Chapter 4: Forge of the Lame God, Part 1
November 13th, 2024, 55th floor of Aincrad, Kirito
"Well, I see that the player-run papers are hard at work exaggerating everything that happened yesterday," I noted dryly as I scanned the articles in the newspaper.
Some of the titles would not be out of place in a tabloid, and half of them seemed to contradict one another. I have to admit that it was nice that there were no articles about myself in there, seeing as how I drew too much attention as it was. Still, I was looking forwards to seeing what Haseo's reaction to all the publicity would be once he woke up. Just walking through town this morning, I heard the terms [Demonic Berserker], [Shinigami], and [Unholy Weaponsmaster] used no less than a dozen times each. However, the phrase most often bandied about was [The Terror of Death].
Asuna sat across from me at the table, delicately sipping a cup of tea. She raised an eyebrow at my statement and replied, "I bet you're just happy that you're not mentioned by name at all in there."
She knows me way too well.
"What do you make of all this?" I asked. "Yui's return, players from another game somehow ending up in this world, powers that transcend the system, and all this happening right after exposing Kayaba Akihiko…It's a lot of change in a short time."
"Well, I talked with Alkaid some more this morning, and it seems like most of what applies for us applies for her too. At least, her interface looks almost exactly like ours. She looked a little surprised that it changed so much overnight, but I suppose that's a sign that Kayaba Akihiko is content to let them continue as players," Asuna answered. She looked directly at me, "It also seems like most of the skills she had in the MMO she was playing before coming here have been altered to SAO ones; she was a little distraught to find out her spells and a good portion of the items in her inventory have been corrupted to the point of uselessness."
That made sense to me. After all, SAO was a world based on the sword. Magic had no place here aside from a few convenient items such as teleportation crystals and healing crystals. If the MMO Alkaid had come from followed the standard format, she would be carrying revival items for party play. With one exception, no such items existed in the world of SAO. I clenched my hands tightly as I remembered my greatest failure, the ones I could not protect; miracles such as bringing back the dead…simply did not exist here.
"Kirito-kun," Asuna beckoned softly. "You're thinking about your time with the [Black Cats of the Full Moon] again. You always have that same look on your face when you do."
I nodded without saying a word. As I had said earlier, she knows me far too well.
"Why don't we go see Yui-chan?" she asked, clapping her hands together. "And while we're at it, we can see if Haseo-san is awake yet." She left the part about taking my mind off the past unsaid.
Last night, Yui had insisted on staying with "Haseo oji-chan" while he rested. I had never seen her become so attached to anyone in such a short amount of time before; of course, Asuna and I were exceptions.
As we walked down the hallway leading to Haseo's room in the guild headquarters, Asuna turned towards me and gave me a stern warning. "Whatever you do," she said, looking very serious. "Do not mention anything about PKs or guilds like [Laughing Coffin] or [Titan's Hand] in Haseo's presence unless he asks directly."
"Why not?" I asked, curious. "It's not like PKs are anything new in MMOs. I'm sure Haseo has had to deal with them wherever he came from as well."
"Yes…well. I guess you could say that," she replied. "I asked Alkaid about that curious title that had appeared over his head. [The Terror of Death]. From what she told me, it seems like there was once a time when Haseo was known by that name in his world too. She didn't know him personally back then, but Alkaid told me that there was not a person who hadn't heard of the black armored PKK who reeked of death."
I see…Even though PKing could be considered the norm for an MMO, there were always those who suffered from it. Player killers and those who hunted them; I knew well enough that there was little difference between the two. In a normal MMO, neither activity would be particularly noteworthy, but in a game like Sword Art Online, where death meant dying in real life, it was a major issue.
"Alright, I won't," I promised. I remembered the rage-driven demon Haseo had been when we had met him in the boss room; letting that loose again on purpose was pretty high on my list of things to avoid.
-o-
I blinked immediately after walking into Haseo's room. Perhaps I had walked into some strange alternate dimension where people in really menacing-looking armor were subservient to little girls in nightgowns. Because right now, Haseo was sitting on the edge of his bed looking somewhat confused as a very cheerful looking Yui was poking and prodding him, occasionally saying something along the lines of "No no, not that menu, that's the skills menu, you want this one!"
"Yui-chan, are you bothering him?" Asuna asked in a motherly manner as she walked inside.
"Of course not," Yui answered, puffing out her cheeks and pouting cutely. "I'm helping Haseo oji-chan learn about the game's interface!"
"Yeah," Haseo added in her defense. "To be honest, the menus here are a lot different from what I'm used to. Not to mention how it feels like I'm actually in the game rather than at a controller with a helmet on."
"Welcome to the Full-Dive experience," I said. "How are you settling in? Has Yui told you about the situation we're all in yet?"
By the grim expression on his face, she had. Haseo nodded and answered, "Sorry for all the trouble I've caused you."
"Well, you did clear a floor boss for us," Asuna noted. "So I guess we can call it even. Are you hungry at all? I know it's a game, but not eating in SAO makes you feel weaker somehow."
Without waiting for an answer, she manipulated a couple of menus and pulled a sandwich out of thin air. I must have been drooling or something just looking at it, because after handing that one off to Haseo, she pulled a second one out and tossed it to me with a knowing smile. I accepted the package gratefully and said a quick "Itadakimasu" before digging in. Of course, I had barely gotten halfway through the heavenly sandwich when Yui tugged on my sleeve with an expression that said "I want some too."
"Here Yui, you can have the rest of mine," Haseo said, to which my daughter squealed in delight and snatched the remaining half out of his hands.
"You're a pretty nice guy," I noted, as I continued eating. Asuna's sandwiches are amazing; to be willing to share one with someone else…yeah, he was definitely a good fellow, possibly even a saint. There was no other word to describe someone who could readily give that up.
"What's with that look?"
I must have had a strange expression on my face which was why I hastily made up an excuse. "Oh, um—nothing, it's just that I didn't expect someone who wore armor that looked like that to be—well, friendly."
As if to prove my point, at that very moment, I heard a gasp from the entrance to the room followed by a red and black blur dashing past me and flying at Haseo. Apparently, Alkaid had returned from exploring the town.
"Ow," Alkaid complained as she took a step back, rubbing her arms. "Those spikes really get in the way of a good hug. I think I liked Xth form more."
"I agree with Red oba-chan," Yui declared. "Haseo oji-chan, you need a change of wardrobe!"
Without waiting for an answer from Haseo and ignoring the indignant sputtering of "I'm NOT that old!" from Alkaid, Yui took hold of Haseo's hand and moved it in such a way that she was accessing his menus for him.
His outfit blurred out and was replaced with…a lot of belts. I'm completely serious. His shirt, which didn't cover his stomach, was made up of about six belts with an additional two making up a collar. His arms had belts wrapped all the way up to his shoulders. Thankfully his pants were actual pants, but they too, had a few too many extra belts strapped around the legs.
"Too tacky," Yui decided, and manipulated a few more buttons using Haseo's hand. His outfit changed again and Yui nodded in satisfaction. "Much better," she declared as she closed out of Haseo's menu.
I had to agree. There were still far too many belts on his outfit, but with the addition of bronze-colored armor at the shoulders and the back of the hands, they were far less noticeable. A metal plate on his back and what appeared to be a sash that hung down from his waist to his legs in the back made up the other notable features of his new suit. It was still more ornate than most armor I've seen in SAO, but it wouldn't stand out too much. Plus, I liked the color scheme; predominantly black, this was a man after my own heart.
"Second form, huh?" Haseo remarked, looking at his outfit. "Fair enough, I guess."
"Changing your armor's appearance is a good idea," I noted, tossing him this morning's news. A screen capture of him in his unmistakable spiked armor under the heading of "The Demon of the 76th Floor Labyrinth" was the centerpiece.
"Speaking of which," I continued. "If you managed to beat the 76th floor boss with just three people, you must be a fairly high level. It's considered a bit rude to ask one's level in SAO, but in this case, I'm just too curious to hold it back. How strong are you two, really?"
"I'm not sure, actually," Haseo said, scratching his head. "When I was sent here, I ended up losing my third job advancement, so I would have to say I'm a bit weaker than I was in [The World]." He brought up a menu and looked over his character stats. With a bit of a chuckle, he answered my initial question. "It seems like something out there has a sense of irony," he laughed. "The first time I was de-leveled I went from 133 to 1. It seems this time the de-leveling stopped at 133."
I couldn't stop my jaw from dropping. Neither could Asuna, by the looks of it. Not to brag or anything, but I was probably one of the highest leveled players in Sword Art Online right now. After some rapid level grinding on the 76th floor with Asuna before we found the boss room, I was quite proud to have finally broken the level 100 mark. My current level was 103. 30 levels difference—that was a substantial gap. I suddenly had the urge to run off and start slaughtering monsters by the dozens.
Alkaid looked a little embarrassed when she admitted she was "only" level 94. I kind of understood why though, considering the massive difference between the two.
"What about your equipment, Haseo?" Alkaid asked. "My inventory was mostly full of garbage data after coming here when I checked. Even the medicines and revival rains somehow became junk overnight."
Asuna concentrated as Haseo looked over his items; it seemed like she wanted to say something.
"Let's see," Haseo said, flipping through menus until he reached what he was looking for. "It looks like you're right. I guess the system did a scan and erased everything that wasn't in its database. At least it was nice enough to leave me with my starter equipment for each class."
"Kayaba Akihiko must be serious about letting you all into the game," Asuna said, having finished her thoughts. "At least, judging by how much effort it must have taken to convert your data into something appropriate for SAO."
"Well, it doesn't look like he can manipulate my character's core data," Haseo replied. "Since I can still feel [Skeith] somewhere there. Though I don't think I want to call on him again after what happened last time. Thankfully, Yui here is helping me by keeping him repressed."
"That's right," Yui said. "And since I'm connected to your core, I can manifest myself again and [Cardinal] can't touch me. Don't worry Haseo oji-chan, I'll protect you from [Skeith] so you can protect Mama and Papa and Red oba-san and all your friends!"
Haseo chuckled at that and patted my daughter on her head. "That's right" he said with a sad sort of smile, "I need to protect my friends—"
-o-
Later that day, Haseo took me off to the side with a serious expression on his face.
"I need to upgrade some of my equipment," he said. "My scythe should be alright since it's roughly a level 70 equip, but I don't want to have to rely on my natural stats to deal damage using my dual blades or broadsword."
"Do you have any money to pay for new equipment?" I asked. Good equipment in SAO started at about 100,000 Col and only got more expensive from there.
In SAO, there was no such thing as free equipment; it had to be earned or crafted and no craftsman or shopkeeper would ever sell a weapon at a loss. As a newcomer to the game, I doubted Haseo had enough [Col], the game's currency, to get anything remotely approaching his level.
"Money?" he asked. "That would be this [Col] stuff, right? I guess when the system converted my items, the Gp I had earned in [The World] was converted over. At a rate that would make moneychangers cry, but it was converted. I have about 10 million on me."
I gave a low whistle. That was quite the substantial fortune he had on his person. If he had that much, there was one particular blacksmith I could recommend for him. I had been meaning to pay her a visit for repairs on my gear soon anyway…
November 13, 2024, 48th floor of Aincrad, Lizbeth
The sound of the waterwheel outside filled the room. It was soothing, but also helped me focus on my work. Even if it didn't help me by automating one of the processes required for forging weapons and armor, I would likely have bought this shop for the ambience alone.
[Lizbeth's Special Weapon Shop]. A somewhat small player-owned shop that nevertheless had a substantial number of regular customers. Business had been booming lately. Ever since Kirito revealed his [Dual Swords] skill and that one of the two swords he wielded had been forged by me, I had been swamped with requests from players to forge them weapons or upgrade the ones they already owned. It was all well and good from a business standpoint, but over the past few days, there have been several very pushy players entering my shop that clearly couldn't afford a high-end custom weapon and yet persistently insisted that I craft them one on credit.
I tried to put those people out of mind as I hammered out the ingot for the last order I had to fill for this morning. As the item glowed briefly and then molded itself to the desired shape, a one-handed axe, I wiped my forehead and let the air out of my lungs before appraising the stats on the item. A fairly good piece, sturdy and reliable, but it couldn't hold a candle to some of the works I've done in the past.
Since I had some time to kill, I looked over this morning's paper. It looks like there'll be another floor opening party going on tonight, maybe I'll take the time to go, seeing as how I've finally caught up with my backlog of work. It'd be a nice change of scenery and I found myself a little curious as to what the new town looked like.
Strangely enough, the paper didn't mention anything about the boss on the 76th floor, nor did it list the names of the players in the clearing party. However, there was a lot about some demon or whatever that had appeared on the floor. I dismissed that instantly as player superstition and thought it was a whole load of nonsense. But I secretly vowed to myself that I would never set foot in the 76th floor labyrinth…just as a precaution.
A small jingle announced the presence of a customer. Locking the item I had finished crafting not long ago in place to a display case for the time being, I made my way to the front of the store. There, browsing the display cases was a young man in black armor. He had a hairstyle that wasn't too uncommon on boys his age in this game; what was it with them and spiky anime hairstyles anyways? Did they think it was cool or something? I will admit he chose an odd shade for his hair though; most boys would have picked something more flashy than gray. It looked like he was wearing light armor, but with the few metal plates hanging off of it, it might have just been low level heavy armor. I sighed to myself; it looks like I'd have to turn away yet another player who wouldn't be able to afford a custom sword.
"Welcome," I greeted him with a smile. I'd been getting better at customer service lately, but that didn't stop Kirito or Asuna from making fun of my still somewhat lackluster performance as a shopkeeper. "Is there anything I can help you with?"
Since he didn't have a weapon equipped on him, I couldn't tell what type of weapon he wanted to look at.
"I'd like to have a custom-made weapon made," he said hesitantly.
The very words I had been expecting and hoping he wouldn't say. I decided the best course of action would be to try and dissuade him before he was too disappointed.
"The best custom-made weapons are really expensive right now since material costs are high," I said slowly, breaking the news to him. "If there's anything else that might work…"
"Don't worry about the cost," he said nonchalantly. "I'll worry about that when the time comes to pay."
He said something utterly ridiculous without dropping his casual expression. I had the strangest feeling of déjà vu just then, but I couldn't quite place why.
"Alright," I replied, unable to keep the uncertainty off my face. "What type of weapon are you looking for?"
"A two-handed sword, please," came the request.
My store didn't really have too many of those in stock at the moment, but I did have a few good ones in the back. Ever since I forged [Dark Repulser] for Kirito, I've been trying to forge heavier blades as well as quick one-handers and I can say with confidence that I've crafted a few that would probably be enough for this strange customer.
I went into the back room and brought out two of the better works. I handed one to the boy, expecting him to be unable to lift it and test it out; the stats requirement on the weapon were fairly high for anyone other than a front-liner. I think I would be able to persuade him to leave once the weapon proved to be too much for him to handle. To my surprise, he lifted it and swung it about with one hand, testing the weapon out.
"It feels a little light," he had the gall to complain. Seriously, what was with this guy? Well, I did use a speed-based metal for that blade, but he didn't have to make it sound like I was a shoddy smith.
"It's probably a few tiers above what you have right now," I noted dryly. Asuna always said that my personality would drive away customers, but my policy was to win over customers with the quality of my weapons, not with words.
"Is that so?" he said, arching an eyebrow. "Do you mind if I test out your claim then?"
"Go ahead," I said, promising to myself that I'd have a good laugh at his expense when his weapon snapped like a twig. If that happened, I might just repair his sword for him afterwards if he begged hard enough. There was still that nagging déjà vu sensation, but I ignored it for now.
The boy nodded and equipped his weapon. A glowing effect marked the appearance of his weapon in his right hand. From what he had said, I expected it to be a mid-level claymore at best. Instead, what appeared was a massively oversized broadsword with what appeared to be razor-sharp teeth lining the edge.
I could feel the uneasiness build within me, but just because a weapon looked deadly, didn't mean its stats were particularly high…right? As if to answer my question, the boy's sword did something even more frightening; the teeth started oscillating, like the bits on a chainsaw. A menacing whirring sound filled my shop.
That did it! With a cry of pure desperation, I threw myself at him, tackling him to the floor before he could do anything that would damage my precious merchandise. Should I shake him by the collar, making sure his head connected with the floor once per cycle? I should, shouldn't I? That would be justice, that would be righteous fury, that would be better than he deserved. Th-this…equipment killer! A good beating was no less than what he needed!
The jingle of bells announced another customer.
"Go away, I'm BUSY!" I screamed without paying attention to who was at the door.
The sound of amused chuckling drew my attention to the newcomer and when I saw who it was, I felt my cheeks flush rapidly. No, forget my cheeks; I'd be willing to bet that my entire face was as red as a tomato by now.
"Kirito!" I exclaimed in unfeigned surprise. Then, I realized what this situation might look like. Me, straddling the boy in black, hands on his collar as if I intended to shake him down…or strip him bare. If this was an anime, either me or the boy underneath me would be protesting "this isn't what it looks like!" right about now. To be honest, I really wanted to say that line right now.
"Yo, Haseo," Kirito greeted the boy I had pounced on.
"Wait—you two know each other?" I asked, my brain slowly making sense of things. Now I knew why those persistent bouts of déjà vu had been bugging me ever since the grey-haired boy, apparently named Haseo, had entered my shop. Because almost the same exact sequence of events had occurred when Kirito had first come to my store.
"Yeah, sorry Liz," Kirito answered, unable to contain his grin. "I couldn't resist giving you a little bit of a shock, so I told Haseo that he should try testing out the durability of your weapons."
I resisted the urge to clobber him with my blacksmith's hammer. It wouldn't have done anything anyway, since players are protected in town areas. Why, oh why did I have to fall in love with this person out of all the male players in SAO? His relationship with Asuna, my best friend in-game, notwithstanding, it seemed like a third of what he did was planned in order to goad a reaction out of me.
"So," I replied, probably sounding a little more irritated than I actually was. "What did you come here for?"
"Well, that guy really does need a new set of weapons," Kirito said. "He's clearer-tier, but his gear's a little outdated so I recommended you as a blacksmith. What was it you needed exactly, Haseo?"
The boy, Haseo, had picked himself up off the ground and was eyeing me warily, as if expecting me to attack him again. As if! I'm the one that should be keeping an eye on him. That chainsaw/sword thing really made me shiver. Probably because I'd never seen a weapon with moving parts like that in SAO before.
"A new broadsword and a pair of decent daggers would be nice," he answered.
I gave him curious look, "A pair of daggers? Are you trying to imitate Kirito or something? [Dual Swords] is a unique skill, so even if you equipped two weapons, the only thing you'd be doing is making it impossible to use your [Sword Skills]."
"You do have some in stock, right?" Kirito asked.
"Actually, no," I admitted. "I've been so busy with making gear for mid-level players lately I haven't had a chance to go out farming for higher-end materials recently."
"Damn," Kirito muttered. "I was hoping to avoid having to trouble you. Have you heard of any rumors about decent smithing material drops lately? I'll go with Haseo and farm them."
"Now that you mention it, I heard an interesting story the other day that might interest you, Kirito," I replied. "Have you heard of [Hephaestus' Forge]? Supposedly, there's a secret area where you can re-forge your weapons into a stronger version if you have the proper materials and a high level blacksmith with you. You've been using [Elucidator] and [Dark Repulser] for a while now, right? I know you've said that you don't want to discard them for something better which is why you kept reinforcing them, but you're reaching the maximum reinforcement attempts. Why don't we go see if that rumor is true and while we're at it, we can try it with your friend's equipment too?"
Kirito had an odd look on his face, the sort that young children have when they're trying to hide something they know will get them in trouble with their parents.
"What is it, Kirito?"
"Ah, yeah. I also need some repairs done on my swords," Kirito said, not meeting my eyes and looking down at the floor.
"Already?" I exclaimed. "It's only been two days since you brought them in for maintenance. What happened?"
Sheepishly, he drew the weapons from the sheaths on his back and handed them to me gingerly. I took one look at them and gasped.
Both swords were nicked and cracked all along their blades. Even if it was just a visual effect meant to portray the weapon's state of durability, it was painful to see one of my greatest masterpieces, [Dark Repulser], in such a sorry state. I tried not to move the weapons around too fast, I got the feeling that the slightest shock would shatter them beyond repair. Placing both weapons on the counter for now, I turned to Kirito with all the fires of hell burning in my eyes.
"Ki- Ri- To," I enunciated loudly. "What…Did…You…DO…TO…MY…SWORD!"
-o-
Five minutes later, I felt a little better, having vented my anger at the two boys in my shop.
"Oh, is that what happened?" I asked, narrowing my eyes and looking at the two boys to try and detect any hints of concealed truths.
It was mostly an act by this point, as I had largely forgiven the two of them by now. The deciding factor in how quickly my displeasure at the two of them had cooled off was sitting on my lap right now, laughing childishly at the looks of mollification on her "Papa" and "Oji-chan's" faces.
I had been surprised when a third person had entered my shop in less than 10 minutes. When she ran to Kirito, calling him "Papa," and excitedly talked about how amazing the waterwheel outside looked, I had been nearly overcome with astonishment. I mean, I knew he and Asuna had gotten married in the game, but how was it possible for them to have a kid here? In a virtual world? It had taken a fairly long explanation from Kirito for me to finally wrap my head around it but at least I was up to speed.
I handed Kirito back his swords, good as new, and warned him to be more careful in the future. Both with the equipment and with his own health. Then, I finally got around to looking at Haseo's equipment to assess how effective they were.
"[Broad Legged]", I said, taking a look at the item description. "I've never heard of such a weapon before. Let's see—It's classified as a broadsword. The weight on this thing is extremely high for a mid-level equip. Probably not something you want to use on the front-lines though, just based on its mediocre attack power."
Well, it would make sense that I've never seen this weapon in the game before. According to Kirito, Haseo somehow ended up in SAO while playing a different game. I kind of felt sorry for the gray-haired boy, stuck in this world with us until the game was cleared. He seemed to be taking it pretty well though. Don't get me wrong, I still didn't like him much considering how he was about to chop up one of my products and how I had found out that he was technically the one responsible for the sorry shape Kirito's weapons were in.
"So, what floor did rumor place [Hephaestus' Forge] on?" Kirito asked
"The 68th floor," I replied. "It's a story that has been spreading amongst smiths recently, but no one's been able to confirm it yet."
"If I remember correctly, that's the one with a ton of mechanical enemies," Kirito remarked. "It was a pain fighting them since any damage type except [Blunt] is less effective against them. The mobs also have a ton of HP relative to their level and hit hard, but at least they're reasonably slow to balance things out."
"And lucky for you, you have a master macer coming with you to provide all the blunt trauma you could possibly hope for," I declared proudly.
"Are you sure you'll be alright on the 68th floor?" Kirito asked. "We had enough trouble on the 55th floor the last time we partied."
"D-don't look down on me!" I retorted. "That was a long time ago and I'm sure the two of us can handle it."
I didn't say "the three of us" because frankly, despite Kirito's assurances, Haseo didn't really look like the type who would be very strong. And to be honest, I wasn't all that confident in how well I'd do on the 68th floor if I was alone. The only reason why I was able to say what I did was because I knew Kirito would probably be more than enough to handle anything short of a boss-class monster (and maybe even that as well.)
"I'm coming as well," Yui said as soon as we made our intentions to get going clear. She had been running all around the shop looking at everything I had on display while we talked.
"Kirito, is it really alright to bring her along?" I whispered.
He took one look at his daughter and then replied, "She can handle it. But I'd better send Asuna a message before we go, considering what happened the last time the two of us had an adventure."
We made for an odd party as we set off: Two swordsmen in black, an unarmed little girl in a nightgown, and a fluffy pink-haired blacksmith wearing a dress that didn't look anything akin to what a smith should be wearing.
*notes: A slower paced chapter this time around in order to set the stage for the next adventure and to get the characters from the two worlds a little more acclimated to one another. As you may have figured out, the next chapter will include fight scenes; whether the four make it to the floor opening party on the 77th floor in time is another issue.
In order to simplify things, the .Hack characters have had most of their skills converted to equivalent SAO ones, although they may pull out one or two tricks left over in their character data and completely surprise SAO-verse players from time to time. Items have mostly been re-coded by the system so that they don't work, the reason being that many of the items in .Hack are one-shot magic abilities.
I enjoyed writing from Liz's perspective. Out of the entire female cast, she's actually tied for my favorite (along with Sinon from the light novels if you're curious.) She doesn't get much screentime, but I've always been partial to people willing to fill supporting roles in MMOs, having played as a tank, healer, and dps myself. As usual, feel free to leave criticisms, suggestions, question, or comments in a review or a PM.