Sword Art Online: Another Reality

Chapter 16: Making more connections

[Skill-Extra Skill: «Martial Art»]

"Phew~!"

Returning back to Urbus groggily was Sharia with bags under his eyes; immediately after he had completed the quest, he was thrown down the flat mountaintop by his master.

Literarily.

Currently, he was returning back to his inn while rubbing his eyes when, all of a sudden, a high-pitched scream hit his eyes.

"S...s-screw you!"

Sharia's feet stopped as his lips twitched, but he ignored it. However—

"P-put it back! Back to the way it was!! That was a plus-four...P-put it back to what it was!"

Another shriek came; it seemed to be coming from the plaza just right in front. It sounded like an argument between two players.

'Well, since they're inside a safe zone, there wouldn't be any physical confrontation.' Sharia thought.

However—

'Shall I?' He couldn't help but be curious.

So, walking to the plaza that was just in front at a circular bowl-like open, crowded space that was relatively crowded, perhaps due to the ruckus.

"Wh-wh-what did you do?! The properties are all way down!!"

Sharia looked towards the man complaining in front while crossing his hands as he watched in silence.

The man held a longsword in his right hand, while the edge couldn't hurt anyone inside of town, but still... 'Waving it in such a crowded place.'

Sharia thought as he sighed.

But he decided to listen further before making his own judgement.

"How could you possibly fail four times in a row? You can't have reduced my sword to plus zero! I should have left it with a damn NPC! You owe me for this, you third-rate blacksmith!"

The man continued his tirade, facing a short male player dressed in a plain brown leather apron who looked increasingly guilty with each passing minute.

The blacksmith had set up his shop on a gray carpet at the edge of the plaza, with a chair, anvil, and shelf crowded together.

The rug was a Vendor's Carpet, an expensive item that allowed a player to set up a simple shop in the middle of town—a must-have for any enterprising merchant or crafter.

'Ah. So that's the problem,' Sharia thought, shaking his head.

"Hm? Sharia, you're here too."

"Ah—" Sharia was pulled from his thoughts by a familiar voice. Turning to his left, he saw Kirito standing beside him.

"So, you were attracted by the ruckus too?" Kirito asked.

Sharia nodded. "Yeah, but still, a plus-four enchantment reduced to zero? That's no laughing matter."

Both of them shook their heads in unison.

"And not to mention," Kirito added, pointing to the Iron Hammer resting on the anvil on the rug.

"That blacksmith should have better odds at strengthening weapons with that hammer. It's a higher level than the Bronze Hammers the town's NPCs use."

Sharia couldn't help but cast a slightly envious glance at the swordsman beside him.

The knowledge of a Beta Tester was indeed something to be envied.

"Ah yes. Even weapon enhancement relies on RNG. Nice one, Kayaba-san."

Sharia muttered; the exhaustion evident in his voice. The comment seemed to catch Kirito off guard.

"What's all this ruckus about?" a voice suddenly asked from behind them, startling both boys as someone approached and moved between them.

It was a slender fence. She wore a white leather tunic, pale green leather tights, and a silver breastplate.

"Ah." Sharia let out a sound seeing this player, and Kirito, on the other hand, was trying his best to calm himself.

'Hoh? Their relationship has improved to that point? Sniff, I'm proud of you, Kii-bou.' Sharia mused inwardly, watching Kirito's reaction.

"Nice to meet you, Sharia-san." She gave a short bow towards Sharia, greeting him with etiquette.

This naturally took Sharia aback; never had he expected a character he had always seen in an anime to treat him with such respect.

No—other players may have done so, but those were all background characters.

This girl in front of him was part of the "main cast."

"Ah, it's nice to meet you... Asuna-san, Kirito has told me a lot about you."

"O-oi!" Kirito suddenly felt chills down his spine before glaring at Sharia as he heard this.

However, the swordsman he was glaring at didn't even notice him. "Is that so?"

Asuna turned back to Kirito for a moment, which made the black swordsman somewhat nervous. He took a step back.

"Fufufu." However, the fencer just giggled. After she did so, she then looked at the two—Sharia and Kirito.

"And..? What's the deal here?"

"Well, it seems the guy in the three-horned helmet asked the blacksmith to strengthen his weapon, but the process failed four times in a row, returning it back to a plus-zero state. So he's furious about it—which I can understand—four in a row..."

Kirito gave a short explanation of what was happening, but before he could finish, Sharia already cut in.

"Two thing. Either the blacksmith is a fraud—meaning he did it on purpose, or he simply stinks; I'm willing to bet on the second one though."

Even when Sharia himself was strengthening his own «Centennial Longsword» with an NPC who had a lower level than the blacksmith here.

The NPC blacksmith didn't fail during the first three times, which strongly implied what Sharia was thinking.

Both Kirito and Asuna looked puzzled at him—no, only Kirito did.

"Well, I'd say the one who asked the other should be aware of the possibility of failure."

"And doesn't the blacksmith have the rates of success for different weapons posted?"

"Furthermore, I'd say that if he fails, he'll only charge for the upgrade materials and not the labor."

This time, it was Asuna who spoke up, holding her chin as she spoke. And at the moment she finished—

"I imagine that after the first failure, blood rushed to his head, so he demanded another try. Losing your self-control and paying a terrible price for it is a constant feature of any form of gambling."

Kirito added while shaking his head, like he just had a major deja-vu.

"Oh my. That almost sounded like it had personal experience behind it, eh, Kirito?"

"N-no, just a common-sense observation."

Kirito avoided eye contact with Sharia, who had almost guessed Kirito had once been in the same situation, which, of course, Sharia's intuition was right on the money.

"Well, in short, that guy's screwed; that's probably why he's making such a ruckus."

Sharia immediately changed the subject, seeing Asuna stare at Kirito with a piercing look.

"Um... Well, there's kind of a maximum limit to attempts enhancement, which is around eight times, and with each failed attempt, the enchantment bumps backwards—a penalty you might say."

Kirito scratched his head as he said those words, which prompted Sharia to complete Kirito's words after making his own inference.

"In other words, since the sword had been enchanted four times, failing four times bumped it to zero, and the attempts to enchant that sword have been used up."

Kirito snapped his finger at Sharia while saying, "Exactly."

Asuna simply looked between the two; has she let out a sigh?

"I blame Kayaba for this." Sharia once again blamed Kayaba for everything currently happening.

It wouldn't be Sharia without him blaming Kayaba, something Kirito was starting to get used to.

Imagine this. You already have a +4 enchantment on your sword, but failing to enchant it the fifth time would bring it down to +3, which means it would be almost impossible to take it up to a +7.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Asuna let out another short sigh. "I see... Well, I can understand why he'd be upset. Just a little."

Both Kirito and Sharia nodded in agreement, offering up a moment of silence to the blade.

Anyway, back to the man.

The screaming man ceased his rage. Two friends rushed over to support him by touching his shoulders.

"Come on, Rufiol, it's going to be okay. We'll help you try the Anneal Blade quest again."

"It'll only take a week to get it back, then we can push it all the way up to plus eight."

With their words, Rufiol seemed to have recovered his cool. He trudged out of the plaza, his shoulders slumping.

The blacksmith, who'd withstood the insults in silence the entire time, finally spoke up.

"Um... I'm truly sorry about this. I'll try much harder next time, I swear... I mean, not that you'd want to bring me again."

Rufiol stopped and stared back at the blacksmith. When he spoke again, it was in an entirely different voice: "It's not your fault. I'm... I'm sorry for that."

"No. I failed at my job."

Now that Kirito and Sharia looked closer at the blacksmith, who was still bowing, hands clasped in front of his leather apron.

He was quite young, still in his teens.

The blacksmith stepped forward and bowed deeply yet again.

"Um, I know it's nothing in return...but do you think I could buy back your spent plus zero Anneal Blade for 8,000 Cor?"

The moment he said that, Sharia could almost hear a grunt from Kirito—no, it wasn't only him. The onlookers, too, murmured in surprise.

"Hn? What's wrong?" Sharia looked at Kirito.

"N-no, it's just that the current market price for a fresh new Anneal Blade +0 is about sixteen thousand Cor, but for that guy's weapon that's out of attempts, the market price for such a weapon would be around 4,000 Cor, which the blacksmith's offer is a generous one."

Rufiol and his two men were stunned, but after a moment's conferral, they all nodded. The incident was over.

The three partners and the crowd of onlookers were gone, and the rhythmic clanging of the blacksmith's hammer echoed through the plaza.

The blacksmith—not dwarf—was making a weapon on his anvil.

"Hm...? So what would Sharia be doing today?"

"Ah—I'd be taking a break today, and probably tomorrow, by the way." Sharia's voice trailed off as he looked towards the blacksmith in front.

"I want to buy that «Anneal Blade»."

"H-huh? Where did that come from?" Kirito and Asuna shot him a questioning gaze, but Sharia shrugged it away.

Sharia, without giving them much of an answer, walked towards the blacksmith.

"Hey. That «Anneal Blade» you just bought; I want to buy it... at the standard market price for an «Anneal Blade»."

"A-ahhhh!!!"

Sharia's words immediately prompted Kirito and Asuna to look at him with widened eyes, both confused and lost.

"Um..."

The blacksmith blinked up at Sharia, clearly skeptical of his request. "Um—you don't need to; besides, you can get a better one from—"

"—I want that one," Sharia insisted, his tone leaving no room for argument.

While he could have easily purchased a brand-new blade, he had other plans in mind.

It was a simple strategy: the more connections, the better. Afterall, this blacksmith was technically the first player blacksmith to open a shop.

And while he seemed like he was already part of a party; Sharia saw an opportunity to poach him by forming a connection.

He knew that this blacksmith would likely craft rare to epic weapons in the future, and establishing a relationship now could pay off in the long run.

And if things doesn't work out with this one. There's still Liz.

"I-if that's what you want," the blacksmith relented.

After some small talk with the blacksmith Sharia bought the weapon, examining its stats:

[Anneal Blade +0 (Cannot be enhanced)]

[Attack: 75]

[Defense: 55]

'Hn. I can use this as my second weapon for skill connect for the time being.'

After the purchase, Sharia walked back towards Kirito and Asuna, who were still giving him a questioning gaze.

"Hehe. No need for the questioning looks. I'm making an investment." Sharia explained with a grin, clearly pleased with his decision.

He had exchanged contact information with the blacksmith afterall, since the anime left many things unsaid.....

.....There's a possibility this blacksmith would become famous, since the series or creator itself can't explore too many things in detail.

Afterall, he for one can boldly say, Liz was not the only good blacksmith in SAO.

"Ahh. Forget it, you've bought it now."

Kirito said with a resigned sigh, spreading his hands as the three of them continued to walk around the plaza.