A/N: Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.
So, What Did We Miss?
November 1st, 2024 12:31 pm
The woman brought her hammer down on the metal one final time and as the items touched white light erupted from the anvil she was working at. Work was good for her, kept her busy, kept her distracted and best of all it made her Col. She was not exactly rolling in it but she made enough to buy food, crafting supplies and pay her rent.
Lisbeth picked up the one-handed straight sword she had just crafted. After one glance she tossed it aside with a noise of disgust. Ever since that black coat wearing jerk had strolled into her life she had not been able to forge anything even remotely close to the sword she had made him, for free she might add.
The woman blew out a frustrated sigh and let herself fall back against the wall of her work shop. She was in a block, there, she admitted it and that was the first step or so she had been told. Nothing she made satisfied her anymore since her master piece; the Dark Repulser, sure she had made Crystalyst; she had thought that Cronan's blade had been what would break her out of her slump. But she was wrong, nothing compared to the Dark Repulser. Oh that sword, it was powerful, beautiful and she was confident its wielder would clear the game with her weapon in hand.
But that was the problem, she had hit her peak, she was only seventeen damn it! Everything she made seemed like junk now, she fulfilled orders but there was no heart to her works. It was hard to put emotion into crafting when everything you made just disappointed you. Liz glanced down at the sword she had tossed aside, another few seconds and it would be destroyed.
The chiming of the blade synchronized with the bell attached to her shop's door, a customer. The smith took a minute to straighten her skirt and take a deep breath before putting on her retail face and heading for the door that lead into her store proper. A young man was looking hungrily at a straight sword in a display case. The player wore armor that would have been appropriate for the floor that her shop resided in but had he attempted the front lines the monsters would have sheared through his raiment like nothing.
"Hello," Lisbeth said cheerily. "Welcome to Lisbeth's Smith Shop, can I help you with anything?" The player turned to her and smiled.
"I was hoping I could order a custom sword," He replied. "I just ranked up within my guild and I kind of wanted to treat myself." The smith ran her eyes up and down the player's, Min'dein's, armor again.
He can't afford it, she thought, already dismissing the transaction before it had even begun.
"Well there's a price list to the right of the counter," Liz gestured at the sign as she spoke. "Custom orders are expensive, each one is different depending on the type of weapon, materials, stats and engravings and decoration. But I can tell you they all run in the hundreds of thousands price-wise." Min'dein's eyes widened briefly before dropping to the floor in defeat.
"I…I see," He muttered sadly, Liz repressed the urge to sigh; perhaps she had been a bit too harsh.
"Take a look around, a lot of people come here for custom weapons but most leave with my normal stock and I haven't gotten a complaint yet." She forced herself to smile, for his sake. "Discount weapons are in the barrels, they're unadorned and not upgraded but they are still quality weapons. Weapons on the racks go for NPC sale price, half upgraded and everything in a display case is fully upgraded and slightly adorned."
"Thank you," The player said, still sounding downcast as he moved immediately to the discount weapons. Lisbeth moved behind the counter and leaned against it, watching the player rummage through barrel. The woman flicked open her menu and started scrolling through the ingots and ores she still had, she had finished her orders for the next few days and her stock did not need replenishing.
She could always take a vacation she supposed, idly scrolling until the cursor fell on Living Crystal the strange ore she and Cronan had found on the twenty seventh floor. She still had enough to make…something. But what, a weapon, a shield, a paper weight? Could she even make a paper weight? Was that a thing?
The pink-haired player tapped her chin pensively as she considered whether there would be a market for such an item, probably not considering any paperwork that had to be done was taken care of in the menu. But still, a paper weight made a desk look official, oh and she could decorate them with flowers or butterflies or something, that would be fun.
Her attention was dragged back to the player as he sighed (rather loudly in her opinion) after apparently not finding anything he liked. His shoulders slumped and he walked toward the door, hand already reaching for the doorknob. She was not sure what came over her at that moment but Lisbeth called out to him.
"Wait a second," She sighed. Min'dein turned to the blacksmith curiously a small sparkle of hope in his eye, honestly who was she to crush some guy's dreams? Hell she made her masterpiece for free maybe she could give this guy a break. "Maybe we can work out a payment plan." It was, she admitted to herself, rather refreshing to see the light of hope spark back in the young man's eyes, she offered a small smile.
"I can do that," He replied excitedly. "I'll always pay on time I promise."
"You had better," She replied darkly, eyeing him threateningly. After a few minutes of discussing the specifics of the weapons (a one-handed straight sword with stats focused on durability) they worked out the payments he could handle, which was more than Liz had first thought. After shaking hands the man had materialized a heavy bag of Col as down payment along with a handful of large purple feathers.
"Consider it a bonus for helping me," The player smiled at her confused look. "I got these from the boss of a bonus dungeon, a Diatryma and after having it appraised the guy said it could be used for smithing."
"Feathers for smithing," The smith eyed the items in question suspiciously but took them nonetheless. She did not bother to look up as the player left, instead she concentrated on the purple feathers next to a materialized living crystal, she compared the colors (which were eerily similar) and contemplated a small project.
A small vision of the item began to form in her head and a small smile played at her lips. Maybe her smithing block was not as bad as she had thought. The doorbell chimed as another player entered.
"Hello and welcome to Lisbeth's Smith Shop can I help you find anything?"
"A drink would be nice," Replied a familiar voice. Liz's eyes darted up to find a familiar figure in purple, pulsing armor. "Or maybe a sandwich."
"Where the hell have you been?" The blacksmith snapped at her snarky friend. Cronan returned her irritated expression with a smile.
"Pull up a chair, it's a hell of a story."
The red armored player sipped lightly at the steamy porcelain cup in his hand and gave an appreciative sigh.
"Wonderful as always Kawahara," Vlinn smiled, damn if he did not love tea. The tea shop in Lindas, To a Tea, was one of the few player owned cafés that catered different types of tea. Player made food items tasted far better than anything spawned by an NPC, tea was no exception and Kawahara just happened to make the best tea.
"Glad you think so," The middle aged Japanese man said with a smile. "You know we missed you around here, you were almost gone for a month, were you on the front lines?"
"More like a vacation," The warrior replied, taking an inconspicuous sip of his tea (mint if you must know).
"Did you enjoy yourself," The shop owner asked amiably. That was one reason his business did so well, Kawahara was just a very nice gentlemen, there were few people who left his shop with a sour expression (unless they ordered a very bitter tea).
"Not even a little," Vlinn replied cheerily, raising his cup in a mock salute to the now confused player. Around him small groups of players chatted happily while several female players in maid uniforms skittered around taking and delivering orders. Soft music filled small building, courtesy of a bard and her harp; she threw a friendly wink his way as his gaze passed over her. He returned it with a friendly wave, long ago the bard, Chetalia had contracted the guild to collect materials for the beautiful harp that now sat in her lap.
The majority of the patrons were British players as it was tea time and you would be damned if you stopped a Brit from partaking. In fact, Vlinn was certain that every single British player was shoved into the café, which was actually somewhat depressing considering that they should have numbered in the thousands not twelve. Now that he thought about how many North American players still survived? The player was yanked away from the depressing train of thought as one of the maids placed a small cake in front of him and refilled his tea cup.
"Thank you, Celia," The Oath Keeper smiled and the player bowed quickly before scurrying off to the next customer. Today was turning out to be a decent day, the warrior mused as he glanced around the café.
The door was thrown open violently, stopping the majority of conversations as several armed and armored players strode into the shop with a haughty aura of confidence. They each bore the regalia of The Army and they marched through the shop laughing and speaking at an obnoxious volume.
Well there goes my good mood, Vlinn grimaced and took a sip of tea. One of the players, a higher up judging by the slight variation of his armor spotted the Oath Keeper and sent him a smug grin. Oh fantastic.
The group made their way to Kawahara, who was unfortunately close to Vlinn.
"Pardon us, sir," The apparent leader sounded anything but respectful as he addressed the older man. "But do you serve anything besides piss-water?" The group leaned over the counter and one brushed roughly against Vlinn, sending his tea cup crashing to the floor. The warrior watched in horror as his drink shattered into thousands of data fragments.
"Oops," The Army member chuckled, Vlinn felt an eye twitch and the eyes of his mask, which hung on his belt, seemed to burn for a moment.
Oh hell no.
Sky slipped into a hard wooden chair, one of the many that surrounded the huge circular table that dominated the otherwise barren stone chamber. Her eyes, which had dark circles underneath, never left her menu screen as she filed through different messages, notifications and other various forms of paperwork. Most of them were requests for the Oath Keepers, since their return from Hell-
Wonderland, she corrected herself gently, her inbox had become flooded with messages that could not be delivered previously.
The woman ran a hand over her face and blew out a heavy sigh, she had been rifling through them since early that morning and she still hadn't caught up. Most of the players that had sent the requests had found other groups or players to work for them which meant no income for them, which meant they would have to dip into their savings to make the payments on their house and supplies. Sky grimaced as she deleted another angry message; sorry I was busy trying not to die!
A familiar chuckle to the side snatched Sky's attention away from her paperwork. Heathcliff offered a small wave to the leader of the Oath Keepers as he approached, Sky glanced away momentarily to view the rest of the room, players had either seated themselves at the table or stood around the room in small groups chatting.
"Hello Sky," Heathcliff smiled. "You look like…"
"Shit?" The swordswoman supplied.
"I wasn't going to say that," The Paladin defended himself, offering a peaceful wave. "If you do not mind my asking, where have you and your guild been this past month? I've received quite a few complaints from other guild leaders."
"Glad to know we're in such high demand," Sky replied and flicked her index finger, sending her floating menu to the imposing player. He grimaced at the ungodly amount of messages and sent the window back with a wave of his hand.
"I guess you don't need me to tell you," He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, briefly looking like a normal player and not the indomitable leader of the KoB.
"So why the meeting of leaders," Sky asked, indicating the guild leaders that populated the room. The more human side of the male player was pushed aside and the Paladin stood in front of her again.
"We have reports that we may have found the boss room."
"May have?" Sky arched an eyebrow at the man.
"Our scouts haven't come back." A frown spread across his strong features. "You'll get the full details once the meeting starts. So where were you-" Heathcliff was cut short as the door to the chamber was kicked open.
Much to the swordswoman's chagrin Kibaou strode in with two soldiers flanking him. Heathcliff's eyes narrowed and Sky had to force herself to keep her hand away from Yama.
"I was very clear that soldiers were to be left outside," The Paladin said lowly.
"Why is he here," Sky muttered. "I can't imagine Thinker missing a meeting…or sending him."
"Something is definitely wrong," Heathcliff frowned, Sky narrowed her eyes at the spiky-haired bastard, something was indeed wrong.