Okay, here we go again...
First of all, I've changed something about this chapter compared to the initial plan that I announced in the previous one. This chapter will only conclude the first day of the girls' training. I promised another part to be here, but once again, this turned out longer than I anticipated, so... change of plans.
The other part will be the next chapter, which will probably end up being rather short, but given that I don't know when was the last time that I predicted the length of one of my chapters correctly, you should probably take this prediction with a grain of salt...
Anyway, here's the next chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Sword Art Online Re:Hollow Fragment or Sword Art Online in general.
Akinym led his students to a certain NPC in town. It was a quest NPC, who offered a fairly simple quest. Akinym asked them to take that quest.
When the girls listened to the NPC's story, it became clear that he merely asked them to run an errand for him. All they had to do was to visit a few other NPCs all over Arc Sophia.
After listening to the introduction and accepting the quest, the girls just stood there in silence for a moment while Akinym was preparing something in his menu.
Leafa [hesitantly]: So… Just to be sure I've got this right: We only have to do a fetch quest that doesn't even require us to leave the safe zone?
Akinym: Exactly.
Lisbeth [slightly upset and exasperatedly]: Oh, come on! When you said you want us to do a particular quest, I got all fired up for some sort of rare gem that you've come across, and now it's just that?! You gotta be kidding me!
Lisbeth's remark reflected the general mood quite well. Akinym, however, just sighed in exasperation.
Akinym: Stop whining already! This is a simple and safe quest, you can repeat it once per day, and it's something you can do until you're ready to fight in the field. The reward is not great, of course, but that's to be expected. At least you can get a bit col and some EXP without risk, so stop complaining!
Akinym sent each of them map data. It was a map of Arc Sophia, and there was a path marked on it. On closer inspection, they all had a different path on that map, but there were several key points they had in common, for instance their current location.
Sinon [curiously]: What is that? Looks like a map. Isn't that… Arc Sophia? What are we supposed to do with that?
Akinym: That's the route I've planned for you. You all get a different one. This quest is divided into several sub-quests, each focusing on a certain NPC. You can complete these sub-quests in any order, so I've assigned individual paths to you that will test your navigation skills. I'd like to see how fast you can complete this quest.
It wasn't the most fascinating or rewarding quest, but it was okay. Probably not as tiring and nerve-wracking as the duels earlier… In the end, the girls accepted the assignment.
Lisbeth: Well, it's that and we're done, right? Might as well get it over with…
They left on that note, each on their respective paths.
Akinym stood still for a moment. He waited until he was sure that they were all out of sight, opened his menu and went straight to the skill window.
Akinym [mutters]: Okay, time for the final preparations. And with that I'm good to go… There!
It took Sinon almost two hours to complete the quest. Okay, she had to go to NPCs in various places in Arc Sophia, but the city wasn't that big, and the route she had to take was relatively direct and straightforward. Well, except for some… unexpected obstacles, which were the reason why it took so long.
By the time she reached the main quest NPC, Lisbeth and Leafa were already waiting there. Sinon sighed. Too bad, she had silently hoped to be the first to arrive, that would've been a nice surprise. Well, there was no helping it.
At the very least, she wasn't the last to arrive either. She didn't know what Silica had to deal with, but she took a certain pride in being faster than her despite being the newest member of the team.
Lisbeth and Leafa waved her over as soon as they saw her.
Sinon: Hey, you two! I guess you beat me in that race, huh?
Leafa [slightly insecurely]: Well, seems so… It was… a bit odd.
Lisbeth [slightly annoyed]: Yeah… What was up with these weird routes?! Like… Was yours also such a pain, Sinon?
Sinon [surprised]: W-well, I wouldn't call it "a pain", but… there were some really strange parts. Wait a moment, does that mean you also had to deal with that?
Leafa [tiredly]: Yeah… I kinda got stuck for a moment at one point… [slightly at a loss] until I realised that I was supposed to walk on the roof of some buildings.
Sinon: You had to do WHAT?!
Leafa [chuckles awkwardly]: My reaction… Yeah, my route led across buildings. [slightly happily] It wasn't that bad, though, once I've figured that out. I didn't think that was even possible, and it felt… kinda good to move around so freely and above the streets.
It brought back memories from her time in ALO. Sure, she entered SAO willingly and wanted to be here, right at her brother's side, but she really missed flying sometimes.
Lisbeth [very exasperatedly]: That's nothing compared to what I had to go through, though! [upset] Damn that guy! His stupid route led me all around town! Like…
She had to take a deep breath to calm down a little before she continued. The route she had to take was so abstruse and tiring that it annoyed her just to think of it.
Lisbeth: At every single NPC, I didn't have to go straight to the nearest one that was next on the list, I had to go to the opposite side of Arc Sophia through some shady backstreets to meet a different NPC that was left, and after that, I had to go to the NPC near the previous one! That route was all over the place!
Sinon [at a loss]: That's… weird. Sounds like your route was designed to be as inefficient as possible.
Lisbeth: Right?! And that's not all! I had to use some really poor roads! I mean, there was this point when I had to go up a small hill, and there was this perfectly fine staircase. I thought, "Great, you just take the stairs up there. Not too bad!" [very upset] Then I realised that the path on the map led up a dirty, uneven slope right next to the staircase! Grrrr! I'm so fed up with this guy and his nonsense!
Leafa [nervously]: Now, now, keep calm! U-um… Sinon-san, how about you tell us what you had to do?
Sinon [thinks]: Well, nice attempt to change the subject… [says aloud] Honestly, after hearing what you two have been through, I think it was nothing. I had to climb a fence or a small wall a few times. The only real obstacle was some kind of… invisible wall…
Lisbeth [surprised]: Invisible wall? Hm… Oh, yeah, you come across them sometimes, at least I've heard of it. They protect restricted areas.
Leafa: Well, now that you mention it, there are quite a few invisible walls in ALO… They put them kinda everywhere to keep players from flying into some zones. Or to enforce the altitude limit for flying.
Sinon: Well, I think this one just blocked out players. The path I had to take led through some kind of… inner yard. [hesitantly] The thing is that there was a door that led to it, but it was closed, so I thought that I might have to climb over the wall to get in, but there was the invisible wall, so…
Leafa: Wait, does that mean you didn't make it?
Sinon: No, no, I finished the quest. It took me a while to figure that out, but I could get through the closed door by accepting another quest from an NPC in that building.
Leafa: Huh, that's odd… [happily] But you made it, so everything's fine!
Lisbeth: Well, seems like it. Now we only have to wait for Silica and…
Lisbeth stopped mid-sentence when she saw Silica coming their way. She seemed pretty downcast, and Pina sat on her shoulder, poking her cheek with its snout to cheer her up.
The reason for her depressed state seemed to walk right next to her: Akinym.
Lisbeth [worriedly]: Whoa, Silica, what happened?!
Silica: I… I got lost.
Akinym [dryly]: You sure did. Well, not that I'm too surprised.
Lisbeth [upset]: That's just mean!
Akinym [indifferently]: Well, maybe. It's just that I've chosen this route for Silica-san for that purpose.
Okay, Lisbeth thought that expecting Silica to fail this test was a bit mean, but designing this test for her to fail was really mean in her opinion.
Lisbeth: What's wrong with you?! Is your goal to help us or to depress us?!
Akinym [annoyed]: I've provided this challenge to see if my overall assessment of your abilities is correct, and what I've seen has proven me right. For instance, I assigned Silica-san a rather confusing route with many junctions to see how good she is at navigating and if she asks other players or guide NPCs for directions.
Silica tensed up when she realised that this had been an option.
She had got stuck, not knowing which side street to take, several times. At some point, she couldn't figure out the right way to go anymore and got lost completely. This was when Akinym had picked her up, escorted her to the remaining quest NPCs and led her here.
Akinym [sternly]: Well, she asked her familiar, though. Unsurprisingly, that didn't work!
Silica: W-w-wait! How do you know that?!
Silica was sure that Akinym hadn't been there when she had asked Pina for advice out of desperation.
Lisbeth pondered over that as well. When Akinym had spoken of "what he has seen", she wondered what he had meant.
Sure, he could've observed them, which would explain why he hadn't been here, waiting for them at the destination. However, she was sure that she hadn't seen him a single time. Leafa and Sinon hadn't mentioned anything either, and they had indeed not seen Akinym during their "trial".
Lisbeth's eyes widened in shock, and she began to tremble when it hit her what had been going on.
Lisbeth: No! No, no, no, NO! You did THAT again?!
The other girls didn't have the same realisation, so they were just confused. Akinym decided to clear things up.
Akinym: I've observed each of you at some point. I wanted to see the critical points of your challenge, but I had to make sure that you'll act completely normally, and not as if you're watched, so I used my Hiding skill.
Now the other girls were also shocked and kind of crept out. Well, Sinon was more annoyed than shocked.
Sinon: You… really like playing the stalker, don't you?!
Akinym [sternly]: See it as a reminder that – no matter what you do – I might watch you!
Leafa: HUH?! So you'd even watch us sleep or take a shower?!
The other girls (and Akinym, too, by the way) honestly wished Leafa hadn't interpreted Akinym's remark like that. The very thought that someone might use the Hiding skill to sneak into their rooms sent shivers down their spine.
Akinym [very upset]: Of course not! Why would I even consider doing something so stupid?! [sternly] Besides, the Hiding skill wouldn't let me get past the door, would it? The only way for anyone to sneak in would be to sneak past you right when you enter, but the doorway is hardly wide enough for that. Not to mention that, even if you can't see the intruder, you'd still be able to hear them.
Well, that was slightly reassuring. In one particular case, it wasn't exactly calming, though.
Sinon [suspiciously]: Huh, is that so? You sure know how this might work, [slightly sternly] don't you?
Akinym clicked his tongue in annoyance. Why did these girls have to be such a handful?!
Akinym: If you're really that worried about that, why don't you do something constructive and learn and level the Searching skill? If your skill proficiency is high enough, you can see all the stalkers that try to break into your rooms! [mutters] All zero of them…
They left it at that. Besides, there were other things the girls had on their mind.
Leafa [embarrassed]: U-um, Akinym-san, when you said "what you've seen", did this, by any chance, include… w-when I…
Leafa stopped mid-sentence, hoping that Akinym would catch on, so she didn't have to mention this… embarrassing scene.
Unfortunately, Akinym just stared at her, waiting patiently for her to finish that sentence. He simply wasn't willing to speculate what she might mean, so he wouldn't say anything unless she expressed herself clearly.
Leafa [annoyed]: Argh, don't make me say it! It's embarrassing!
Akinym sighed. This wouldn't lead anywhere, would it? Well, he had an idea as to what Leafa might get at.
Akinym: If you are referring to that moment when you wanted to cross a street without getting down the roof, so you decided to jump to the next building, but it was too far away and you ended up crashing into…
Leafa gradually turned red as Akinym said that. She was officially done with this conversation.
Leafa: AAAAAAH, STOOOOOP!
Lisbeth [nervously]: While we're at it, you didn't see me doing anything… out of the ordinary, did you? Right?
Akinym turned to her. On the surface, his expression was calm, almost happy, although there was an undeniable strictness beneath that, which made him look just scary.
Lisbeth [afraid]: R-right?!
Akinym: Oh, I saw something very interesting. I've witnessed – just as expected – how you decided to completely ignore all of my instructions at some point and did this task your way.
Lisbeth [defensively]: Cut me some slack! That route was horrible! And nobody else had to do something so tiresome!
Akinym: Oh, don't worry! I'll completely overlook that!
For a moment, Lisbeth was just genuinely surprised and happy to hear that. Once that moment was over, however, she realised that there had to be a catch.
Akinym: In fact, I'll completely overlook everything that happened during that test, even the very fact that the test itself happened. So you'll get another task, and it won't be worse than what I've asked others to do. It's even out in the field!
Lisbeth became more and more worried where this would be going… It had to be something bad.
Akinym: You'll get the same task as yesterday's group. [sternly] Running three laps around Arc Sophia as stamina training!
There it was… Such cruel punishment! What did she do to deserve it? Oh, yeah… She tried to cheat.
Thanks to the fierce glare Akinym sent her now, Lisbeth didn't dare to object. There was something really scary about this guy which wouldn't allow her to argue with him resolutely…
In the end, she just accepted the fate she had brought upon herself and dragged herself to the outskirts of Arc Sophia.
Lisbeth [very dejectedly]: Why me?
Once she was gone, Akinym dismissed the others, although he turned to Sinon once more before she left.
Akinym: Sinon-san, if you don't mind, there is something I'd like to discuss. It's important.
Sinon stopped in her tracks and turned around. She was visibly nervous.
Judging from the way he treated Lisbeth, Akinym seemed to take after these very strict teachers who – to put it mildly – didn't take kindly to questioning their authority. Yet this was pretty much exactly what she had done during their training duel.
She had done it on the spur of the moment, simply because she couldn't bear the feeling of being toyed with, but in hindsight, she regretted that decision.
Sinon: This is about what happened earlier, isn't it?
Akinym wanted to roll his eyes at that question. Why did everyone seem to like vague expressions so much today? "Earlier" could mean literally any moment in the past…
Well, he wasn't going to nitpick, there were more important matters to discuss.
Akinym: Basically. What you did during training, it was…
Akinym tried to find the right word. Sinon interpreted this pause rather… pessimistically.
Sinon: I know I probably shouldn't have reacted that way…
Akinym: It was unexpected… and, in a sense, fascinating.
Sinon [surprised]: Huh?
Here she was, staring at him wide-eyed because she couldn't believe that he seemed to praise her.
Akinym: I'd like to apologise for something. Regardless of my reasons, you were right about one thing: I didn't take you seriously. To be perfectly honest, you're a beginner, stuck in an endgame area. The rest of the players are two years ahead of you. At first, I didn't think that I could do anything that would allow you to catch up before the Assault Team would clear the game anyway, so I thought the best I could do was to teach you how not to get killed in the meantime.
This revelation didn't surprise Sinon all that much. She still didn't want to hear it, though.
Akinym: Getting used to the system and fighting experience simply are key factors, there is nothing I or you or anyone can change about that. Leafa-san is a different matter since she has basic knowledge from ALO, and with her kendo practice, she might have more fighting experience than most veterans in the Assault Team. You, however… Well, you get the idea.
Sinon [frustrated]: I get it, yeah! So… What's the part with the apology?
Akinym: I've realised that my initial assessment might be wrong. [slightly contemplatively] There is something you have going for you that might help. You seem to be an incredibly quick learner.
Sinon [surprised]: Huh?! W-what do you mean? I've hardly done anything!
Akinym: Indeed, yet you have done something I really didn't expect, which is something hardly any of my students have ever managed to pull off. You remember your last attack? [Sinon nods] Say, how did you come up with that idea?
Sinon thought about it for a moment. Frankly, she hadn't thought much about it at that time. She had just done what seemed natural. Although… There had been one particular thing on her mind.
Sinon [hesitantly]: I think I just thought about what I had seen so far. I mean, from your fighting style. It was just for a second, but the moment when you had blocked my attack with one end of your spear and attacked with the other end right after that came to my mind. So… I thought just turning the dagger around to attack in the opposite direction might work, and it would be the fastest way to attack again.
Akinym [contemplatively]: I see, just as I thought. [calmly] I had a hunch that this was the case. You see, you've seen it only once, but you already picked up something important, and I didn't even have to explain it.
Sinon [doubtfully]: It wasn't such a big deal, honestly…
Akinym: It might seem so, but you might be surprised how many players only saw their weapons as static object, which could be used in only one way, when the game launched. Judging from what I've heard, some players on the lowest floors still only know how to clobber monsters with Sword Skills, that's all they can do. You, on the other hand, have already realised that weapons – and most items, by the way – are fairly dynamic objects, which can be used just as flexibly as in the real world. Well, or at least almost, there are still some system limitations.
Sinon: Okay, I get that, but is that really such a big deal? It doesn't sound as if it would be enough to make my way into the Assault Team…
Akinym: Because it isn't, but that's not the point. As I said, it merely proves that you're quick on the uptake. If you want further proof: When you did the quest in town, you realised that the walls and fences are not insurmountable obstacles, even though they could be in a constructed world like this.
So that was what this challenge had been about in her case.
Akinym: On top of that, you recognised the truly insurmountable obstacle.
Sinon: The invisible wall.
Akinym: Exactly. I also wanted to see if you could find a way around that without hints. Well, you did.
Sinon [slightly dejectedly]: Yeah, in the end. After racking my brain for who knows how long…
Akinym: That's not the point. As I said before, I've seen people do much worse at launch. Remember how I had to explain the system behind this quest you just did earlier? You've never really heard anything about quests or what they entail before this day, yet you used that system to gain access to a restricted area.
Sinon: It wasn't that great, though. I just thought that if I want to get past that door, I might have to ask the owner for permission, even if it's just an NPC. It was nothing but a guess…
Akinym: It was more than a guess. It was a thought in the right direction. Take it as a lesson: Sometimes, there is no direct solution, and you have to think outside the box. There are many tricks you can use, you just have to know them.
Akinym paused for a moment to think about his final challenge. It had worked out better than he had anticipated. He had guessed right every time.
Silica was certainly determined, so a lack of will and determination wouldn't be a problem. After all, no matter how much she had struggled trying to navigate through Arc Sophia, she had never shown any signs of giving up until she had got lost so horribly that Akinym had stepped in to help her.
Lisbeth was also promising, although she was the most rebellious one of them all… She was the most likely candidate to ignore his instructions if she thought they were tedious. That could be good in the long run, but it was probably going to cause trouble…
Leafa had an interesting technique, and if nurtured properly, she could become a top member of the Assault Team despite her lack of VR combat experience (in comparison to other frontline players). She just had to get used to the SAO system.
As for Sinon...
Akinym: You may have no experience, but judging from what I can see, you certainly have talent. Maybe that talent could make a decisive difference.
Sinon [doubtfully]: I don't think I'm that talented. I didn't pull off anything that great…
Akinym sighed. Why was giving this girl some words of encouragement so damn hard?!
Akinym [exasperatedly]: Of course not. Talent doesn't mean anything if it isn't nurtured. You still have to put in the necessary work, and that's what I'm getting at. [slightly sternly] You'll need much more training if you want to be a member of the Assault Team. Much more training than the regular sessions will provide. Therefore, I'm offering you this: I'll give you private lessons whenever I have time. What do you say?
Sinon thought about it for a moment.
Frankly, she wasn't comfortable with the idea. There was something… off-putting about Akinym. Even if she didn't admit it openly, she had also had her reservations about the guy – this complete stranger – who was supposed to teach her how to get by in SAO. Actually dealing with Akinym had made things even worse. He was… intimidating, to say the least.
The only reason why she took part in this training to begin with was that it seemed like her only way into the Assault Team. However, that problem didn't change. She still wanted to be a member of the Assault Team, and this might be her only chance.
Thinking about this reminded Sinon of her… hidden intention. Getting dragged into SAO might have been a huge shock at first, but Sinon had begun to believe that it might've been the "ways of fate", giving her a chance to be reborn as a person she had longed to be for a long time: a strong person who wouldn't cower in fear when facing her problems and past.
In this world, where nobody knew her and some of the limitations of the real world didn't apply, she might become stronger, but she knew that she would need help, at least for now.
There was something else she had learnt about Akinym today: He was strong. It wasn't just the kind of strength that lies in numerical values such as stats or in fighting experience, which she might gain just anywhere or from anyone. It was more than that.
There had been their sparring match… Akinym had completely outplayed her. Sure, she had – technically speaking – won that duel, but Sinon was well aware that this had been an empty victory. It was only thanks to Akinym honouring a bet, and Sinon had to do hardly anything to win.
However, since Akinym dominating that duel had been a no-brainer, it wasn't what had shown Sinon his true strength. It had been his duel against Leafa.
Leafa, without a doubt, was much stronger than her, in terms of both skill and spirit. Watching her fight, Sinon had realised how well-versed she was in combat. Furthermore, the way Leafa had tried to stand up for her, even trying to defend her physically, or for Silica and Pina had shown Sinon what a kindhearted, passionate person Leafa might be. It had reminded her of what she had aspired to be before…
Anyway, Akinym managed to win even against Leafa. Yeah, yeah, it had been a draw, but in Sinon's opinion, Akinym had been the true winner of that duel.
Sure, on the surface, it had seemed that Leafa managed to keep up with Akinym just fine, but on closer inspection, Sinon had noticed something. Akinym had managed to keep calm and composed during the entire duel.
Sure, fighting an opponent of Leafa's caliber had worn him out, it would've worn out anyone. The point was that Akinym might've not outplayed Leafa, but he had outsmarted her.
He had controlled that duel. Sinon could tell that Akinym had secretly been in control of that fight the entire time. Well, or so she thought. To be fair, Leafa really had caught him by surprise a few times.
Nevertheless, Sinon's assessment held true for most parts of the duel. Akinym had planned ahead, and he had managed to get Leafa to do exactly what he had wanted her to. After all, the purpose of the duel was to gauge Leafa's abilities, not to win. Sinon believed that Akinym absolutely could've won that duel. In fact, Akinym could indeed have won the fight at a few points if he had really wanted to.
What had impressed Sinon the most was the fact that Akinym had been able to observe Leafa well enough to notice her habit of mouthing the aim of her attacks and to use that to his advantage. That was what Sinon believed to be the extent of Akinym's strength, or maybe even just a part of it: to be calm and focused enough to come up with something like that even in the heat of a battle, when facing an opponent who was as formidable as Leafa.
With strength like that, he probably could overcome any obstacles, any worries, any fears…
Sinon [determinedly]: I want to become stronger, strong enough to face anything. I'll do whatever it takes! I'm on board.
Akinym [nods]: Good. It's my responsibility to help you to achieve that goal, so I'll support you as long as you put your back into it. Aside from being your teacher, I guess I owe you that according to the terms of our bet. [exasperatedly] Besides, it's nice to have a student who has a motivation that does not directly involve Kirito-san...
So... That's all for today.
I don't really have to say anything to say about this chapter, at least as far as I remember, so... See you for the next chapter.
Little Preview: Let's take a look at one of Sinon's private lessons!