An Englishman in Castle Aincrad

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.