Floor 1 - Chapter 2 - Mission of Mercy

~Around 00:30am, December 1st, 2022 (Day 25), Central Tolbana~

It'd been a long day for the duo, as they'd walked the distance from the Town of Beginnings, to Tolbana, around 5 miles away. Not really that far, he thought - 'About the same distance from mine to Winterbourne... oh. That is actually further than I thought'. That distance had been made even longer by having to stop multiple times to dispatch enemies, or to have a bite to eat, as well as the monster filled Horunka Woods being slap bang in their path. At normal pace, they'd have made the journey in just shy of three or four hours, but at their pace... it was surprising they'd made it before the sun began to set. The duo had managed to find rooms in an inn in the town itself, and whilst they were fairly utilitarian, they'd do for a home base. They'd made sure they were well fed, and Jet had made sure Koharu had settled in well, before returning to his room for the night.

In the real world, Michael had some form of insomnia. Unfortunately for him, this also meant Jet suffered from it seemingly, as it was now after midnight, and he was wandering around the town, some two hours after he'd laid down in an attempt to get some sleep. Unsurprisingly, the Town of Tolbana was deserted, with only a few people around, and no one he knew, certainly.

All of which made it all the more confusing to see a young girl sat at the nearby fountain crying silently. For what it was worth, Jet wasn't great with kids, although even he knew that a child crying silently was usually a bad sign. Crying meant that they wanted attention for some reason, but crying silently meant that they just couldn't stop, and not being good with kids aside, it was still more than enough to make him feel guilty about ignoring them. He approached the young girl, trying to look as non threatening as possible. If they weren't an NPC, they were stuck here too, and if that possibility terrified an adult, he'd rather not consider what effect it'd have on a young child...

''Hey, you alright... okay, stupid question. Course you aren't, what's up?'' - Jet tried to sound as kind as he could, unintentionally sounding a bit Scottish, an achievement for someone from Bristol. A quest marker popped up above the child's head. - ''My sister, she's... she's really ill, mister. We need herbs for medicine, could you help us by gathering them from the Quest Plains, please?'' - Ah, they were an NPC. Well, that existential crisis averted, Jet wondered why the game's system had only spawned them now, rather than when far more players were about, but he hadn't reached any real conclusion before he accepted the quest. He felt that, even with Koharu asleep, it was a fairly simple quest to defeat only 5 wasps. Piece of cake, he thought...

~Around 03.10am, December 1st, 2022 (Day 25), Quest Plains~

Sometimes, he could turn around and slap himself. This was one of those times - ''Piece of cake'' - he'd said, completely forgetting his own allergies to wasps. Luckily, SAO hadn't modelled that particular aspect of reality. Oh, the irony wasn't lost on him that a game of death had made what should've been a fatal situation, into a minor inconvenience. While that was helpful, he was still surrounded by wasps, and with his health being whittled down at an ever increasing rate, he really could have done with a chance to break out of the encirclement...

"Rrrargh!" - A fourth wasp disappeared into polygons, as a seventh and eighth took it's place. Jet's breathing was becoming more erratic as he fought on, relying on adrenaline and conviction alone to continue.

''INCOMING!'' - a female voice shouted, as Jet saw the distinctive light of a sword skill charging up. It took a split second to process that little piece of information, before he leapt out of the path of the incoming blade. The fifth wasp disappeared into polygons, and the others decided that the newcomer was a far greater threat. Jet quickly used that tactical error to his advantage, tearing three of them out of existence, whilst the newcomer took out another three.

Within minutes, all eight had been dealt with, and Jet focused on getting some of his breath back, and thanking the person who'd leapt in to save him. A girl, probably around his age, say mid to late teens, with bright red hair. Jet remembered that there were items that basically functioned as hair dye, so a perfect red wasn't as out there as it may have been on day one. The irony that the boy with what was now orange hair was the one thinking of this, wasn't lost on him either. Seemingly, the game hadn't scanned in ginger very well, leaving it a funny shade of bronze in some lights, and orange in others. He did have to admit though, the red hair suited the girl beautifully, and that right now, the mix of hormones, adrenaline and exhaustion were making sure his thought process was absolutely frazzled.

''Much obliged back there, thought I was gonna need something a bit stronger than my epi-pen then...'' - Jet quipped, trying to hide the shaking he was now suffering from, and his own inexperience around the fairer sex.

''Pozhaluysta, I'm Rain.'' - the red haired girl spoke with a faint Russian accent, only obvious by the use of a Russian introduction, as she bowed towards him, before returning to a stance similar to that of a maid.

"Privet, ya Dzhet. Rad vstreche." - Jet bowed, and answered in... considerably less than perfect Russian. Turns out a Bristolian, used to speaking in Japanese, then swapping to Russian, sounds just a little strange.

"Ty govorish' po-russki?" - Rain answered in surprise.

"Gm, net. YA prosto znayu, kak skazat' to i eto po-russki." - Jet looked awkwardly at the sky, regretting not actually learning more Russian than "Hello, I'm [insert name]. Nice to meet you".

"Izvinite." - Rain apologised in embarrassment at the situation.

"Nah, probably shouldn't try to be as clever as I act sometimes. Thanks for the save with those wasps, by the way. I got a bit too overconfident there." - He said, in what might have been the understatement of the century.

"What exactly leads someone into the fields at 3 in the morning on their own?"

"I could ask the same of you, but... a quest to help an ill child. Needed to gather materials, and my partner had already gone to sleep, so..."

''So you went on a quest, on your own, at night, with no assistance, all because you didn't want to wake your partner up?'' - She wasn't entirely sure whether that was really sweet... or really stupid. She settled on somewhere in between the two extremes. Quite sweet, but also really stupid.

''Well, when you put it like that, it does sound a little daft. Anyway - YAWN - uhh, I should probably get back to Tolbana, as it is... bloody hell, it's 4am! I have to be up at 8, so I guess this is goodbye for now. Dosvedanya!" - Jet took off at full sprint, realising that Koharu might be more than a little worried if she woke up, with him nowhere to be found.

"Dosvedanya." - Rain shouted after him. Even if she hadn't been able to ask him to join up with her, she had a name for her mysterious warrior - Jet, and where he was staying. All of that meant he'd likely be attending the boss meeting tomorrow. Maybe she'd get chance then...

~About 4 hours later~

8am rolled around, and unsurprisingly, Jet was knackered. The fight last night had left him exhausted, and his own concern for timekeeping had meant he hadn't actually checked if Rain had gotten back to safety. Or more generally, even added her to his friends list. Still, that quest had been cleared, and whilst the young girl was an NPC, Jet felt a little bit happier knowing that the girl's sister was on the mend, at least to him. For the first time in a while, the cocky smile he hid behind was replaced with a more genuine one. Even if it was only one person, he'd actually made a difference.

"Jet? Are you alright, you kind of seemed... not here for a moment?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine, just a little tired, that's all."

"Didn't sleep well." - She'd made sure that wasn't phrased as a question, a knowing look on her face.

"Yeah, shame we've not got coffee here, I'd be fine" - Jet joked, as his partner just shook her head, and laughed along. - "You want to go and get a bite to eat?"

"You're paying, after going out questing last night." - For once, it was Koharu smirking, rather than Jet. To Jet, it was honestly unsettling.

"Fair eno- wait! You were asleep, how'd you know I was out last night?" - Exactly what she'd said took a few moments to register with the exhausted teen.

"Quest log. I'd have remembered doing a quest involving children.'' - Jet held his hands to his face. - ''Please don't do something stupid like that again. You told me we're a team, so if you do a quest, I'll be there to back you up." - Despite the words, the tone was less like a telling off, taking the tone of a concerned friend.

"Yeah, I know." - Jet looked down, almost like a guilty child. He'd told Koharu they were a team, after all, so maybe he should be taking his advice. - ''Didn't want to wake you though... wouldn't want you losing out on your beauty sleep, after all.'' - Jet gave the most smug, pleased with himself grin possible, before bursting out laughing himself.

"Ever the gentleman..." - Koharu joked, as the pair walked towards the closest restaurant. Jet looked back, as he swore he saw a moving shadow. One that wasn't his. Despite spending a few seconds looking around, nothing appeared out of the ordinary. Maybe the lack of sleep was getting to him, after all.

Still, later today, the pair would be at the strategy meeting, which would signify the real start of the game...

{Author's Comments.}

Apologies for the... possibly questionable Russian in this chapter. Anyone who actually gets what Jet says in Russian, well done (if I actually got it right. If not, please message me with what it actually became... because if nothing else, it might actually be funnier.).

We're slowly, but surely, moving towards the end of the First floor... so only 99 to go after that. I'll probably skip some floors where I've not really got any decent ideas, or where the story didn't change in any meaningful way.

The next chapter should be out either on the 11th or 12th October, all things going well.