Zeltran: Arc 1.2e v2

The screaming started before he’d made it ten feet into town. A whole TEN FEET. It was disappointing.

He had on his new LC cloak, his sword out, and he was walking slowly. They should’ve started screaming before he even GOT to town. Oh well.

There wasn’t even anyone in the square anymore. Just as well. It wouldn’t do for them to see him laughing like this.

Taking a few moments to stop laughing and catch his breath, Ryuya looked around. This town was a bit large to have no one in the square, even if he’d just walked in all scary-looking. It was a safe zone, after all.

The pub was practically deserted. The few players at the bar moved to tables far away from him when he walked in. “Aww, for me?” he said, gesturing at the now empty bar stools. “Thanks, guys.”

“Go fuck yourself, scum.”

“Oi. No need for that kind of language. Children play this game, you know.”

“You murder innocent players, and you’re lecturing me about language? You’re sick!”

“Do I have a Laughing Coffin tattoo?” Ryu asked, lifting his right arm to show the tattoo of interlocked diamonds that he had in the exact place where the Laughing Coffin tattoo would be. “My cursor is red because I just killed four of those bastards for breaking into my house,” he added when the player pointed to his head.

“That’s good to hear,” said the other player, “but why are you wearing that cloak?”

“Because I’m an asshole who likes scaring people. Why else?” A few players laughed.

“I’ll give you props for admitting that, son. Buy you a drink?”

“Why not?” The other player walked back over to sit at the bar.

Ryuya was glad that you couldn’t get a hangover in SAO. He’d never had one in real life, but he knew they weren’t good for combat, and he had plans today. Breakfast was a hasty affair: a scone or two and a mug of steaming milk, to which he added his own flavor mix. He was almost out: he’d need to be more careful with it in the future. It was too bad there weren’t any max-level cooks in SAO yet. Soon as there were, he’d find one and have him or her figure out what was in it, so they could make more.

After breakfast, he teleported back to the top and sprinted for the town where the assault team meeting would be held at noon. He needed to get there early: there was a certain person he had to speak to before the meeting got started.