February 24, 2024 (Draxen POV)

"Thanks" Dusk spoke curtly with a nod, as he and Kirito gathered up the criminals. "No problem" Aero said winking and giving a thumbs up, "Yeah, it was nothing! Besides, I still owe you from that Fenrir incident"

"Hmph" Dusk muttered as he finished tying up the orange players, Kirito nodded at him, "I got it from here" he said as he pulled a teleport crystal from his long coat, and took the criminals, along with Rosalia, to the prison.

"Well that's quite rude…" Maria says. Oh yeah… you remember that amulet I told Dusk about in chapter 11? Yeah...it calls 'herself' Maria, and is an NPC, wait… what's that author? Quit breaking the fourth wall? Oh. Yeah. Sorry, on with the story!

"Wh-who are they Dusk?" I hear a timid voice say, I look at the bridge and see a younger girl looking straight at me. Dusk waved his hand, "It's fine Silica, they're friends of mine" Silica immediately went over to Dusk. I raised an eyebrow, "Silica right? I'm Draxen, a bounty hunter" I bow.

"And I'm Aero, Draxen's partner" Aero bows as well, seeing as she has jeans, not a skirt. Dusk smirks, "Partner in more ways than one…" I slap him, "NO!" I shout, my face heating up with Aero's. Dusk just laughs, while Silica has a questioning look.

"Well...see you in three days Dusk" I say as we part ways, Aero and I towards our homes, and Silica and Dusk to their inns.


February 27, 2024 Floor 57

"We lure it into town...let it get distracted by the NPC's. That's how we get the boss" Asuna stated, slamming her fist on the floor map.

"Hey! Some of those NPC's you're willing to kill were my friends! Maria whined in my head. "I'll try to talk them out of it, I don't like it either…" I reply quietly, after all, only I can hear Maria. I move forward to say my idea, but somebody beats me too it.

"You can't just do that!" A voice shouts, oh, go figure it's Kirito.

"Agreed. Highly illogical and foolish" a harsh voice easily identifiable as Dusk's rang clear. I decide to keep my distance for now.

"So what?" Asuna challenges the two, "They're just NPC's, unlike us, they can respawn" she growls. Kirito shakes his head, "It just feels wrong." "Again, agreed, I may hate most of you, but even I won't waste a man's life for an idiotic plan such as this!" Dusk growls back at Asuna.

Said girl clenches her fist, "Don't forget, I'm the second-in-command of this battle, we'll do things my way!" "Rude!" Maria comments, "Quiet!" I whisper yell to myself, getting some odd glances from the people next to me.

"That may be so Asuna, but if we don't agree to this, what good is a second-in command of an army of none?" several people oooohhh at this, of course, leave it to Dusk to roast some sense into people.

After quickly shushing Maria I decide to step in, "You may be second-in-command, but even I won't go through with this" I begin, I feel her glare at me, if her looks could kill, she'd be an orange player now.

That reminds me, Aero would have been here, but she was working with a blacksmith...Lisbeth I think? Anyways it was one of her friends IRL, I didn't question it.

"If we go through with this, yes, maybe we win, but we'd get hooked to this tactic…" I resume, trailing off, wondering if anyone gets where I'm going. Only Dusk nods his head, figures, he could read me like a book.

"Where are you going with this Draxen?" Asuna asks pointedly. I sigh, "once we get hooked in this tactic, how long will it take before we use each other as bait?" Everyone gasps at my claim, and Asuna gives me the death stare once more. "I agree with Draxen" Dusk's harsh voice rings through the cavern, "As do I" Kirito pipes up, "so, I'm sorry Asuna...but if you continue with this plan, you'll lose three of your men in this battle"

She grits her teeth, but thankfully we work on a new plan. Thanks Xander! Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah ,woah, woooah, woah. How does she know my real name!? I ask her this, Easy! I read your player data! I then traced it back towards your NerveGear headset and found your profile! She tells me cheerfully. "Not Creepy at all…" I tell the seven year old girl act-alike in my head. Aero doesn't believe me with Maria's voice in my head...says its stress, I don't blame her.

I walk out of the cave to find Kirito talking with Agil, good man in my opinion, owns an item shop on floor 50.

"...you and Asuna are getting into it, and not in a good way" Agil chuckles. I hear Kirito sigh, "Yeah, I guess, just can't believe that the girl who didn't know how to do anything at the start took my advice, and became a part of the largest frontline guilds, and be a floor clearing badass"

"I'm with you on that one Kirito" I say, walking over. The two smile at me, "Hey Draxen!" Agil greets in his usual deep voice, "How's it been the last three days?" Kirito asks politely. I shrug, "Pretty good I guess, not many missions to do, besides taking care of that Rosalia, from what I heard, Dusk went on a roast fest with her?" Agil looks at Kirito questioningly as he breaks down into laughter, "Oh you have no idea…"

He told me and Agil the story of what happened between Dusk and Rosalia. When he was done, both of us were doubled over laughing along with Kirito. "I can totally see Dusk doing that though!" I manage to get out. Eventually, we stop laughing and go our separate ways.


On my way back to my inn, I have yet to buy a house...even though Dusk gave me a portion of his profits for bringing him materials, combined that with my profits as a bounty hunter.

"So Maria...what else do you know about me then?" I ask my amulet, "Oh, many things! Like how you're a low-level government agent, that gets paid for aiding in hacking or hacking prevention!" My eyes widen in surprise...that wasn't on my NerveGear! "Umm...how did you access that?" "I can access the net!" "Wait...what?!" I feel a mental nod in the back of my head, "Umm...can you tell me where my body is?" she goes silent for a few minutes.

"Umm...I think Saitama Hospital? Yeah that's what it says, in room 4038" she replies seeming uncertain at first, before having a tone of certainty. "Do...you think you could send my family a sign? Or something at least?" "Sorry…no…" I sigh, before coming to stop at a tree, I sent a message to Aero where I was.

"Dammit, sorry, I was just hoping I could tell my sister how I was doing" "You mean Victoria Yuurikuta?" I nod, "What about your parents?" I scowl at that, "My parents? Hah! They couldn't care less!" I feel a questioning gaze in my head, "Why is that?" I sigh.

"My parents may be nice...but...they are very...controlling" "How so?" I think for a minute on how to describe their actions, "They do nice things, let me have a nice social life...but as soon I want to do something alone they restrain me, they won't let me out of their sight unless I'm in the house" "But why wouldn't they care?" "Because as soon as they lose interest of something, they get rid of it. I've seen it with some of my hobbies or my sister's, they try to erase it from our lives"

"Ohh…" "So anythi-" "Who are you speaking to Draxen?" A voice cuts me off, I freeze and turn. Kirito is standing a few feet away from me, leaning his back on the tree. "Ermm...personal thing...sorry" he waves his hand, "It's cool, I understand."

I let out a breath that I didn't even realize I was holding. "Thanks, what're you doing here?" Kirito shrugs as he begins to lie down on the grass, closing his eyes,"One of the best spots to relax in my opinion, and the weather settings are optimal today." I take a moment to feel the environment, he was right, it did feel more pleasant out today.

"Huh...you're right" Kirito chuckles at my, probably, dumbfounded face. "Well, I won't deny that I'm tired, mind if I catch some Z's here too?" Kirito shook his head. I lie down and begin to feel the grip of sleep tighten quickly, and pull me into slumber.


I wake up and stretch. Damn...that was a good nap! I think to myself. "I would say so! You nearly slept 6 hours!" I sigh and turn to ask Kirito if he knew a good place to eat. What I got was a surprise called Asuna sleeping a little to the right of Kirito. I decide to wait for the two of them, as well as keep an eye on them. Sleep PK's have started, and nobody wants that. I begin to do some martial arts training, might as well ingrain these moves into my memory.

After a few minutes of reverse punching, roundhouse kicks, axe kicks, hooks, uppercuts, jabs, and so much more, I hear someone stirring. I turn to see Kirito waking up, "Sup?" I ask him, "Wha~(Yawn) are you doing?" he asks me tiredly, I just shrug, "This game offers free martial arts lessons, might as well take them. He nods, "By the way" I add, he looks at me, "Don't look to your right."

Of course, he does so.

He jumped and flew backwards, "Wha-what?" I laugh, "She's been sleeping there since I woke up." the Black Swordsman shakes his head, "Alright then, should we watch for PKers?" I nod to his suggestion, "Yeah, that's what I've been doing."

Kirito just stands, while I resume training.

"Hey, how about we spar together?" Kirito suggests, I smile, "Sure, I'm game, no weapons, just fists, first to surrender, you good with that?" He nods, and we both unequip our swords. We stand a few yards from one another, Kirito looking serious, and I bouncing on the balls of my feet.

I lunge and reverse punch him, but he side steps out of the way, and aims to knee me. I swiftly dodge and aim an axe kick straight for his shoulder, but he dodges and closes in, aiming a punch at my face. I grab his arm and redirect his punch towards the side, and uppercut him right in the chest. His HP goes down a very small bit, signifying my win.

"You got skills Kirito, I'll give you that!" I praise.

"Thanks, you too!" he replies, "Where did you learn some of those? Not all of those were from the Martial Arts Skill" I relax, "I did Tae-Kwon-Do with my sister" I explain. "Victoria" Kirito mutters, I immediately rush him and slam him into the tree, "How the hell do you know that?!"

"Dusk!" he cries, surprised, I let him go, "I assume you know my real name then?" Kirito nods, but understood why I attacked like that, "Sorry, Xander…" I sigh. "Well, what's yours?" he stumbles, "What?" I extend a hand, "You know mine, so tell me yours" He nods.

"I'm Kazuto, Kazuto Kirigaya, I turn 16 this year" he freezes, "I also know your...job, just so you know, Dusk told me not to tell you...but..." I sigh, "Alright then, let me introduce myself properly, I am Agent Xander Yurrikuta, at your service, I turn 18 this year" I mock bow. I then get back into my fighting stance, "Let's go a few more rounds eh?" He smirks and nods. I throw my fist...


Kirito and I sat on the stone fence near the tree where now only Asuna slept, it had turned to dusk, with the sun closing in on the horizon. We went six more rounds, the score was 5:2, my favor. We heard rustling behind us and turned to see Asuna, drooling slightly and some grass stuck to her face, I noticed Kirito's face went a little red, but that could be the fact her hand's on her rapier. WAIT A MINUTE HER RAPIER!

I jump behind the stone fence a second after Kirito. "Bit slow there…" Maria comments, I internally sigh and observe the current situation. No one is moving.

"One meal…" Asuna mutters, "Huh?" Kirito asks. "One meal, my treat, since...you watched over me" Kirito and I nod in understanding, but I hold up a hand, "I can't go with you, but I'll bring Aero to the same place, don't want her to think take things the wrong way" Asuna glares slightly, "She'll know the difference." I nod, "Maybe, but she's very possessive...and I prefer to play it safe." "I'll say!" Maria added in my head, she saw what happened when a girl tried to flirt with me two days ago. Let's just leave it to the imagination since Aero was there at the time.

After a minute of thinking from my comment, Asuna nods. And soon we were on our way to restaurant.


Aero, Asuna, Kirito, and I sat a table discussing sleep PKer's, and how there was a massive jump in the amount of them. I had growled when we began mentioning them, just thinking about when I did...that in Gorhon's lair, it makes me sick. Luckily, Aero managed to calm me down by putting her hand on mine, surprising Kirito and Asuna, since Aero was much more soldierish towards everyone else.

"By the way…" Aero begins, "I hear Laughing Coffin's making larger moves, it's just a rumor, but crime rate has nearly doubled. I nod, before the meeting today, I was capturing some red players...not fun. "I just hope there's still no way to PK in safe zones…" Asuna waves her hand, "That can't happen, it's called a safe zone for a rea-" She was cut off.

By a high-pitched scream of terror.