Zeltran: Arc 1.4e

Hotels were expensive. But until he found a new house, they were his only option. Not that Yzjdriel was complaining. The rooms were decent enough, and the free breakfast was a definite plus.

It turned out Asuna was a near-max level cook. Figured. He’d pissed her off, and she’s one of only a handful of players who could duplicate his mystery mix. Just his luck.

At least he could count on things not getting much worse. Or so he thought.

“Ho, Yzjdriel!”

“This isn’t Ender’s Game, Khan. It’s ours.”

“I guarantee you there’s a player named Ender.”

“Next you’ll be telling me there’s one named Bean. Why are you here?”

“I live here.”

“Liar.”

“Got me. I need a bit of help.”

“What with? You’re a smith?”

“I need you to tell me where this came from.”

“PUT THAT AWAY! THEY’LL- they’ll kill you for that stuff, man!”

“I don’t even know what it is!”

“It’s Scarlet Glass.”

“No it isn’t. Scarlet glass is translucent.”

“It’s also only an inch thick when they use it for windows.”

“Oh.”

“Where’d you get this?”

“Customer paid with it.”

“Tell me you tagged him.”

“I’ve told you a thousand times, man. I don’t tag people, just their weapons.”

“Tell me you tagged him.”

“Yes, I tagged him! I tag every customer.”

“If he even goes near LC or Xenxa, I need to know.”

“You got it, man. But why?”

“Long story. Short answer: it makes kick-ass weapons, and the murder guilds want them.”

“You want me to just make you one out of this stuff and be done with it?”

“You’d have to make more than one out of that.”

“So I’ll save the rest for the first person you find that needs one.”

“If you can change the color to match my current sword so no one notices the difference, then do it.”

“I could change the color since I was level 13.”

“Then it’s done.”

“Just a copy?”

“Enhanced, if you would. And no tag. You know where to find me.”

“I don’t tag them so I can find them, Zid. I tag them so I can stop them from being used against me.”

“Then I’m the one person you don’t have to worry about.”

“True enough. Let’s get to work.”

-

It didn’t take long for Khan to make the sword. The problem now was getting rid of the other one. If there was an option for dual wielding in SAO, Zid would have taken it in an instant. But there wasn’t, and that was all there was to it.

Eventually he just decided to keep it. If someone noticed a difference, he would present the old sword for inspection. Not that anyone was going to notice; Khan Pachi was one of Aincrad’s best custom weaponsmiths, if not the best.

Now that that was cleared up, he should probably go back to that hole he’d found…