The Blade and Arrow

Chapter 9

The night terrors. The images that haunt me in my sleep. The faces of those I had once called friends, forever frozen in my memories. Three times that night I woke up in a cold sweat. This was one of the few times I was glad I was mute. No one could hear the screams that I silently let out. It took a while for me to calm down after each time I woke up. The third time I woke up, it was closer to sunrise, so I decided to stay awake. I climbed out of the bed, changed my shirt and went to the kitchen to make some breakfast. I sat down and ate quietly, finished, and dealt with my dishes. All of which I have come to accept as a form of recovery. There was no dishes in SAO. Not that a player could purchase frequently. Not as a mercenary. I didn't do it for profit. I just asked for enough coin to pay for any armor repairs, weapon upgrades or repairs, food for a day, and a little bit to be able to save up while keeping myself reasonably priced. I had rules of course. No asking me to kill someone, no stealing, no threatening other players or NPCs. It left enough leeway to make it seem I could do many things that wouldn't result in harming other players, which helped. Kept me out of the same boat as assassins and thugs, but making it clear that I wasn't a full pacifist. I did item retrievals from dungeons and mobs, item gathering, escorts, and something few players would do. Closure hunts. Those hunts often gave the most coin. Not because the people were so needy for vengeance, but because there was so many people who wanted a monster to be taken down for taking someone close. And so, Sword the Merc of Closure, was created.