
Harry shook his head. "Nope. I did find out that paying three hundred col reserved the room for a week, though."
Silica blinked at realizing that he had gotten a room for a week. She was a little disappointed that there weren't any other available rooms, though. "I'll go back to the other inn, then." She offered.
Harry held a hand up to stop her. "No, I will. You can have this." He handed her the room key
"But you paid for it." Silica objected, trying to hand it back.
"It's no bother, we made more col than I spent." Harry countered, refusing to take the key.
"Can we at least take a look at the room first?" She asked, giving him a frustrated look. "It might have a something, like a couch. At least take a chance and enjoy the bath you paid for."
Harry was about to refuse when he caught the look in her eyes. He had seen Hermione give him and Ron a similar look when she was restraining the urge to hex them for something. "We'll check it out." He conceded.
"Good." Silica walked off, heading up the stairs to the room. Following her, Harry hoped there was a second bed or at least a couch.
Fortunately, it had a couch, which Harry immediately offered to take. Noticing how Silica was giving the bathroom an almost eager look, he told her to go ahead and take a bath, while he headed back downstairs to give her some privacy.
That and he was interested in seeing if the food and drink choices were actually better than the other inn's.
November 30, 2022 – Aincrad 1st Floor, Tolbana
Harry idly flipped through the most recent version of the guidebook for the floor that had been made freely available to the players while he waited for Silica to finish her shopping. Given that she was in a lingerie shop, he had wisely not accompanied her, though he did wonder why she went in there. Oh well, it wasn't his business. They had decided to take a break from hunting mobs, doing quests, and exploring the labyrinth for the day and simply relax, anyway. If she wanted to spend her time shopping, he wouldn't stop her.
Especially after how rough the last couple of days in the labyrinth had been for them. Despite Harry being level ten, and Silica having reached level nine, the labyrinth had proven to be more challenging than expected compared to anywhere else on the floor. Admittedly, it was more due to the size of the place, rather than the mobs, but they wandered in far enough that they ran out of health potions trying to get back out the previous day.
It wasn't hard after that, to think that they should take a day off. Silica had been very much for that idea when he told her last night. Having to dodge mobs, carefully make their way between the few safe areas that were mapped, and outright running away, while an exhilarating experience, was hardly fun. In fact, it was downright terrifying.
"Hey, kid, long time no see!" He heard a familiar voice call out. Turning towards where it came from, he saw the familiar faces of Klein and his friends.
"Hey Klein," Harry replied. "How're you all doing?"
Klein grinned. "We're doing great." He said cheerfully. "Just got into town and were about to grab something to eat before hitting the labyrinth. What about you?"
Harry shrugged. "Decided to take the day off," he replied. "Hit the labyrinth yesterday."
"Any tips?" Klein asked.
Harry nodded. "Bring plenty of potions, and once you run low, head back." Harry replied honestly. "The mobs aren't much tougher than out here, but the labyrinth is big and you don't want to run out of them on your way out." He rubbed the back of his head. "Made things a bit exciting, that, but being in the red and not close to the entrance isn't my idea of fun."
Klein winced.
Harry nodded. "Anyway, you got the most current map data?" He asked. "If you don't I can send you a copy of mine."
Klein nodded. "Yeah, I got it. By the way, kid, what happened with that girl you were with?"
"Ah, she went shopping for some clothes." Harry replied.
Klein raised an eyebrow. "And you're not with her?"
Harry shot Klein a look. "Not those kinds of clothes, Klein." He said with some embarrassment.
Klein was about to say something else, when Issin, one of his friends spoke up. "Hey, wait a second." He said. "I heard a rumor a while ago that a pair of kids were staying in the same room at an inn in the Town of Beginnings." He then looked at Harry. "I heard that one of them had green eyes and a scar on his forehead."
"Oh yeah, I think you're right Isshin." Klein said and then looked at Harry. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" He asked with a grin.
When I find out who started that rumor, we're going to have a talk, Harry thought with some annoyance. "First Klein, my names Hadrian, or Harry if you like." He said with some asperity. "Second, I seem to recall hearing a rumor myself. Something about some girls chasing this thuggish guy wearing a red bandanna out of the Town of Beginnings while threatening to stab him somewhere painful." He smirked. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, kid." Klein said with false sincerity.
"Of course you don't. Just as I don't know what you're talking about." Harry said with equally false sincerity.
The two of them then shared a grin. "Still, nice to see you're doing fine, kid." Klein said.
"Same to you Klein." Harry said. He then saw a message notification on his HUD. "Just a sec, Silica just sent me a message." He opened it and quickly read it. "Well, she's done with her shopping and is waiting for me back at the inn. Take care, you guys." He looked back at them. "And if calling me by my name is that hard, just call me Harry!"
"I already know someone called Harry." Klein replied, pointing at his friend, Harry One. "Besides, you're a kid, so 'kid' will do."
Harry nodded and turned back, a small smile on his face. To be honest, he wasn't all that bothered being called a kid and addressed as such by Klein. The guy was friendly and took the time to teach him how to use the system to fight.
"Heh, he's travelling with a girl and stayed in the same room with her for a week." Klein chuckled as he watched Harry walk away. "Makes me little jealous."
"Hey boss, shouldn't we get something to eat?" Issin asked.
Klein nodded, getting back to business. "Yeah, let's go. First, Dynamm, Harry One, go stock up on potions. Dale, find Kunimittz and bring him back here. Once we eat, we're hitting the labyrinth for a couple of hours."
"Right, boss." They all acknowledged and split up.
"So," Issin remarked. "Jealous of the kid, huh?"
"Shut up, Issin."
December 5, 2022 – Aincrad 2nd Floor, Urbus
Harry and Silica quickly cleared the teleport gate as the light faded, having taken the advice to move away from it quickly once the teleport finished. While no one would get hurt if they didn't, it would be embarrassing to have people crash into you. And given how busy the teleport gate was, and was likely to continue to be, there was a high likelihood of that happening to anyone who stood still for more than a moment after the teleport.
With the first floor boss having been defeated the previous day and the opening of the Second Floor of Aincrad, players were very eager to move on. Harry agreed with that sentiment, even if his reason for rushing to the gate before even eating breakfast was for a slightly different reason.
He wanted to get away from the angry rumors about the Beater, Kirito that were starting to be spread around. The rumors of how he let the raid leader, Diabel, die during the boss fight. Of how he took advantage of his knowledge from the beta to steal the Last Attack Bonus. Of how the Beater then bragged about his knowledge to the rest of the raid. He wanted to get away from that.
While he didn't doubt that there was a grain of truth to the rumors, if you squinted real hard, there had to be more to the story. Especially since he had heard some rumors to the contrary as well. He knew about Kirito from Klein, and how he had helped the man learn the basics on the first day.
Klein had not been pleased, to put it mildly, to hear those rumors. In fact, Dynamm and Dale had to physically restrain him in order to keep him from assaulting one loudmouth who had been particularly vocal about it.
Harry could recognize when someone was being set up to be the scapegoat. He'd almost had it happen to him during his Second Year in Hogwarts, when he inadvertently revealed that he was a Parselmouth, after all. If it hadn't been for Fred and George taking the incident and running with it like they did, things could have gotten ugly.
That, and he remembered some of the rumors which had been spread about beta testers before this. Those rumors had dried up in favor of this, which made Harry think that it had been deliberate. On Kirito's part, someone else's, or both, he didn't know, but the previous statements and rumors about the beta testers had quickly stopped now that the attention and anger could be directed to a single person.
"Well Silica, we're on the Second Floor," He said, turning to his companion. "Want to look around town and see if the shops have anything?" His stomach growled. "Or, we could find a place to eat, first." He added.
Silica giggled. "Well, if you hadn't been in such a hurry, we could have eaten first." She said with some amusement.
Harry shrugged and looked around. "Yeah, I know. So, let's find some food." He said as he walked into the town.
Silica followed him and looked around at the town itself. It didn't look too different from what she saw on the First Floor, but she did feel a little excitement. The First Floor had been cleared, and people were beginning to think that it was possible to clear the game.
Of course, she thought. We've only cleared the first floor. We don't know how long it will take from here. Still, the excitement amongst the players was infectious, and she didn't put up any protests about heading up here.
"Hey Hadrian after we eat and look through the shops, what's the plan?" She asked him.
Harry stopped and thought for a moment. "I was thinking of hitting the fields near the town." He told her. "Not for long, just a quick check on what the mobs are like right outside, since the guidebook doesn't have anything on the floor."
"They're about the same level as around Tolbana," a female voice said from behind, startling the both of them.
Both Harry and Silica turned to the source of the voice and saw the speaker right behind them. She was wearing a cloak that was left open in the front, showing the brown tunic and pants underneath. With her dirty blone hair, golden eyes, and the whisker marks on her cheek, it was a person both of them had met a few times. Argo, also known as The Rat, a player who was quickly setting herself up as a reputable information broker.
Harry sighed. "You always sneak up on people?" He asked.
Argo grinned. "So, you want some information on the floor?" She asked cheerfully.
"Well, I'm wondering if you have any updates to the guidebook." Harry replied. "You know, general stuff so I can get a basic idea of what to expect."
Argo shook her head. "Give me a couple of days, I'll be releasing an update for it. I want to make sure of some things, first."
Harry nodded, not surprised by her response. "Alright then." He was about to turn and walk away when he realized that he had an opportunity to confirm something. "Oh, by the way, can you confirm something for me?"
"Depends on what you want confirmed." Argo replied.
"It's about those rumors going around." He said. "About Kirito. How true are they?"
Argo looked around and then back at Harry and Silica. "And what makes you think I know anything about that?" She asked.
She knows something, Harry thought. "You strike me as the type who likes to get to the bottom of such things, especially after that rumor about that secret log out spot." He raised an eyebrow.
Argo sighed. "Not here," she told him. She then gestured that they should follow her. She led them to an alley with no other players around and, after a quick look to make sure no one was following, turned back to Harry. "Before I confirm anything, five thousand col."
"Five thousand?!" Silica exclaimed in shock. "Your usual rate is a thousand." She protested.
Harry was surprised at her asking price. If she was charging more than her usual rates for a rumor, then it must be serious. He opened his menu and set up the trade. Before he entered the amount he gave Argo a level look. "It's fine, Silica," He told her. "I can afford it, and it's not like I can't make the money back." He entered the five thousand col and approved the trade.
Argo shook her head and accepted the money. "I should have asked for more," she said drily. "Well, you wouldn't be paying if you didn't suspect something was off about it. Still, the rumors are true, from a certain point of view."
"And which point of view would that be?" Harry asked sharply. "From the point of view of needing someone to blame? From the point of view of turning someone into a scapegoat?" His voice had lowered to a growl by that point.
Argo blinked in surprise as Silica looked at him in shock.
"I thought so." Harry sighed. "Did he allow this?"
Argo nodded. "Yeah, he did. He knew that everyone would need someone to blame if someone died in the boss fight because the information provided in the guidebook about it was wrong."
"The information from the beta, you mean?" Harry asked. "Why? You had that warning on the cover that things might have changed from the beta." He materialized his guidebook and pointed out the warning. "I also sent you information on things I noticed that were different, and saw the updates on the next version."
"It's not that people were unaware of that fact," Argo pointed out. "But there was already a lot of bad feelings regarding beta testers, and well…"
"Someone would figure out that he was a beta tester, and blame him anyway." Harry concluded.
Argo nodded.
"It doesn't matter where you are, some things never change," Harry sighed. "All right, thanks for clearing that up for me, Argo."
"No problem." She replied as she turned to walk away. "Oh, and if you want a decent place to get some food, try the March Hare." She said over her shoulder and walked away.
Silica looked at Harry and saw his pensive expression. "Hadrian, why did you ask her about those rumors?" She asked.
Harry shrugged. "Just wanted to confirm a few things." He replied.
"But why?"
He sighed. "I've had something like that happen to me about a year ago. Being blamed for something, in my case, there were some incidents that put some of my classmates in the hospital." He was clearly uncomfortable saying that much. "It got cleared up, eventually, but it made things bad for me until it was."
"Oh. Sorry to bring it up then." She apologized. She then realized something. "You want to go to that place she recommended to us?" She asked, changing the subject.
Harry's stomach growled, causing Silica to giggle. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." He replied.
Author's Note: Shorter than the previous chapter, but I felt this was a good place to stop. Anyway, that last bit was mostly Harry hearing the rumors about Kirito and calling bullshit on them. He's been there, so he recognized what was happening.
Anyway, the next chapter will be started immediately, but I have no idea on when it will be done. I'm frankly surprised that I finished this chapter so quickly.