337Author's Note: Yeah yeah, I know I said Rebirth of Azure would be next, but I had... a heavy touch of skepticism about posting that chapter so close to Christmas. Here's a little lighter material for everyone to keep them satisfied until after the holidays. Enjoy!
Blade XIX: Couple
'Sun's still not up yet,' Ragna muttered to himself as he groggily opened his eyes and slowly shifted his body in the bed. 'I should probably get up and going now though... I can check out floor 13 today and try to get some levels in on the monsters that I find there. It's going to be a pain in the ass to try and level myself with everything else going on now that the games upping the cost to rise a level. I need to balance my time to take jobs that can help lower leveled players get an edge, try to head up to the higher floors and stay on the front lines, keep my level up to stay there and-' As the Reaper attempted to move from the bed, he finally felt the slight weight on his side, keeping him down. 'And then there's this...'
Laying on the bed and tenderly sleeping against his side with her head resting atop his shoulder was Lisbeth. After the two had agreed to become a couple and had embraced they'd gone to bed upstairs and... Ragna had been more than a little surprised that his girlfriend had wanted to sleep in the same bed as him, but she'd been clear in her message when she told him not to get any ideas. As a result, he'd taken off his metal shoes and jacket to sleep while Lisbeth had slept beside him in her pink night gown. Ragna's pet fox, Shiori, had fallen asleep at the two's feet and had curled up there.
"...At least I slept soundly for once," Ragna said to himself as he gently moved Lisbeth from his person and rose from his bed. Twisting his neck to get a couple of sound pops out of it, he looked back at the sleeping form of his girlfriend and gently pushed a clump of her pink hair to the side. Without saying another word, the Reaper rose from his bed and headed downstairs.
Heading into the pantry, he opened the notes that he'd gotten from Sasha the day prior. After considering his options, he came up with a recipe for scrambled eggs with cheese, hash-browns, and orange juice. Looking over the instructions in the menu, he gave a soft sigh as he followed the all too simple tasks to cook the food.
'Hopefully whatever top-class food this game has is harder than this crap; It's boring me to death,' Ragna though as his eggs and hash-browns cooked in the pan while he made some fresh-squeezed orange juice... basically all he had to do was a put a oranges in the juicer and select how much pulp he wanted in the drink. Eventually though, the smell of the food seemed to stir the others from their rest.
"Mornin'," Argo said as she came from downstairs in her normal hooded outfit with a yawn. "Like what we did to the place?"
"Yeah, the three of you must've put some serious work into the house," Ragna said, not looking up from his cooking.
"It's a start. So... ya see Liz anywhere? Wasn't in her bed when I woke up but my friend list says she's still in this house," his info-broker asked him. Ragna froze at the question while trying to appear he was only examining the food.
'Shit... Liz and Argo were in the same room, weren't they? ...Meaning if Liz is still in my bed right now...' Ragna didn't say anything, he just continued to tend to his food. 'If I can hold out for Liz to wake up, maybe I can leave it to her to break the news...' The Reaper then heard more footsteps coming from the stairway. 'There she is now, thank g-'
"Good morning everyone!" Silica shouted happily as she rushed down the stairs with her faithful companion Pina rest on her shoulder.
'-God dammit,' the Reaper finished his thought with a sigh.
"Yo" Argo said in response. "Sleep well I hope?"
"Yep, it was really nice to finally have a place that I can really call my own! Pina slept well too!" the youngest member of Ragna's guild declared happily. The Reaper couldn't control the small chuckle he let out at Silica's energy.
"Careful there Ragna, you were getting' close to an actual smile there," Argo taunted, earning a glare from her guild leader as Silica giggled. "Well good, 'cause I got a couple of announcements to make for Rebellion's first day in business. Soon as Liz gets here we'll get started. Right Ragna?"
'Aw hell, does she already know?' the Reaper thought to himself nervously as he glanced to Argo whose complexion seemed to be passive. "Well... I mean, is there a lot to discuss? Shouldn't we just get started now and fill her in when she gets here?"
"An' hafta tell it more than once? I'll just say it the one time thank you very much," Argo told him, leaving Ragna in a precarious position. "So... any ideas where Liz is?"
"That's..." Ragna began before he heard yet another round of footsteps descending from the floor above he let out a sigh of relief as-
"Yip!" came the sound from Shiori as his fox came downstairs into the kitchen.
'OH COME ON!'
"'ey Ragna, that Sasha girl gave you some recipes on animal food, right?" Argo asked the Reaper.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll got to making some food for you and Shiori in a moment," the Reaper muttered, earning a scowl from Argo as he grabbed a few other ingredients from the pantry. Shiori sat patiently by the table, waiting for when Ragna would bring her the food.
"...Alright, screw the waiting," Argo said gruffly as she placed her hands on her hips. "Where the hell is Lisbeth!?"
"..." Ragna remained silent once more before he heard a yawn come the bottom the of the stairwell turning his head he finally saw the slightly drowsy form of Lisbeth, now wearing a robe over her night gown. "There you are..." he muttered.
"Yeah, I didn't see you next to me when I got up," she said plainly as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.
'...No... she... she... didn't just...' Ragna thought to himself as the room became dead silent, save for the frying of the stove top. He was so out of it, he didn't even react when Liz made her way over to him and forced him down to deliver a light kiss to his cheek.
"So eggs for... breakfast?" Liz asked as she noticed the other girls staring at them like deer caught in headlights. She was confused at what it could possibly be at, but as he realization started to grow, so too did the blush upon her face. "You-! You told them right!?"
"I was waiting for you to come downstairs and do it!" Ragna shouted in return.
"Dummy! I was waiting upstairs so that you'd have time to break it to them before I came down!"
"I was stalling for you to tell them!" Ragna exclaimed back before groaning. 'Well at least this can't possibly get any worse...'
"Wh-what the hell are you two talking about!?" came another girl's voice but not from any of the three. Slowly turning his head with an impossible sense of dread, the Reaper then saw Asuna and Freya, standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the lobby. Freya still seemed shocked by the developments while Asuna... "D-Did you two sleep with each other!?" ...Was pissed, very pissed.
"H-How the hell did you get in here!? I never gave you a key!" Ragna yelled at the top of his lungs.
"We didn't need one," Freya told him bluntly, trying to push a stray strand of her turquoise hair to the side so she could glare at her teacher more easily. "The doors were unlocked when we came in."
Thinking back to the night prior, Ragna then remembered that he had never unlocked the front or foyer doors when he'd returned, meaning that someone could have come in and stolen everything from the group. A sudden rise of heat came from behind the Reaper as the breakfast he'd been preparing was now on fire. A quick glance around the room would tell you the situation; aside from Lisbeth who had her head buried deep in her hands, every girl in the room had their eyes focused on Ragna in a glare (including Silica).
"...This is why I wanted Liz to break the news in the first place," Ragna said more to himself than as an explanation for the others.
A tense ten minutes of prep time later, everyone was seated at the large table in the dining room with a plate of Ragna food in front of them, none of the tension in the room appearing to have faded. Shiori the fox wasn't a part of these such developments and ate its food pleasantly enough. Silica only had a large blush on her face as she stroked Pina's body and kept her eyes focused on the floor. The other girls, however, glared at their guild leader and ex-roommate/friends/teacher and new girl/problem and best friend.
"...We didn't have sex alright!?" Liz suddenly shouted, breaking the long-standing silence. Everyone's eyes were now focused on Blacksmith, almost in a sense of bizarre awe.
"Well... that's one way to get a conversation started," Ragna muttered. 'Wait, would the game even let us have intercourse? I mean, I'm allowed to take all of my clothing off when I shower so... Okay, not thinking about THAT any further.'
"How long has... this been going on?" Argo decided to ask, bringing her two cents into the mix.
"Since last night," Ragna said as crossed his arms and thought back to the night prior. "After I got back late from helping Sasha last night, Lisbeth came downstairs to greet me and... well after some talking, we decided we'd give dating a shot."
"...And that's all you have to say? Just like that?" Asuna demanded. "There's something you're not telling us."
"Plenty," Ragna told her before trying to put on a smirk as he tapped the side of his nose twice. "But that's on a Boyfriend/Girlfriend need to know basis."
"Tch, baka," she grumbled before she rather moodily began digging into her breakfast.
"Sooo..." Freya began, trying to make sense of this whole mess. "Whose idea was it for you two to sleep in the same bed?"
The young blacksmith's face heated up yet again. "Boyfriend/Girlfriend need to know-!"
"Lisbeth's," Ragna interrupted bluntly leading for his horrified girlfriend to glare at him. "...What, you think I'm taking the fall for you? Hell no."
"You're my boyfriend! You're supposed to take the fall for me from time to time!" Lisbeth shouted at him.
"Yeah, and so far, you're oh and two; maybe I will decide to take one sooner or later, preferably when it doesn't involve me getting beaten within an inch of my life by every girl in the immediate area," Ragna told her before scooping a forkful of eggs into his mouth. 'Damn, this is bland as all hell...' "Hey Asuna, you got any good recipes I could try out?" Lightning Flash didn't respond. "Asuna?"
"...Show me that you can take care of Liz... maybe then I'll show you something worth cooking," she told him before looking at Ragna with a heated glare. "Deal?"
"I guess that seems fair.." he agreed as he continued eating, the rest of the meal seeming to continue in awkward silence. '...Even after what just happened, this still beats paying for everyone… but only barely.'
Later
"Alright, so now that Asuna and Freya are gone let's get to work on our plans for moving forward as a guild," Ragna told the others as they sat around the now clear dining room table. "So Argo, you said that you've got some jobs lined up for us, so tell us what you've got."
"Actin' the part of a leader now, eh Raggy?" Argo asked her guild leader with her usual whimsical cackle. "Anyways, I did come up with some ideas on managing our time and I think I've got most of this figured out for now. Our shop's going to be open around 11AM game time 'till around 4PM. Either Liz and I will be running the front desk; people will come in with their requests and we can greet 'em with a smile. When Liz isn't workin' the front desk she'll be takin' care of equipment orders for our clients, meanwhile I'll go between the front desk and my own info hunting. Ya with me so far?"
"So far yeah," Ragna said. "What about Silica and I? How do we fit into all of this?"
"Easy, you're gonna be the ones handling the requests," Argo told him. "Beginnin' of each day I'll give you both some tasks to work on and any info I've got for handling yer jobs. Silica might not be at yer level yet, so I'll start her off on some of the easier ones while I leave the tougher jobs for you."
"...Alright, I don't see any problems so far," Ragna admitted as he crossed his arms. "How often are we going to be do this type of guild work?"
"It depends on how successful we are doing this kind of work, for now I'm thinking I'll have you do this kind of work every Sunday; we wouldn't want to keep you from the front lines so you'd have to stop clearing floor dungeons by yourself." Ragna rolled his eyes at Argo's accusation. "Anyways, ya don't have ta finish the gathering quests in one day, just work on it the best you can and try to get it done in three days at most, since that's when a contract expires. For today though I'm gonna start you off with a much quicker job." Bringing up her menu Argo sent over the request info to her guild leader.
"...Eliminate a patrol group?" Ragna asked as he crossed his arms.
"Clueless right?" Argo guessed with a smirk. "Long story short; a group of lower ranked players found a good experience grinding area on floor eight. The enemies aren't too tough, the drops are pretty fair for that point in the game, and most importantly th' area's respawn cycle is really short. The problem's that there's a group of high leveled monsters patrolling the area that's there to keep ya from abusing the place. They've gone and beaten 'em before, but the drops were awful, they used up half of their healing items in the fight, and another patrol came in just a few days later. That's where you come in."
"Got it, I just need to go in and beat down the patrol group," the Reaper acknowledged. "Then what?"
"Then just PM me sayin' that the jobs done and I can let our clients know that you did yer part," Argo explained. "If ya want, you can take a gathering quest I have for you and work on. Sound good?"
"Yeah, I guess we've got a plan then," Ragna told them as he used his menu to bring out BloodScythe from his storage before placing the massive blade on his weapons belt. "Guess I should head out and..." Ragna was about to make his way out the door, but then realized he should to say goodbye to his girlfriend first... the question was how he was going to do that with Silica and Argo watching; in fact, it looked like they were waiting around to see what he did. 'Frickin'...'
With a short sigh the Reaper headed over to his girlfriend, wrapped her up a quick hug which she returned, and gave her a small peck on the forehead. "I'll see you later," he promised with a small smirk that she returned with a bright smile as he headed out the door.
"...Well, least he's trying," Argo muttered under her breath while Silica stayed silent at the display. Shiori didn't seem to care and remained curled up on a chair, content with being left behind to nap for the day.
Meanwhile -Floor 13: Thickfern Forest-
A large black bear let out a threatening roar as it stood upon its hind legs, its long claws glowing as it activated its attack skill to tear the player that stood before it. The monster barely managed to lunge forward as it was stabbed several time by a vicious flurry off attacks. The monster was still alive, but damaged as it was forced back, its attack interrupted. Still managing to stay up on its hind legs, the bear roared as it raised its massive arms to crush its prey, only to be stopped as a rapier's point was forced through its mouth and out of the back of its head. The monster's roar slowly transformed into a whimper as it finally shattered to pieces.
"You seem tense," Freya noted as Asuna sheathed her rapier and her results screen came up.
"I'm not tense, the monsters are just stronger than what I'm used to so I'm going to start attack much faster," the legendary Lightning Flash explained as she closed the screen in front of her. "Besides, how could you tell if I'm tense or not? This is our first time out in the fields together."
"Maybe, but Ragna taught me a thing or two about reading your opponent so I can tell when someone's on edge," Freya explained. "What? Are you really upset that those two are dating?"
"Of course I am!" Asuna told her with annoyance as the two continued to walk through the forest. "What was Liz thinking when she came up with the idea to start dating Ragna!"
'Someone's still in denial,' Freya thought as she shook her head wistfully. "And that has nothing to do with you?"
"It has everything to do with me; Lisbeth is my best friend," she told the Valkyrie with her hands on her hips. "And Ragna... well... he's another story all together."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Freya asked as another bear show up. "This one's mine, but what's your problem with Ragna anyways?"
"Oh, don't you know?" Asuna asked liked it was obvious.
"Uh, no? You're being pretty cryptic for someone who's supposed to be outright angry at Ragna," Freya noted as she cut the bear across the chest, but the creature remained standing.
"Let's see; he swears like a sailor, he's constantly putting Liz in danger by taking her out to the fields, he always tries to do things along and remain a loner, he's snarky to everyone he talks to, but most of all he won't let anyone into his life!" Asuna shouted before a pop-up box appeared in front of her.
New Skill Learned: Maiden's Rage
"Wow, who ever knew a game could sass?" Freya noted aloud with a smirk as she slid back to avoid the bear's claws. Bracing her warblade, she then rushed forward and impaled the monster through and destroyed it. "But back to your rant, isn't that part of his charm?"
"What do you mean charm? He's got no charm, negative charm even," she said further insulting Ragna.
"But he's still your friend isn't he?" Freya mentioned. "Come on, admit it; you sort of like the more dark and brooding side of him, don't you?"
"...Well, I... maybe..." Asuna admitted. "I won't back down about him opening up though, he keeps way too much to himself than is healthy."
"Then you should be happy he's dating your friend; that way he'll be sure to open up," Freya admitted. "For them to be in a happy relationship, what's needed?"
"Common sense?" Asuna guessed with a glare.
"Eh, that's usually optional in love (according to those Shakespeare stories I've read at least). No communication is what they need. If they're in a healthy relationship, they'll be talking things out and share their moods and feelings. Ragna will be opening up to her, maybe without even realizing it."
"Yeah, but..." Lightning Flash began. Seeing her opportunity, Freya took her shot.
"When will Ragna open up to you? Easy, when you do the same to him."
Normally when Asuna was hit with this sort of comment, she'd quickly deny any feelings towards the Reaper with a short rant and a deep blush on her face... but something in Freya's tone and bluntness told her that she her fellow guild mate wouldn't buy it.
"Well... I mean it's too late now if I wanted to do that; he's already starting to date Lisbeth you saw it yourself."
"Yeah, he's just starting to date her; knowing Ragna he probably isn't fully committed to the role or sure of himself. And it's still early, you might as well put all of your cards out on the table and make sure he knows... you know you'll regret it if you don't."
"...Are you speaking from experience?" Asuna asked.
"I guess... It's not exactly first hand though," Freya admitted though her tone made it seem rather ominous.
"So, while we're on the topic of opening to others, what about you and Ragna?" Asuna decided to ask as she crossed her arms. "You spent more than your fair share time with him, and he managed to teach you enough to get you third in command... What's your story with him?"
Freya didn't answer right away instead looking down at the powerful glowing sword in her hands. Smirking to herself, she sheathed the massive blade on her back. "He's just my teacher; he's a good one but… he's totally not my type."
Floor Eight -Southern Fields-
"ACHOOO!" Ragna sneezed loudly for the umpteenth time in the last few moments alone. "Dammit, is my brother's Nox Nyctores screwing with me so that I can get a damned cold or is it someone speaking bad about me behind my back? ...Considering what I had to go through this morning, the latter seems pretty damn likely."
The Grim Reaper's travels to the area designated via his info-broker had been rather uneventful as of the moment and that was starting to annoy him. Most of the time Ragna tried to clear any dungeon or explore the front lines he'd find any monster encounters annoying or just a plain waste of his time. That had been before he'd been given the news from Sanae last night that he'd been cursed to require insane amounts of XP to go up a level, and now knew that he needed to actively seek out monsters for potential experience... that and any amount of fighting would help to take his mind off of the craziness that had occurred both the prior night and that morning.
"Seriously, are monsters actually trying to avoid me?" Ragna demanded aloud with annoyance before spotting a small group of orcs up ahead. There were only five of them in total and they wouldn't net him much experience, but at the moment some was better than nothing. Looking around the immediate area, the Reaper confirmed that there wasn't another player anywhere in sight. "Let's get this done with as quickly as I can."
The first orc was never aware of Ragna as it was cleaved in half from head to foot by the massive hunk of steel wielded in the Reaper's left hand. The group became slowly aware of Ragna as their programming caused them to perceive him as a threat. All too late as the Reaper impaled his blade through a second orc's chest. Going for a third attack, Ragna immediately swung his sword downwards as hard as he could, cleaving through another monster and raising a massive cloud of dust when his blade hit the ground. The final two managed to raise their axes to attack, but that was the extent of their success as Ragna set BloodScythe to its scythe form before cleaving through both of them. Around the Reaper, all five of the orcs exploded into shards of light. Resetting his weapon back to his sword form and setting back on belt, Ragna check up the results screen.
"Yep, barely anything..." he muttered as he checked the XP and col he'd gained from the battle. He'd gotten a few material drops, one of which was a rarer one according to Argo, but his sense of accomplishment stopped there. Closing the screen, the Reaper opened the map and gave a quick look to his target's location. "Looks like I still have a ways to go... Dammit, I better get running if I'm going to clear this thing any time soon."
Taking off into a full sprint, the Reaper started making much better time over the grass rough lands. He felt the wind hit him in the face as crossed over the grasslands, not bothering to slow for rock formations or anything else that stood in his path. It didn't take him terribly long, but eventually he made his way to the area that Argo had specified.
"This looks like that level grinding place," he muttered aloud. "Or should I say level farming?"
The irony of Ragna's words that he was indeed on farmland. Spiked cow fences were set up in a large 20 acre area. The cows inside were much bigger than the average cow with a slightly scared complexion. The title above them read Orcish Cow or Orcish Bull depending on what one you were looking at. Slowly walking down and getting a looked at the area, Ragna crossed his arms as he stared at the immediate area.
"So... the cows and bulls are what give the experience, so where's the patrol-?"
An inhuman roar.
"Found 'em," Ragna said as he observed the force that approached. It was a group of five orcs, though the appeared to be much stronger than the last batch Ragna had easily breezed through. For one thing, these orcs were much taller; standing close to a strong eight feet tall. The orcs that Ragna had faced earlier had been armed with hand axes and was wearing protective leather while this group was wearing thick metal full-plate and was using two-handed axes and hammers. Each opponent had two full bars of health above their head, above that was their title Orc Farm Master.
"So essentially I'm killing these things so I have easy access to slaughter their cattle..." Ragna thought, considering the moral gray area he was about to get into. Shaking the thought out of his head, he brought out BloodScythe once more. "This ain't for me; it's for other players that need this experience if they're going to survive this hellhole. 'Sides they're just data, no reason to lose any sleep over 'em."
The first Orc's greataxe was easily redirected by Ragna's much larger blade, sending the target's blade into the ground. Activating his Blast sword skill, Ragna unleashed a massive attack on the target, but the Orc stayed standing and the others quickly moved in to rush Ragna. Figuring he'd continue to push himself like he'd been doing earlier, the Reaper pushed himself to increase his attack speed as far as the game could let him at this stage. Putting all of his weight into a swing he managed to swing the place a full 720 degrees in a violent torrent, cleaving through most of the monsters, yet none fell.
"Dead Spike!" Ragna shouted, firing off his signature projectile at the enemy before leaping back. While the mass of darkness made contact with more than a few foes, still none of them fell. One of the warriors that hadn't been hit by the attack circled around and came at Ragna with charged weapon skill. The Reaper nearly felt his legs buck under the force of the blow, but he grit his teeth as he managed to stay standing. Forcing the attack off of him, he cut the Orc across the head, but it remained standing.
'They're still up? Its a wonder a group of novices managed to handle these things,' Ragna thought as the Orcs managed to surround him. Realizing even once he was done with this batch that he'd have a long day ahead of him, as hiss of breath left Ragna's mouth. Three Orcs came at the Reaper from opposing sides, but Ragna was done with this game. Stabbing the sword forward he caught one of the Orcs in the chest, but didn't destroy it. Ragna activated a powerful sword skill before swinging both his blade and the impaled orc over his head before slamming it down upon the other two with enough force to cause all three of them to bounce off of the ground. Using his window of opportunity, Ragna unleashed a massive slash against all three of them, creating six halves of the orcs before they shattered to pieces.
Hoping to deal with the remaining two quickly, Ragna unleashed his secret Darkness Fang technique, plowing into one of the orcs in a feral rush of shadows before encasing the Orc within a giant red and black claw. Ragna could swear he saw fear in the program before he crushed it leaving only the fifth Orc Farm Master standing. The Orc tried rushing him from behind with a charging slash but Ragna's arm stretched out and managed to catch the monster by the throat. Stabbing the monster on his sword, he sent it into the air before transforming his weapon to a scythe, flipping into the air, and bringing a heavy blade upon his opponent to finally finish it.
"Tch, still not up to full... and level progression's going to take an eternity from here on out," Ragna thought aloud with a groan as he reset his weapon. "Well whatever, I guess that's just what I'm going to have to deal with."
Opening his menu, the Reaper was about to send a message to Argo and let his info-broker know that he'd completed his job before turning back to the fields he'd just cleared. The cows and bulls were mulling around, minding their own business and grazing in the fields unaware of the Reaper. Knowing that this was supposed to be a good level grinding area and he'd need the any quick experience wherever he could get it, the Reaper let out a sigh.
"Maybe if I get some beef out of this I can make hamburgers, steaks, or some crap like that; anything is better than those tasteless eggs I had to make this morning... and maybe if I get enough money I can-" Ragna tried to shake that thought out of his head, but it still persisted.
Later -Rebellion's Guild-
"Looks like we have ourselves a winner," Lisbeth said as took the axe away from her smith station, the object in question was a large lance which had a crimson red blade on it and black claw-like spikes emerging from the sides. Taking the weapon, she handed it to her customer, a woman who was dressed in black medium grade armor.
"Perfect, I've been trying to get this thing upgraded for forever," the customer said as she opened her menu and sent over the promised payment. "So... any idea where I can find your guild leader?"
"Um... If you were hoping to ask him for a job you can talk to Argo upstairs, I'm sure we can figure something out for you."
"No, I'm looking for Ragna the Bloodedge himself," she said. "I had something I was hoping to give him... a message of sort."
"A... message...?" Liz asked as the woman brushed her crimson red hair to the side. "What kind of message?"
"Well, I think that's between the two of us," the enigmatic woman said as she gave an sultry smile. "Thanks again for the lance, I'm sure I'll put it to good use." 'Stabbing it through his throat.'
"Well she was... weird," Liz thought aloud as the woman left. The Blacksmith shook the thought out of her head before heading upstairs to see if anyone else needed any help. Aside from the mysterious woman in black that had just left through the front door. "Slow day?"
"No kidding," Argo muttered from the front desk where she sat, completely absorbed by her boredom. "Almost every day is gonna be like this at first; we don't 'ave enough floors unlocked yet to get to many vary jobs. This early in, most players are gonna to try to get their drops themselves so they can get their reward money."
"In that case, why bother setting up shop?" Lisbeth asked. "I mean I know that I need a place to take care of my smith business, but shouldn't you be out in the fields gathering info?"
"I should, but I already said I'd help Ragna here first," Liz said before sighing. "Things'll be getting much easier once we get some more col. After that happens I can order us a notice board so we can grab our quests easier and hire an NPC to run the front desk so I can work my magic with some info gatherin'."
"Sounds useful, but that's going to take a lot of Col, isn't it?"
"A ton of it, an' that's gonna be hard to git when we're up against some of the top guilds in the game," Argo said with a sigh before a notification popped up. Opening her mail, she read the message and smirked. "Of course, with our ace in the hole we might just be able ta manage; yer boyfriend messaged me to say 'job's complete.'"
"Boyfriend..." Liz repeated with something of a happy blush forming. "It still feels a little weird to hear that, but it not a bad thing." A second pop-up notification then came up, this time appearing in front of her her. "Eh?"
"Aw, did yer hubby send you a little love note?" the minx of an info-broker questioned, leaving Liz's happy blush to deepen with embarrassment.
"I- That's-!"
"Well, don't just stand there," Argo said as she sprang to her feet. "Lemme read it."
"Argo! This is private!" Liz shouted as she tried to keep away from her old roommate. "Argo! Stop it!"
"Come on, we both know Raggy can't possibly make anything romantic," Argo sly reminded as she kept up the chase.
"Well maybe he managed!" Liz shouted as she leaped away.
-Elsewhere-
"So..." Seno of the Holy Dragon Alliance questioned as he crossed his arms. "How far along are they?"
"They're a complete joke," the woman from Lisbeth's shop said with a sigh as she looked at the lance in her hands. "Their blacksmith isn't too bad, but any one of ours would have done a better job." Shrugging, she opened her menu and changed her previous black clothing to a newly acquired set of Dragoon armor for the Holy Dragon Alliance. "Trust me, they're nothing close to threatening, especially to us."
"...As much as I'd hate to say it, they do have one of the toughest players in the game on their side," Seno reminded.
"Yes, but there's only so much he could manage to do," the woman said as a hungry expression emerged on her face. "Sooner or later he'll realize that he can't do everything alone... and then I'll bring him down with the rest of his trashy guild."
"At least we agree on one thing, but I'll be the one to kill Ragna the Bloodedge," Seno said as he grabbed out his teleport crystal. "Got it memorized, Rosalia?"
The lance user smirked to herself as the man left. Since she'd just merged Titan's Hand with the Holy Dragon Alliance she hadn't been given a seat of any significant authority, but she was working readily to change that. All she needed was to go on a raid that brought back some decent rewards to the guild and she'd be popular enough with its base of players... maybe enough to take a seat for herself like she'd planned.
'I worked too hard to buy this game for it go to waste,' she thought to herself as her confident complexion didn't fade. 'If I'm not enjoying this to the fullest whenever I can, then what am I doing with it? I should call the guys and see if they want to go... hunting...'
That Night -Floor Twelve: Town-
"...I'm not going to back out on this," Asuna said to herself as she carefully looked over the screen in front of her. What it was showing the young Lightning Flash was her Friend List and the location of one very particular member of it. "It's just like Freya said; if I don't tell him now I'm going to regret it later."
Closing the screen before her, the Second-In-Command of the largest guild of the game headed off into the streets of the town, now confident that she could find who she was looking for. Several other players stared at her as she passed them by, obviously having heard stories of Lightning Flash Asuna and the progress she'd managed to cause in the game as a result. Asuna decidedly ignored any sounds of gossip, her mind completely focused on find her friend.
Taking on final turn around the corner, she saw him standing off to the sides of the street. Ragna was wearing what he usually was (why wouldn't he?) but Asuna noticed that his sword was oddly missing from his weapon's belt. The Reaper had his menu opened and seemed to be skimming through a few settings, but it looked more like he was killing time than anything else. The people around him seemed to taking notice of him and a few even stared for a second or two as they passed by, but no one stopped to talk to him.
'This is it...' Asuna thought to herself as she took a deep breath. She took one last long moment to ready herself mentally before stepping forward and calling out. "Ra-"
"RAGNA!"
This second shout interrupted hers and overpowered it completely. Asuna was left frozen as she watched her pick haired best friend emerge from the crowd and walked up to the man Asuna had been trying to get attention from. The Lightning Flash tried to take a step and make her way forward, but her legs wouldn't move.
"There you are," Ragna said as he closed his menu before turning to his current (and only) girlfriend. "Never responded to my message."
"Just be glad I didn't send the message Argo thought I should give you, you'd look red as a tomato right now," Liz told him, leaving Ragna to slightly cringe for a split second. Liz then tenderly grabbed Ragna's arm and held it against her. "Thanks for inviting me for dinner though, it's been a while since just the two of us ate together."
"You're welcome, but..." Ragna began, his face heating up slightly. "Are... are you really sure it's okay to do something like that in public?"
"Why not? I need to let everyone know that you're off the market now, don't I?" Liz asked, with an innocent smile (though Ragna was currently doubting its innocence). Glancing around him, Ragna saw that there were a few girls that seemed to be shocked or glaring at the two, something that gave the Reaper had the oddest suspicion that they might have been into him, but said nothing.. "Come on Ragna, let's go grab some food."
"Heh, right behind you... well beside you since you won't let go of my arm," the Reaper finished, scratching the back of his head with his free arm while Lisbeth gave a small laugh at her boyfriends dorkier side before the two headed inside the restaurant.
Asuna had been hiding from Ragna's sight when he'd been glancing around the area at the other girls that had been looking at the two. Noticing them talking to each other, Asuna couldn't help but overhear their gossip about how a few girls had thought he'd been a decent catch, how another said Lisbeth looked pretty young in comparison to the Reaper, and of course one had brought up Ragna's earlier 'engagement.'
Staring at the area now and watching as the crowd slowly began to disperse, Asuna remained stand and staring at the restaurant for the longest of moment before sadly smiling to herself and opening her menu.
"Hm?" Ragna hummed to himself as a pop-up notification appeared in front of him making him pause for a moment as his girlfriend placed her order. 'A message from Asuna?' His first thought was to leave it for later, but he figured if he didn't answer it now it'd be bugging him during dinner. He pressed the button to open the message, his complexion completely blank as he read over it.
"Thanks, no need to rush," Lisbeth said happily as the waitress headed off to fill out their orders. Noticing Ragna was reading some form of message and the expressionless face he had as he read it, Liz became concerned. "...What's wrong?"
"Asuna just sent me a message and..." Ragna paused as he let out an exasperated breath before he closed his message before putting on the best smile he could. "...She just sent me her entire Recipe collection."
END OF CHAPTER: TRANSITION TO POST-CHAPTER OMAKE (Author's Note Afterwards)
Second Coming
"Wh-where am I?" Noel Vermilion questioned herself from where she lay in an unfamiliar bed. The young girl's head felt slightly heavy as she slowly lifted her head off of the pillow and studied her surroundings. The entire room was crafted from dark brown wood and there were old fashioned candles that stood unlit, but suggested the place didn't use Ars Magus symbols as a way of lighting itself. There was a glass window off to the side that had its white curtains open, but Noel wasn't at an angle to where she could see out of it. All she knew was that she was still wearing her white top and blue skirt, but her guns seemed to be missing.
At the moment, the door into the room opened with a small creak and Noel held her breath as a familiar adversary walked into the room, acting joyful with a soft hum before she managed to notice Noel's condition with her healthy eye.
"Looks like the sleepy head is finally up," Nu said, seeming much less cheerful.
"...Bolverk!" Noel shouted, hoping to summon her twin hand guns to her hands so she could defend herself from Nu should the Murakumo unit try to attack her, but her guns never arrived.
"Silly, that doesn't work here!" Nu said looking quite pleased with herself. "Besides, you could never hurt Nu while we're still in a safe zone."
"S-safe zone? What are you talking about?" Noel demanded as she tried to stay on her guard.
"Nu doesn't really know, but as long as the two of us stay inside the city we can't get hurt and we can't hurt anyone else!"
"City?" Noel asked as she slowly made her way out of bed, still staying cautious of Nu. Her steps were slightly shaky at first, but eventually she managed to make her way of to the window. Looking outside, she saw an older fashioned fantasy town, though its streets appeared to be oddly barren of any people. "Wh-where are we Nu?"
"Well, I could tell you, but-" The Murakumo was interrupted as the door to Noel's room was opened once more, this time revealing- "RAGNA!"
"Gah! Nu! Get offa me! You saw me half an hour ago for heaven's sake!" the Reaper shouted in annoyance as he managed to force the hyper silver haired girl off of him. Ragna then turned his attention to the standing form of Noel. "So... you're up then Saya?"
"N-Noel," the blonde insisted, still not comfortable with the idea of Ragna calling her the same name of his younger sister. A dozens of thoughts and questions were racing through her mind from when the two had last encountered each other, but she couldn't pick out where to start.
"Whatever," the Reaper muttered. "You were passed out on Floor One when I found you, and you've been asleep for three days."
"What do you mean Floor One?" Noel asked him. Ragna let out a long sigh, a little concerned that she didn't seem to register the passed out part.
"Well, it's a long story..." He then went to detail about telling her about the world crossing he (and presumably, the girls) had gone through before explaining SAO and the death game that it really was.
"Th-that's horrible..." Noel said as he finished his story.
"I know, I'm trying to do what I can to help... which I guess is making a few waves at least. Anyways, I found Nu here about a week ago and she was on Floor One like you were. We're on an empty town on Floor Three, only because I wanted you to wake up before we headed higher up... That and I didn't want people to panic when I carried you around while you were still unconscious."
"I can understand that, but what about Nu?" Noel asked as she turned to the Murakumo unit.
"She's just been hanging onto me ever since I found her really," Ragna admitted. "I don't really have a problem with it and let her do her own thing... just as long as that's not follow me out into the fields; I've had to put a stop to that more than a few times."
"But Ragnaaaaaa!" Nu whined like a child. "All Nu ever does is wait for you to come back anyways! She's so bored."
"I keep telling you it's too dangerous! You don't have your Murakumo armor and neither does Noel now that she's here," the Reaper said as he thought back. "You didn't have your guns either; I guess it's because the fantasy type this game is based on wouldn't allow them."
"That's why I didn't have them," Noel said sounding disappointed. "Wh-what about right now? What am I supposed to do now that I'm awake?"
"Same thing Nu's been doing," Ragna told her, which earned him a pout and glare. "...I just told you, you ain't heading out there and getting yourself killed."
"So I'm supposed to stay here where it's safe?" Noel retorted. "What about the others who are dying?"
"They're my problem, not yours," Ragna told her with a glare of his own. "Besides, what the hell could you even do? You don't have your weapons, you don't know how to work a sword, and you're at level one. You'd sooner end up dead than save anyone."
"I-I know that!" Noel shouted before looking guiltily at the floor. "I just... I just can't sit here and do nothing!" She glared at Ragna something fierce. "Even if you don't stay yes, I'm not going to listen if you're just going to keep me boarded up in here."
"...Tch," Ragna growled. Noel's glare was stronger than he'd remembered it being, maybe because it was his sister's face glaring at him. The Reaper realized that despite the nasty scowl he was sending himself, Noel wasn't budging. "...Fine," he spat, turning his back to her.
"Good..." Noel said before realizing. "Um... what does fine mean here?"
"It means I've got a friend who's got a couple of weapons he doesn't have any use for; at this point in the game they're as good as junk, but I'll bet they can help you get started easily enough."
"Ragna..." Noel said before she threw her arms around his back without realizing it. "Thank you!"
"...Don't thank me idiot," Ragna growled. "And let me go while you're at it."
"O-Oh, right," Noel said with something of a blush.
"Yeah! Nu's the only one that can hug Ragna!" Nu said before she lunged at the Reaper. She hadn't counted on his deft dodge to the left and ended up face planting into the wall behind him. "Meany... Nu's just going to make sure you let her hug you after she helps you so much tomorrow."
"You're coming with us? Yare yare," Ragna muttered with annoyance. "Fine, but the two of you better get some rest before we head out tomorrow. I'm not taking you along if you can't even stay awake."
"Okay!" Nu cheered chirpily before she lunged at Ragna again, this time the Reaper wasn't fast enough to dodge. "Let's head to bed together then Ragna, we have a lot of work tomorrow!"
"T-Together!?" Noel squeaked, a harsh blush on her face.
"Not happening! You're sleeping in your own damn bed!" Ragna shouted as he fought to push Nu off of him. "And Noel! Get that look off yer face!"
"Aw, she's just jealous," Nu told him as she happily continued to cling to the Reaper. "Come on Ragna, maybe Noel just wants to join us!"
"LIKE HELL!" Ragna shouted.
'She seems rather... open about what she wants,' Noel thought as she continued to blush and watch Ragna's struggle.
Later, everyone was asleep in a different bed and a different room in the Inn. Nu had readily fallen asleep for the next morning while Noel took a while since she'd been doing nothing but sleep for the last few days. All that remained was Ragna who stared at the ceiling unable to coax himself to rest.
"So... you're absolutely sure about this?" he'd asked earlier that day.
"Without a shadow of a doubt," Sanae had told him. "Unlike you, those two still have strong ties to the world their from, especially strong ones in fact... When this game gets cleared, those two will be sent on their way home, most likely without memories of what transpired here... or you."
"Good... that's one less thing to worry about," the Reaper had sighed in relief.
"Still that means I'm going to have to put up with both of 'em until we clear this thing...What a pain in the ass..." he muttered in present time before closing his eyes and finally falling to sleep.
Author's Note:
Hey guys, as I said before the story began I thought that this would a better chapter to put out now than what I had planned for Rebirth of Azure. I know it doesn't have a lot to do with Christmas (unless you include Noel being born on December 25th), but it still works.
The idea for the level grinding area was... I don't think it was stolen, but I will say it was inspired by a certain game. Ten points to anyone who gets the reference.
Quick clarification, even if Ragna is present in the Omake, all of those (save for the one where he found Yukianesa) are Non-Canon to this story. Ergo, they take place on a different timeline. Some people might try to push for this Omake to join the Canon, but as of this moment I'm keeping the two separated.
Other than that, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Now go and enjoy some Eggnog for me (curse my diet).
Until next time, Ciao!
