Okay, let's continue.
Last time, we got a little introduction. The last chapter ended with the arrival of my first and most important OC. Let's have a look at his first "actions".
Disclaimer: I don't own Sword Art Online Re:Hollow Fragment or Sword Art Online in general.
When the light effect of the teleport gate faded, a male player stood on it. He took in his surroundings for a second before he left the pedestal.
Asuna [slightly excitedly]: I think it's him! The description fits.
Asuna walked towards him, Kirito followed her. He was curious what the "Hollow Instructor" would be like.
At first glance, he was a remarkably calm guy, slightly taller than Kirito and probably a bit older as well, but not as old (or tall) as Klein. Kirito estimated that he was in his third year of high school… or would've been if it hadn't been for the SAO incident.
He didn't equip his weapon, but a lot of players didn't carry a weapon in towns. His armor was... interesting.
He used light armor, for example a leather protective vest and a leather jacket. To be honest, it seemed to be good quality, albeit not top-notch. That wasn't unusual either. The unusual part was that his entire equipment was grey.
Every piece was grey, the exact same colouring, even the boots and fingerless gloves, which some players liked because they got a better grip on their weapons with them. This guy didn't even wore accessories or used ornamentation in different colours.
For a moment, Kirito was even surprised that he didn't dye his hair grey, but it was dark brown – probably its natural colour.
This player seemed to recognise Asuna and came their way.
Asuna: Hello. May I ask if you are Akinym-san?
The player nodded in response.
Akinym: That's correct. I take it that you're Asuna-san, the vice commander of the KoB? [looks at Kirito] And your… [quizzically] companion is?
Asuna hadn't really planned for this, so Akinym reacting to Kirito startled her a little.
Asuna: Oh, that… That's Kirito, my… [slightly awkwardly] my husband! We've just met here by chance.
Kirito [slightly nervously]: U-um… It's a pleasure to meet you!
Unlike his dialogue partners, Akinym remained overall calm. His eyes widened a little in realisation, but that was it.
Akinym: Kirito… I see, the player with the dual-wielding skill. The pleasure is all mine.
A few seconds of awkward silence followed.
Akinym [clears throat]: Could we discuss further details? Perhaps at an inn, if possible. I'll need a place to stay, even if it's just temporary.
Asuna: Um, sure! [points towards a street] This way, please! I've rented the rooms at a local inn. We've set up our base there, so to speak. There is still a free room, and since we've caused you a lot of trouble with our request, I'd like to offer you this room as a token of gratitude. And if you'd rather search for a room on your own, you can leave the inn at any time, of course!
Akinym: Thank you. I'll gladly take the offer.
The three walked to Agil's inn casually. The recurring silence made Asuna feel a bit awkward.
Asuna: I-if you don't mind, we could discuss what you wanted to talk about on the way there. Unless you want to avoid eavesdroppers.
Akinym: I would appreciate that since I still have things to take care of this evening. It's nothing confidential, so we can talk about it on the way. It would also safe me time.
Asuna: I see. May I ask what you have to do this late?
Akinym: Just some final preparations before I begin my work. I have to contact all the players I'm supposed to train from now on. They need to know the meeting area and their schedules.
Kirito [curiously]: Schedules? Have you seriously planned a schedule already?
Akinym: Yes. One for each of the four groups I've decided on.
Kirito [surprised]: And groups? [mutters] And here I thought this would be as simple as meeting up, showing the people some tricks, telling them important stuff and maybe some leveling in the field.
Despite Kirito's low voice, Akinym heard him clearly. Well, Kirito had actually not tried to hide his thoughts. It was just that he hadn't thought about what training other players "professionally" would mean, so Akinym's straightforward explanation caught him a little off guard.
Akinym: I'm taking this very seriously, Kirito-san. Teaching others how to become front-line fighters requires careful planning.
Kirito: That's… quite the goal. [mutters] Well, actually, that's exactly what this is about…
Akinym: To get back to the topic, do the trainees actually know my name, Asuna-san?
Asuna [contemplatively]: Um… I think I haven't told them yet… [slightly worriedly] Is that a problem, Akinym-san?
Akinym: Only a minor one. In that case, I'd like to ask you to inform them about the meeting place and the first date in my stead. I have my doubts that they would all react to a message sent by a complete stranger. I'll take care of anything else.
Asuna: I see… I'll do it!
After that, Akinym told Asuna which players would belong to which group.
The groups didn't seem to be divided by numbers. One group had only three members, another one had seven.
Kirito and Asuna noticed that Silica, Lisbeth, Leafa and Sinon should form a group. In a sense, they were happy that their friends would be in this together.
Kirito: It's nice to see that you've put so much thought into this, but… [hesitantly] I don't mean to nag, but isn't it a presumptuous to decide who should form a group? I mean, without consulting these people beforehand?
Akinym: I understand your concern, but this is also the reason why I've chosen these groups. Sooner or later, my trainees will need to form parties, and they will need allies they can trust. Preferably, they should train with their future party. That way, they would have good teamwork from the very beginning.
Sure, neither Kirito nor Asuna questioned this reasoning.
Akinym: Frankly, I've never trained multiple groups before. I always focused on one party, one group of people that worked together from the very beginning. Well… Never mind. I had to come up with a four-group-rotation for this to handle the workload. Unfortunately, there will be gaps between the training sessions, but that was unavoidable. Anyway, I had to select groups, so I divided them into groups according to their current social status.
Kirito: Current social status? You mean you've put those who are already friends together?
Akinym: That's another way of phrasing it. As for your concerns, Kirito-san, this is merely the initial set-up. Without knowledge about my trainees, this seemed like the best method to set up functioning groups. The groups might very well change later on.
Kirito just nodded in response. He couldn't help but think that Akinym seemed to know exactly what he was doing.
Akinym: On another note, there's something about your commission that I need to tell you.
Kirito [curiously]: Commission?
Asuna: About our… house on the twenty-second floor. Don't you remember?
Now he did.
Since they couldn't return to the lower floors, Kirito and Asuna had finally decided to sell their house on the 22nd floor. It was no use clinging to it – as much as this decision had hurt.
Unfortunately, they couldn't sell it directly because of the very same problem. However, they used the little-known and not very popular feature "Commission" to sell the house.
It was possible to allow a player on the friend list or in the same guild to sell any property, from potions to houses.
Hardly anyone had ever used that feature, though, since the player who was commissioned to sell the property would receive the payment. The commissioned player had to give the commissioning player the money afterwards.
As a consequence, players would only commission their most trustworthy allies to sell expensive property. Even that hardly ever happened since there was no point in commissioning someone to sell stuff if you could just sell it yourself.
The only "normal" advantage of commissions was that players could make use of the Negotiation skills of the commissioned player to achieve a better price. However, players with high Negotiation skills would prefer to buy the property instead in order to sell it themselves. That way, they could make a profit.
The unexpected issue with the teleport gates beyond the 76th floor had suddenly made this feature quite useful.
Kirito: I see… Didn't you commission someone from your guild to sell it, Asuna?
Asuna: Yes, but someone had to bring us the money. I didn't want to force any guild members to come to the upper floors just for that, so I asked a player who wanted to come to the upper floors anyway for help.
Akinym was the player of Asuna's choice because she figured that someone with a reputation as a teacher might be the most trustworthy choice. In addition, he would probably become well-known, so scamming two top-ranking members of the Assault Team would backfire horribly.
Asuna [politely]: That said, thank you for your help, Akinym-san.
Akinym: About that, there is something you should know. I'd like to ask you for a delay.
Kirito and Asuna were quite surprised.
Akinym: I've brought materials, ingredients and other useful items from the lower floors with me. I figured that the players here might need supplies that can be found on the lower floors exclusively.
Good thinking, actually. Both Kirito and Asuna were a bit taken aback because nobody had considered coming to the upper floors with rare materials from the lower floors. It's just that the thought had crossed nobody's mind so far.
To be fair, they could probably need some of the stuff Akinym had brought with him. The supply situation on the upper floors was rather dire, and nobody on the lower floors really knew about that.
Akinym: Anyway, I wanted to bring as many items as possible, so I've used all my col. [apologetically] I know it was rude to do this without consulting you, but I had no means of contacting you directly, and I had to make this decision on relatively short notice when I found some very good offers. I should be able repay you once I sold these items. I'll certainly comply with our agreement.
Asuna [reassuringly]: Don't worry, Akinym-san, it's okay! I appreciate your intention, so I don't mind waiting a bit.
Kirito [cheerfully]: Yeah, it's not like we need that col urgently. Besides, [excitedly] the thought of some good ingredients from the lower floors easily makes up for it! Say, what did you get?
Akinym [contemplatively]: Well… It would take too long to answer in detail, but I've got a variety of pretty much everything. Mostly fish… Someone on the twenty-second floor approached me when I met your acquaintance for the sale of your house. It was an old man who said he knew you. Apparently, he's an important figure in the fishing community, and after hearing what had happened, he made me a good offer, so…
Kirito could feel his mouth watering. If there was one thing they hadn't found so far on the upper floors, it was a good place to fish. By now, he was craving good seafood badly.
Kirito [dreamily]: Aaaaaahhhhhh, fish! Good job, Nishida-san! [excitedly] Hey, could we get some fish, Akinym?
Asuna [slightly sternly]: Pull yourself together, Kirito-kun! You're basically drooling! And you shouldn't address Akinym-san so familiarly!
Kirito [defensively]: A-ah, right! I'm sorry!
Akinym: I don't particularly mind. As for the fish, I could certainly provide you some. I'd offset it against the payment for your house.
Seeing how much Kirito seemed to look forward to dinner at this point, Asuna gave up on scolding him and thought about various fish dishes instead.
Kirito: Great… [calmly] But speaking of this, how much col are we talking about? [worriedly] Given how rare these ingredients – or the other materials for that matter – are here on the upper floors, you could easily charge ridiculous prices as long as the quality is high enough.
Akinym: Probably. I don't intend on doing this, though. If I used this monopoly for my own benefit to the full extent, I'd rob the Assault Team of valuable resources. If the players had to spend too much col now, they'd face financial difficulties later on. Therefore, they might not be able to enhance or improve their equipment as necessary and would either die or at least not be able to support the Assault Team. Either way, the Assault Team would lose combat strength as the advantage of a single player wouldn't compensate the disadvantage of several parties. This would be a strategic mistake.
Kirito was quite surprised to hear someone voicing such thoughts. To his knowledge, not many players would think this way.
Akinym: Besides, if I were to take advantage of the current market situation, other players on the lower floors might learn of it and try to do the same. They might sell their items – even their equipment – to buy valuable materials in order to sell them on the upper floors at a substantial profit. If, however, many players would do that, these materials wouldn't be rare anymore, and their prices would plummet. As a result, several players would be stuck on the upper floors with nothing but virtually worthless items.
Asuna [worriedly]: I just remembered… Could you check your inventory, Akinym-san? I suddenly feel as if we might celebrate to early anyway. What if many items got corrupted? I think you've done something pretty risky.
Akinym did what Asuna suggested, but he remained perfectly calm while he was scrolling through his inventory.
Akinym: A valid concern, Asuna-san, but I took this into account. According to the information I've received from the representative of KoB, the probability of a particular position getting corrupted has become relatively low recently. For the sake of risk management, I've bought many different kinds of items. This way, only a few items should… No, only a few items are corrupted. I'm fine. [mutters] But I should check…
Akinym searched for a few particular items. He sighed with relief when he finished his search. Apparently, his most important items were okay.
Kirito: What about your skills and other data?
Akinym checked the rest of his status as well. He didn't bother to check his friend list or contacts, though.
After taking a look at his skill slots, he rubbed his chin.
Akinym: Nothing too bad. The only real hassle is that my Trap Dismantling skill got reset.
Their was also a problem with his Purchase Negotiation skill, but he was less concerned about that.
Asuna [slightly dejectedly]: I'm sorry to hear that. But if it helps, there is a dungeon on the east side of floor seventy-six that seems to be a training ground for trap-related skills. We don't know if it was always supposed to be there or if the system opened it to allow players to level up their Trap Dismantling skill again after the system error. It will take time, but it should help.
Akinym: Thank you for this information. I also have an item from a quest on the fifty-seventh floor, a training tool of a trap master. I usually lend it to trainees who want to acquire Trap Dismantling, but now it should help me to get my own skill back to one hundred proficiency points. It's not much, but it's a start.
Shortly thereafter, they arrived at Agil's inn. They parted ways for today in front of the door.
Asuna [politely, bows slightly]: Once again, thank you for going along with our request, Akinym-san. The Assault Team would be indebted to you if you could help our new recruits. Also… [slightly worriedly] Some of them are my friends, and I hope they will be okay, so please take good care of them!
Akinym: This is exactly what I intend to do. Now, if you excuse me, Asuna-san, Kirito-san.
Akinym bowed slightly to Asuna and then to Kirito before he entered the inn. Kirito and Asuna stayed outside for a moment.
Asuna took a deep breath. She was pretty tired, so she was grateful that she had finished her work for today. Well, at least almost. She only had to contact Akinym's future "students".
Asuna: That was… interesting. I hope everything will work out. What do you think?
Kirito [contemplatively]: I don't know. It's hard to tell without knowing what he will do. So far, I think he might be a bit stiff, [slightly displeased] and training under him would probably be no fun… [calmly] But he seems to be a decent person, and if he's known for this job, he probably knows what he does.
They left it at that and entered the inn as well.
...and that's chapter 2.
I don't know if SAO actually has something like the Commission feature I've mentioned. It's just an idea I had when writing this chapter to explain how Kirito and Asuna sold their house.
Speaking of which, to my knowledge, they've actually never sold it in HF. However, I figured that they probably would/should have done that. It was also a good transition to Akinym's "supply strategy" in my opinion.
When will Kirito notice that they didn't get the fish he wanted? Well, that remains a mystery. On a related note, Nishida is the name of the old fisherman Kirito and Asuna met on the 22nd floor (in case anyone doesn't remember).
Coming up with the name Akinym for my OC was harder than I like to admit... Anyway, there's a little meaning behind it, which will be revealed in due time. It's just a little play on words.
Little Preview: Let the training begin! What will Akinym think of his illustrious students?