SAO Chapter 11 - Judgement
JESUS CHRIST, WHAT THE FLIPPING FISH PASTE JUST HAPPEN-
BAM.
The colossal force attacked the back of my head, forcing me face-first into the pavement. I could only thank my lucky stars I was in a safe-town. That really would have shaved off some health if I was outside.
A firm hand grabbed my front fringe of hair and dragged it backwards, forcing me to look up. Whoever my attacker was, he or she was on my back, in order to disable my movement. Two fingers were pushed none-too-gently between my eyes, and a deadly whisper came to my ears.
"Who the hell are you, and why do you look so much like my friend? Answer straight or I'll drag you out of town and kill you."
The chilling words hadn't nearly the same effect as the voice that said them. "Argo?!" I gasped. "What are you doing, It's me, Tensei!"
"Yeah right! 'Tensei' would never commit a crime!" She snorted. "Now talk!"
"If you'll give me two seconds out of a death-grip, maybe I can tell you why I'm like this, you flipping idiot!" I yelled, mind racing on how I could prove I was real. "Jesus, why did I even bother buying you Ramu soda back in seventh grade if I knew you were going to kill me 3 years later?!"
Argo gasped, and let go of my hair. "Ka-bou, it really is you! I can't believe it!"
"Believe it woman." I grunted, clearly miffed. I still couldn't get up, since she had yet to get off my back.
She sat for a moment, still a little breathless, then realized why I didn't get up. "Oh, damn. Sorry, am I heavy?" She got off quickly.
An odd silence fell between us. About 10 seconds maybe. Then she snapped. "Well?"
"Well what?" I asked innocently.
"Don't give me that crap, Ka-bou. What happened? Why do you have an orange cursor?"
"Meh, it's really nothing huge. I got cornered by PKers and helped someone escape them, but I had to hurt them to get away."
"WHAT?!" Argo practically bounced up to her feet in surprise. "You were ambushed by PKers?!"
"Oh... Yeah, I ran into the Laughing Coffin guild you were talking about." I mumbled. Gah, I hated it when I made people worry about me, especially friends.
Argo paled. "So the rumors are true... They've formed a guild. And... You ran into them?" Her questions were coming more faintly now.
"Ah yeah, but I managed to get away..."
That's when I felt the force of her entire body slamming into me. I lay, winded on the ground, as she hugged me round the middle.
"Good god, Argo, you're strong." I huffed. She ignored me and kept hugging me.
"Don't... Be careful from now on, I don't want to worry about you again." Her voice came out small.
"Yeah, it's not like I planned it, I'm no fonder of the PKers than you are. But yeah, I'll watch out for them." She didn't pull away. "Oi, Yu-chan... You can't be Argo the info broker if you're so emotional, get up." I pried her off of me gently. She was a lot more emotional than I though, clearly. Her real life name seemed to act as a stimulus of some sort. She finally let go, her face coming back to its usual, neutral self.
"Well, just as long as you can't be on the front lines, wanna party up with me?" She offered.
"I don't see why not." I shrugged. On the inside, I found myself quite happy with the idea. It would keep me from boredom and wouldn't be counter-productive of my time. "I can help you, if you need any manpower to grab your info... or rare items, since you seem to have some kind of obsession with-"
"I don't find rare items...!" Argo coughed. "Rare items seem to find me!"
I rolled my eyes. "Inanimate objects finding you. Sure, I buy that."
"You know, I preferred it when you just agreed with everything I said." She snapped back, pretending to be mad.
"PRESENT YOURSELVES!"
The loud voice rang in our ears, echoing down the alleyway. Argo peeked outwards, then gasped and grabbed my hand, leading me away from the voice.
"Argo, what the hell happened? Why are we running?"
"Idiot!" She hissed. "That's a Knights of Blood Oath patrol!"
"So?" I asked, nonplussed. They may not have been the best guild for me, but there wasn't a reason to avoid them, was there?
"In case you didn't know, the KOB actually arrests, and takes into custody, orange players!" I gasped at how close I was to being captured, but Argo put a finger to my lips. "Shh! They'll hear you..." She whispered. We ducked behind a conveniently placed crate and waited.
Over the past few weeks, I'd been leveling my detection skill quite a bit, leading it to be about 270 points. Once I'd gotten past 250 though, a player track skill had been added. Provided that I had a visual contact on any player or monster for two seconds, I could track their position through walls for about 10 seconds. I activated this skill and peeked around the corner, waving away a protesting Argo.
A large, red-headed man in huge armour had stood in the center of the main road. I maintained visual contact, then ducked behind the crate again, tracking him. Argo looked at me, confused, but I had no time to explain the skill to her. Someone was coming this way! Not the redhead, a leaner, shorter person, but definitely KOB.
I tapped Argo's shoulder and whispered. "Go. I'll escape alone, someone's coming." She looked at me fearfully and was about to bring up her stubborn streak when I jumped out from behind the crate, onto the unknowing patrol member.
The man yelled in surprise as my feet landed on his shoulder, and I used him as a jump pad, just like with the Laughing Coffin. Cursing at his outburst, a jumped up from one wall to another, climbing up the buildings. At the top, I almost slipped, dropping a loose tile onto the alley below.
"There! On the roof! He's orange!"
Great.
I ran like hell. Detainment at the hands of the KOB was the last thing I needed right now. ESPECIALLY now, I swore I would use this time away from the front lines wisely, so that when I came back to it, I would still be perfectly capable of competing with the others and being of use.
"He's running on the roof! Get him!" The redhead roared.
"Roger!" A strict female voice that seemed... strangely familiar. I looked behind as I ran and saw a very fierce, chestnut-haired woman rushing at me and somehow managing to keep up. I paled and ran harder, hitching my cloak.
The Flash. They call her that for a reason too.
I wasn't scared of Asuna, but she'd probably want explanation, which the KOB would detain me for, and...
I yelped as a thin rapier blade jabbed over my shoulder, forcing me to realize how close she was. Out of pure instinct, I jammed my foot into the roof tiles, ducked, and ran at her legs. Her eyes opened in surprise as I barreled into her, causing her to fall off the roof. She didn't lose health, but landed heavily on the cobblestone street.
Sorry...
I retracted my apology, however, when she got up, eyes flashing dangerously, and hopped up onto the balcony, then prepared to jump onto the roof again.
Okay, let's go, nothing to see here. I ran quickly across the rooftops, skidding a little on the uneven surfaces. It wasn't too long until eventually, Asuna must have decided I was a target to be taken by force, rather than by warnings. She leapt forward and hit me squarely in the back with a rapier hilt, causing me to fall face-first into the tiles. For the second time that day, my head was pulled up by my hair, and this time, I felt cold steel pointed at the back of my neck. "You're under arrest by the Knights of Blood Oath, orange!"
I sighed. "I have a name, Asuna-san." Her eyes widened with recognition of the voice. "Next time, could you cut me some slack? I have a reason, you know."
"Wait... no..." She shook her head."I can't believe it... Tensei?" Slowly, her rapier drew back
"Believe it woman." I chuckled at how similar her and Argo's reactions were. Before another word was spoken, I froze at the one-handed blade that appeared at my neck, and saw the redhead bend down low. "You're under arrest, orange. Follow quietly and we might make your detainment short... depending on what you did, you bastard." He spat the last words out,
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"To whoever is listening to this, this guy is a fu-"
"Will you be serious!"
I grinned. I might have been in a chair with guards surrounding me, plus a recording crystal strapped to my chest, but hey, just as long as I was stuck here, I had no intention of respecting this man, who seemed to run solely off his high position in the guild.
"Listen to me!" The redhead grunted, frustration pouring out of his every orifice. "Orange, you are being charged for your crimes, and you are to tell us what those crimes are without attempting to justify your actions, so we may consider how long your detainment should be!"
The stone walls of the interrogation room rang with the echo of his voice. The truth was, irritation had been building in me, and I couldn't believe how this man claimed to serve justice when his way of judging orange players was so unfair. I didn't flinch, but dropped the grin and cavalier attitude, replacing it with a cold glare.
"So let me get this straight, you're here, trying to get me to admit what terrible crime I've committed, without thinking twice that maybe I had a very good reason for doing it?" I snapped at him.
"What good reason could you have for hurting someone? You're all as bad as each other! This is why we scan the community to rid you of pests!" He growled. I felt a twinge of real rage now. Would this man rather I was dead? Or led Lisbeth to her own death?
"Well then, let me tell you exactly what happened." I hissed, standing up and kicking the wooden chair aside. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I swore, I saw a tiny amount of rage leak out of his face, replaced with wariness."I was ambushed. In a dungeon, while gathering materials with a player blacksmith, I was attacked by a group of PKers, and I got this mark protecting the blacksmith long enough for her to escape! If you're so worried about keeping the green players safe, track down those bastards, not me!" In a fury, I grabbed the rope around my neck and snapped it, then tossed the recording crystal at him. "Some justice you serve." I spat at the ground, revealing more about my opinion of his justice than words ever could.
"Don't get flippant with me, boy, I control your fate!" He was at the point of drawing a sword when a sharp female voice rang from behind me.
"Enough, Dokira."
I turned to see Asuna, looking sternly at the redheaded man named Dokira. He slowly moved his hand from the sword. "I'm sorry, Vice Commander. I lost myself, it seems." His head bowed as he spoke. I clearly underestimated my friend's presence around the guild, because it seemed to quite effectively shut this man and his temper up. Asuna walked over to the recording crystal and picked it up.
"Well, Tensei?" She replaced the crystal on the table and held a light frown. "What happened? I wouldn't think you would be the type of person to turn orange for no good reason, so why don't you tell me all about it?"
So I told the story, keeping it to a minimum length, but detailed enough to make it believable. As I reached the part of the PK guild, Asuna's frown tightened a little. When I finished, There was silence in the room for about 5 seconds.
"This... is a little disturbing." Asuna admitted. "A PK guild? That's a dangerous thought. PKers alone were held and suppressed, but it took quite a bit of effort for each and every one..."
The man named Dokira grunted, reminding me of unwanted presence in the corner of the room. "There's no proof backing the orange's story. How do we know he is telling the truth?"
I grimaced. "Witnesses include Argo the Rat for information on the PK guild, Laughing Coffin... I guess you could contact Lisbeth, her shop is a floor down." I pretended not to be angry at the biased man in the corner, who snorted doubtfully.
"Dokira, enough." Asuna shot at him. He fell silent again. Turning to me, Asuna tapped the recording crystal, which turned purple, indicating a finished recording. "Well, we'll see what we can do. I'll do all I can to get you out of here quickly." She got up at sent a glance of understanding my way, which I returned with a look of thanks.
Dokira followed her, then paused at the doorway. "I'm... sorry." He admitted. I stared at him in amazement. "I admit my bias to those of the orange cursor. I lost my comrade to one, see, and I've never forgiven the oranges since." Without giving me a chance to respond, he left.
The beginnings of guilt clawed away at my insides as I realized how rude I'd been to a man who had probably been through a lot. Many men like him had gone through a rough stage when they realized how close this deathtrap of a game brought them to the Grim Reaper.
Waiting.
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June 24th, 2023, Player Tensei has been released on grounds that his Orange status has ended.
Frontlines are currently clearing Floor 46.
T/N: Well, That wraps that up. I understand this is a very slow development for you guys, but I'm in the midst of my academic exams here, It's not like I can do much. This chapter is a little slower, I understand.
Strange, every time I sit and brainstorm, I come up with some BRILLIANT ideas that can only be used three or four chapters later... So I have to think of something to fill the gap of those three or four chapters, which often leads to not-so-quick development and seemingly strange plot. I promise you all it WILL get better! Stay with me!
Review corner (Only one, I sad face D:)
ObsidianAquamarine - Thanks again for sticking with the story, Diane :) You'll be glad to know, I picked up my Harvest Moon fanfiction again, and you can expect an update within... well, no promises, but hopefully within the next couple of weeks.
And that will be all! Please keep reviewing, I almost find it hard to continue somedays, reviews REALLY help me!
Tensei out!