Yo,

Time for chapter four. Please enjoy

December 7, 2025
Third Tier, South District Inn

A blob of black could be found curled up in a bed within a random inn. This blob was Kirito. After the hectic event yesterday he had immediately walked over here and passed out from exhaustion. He had no real idea of the damage to the city or how many players lost their lives in its defense. But when he eventually wakes up he plans to find out. Besides that, on his to do list is to examine all the loot he got yesterday. He didn't even know what the rare drop for the last attack bonus was.

Kirito had not slept well last night. Nightmares of goblins breaking down his inn door and killing him, and other such vicious events plagued him. He had shoved the thoughts of watching players cut down around him to a far corner of his mind. It was slightly traumatic but he didn't think it really meant much to him.

'If they really had wanted to survive, they would have been better, stronger. Kayaba made it pretty clear if you ask me.'

He sat down on his bed and quickly opened his menu and scrolled to the food section. He materialized some bread and quickly scarfed it down. Then chased it with his water canteen.

While eating Kirito opened the windows from yesterday. The first one was just a congratulatory statement telling him he got the last attack bonus drop. He closed that and opened the window that showed the drop.

‹‹Orc Longbow››

'What!? A bow?'

Kirito thought in surprise.

'There was never a mention of bows that a player could use in the beta. But maybe it is a rare skill that gets unlocked when a player equips a bow?'

A large greedy smile crossed his face.

'Either way I bet anyone would pay hundreds of thousands of col for this beauty. I'm gonna be so filthy rich.'

If one were to walk past his room they would hear a very creepy self-satisfied laugh echoing from it.

Kirito accepted the item and then began to scan through all the common drops he got from killing the goblins and orcs. He got nothing special besides large amounts of low quality gear and some mats, and a great deal of col as well. That was when he noticed the message icon. Tapping it he found a message from Argo.

Hey Kirito!

Whenever your lazy ass wakes up message me, we need to talk.

K bye!

-Argo

"Meeehh. Why does she need to see me?"

Kirito said out loud. With a quick back and forth the two agreed to meet for lunch in an hour at a bakery in the south-west district of the third tier.

-[S]-[A]-[O]-

An hour later
Aincrad Third Tier, Dough'nt Take My Word For It

Kirito saw the name of the bakery and chuckled slightly.

'Really, why would someone name their bakery that?'

Walking in he saw Argo sitting at a small two person table. He walked up and sat down across from her. The bakery was small on the inside. There were several tables set up but mostly the interior was dominated by the counter and behind it the door the must have led to the kitchen.

"Hey there Argo, how is it going?"

Argo was a short girl with brown hair that fell down to her shoulders. Her bangs hung just above her eyes. Which were a deep chocolate brown. She had three whisker marks on each side of her face. And she wore a large brown cloak with a hood that helped her blend into a crowd. She was an information broker. There weren't a lot of them in SAO maybe five to six, but Argo was the best.

Most players knew that, and her business flourished compared to others. She buys and sells information to a large portion of the player base. Even only after thirty days her competition was floundering. She and Kirito had met during the beta and Kirito had added her to his friends list realizing she was his best bet whenever he wanted to learn something or needed to sell something without going to a player merchant. For some reason beyond Kirito, she had taken a liking to him more so than her normal customers.

She gave him a million watt smile and said.

"Rumor on the street Kirito is that a player dressed in black with a nice shiny sword was the one who practically solo'ed the boss yesterday and got the last hit on him. So I am curious if this game has a last attack bonus drop? And if so what did you get? I already know it was you. No one else is reckless enough to solo a boss."

Kirito sighed. Of course his deed would be a huge new rumor.

'But then again how bad ass did I look? Right? Must have been pretty bad ass…'

"Uhh? Kirito? You there? Stop spacing."

"Huh? OH yeah Argo. Err ya you know me. If it looks cool I am there doing it. You give me 200 col and I will give you my inside scoop on this. What do ya say?"

"You know just what to say to me don't you Kirito. Alright here."

With that Kirito opened a trade window and Argo sent him 200 col.

"Ok now spill, did you get something?"

"To answer your question, yes I did. However if you want an answer to what it is I will charge you another 50 col if you help me find a buyer for it. Otherwise I will charge ya 1000 col to just find out."

Answered Kirito.

"Kirito! Aww damn it! No fair you were supposed to tell me for the 200."

She pouted. Her bottom lip was curled out and she stared Kirito down with the biggest puppy dog eyes she could muster.

Kirito quickly glanced away, he knew his resolve would crumble if he looked at her pout for too long.

"Not happening, pay me another 50 col and we can keep this talk going."

"Boo hoo."

Came her reply as she gave him another 50 col.

"Anyway, of course I would help you sell it, assuming I can take 15% of the sale."

"Five."

Was all she got in reply.

"Fine, 10% or you can go find someone else to help you sell it."

"Alright, alright, alright already. Stop pouting at me. So you ready to see what I got?"

He took a pause and waited till she nodded her head. Kirito leaned in so no one could hear.

"I got a bow..."

"WHAT!"

"Yeah it's named ‹‹Orc Longbow››. I didn't even know there were equip-able bows in the game. But it must be that bow the boss was shooting with. Hey, anyway Argo what happened after I killed the boss yesterday. I just left right away I was too tired to focus and I needed to sleep."

Argo had a calculative look on her face. She was clearly scheming on how to maximize the bow's sale price. Kirito snapped his fingers in front of her face to get her attention. Then he asked her about what happened after he left again.

"Oh after you left..."

Flashback to yesterday
Argo's POV

Argo found herself situated on top of a house about 100 feet away from where the boss was currently spinning like a top. She was cold and soaking wet but she knew tomorrow she would have information to sell about this event. The rain didn't block her vision too badly but it was hard to see clearly in the darkness that only a few torches and several burning buildings illuminated.

She watched as someone clad in black fought the boss solo till others had eventually mustered their courage to help. Then she watched as that player continued to fight the boss till he began spinning. In a brief flash of panic she worried the boss might kill more people with his endless spin. Till she saw the player in black throw a shining dagger that glinted in the torch light.

It struck true and dropped the boss. The player in black walked over grabbed his daggers from the disintegrating corpse. Then stumbled away before anyone could congratulate him. As everyone else was busy cheering and celebrating. One player ran up towards the second tier gate. Thousands of players were waiting just behind the gate ready to make a last stand if the defenders below failed.

With a shout he alerted every one of the success and the gate was slammed open and the players washed down the street with the intent to smother the defenders and show them just how happy they were for their success.

Argo watched for an hour as everyone celebrated in the square down below. Eventually people realized that the fire had spread and dozens of houses and several inns had burnt down. No one had any idea how to counter the fire so it just burned its course and sputtered out from the heavy downpour. But no matter what ended the fire it had still managed to burn down a chunk of the eastern section of the third tier.

The gate there was in shambles as well. The rain continued pounding down harder than ever. Sick of it, everyone dispersed and went to find a place to sleep. Argo went up to the Memorial Slab and read the counter.

Before the battle there had been 38,993 players left alive. Afterwards there was 38,857. 136 people had been killed. While very sad, if those people hadn't put their lives on the line against the first event, then potentially thousands of players could have been caught unaware and massacred. Argo did some simple math and realized that if around the same number died each time they would lose close to 8,000 people minimum. She hoped that wouldn't be the case, as that would be a tragic loss of life. And it would really make getting out of here alive impossible.

End Flashback

"Wow, so 136 people died yesterday?"

Kirito asked stunned. He knew a lot of people died. But that was still a large number.

Completely unknown to he both of them the owner of the bakery had listened in on the story and had gleaned that the boy sitting there was the boy in black from the story.

"Uhhhm... Excuse me, I'm extremely sorry to interrupt, but the boy from that story, it was you? Yes?"

Asked a feminine voice. Her question startled both of them out of their reverie.

Looking embarrassed Kirito scratched the back of his neck and said.

"Err... Well yeah that was me I guess..."

"Wow"

The girl answered with huge eyes. Kirito noticed she had vibrant brown/orange eyes. A nice chestnut color really. He was so busy checking her out that he completely missed her next question. The girl saw that he hadn't heard her but she had no idea how to get his attention. Thankfully for her Argo kicked Kirito's shin under the table.

"OWW!"

He exclaimed. He glared at Argo. Seeing that the boy wasn't distracted anymore the bakery owner tried asking her question again.

"Umm, excuse me, but can I get you anything to eat? It is on the house as a thanks for what you did yesterday."

Kirito snapped his gaze back to the girl and took in the rest of her features. He placed her as maybe a year or two older then himself. She had very long hair the flowed down her back in the same color as her eyes. She had a very pretty pale complexion, with a very pretty face. She was a healthy weight maybe slightly skinny and certainly wasn't lacking in the goods department. Finally registering her question Kirito answered.

"Err, hmm yeah sure, miss...?"

"Oh please call me Asuna. That's my name and this is my bakery! So what can I get for you...?"

"Oh sorry, my name is Kirito, I am glad your nice to bake you…"

Kirito realized he had just twisted to sentences and face palmed.

'Once again my talent for speaking showcases itself before a pretty girl…'

Asuna stared and then started giggling. Flustered Kirito pointed at Argo.

"This is Argo!"

He all but shouted.

"Nice to meet you Argo. Can I take your guy's orders now?"

Kirito quickly scanned the menu while Argo rattled off a greeting and an order. Then Kirito indicated he wanted a croissant.

"Oh yes croissants, I have several of those and they are very freshly baked, I will be right back with them. Oh and your tea as well.

Kirito looked at Argo and saw her smirking at him deviously. "What's with the look Argo?" He asked.

Argo let a chuckle out and mimicked his voice.

"I am glad your nice to bake you."

Kirito immediately turned red and started spluttering.

"Shut up Argo."

He eventually growled. Which she just started laughing at.

"Why didn't you just order all you can eat? Maybe she would have included herself into the buffet?"

Again Kirito lit up like a stop sign. And Argo's laughter returned.

'Dam Argo and her teasing! This is why she is the worst person to hang out with.'

Asuna returned with their orders. She set a pot of tea on their table and placed a cup down for each of them. Then she set a plate with two croissants in front of Kirito. He dropped his col on the table, snatched the pastries and stormed out of the bakery.

As the door shut a confused Asuna turned to look at Argo

"Oh my, what was that about?"

"Don't worry about it. He needed to be somewhere. Can I get a breakfast scone to go with this tea?"

Argo ate her breakfast in silence as she began sending out messages trying to get a feel for anyone who might be willing to purchase the bow. Then she could begin upping their offers against one another. She intended to get somewhere are 100,000 col for this unique item.

With Kirito

'Hmm these croissants are pretty good. Oh well. At least I am not with Argo anymore.'

Kirito thought as he finished off the last bite. Kirito was making his way toward Liz's shop. He wanted to get his gear repaired before setting out. Then he needed to visit Agil to unload his gear drops from the event.

While chatting with Liz, she told him of a tailor she knew about who was at least at 200/1000. So Kirito popped over to the women's shop. Turns out she was able to add the ‹‹Small Chest›› upgrade to his campsite. So he went and stocked up on some non-perishable food in case hunting was scarce in the deeper parts of the ‹‹Northern Forest›› and he set out towards the northern gate.

As Kirito approached the gate he could hear a whinnying sound like a horse, but he chalked it up to a caravan coming in. But when he walked out the gate he saw a fully-fledged stable that had seemingly sprung up overnight. Kirito decided to investigate. He found a merchant who it turns out was selling horses as mounts. Kirito bought one for 4,000 col. Which nearly tapped him dry of col. He was given a manual on how to use a horse.

Mounts

Horses are the most common and cheapest mount available in the game. Purchasing a horse unlocks the ‹‹Mount›› skill. Mounts may be ridden anywhere besides inside buildings and caves. If a mount's hp reaches zero it cannot be summoned again for one day and you must got pay a fee to the stable. Otherwise you may leave a mount tied up in any relatively safe place, it can stay there indefinitely. Once summoned it will appear from where ever you left it.

To summon simply call out this phrase ‹‹I summon thee (insert mount's name here)›› Mount's do not require food or water when tied up, and they do not need to sleep. However when summoned they need to eat before any amount of riding. You only need to feed them once a day to ride it during that day. They have unlimited stamina and can continue at their max speed indefinitely. You must name your mount before you may ride it.

Kirito had bought a medium sized black horse. It was pitch black and very healthy looking. The ‹‹Mount›› skill popped into his skill list and was 1/1000. He named the horse Midnight and with that he mounted it. Thankfully for him in SAO there were two methods to riding a mount. You could be in total control, which is only recommended if you actually know how to ride a horse. Or you can be in assisted mode where the horse is much simpler to control. Responded to verbal commands. It is however recommended that a player learns to be in total control as verbal commands offer less control but more ease of use for beginners.

'I am going to learn how to ride this guy properly before I head in to the forest I think.'

And with that Kirito switched to real life control and began a very painful stretch of three days learning a solid foundation of how to ride his horse. He used the lumber camp as a base of operations and pretty much just spent all day riding till he was able to handle it pretty well.

After three days he was at least able to ride in a straight line without falling off. So he decided to head off northward into the forest. He didn't have any more time to waste trying to ride Midnight.

AN: Woo hoo! ‹‹Mount›› is just one of several other original skills I plan to implement into my story.

I hope you enjoyed. Feel free to leave a review, send me a pm or anything. I am always looking for feedback. And I try my best to always respond.