Sidequest: Friends and Phobias

September 24th, 2024

The 67th Floor: a calm green forest with lush plant life. Relatively peaceful, and full of scenic vistas where one could consume a delicious picnic meal with a close friend or loved one.

This, of course, meant that it was nearly impossible to find monsters to engage in some decent grinding. I wandered through one of the forests on the south edge of the floor, enjoying the afternoon sun. It was rare that I found myself out and about on a day such as this one; as of late, I had been doing my best to advance through the Labyrinth whenever possible. It was a thankless task, to be sure, but I had nothing better to do when Kirito and Asuna were busy. However, I had taken one step outside of the inn I had slept in and decided to take the day off. It was too nice a day to waste; Kirito had taught me that. These days were rare, after all, and I wanted to make the most of it.

A piercing scream rang out through the air, and I stiffened. A scream meant only one thing: a player was in trouble; however, the nature of that trouble had several different possible causes. One cause was that the scream was a trap, designed to lure any heroic players to the rescue, only to turn on them and attack - a favored trap among certain orange players. Another cause was that the player screamed because they needed help, the sort of help that only another player could give. The problem was, several monsters hunted based on hearing, and a scream could and would easily lead them straight to their prey. I thought about what I would do about the scream when it rang out again; this time, I could hear a certain undercurrent of panic. I nodded; it seemed it was a player seeking help and not one luring players to an ambush. That sort of panic was difficult to feign.

I had intended to do some fighting on this floor, but for whatever reason the monsters were nowhere to be seen. It was certainly strange, but perhaps the screams would attract some of the lurking monsters. It was certainly a higher possibility to encounter them there than wandering around haphazardly; I cracked my knuckles, having come to a decision. I would seek the source of the scream in the hopes that monsters would be nearby.

With that decided, I took off toward the scream; it had come somewhere from the northwest. I could cover plenty of ground quickly enough, so it was child's play to find the source. Of course, I was aided by my newest skill; while Searching was active, the cursors of monsters and players appeared from a greater distance. Though my rank in the skill was low, I could still see the small collection of light red cursor crystals surrounding a larger green crystal. I angled myself in the direction of the closest cluster and turned off Searching; no sense in disorienting myself more than necessary. Although Future Step greyed my vision slightly, the greenish tint Searching caused was almost nauseating, and I didn't exactly enjoy having it active.

As I approached the gathering of monsters, I slowed down; I had learned my lesson about rushing in without looking earlier. On the higher floors these days, reckless actions could get me killed - it wasn't like I had anybody to cover me if I screwed up. Not that I particularly needed anybody; I was strong enough to defend myself. A flash of red caught my eye as I pushed aside a branch, and I grinned. I had only been wearing the Bloodwyrm Armor Asuna and Kirito got me for my birthday for just under two weeks, but it already felt natural to me. Perhaps I should thank them again. I started thinking about how I could pay them back; Asuna's birthday was coming up in about a week, so I wanted to get her something. I needed to meet Kirito as soon as possible to plan something out with him - after all, I knew how the two of them felt about each other. Even if they didn't.

I pushed back one final branch, putting the matter out of my conscious mind for the time. I needed to examine the situation closely, and worrying about getting my friends gifts was unconducive to my continued survival. I peered out of the foliage for a second, and then burst out laughing. I pushed my way into the clearing, still chuckling, and looked for the player that screamed. To my surprise, the player was none other than Argo, one of the information brokers in the game and a previous beta tester. The two of us got along fairly well; it helped that I was one of her biggest customers, keeping tabs on rumors surrounding me and my friends on a constant basis. We had also entered a business partnership of some sort, wherein she would charge extra for answering questions about a certain rumor that was floating around regarding myself and Asuna.

Of course, none of that was applicable at the moment. Argo was pressed flat against a tree, trying her best to get even further away from the group of monsters. I snickered to myself, and then composed my image. "You might be able to get further away from them if you climb the tree," I called out.

Argo opened her eyes and looked around wildly until she saw me. "Rythin? Oh, of course you're here to see this." I'd be hard-pressed to let this go, and she evidently knew it. "Just help me out, okay?"

I shrugged. "I see no reason why not. After all, my purpose coming out today was to fight monsters." I glanced around me. "But I doubt these will prove to be any sort of challenge." The monsters harassing Argo were small yellow dog-like creatures called Sand Pups. They were weak monsters from the 55th Floor, a desert-based floor, and I wondered what they were doing up on the 67th Floor. It was probable that an event or quest of some sort had overwritten the usual monster spawns, but that didn't explain why Argo was looking at them as though they were Floor bosses. "Argo, you can pick these up and punt them." I did just that, tossing a Sand Pup into the air with one hand and kicking it with a Martial Arts skill. The monster was sent flying over the tree line with a small yip, and it disappeared before I could watch it burst into blue polygons. I turned to Argo. "Literally. These shouldn't be a problem for you, even with the numbers present." I approached the tree that acted as her lifeline, absently backhanding a Sand Pup that tried to pounce at my shoulder. I took a closer look. "Hang on a second... are you scared?" My face broke into a wide grin as Argo flushed, all the answer I needed. "Oh, you're scared of dogs. This is fantastic." I was giddy - it wasn't every day blackmail material jumped out and presented itself to me.

"Shut up and kill them," Argo snapped. "Asshole."

I chuckled and sketched out a mock bow. "Asking me to kill something is like asking a fish to swim." I turned back to the collected monsters and dropped into a fighting stance. "You heard the lady, puppies... Let's dance!"

After the dogs were all killed, I straightened up and looked around for Argo. She was still standing by that same tree, glaring at me with crossed arms. "I guess I owe you for helping me out, but did you have to be such an ass about it?" she demanded.

I shrugged. "I just can't leave beautiful maidens alone and unrescued," I said with a smirk. Was it my imagination, or did she flush slightly? Probably anger. I tended to provoke that reaction. "Six of one, half-dozen of the other, I guess. I didn't exactly expect to find your weak spot just from helping you out."

She sighed. "What do I need to do for you to keep it quiet?"

As practical as ever; turn it into a simple business transaction. "How about an even trade? I keep this quiet no matter what, and you do the same for anything I want at a later date, no questions asked." That could come in use later down the road, though I couldn't imagine why I would need to withhold something from Kirito or Asuna. "As for my reward for rescuing you..." I thought about it for a second. "Before we discuss that, how about you tell me why those Sand Pups were up on this floor?" The monsters from one floor generally stayed on that floor; seeing one on a floor one higher was almost unthinkable, let alone ten floors above theirs. Though, thinking about the subject, I seemed to recall something Kirito and Asuna mentioned about a couple of elves from the eight floor on the third. It was possible a quest had spawned these Sand Pups.

"A quest," Argo said, confirming my suspicions. "I managed to stumble into this one, and didn't realize it was fighting those things." She shuddered. "And that's 1250 Col," she added, almost as an afterthought.

I rolled my eyes, but paid up; she was ruthless when it came to business, but her information was worth the weight in gold. Col, rather, but semantics. "Well, I was looking for something to do today," I said. "So I might as well tag along on your quest."

"So you're riding along as your reward?" Argo asked.

"Correct," I said with a nod. Then I smirked. "Someone needs to save you from the big bad puppies if they show up again."

Argo twitched her nose at me. "That doesn't even merit a response." She turned and started walking through the forest. "C'mon, it's this way." As she walked, she swiped open her menu and sent me a party request. I accepted automatically, racing after her to catch up.

The rest of the quest was completed without much hassle; Argo talked to some lake spirit, the two of us killed some more monsters, she talked to the lake spirit again... it was all rather tedious. I much preferred fighting on the front lines, where I could stretch my mind and give it something to focus on when I wasn't sleeping. Quests, performed by oneself, never particularly appealed to me; I didn't mind completing them, though I preferred to do so when with another person. That way I could talk to them while completing the steps of the quest, splitting my attention and keeping my mind busy. When it was just me, I hated the tedium.

"So, dogs, huh?" I said, breaking the silence as Argo and I were wandering through the forest. "Why them?"

"They just freak me out," Argo muttered. I did my best to keep a straight face, covering my mouth with my hand; I must have failed to hide my small grin as well as I had thought, because she glared at me. "Like you don't have any weird fears like that."

I thought for a second. "Anything with six or more legs. Courtesy of a Labyrinth mini-boss on the 26th Floor." The Crawlerpede still featured prominently in my admittedly rare nightmares; as one of the few monsters that came close to killing me, along with several other mid-bosses, it was understandable that there would still be some trauma.

Argo nodded. "I think I remember it. Red bug, nearly killed you, you wore its shell as a trophy, that thing?"

"Yup." I chuckled. "Still have the armor, though it's all busted up. But yeah. Four legs, perfectly fine. Add two and I'm outta there." I was relaxing around Argo slightly; I could feel the mental guards I had up starting to drop. My words flowed slightly more, I cracked a deadpan joke occasionally, and I felt more comfortable overall.

Argo smiled. "So you get it, huh." She poked my side. "What about Asuna? Is she an irrational fear too?"

I widened my eyes deliberately. "No, she's a very, very rational one. Have you seen her Cutlery Sword Skills? Those forks and knives are terrifying."

"Not that," Argo said with a sigh. "I mean losing her. This is a death game, after all."

I sighed. "Losing her? Asuna and Kirito are my best friends, Argo." They were also my only friends, but that was beside the point. "If anything happened to them..." I closed my eyes, and when I opened them I pierced Argo with my gaze. "If anything happened to them I would make the fucker that hurt them suffer." I protect what is mine.

Argo shuddered. "Note to self. Don't hurt Asuna or Kirito or the crazy guy will hurt you."

I relaxed and grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you." I ignored her reassurance that I didn't scare her. "No, I mean it. I shouldn't threaten you, even accidentally." She was too useful to alienate.

"Aw, Ry, developing a soft spot for me?"

"You're a person I can stand for a reasonable amount of time," I said with a chuckle. "You've earned a bit of leeway in my book." I blinked. "Hey, wait, what did you call me?"

Argo smirked at me. "Oh, nothing. If you really want to know, that'll be 500 Col."

I sighed theatrically. "Bite me." We walked in silence for a bit. "Asuna and Kirito aren't the only ones I care about, you know," I said almost absently. "I have a cat back home."

"Really?" Argo asked. "Me too. What's yours like?"

I snickered. "Eats a lot, sleeps a lot, vibrates occasionally, and demands my attention at all times."

Argo nodded sagely. "Ah. A typical cat." She studied my face briefly. "Heh. You love your cat, don't you?"

"He's better than the majority of people I talk to," I said. "Like Kirito and Asuna, just his presence is enough for me. I don't need anything else from him." Unlike the majority of people, whose presence I tolerated solely because I needed or wanted something from them. People could be loosely categorized into two groups; people that had something I wanted and people that didn't. The latter were people I had no reason to deal with, and the former were only in that group until I got what I wanted from them. To me, most people were disposable - and like trash, it irritated me to be constantly surrounded by it. One of the reasons I tried to keep my desk relatively neat.

Naturally, the same theory worked in reverse; the majority of humanity couldn't care less about me, and I accepted that fact, as I was under no illusion that people could actually like me. I required nobody's assistance to survive, and used others because that meant I was required to put forth less effort. That did, of course, mean that if people were nice to me, that usually implied that they needed or wanted something from me, something that only I could get them. Who would want to spend time in my company willingly otherwise? I had deliberately cultivated the image that I was a cold person with a barbed tongue and ready wit - spending any amount of time in my presence typically left one with emotional trauma. To that effect, I had classified people in two other categories - people that wanted something from me and people that had gotten what they needed. Everyone wanted something from me, after all.

But Kirito and Asuna were different; they weren't in any category - and like them, I didn't classify my cat. He was my friend, and that was all that mattered to me; in fact, he was the only creature I truly loved unconditionally. "Plus, he doesn't talk much. You'd be surprised at the quality of companionship I have from my cat."

Argo stretched. "My cat meows a lot, so I really can't say. Hey, what did you mean you don't need anything from him?"

Ah, I had evidently never mentioned that to Argo - understandably, as most people resented being viewed as disposable. "Let's not go there, hm? Probably best for all involved to let that remain a secret." I caught her beginning the familiar step of swiping open her menu to start bribing me. "And I won't talk no matter how much you pay me, so don't even try. I would rather you don't hate me."

Argo grinned at me. "So long as you still come to me with money, I'll never hate you."

I poked her nose, and she squeaked in shock. "Good to know your loyalty to money stays constant, Argo. I can trust you in that regard, right?"

"Of course. I'm an honest info broker." She grinned. "Once I'm bought, I stay bought." I watched her steadily, knowing better, and she finally relented. "...or until someone pays me more." There it was.

I shrugged. "You act rationally, which is more than I can say for the majority of humanity."

"Should I feel complimented?"

"Very," I said. "Rational actions are remarkably rare these days. It's nice to know someone who is trustworthy in that regard." Perhaps she could be trusted in other regards as well... It was an avenue of thought worth pursuing and I did so, falling silent.

"Well, looks like we're back at the town," Argo's voice broke through my thoughts. I looked around me to find that we were already back at the main settlement of the 67th Floor. "This was fun. We should do it again some time."

I smirked, one side of my mouth curving up. "What, me rescuing you from those terrible, terrible monsters?" Argo glared at me, and I raised my hands in defeat. "Right, right, keeping it quiet. You have my word." That was something that I did only rarely - once I gave a direct promise, I would do my best to keep it. After all, it was so much easier to manipulate others when they trusted me.

Argo studied me for a bit, then nodded. "You've kept your word before, so I guess that's good enough. And you have one favor saved - when you call it in, I'll keep any piece of information quiet no matter what until you tell me otherwise." I shrugged; that was good enough terms for me. After all, having someone in my debt was always good. I didn't know why she insisted on having that fact kept quiet, but I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

I started to walk into town when Argo reached out and grabbed my upper arm. I froze, and then turned to face her. "What is it?" The physical contact wasn't exactly all that bothersome, but I gently pulled away regardless.

Argo grinned up at me. "Want to get some dinner? My treat."

Let it never be said that I passed up free food. "Well, if you insist..." I chuckled. "Where to? If you're paying, I know I can afford to eat quite a bit."

"I know a great ramen place on the 46th Floor," Argo said. Then she sighed. "My poor wallet..."

I snorted. "Oh, don't give me that. I'm fairly sure you're one of the richer players in the game, thanks to your extortionate prices." I had over three million Col, a third of it from the deal with Argo, and I knew she had to be doing better than me. "You could probably buy a house and furniture and still have more money than me..."

The two of us bickered amicably to the Warp Gate in the center of the town, where we teleported to the 46th Floor. Oh, and dinner was delicious - nothing like food being free to make it taste better.

This one was just some interaction between Argo and Rythin; I figured it would be neat. It also explains why she kept the news about Kayaba quiet – she owed Rythin for keeping the dog thing silent, and she pays her debts.

And remember, this is before Rythin falls in love with Argo. So he's still oblivious to how she feels, partially because he he's just that clueless about females and partially because he still doesn't believe that people could actually care about him.

Remember, leaving a review is good manners - if you didn't like it, tell me why and I can do better; if you did like it, tell me why and I can do more of that.