Hi everyone, SemiInsaneCentipede here with the next chapter of Player Killer Killer. Once again, I'm sorry for how long it took for this chapter to be completed, I would have had it up earlier, but there was some issue with the website not letting me upload the chapter in the first place, but clearly, that has been resolved now. Anyway, I do not own SAO, I only own my OCs, now that that's out of the way, please enjoy!
Player Killer Killer
Chapter 13
I heard a heavy door swing open and hit a wall noisily, and then the footsteps of multiple people, armour clinking as they moved, approaching my cell. I sighed, stood up, and put my cushion back into my inventory, I doubt they'll confiscate it though, but this is just in case they don't take kindly to my attempt at comfort. It's obvious that they're here to see me as I'm the only one in the whole of Grandzam's dungeon, which seems like a waste of space, because it's a big place. I figure that I've been here for about six hours, so it should be afternoon by now and I am bored as hell, so I welcome this interruption.
Urgh, I take that back, it's Domonic, along with two of his retainers. Ever since he had thirty or so people jump on top of me, I've hated him, and that's not a great track record given that that was how we met. I cross my arms over my chest and lean against a wall with the best no time for your BS expression that I can manage. "Afternoon, Rin." He says, from the way his voice is, it sounds like he is constantly on the verge of laughter. "I hope you've found your accommodation to be satisfactory." He unlocks my cell door to let me out. "I was having a great time until your presence dirtied the air." I spit out at him and he laughs. The only part of him that moves when he laughs is his shoulders and he makes a 'kukukuku' noise. "I'd love to spend this time trading trash talk, but I'm afraid that you'll be dirtying the presence of our leader tonight. Now, off we go." He starts to walk off and I follow before his bodyguards can try and push me around.
I follow Domonic out of the jail and up to Grandzam's courtyard flanked by the two retainers, one on each side and both too close for comfort. The courtyard is filled with many KOB members, some of which cast me curious glances before going back to whatever business they were attending, although their looks are more interested then suspicious, I still pull my cape around me self-consciously. I am lead through a door and ascend two flights of stairs, then walk the length of a hallway, through another door, up some more stairs, another hall, more stairs, more stairs, stairs, stairs... stairs. Holy crap, it's a miracle that this place isn't called Stair Castle, because unlike Grandzam (what the hell is a Grandzam for that matter?), it is justified.
We stop at the top of a particularly tall and circular flight of stairs and before us stands a large set of wooden double doors. Domonic pushes them open and steps into the room on the other side. I follow him and look around. The room is semi-circular, with the entirety of the curved wall was glass (but I can't see what the point is because I can't see anything out of it), while the flat side was stone and housed the door we had just walked through. Towards the back of the room there was a long curved table that followed the bend of the window with tall seats behind it at regular intervals, with the tallest being in the middle, like a throne and the KOB emblem (a white sword on a red background with the letters 'K', 'O' and 'B' at the bottom, with the 'B' facing the wrong way, which was annoying to look at) hanging from the table at both ends and in the centre. Sitting in the seats were obviously the higher members of the guild, all conveniently silhouetted against the back window. Domonic and his retainers headed to the back of the room leaving me standing in the centre of the room, I can feel heat rising into my cheeks as I feel every eye in the room being focussed onto me.
"Rin." The man in the middle said, his voice was deep, but loud enough to fill the room, and loud enough to startle me. I'm going to assume that this man is the head of the guild, because everyone is too far away for me to see anyone's name tags. "Yes?" I respond in a bored voice; I'm not about to let all these people know that all this attention is embarrassing me. "You are a concern to us, Rin. We want to know what you are up to." He tells me, his voice taking a hardened tone, but I try my best to remain cool and mildly passive aggressive. "Me? Oh, you know, not much really, I just walked out of an inn and was jumped on." I say, and just as the man opens his mouth to speak, I add something else on: "Literally." He starts to speak again, but I beat him to it once again: "By thirty people."
"I must interject, sir," Domonic speaks up "it was fifteen."
"SILENCE!" The man shouted and the room quietened to dead silence in a second with only the sound of a small trickling noise that only I heard (thankfully).
"You stayed at a nearby inn overnight, correct?" The man asks.
"Yes." I respond in a strained voice as I internally battle with my own bladder for dominance.
"Yesterday you spoke to one of our more well-informed members, enquiring about player killers and their whereabouts, is this also correct?" He interrogated.
"Was that yesterday? Prison cells make you lose your sense of time." I say, reinstating my control over my bowels once more. "You then teleported down to the first floor and consorted with one of the imprisoned members of Titan's Hand, and then emerged from the prison ten minutes later." I'm watching this man very closely now; he seems to know a little too much for my liking. I'm certain I told Manatu to keep quiet, it seems that was a poor choice and that he's a filthy snitch, I mean, he didn't even bother to add that it was for their protection! If he had said that, then I wouldn't be here, the bitch! Anyway, how does he know that I went to floor one? With the information I was given... no, wait, Titan's Hand being in the floor one prison was my only solid lead, it would only make sense that I follow up on that one first, so this man may be bluffing how much he knows. No, that isn't the case, otherwise how could he know that I had been in there for ten minutes, of course he could be bluffing that too, but I don't think that is the case. But how could they have caught up with me so fast? There must have had to have been someone else nearby at the time who could start following me shortly after I had left, but who? Oh well, the name doesn't really matter, I most likely haven't heard of them.
"You also had a map of the twenty-third floor, that is where you went after the first floor, is it not?" The man asks, now this grabs my attention. "Give that map back to me." I demand, my glare is piercing, but not sharp enough to crack this man. "Did you, or did you not go to the twenty-third floor?"
"Maybe, maybe not."
"Answer me!"
"I did, it just wasn't what you wanted to hear." I snap in return, why are there so many people getting in my way?! "Did you, or did you not go to the twenty-third floor?" He asks, more forcefully this time.
"I might answer you if you give me the map." I reason, proposing a trade.
"I might give you the map if you answer my question." The man counters with his own idea. I'm detecting a none-too-subtle conflict of interests here, and not only is it wasting my time, but it is getting on my nerves. Damn, I should have gone through an information broker, it might have taken longer and costed more, but at least I wouldn't have been betrayed, which reminds me, I must get around to rearranging the pixels that make up Manatu's existence in this world; he's useless if he can't keep secrets.
"Is there a way in which I can get my map back, which you stole, let's not forget, without answering any of your intrusive questions?" I ask, because sometimes the best way to get what you want is just to ask straight up rather than resorting to underhanded tactics. That said, I don't expect approval for such a one-sided ask. "What if I duel against one of your members, and if I win, I get what I want." I suggest and the man rubs his chin (well I assume that's what he's doing, I can only see a silhouette, so it's either that or he just punched himself in the face slowly) in consideration. "If you lose, you'll tell me what I want to know... hmm, and you'll join this guild where I can keep an eye on you." He bargains.
"Right." I say, letting him know what I think, but he's not done yet.
"And it'll have to be more than one player." He adds and I sigh.
"You know what? Fine, I'll take your one-sided bet (and shove it back down your throat, you arse), but if I'm going to get my message across, I'm going to do it properly." I say, and then point at the silhouette of the man forcefully (it seemed dramatic, okay?) "I want to fight ten men!" I announce and there is silence for ten seconds, one which I break myself to add: "Or women, I'm all for equality." There is more silence, which is suddenly interrupted by laughter. It's practically gushing out of the man, his large frame shaking with every breath, and he seems genuinely amused, nothing fake over there. "Very well Rin! You have yourself a deal. Prepare yourself for tomorrow when you will fight some of our best players. Take him back to his cell."
"Yes, Heathcliff, sir!" Domonic and his retainers say in unison.
"At least shake my hand, coward." I mutter as I allow Domonic's retainers to manhandle me down the stairs we had previously come up.
The metallic clang of the cell door echoed through the long stone dungeon as it closed. I sighed and sat on the bed as Domonic and his retainers left, I lay back on the uncomfortable stone platform and knot my fingers behind my head. I'm losing time to catch Rivan, how long do I have? Thirteen days? Well, twelve now (courtesy of Heathcliff and the rest of KOB). But if I actually catch Rivan, what would I do with them? Well, interrogation is obvious, but I'll probably kill them once I'm done with them (are they male or female? Not having gender pronouns is making this annoying). Hopefully they'll leak information like a tap and tell me which guilds are player killers. Everyone know that Laughing Coffin is a PK guild, but they aren't recognised by the system, hopefully Rivan will know.
I know I should get some sleep, but after what happened to Shi-... Shin-... ahem, the possibility of getting killed in my sleep climbs with every step I delve into this issue. Although, maybe I'm being a little too cautious; I am in the largest discovered city so far, inside a large stone castle, I'm underground and behind at least two locked doors. I know I'm probably just being played by my self-diagnosed paranoia, but it hasn't been wrong yet, so I'm curious as to whether it's actually intuition or not. It's strange, it's like I am able to see my mental state and way of thinking, but am unable to manipulate or change either of them, like I'm a prisoner to my own mind. It is at this point (thankfully) that common sense kicks in and puts my fears to rest. At the moment, I'm too valuable to KOB for them to let me be killed, so I should be safe. Taking this as solace, I sigh and get out my cushion and put it beneath my head and just look at the ceiling, until finally... I fall asleep.