A swirling mass of blue voxels poured from the depthless vortex. Once free of the miasma that was the portal, they melded together, taking the shape of a larger than average man dressed in a pair of slacks and a blue short sleeve shirt. Taking his first step away from the teleporter, Taiki's first observation was the change in weather. It was an unexpected shift, stepping from the sunny day in Lindarth to the pattering rain of Quintuss.

He heard Amber mutter a complaint as she exited the portal behind him. In front of him was the rest of his party, already seeking shelter under the awnings of shops around the town centre. Devlin had simply pulled the hood of his cloak over his head. Brenda was the last to take shape, quickly and dutifully summoning an umbrella to hold over her and her master.

The rain was light, barely more than a drizzle. Taiki turned his head upwards, enjoying it a moment. He found it more comforting to see nothing but clouds above him than an endless ceiling. Despite the clouds being lower, they felt less constricting.

Quintuss was the first and largest city of the fifteenth floor. Its heyday had long since passed, having little about it to draw in permanent residents. Most players had no reason to come to this floor, let alone this town. There was little immediately special about the place, with identical architecture to the starting city, albeit less impressive.

Looking down one of the roads leading out from the hub of the town centre, he spotted their reason for being here. The north-east road split into a fork at the front of a large four story structure a few streets away. It was built from bright ivory coloured bricks, gilded with steel framed windows and support beams. It looked like a cross between a castle and a palace. Above the main entrance, attached to the face of the building was the emblem of the establishment and the guild within. It was a stylized sun, painted bright yellow, with orange radiating rays all around it. Inside it, as if trying to eclipse it, was a slightly off center, smaller sun, painted red. The building was the only location of real note in Quintuss, and it contained most all the players that called this town home.

"If anyone has any better ideas, we can still leave." Mamoru suggested. He hadn't like the idea of coming here since it was brought up in Lindarth.

"I don't, and we're already here." Cedric replied. "Better to get it done with."

"The Second Suns are the largest red hunting guild in Aincrad." Chie repeated, leading the way to their door. "If we want to ask someone about a PK hunter, better to ask another hunter."

"I'd much rather just put this place behind us." Mamoru insisted.

Taiki hesitantly followed after. "These guys really that bad? PK hunters, I mean."

"It depends." Cedric answered. "Some of them like to hunt based on a sense of justice. Others, like the Second Suns, work on commission."

"They're nothing but bounty hunters," Mamoru interjected, "glorifying their killing as just."

"Some of them are proactive; they seek out dangerous red players to make the world safer. Not many of those." Devlin explained. "The Second Suns, and most other hunting guilds, wait until someone pays them to seek someone out; turns out that's the much more profitable way to go about it."

I wonder which one I was. Taiki pondered. He hoped it was the former.

The party opened the main doors, entering into the headquarters of the Second Suns. Taiki blinked against the unexpected brightness of the interior lighting as they walked from the dim overcast outside to the almost oppressively over illuminated foyer. The floors and walls were made from the same ivory coloured stone as the outer walls, with everything polished to an almost mirror sheen. In between the tiles of the floor was a grid work of gleaming bronze, and running along the trim of the walls was shining brass. In addition to the natural light filtering in through the windows, in place of torches, there were fist sized amber glowstones embedded along the walls. In the center of the room's vaulted ceiling was a larger, meter wide glowstone cut into the shape of a two dimensional sun that was bright enough to be uncomfortable to look directly at.

A pair of generic male NPC attendants approached them, dressed in rich looking white suits, with the same emblem they'd seen over the door pinned over their right breast. A bronze chain like a collar was around their necks.

"Welcome to Castle Solus." One said as they bowed. "How might we help you?"

After requesting an audience with someone they could ask a few questions, one of the attendants bowed again and made his exit to fulfill their request, while the other directed them to a waiting area and took a spot where he could view them and the entrance, going back on standby. The party took their seats on a pair of opposing cream coloured couches that were far too soft. They'd been waiting for almost ten minutes before anyone complained.

"Let's just go." Mamoru suggested again. "Who knows how long they'll keep us sitting here."

"They're probably keeping us waiting as a procedure." Haruki commented. "Clichéd as it is."

"As far as PvP guilds go, the Second Suns are some of the cleanest." Chie leaned her elbows into her knees. "They have the best reputation for due diligence when on the hunt."

"They're also the most open to collaborating with other hunters when it's profitable." Cedric added. "That makes them the most likely to be knowledgeable about what we want to know."

"Still, I think it's important we keep in mind that we're dealing with people that capture and kill for money." Devlin said in a low tone, glancing at the NPC attendant near the entrance. "Just because they go after the bad guys doesn't make them righteous. It's best we play this close to the vest."

"He's right." Chie agreed, leaning towards him and Taiki. "I don't think we should tell them who you are, just who we're looking for."

"I understand." Taiki nodded. "Ask our questions; try not to say anything we don't need to."

Taiki was already looking forward to leaving this place. It was far too clean, and far too bright. Everything about the polished stone and gleaming bronze seemed to put forward the picture of wealth and order. It felt entirely at odds with the fact that their function was to hunt people down. It was another fifteen minutes until the second NPC returned. He bid them to follow them, and after a short walk through bright lit hallways, directed them into an office on the second floor.

"Welcome, welcome. Do come in." He said, in a voice that was too smooth and friendly. "My name is Nikko."

Nikko was a man that looked to be in his early thirties, with an average build and a height of about five foot eight. He was dressed in a suit much like the one worn by the NPCs, though finer, with a richer appearance, and sans the collar. A pair of gold chains hung off his left shoulder in epaulettes. On his hands was a pair of white silk gloves. His left hand bore a ring with a yellow sapphire, and on his right was a gold ring with what looked like a seal. Once everyone was in his generously sized office, he took a seat behind his desk.

Chie and Taiki took the two chairs in front of the desk, Devlin took a third next to a liquor cabinet, and the rest sat on a long sofa. Mamoru opted to impatiently stand near the door.

"I'm told you're not here for a contract, but for questions." Nikko said, shuffling a few of the papers on his desktop into a stack next to a glass of brandy. "Please understand my time is valuable; forgive me, but I'd like to keep this short."

After making them wait nearly half an hour, such a statement almost made Taiki bristle. "I was hoping to ask you about another PK hunting guild."

"Ask away." Nikko took a sip from his brandy, pausing as if he'd just noticed Taiki for the first time. "Thought you were a drone for a moment; where's your health bar?"

"It's glitched." Taiki answered simply.

"Really?" Nikko eyebrow raised. "How so and how long?"

"About a week." He replied. "Just sort of happened."

"We expect it'll come back sooner or later." Chie added. "System always takes care of this kind of stuff."

Nikko uttered a simple, "hmmm", and took another sip of his drink. The matter apparently held no more interest for him.

"So, who'd you want to ask about, and why would I tell you?" Nikko emptied his glass. The ice rattled as he placed it down against the desktop. "We hold the personal data of anyone we work with as confidential and private, for obvious reasons."

"We're just trying to find out some information on a group called the Bloodhounds." Taiki explained.

"Oh." Nikko leaned back in his seat. "Well, that simplifies matters."

Their host got up from behind his desk and crossed over to his liquor cabinet, picking up a decanter to refill his glass. "We don't work with them. They were blacklisted months ago."

Taiki turned in his chair to follow their host. "Why?"

"We try to avoid working with the pro bono hunters." The decanter of brandy was empty before the glass was filled. Opening the front of the cabinet to pull out another bottle and refilled both the glass and decanter. Taiki could make out a few already empty bottles before the cabinet was shut. "Hard to make a profit when some idiot's willing to do it for free."

That's good to hear. Taiki thought, pleased to have his hopes confirmed.

"You blacklist people just for that?" Cedric asked.

"Can't have anyone biting into the bottom line of their bloody business." Mamoru said in disgust. "I think I'll wait outside."

Without waiting for any reply, Mamoru excused himself. Haruki stayed put. There was an awkward moment of silence broken by the ice in Nikko's brandy clattering as he took an apathetic drink.

Their host gave a tired sigh, as if this was a topic he was long tired of. "If someone wants to pursue their own idea of frontier justice, that's perfectly fine, but yes, there is an issue is when it cuts into our contracts. It's important to remember, there is no law in Aincrad, only loose rules. It comes to people like us to bring about any consequences for any heinous crimes, and this isn't free or easy."

Nikko emptied his glass, eyed his cabinet, looked to briefly consider getting back up again, and settled on staying where he was. "The Second Suns are the largest red hunting guild there is. We have more captures and kills than any two competing guilds combined. We have a staff of more than forty trackers and huntsman in the field, as well as a dedicated squad of investigators to insure that those we hunt deserve it. A couple of them are actually police in the real world, if they're to be believed."

Nikko plucked one of the ice cubes from his empty glass, crunching it loudly. "None of this would be possible without money. People that wish to work for free are free to do so, but they won't be doing it with our resources."

"We're sorry for any offense." Chie said, slightly bowing in her seat.

"None taken." Nikko replied. "His sentiment is hardly rare. Now, ask your questions. Just know that I may not be able to answer them."

"What can you tell us about the Bloodhounds?" Taiki asked, wanting to get things back on track.

"Like I said, they work proactively, selecting their own targets and operating independently." Nikko crunched on another ice cube. "I also know that nobody else works with them either, not even the other free hunters."

Taiki's interest perked, sensing they might still yet get some real information from this meeting. "Why's that?"

Nikko smirked. "I believe the description I heard was that they're, quote, 'violent, raging assholes'."

Taiki's expression dropped. This was not something he wanted to hear.

"I guess they got into a couple altercations with another independent tracker." If Nikko noticed the change in mood at this revelation, he made no effort to acknowledge it. He eyed the party with a mix of curiosity and suspicion. "You guys hunting them down?"

"No, nothing like that." Taiki quickly said. "We just need to find them."

He's speaking as if they're all still alive. Taiki thought. They weren't familiar enough for him to know what's happened and they weren't well known enough for word to reach him by now.

Nikko eyed the cabinet again, clearly wanting another refill, but not wanting to do so with company present. "Well, other than that, I don't have much else I can tell you. Assholes or not, unless they're found guilty of something, I cannot disclose any personal data we may or may not have on them. Bad for business."

"We'll be happy with anything you can tell us." Taiki searched for any question he could ask. "How many are there?"

Nikko tapped his finger on the side of his glass a few times, then gave a slight, one shoulder shrug. "As I recall, there are six of them. All have nicknames starting with the letter 'B'. Leader runs by the alias 'The Beater'. You know a guy's a prick when he brags about his status as a beta tester enough to make it his moniker."

That's something. Taiki thought. At least now we know how many there were.

"Now, I've said about as much as I know or am able to say, and we are out of time." Nikko gestured towards the door. "Good day, good luck, and happy hunting."

"Thank you for your time." Taiki said as he and the others stood.

The Wayward Pact made their way out of the office, with Haruki lingering behind a moment. Once she was the only person in the office with Nikko, she took a step towards his desk. "Do you know anything about the Inquisitor?"

Nikko gave a mix between an agitated laugh and a 'harrumph'. "He's another pro boner; the insufferably self-righteous type. Been going around stealing a bunch of our kills."

Haruki took another interested step forward. She was about to put forth another question when Nikko cut her off. "Our interview has concluded. Your friends are no doubt waiting for you as my work waits for me."

He pointed to the door, then returned his attention to the papers on his desk. Haruki frowned, but didn't push the issue, turning and leaving the man's office. Once she was out, she could hear him get up from behind his desk, followed by the sound of pouring brandy. She stepped lively, catching up with her party in the foyer to find that Mamoru had opted to literally wait outside. The headquarters' of the Seconds Suns being both too repugnant and grossly incandescent to tolerate for him. They started towards the teleporter gateways while Taiki was still processing everything they'd heard.

"Any ideas where we go with this info?" Cedric asked.

"You can count me out if you're going to another PvP guild." Mamoru stated.

"They'd probably have a similar if not identical non-disclosure policy as the Second Suns." Devlin commented. "Unless we get lucky, I don't think we'll get anything further from these guys."

None of the Wayward Pact knew any independent hunters to interview. Taiki was left with only a few clues to a puzzle that was becoming more complicated than he'd hoped it would be.

"We head home." Chie replied. "See what we can dredge up with what we have."

As the evening began, the party keyed in their destination into the gateway, and one by one vanished into the ether. Taiki was still mulling over Nikko's unfavourable words as he stepped in after them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Taiki leaned back on one of the posts of the split rail fence, watching the spectacle unfold before him. In the training ring, Amber was sparring with Chie. They'd returned from their interview with the Second Suns two days ago, most of them spending the time since sending messages to any friends or contacts to ask if they had any information about or any familiarity with the Bloodhounds or the nicknames they had for two of its members. So far, there had been no positive replies.

In the meantime, Devlin had continued to assist Taiki with his daily training. The larger man was appreciative for the help, but had started to wonder what Devlin got out of it. The first time they'd met, he held a sword to his throat, and for the better half of the past week he'd gone out of his way to make sure he was capable of defending himself. If he had to guess, Taiki got the impression his red cloaked mentor had been on his own too long. After being alone and stranded outside of any town, Taiki supposed having a friend would be a welcome change. His ever present mask was a curious issue of its own, but he'd decided not to breach that topic.

Chie had joined them for the first time today, dueling with Amber. The younger girl was faster, but Chie had a solid defense. The older woman's broadsword was almost large enough to require two hands, but she was able to wield it well enough with one, albeit more slowly than Amber's bastard sword. Taiki thought back again to his and Devlin's first encounter, glancing over at him.

Devlin was sitting on the top rung of the fence, with his feet resting on the middle rung. He immediately noticed Taiki's attention and turned his way.

"What's up?" He asked. "You've been looking at me weird since yesterday. Am I that handsome?"

"Just thinking about something." Taiki replied.

"You do a lot of that." Devlin commented. "Anything specific?"

"About when we first met." Taiki turned towards his friend, reading his expression. "When we ran into each other, you were a red player. If I was a hunter, you think maybe I was after you?"

Devlin mulled over this a moment. "I doubt it. You're not stupid; I don't think any group you were in would be bad enough at tracking to end up in a boss room, on a plateau in the middle of a lake, fighting a dragon by accident. No, I think our meeting was just lucky happenstance."

Devlin turned his attention back to the two women in the training ring. It was a few seconds before he spoke again. "Thanks for trusting me enough to ask that."

With a swipe of her broadsword, Chie deflected a strike from Amber, following with a thrust that plunged her weapon through her opponent. Amber's health dropped into the yellow, and the duel ended. It had been clear that Chie had been holding back, but she'd consistently won most of her matches. She'd gone easy enough on Taiki earlier, instructing more than dueling, but had gone all out with Devlin, welcoming the friendly challenge. The two had almost been evenly matched. Almost; Chie was a steadfast bastion when she wanted to be, and none of Devlin's grapples had proven capable of toppling her. Taiki was getting better each day, but hoped that he wouldn't have to fight anyone on their level anytime soon.

Chie and Amber bowed to each other, concluding their sparring. The older woman summoned a canteen of water and took a drink. "Good match."

"You, too." Amber said between breaths. She wiped the sweat from her brow. "Thought I had you that time."

"So did I." Chie tilted her head towards their guild mates on the fence. "How's Taiki coming along?"

"He's getting there, but he's always holding back." Amber replied. "It's like he's always trying not to hurt anyone. He never commits enough to his strikes. Weird, if he was into PvP."

"Yeah, that's the impression I'm getting." Chie confirmed, starting towards them. "He's better than he thinks he is; he just needs to stop pulling his punches. Hopefully he can cut loose when it counts."

Once they were near the fence, Brenda hopped down from her perch unbidden and withdrew a refreshment from her inventory to deliver to Amber. Taiki watched the two a moment, already in their own conversation. He was still having a hard time figuring out how to regard Brenda. Everyone treated it like a non-person, while Amber treated her like some mix between a pet and a best friend. He put the matter out of his mind and focused on Chie as the NPC said something mentioning vengeance and her family.

"Any of your friends get back to us yet?" He asked.

Chie opened her menu and scrolled through her inbox again. "Sorry, no. Same with Cedric and the others. None of us has had any dealings with PvP players, so we haven't gotten any leads, and we've already asked all our friends and acquaintances."

A thought occurred to him. "How about someone a bit more professional?"

"How do you mean?" Chie asked.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sveltheim was still a fairly busy city, even more so than before. The frontline groups were only one floor above, so it was about as far as anyone could go without going farther up. It was the final city of the fifty first floor, and its proximity to the boss labyrinth guaranteed its continued relevance for some time to come as players stopped by before taking a shot at the xp and money to be gained from the area.

The place had originally looked larger to Taiki, but returning after having spent time in the Starting City made it feel much smaller in comparison. There were plenty of players all around, but not enough to feel as crowded as the Starting City. Unlike the last time he was here, he already knew where he was going, passing by the same flower selling vendor he'd tried to talk to before. This time, he also already had a party, a quest of sorts, and Devlin wasn't left to hide outside. Curious how much could change in about a week.

He retraced his steps, finding his way back to a tavern. The place he'd met his party, who now followed him back here. Pulling the door open, Taiki stepped into MakiMori's. It looked much the same as last time, though a fair bit busier. There were easily fifty players and NPCs spread amongst the tables and bar. NPC waiters and waitresses moved between the tables, managed by a player at the till. Standing near the bar was Maki. She spotted the party and quickly moved to meet them, cutting off one of her drones, who stopped rigidly before turning to other duties.

"Hello, and welcome back." Maki said with a grin. "Table for seven plus one? Follow me."

The energetic girl twirled around and led them to a larger table. "Would you like a moment, or do you know what you'd like?"

"Actually, I was looking for your sister." Taiki said.

"Speak for yourself." Devlin said, pulling out a chair. "While we're here, I could eat."

"Food and info, it is." Maki grinned again. "I'll go check with her; be right back."

Maki disappeared into the back offices. While they were waiting, the party placed their orders with a waiter drone they'd flagged down. Devlin was placing an order large enough for two people when the bubbly proprietor returned.

"Mori doesn't much like the noise and hustle n' bustle." Maki said in her staccato tone. "Come with me."

Taiki and Chie stood, following after her. The rest of the party remained at the table. No sense in forcing all of them into every meeting. Maki led them into the hall, giving the directions to her sister's office and heading back to the restaurant, apparently trusting them enough to find their way from there. At the end of the hall, at the back left corner of the building was Maki's twin's office. It was small, almost cramped. In the back left corner was a desk facing left. The far wall consisted mostly of bookshelves. The right wall had the room's sole window.

Inside was Mori and one other person; a smaller girl with auburn hair, wearing a dull tan cloak. Maki handed the girl a fist sized coin purse. This appeared to conclude their business, and the girl pulled the hood of her cloak up, turning to leave. Taiki thought he saw whiskers painted on her face before she exited gracefully through the window, closing it from the outside.

"A business associate of mine." Mori explained. Her departure through the window was apparently nothing special to her. "Take a seat."

Mori twisted her desk chair their way, sitting down. There was only one other chair in the room. Taiki and Chie both looked at it a moment. Mori watched impassively as the two waited for the other to sit, resulting in both remaining standing.

When it was apparent that neither would take it, Mori crossed her legs and steepled her fingers together on her lap. "Been a while, Chie. Noob, right?"

"Actually, it's Taiki, now." He replied.

"Noted." She said. "What brings you to my humble abode?"

"Do you know anything about a guild called the Bloodhounds?" He asked.

"I could be motivated to check." Mori answered.

Getting the hint, Taiki summoned a stack of coins and handed them over. The girl placed them on her desk. He looked it over; it was mostly covered in papers and folders, with a picture of her twin wrapping her in a tight hug placed in a small pink frame. It was the most colourful thing in the room.

"Can't say I've heard much about them." Mori answered, placing the picture into a desk drawer. "Nothing positive, anyways. PK hunting group that tended to be a little too liberal in how they chose their targets. Nobody worked with them, so they stuck to themselves. That's all I know."

Taiki was disappointed, both in the lack of information, and the confirmation of what they'd heard before. "Would you have ways to find out anything further?"

Mori broke into a slim, faint smirk. "Of course I do. Wouldn't be a good info broker if I couldn't find info to sell."

"Alright." Taiki started. "I'd like any information you can find on them; aliases, usernames, anything. If there's any remaining members, I'd like their location if possible."

If there were six people in the Bloodhounds, and he saw four die, there was a slight chance that one more besides himself might still be alive out there, somewhere. It was a long shot, but worth shooting for. They'd already narrowed down the four or five members of his old guild to the nine names on Cedric's list, but even though Taiki's nickname amongst the Bloodhounds was one out of six, his real name, or at least his player name, was still one out of over seven and a half thousand. If anyone could confirm without a doubt who he was, it would be a former guild mate.

"So, you'd like to employ my more investigative skills?" Mori leaned forward, her interest in the prospective transaction apparent.

"I would." He confirmed.

"I'll see what I can dredge up," she looked to make some mental calculations, "but first, tell me what you know. It makes things easier on my end."

The two of them summarized all of the information they'd found so far, handing over the list of names for her to copy.

"They were last in the boss room of this floor, but we don't know if they were the only ones there." Chie added.

"So, I'm supposed to investigate a defunct guild based on the potential names of their dead members. This sounds…difficult, but doable." Mori stated dryly. She named an unexpectedly large sum. Chie balked at the price. It sounded expensive to Taiki, and he was still figuring out the value of their currency. Either way, two hundred fifty thousand Col far exceeded what he was carrying. "I may also require additional funds, depending on how long this takes."

"That's ridiculous." Chie said.

"You've never employed an info broker, I'm guessing." Mori replied. "I'm assuming you've already tried your hand at finding this info yourselves before coming here. Now that we both know how time consuming this can be, I can assure you my price is fair. I'm the one with the network, and I know how much it's worth. This isn't just you buying a tidbit of data; I'm going to have to go out there and spend who knows how low digging this stuff up."

"We can't afford that." Chie explained.

"Then you can't afford me, and I'm one of the cheaper brokers." Mori said, not budging. "If you'd like, you can come back later, but that's my price."

Taiki had no expectations of being able to haggle the price down. He turned towards the door. "I'll be back with your money."

Chie followed after him, out of the information broker's office. "You have a plan?"

"I get the money, I guess." He replied. "You know a good way to get that much?"

"I may." Chie thought a moment. "We need to check with the others first."

The pair returned to the restaurant. At their table, Devlin and Amber were playing a game of five-finger fillet, each holding a palm against the table, fingers spread, stabbing one of their knives between their fingers with increasing speed. The two had their eyes locked, waiting for the other to slip up. Cedric watched with little interest, while Brenda's eyes jerked back and forth following Amber's knife.

"Where's Haruki and Mamoru?" Chie asked, stepping up to the table, peering around.

Amber glanced up, drawing attention away from their game long enough for her knife to strike her ring finger.

Devlin jabbed his knife into the table and raised his arms in victory. "Yes!"

"No fair." Amber protested. "Outside interference."

"Bet's a bet; you lost." Devlin said with a grin. "C'mon, pay up."

Amber gave a huff and flicked a coin at him. He caught it and turned to Cedric with an expectant look. The boy placed a coin against the table and slid it over.

"They headed out; said they weren't hungry." Cedric gestured to a box on the table next to him. "Figured you might want something take-out. How'd things go with Mori?"

"Thanks." Chie said appreciatively. "Not well. We need a quarter of a million Col, maybe more later. Don't suppose we have that if we pool our resources?"

"No, not even close." Cedric didn't even have to think about it.

"So, how can we get that?" Taiki asked.

"Simple; we go on a quest." Devlin commented. "Although it'll need to be a good one. We might have a hard time finding something that pays near that much. With all the second wave folks tagging behind the front lines, I don't expect there to be any quests around here unspoken for."

"You guys need a good quest?" Maki asked, passing by. She was carrying a tray laden with food and drinks to another table. "Didn't mean to butt in, but there's a quest broker down the road at Copperhead's bar."

"I thought they got chased out of here?" Taiki asked.

"Yeah, but they didn't stay gone." Maki adjusted the tray to prevent a plate from sliding off. "One came back a couple days after the Inquisitor left. Just look for a guy named Midas; you can't miss him."

"Thanks." Taiki turned back to Chie. "I don't want to impose…"

"Don't worry about it." She tapped the side of his shoulder. "We've stuck with it this long; it'd be a waste of our time if we quit now. Besides, I'm getting tired of waiting around and jumping from town to town and we're running a bit low on cash. A quest sounds pretty welcome right about now."

She turned to Cedric. "Send a message to Mamoru. Tell him we're getting a job, and that we'll meet up after. It's about one o'clock now; hopefully we can get on the road in time to get this done in the same day."

On the walk over to Copperhead's, Devlin and Chie brought Taiki up to speed on the various types of quests. Most quest types had names that were self-explanatory enough. There were escort quests, like the one he interrupted when he met Devlin; they wanted to avoid any of those. Then there were fetch or gather quests, which were generally mundane busy work, often simple enough to be worked into other jobs to make them feel more complex. The opposite was the delivery quest; which was common, buy fairly low in value due to them often being the safest. Middle of the road was seek and destroy, or kill quests, with the subcategory of bounty missions, where only a specific mob needed to be destroyed.

Some missions were more of a mystery, and could take some time-consuming investigation before unlocking further objectives. With the party already having a mystery of their own, this was also a category they had no interest in. Some jobs were simple and straight forward, but most were some combination of two or more types. Some, like Brenda's quest, were more specific and complicated in their own right. The quest he'd helped with before was a combination of killing all the chitahn in the cavern, killing the champion, and fetching and returning the ring it carried.

The payout varied almost as much the quest type. The rewards for a fetch quest might be an item related to the items gathered. Often times the reward might be a weapon or some other item of comparable level to the mission completed, which could then be either used or sold, such as the crystal sword gathered before. In addition to experience or items gained, most quests, excluding their previous mission, rewarded some amount of money as well.

The quest type they were hoping to acquire was known as a raid quest; a fetch quest in which the target area was looted for various items. It differed from other types in that it rewarded no experience, apart from that gained from killing any mobs during its run, but had a payout entirely in money or precious metals. It was a popular quest type for those in need of quick cash, while those more concerned with leveling sought after something with a bit more balance between xp and Col. They also tended to be more difficult, often containing mobs of a significantly higher level than the others in the area. One floor below the frontline, this had the chance to make such a mission a dangerous endeavor. With seven people and one non-person, Chie was confident enough that they could complete one without too much issue.

They arrived at their destination; a bar with a wooden sign hanging over its door bearing a coiling snake matching its namesake clamping its jaws around a copper coin. The door pulled open, and Taiki immediately spotted who he thought must have been Midas. The man was sitting at the center of the far wall, practically glowing with gold. He'd pushed together two tables to form a sort of desks, atop which were a few notebooks and papers. It was like his own little office in the middle of a bar. The group made their way around a billiard table to meet him.

"You Midas?" Taiki asked.

The young man looked to be just shy of eighteen. He was about five foot three, and was fairly scrawny. He was dressed in fine black pants, with a royal purple vest over a black shirt. Over this was a silver longcoat. Its outer layer was coated in overlapping gold like scale mail, and looked heavy enough to be a burden. His chest had enough chains and assorted jewelry adorning it to almost pass for armour, and each finger was covered in rings.

Despite his obvious wealth, his face had a gaunt, bony look to it. His thin fingers likewise had prominent knuckles. He had short brown hair flat against his head. His chin had the beginnings of a goatee, with scraggly little hairs that had the unfortunate look like they'd been borrowed from a region far lower on his body. A small man in a coat of riches reaped from the efforts of others.

"That I am." He spread him arms out, causing his attire to jingle. "Please, make yourselves comfortable and tell me how I can help you today."

"We're looking for a raid quest." Chie said, directly to the point.

"Well, pretty miss, you've come to the right man." Midas said with a wink. "My favourite kind of quest; I wish more people would try them at this level."

He slipped one silver gilded notebook out from beneath another and flipped it open. "So happens I have three open at the moment. There's the 'Palindrome's Bounty', with a reward of one hundred twenty three thousand, three hundred and twenty one Col. Oddly specific number; probably some sort of joke or other."

He peeked up, gauging their interest before continuing. "Another is the 'Warmaster Tsun-Koh's Vault'. Brand new; just picked it up yesterday. Reward is two hundred thousand Col flat. I don't know about you but I love a good vault run. You people always bring such shiny things back from them. The other one's significantly less impressive; about seventy grand."

"We'll take the vault." Chie stated, starting to do a poor job of hiding her disdain for the boy.

"Wonderful!" Midas clapped his hands, but the rings made it sound like more of a metallic clack. "On to the particulars; for this job I'm humbly asking for twenty percent of the reward, I'll also require twenty thousand Col beforehand."

"That's a full sixty out of two hundred." Taiki balked. "Why should we pay you before we even get the job done?"

"Well, that's in case you quit the quest or all die." Midas said as though it were obvious. "Need to make a few coins in the event that happens. Think of it like a purchase; you're buying a job, and we're sharing the rewards."

I'm starting to see why nobody likes you guys. Taiki thought with a frown.

"If that's not favourable, you can try your luck elsewhere." Midas took a chocolate covered cherry from a gold dish next to his notebooks. "But you'll not find any quests worth what I have on this floor."

He noted Taiki's disbelief. "I leave the little jobs alone; let's me and mine cover more ground and gather the ones worthwhile. That, and the shit storm the old man threw up made my competitors slink away long enough for me to expand a bit."

"You're not worried he'll make his way back here?" Taiki asked. Last he heard, one of the quest brokers had been killed to frighten away the others.

"Why should I be?" Midas asked. "The only reason the last one died is because he was fool enough to accept a duel request. So long as I don't do anything nearly as stupid, I can't be touched. I never step foot outside of any town's walls; nobody can harm me."

Midas looked to Chie. "Anyways, if you're a bit sore on my price, please remember this is a vault run. There's plenty of things you can loot to more than make this worth your while."

"We'll take the vault." Chie repeated.

"Fantastic." Midas grinned. "Last thing, I know that the chest in the boss room contains a pair of very pretty rings. I want one."

He waggled his right pinkie finger. "I think I can fit one more. For anything else you loot, as I have no way of tracking or counting what might be in there, you are of course free to keep everything you find."

Midas opened his menu. "Do we have a deal?"

Chie opened her menu and partied up with the gold coated man. Midas then shared the specified quest with them while retaining its ownership, and then accepted a trade offer of twenty thousand Col. With their business concluded, she wasted no time in leaving his presence, leading the party back outside. Chie opened her menu again, located the two wayward members of their guild and set a course for them.

They found them back in MakiMori's, apparently having returned looking for them, but neglecting to send them any messages. Mamoru was playing a game of cards with a few other people at a large round table while his wife egged him on. He slapped his cards against the table with a laugh and reached out to reap the pot.

"We've got a job." Chie started. "If we head out soon we can be back by tomorrow morning."

Mamoru excused himself from the game, stepping away from the table. "Sure. Where we headed?"

"A ways south, we've got a raid quest." She answered.

"A raid quest?" Mamoru repeated back. "Isn't that a little risky at this level?"

"There's plenty of us. We play it slow and safe and we'll be fine." She explained. "We're running low on cash and we'll need most of it to pay off Mori."

"Wait, so we're not even getting a full share?" Haruki asked.

"The broker is taking forty thousand. The rest will go towards paying Mori." Chie explained. "Everyone's still getting paid. This is a vault run, so there should be plenty of loot to split."

"Count me out." Haruki said.

"What?" Mamoru asked, surprised.

"Haruki, we need all hands on deck for this one." Chie tried not to sound too forceful. "What's the problem?"

"I've been okay running around looking for clues, but I'm not about to run a mission or give up my share so I can fatten the wallet of some quest broker, then throw the rest at Mori." The older woman fumed, as if she were venting something she'd been thinking on already. "You want to keep playing detective with your investigation, that's fine, but you can count me out of any quests you want to use to fund it."

"Well, I'm still going." Mamoru said.

"What?" His wife hadn't expected that, but didn't let it deter her. "Fine, I'll be waiting here."

Chie disappointment was apparent. "I won't force you into anything, but we're going to have some words when we get back."

Haruki crossed her arms. "I suppose we will."

Chie turned and led her party out of the tavern. It was still before two o'clock. If they moved quickly they could get to their destination by five. The stubborn woman gave Taiki and Devlin a steely glare as they left. Mamoru's disappointment was even more pronounced.

"We'll talk later." He said, and followed after the rest.

The party headed to the southern gate of Sveltheim and started their trek towards their quest. Mamoru was silent, and nobody wanted to breach the topic of how to handle the issue with his wife when they'd returned. They were a few minutes out of town when Chie opened her menu and started reviewing the raid, making a game plan with Cedric. In her haste to remove herself from anywhere near Midas, she'd forgotten to purchase any map data on their destination, but decided not to head back for it, wanting to maintain as much of a profit margin as they could to counter the trip's price. As they marched, everyone switched from their casual clothes to their armour, apart from Devlin, who never seemed to remove his.

"So, we're gathering ten tainted tomes, five bewitched bloodstones, three weeping gemskulls," Chie read as she moved her finger down the quest description in her menu, "I'm sensing a theme here. Twenty moaning glowstones. Lastly, we kill the Hollowed Warmaster Tsun-Koh and take his Cursed Axe. Ah shit, he's got a cursed weapon. Everyone, check your supplies."

The group stopped and reviewed their inventories. Taiki was unsure what he was supposed to be looking for. "What's so special about cursed weapons?"

"They have a chance to inflict curse." Chie answered, scrolling through her belongings. She withdrew a pair of domino sized smooth white stones and slipped them into a pocket. "It's a status effect, like poison or bleeding, but a hell of a lot more annoying."

"Most status ailments cause damage over time or lower one of your stats." Devlin added. He was the only other person to not open his menu. "Curse lowers your maximum life points, maxing out at half. And unlike the other ailments, it doesn't go away on its own. They all wear off after a little bit, but curse can only be removed with items or by a priest NPC in town. It takes either a cleansing crystal or a few sacred stones.

Amber pocketed a crystal much like the teleporter crystals, but pure white, and handed a few stones to Brenda. "If you see a weapon wreathed in black smoke, don't let it touch you. Thankfully they're not too common."

Taiki opened his menu, finding that he didn't own any of the former item, but did have five of the latter. He selected the item and read its description. The stones had a simple little rune etched into them.

[Sacred Stone: Removes curse. Cleanses fifteen to twenty percent of lost max health. Crush to activate blessing.]

Taiki took three out and pocketed them. Devlin opened his menu, scrolled through his belongings, then gave an agitated huff.

"Dammit." He waved his menu away. "I'm all out of stones. Give me a minute, I need to run back and buy a few."

"You can have a couple of mine." Chie offered.

"Bad idea; you'll probably need them yourself." Devlin glanced over his shoulder. "I won't be long. Town's like, ten minutes away."

"Fine." She said. "We'll wait here."

"Tai, you mind coming along?" Devlin asked his larger friend. "Buddy system 'n shit."

Taiki figured he might want to buy a few more himself, and followed after him. At a brisk jog, it didn't take long to get back to Sveltheim. Devlin slowed to a walk as they approached the gate. Taiki started to match his pace, but his friend slowed fast enough to put him slightly behind him.

"Hang on a second." Devlin said.

Taiki started to turn to ask why when he felt Devlin's short sword stab into him from behind, punching through his chest. On reflex, he spun, backhanding his attacker. He took a few quick steps to make some distance and reached behind him to pull the weapon free with his left hand.

"What the hell?!" His right hand was already on his sword, preparing to draw it.

"Whoa, there buddy. Simmer down." Devlin held his hands up. "Just checking something."

"Checking what?" Taiki shouted, trying to calm down after the sudden excitement.

"A theory." Devlin glanced up over himself. "Notice anything different about me, or rather, what's not?"

"The hell are you getting at?!" The little short sword felt incredibly small in his hand.

Devlin pointed over his own head. "My icon. It hasn't changed."

Taiki followed his friend's direction. His icon was indeed still green.

"I just attacked you unprovoked and my icon didn't switch to red." Devlin explained. "Can I have my sword back now?"

Taiki handed the weapon back handle first, becoming curious as to what was going on.

"Shake my hand." Devlin held his hand out. "Just do it. A mutual hand shake is a friendly thing. It'll let the system know we're not fighting anymore."

Taiki obliged and shook the offered appendage.

"Now, draw your sword and stab me." Devlin directed. Taiki cocked his eyebrows in confusion. "C'mon. Doesn't need to be the whole thing, you can just give me the tip."

He drew his falcata and poked it at Devlin's chest. It scraped along his armour. When it didn't penetrate he pulled it back and stabbed with a bit more force, lodging a few inches into his friend.

"Ok, you can put that away now." Devlin said, backing off of the weapon. He pointed to the town gates. "Quick run in there and come back."

Taiki was becoming more curious what the point of this was, and did as asked, stepping inside the town and returning. He was obviously becoming impatient, awaiting an explanation.

"You just stabbed me, a green player, and were able to walk right into town no hassle." Devlin started. "Neither of us turned red there."

He stepped forward. "See, I've been wondering about your icon. I thought we just couldn't see it, like it was invisible, or something, but with how messed up your menus are I got to wondering. Some of the stuff on there is greyed out, but your messaging tab's missing altogether. You say your name is blank on your profile, so I got to thinking what else might be missing."

Devlin spoke a bit lower, despite there being nobody nearby. "We've been assuming you're a green player, since you can enter towns n' stuff, but that doesn't look like the case. You're icon isn't invisible, it doesn't exist."

Taiki glanced up over himself, processing this new information. "What do you think it means?"

"Big guy, I haven't got a God damned clue." He replied. "But I can tell you what looks like it effects. You can be attacked without consequence. A green player can stab you without fear of going red."

That sounds…not good. Taiki thought.

"On the other hand," Devlin weighed his words a moment, "it looks like that cuts both ways; you can't turn red. You can probably do whatever the hell you want and head right back into town no problem."

Taiki was still considering the possibility and meaning of any of this. It raised whole new questions about what was causing all this. "What do we do now?"

"We head back to the others." Devlin answered, heading away from town and back towards their waiting comrades.

"But what about the stones?" Taiki asked.

"I've got plenty." He answered, opening his menu. He withdrew a handful of sacred stones and pocketed them within cloak. "I just wanted a bit of privacy for this experiment. It's probably best we keep this to ourselves."

"Why?" Taiki was beginning to understand the reason when the word was still leaving his mouth.

"I don't want to weird out the others." Devlin passed a few stones to his friend. "And who knows how other players would treat this data."

The walk back to their party was silent as Taiki tried to figure out what any of this meant for him, and why this was happening. Once they'd rejoined everyone else, they resumed their march south. They had a few hours walk ahead of them, and plenty of time to think. Too much, when one had no hope of deciphering this puzzle in the meantime. The more he learned about himself, the more complicated the mystery became. There was his memory loss, his corrupted menus, and now this. Somehow it must all be connected. He stared at his left hand a moment, clenching and unclenching his fist.

Author's Notes: This chapter brought to you by the theme of shady business. After a year, I figured there would be businesses that formed that catered to things specific in the game world.

I see the quest brokers as being players that exploit the game's quest system to milk as much money out of it as they can. They're assholes, but once they're entrenched the options are either to look for a quest elsewhere or just accept the problem's not going anywhere and deal with them.

The Second Suns and other hunting guilds are people monetizing PvP in the guise of justice, since Aincrad doesn't really have any sort of law enforcement.

My hope is to use the game world of SAO in creative ways not seen very often, but in ways that make sense.

Also, more setup, new info on Taiki and more glitch stuff. Drama and battle fights inbound next chapter.

As always, thanks for reading this far. If you liked anything in here or found it God awful, please leave a review. They're my only real metric for how well I'm doing.