Mystic Knight Online

Ed, here. You know, I don't really feel that goofy after that last 'in game' chapter. So I'll just note JG is not the owner of the intellectual properties involved, and he's glad they're not getting too upset about him using it. Enjoy.

Oh, and Lind is an ass.

Chapter 7 - Rest, Regroup, and Rearm

February 28, 2023 - Aincrad 26th Floor, Mistleberg

Silica grumbled sleepily as she burrowed further into the covers of her bed and clutched tighter to what she was hugging to herself. From the size, firmness, and feel, it wasn't Pina, but it was nice. Whatever she was hugging was warm and the sounds of slow, deep breathing was making her want to…

Wait a minute.

The events of the previous night were coming back to her. The confrontation between Hadrian and Lind after the boss fight, their going up to the next floor and their making it to the floor's central town. After checking into an inn, Klein had called on them, proceeded to drag them both to a tavern and then engaged in a valiant (if futile) attempt to drink Harry into bankruptcy.

Harry was the frugal one of the pair, after all. One thing he was rarely, if ever, short on, was col.

After that, others started filtering in, including Asuna dragging along a protesting Kirito. Before long, a party started and everyone was celebrating not only clearing another floor, but the fact that they were still alive, a quarter of the way through Aincrad.

The drinks flowed. Large quantities of food were consumed. Everyone present had a good time. By the time the party finished, it was getting close to two in the morning and everyone went tiredly to their beds.

Didn't Hadrian get us separate rooms? Silica asked herself. I'm sure he did, but Klein did drag us both off to that tavern pretty quick.

She cracked open an eye and craned her next to look around. She stopped when her gaze met a familiar green pair of eyes. She sighed in bemusement as she heard her bedmate give a wry chuckle.

"Well," Harry said dryly. "This is unexpected."

"I'm blaming Klein for this one." She replied.

"Agreed."

"He's useful that way."

Harry paused as he sat up. He looked down at his bare chest. He lifted the covers a bit and glanced under them. Sighing in relief, he let them drop. "Well, since I find it hard to defend him on this point, then yes, he's handy for that."

Silica blushed a little. He wasn't exactly muscular or defined, but there was a leanness there that she would admit was attractive. She wasn't worried about being any more undressed than usual when she slept, herself. She had learned to wear at least a shirt to bed after a few times answering the door in her underwear back in November.

Those had been some awkward moments, though Harry was a perfect gentleman and simply glanced a little above and behind her when he noticed. He did take the time to, ahem, notice, which... she found slightly flattering. But he kept to noticing and didn't leer. Or stare for that matter. And luckily, she didn't take after some in her family who had a certain sensitivity to such things.

Luckily for Harry, that is.

She watched as he opened his inventory and materialized a shirt. Putting it on, his eyes glanced to where the time was tracked on a player's HUD and groaned.

"It's too bloody early." he said with a yawn.

Silica sat up and rubbed her eyes. She noticed that Harry took a glance at her and then looked away, with a slight blush on his cheeks. Curious, she looked down and didn't notice anything amiss. She was wearing a shirt, though it was hanging off one shoulder, but she didn't think that should have gotten a reaction from him.

Boys, she thought. I'll never understand them.

##

Harry looked up from his breakfast when a shadow crossed the table to see Asuna looking down on him. Waving her to sit down, she took a seat next to Silica, who was enjoying some of the local fruit, along with some bread. Pina looked up curiously from where she was sunning herself on the table and went back to it when Asuna simply ignored the feathered dragon.

Harry took another bite and swallowed before turning his attention to her. "So, what brings you over here?" He asked.

"Well, Hadrian, I was wondering if you and Silica had anything planned for today." Asuna replied.

Harry shrugged. "Aside from some information gathering and maybe a quest or two, I was thinking on taking it easy. Why?"

"A number of guild leaders, party leaders, and independents are planning to get together and discuss what to do from here." Asuna replied. "After the last floor, it's clear that we need a plan."

Harry frowned. "It's not a bad idea, but why are you telling me this?" He asked.

"You and Silica are invited." Asuna replied, as if it should have been obvious.

Harry shrugged. "All right then, when and where is it?"

"In about an hour and it will be at the Shining Blade Inn."

"We'll be there, then." Harry told her. "What about you, or Kirito for that matter?"

Asuna sighed. "I'll be there, but Kirito headed out at first light." She replied. "I sent him a message; since he didn't reply, I don't know if he read it."

"Sounds like him," Harry said dryly. Silica snorted at his comment.

"I have a feeling he got it." She said. "Whether he comes or not is a toss-up, though."

Asuna frowned. While she couldn't claim to know Kirito well, she knew him well enough to know that he wasn't comfortable around crowds. His heading up to this floor to activate the teleport gate while the confrontation with Lind was as much an excuse to get away from people as it was to open up a new floor.

Even at the party she dragged him to last night, he had left as soon as it was polite to. Not before Klein roped him into having a few drinks at Harry's expense, though. Still, he was one of the first to leave.

It was galling for her to admit it, but for all they had worked together she didn't know Kirito very well.

Part of it was the unspoken agreement among players to not talk about their lives before being trapped in SAO. Another part of it was the fact that Kirito didn't seem comfortable talking about himself, even with the fairly oblique manner that the Japanese had turned into an art form taken into consideration.

Then again, given his awkwardness around people when he wasn't being all business in a fight, and especially around females, it was understandable. She briefly wondered if he was a Hikkimori, but dismissed the idea. He was asocial, but not to the point of completely avoiding contact with people and shutting himself away from the world as far as she knew.

She shook her head to clear out those considerations and turned her attention back to Harry. "Well then, I'll see you there." She said as she stood up.

##

Forty-five minutes later, Harry arrived at the Shining Blade Inn with Silica in tow. The two of them noticed Kirito off to the side and made their way to him.

"So, you got Asuna's message then," Harry said.

Kirito nodded. "Yeah, I got it and made my way back to town. I was a fair distance away, so I only just got here."

"And your lack of response?" Silica asked.

Kirito shrugged.

Silica sighed in response, shaking her head.

"Keep doing that and she'll be on the warpath after you, Kirito," Harry said with a chuckle.

"You guys know about the rumors that were spread about me, right?" Kirito asked.

"Know about them, and know enough about them to know they're full of it." Harry replied. At Kirito's look Harry shrugged. "You think you're the only one here who's had to deal with crap like that?" He gave Kirito a penetrating look. "Look, it's not my place, but you should try to be more social with people. I'm saying this as someone that can sulk his way out of any conversation."

Silica smirked. "Only if I let you."

Harry nodded. "Exactly." He then blinked. "Wait a minute."

Kirito chuckled. They're like a married couple sometimes, he thought with amusement. Hm, I wonder if Argo has a betting pool on them? What am I thinking? The question is can I get in before she closes the pool to keep the betting sane?

Harry looked at Kirito and then back to Silica. "I think Argo's going to be taking another bet." he said with some amusement.

"What would that bring it up to?" Silica asked with a giggle. They both knew there was a bet involving them, though Argo was being coy about the specifics.

Harry shrugged. "Don't know. Every time I ask she just gets that look on her face and starts cackling."

"Oh, good. Cackling means it's still open," Kirito said drily.

Harry blinked. "My god. He just- did he just quip?"

Silica rolled her eyes. "He does do that, Hadrian."

Kirito shook his head and looked around the room. "Looks like everyone is here and… oh."

Harry looked where Kirito was and snickered. Asuna was giving Kirito one of her irritated looks that meant he had better get over there before she dragged him over by his collar. Or foot. Or really whatever body part she got her hands on first. "Well, we better get on over. Especially you, Kirito. Surprised Asuna hasn't put a leash given how you wander off." Hmm, that might make for an amusing gift. He thought.

"Screw you, Hadrian."

##

Everyone sat at various tables and looked at the person who called the meeting. It was Griselda, the wife of the late leader of the Golden Apple guild, Grimlock. She looked at who was present and nodded to herself.

"Good, now that everyone's here, we can get started." she said. "After the last floor, it's become clear that we can't simply keep going like we were. I don't know what the figures are, but we lost far too many people over the last few days, my husband included." She paused and took a deep breath to gather her thoughts and push the emotions that she was trying to contain back. A few seconds later she gathered herself.

"While losing even one person is a blow, as we all know what dying here means for our bodies in the real world, we're all realistic enough to know that the dangers mean that when we walk out of the safety of the towns, we might never return."

Everyone grimly nodded at that statement. It was a harsh truth about being in SAO, but they were all realistic to not deny it. Everyone knew that going out of the towns meant risking his or her life and that the next fight, an unexpected trap, or simple bad luck, could put a permanent end to them.

"So," Griselda continued. "We need to discuss what will go on from here on out." She looked around. "Any comments?"

Harry looked around and seeing no one taking the initiative, stood up. He walked to where Griselda was and nodded to her. Turning around, he took a deep breath and got started.

"Unless you ignored the warnings passed out over Argo's network, everyone here was warned about the last floor being a place where SAO would likely stop taking it easy on us. Before you all say anything, it was taking it easy on us before then. The last floor showed us just how nasty this place can be. In other words, we were lucky.

"One thing I noticed, is that a lot of people just rushed out on the first day, even those who should have known better. We all know how that turned out for them. One in five on average didn't survive that first day on the floor. One in five! Like Griselda said, we don't have the actual figures, and unless Argo's not here and in the shadows like she probably is…" He caught a movement out of the corner of his eye and turned his head to face it. "Never mind, she's here."

Argo walked out from where she had been listening in with a sour expression on her face. "Just ruin my fun like that, Harry." She grumbled.

Harry smirked. "You're getting predictable, Argo." He replied before becoming serious again. "Now, how bad were the casualties for the last floor?" He asked.

"They were bad, Harry." She replied. "If you count the rescue op, there were close to two hundred more names crossed off the Monument of the Living, half of them on the first day."

Everyone sucked in a breath at that number. They all knew that the casualties were high, but they didn't expect it to be that many.

"Two hundred…" One said.

"Half on the first day…" Another added.

"No fucking way…"

Harry slammed his palm onto the table to head off any panic or sense of helplessness. Once he got everyone's attention, he fixed them all with a stare.

"We survived it," he told them. "We know its dangers, we can pass, and have passed, that information on. Or we should have." he said. "The next ones going through there won't have the same problems, as they will know the dangers, and how to hopefully manage them." He took another breath. "Now, we need to discuss how we will move forward from this. Does anyone have any suggestions?"

He saw Kirito and Asuna have a brief, if quiet, discussion before Kirito was pushed forward.

"What suggestions do you have, Kirito?" He asked.

Kirito shot Asuna a look and took a deep breath. "Well, it dawned on me that we should probably determine what would be a recommended minimum level for a floor."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "How much of one?" He asked curiously.

Kirito shrugged. "I would say around ten levels higher than the floor number for those doing questing and fighting mobs, just to be safe. For those who want to face bosses or are going solo, it should probably be higher." Kirito then went back to where he had been standing.

Harry nodded to Griselda and went to sit next to Silica.

Griselda gave Harry a searching look and shrugged. "All right then, noted." She said. "Any more suggestions?"

The others in the inn started talking among themselves for a bit before Klein stood up. "We shouldn't focus on clearing the floors as fast as possible." He said. "It worked fine until now, but as the last floor showed us, that's getting too risky. Also, I don't know about you all, but we've been pushing pretty hard, so everyone should take a few days, at least, and rest." He grinned. "I know I will."

"That's because you know I'm buying your drinks for a couple more days, Klein." Harry shot out.

Nearly everyone present laughed and Griselda shook her head in amusement. "Ok, take some time to rest, and slow down a bit." She said. "The drunken debauchery is optional. Now, any more suggestions?"

At that point, just about everyone present had some ideas. It would take them until well into the afternoon before they had a general idea. Further conversations among smaller groups over the next several days would refine that to several recommendations that would be passed around all the clearers and then down to lower floors.

March 5, 2023 - Aincrad 24th Floor, Panareze

Harry walked around the main town of the floor, looking through various stalls set up by players. While there were some player merchants in Mistleberg, most tended to be a couple of floors down from the top floor.

Not that he blamed them. Most of the merchants weren't dedicated fighters, preferring instead to support players by offering goods and services. They could fight, he had seen many of the merchants at various times on the top floors doing just that, but that was more to keep their levels current and gather merchandise, than any active effort towards clearing on their part.

As it was, advancement on the twenty-sixth floor had slowed to a crawl as the players took Klein's advice to take some time off and relax. While not everyone was happy with that, even the most eager to continue had realized he had a point. Furthermore, with the casualties, many had decided to go to a lower floor for where it was safer for the time being.

The added wariness and need to get their levels up that survivors of the twenty-fifth floor had was playing a role as well. After all, if they were the ones to come up with those guidelines, they would also have to follow them.

So, he and Silica had taken the opportunity to gather information on some quests on a few of the previous floors, do a few, and otherwise take it easy for a few days. Well, Silica was able to take it easy if she wanted to, Harry had to make back the money Klein drank away. While he didn't manage to drink away all of Harry's col, he made a good effort at it and cost Harry more than he spent in the previous month.

While you couldn't get drunk in SAO, as far as they knew at least, the game did keep track of how much a player had and did stop him or her from consuming more once it determined that enough was consumed. Well, except for Klein, apparently. That man seemed to have some in-game trait which gave him a hollow leg with a hole in it. If he could do that in the real world, his liver would be trying to kill him in his sleep, he would drink Hagrid under the table, or both. He thought with some amused exasperation.

Harry shook that thought out of his head and continued his browsing. He needed to find a replacement for his shield, which had served him well to this point, but was reaching its limit on how far it would go for him. Regular maintenance and enhancement kept it in good condition, but it was hitting the point of diminishing returns. That and the twenty-fifth floor's mobs had managed to wear down its durability faster than he liked.

About twenty minutes later, he found himself browsing the wares of a shop being run by a large black man by the name of Agil. He blinked when he saw the man, the lack of any foreign accent in his Japanese, had initially made him think that the man was an NPC at first. After that, his curiosity had drawn him to the stall.

"Aren't you a bit young to be up here?" He asked.

Harry shrugged. "Old enough to have gotten into SAO without lying about my age." He replied. "Besides, it's not like I'm the only kid on the front lines. Kirito and Asuna, for example."

Agil chuckled. "Or that one pair I've heard about. What were their names, Hadrian and Silica? They have to be the youngest pair."

Harry grinned. "Don't know if we are the youngest, but I wouldn't be surprised." He gave an amused bow when the man expressed surprise. "Hadrian, at your service, my good sir."

Agil blinked. "You know, I think I was expecting someone a little taller."

"And more muscles?" Harry shot back.

"No, not the way I've heard you fight. Just taller."

"Always taller," Harry sighed, but he smiled. "Well then, what wares do you have in your fine shop?"

Agil pointed to what he had out, which was a fair amount, now that Harry got a good look. More than many shopkeepers, at least. "Take a look, something might catch your eye."

Harry looked around and his eyes boggled at the prices. While nothing was out of his means to afford, he had seen some of what was there being sold for much less col than Agil was asking.

"What the hell?" He asked. "I saw this same dagger being sold for less ten stalls down." He shot Agil a look. "I'm not one of those idiots who thinks expensive means good."

Agil shot him a look back, then turned thoughtful. "You likely could get it for less. Ask yourself this, though- where is the col going?"

Harry frowned thoughtfully at him.

"Say you're back on floor 13 behind us," Agil said, licking his lips. "Some... jerk just took your gear and your col because he's treating this like a game."

Harry scowled at that. "Much like that tit, Lind." He said.

"What if someone from up where the drops are better came down, saw the hand you'd been dealt, and gave you col for a few nights, maybe a shield someone thinks they'd worn out but a smith could fix up a bit, a new sword, and some of Argo's info? Wouldn't that help just a bit?" Agil met his eyes. "We've got an orphanage on the first floor, Hadrian. Kids that were going to play with Mom and Dad or an older brother or sister or who just can't handle it. And that needs col. The game's economy won't be ignored. It has to come from somewhere. You think Argo's gouging you for fun? There's a PC smith two floors down I could send your shield to and do exactly what I said with it. Yes, some of it goes it my pocket. I have to survive too. But..." He shrugged.

Agil's voice had dropped in the manner of a man who knew a whisper just attracted attention.

Harry sighed. "Yeah, I see your point." He replied. He looked at a shield that Agil had for sale. "Huh, haven't seen something like that around. Do you mind if I checked the stats on that?"

Agil smiled. "Go ahead."

Harry did so and compared them to his old shield. While he lost some of the bonuses to strength, it was one of those shields which traded it for agility and dexterity, which fit his fighting style better. "Not bad, not bad at all." He looked at the price and winced.

"I don't just trade in col," Agil said helpfully.

Harry considered that. He still had a fair amount of dropped gear in his inventory that he hadn't sold or traded off yet and smiled. "Well then, why don't we discuss the particulars?"

Agil grinned. "Yes, why don't we?"

The two would then spend a good ten minutes haggling the price, negotiating what items to trade in, and finalizing the deal before reaching an agreement. Harry wasn't under any illusions that he got the better of Agil, but he did negotiate the total value of col and excess gear down a fair bit, so he was happy enough with the result.

He did make a note to check with Argo on what Agil claimed and implied, though. The phrase 'Trust, but verify,' had been drilled into him by hard experience, both in SAO and the real world.

"By the way, you mentioned a blacksmith a couple of floors down?" Harry asked. "How good is he?"

"She, actually." Agil corrected. "She's not bad. Not the best blacksmith in the game, but she does a good job with what she can do. Asuna brought her to my attention."

Harry nodded. "She's good enough, then." Asuna had an eye for such things. He didn't enquire about it, but he knew that she liked high quality goods and could tell the difference between quality goods and those that were merely expensive. That said more about her background than she probably realized.

Oh well, it wasn't any of his business.

"So, where is this blacksmith, anyway?" He asked.

"She set up shop in Coral, using one of the blacksmith shops that can be rented." Agil replied.

Harry nodded. "I'll make sure to check it out some time."

March 9, 2023 - Aincrad 26th Floor, Fulsa Plain

Klein sheathed his katana as the mob shattered and nodded in satisfaction. The last several weeks since he got the ability to use a katana had been mixed with some questing, leveling and training in it to get up to par with wielding one, as it handled completely differently from the more generic curved blades he had favored at the start.

Many would think it a waste of time. Why bother learning a new weapon at this point, when the ones used from the start of the game sufficed?

He would ignore such statements. He had always wanted to be a samurai, and while it would only be here in SAO, he had a chance. When he told Kirito that, the boy only shook his head in amusement and then proceeded to teach him what he knew about handling and wielding a katana.

Besides, with everyone taking it slow right now, this was the perfect time to build his proficiency with it.

Dale walked up to him and gave a look around the field. "Looks like you're almost there, boss."

Klein nodded. "Almost, but not quite," he agreed. "Anywhere else but on the front lines, it would be good enough." He smiled grimly. "Here though, good enough isn't going to cut it. This floor's not as bad as the last one, but it can be bad enough."

Dale nodded. His guild leader was right in that regard. Just because it wasn't as bad as the previous floor did not mean it was any safer, and many players were still under the recommended ten levels higher than the floor number. From what he had gathered from Klein's talks with Argo and others, that wouldn't change for at least another week.

Still, that meant that a fair number of players were taking the opportunity to work on other things. They had seen the kid and Silica use the teleport gate to go and meet with a blacksmith in Coral, Asuna was coordinating with some of the smaller guilds to look at what they would all need to replace gear that was getting obsolete, and the Fuurinkazan guild was taking the opportunity to farm mobs while leveling up some of their less used skills.

Still, it did not change the fact that many players were only going through the motions, rather than put in a serious effort at this time. The casualties had taken their toll on the morale of the clearers, but it was the fallout from Lind's stunt which had hit everyone the hardest.

The Aincrad Liberation Squad, or ALS, had basically pulled back from the front lines as Kibaou kept his word to move to a lower floor and teach players on them. A few members remained on the top floor, or nearby floors, but the ALS' presence had become a shadow of what it was. However, the guild largely remained intact and the members who stayed in the front lines were more determined than ever to clear the game.

The Divine Dragons Alliance, or DDA, on the other hand, was shedding members after what was effectively an attempt at murder by proxy. While it retained a core of members, some of whom no one would trust to be able to jump and breathe at the same time, there were a few who actually had functioning brains.

Schivata was one, and many had a feeling that he only remained to hopefully restrain Lind from doing something else he would regret. Many had the belief that Lind, once he got his feet back under him, might start trying to go after Harry, the kid, not his guild mate. Hopefully not in a manner that would result in someone getting killed.

If that happened, it would be a shitstorm, especially since Dale had seen the clear anger on the kid's face when Lind had arrived. Oh, he had schooled it, but the way he slapped down Lind with only a few choice sentences was interesting to watch. Harry had not once raised his voice while he verbally eviscerated Lind with a few sentences.

It was less the words, than the meaning behind them. He had accused Lind of not giving a damn about the consequences, feeling that so long as he came out on top, he should be able to get away with it.

Dale's musings stopped when Klein sighed.

"Boss?" He asked.

"It's nothing." Klein replied. "Why don't we go find the rest of the guys and head back to town? They should be done with what they are doing. I also want to see what the latest bulletins from Argo say." He snorted. "Man, it must suck to be Lind right now with how she's tearing him apart."

8th Floor, Frieven

Lind balled up the copy of the latest bulletin from Argo and threw it across the room. That bitch! He thought angrily as he watched it shatter. Since the twenty-fifth floor, he had taken refuge in Frieven, using the fact that the floor was unpopular with the players.

The bare accommodations, the environment, and the ever present smell from being some kind of swamp, all served to ensure that players kept their time here to a minimum. If they even spent any time on the floor at all. It allowed him to lie low, but even after ten days, Argo was continuing her campaign against him.

While nothing she said was false, the careful use of words, the insinuations she gave, all of it served to damage his reputation. A small part of him admired how she was managing it, but she could only do so for so long.

It had seemed a simple plan at the time. Find the info, change it just enough, and bribe or blackmail an info broker to spread the bad info in a way that Kibaou would immediately buy. When he went out, gather a group of your own men, and rush in to save him, using more reliable information to do so. If the boss was killed in the process, so much the better. The DDA would cement itself as one of the primary clearing guilds, and Kibaou would have been discredited.

No one was supposed to die.

But that little shit overreacted and created a rescue group, trying to be a hero. Lind thought darkly. He grabs players, manages to get in without anyone else seeing them, and throws the entire plan out of whack. I'm responsible for seventeen deaths, you little brat? No, it was your getting involved which got those people killed, not me. Oh, the boy accepted responsibility for the five deaths within his own raid, he would give him that. But the boy dared to accuse him, Lind, of being responsible for the rest.

However, Lind had the entire thing planned carefully, but that plan failed due to someone else getting involved. When the new group charged in, his raid had arrived just in time to see it, and Lind held his people back so as to wait and see. Furthermore, having more people in a boss room at that time would have simply meant everyone getting in each other's way and making a chaotic situation worse.

Still, this couldn't last forever, and when it died down…

March 13, 2023 - Aincrad 26th Floor, Mistleberg

Heathcliff's arrival on the floor had been largely unnoticed by the players on the floor, which suited him fine. While he had been working on recruiting members of the guild he had been forming, The Knights of the Blood, or KoB, the guild was still small and had not made a name for itself.

The recruiting was going fairly well, if slowly, due to his relatively high standards. He wanted players who were skilled, or showed promise, and ran them through their paces. They also had to be strong enough to be able to handle the front lines, which narrowed down the potential pool of candidates significantly, especially after the clearers agreed on a minimum standard level for safety reasons.

This was a standard he approved of, if for different reasons than the players. He wanted them to get stronger, to get better, their safety was not really a concern of his. Not that he would voice or even imply it.

Either way, he had left his guild behind in Stahlhold to gain some experience with the increased difficulty which would become the norm from here on out. Experienced gamers would know that the twenty-fifth floor was a wake-up call, and it was telling them that the easy part was done.

They would have to be more alert and careful from here on out, as while the pressure might let up at times, the difficulty and danger wouldn't. The twenty-fifth floor would be a good place to gain the experience with the dangers, especially since the clearers had provided as much information as they could about it.

Still, he came up here for a reason, rather than leading his small guild through the twenty-fifth floor. There were four people he was interested in scouting out and, if possible, recruiting. Each of them had reputations as being skilled fighters in their own right, and two of them had shown some leadership ability.

After asking a few questions to nearby players, he made his way to the Shining Blade Inn. He could meet one of them right now.

A/N: Well, everyone's taking advantage of the opportunity provided to rest and look at what they need to do in order to improve themselves. Also, Heathcliff's entering the story, and those familiar with SAO know what that entails.

Well, the breather period will continue with a few adventures with Harry and Silica, them introduction to some groups, and we'll go on from there.