"...Hello...Welcome to Lisbeth's Smith Shop..."

A young pink-haired girl resting at the center counter in the shop spoke in a low, tiring voice, before letting out a big yawn, and collapsing on the counter.

"Hi! Lis! Long time no see!" Asuna waved her hand. "Why are you looking so down?"

"Oh, it's you, huh?" Lisbeth mumbled, her face still down on the counter. "Just...give me 'nother ten minutes..."

"Whoa, this blacksmith of yours must be pretty good, Asuna." Keita said while looking around the shop, which is littered with numerous 'Sold Out' signs on the showcases and shelves.

"Nah..." Lisbeth sighed, finally lifting her face up. "With the guild war going on, those guild jerks just come in and buy off everything...then had the nerves to ask me to build more weapons for them! I haven't slept in, like, three nights now."

"You poor girl!" Asuna said shocked. "Why haven't you tell me about this?!"

"I didn't want to trouble you. Some KBO knights mentioned that you went on to do something important." She replied. "Still, I'm starting to get tired of all these idiotic guild battles! How can I get some sleep if I have to worry about those people going all out just in front of my shop!?"

"Totally agree with you, girl." Sasamaru grinned, but quickly stepped back once Lisbeth glared an angry look at him.

"Hey, but at least you made some good profit selling out everything, didn't it?" Agil asked carefully.

"Actually, no. They kept begging for me to lower the prices, we're talking about quality works, my premium stuffs, you know!? The only reason I did as they asked is because I wanted to get rid of them! Having a KBO knight and a HDA paladin in the same shop is bad for business, a lot." Lisbeth explained.

"Anyway, so what brings you here today? I thought you are out there in the front lines. Your sword needs some repairs or upgrades?"

"Well, it's not my sword that needs repairs." Asuna pointed at me. "It's that guy over there."

"Oh..." Lisbeth stared at me curiously, resting her head on her right arm, making a pose as if she's examining me.

Heh, is she thinking that I'm some poor dude who can't afford to buy her 'premium' stuffs?

Better get straight to the point, then.

"I'm looking for someone who can fix my sword. It was dented in a battle." I began, using my hand to reach out the Elucidator on my back, and place it on the counter in front of Lisbeth.

"Asuna recommended you to me, so I guess you're skilled enough to fix it."

"Skilled enough!?" Lisbeth's voice tensed up. "Who do you think are talking to, you idiot!? I've been making swords nonstop for three freakin' days, and sold out all of them! Don't you dare think that I can't handle your little toy sword!"

With that said, she reached her hand to pick the Elucidator up, but ended up fumbled with it for a while as the sword's too heavy for her to carry by one hand.

"Whoa, the Elucidator?...So I guess you do have some skill." She commented. "A Demon Sword dropped from a boss monster, right? And look at those stats! You could actually go all the way to floor eighty or so with this sword alone!"

"Well, it won't bring me anywhere for a big while until it's repaired." I said.

"How the hell did you get such a strong sword like this dented, anyways!?"

"Long story." Asuna replied instead. "Let's just say we went through a lot of bad, nasty things. Something bad is bound to happen."

"Hmph! As if I'm not busy enough already!" Lisbeth pouted. "Alright! I'll do it! Give me a day or two."

"Wait! There's more." I spoke. "Actually, er..."

"Well, what? Spit it out already! A blacksmith's got a work to do, too, you know?"

"Can you make me another sword, also?" I finally told her. "A new sword that's as strong as that thing."

"Wha? Just make up your mind! If you want a new sword, then why bother fixing this one!? Materials aren't easy to come by!"

"It's...er..."

Okay, I know a lot of my friends know about my Dual Blade unique skill already, but I'm not sure about telling it to Lisbeth. But well, it'll be wasted if the situation demanded that I use that skill and I don't have a strong pair of swords to make the best use out of it. I can't just keep borrowing swords from my friends every time. It's time for me to finally get a new sword of my own.

And I have a feeling that maybe Lisbeth can make me a good sword to match my Elucidator in battle.

"Just...consider it a spare sword for me." I told Lisbeth. "Plus I'm a sword fanatic."

"Y'know, that ain't too far from the truth." Agil added.

"It isn't that simple, mister!" Lisbeth said. "Your Elucidator pretty much outmatched all swords in my shop right now. It's gonna take something special for your new sword. Thing is, I lacked the right materials to make it happen right now."

"Don't worry about it. I can find the materials for you." I said. "You can just concentrate on making the sword."

"Heh, good luck getting a rare material without a master smith!" She grinned. "One of the rare items I needed is a special metal collected from a dragon monster that eats it on floor fifty-five. Even if you can beat that thing, which is highly unlikely considering the condition of your sword right now, you can't retrieve that thing without a master smith's presence nearby. To put it simply, you won't get anything without me helping!"

"Gosh. One bad thing to another..." I sighed. "I really think it's a bad idea for you to come..."

"Hey! Would you stop looking down on me already!? I may not look like it, but I'm also a master macer! I could be a great help fighting that dragon!"

Heh, someone's so eager to prove herself, huh?

"Alright, alright, I give up. You can come with me to get that rare material of yours." I told her, then turn to the Black Cats members who's admiring the weapons on the catalogue on the wall.

"Looks like I'm going to need some of you guys' help, after all." I said. "Without my sword, I'm pretty much useless in battle. I can't risk using the Elucidator again as long as it doesn't get fixed. It might get damaged more and become unusable."

"We're always ready, Kirito!" Keita spoke.

"W-w-wait! Stop!" Lisbeth shouted. "I need someone to take care of my shop when I'm not here! This guild war thing's getting more and more serious. Who knows what will happen if I leave my shop empty!?"

"Er...so you're suggesting that we guarded the shop while you and Kirito go find the materials, huh?" Agil asked.

"Pretty much like that, yeah."

"I will stay, then." Asuna said. "It's partly my fault that my KBO knights' been making a mess for you to clean up. I'll take care of your shop, Lis, don't worry!"

"Well, the same goes for me, too." Sinon added. "I will make sure no HDA paladins will bother your shop during your absence."

"Wait, why do you have to stay here, too!?" Asuna raised her eyebrow. "Didn't my friend just say that it's bad for business if a KBO knight and a HDA paladin are in the same shop?!"

"Then good luck dealing with all those paladins that's gonna come straight at you without me stopping them, Asuna." Sinon smiled deviously at her rival.

"Arrgg!"

"Me and Lamia will stay here, too." Agil said. "Lamia told me that she has some experience in smiting, and I'm good at handling the shop business. We could make some profits for you while you're gone. I still have some basic materials with me."

"Me and Oren will help them, too!" Sasamaru said. "It's not like we're gonna be that much use with you guys anyway. We're better off helping them here."

"You...you guys are doing this much for me?" Lisbeth asked. A bewildered look in her eyes. "Just...wow...I'm speechless..."

"Don't worry! We always help others when needed!" Keita said. "You and Kirito just concentrated on getting that rare material!"

"Um...thank you..." Lisbeth blushed a little, and just managed a simple reply.

"So, that leaves me, Izumi, Tetsuo and Sachi, right? Keita confirmed. "We're going with you, Kirito. We'll help you as best as we can!"

"But first, we need to find you a weapon." Izumi said. "Luckily, I think I might have a sword that might suit your taste, Kirito."

She opened her menu, then bring out a silver sword with a blue glass handle. It's a little bit shorter than my Elucidator, but also lighter.

I looked at the weapon's name and its status.

Weapon: Guardian's Pride

Class: One-handed Sword

Type: Slash

ATK: 647-657 Durability: 1,035

Weight: 135 Requires: 52

Equip: +38 Agility: +45

Strength: +52

Status: Normal

Well, I can live with that.

It's not much, but at least I have something to fight with. This is a pretty good sword itself, too.

It's kinda weird holding something else that isn't my Elucidator. I've been using that thing for so long.

Still, something doesn't feel right.

"Alright guys! Shall we get going now!? I want to be back to my shop before the next day!" Lisbeth said.

And so we followed her out of the shop.

"Oh, by the way, what's your name?" Lisbeth asked me as we're walking to the teleport gate.

"Just call me Kirito."

Editor's note: Whew, another chapter down! But seriously, I could've done it better than this.

I know, it's starting to get boring, right? I'm trying to figure out a way to twist some of the words in story to make it somewhat more diverse. I'm not really that good at English so I tended to reuse lots and lots of words. More often, I find myself cannot express things I've meant to deliver because I lacked the knowledge of words needed to do it right. And so I need to revise the story a lot, and ended up delaying the new chapter on and on, something like that. The test coming up next week didn't help things at all.

This chapter might get a rewrite so I could do it better. Right now, I just don't have the time to do it. Reviews, feedbacks, anything are wanted! I can't fix something if I don't know what's wrong with it, guys! (Well, if for some dumb luck, nothing is wrong in this chapter...wait, who am I kidding, there's always something wrong!) Thanks for reading!

PS Well, you guys can guess that in a few chapters, Kirito will finally get that Dark Repulser of his. To be honest, I don't really like that thing, despite how cool looking it is. Although it being Lisbeth's masterpiece, that thing's still considerably weaker than Elucidator, and got unceremoniously destroyed in the final battle with you-know-who. So this time, I'm gonna tweak it a little bit, making it at least as strong as the demon blade for once. Any ideas are welcomed, okay?