Lisbeth

Two and a half hours later after gaining their help, Lisbeth and her new friends Jaymes and Koharu returns to Rovia. The mission was not only a success but a fruitful one. Before exiting town, they ran into Agil's group and temporarily merged. Lisbeth hit it off with one of Agil's friends, and they had a field day collecting materials from Scuttle Crabs, Dorsalfin Tadpoles (the fright Jaymes and company ran into earlier), and other mobs before calling it quits, and at a good time too. It's been over two hours since the floor opened, and Jaymes can now see members of the ALS and DKB making their way out of Rovia. Their mission, like Lisbeth's, is definitely 'first dibs' on new materials and levels.

"Muscle man there is nicer than he looks," Lisbeth says as she, Jaymes, and Koharu split from Agil and his guild. "Most of the people on the front are pretty mean. Sometimes even arrogant. It's a relief to meet someone who gets us blacksmiths."

Walking behind her, the black-skinned boy called Jaymes shrugs. "Well, prior events aside, Agil is right. You crafters will be the backbone of the front one day, if not very soon."

His female partner Koharu agrees. "Lisbeth, you really take smithing work seriously, huh? I hope we can ask you to make something for us someday."

"Yeah. I would like to see how good a Lisbeth-made weapon is."

Eager, Lisbeth turns and gives them a thumbs-up. "A blacksmith lives to hear those words. Hey, if I impress you enough, how about we make a deal?" Feeling a need to tease both the young man and the girl close to him, Lisbeth steps up to Jaymes, causing him to slightly recoil. She leans upon the tips of her toes to reach his right ear and whispers, "Make me your personal player-blacksmith, and I'll make sure to apply the special Lisbeth discount forever."

"O-okay." Jaymes closes his eyes afterward. Pleased with herself Lisbeth drops back to face Koharu the same thing, but not in the obviously flirty tone she spoke to him in.

"As I was telling Jaymes, I would like to be your exclusive player-blacksmith. I don't mind if you see NPCs, but if you want a player's touch, just hit me up, and I'll apply a special rate for the two of you. How does that sound?"

Koharu crosses her arms. " Hmm...that doesn't sound too bad. You sound confident in your skills."

"As promised, I'll provide my services in exchanged for helping me out. How does that sound as a test of my abilities?"

"What do you say to that, Jaymes... Aincrad to Jaymes!"

Returning to the world, Jaymes blinks twice before facing his displeased partner. "What?"

"You've been staring at Lisbeth for a while."

Lisbeth nods and smirks slightly in his direction. She didn't think her teasing would go this far, and it's too late-and too entertaining-to stop now. "I was asking if I should keep my end of the deal and service your weapons, but it seems I've done a lot more than that today."

"I... I uhh..."

She brings her hands to her midline and slightly lowers her face, unleashing a cute glance in his direction. "Am I so beautiful that you've no words left?"

Jaymes is at a lost for words again, and Koharu seems to get more agitated. When he realizes that, he bypasses the subject by apologizing and accepting Lisbeth's offer. She leads them to a nearby alley where she takes her portable smithing equipment out. First she repairs their weapons, which takes no more than a couple of minutes, then next their armor. Once she given them a clean bill of health, she collects her carpet and faces her customers. "Thanks for the patronage. Let me know if you ever need to upgrade, craft, or repair anything. I'm sure NPCs are somewhat better than me, just by looking at your dagger, Koharu, but one day I'll surpass them."

Koharu nods. "We will! And if you ever need help collecting materials, we'll be glad to assist."

"Really? I mean, you two are frontrunners..."

"Ko's right," Jaymes says with affirmation. "Just send me a message, and if I can make time, I will come. I should help my personal blacksmith, shouldn't I?"

Hearing that, Lisbeth cannot help but seize opportunity. "Anytime?"

"Anytime."

"Oh, is that so? Even if it's the dead of night, and a lonely girl such as I desires the company of a strong warrior like you, Jaymes?" jaymes chokes on his answer, which makes Lisbeth giggle and face his partner. "What a hero! Watch out, Koharu, your partner is going to make a girl's heart race with those words. I bet you know that well enough."

Jaymes sighs and pivots on his heel to walk out the alley. Before taking a step, he looks back at Lisbeth over his shoulder. "We gotta go, but as I said, let us know if you need anything, and anytime we need the expertise of a player that's a smith, we're your customers."

Lisbeth, void of all playfulness, reaches out her hand to Jaymes. "May this begin a beautiful business relationship and friendship on the side." Jaymes nods and shakes her hand, then she shakes Koharu's. Before they split, they exchange friend requests, then she watches as the pair leave the alley.

"You'll come to my aid anytime, huh?" Lisbeth reaches up for the left side of her chest, her heart skipping beats. She's never had a boy say those words to her. and yet...those few words, even if he meant them differently, are the warmest words she's heard in over a month. "Well, then, Jaymes. I shall be putting your words to the test sometime...and who knows, maybe you'll be my hero..."


Silica

"Six down." Silica watches in horror as Morte, who allied with her, Jaymes, Koharu, Asuna, Liten, and Lisbeth in finding four rare items to make an antidote to save a poisoned Pina, rise from the picnic mat alone. He had just coerced them into drinking a paralyzing tea, so neither she or the others can do anything but watch at the man in the yellow tunic and red hankerchief starts snickering. "Oh, that's right! I forgot to tell you, but I'm doing some questing of my own. A little something callede the Poison of the Left Hand Path. I'll be helping myself to these rare materials, then! And now that you've served your purpose, time for you to sleep. I suppose I could slaughter you all here, but I need to stay green. My job is to enter the safe zone, so I'll let you off with this."

He then gasps with overexcitement. "Whoopsie! Did I just talk about my guild's secrets? They always tell me I run my mouth too much, but I just can't help it. Bye, then!" Grabbing the four rare items, Morte salutes the paralyzed players and begins running through the eveningtime forest.

Silica helplessly watches her hopes of saving Pina fade as Morte's figure becomes smaller and smaller. As they just discussed, it will be a while before those items respawn, but even if they do, it'll be too late. Pina's life is on a timer, and by the time those items respawn, Silica's partner will be long gone.

Tears swelling in her eyes, she cries out. "No... This can't be happening... This means that Pina... Pinaaa! We did all that work to get those items, but now Pina... Pina won't... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... This is all...my fault..."

Her eyes closed, swallowed by her tears, Silica is unaware of the movements beyond her until she hears a voice from the sole male in her group. "My body...moved?"

"Jaymes! I can move too! Look! Our HP bars!"

"Is that a...teapot icon?" Opening her eyes, Silica sees that both Koharu and Jaymes have moved from prone to a kneeling position.

"What're you mumbling to yourself about?" Lisbeth scolds the Crimson Warrior, angling her eyes down the path Morte took, then slightly moves her right hand to open her system menu. "Hurry up and capture him! The blacksmtih who gave em the quest is around here! Hurry and get the materials back before he turns them into poison instead of a cure."

Jaymes nods. "Right... Um, Liz, what's this trade request?"

"I hate to spoil the surprise, but I was creating you a full set in secret. So far I made the sword, but it's not really ready yet. However...you mind wacking that Morte with it?"

Jaymes says nothing else as the sword on his back vanishes, replaced with the one Lisbeth traded him. He draws it, revealing a crimson steel blade with a black hilt. The hilt's designed with wings that look like a bird's or Pina's feathered wings.

"Got it. Koharu, you stay here and protect everyone until the debuff wears off. I'll chase down Morte." Putting the blade away, Jaymes gets up to his feet and turns his back to the group to go after Morte.

Feeling this is the last moment she'll have to speak, Silica pushes her pain aside for the moment to make a plea towards the swordsman in black and red. "Please, Jaymes! You have to get those materials back! But... But if they've been turned into poison already... I want you to destroy it. I don't want anyone to have to suffer like Pina!"

Stopping to look over his shoulder. "Don't worry, Silica. I promised I'll save Pina, and I plan to do that still...no matter what it takes." He starts to run again. While his words make Silica happy, she can't help but shudder in her skin, but not because of the paralysis. It was Jaymes' normally warm eyes; those brown orbs are filled with a frightening, murderous anger...