Sword Art Online: Aincrad's Hollow Fragment

December 6, 2024

Floor 76: Arc Sophia

24 FLOORS REMAINING

Ashtry- Damn, that boss sure was a lot of work...

Kiyo- I hated how it had multiple mouths right below its giant eye...

"Little pup, the whole thing was a giant eye."

Kiyo- And that's what disturbs me the most! If it was just a floating eyeball for a boss that would be fine, but it just had to have tiny spread-out mouths!

Ashtry- It was the tentacles with mouths that made me super uncomfortable.

"I agree with you there. When I got grabbed by one, I swear it was going to lick me."

Kiyo- Gross!

Ashtry- Agreed.

I chuckled as we walked back into Agil's cafe, Kiyo and Ashtry heading up to our room while I stopped and noticed Silica at a table by herself, lost in thought as she looked down at the floor upset.

I wonder if everything is ok with Silica... I should go and check on her...

"Hey you two? I'm going to check on Silica, is that ok with you two?"

Ashtry- Of course! Me and Kiyo were going to check out the 77th floor's safe zone to see if we can find some new restaurants to try out. We'll come find you once we're done and we can grab some food.

"Sounds like a plan. See you later!"

Kiyo- Love you Papa!

"Love you too, pup."

Silica- I'll- I'll do whatever it takes to help Kazzu! Well... I say that but I'm still not strong enough to be of much use in a labyrinth. I wish I'd learned the right skills when I had the chance! What I wouldn't give to be able to make something useful. I could bump my EXP without even fighting!

Pina- Skraw...

Silica- What should we do, Pina? I've been so useless...

"And what makes you think that you're useless?"

Silica- AH!

Pina- Skraw!

Silica and Pina both jumped up in shock as I approached behind them. Silica almost fell out of her chair, but I was able to catch her before she fell. She looked at me with a blush on her cheeks as she hopped out of my arms and dusted herself off, trying to play the situation off like it never happened.

Silica- Hi, Kazzu! Fancy seeing you here again. I figured you would explore the 77th floor.

"Well, I was planning on it but when I saw you over here looking down, I couldn't stand by. I wanted to see what was wrong."

Silica- That's really sweet Kazzu, but I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me.

She stated that with a smile on her face, but I could tell behind her eyes that she didn't truly believe that.

"Are you busy at the moment? If you aren't and have the time to spare, I would like you to come with me to a few places."

Silica- Are you sure? I don't want to take up your time.

"You are important to me Silica. You deserve my time just like the rest of my friends."

Silica- Well then, sure! I would love to come with you!

"Alright, follow me."

As we left Agil's, she looked at Pina with a smile as the small, feathered dragon found a place on her shoulder. Her facial expression suddenly turned as we were walking through the streets, to one of confusion and worry.

Silica- C-Can it be true? Did Kazzu just ask me out? Like on a date!? But what about Ashtry and Kiyo? They're his family. What would happen if they found out? Would I get in trouble? But he's the one who asked me. I distinctly heard him. But... But... But...

"Hey, Silica? You still with me?"

Silica- Eep! Sorry Kazzu, I spaced out there for a moment. Were you saying something?

"I was just letting you know that we are at our first stop."

Silica took a moment and looked around, noticing the small food, weapon and medicine stands surrounding the street. She looked at me confused as I gave her a small grin.

"At stores, you can do more than just buy or sell products. You can also place orders from the NPCs behind the counter. Making medicine or weapons takes a lot of skill, but you should be able to handle making simple things like food to raise your skills and level up new ones."

Silica- I guess you're right...

I looked over at a shopkeeper in a small food stand and waved him over towards us.

"Hey boss! Got any quests you think this little lady can handle?"

Shopkeeper- Hm... let me see... how about this one?

The shopkeeper sent her a side quest that was essentially a quest to help her raise her cooking skill and earn more experience by making big meals while using small quantities of food as well as different canned goods. 

Silica- So there's pickles... and some cheese. Wow, there's a lot of preserved food here. Oh, this looks really good! Apples preserved in syrup! It looks so tasty and sweet!

"As much as it would be nice, you know you don't get any EXP if you pig out and eat everything right?"

Silica- H-hey! Don't tease me like that! I'm not a glutton you know!

"Yes, I know. I was only joking. If I wanted to spend money eating these items, I would've brought Liz. That girl seems to have a black hole for a stomach."

Silica shared a laugh with me as we kept looking throughout the small food stand. I would catch a few glimpses of Silica as she picked up and looked over cans of food with interest. I smiled knowing that she was happy to learn how to improve herself without putting herself in danger.

Silica- With this many cans, I could probably whip up a tasty meal even without cooking skills. Maybe, I could even impress Kazzu...

"This is our next stop."

Silica broke out of her trance when we made it to a water wheel. She looked up at it, confused.

Silica- A water wheel? I didn't know this floor had one. Think this may be useful?

"Of course. Even if you don't have any special abilities, you can still use the water wheel to mill or grind flour. The cereal crops on this floor are higher quality than any of the ones below, so you'll get more experience from them."

Silica- And if I grind the flour, I can make bread.

"Correct my dear little dragon tamer. Even if you don't have any of the skills, there are plenty of opportunities around here to take on quests and produce things."

Silica- I bet there is a bunch of stuff I can do here! But didn't you have something to do besides showing me some quests that are out of your league?

"There was and I finished up with it."

Silica- What do you mean?

"I brought you out here because you were down in the dumps and calling yourself useless. If I had to take my guess, you were worried about not being able to help out on the battlefield, correct?"

Silica- Man... nothing gets past you huh Kazzu?

"I try to be a good read of character."

Silica- Well you would be correct in guessing that. Ever since we went our separate ways after the Hill of Memories, I've been trying my hardest to get up to your level of strength so that when the day came that you required my help, I wouldn't be holding you back.

"Silica..."

Silica- So... I'm going to do the best I can to make sure I don't hold you back. I'm going to get stronger so I can assist you in dungeons, just like back then. I promise!

I gave Silica a small chuckle as I gave her head a small pat and continued walking, looking back at her with a small smirk.

"I won't stop you but just know that you never held me back. You are strong in your own way."

Silica's eyes widened as she smiled and caught up to me, her eyes threatening to release a few teardrops at my kind words.

Silica- I'm so happy that Kazzu is thinking about me! I'm going to take up a bunch of quests so someday, if I'm lucky, I can be able to do quests with him again, just like we did before.

"Silica? You zoning out again?"

Silica- What? Oh! Sorry! Yes, I was... did you say something?

"It's ok. I was just saying that on higher floors, the parameters necessary to take on quests become more demanding, but there should still be plenty of quests for you to take on. They might be a little tricky, but if you can clear them, you'll rack up some decent experience."

Silica- Got it! Thank you so much for showing me this stuff and explaining it to me. I promise I won't let you down!

"Don't worry about it. Well, I gotta go find Ashtry and Kiyo so I can explore the next floor with them. See you around Silica, see you too Pina."

Pina- Skraw!

Silica- See you later Kazzu!

"Oh, and one more thing Silica?"

Silica- Hm?

I surprised her when I gently pulled her in for a hug, her face close to my chest as her face started to heat up. I hugged her a bit tighter and whispered down to her.

"Don't ever consider yourself to be useless ever again. You are the great Dragon Tamer, and no one can ever take that away from you. You are also very important to me, and I consider you to be one of my closest friends. So, promise me that you won't call yourself useless again."

Silica took a second to respond, but she quickly wrapped her arms around my back and hugged me tightly, a few sniffles escaping her as she cried into my shirt.

Silica- Thank you Kazzu... that means a lot to me... I promise I won't call myself useless again.

"Good. Now I got to run. Take care you two!"

I pulled away from her and ran as fast as I could towards the teleport gate so I could meet up with my family. Silica slowly waved me off as a single happy tear rolled down her cheek.

Silica- You too Kazzu...

Pina- Skraw?

Silica- It's ok Pina... Today has been such a great day! Thanks to Kazzu, I'll be able to find some quests I can handle. I know it wasn't a date, but I did get to hang out with Kazzu. Maybe next time I'll invite him out for tea...

Pina- Skraw!

Silica's eyes went wide as her face went beet red. She grabbed her pigtails and held them close to her face in embarrassment.

Silica- Wait a minute... Maybe it was a date after all. Oh no! What am I going to do, Pina!? What about Kazzu and his family!?

Pina- Skraw...

Silica- W-What we're doing. There's only one word for it. W-We're... We're having an affair! This isn't good! I didn't think I was that kind of girl but... it's just... so nice being with Kazzu... What should I do!?

Off in the distance, while Silica was freaking out, Strea observed the situation and giggled to herself as she turned a corner and hid herself from sight.

Strea- Oh Silica, you little innocent flower. You and Kazzu are growing closer and closer, and you only see it as being negative to Kazzu's relationship with Ashtry. If I learned anything from this encounter, it's that no matter how you view Kazzu, he will always see you as someone worth fighting for and protecting. He even considers you to be his equal despite the huge skill difference. He finds usefulness where you see uselessness. I wonder if he will see me as useful too...