The Kirita Chronicles

by Knowledgeseeker66

What would have happened if certain characters' genders were altered while others remained the same? How differently would certain events play out & affect the development of certain relationships? Who will live & who will die? See how the alterations of certain characters' genders & histories will cause ripples throughout the story. Spoilers in reviews and polls.

14. Truth and Change

Author Notes: I appreciate the fact that a majority of you have been enjoying the world building that I have conducted for 'The Kirita Chronicles' between providing more scenes for various canon characters and original characters along with Kirita and Akio scenes. While I did enjoy the canon series, I did wish more characters were utilized and we got to know more of the 10,000 players trapped in Sword Art Online. Certain characters, such as Argo, Lizbeth or Griselda, could have had much more potential but were underutilized. I plan on making use of that untapped potential in this story. I have a lot of great plans for the various characters that have been introduced so far, and I hope you will enjoy what happens when it happens.

One of the main reasons why I have given numerous scenes to different characters is so you can see other characters accomplish goals on their own without either Kirita or Akio's involvement. In canon, most of the things that other characters accomplished onscreen was due to Kirito and/or Asuna, such as Kirito and Sinon winning first place in BoB Tournament or Asuna helping the Sleeping Knights win a few boss fights. In previous chapters, I had Argo expanding his business along with Delano's guild defeating the field boss. While they received help in their ventures from other characters, it did not feature Kirita or Akio's direct involvement. You can expect more of that in the future.

However, as you know, with the wide variety of characters, there will be times when some characters may not appear in one chapter or have an extended absence. Sometimes planned scenes they may have in one chapter could be pushed over to the next one. However, even though a character may not appear, they will not be forgotten. Assuming, they are not dead, you can probably expect them to come back at some point. Kirita is pretty much the only character I plan on guaranteeing to have appearances in every chapter. Even though characters like Akio, Argo, and Gorobei, have appeared in most chapters, they have had at least one absence.

While I can understand the world building can create a bit of a slow pace in certain areas, things will pick up and have payoffs. After I take care of the first few floors, I plan on picking up the pace a little in the story. As I mentioned in the previous author notes, there will be time skips. There might be a few times in future chapters that will involve characters revisiting previous floors, including floors I plan on skipping over in the time skips, such as how Kirito and Asuna visited a few floors during the murder investigation.

As usual, I hope you will enjoy the chapter and leave a review. I greatly appreciate the feedback, and I look forward to providing more content for you to read.

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The Kirita Chronicles

Story Arc Three: Rise of the Guilds – Part V

Chapter Fourteen: Truth and Change

/

Which one is harder

To be truthful or change

Neither is easy

/

Date: March 2022

Location: Real World – Yuuki Residence

It was the middle of a weekday afternoon during Spring Break which was the vacation used to separate the school years in Japanese schools. During this time, students were able to enjoy themselves and prepare for the next school year. Some of the voices from the students were so loud they could be heard from the windows of the Yuuki mansion. However, while these students were enjoying themselves this, one student by the name of Yuuki Akio could not summon the energy to enjoy himself.

Akio told his parents that he wanted to do some studying, so they would leave him alone. Even though it was Spring Break, Akio's parents believed there was no such thing as too much studying. Since Akio ranked at the top of his class and done numerous all-nighters, they knew he was serious about his studies, and they agreed it would be best to leave him alone. Not even the servants, including Akio's favorite servant Sada, would enter his room to bother him unless he walked outside or left the door open. However, Akio soon realized it was an excuse that he could take advantage of.

All Akio could do was lay on top of the sheets of his bed as he stared at the ceiling and rub his forehead with his right hand. He left the window open in his room, so he could feel the breeze outside. The breeze lightly touched his skin, and he could see the hair in front of his eyes move. He could also hear some students having fun outside before hearing some of the servants of the Yuuki household trying to remove them from the vicinity.

Akio sighed, "They must've been having a lot of fun out there if I could hear them." Akio continued to stare blankly at the ceiling as he continued to think, "It'd be weird if one of them ended up being 'her' again. Then again, it probably wouldn't be the weirdest thing."

A few days earlier Akio was nearly mugged by some street punks on his way home from school. Luckily for him, some young girl who had some fighting skills beat up all the bullies and saved him. Akio was amazed by how strong the girl was and how the bullies did not leave a scratch on her. What Akio found even more amazing was that he was sure he had met this girl somewhere else before.

It did not take Akio long to realize that this was the same young girl with long black hair that he was sure he had met a few years earlier. She had watched a school play he participated in, and she personally met him, so she could compliment him. Akio had been used to people clapping and cheering at his work, but that was the first time someone came to personally congratulate him on his performance, let alone a cute girl.

Akio never thought he would meet her again. He figured she was just be some nice random stranger who complimented him, and that would be that. However, that was not the case. A few years later, she was there when he was at a low point in his life and she had to save him. As grateful as he was for that, she made it very clear to him that he was pathetic because he let other people make decisions for him, and he only made excuses.

The words the girl said to him that day still rang in his head. "At the end of the day, I can still be glad that I was the one making those decisions and not someone else. You on the other hand sound like your living someone else's life or rather someone else is making you live the life they desire." He also remembered how the girl told him that he needed to start making his own decisions or he will only have himself to blame. When he found himself unable to say a word to her, she walked away in disgust and never looked back. Not saying something to her was something he continued to regret.

Everything that girl said to him was true. He was pathetic, and he would remain that way unless he changed. He let other people control his life, and she was the second person to tell him how wrong that was the first being a person Akio hated. As a result, this one actually stuck out in Akio's head.

Whoever that girl was, she was there to witness and take part in both one of the proudest moments of his life then one of the most shameful moments. Not too many people could claim to have witnessed that. Not even his own parents. He could not even bring himself to tell his parents of what happened. As far as they knew, no one had tried to mug him.

Akio closed his eyes as he rested his right hand on his temple. "I can't stop thinking about her. I'm sure it was that same girl. I'm very sure that was her." Akio wrapped his fingers into a fist as he cursed, "Damn. Talk about things being the complete opposite."

"After she saw my performance, she actually went and told me that she liked my play. That made me so happy." Akio could feel his head sink into the pillow as he thought, "Now that same girl finds me getting my ass kicked by a bunch of punks. Then she has to save me, and I'm just a pathetic piece of crap. I can't blame her for walking away from me. Even I'm disgusted with myself."

Akio sat up on his bed and brought his right knee to his chest as he continued to ponder, "She may not know what's going on my life, but she was right about me. I didn't even try to defend myself. I just let those punks walk all over me. Just like I let my parents control my life." Akio sighed, "Acting was always something I enjoyed. When I was doing it, I couldn't picture anything else that was more fun. I wanted to become an actor. It was better than trying to become the next CEO of RECTO Progress. It was something I wanted, but …"

Despite Akio's wishes, being able to suddenly change was not something anyone can do simply by wishing it. Akio had spent years being told by his parents what he needed to become. Wanting to become someone different was not as easy as hitting a light switch. It would take effort, and he would need courage to talk to his parents again about what he wished to do with his life.

The idea of confronting his parents again frightened Akio a little. His breathing increased at the mere thought of telling them he did not want to follow in his father's footsteps. He could even feel sweat running down both sides of his face at the mere thought of what they might say to him. They may not have been threatening to him when they rejected his wishes, but he was not sure if that might have changed after all this time. They seemed more fixated on the idea of him becoming the next CEO, and he was sure they would accept nothing less.

Akio put his hand on his head as he nervously told himself, "I don't know if I can talk to my parents. I really don't know if I can do it." He continued to rub his head as he thought, "But I can't just keep sitting in my parents' shadows. I need to do something. But what the HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO!" Akio then slammed his hand into his bed sheets as he groaned in frustration. "I need to think of something, but what?"

After a few more moments, he got off his bed as he said, "There's no point in thinking about this anymore right now. I'm going to watch TV."

Little did Akio know that he would eventually get the inspiration that he would need. The girl's words would continue to ring in his head as he would make other decisions in an effort to try and shape the life he wanted rather than the life his parents wanted.

/

Date: Sunday, December 11th, 2022

Location: Sword Art Online – Floor Two – Outside the Field Cabin

As the morning sun began to make its way through window of the room, Akio slowly opened his eyes to see that his vision was blurry at first. When his eyes adjusted, he could see the wooden ceiling above him, but he still did not feel fully awake. It took Akio a moment to remember that he was in the Field Cabin that was controlled by the Traveling NPC that Kirita and he met yesterday. He knew that they had a big day ahead of them, but he felt like he would have trouble rising from the bed. Luckily for Akio, he had set another alarm clock in his menu that sounded off and helped him feel more alert.

Even though he was in the virtual world, the sensation of feeling groggy in the morning did not disappear. It would take a few minutes of being awake to finally make Akio feel ready to take on the day. Akio still felt the need to rub the sleep out of his eyes and yawn like he did back in the real world. Akio sat upright in the bed and stretched his arms out towards the ceiling as he gave a rather big yawn. He felt like his mouth would stretch beyond its limits as he yawned.

He got up from his bed to begin changing into his regular clothing. He always liked wearing at least something that was red. As usual, his outfit consisted of a red jacket along with a white shirt and gray pants. He also looked in the mirror as he began tying some of the hair on the right side of his head into his trademark braid. Even though he probably could hit a few buttons on the menu to alter his hair, he preferred doing it himself.

As Akio was wrapping up his morning preparations, he could hear someone speaking. "Thank you very much for your hospitality." The voice belonged to Kirita. Akio figured she was most likely speaking to the traveling NPC they met yesterday who gave them an easy quest to complete and a place to stay.

The NPC, whose name was Valence, replied, "It was not a problem at all."

Despite being a NPC, Valence's response was surprisingly human. Some NPCs, especially NPCs that ran certain stories, seemed to have more limited dialogue while others had a broader range of dialogue, such as this traveling NPC. Akio figured it must be due to how they would interact with more players in various circumstances rather than only needing to buy items.

"Well I still greatly appreciate it." Kirita cheerfully told Valence. "Anyway, I was hoping I could ask you about something else?"

Valence replied, "What is it?"

"It's about what we were talking about yesterday when I asked you about the area." Kirita then asked Valence, "Are you absolutely sure that the monsters are in this area?" Akio opened up the door as Kirita was asking this to see that Kirita was showing the NPC her menu. He could also see that Kirita was not wearing her mask while talking to the NPC either, and her voice was clear and without hesitation.

"That is correct." Valence replied.

"Thanks." Kirita closed out her menu and stated, "You don't have to worry. My friend and I will be out of here soon."

"You can stay as long as you like. You're welcome to." Valence replied with a smile, "Good luck with getting to Taran."

"Thanks." Kirita then turned around and exited out of the cabin.

When Akio was watching that exchange between Kirita and the NPC, Akio could not help but feel envious of the NPC. "Why is she able to talk to him … it so easily? Is it because the NPC isn't a real person? Does it take not being a real person to actually have a conversation with Kirita without needing to get your ass kicked?"

Akio exited the cabin door to see Kirita was sitting on the ground outside going over her map. She seemed to be enjoying the morning sunshine as she looked over the map again. Akio looked up to see the weather was absolutely gorgeous. He thought, "I guess whether it's the real world or not, you can't deny it looks like a beautiful day."

As Akio walked over to Kirita, she was so engrossed with looking at the menu, she did not notice Akio approaching her. She felt too at ease in this place. Kirita was pointing at a specific area on the map as she thought, "That's where Argo would like us to rendezvous. Since Akio and I are here, we should go through this way. According to Valence, there should be a lot of Bull monsters Akio and I would need to fight against. It should be a good warm-up for the dungeon, but Akio might not be up for it. I better find out if Akio would be interested in giving it a shot."

When Akio was only a few feet away from her, she finally heard his footsteps. However, she did not feel alarmed since she figured it was either Akio or the NPC who was approaching her. Before she turned around, she heard Akio's voice call out to her, "Hey Kirita. You're up early."

Kirita turned around and replied, "We … We have some things we need to do." She then looked back on her map as she continued, "I figured … figured that it'd be better to start things early."

Akio frowned at Kirita's response as he thought, "She was able to hold an entire conversation with that NPC without stuttering. When she talks to me, she stutters at least once every sentence or two."

Since Kirita's back was turned from Akio, she was unaware of the frown on his face as she continued to speak. "As you can see here, we're not … we're not too far from the rendezvous point, but I've been going through a few things on the map."

"Speaking of maps, how'd your chat with that NPC go? I heard you talking to it about maps. Did it give you any useful information?" Akio already knew the answer to that question, but he chose to ask it anyway.

"He's … He's not just an NPC, and don't call him an 'it'!" Kirita replied in an annoyed tone, "His name is Valence."

"All right. Valence." Akio repeated the NPC's name before continuing, "Did he tell you anything useful?"

"As … As a matter of fact, he did. He told me a few things that might help us to Argo's rendezvous point." Kirita motioned Akio to sit next to her, so he could get a better look at the map. "The path … path I want us to take will take us where there are a lot of bull type monsters. Apparently, they like to … like to hide behind the trees and bushes to ambush players, but if we kill them we'll … we'll get a lot of experience points." Kirita seemed nervous as she looked over to him and said, "I was … I was hoping you'd up for that."

"Well I'm not a fan of ambushes, but I guess this could be a good chance to get some training in." Akio took a breath and declared, "Let's do it."

Kirita smiled, "I … I was hoping you'd say that. This should … should really work out for us."

"Yeah … it should." Akio appeared a little down as he said that.

This did not go unnoticed by Kirita who immediately looked concerned at her friend, "I can tell that something is definitely bugging Akio." Kirita debated, "Should I ask him if something is bugging him again or should I leave it alone? I'm not really sure what to do."

Kirita asked, "Is … Is something bugging you Akio?"

"No I'm fine." Akio denied.

"Are you … Are you sure?" Kirita replied, "I noticed that something … something seemed a little off."

"I'm fine. Well there is …" Akio stopped himself before he said what he wanted to. He immediately changed the subject, "There's something else I'd like to know about 'Wanted Posters.'" In actuality, the subject of the 'Wanted Posters' did bother Akio as well, so it's not a complete lie that he wanted to know more about them.

"Oh. I see." Kirita cleared her throat as she told him, "I … I don't really know much about them either, so my guess is as good as yours."

"Still. I can't help but wonder what'll happen if we get Wanted Posters? Do you think players will be able to hurt us?" Akio was understandably nervous as he asked this, "You know like the way we can hurt players with an orange cursor over their heads without getting in trouble?"

"I doubt it." Kirita explained her reasoning, "I think as … as long as we remain 'Green Players' other players won't be able to touch us unless they want to be criminals. However, they could … could always use rope weapons like Kira's group used on us, or find other ways."

"Yeah." The tone in his voice went up as he stated, "Those bastards nearly got you killed, and they got off scot-free."

Unlike the previous subject, this one elicited more than annoyance from Akio. It was anger. He did his best to repress that anger as he curled his fingers into a fist. The feeling of his virtual fingernails digging into his virtual skin appeared to work as a way of dealing with anger. He had used this method more than once in the real world as well, so he was used to it.

"Well there's nothing … nothing we can do about that now. We have other things we need to worry about. Whether … Whether or not we get Wanted Posters isn't important right now. We need to try to stay under the radar." Kirita reminded Akio, "Remember … Remember when you asked me yesterday why we don't go meet Argo's group?"

"Yeah." Akio replied.

"Well … there is another reason for this rendezvous point." Kirita told Akio, "A part of me is … is worried that if we meet Argo anywhere else, someone from Kira or Kuradeel's group could spot us. If … If that happens, that would be another problem for us. We should meet him on … on his terms since he is putting his neck out for us. At the very least, he might have a plan that could … could work for us if we follow his instructions."

"Okay fine." Akio conceded, "You make a good point."

"Anyway, Argo sent me a message." Kirita pointed directly at the map as she told him, "The area … area will be a small forest type area that's near the bridge that … that would lead us directly to Taran."

"You know I find it funny how this floor can change from having forests to having savannas filled with boulders." Akio commented.

"You … You can expect plenty more places like this in the future." Kirita shivered for a moment before she said, "We may … may need to use boats in the next floor." Before Akio could say anything Kirita cut him off, "Anyway, we should get going soon. We … We should try to get there before him."

"Is Argo taking us to that group he sent you a message about?" Akio asked, "It's the group that you'll probably fight the leader right?" There was a hint of disgust in Akio's voice as he asked that last question.

"Not right away." Kirita replied, "Apparently, Delano's group … Delano's group was heading to another destination to acquire 'Martial Arts' abilities like we have."

"Is that so?" Akio's voice quivered at the thought of a player who could rival Kirita acquiring martial arts abilities as well. "If they're … wherever they are, what are we going to do?"

"We're … We're going to temporarily join up with Argo's group." Kirita explained, "After we join up … join up with them, there'll be a few things I need to do for them."

Akio's eyebrows were raised in confusion as he asked, "Wait what?!"

Kirita answered, "I'm going to … to be doing an errand for Argo."

"Hold on." Akio stood up from his seating position and appeared to pace around for a moment to process what Kirita told him before turning around and asking, "You're picking up the tab for us working for both Argo's and this Delano's groups? Why do you have to do it?"

"Because they asked me." Kirita remained sitting on the ground as she looked up at Akio and told him, "Besides, Argo might … might have something else for you to do, so it won't be just me taking up the tab."

"Seriously?" Akio seemed even more confused as he asked, "Why didn't he send me a message to tell me that? Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?"

"I'm … I'm sorry." Kirita broke eye contact with Akio as she sheepishly admitted, "I didn't really … really think about that. Sorry."

"Well … um …" Akio scratched his right cheek as he replied, "It's not really a big deal, but if someone else asks you to pick up the tab for us, I'd appreciate it if you tell me. Can you do that?"

Kirita looked up to Akio again as she replied, "Sure. I'll … I'll keep that in mind." Kirita stood up before telling Akio, "If it makes you … you feel any better, he didn't … didn't tell me the specifics of what he'd want you to do either." Based on the frown on Akio's face, that did not make him feel better, so Kirita told him, "I think he'd rather … rather talk to you face to face."

"Okay." Akio crossed his arms as he asked, "In that case, what does he want you to do?"

"I'll be spending time with … with some of the 'female players' in his group to help toughen them up kind of like I did with you." Kirita answered.

Akio narrowed his eyes as he asked, "You'll be working with female players?"

"Yeah." Kirita replied.

"Are you sure you'll be helping out 'female' players?" Akio asked.

"Well …" Kirita activated her menu and quickly pulled up the message Argo sent her, "He wrote they … they were 'female' players I'd be helping out. I … I don't think he'd lie."

Akio chuckled as he remarked, "If he's telling you the truth, I'm sure that's a relief for you."

Kirita narrowed her eyes as she questioned, "What's … What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're going to have an easier time talking to them right?" Akio hypnotized, "Since you have hard time talking to guys, I figured you would have an easier time talking to girls."

"Well um … um …" Kirita seemed even more hesitant that she had seemed before. "Um …"

"Could I have worded that better? Should I have said anything?" Quite a few thoughts were going through Akio's head as he saw Kirita begin to fidget. "I might've hit a nerve. I wouldn't want to push the envelope anymore."

Eventually, Kirita was able to start saying something that seemed like a sentence, "I … I guess that's true, but I … but I …" However, Kirita was unable to actually finish the sentence.

"You really don't need to answer the question if you're not sure what to say." Akio asked while thinking, "Could this be my chance to get some answers? I don't know if I should take it."

"No I … I want to say it, but I not really sure of the best way to say. I'm not … not ready to say too much about that. I'd … I'd rather not get into it right now." After saying these words, Kirita could not stop herself from looking downward again.

"I see." Akio could not help but feel some disappointment and dejection from that response.

Kirita continued looking downwards to avoid Akio's eyes as she confessed, "Talking … Talking to girls might be easier, but even that's been … been difficult for me."

"Okay. I guess I can understand that." Akio replied.

Kirita looked up and appeared slightly more cheerful as she responded, "Thank you for understanding. I … I appreciate it."

"You're welcome." Despite Akio's words, his mind was telling him, "I doubt she'll stutter as much when talking to female players like she does with me. I wonder if the only reason why it'll be harder to talk to them rather than a NPC will be due to how players may not be as 'agreeable' as NPCs are. Either way, I guess I got the short straw on this one.

"Anyway, we … we should get going soon." Kirita started to move towards the cabin to take care of any last minute preparations before looking over her shoulder to address Akio, "We need to … to head towards the outskirts of Taran, and we still have a … a bit of a walk ahead of us."

Akio sighed as he reluctantly replied, "All right." He followed her back to the cabin to make sure they did not forget anything.

Shortly after Kirita and Akio were finished with their conversation, they were on their way to rendezvous point. They began moving at a rushed pace since they still had more ground to cover.

/

Date: Sunday, December 11th, 2022

Location: Sword Art Online – Floor Two –Taran Forest Outskirts

Argo's guild had arrived on the bridge to Taran only for Argo to have the group split in two with Axel and Leonardo heading towards Taran while he, Sasha, and Suta were heading towards the rendezvous point with Kirita. While Sasha was aware that Argo intended to meet with Kirita, but she did find it a little odd that he sent away two members of their party. It was something that Sasha felt a little suspicious about.

After the trio made their way through the forest area on Taran's outskirts and there did not appear to be anyone else in the area besides them, Sasha decided to ask, "Was there another reason you wanted Axel and Leonardo to leave?"

"I see that you're quite curious. You'll make a better information broker than you think." Argo slyly commented as they continued to walk toward the destination.

Sasha did not feel like going around in circles with Argo. Sasha adjusted the googles she was wearing over her eyes, as she went straight to the point. "I'm right aren't I? You had another reason for sending away Axel and Leonardo while keeping Suta and I around didn't you? It wasn't just so Leonardo could get to work."

Suta did not say anything, but she appeared to be interested in what Argo was going to say as her eyes seemed fixed on him as they continued to walk. Argo could feel both Sasha and Suta's eyeballs gazing into him.

"…" After a moment of consideration, Argo glanced over his shoulder as he told her, "Normally I don't provide information regarding my clients let alone give it out for free. After all, I do believe in Client confidentiality. However, since you will be meeting her soon, and you'll probably notice it for yourself, I guess there's no point in hiding it from you."

"Hiding what?" Suta asked in a curious tone.

Argo bluntly answered, "Our client isn't the best with men, so the fewer men she needs to deal with better."

Both Suta and Sasha stopped in their tracks as they simultaneously replied, "What?"

"You heard me." Argo stopped walking as he turned around and looked at both of them and repeated his point, "Our client doesn't have the easiest time talking to guys. It's better off keeping the male count in our group to a minimum."

"What do you mean she isn't the best with men?" Before Argo could even comment on that, it took Suta only a few seconds to draw some of her own conclusions. "Does that mean she swings the other way?" Suta seemed strangely excited as she asked that question.

Argo seemed rather taken aback by Suta's unexpected question as he answered in a deadpan tone, "Um … I don't think so."

As soon as Argo gave his answer, Suta looked down and responded in a dejected tone, "Oh." It was a tone that did not go unnoticed by either Argo or Sasha, but neither of them wanted to make a big deal out of it and decided to move on with their conversation.

Argo then pulled out his menu to see the location of his clients and said, "Okay then. They're heading towards the rendezvous point. They should get there soon. We shouldn't keep them waiting."

As Argo began to move forward, he heard Sasha call out to him. "Wait a minute Argo-san. Isn't this client you're talking about Kirita?"

"Yes." Argo looked over his shoulder and asked, "So?"

Sasha asked the obvious question, "Isn't she traveling with a male player?"

"She is, but it's rather complicated." Argo turned around and directly looked into Sasha's eyes as he told her, "I'm sure I don't need to remind you." The look in Argo's eyes was rather unnerving to Sasha. It was a sharp contrast to his playful demeanor. Those looks indicated he meant business.

Despite Sasha being unnerved to Argo's look, she held her ground and replied, "No, but things are always complicated when it has anything to do with you." Sasha commented, "Maybe you can break it down a little."

"I can do that while we're walking. Come on." Argo continued walking towards the rendezvous point while Sasha and Suta continued to follow behind him. Argo then spoke up and told Sasha and Suta, "When they first met, she was disguising herself as a guy, and she seemed to warm up to him a bit. They became friends after the first boss, and I'm pretty sure the only male players she feels even remotely comfortable with are Akio, myself, and maybe someone else. That pretty much sums it up."

"So she's a crossdresser?" Suta appeared to be rather enthusiastic again as she excitedly stated, "I knew you were going to say something interesting about her besides her being a 'Beater' or one of your clients."

In a rather awkward tone, Argo replied, "Um. I'm not sure she would be a 'crossdresser' per say. There were circumstances."

While Sasha was watching Argo's reaction, she could not help but wonder, "Why does he feel so uncomfortable here? He seems comfortable talking about players getting killed and a lot of other nasty things, but the idea of crossdressing and some other things makes him feel weird talking about?"

Suta asked, "You just said she dressed as a guy right?"

"Yes." Argo replied with an uneasy sound in his voice.

Suta followed up by asking, "Doesn't that make her a crossdresser?"

"Technically, I guess, but I think it depends." Argo clarified, "I don't think she considered that to be a choice. She sort of did it out of necessity."

Suta tilted her head as she asked, "Necessity?"

Argo cleared his throat, and it sounded more normal and serious as he told them, "Yes, but let's not focus on that right now." Before Suta could ask Argo any new questions, he stated, "She planned on continuing to be a solo player after the first boss battle, but a few other things happened to cause her to change her mind."

"You mean like getting labeled as a 'Beater'?" Suta quickened her pace, so she could walk alongside Argo. She was even more curious about Kirita, and it was becoming obvious she wanted to know more details.

"Actually, there was more to it than that, and I know a lot of the details." Suta's face brightened with excitement before Argo glanced over to Suta and replied with a sly smile on his face which caused Suta's heart to sink as he told her, "Unfortunately, this is where I stop telling you anymore stuff. I already revealed enough as it is."

"Ah! That's not fair!" Suta childishly complained, "I want to know more!"

As Sasha continued to witness this exchange, she pondered, "I guess just because you're comfortable talking about one thing doesn't mean you are comfortable talking about another, but still why would he feel more comfortable talking about death than he would about crossdressing?" She then thought, "Although, I am thinking about the same guy who is capable of switching from being playful to being serious back to playful like hitting a light switch."

While Sasha was thinking, Argo was busy playing around with Suta as he grinned at her and told her in an nonchalant tone, "Sorry, but I probably said more than I should. If you're that curious you can ask her yourself. You'll have plenty of chances to ask her when you're out on quests together with her."

"Yeah I'll be sure to ask her …" Suta began to trail off as she realized what Argo just said to her and stopped in her tracks. "Wait! What?"

"Yeah, what?" Sasha was as surprised by this as she stopped walking as well.

Argo answered, "The two of you will be working with Kirita to improve your abilities and strength."

"When did you decide this?" Sasha question.

"A little while ago." Argo replied.

"You asked her to be our teacher or something?" Suta asked in a confused tone.

"That's right." Argo then asked before either of them could reply, "Aren't the two of you glad about how fighting on a higher floor has allowed you to play catch up in leveling up?"

Sasha reluctantly replied, "A little. I guess fighting one floor higher helped us catch up a little bit."

"More than a bit." Argo stated in a firm voice, "However, that's still not enough for what the both of you are going to be facing in the future. Both of you will need more experience. Which is why you two will need to complete more quests."

"That's where the Beater comes in?" Suta asked.

Argo answered, "That's right. I don't know what quests are available in Taran yet, but I'm sure you'll find plenty that'll help you level up."

Suta asked, "Why aren't you leading us? Why have the Beater do it?"

"I figured if she was able to toughen up Akio, she could do the same for you." Argo shrugged before sounding more serious as he told them, "It's better to hire the experts. Besides, unlike me, she's actually had experience fighting a boss battle."

Sasha was not sure what to make of this. "I wonder if he's passing the buck onto this Kirita." She questioned, "You have other things you want to do don't you?"

"I won't deny that. There might be some other things I need to take care of." Argo nonchalantly replied, "But I am serious about the fact she might be better capable of helping you, andit'll be more efficient if she helps you out. I would've had Gorobei and Kikuchiyo help you, but they're in the middle of taking caring of other matters. Kirita is the most convenient option besides possibly Axel. However, I need Axel on hand for other things, such as assisting Leonardo."

After hearing Axel's response, Suta was looking forward to their oncoming meeting with the Beater even more. "I wonder what this Kirita is like. I wonder if she's cool." Suta then suddenly stopped as she realized, "Wait a minute. Even if she's cool, won't the fact she's a Beater cause problems?"

Sasha had a follow-up question. "I don't want to sound rude, but won't her Beater status cause inconveniences of their own?"

"Yeah." Suta chimed in, "I mean she's practically the closest thing to a 'Wanted Fugitive' that Sword Art Online has right now isn't she? That could cause us a lot of problems."

"Don't worry." Argo quickly activated his menu and pulled out a mask and cloak similar to the ones he has. "With these things, the odds of there being any problems are slightly lower. Luckily for us, lots of players like wearing masks and cloaks because they don't feel comfortable showing off how they appear in the real world. All we'd need to do is not do anything stupid."

Suta asked, "What exactly is the definition of stupid?"

"I supposed that would include shouting out, 'Hey we're traveling around with the Beater.'" Argo sarcastically responded. Suta chuckled when hearing that. "Seriously, just let me do the talking if anyone questions us. Chances are we won't need to worry about that, but I'll send Axel a message to give me an update on what Taran, so we can be ready." Argo then pulled out his map from his menu, and told his companions, "Anyway, we're not that far from the location."

Sasha spoke up, "You have her on your map right?"

"Of course." Argo casually replied, "I put her on my friend list. I'm able to keep track of her quite easily. The opposite is true for her since I'm on her friend list too."

Suta put both hands on the back of her head as she asked, "Do you plan on 'befriending' all of your clients?"

Argo shrugged as he casually replied, "Why not? It's pretty efficient for running a business plus they can keep track of me too. After all, this friend system does work both ways. If they want to find me, they can find me. The more possibilities to earn money the better."

Sasha looked at Argo as they continued to look and stated in a deadpan tone, "You really do think of lots of ways to keep making col."

"That's what someone trying to run a business should do." Argo further explained, "Besides, it's not just about earning the col once. It's about getting the reputation, so you can keep earning the col over and over again. The best way to do that is by having a good relationship with your customers and being accessible to them. Having them on your friend list is the perfect way to accomplish that."

"In that case, …" Sasha began to say, but Argo stopped walking in front of her and held out his arms to indicate that she and Suta should stop moving.

A rustling sound could be heard nearby which caused Argo to sigh as he pulled out his weapons, "This is why having conversations on the field are not always a good idea. Get ready!"

Suddenly, a bull type monsters appeared from hiding waiting to ambush unsuspecting players. If Argo had not noticed them, the monster would have waited a few more moments before making their move. However, they were able to sense Argo noticed them, and they sprang into action.

The bull type monster that emerged from hiding were common throughout the second floor. Argo and Yuudai had encountered these monsters before, but their levels were higher than the levels of monsters close to either Urabus or Otobe, so their health points and strength were higher. Players would need to be more careful when dealing with them. However, they could be killed with one shot if they were struck in the right place.

As the bull moved out into the open, Argo was ready to deal with them. Before either Sasha or Suta could grab their weapons, Argo had already pulled out one of his knives. After one of the monsters emerged from the bushes, Argo immediately threw one of his knives its direction.

The knife spun around in the air after it was thrown by Argo as it neared its target every second. The monster was clearly not expecting to see a player attack it so quickly. It barely had a chance to react as the tip of the knife penetrated the skin on the right side of the monster's head and broke through its skull before piercing its brain which killed it instantly. The monster fell to the ground and shattered to pieces.

After that monster was taken care of rather anti-climatically, Sasha had her sword drawn as she nervously asked, "Is that all of them?"

"No." Argo pulled out another knife as he heard more rustling. He warned his group in a deeper voice, "That was only the first one."

Unfortunately, since this monster was not the only monster that was attempting to ambush Argo's group, there was no time to celebrate or marvel at Argo's accomplishment.

Sasha stood with her back to Argo's back as her eyes wandered throughout the jungle that surrounded them to see where the sounds were coming from while she asked, "Do bulls even ambush people in the real world?"

"It doesn't matter." Argo reminded his sub-leader, "This is the virtual world, and things can always be different here."

"So basically screw real world logic?" Suta summed it up.

"Pretty much! So look sharp!" Argo ordered.

"Yes sir!" Suta happily replied.

"All right!" Sasha replied with less enthusiasm.

The quick death of this monster did not go unnoticed by the other seven that had been hiding nearby. It appeared the other monsters became enraged at Argo killing their fellow monster. No sooner had they emerged, they all charged Argo's party.

However, there was enough time for Argo to say, "Keep your eyes open and mind your surroundings, so you can dodge and spot weaknesses." He said it in a rushed voice, but it was clear enough that Sasha and Suta could hear him. He then threw his knife at the closest bull heading his way.

/

Date: Sunday, December 11th, 2022

Location: Sword Art Online – Floor Two – Entrance to Taran

While Argo, Sasha, and Suta were fighting for their lives, some members of the army were fearing for their own. Instruction under their new commander was not exactly 'easy.' They all claimed they wanted to be strong enough to fight in the next dungeon, and their new commander was taking steps to ensure they would at least stand a chance. While she pushed them, they could not deny she managed to raise their levels.

After having them take care of some quests, Wan Shotto brought the various army members who wanted to fight on the frontline in the next boss fight back to the entrance of Taran. When they made it through the 'Safe Zone,' a few of the Army members fell to their knees. This did not go unnoticed from the watchful eye of their commander.

Wan Shotto raised her voice, "I don't remember giving you permission to sit! Stand up!"

All the players who were on the ground did not dare speak back to her. They had all seen what she was capable of. When they heard her voice, their eyes widened, and they immediately stood up, and they faced in her direction.

"That's better." Wan Shotto muttered.

Wan Shotto looked upon the fifteen players that gathered before her. During her training drill, she had two parties of six players while the remaining three players were in her personal party. Her personal party was comprised of the players she personally defeated in her three-on-one duel, Stark, Snow, and Vida. All of the players, especially those three, attempted to remain standing as straight as possible while they were under her watchful eye.

No words were spoken for the first few moments as Wan Shotto continued to pace around them as if she was on patrol to find something else that was wrong with them. The face she displayed was neither smiling nor frowning. It was neutral. The only thing the players noticed was that she narrowed her right eye as she gazed upon them. She could tell some of the players wanted to say something, but they knew to keep their mouths shut.

"Your results from the quest you just completed were 'satisfactory.'" Wan Shotto finally spoke up to the guild members. "You passed, and you're levels have become higher as a result."

When it seemed like Wan Shotto was about to give them all a compliment, she stated, "Don't let it get to your head. You'll need to do better than that when you face the dungeons. Some of you were lacking, like you!" Wan Shotto pointed to a blonde female player in the back as she said, "If I don't see you shape up, you'll be left behind, so I suggest you try doing a better job during the next quest. The same thing goes for you two as well!" Wan Shotto then pointed to two players to her left.

None of the players dared to speak up as Wan Shotto continued to tell the players, "The dungeon will be a much harder place to fight than in the field out there. The monsters in that dungeon will be far more vicious than the monsters out in the field, and they'll be less forgiving. Do you want to know why?"

When she heard no response, Wan Shotto raised her voice so they could all hear her, "Because they want to stop us from finding the Boss door and reaching the next floor! That's why!" She looked at them all sharply with her right eye as she told them, "If you can't handle the field, then you're unfit to enter the dungeon. Nothing more. Nothing less." Her voice remained stern as she reassured them, "You all still have a chance to make the cut, so I suggest you don't waste it."

Finally Wan Shotto ended this lecture with, "For the next hour and a half, you are all free to take a break. You can do whatever you want, but be here in exactly ninety minutes."

Snow asked, "What happens if we're late?"

"Do you really want to find out?" When Wan Shotto heard no response, she replied, "I didn't think so. Dismissed."

/

After Wan Shotto's dismissal, all the army members went in their own directions. Most of them went to get something to eat or to take a nap. Snow, Stark, and Vida decided to take a walk around the area. The trio had been traveling companions before joining up with the guild which was why they fought together. While they were able to kill monsters together, their teamwork left much to be desired which resulted in their easy defeats.

As a result of their defeats, Snow opted to start wearing a wolf mask over his face. He wanted to hide his shame from being beaten down so easily. Stark decided to wear more armor on his body while Vida decided that she wished to learn the bow and arrow skill as well. While none of them were thrilled about being forced into being part of Wan Shotto's personal party, they had to go along with it.

During the reprieve Wan Shotto granted them, they decided taking a walk around the town where it was safe would be a nice change of pace than being out in the field where they had to worry about getting killed by monsters. As they walked in the town, Vida found a stall that she was interested in checking out. She figured there might be some items she could afford to buy now due to the recent quests they had taken.

While Vida was deciding on what to buy, Snow sighed as he complained, "Man Wan Shotto was really tough. It was bad enough that she beat the crap out of us, she actually made us part of her personal party. Was she making us a shield for her or something? I thought I was going to die out there."

Vida looked over her shoulder as she replied, "I think you're exaggerating Snow. We were never in danger of dying out there. Our health bars barely went below twenty-five percent."

"Who cares?" Snow complained, "This totally sucks. We lost to her. Now we're supposed to be her bitches? How the hell is that fair?!"

"We did lose to her." Stark spoke up. "You said it yourself."

"Yeah, but we didn't make a bet or anything." Snow pointed out, "I never agreed to being one of her stooges."

"We kinda did." Stark reminded him, "We did oppose her. She made us examples, and we pretty much agreed to recognize her if we lost."

"…" The only thing Snow could do was groan. He did not have any snappy comeback. It was a good thing he was wearing a mask because he would not want his friends to see the face he was making.

"Don't make it sound like working for her is the worst thing in the world." Vida stated, "She's only been in charge for two days, and she's already given us more of a workout than Kuradeel ever did. She's definitely better than him, and I feel stronger already. Don't you?"

Snow remained silent. Stark and Vida took it as a sign that Snow was silently acknowledging Wan Shotto's superiority.

"I don't think we should really complain about her." Vida stated, "She seems to know what she's doing even if she is pretty scary." Vida shivered at the thought of when she was at Wan Shotto's mercy during the duel. She should have shot her anywhere, but she took it easy on her and only shot her in the chest to reduce her health points. "Just as long as we don't piss her off again, we should be fine."

Stark commented, "Yeah. Remind me not to do that."

"Remind yourself." Snow snarked, "We've got enough problems."

"Come on guys." Vida tried to sound encouraging as she told them, "Let's just focus on trying to make the cut for the dungeon. We're nog going to get anywhere by complaining about it. She's our best shot right now." Vida reminded them, "As Wan Shotto said, we can expect these monsters to be less forgiving than her."

Snow sarcastically asked, "You think she's forgiving?"

"We're still alive." Stark answered.

"That's not very comforting." Snow replied in a deadpan tone.

"Keep an eye on the clock boys." Vida told them. "I don't want to be late for Wan Shotto's rollcall, and I don't think you want to either."

Snow sighed, "Yeah. I wouldn't want to get my ass kicked by her again." He put his hand through his hair as he said, "Damn it."

/

As the trio were having this conversation, Axel, one of Argo's guild members. He was walking alongside Leonardo when he happened to overhear a part of the conversation which stopped him in his tracks. It did not take him long to realize they were members of the Army guild. He knew what they were talking about might provide him with the type of information Argo sent him into Taran to find out.

After realizing this was his chance to do what Argo wanted him to do, he stood next to the closets stall that the three Army Guild members were visiting, so he could hear their conversation better. However, he knew that if he stood around doing nothing, that might attract attention. He did his best to try and not seem too conspicuous.

When Axel was sure he could hear what they were saying, he activated his menu to make it look like he was checking over his inventory or his budget, so he could decide what he needed to buy. It was a tactic that had a fifty-fifty chance of working. Luckily for him, they were so wrapped up in their conversation, they did not even notice him. He could not help but breathe a sigh of relief when they seemed to be finish talking and walked away. He did not want to have to follow them.

Axel was caught up in the moment that he temporarily forgot that he was also supposed to be helping Leonardo, the blacksmith who had been a guest of the Argo Network on the second floor. Leonardo kept walking ahead, and it took him a few moments before he realized that he was now walking by himself. When he turned to talk to his companion, he saw that Axel was no longer there. He turned around to see Axel was standing next to a merchant stand. He had his menu activated to make it look like he was browsing through it for some random reason. Leonardo had no clue what Axel was doing, but he figured it had to be something important, so he decided to wait until Axel closed his menu.

After Axel saw they left, he deactivated his menu and scratched his chin as he thought, "Interesting. It seems like this 'Wan Shotto' is someone to keep an eye out for. Maybe overhearing information might not be too difficult after all."

Before Axel could ponder this any further, he was forced out of his thoughts by a voice calling out to him, "Axel come on." The voice belonged to Leonardo, who called out again, "Don't just stare out like that! Let's go! I think I found a good spot for me to set up shop." Leonardo motioned for Axel to follow him as he turned around and started walking away.

Axel snapped to attention, "Oh right! Coming!" As he was catching up to Leonardo, Axel sheepishly thought, "Maybe it will be that hard if I give myself away like that."

When Axel caught up to Leonardo and they were walking side by side, Leonardo could tell there was something going on in Axel's head. "What were you doing back there?"

Axel merely responded, "I was just taking care of something for Argo."

"Not going to share." Leonardo asked in a deadpan tone.

"Nope." Axel bluntly stated, "Guild business."

"Fine, but is there something else on your mind?" Leonardo asked in a concerned voice.

"I was just thinking about how thing are going on Argo's end." Axel was not telling a complete lie. It was good enough to satisfy Leonardo's curiosity.

Without hesitation, Leonardo replied, "I'm sure everything is going just fine for him."

/

Date: 2014

Location: Real World – Sasha's Home

It was in the middle of the afternoon. After hours of tireless work, the twins were finally napping in their cribs, and Sasha along with her uncle were able to take a much deserved breather. This type of life had been normal for the past few months since Sasha's parents were constantly on business trips. Sasha was more than happy to be there for her infant siblings, and her uncle was glad to provide assistance to his niece in this endeavor. With the both of them temporarily taking a break, Sasha laid on the couch while her uncle sat on a chair.

As Sasha laid on the couch she commented to her uncle, "I don't know if I'd be able to do this if it wasn't for you uncle."

"Legally speaking you couldn't." Her uncle commented, "You're not old enough to take care of kids on your own yet."

"I know that." Sasha replied in a slightly annoyed tone.

Her uncle could not help but chuckle at Sasha's response as he replied, "I know you know."

"Then why did …" Sasha cut herself off as she realized, "Oh ha ha."

Her uncle was getting no end of enjoyment out of this. "Regardless, you've been doing a good job looking after your brother and sister."

Sasha replied, "Only because you helped me."

"You shouldn't sell yourself short." Sasha's uncle stated, "Not all older sibling would be willing to go so far for their young sibling, especially ones that are much younger."

"Why wouldn't they?" Sasha seemed genuinely confused by this when she asked that question.

Her uncle sighed as he stated, "Not everyone is capable of appreciating their siblings. There's not always an explanation for it, but I guess the best one would be they don't always understand what a treasure they can be."

Sasha broke eye contact with her uncle as she stated, "I see."

"I'm just glad you're not one of those kinds of people." There was pride in her uncle's voice as he said this.

Sasha shook her head as she looked back at her uncle's eyes. "Me neither. I don't know what goes through their heads, but I know what goes through mine."

Her uncle asked in a curious tone, "And what's that?"

"I want to be there for my little brother and sister." Sasha smiled at her uncle as she told him, "I want them to know who I am and I want to know who they are."

It was hard for her uncle not to smile when he heard that. "I'm glad you think that way. This makes me look forward to how you'll be when you're raising children of your own."

Sasha looked rather uneasy as she replied, "It's a little early to be thinking of that isn't it?"

Her uncle could not help but laugh before replying, "Yeah. Maybe so, but time does fly by when you don't want it to."

Sasha quietly nodded in acknowledgment. It had been a few months since her twin siblings were born, but the time had flown by. She knew it would be their first birthday before she knew it.

"There's is always something you'll need to keep in mind Sasha." Sasha looked towards her uncle with great interest in what he was going to say next. "You need to be strong and adaptable." Before Sasha could ask him a question, he immediately told her, "You may not know it, but you've been displaying both these characteristics way before the twins were born."

Sasha tilted her head as she asked, "What do you mean?"

"Before they were born, you were ready to embrace the change, and you've managed to hold your own." Her uncle warned her, "However, you'll need to be capable of maintaining it. There might be times when it might falter, but it's important to be get back up and prepare yourself for what's to come."

"But how will I know if I'm strong enough? How will I know if I can 'adapt' to things?" Sasha asked in a concerned tone. She was more uncertain with her latter question.

"You'll just know." Sasha's uncle told her, "It's not something I can teach you so much as you'll know by instinct."

"Oh." Sasha seemed disappointed by the anti-climactic answer.

Her uncle then told Sasha, "You should also understand that being strong enough and adaptable can come from different sources."

Sasha asked, "How can those things come from different places?"

Her uncle grinned at her as he said, "You'd be surprised."

/

Date: Sunday, December 11th, 2022

Location: Sword Art Online – Floor Two – Outskirts of Taran

Argo jumped and rolled out of the way of another oncoming bull at the last second. After he was finished rolling, Argo set his feet on the ground and immediately turned around with a knife in hand. He threw the knife with all his might and hit the popliteal fossa of the bull's left hind leg, which caused the bull to fall to the ground.

With the bull currently indisposed, Argo called out, "Take care of it Sasha." After he gave that order, he moved onto another target.

Sasha ran towards the collapsed bull and stabbed it in the head before it had a chance to regain its footing. It would not take long for the remainder of the bull's health points to run out, and the monster would shatter into pieces. When Suta saw Sasha was in the process of killing monster like it was shooting a fish in a barrel, she could not help but shake her head in disgust.

While Argo was capable of fighting off the monsters with relative ease, the same could not be said for Sasha. Before that point, Sasha had mostly played defense by avoiding the bull strikes. Even though she was capable of fighting, she became less and less comfortable with fighting these bulls as they continued on the floor. She either attacked when she was absolutely sure she could kill the monster in one strike, such as when the health points were already in the red territory, or they were disabled like what Argo did.

Out of his two companions, Suta proved to be more battle ready than Sasha as she wielded her large Axe. With one horizontal swing with her ax, her ax hit in one of the bull's faces and ripped it clean off as she shouted, "Hell yeah!"

Another bull came charging at Suta's direction. She held her axe in ready position to swing it. She waited until the bull was close before quickly stepping out of the way. In one fluid motion, Suta bent down and swung the ax horizontally to cutoff the monster's legs. With all four of its legs removed from its body, the monster cried out in agony.

Suta immediately ran in front of the monster's body before telling it with a smirk on her face, "I'll put you out your misery."

Before she finished it off, Suta made sure no other monsters were currently eyeing her or in attack range before she brought her ax up and swung down into the monster's skull. After her ax made contact with the bull's skull, she could hear the bones in the skull crack and split in two as it made its way into the monster's head. It was a sickening sound that Suta found to be rather satisfying.

Suta buried her axe so deeply into the monster's head that she was not sure anyone would be able to remove it. Luckily for her, the monster's body shattered to pieces shortly after its death, so it did not matter. With that monster taken down, Suta was ready and willing to take on whatever else was left.

/

As Argo and Suta were busy handling their respective monsters, Sasha was still finishing off the monster as she watched the health points decrease to zero. When the monster's health points were gone, it shattered to pieces like any other monster. However, Sasha was so engrossed with killing the monster, she failed to pay attention to any of her surroundings.

Another bull entered the fray. The sound of the fight attracted its attention, and Sasha was the first player it saw. When it saw Sasha finishing off one of its own kind, it painted Sasha as a target in its blood-shot eyes. It began charging right at Sasha as the bull she was finishing off shattered to pieces.

Argo apparently saw the monster charging at Sasha because he called out to her, "Sasha! Look out!" Sasha barely looked up to see the bull was within striking distance of her. While her feet attempted to move, they failed to give her distance from the monster before it struck her.

The bull rammed into Sasha and sent her flying in the air like an infield fly. If she had been wearing glasses, they would have gone flying off. Luckily, she was more intelligent than Grimlock was in terms of eyewear because she changed her eyewear from glasses to googles. The straps were strong enough to keep the googles on her face. Even though her vision most likely would be fine in Sword Art Online without them, she preferred to wear something. It did not feel right without them.

Sasha landed roughly on her back and she kept sliding for a few feet before coming to a halt.

She heard someone call out to her, "Sasha!" Although, Sasha did not see the source of the voice, she knew it was Argo who called out to her.

Before the bull could make another attack, Sasha looked up in time to see a knife enter the side of the bull's head.

While the bull was distracted by the knife that was protruding from its head, Suta jumped up and raised her axed and swiftly brought it down on the bull's neck. In one fluid motion, Suta's axe hit the ground, and the bull was swiftly decapitated. Its head was flying through the air before landing on the ground.

As Sasha remained on the ground, she tried to pick herself up, but the queasy feeling in her stomach after getting hit by that bull was making it difficult. The best she could do was get up partway before falling to her knees. Sasha's stomach felt like it had been reduced to jelly, and her sides felt like they were smashed to pieces with a hammer. Sasha clutched both sides of her stomach as she groaned.

When it seemed like it should be over any second, Sasha heard a 'huffing' sound behind her, and she glanced over her shoulder to see another bull. It had a similar appearance to the other bulls, but it appeared to be slightly bigger than the ones they had been fighting. It was looking in her direction with eyes filled with blood thirst. Within seconds after Sasha noticed this monster, it was heading straight towards her.

Sasha's eyes widened as she desperately attempted to get off the ground. When that appeared to be hopeless, she called out, "HELP!"

Before the bull was anywhere close to here, she saw one knife enter the bull's left eye quickly followed by a second knife entering the right eye. The bull proceeded to fall to the ground and stopped sliding a few meters in front of Sasha. She saw Argo walk past her as he pulled out another knife. The bull was blinded, but it was still alive. Argo proceeded to drive the knife right through the monster's skull until it had no more HP left.

After Argo killed that bull, all three players saw screens appearing in front of them. As usual, it congratulated them on their victory along with giving them the usual details about the experience they earned, the items they won, and the col they collected.

Argo did not pay attention to the menu. Instead, his eyes were focused on one of his knives that he held in his hand as he thought, "That took more than one shot! I threw two knives through its eyes, but it wasn't enough to kill it like some of those other bulls. Not only was that bull bigger, it definitely had more health points than the others. I think it was a slightly more evolved version of the earlier bulls we saw. We'll need to keep that in mind. It might have been easy to kill, but this could be a warning for the future."

"That should be all of them. There probably won't be any more here for a while, but we shouldn't stay too long." Argo looked towards Suta and told her, "Keep your guard up in case any more wander around here."

Suta replied, "All right."

Argo walked quickly to Sasha who was still clutching her stomach and kneeled down. Argo kneeled down so he could be at eye level with his sub-leader. While her health points were still at a decent level, Sasha seemed to be subdued by the pain of the injuries the bull had inflicted upon her.

"It looks like you're going to need something Sasha." Argo began digging through his pouch to get something.

Sasha was breathing heavily. Sasha was amazed that despite being in a video game, her body was still able to experience fatigue and pain. Those would have been two things she would have wanted to be left out. She took one more deep breath before replying, "I didn't think there was any debate about that."

"…" Argo did not respond.

It took Sasha a moment to realize that what she said seemed rude before she looked down on the ground and replied in a sorrowful tone, "Sorry for that. Thanks for saving me."

"You're a member of my guild. You're my responsibility. I'm sure I've made the clear before." Argo then stated, "You didn't do too bad Sasha, but it looks like you're going to need more help than I thought. You weren't paying attention."

Before Sasha could say anything, her stomach felt queasy again which caused her to break eye contact with Argo again. There was a hint of desperation in her voice as she continued to clench her stomach. "Can we save that till after you get me a healing item?"

Argo did not seem to pay her question any mind as he wondered out loud, "I wonder if this is this game's version of breaking ribs." Argo pulled a potion from his pouch and handed it to Sasha. "This'll help you feel better. It's not as effectives as a Health Crystal, but it'll get the job done."

Sasha looked up to see the potion that Argo was holding. She began to reach out with her left hand, but a twinge of pain caused her to bring her arm to hold her stomach, and she hunched over. "Gah!"

"This is more serious than I thought. I could help you drink it …" Argo was cut off with Sasha making a second attempt to grab the potion and managing to succeed. She did not want him to finish that sentence.

Without wasting a second, Sasha titled her head back and began gulping down the potion. It had a rather sweet sensation as the liquid moved past her lips down to her stomach. After drinking the potion, Sasha could see her health points began to steadily rise and the pain in her stomach was beginning to subside. She no longer felt the need to hold her stomach in place.

After a few moments passed and Argo could see that Sasha's health had increased substantially, he asked, "Is your stomach starting to feel better?"

"A little." Sasha breathed a sigh of relief as she said, "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Argo got off his knees and stood up as he looked down and told her, "We can rest here for a little bit, but we should get moving soon."

"That's fine by me." Sasha began to say, "I should …"

Before Sasha could say another word, she was interrupted by an approaching voice, "You know Sasha." Suta had her arms crossed as she told the sub-leader of the guild, "You're going to have to do a lot better than that or you're going to get killed."

"Yeah." Sasha remarked, "I kind of figured that."

Suta tilted her head and put her right hand on her hip as she skeptically asked, "Are you sure about that?"

"Yes." Sasha replied in an annoyed tone, "I'm sure."

"I'm not so sure." Sasha pointed out, "You haven't been as actively trying to kill the monsters like Argo-san, Axel or me. Even Leonardo put more effort than you, and he's a blacksmith and not even a member of our guild."

"…" Sasha had nothing to say in response.

As far as I can tell, you try to take a backseat more often, and let us do the hard work. The only monster you killed in that last fight was a monster Argo practically handfed you. Even when you killed that monster, you didn't pay any attention to your surroundings and nearly got yourself killed. Argo and I had to save you. I thought you …"

Before Suta said another word, Argo interrupted her, "Suta. Let me handle this."

"Can I please make my point?" Suta stated, "She needs to hear this."

Argo was hesitant to say yes. He looked to Sasha who told him, "It's fine."

With Sasha's consent, Argo turned back to Suta and told her, "Make it fast."

"I'm just pointing out, it's fine if she wants to increase her level with gain experience points we share, but she should do more to 'earn' those points." Suta put an extra emphasis on 'earn,' as she continued her point, "If she doesn't try to fight more monsters, she won't actually have the 'fighting experience' to actually kill monsters. Getting experience is one thing. Understanding how to use it is another. If she keeps doing this, she's just going to herself and other players killed. Why I …"

Argo could see that Suta was about to go into more rambling as he interrupted her again, "Okay Suta. You made your point. Let me handle the rest." He ordered, "Keep a look out for more monsters."

"Fine." Suta reluctantly went back to her previous duties. She continued to hold her axe, and she was ready and waiting for any more potential monsters that might come her way.

Argo looked back to see a silent Sasha who could not help but look down on the ground even though her health points had returned to normal, and the pain she felt in her stomach should have been relieved. What Suta said to Sasha must have stung her. She did not seem like she would speak for the time being unless someone else tried talking to her.

The first words out of Argo's mouth were, "Well if you're expecting me to tell you that 'she's wrong, and you're fine the way you are,' I'm sorry to disappoint you, but that's not who I am. She had a good point that you're lacking quite a bit."

"Yeah. I know, and I didn't expect you to say something like that anyway." Sasha could not bring herself to move her head to look Argo in the eyes as she look downward and told him, "I had a feeling this wasn't a good idea. I was never really into video games."

"On the contrary, I think this make it clear how much more work you need." Argo told his sub-leader, "Not to mention, its better you know now rather than a much later floor. At least you might be able to catch up if you try working on it now."

"I don't know if I'm cut out for fighting Argo-san." Sasha kept one arm holding her stomach as she put the other on her forehead as she told him, "I'm fine with taking care and teaching children, but I don't know if I can do this."

"Hey, but don't let that bull or Suta get you down. Give yourself some time, and you'll see that you might be more capable than you believe. You can be surprised by how much you can change." Argo tried to sound encouraging to Sasha as he put his hand on her shoulder and told her, "Suta doesn't want you to die. That's why she said it. You have to admit she brought up some rather solid points."

"…" Once again Sasha was not sure of what to say in response which allowed Argo to continue speaking unimpeded.

"While I understand you're not into the whole fighting thing, it unfortunately doesn't matter." Argo told her in a matter of fact tone, "What I told you before still stands. You're going to have to fight to protect those children. You'll need fighting skills to back up the strength you get when you level up. That's part of the reason why I'm getting Kirita to help you out with that. She's a better fighter than me, and she's apparently been doing a good job teaching Akio, and he was a novice too. I suggest you make good with the opportunity I arranged for you."

Sasha sighed as she reluctantly replied, "Okay."

"Good." Argo then walked over to Suta while Sasha continued to recover her health points.

As Argo approached, Suta said to him, "I see you laid it on pretty thick with her too."

"Like you're one to talk." Suta did not try denying that as Argo continued to speak, "Besides, it wouldn't be the first time I did." Argo could not stop himself from sighing as he told Suta, "I just hope she won't become too discouraged to continue fighting out here. She wasn't exactly too enthusiastic about it in the first place."

"Why did you bring her out here then?" Suta asked. "Shouldn't you only bring out players that actually want to fight out here?"

Argo glanced behind him to make sure Sasha was not listening in on their conversation before looking back to tell Suta, "Because it's important that she is capable of fighting. For more than one reason." Argo could tell Suta was about to ask him what the reasons were, but he cut her off, "Before you ask me about the 'reasons,' I'd rather not go into it."

Suta was not pleased that Argo cut her off, but she replied, "Fine." Suta appeared to grudgingly accept that.

"Anyway, you did good work Suta." Argo patted Suta on the shoulder, "You handled yourself pretty well."

"I try." Suta grinned, "It was a lot of fun taking on a challenge to kill these monsters. I'm glad you decided to bring me along."

Argo replied, "Well it won't be long before these monsters will seem like a joke to you and you'll be ready to take on even bigger challenges."

"You mean like boss fights?" Suta appeared to be excited at this prospect.

"Maybe." Argo stated, "After a few quests, we'll see if you're up for the task."

Suta grinned as she held out her fist and voiced her determination, "You can bet I will be."

Argo looked over to see that Sasha still appeared to be winded from the fight. "Can you keep an eye out for anymore monsters? I need to say something to Sasha."

Suta nodded, "Will do."

Argo approached Sasha and asked, "Are you feeling better Sasha? Can you walk?"

"I think so." Sasha put her hands on the ground to push herself up. She slowly managed to get to her feet, but she was hunched over. As she was getting up, Argo walked next to her and grabbed her arm to help her up.

Argo glanced over to Suta and then turned back to Sasha and told her, "We're not too far from them, so we should move fast. We could use more numbers in case of anymore surprise attacks. The last thing we need is to fight offanother ambush before we reach our clients."

Sasha looked Argo in the eyes and nodded, "Okay."

Suta replied, "Right. Let's go."

The trio continued their trip to the designated meeting place. However, they were far more vigilante as they continued. They would avoid talking as much as they did earlier.

As they continued their journey to the destination, thoughts were rushing through Sasha's head.

Sasha then thought, "There's a lot I don't know about him, and that worries me a little. He seems like a decent person, but what do I really know about him? From what I do know, he has made a few decisions of his own without consulting us. Even if these decisions are for our benefit, he didn't try telling us about them. Maybe he needs to keep quiet about some things, but this is much more than he should."

/

Date: Sunday, December 11th, 2022

Location: Sword Art Online – Floor Two – Field

Argo's party were far from the only players who were busy killing bull monsters. At around the same time as their fight, Kirita plunged her sword right through a bull monster's right eye and exited out the left side of its head. The bull broke down into pieces shortly afterwards. It was the fifth bull she had taken down, and she did not have a scratch on her. She briefly glanced at her weapon after she finished off the monster before her mind returned to the fight.

Kirita turned around to see Akio clutching his right arm. Apparently, one of the bulls he was fighting managed to get him good. Kirita readied herself to help in case Akio needed it. As if he could sense she was considering whether or not to intervene, he called out, "Don't. I can do this. Let me do this."

Akio briefly glanced over his shoulder to see that Kirita was remaining perfectly still. He could see that she was giving him a wordless response, but the grin on her face was enough to tell him to take that bull down. That was all the encouragement he needed.

When the bull charged, Akio let go of his right arm and readied himself to strike. He needed to time his movement correctly. If he was off, then this attack would not work.

As the bull was within striking distance from him, Akio immediately sidestepped to the right. The horns of the bull managed to graze his left leg, which caused him to wince. Despite that pain, Akio launched his attack. He struck the left side of the bull with a 'Rapid Three Linear' attack, and all three hits made contact. The feeling of those strikes caused the bull to fall on its right side.

When Akio tried to follow up with another attack, he felt the graze on his left foot was a little more 'damaging than he would have anticipated. He fell to his knee which gave the bull a chance to recover from his attack, and it began slowly getting back on its feet. When Kirita witnessed this, she was tempted to strike at the monster, but she only held back because Akio did not call out to her.

Akio looked up to see the bull was getting up, a part of him began to panic. He could feel his heartrate begin to accelerate. If that bull got up and attacked him now, he would not stand a chance. He would definitely need to ask Kirita for help. While he was fine with her saving him, he hated the idea of asking for help after telling her that he could handle it. To say it would wound his pride would be putting it lightly.

Before he let any fear or shame overwhelm him, he bit the bottom of his lip to calm himself down. In a second, he knew what he needed to do. He forced himself up on his right foot, and used it to propel himself forward. He stabbed the bull in the face in a diving motion, and it finished the monster off. Akio was on his knees with his rapier impaling the monster's head as he saw the health bar decrease to zero and witnessed the monster shatter to pieces.

When the monster shattered to pieces, Akio breathed a sigh of relief, "That was close."

Suddenly, he heard a snorting sound behind him. Akio's eyes were wide open as he slowly looked behind him. He could see there was another monster right behind him. It was apparently a monster that had been waiting outside the immediate fighting area.

Akio immediately attempted to stand up, but when he got to his feet, he could feel that his left foot was by far weaker than his right. It was unlikely that he could pull off the same kind of maneuver he did with the previous monster. When he saw the monster was heading towards him, he took a breath and called out, "Kirita!"

No sooner had he called out her name, he saw Kirita run right past him, and she made short work of the monster. She ran right past it and slashed the right side of its stomach open. The monster shattered to pieces afterwards. That monster marked the end of the battle.

With the battle over, a screen congratulating them on their victory and displaying the spoils they had won. However, Kirita did not appear too interested in what she had won. Instead she appeared concerned about her companion and the condition of her weapon. She closed the window and immediately walked to her companion's side who was on his knees again.

"Are you okay?" Kirita asked as she kneeled down next to him.

"I'll live." Akio commented.

"You didn't do too badly out there. You killed the monsters you were going for." Due to the adrenaline of the previous fight, Kirita was speaking perfectly normal to Akio again as she tried to comfort him, "For what it's worth, I didn't realize there was another monster until you were in the middle of fighting that other one. I'm sorry I didn't say anything about that other monster. I thought you noticed it before."

Akio sighed as he said, "I bet you didn't let your guard down like I did though."

"No." Kirita bluntly told Akio, "As far as I'm concerned, the fight is not over until you have that screen appear in front of you."

"Yeah." Akio replied, "I figured as much."

Kirita handed Akio a potion from her pack. "You should use this now. I'll keep an eye out for any other bulls."

"Thanks." Akio drank the potion as quickly as he could. He started to see the effects of the potion begin to take effect. As he recovered, he noticed that Kirita was looking down at her sword which led him to ask, "Is something bothering you."

Kirita held out her sword as she tried eyeing it from multiple angles. She was trying to see if anything was wrong with it. "I'm worried about my sword."

"It doesn't look like there should be anything wrong with it." Akio asked in a concerned tone, "What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing yet." Kirita flicked the steel of the sword with her left pointer finger before stating, "I'm worried about when there might be a problem."

While Kirita was telling him this, Akio thought in a disappointed tone, "As usual, she doesn't seem to have any problem talking to me right after a fight." Akio asked, "What do you mean?"

Kirita glanced over to Akio as she asked, "Have you ever heard of the Fire Emblem series?"

"I heard of it." Akio replied in an uncertain tone. He had no clue what relevance that classic turn based strategy series had with this.

Kirita explained, "In that series, when one of your characters die, they 'usually' die permanently like they do here."

"Okay." Akio was clearly uneasy about this as he said in a quiet tone that was under his breath, "I'd rather not think about that."

"One of the other things players need to worry about it the endurance of their weapons." Kirita clarified, "With certain exceptions, every weapon has limited number of uses, including spell books. After it reaches it capacity, it'll break."

"Is that what you're worried about?" Akio was more confused than anything when he asked, "But didn't you take care of that back at Otobe Village? When you upgraded your weapon at the blacksmith before Kuradeel attacked us, didn't that restore your weapon's durability 'and' make it stronger?"

"It did, but I still need to be careful of overusing it. Also while it's good to upgrade weapons, you need to be good at discarding them when they're no longer useful like that Wind Flurent of yours." Kirita pointed the rapier Akio had sheathed on his belt.

"My Wind Flurent?" Akio absent mindedly looked down to the rapier that was sheathed on his belt before looking up and asking in a concerned voice, "What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing." Kirita added, "Yet." Before Akio could ask a question, Kirita replied, "Even with upgrades that rapier of yours will probably last until the third floor before it becomes useless."

"Why would it become useless?" Akio seemed more confused than anything as he asked, "Can't I just upgrade it like yours?"

"It's not that simple." Kirita explained, "You can only upgrade a weapon so many times. Eventually, we'll run into enemies that will be too strong for our current weapons to even put a dent in them."

"Seriously?" Akio did not even consider this possibility. "Even your sword?"

"Yes. The Anneal Blade might be one of the best swords you can use on the early floors of Sword Art Online, but it does have its limits." Kirita stated, "This is like any other RPG where you'll constantly need to buy new weapons and equipment."

"I didn't play too many RPGs before coming here." Akio admitted. "How is this supposed to work? Are we always going to have to buy new stuff?"

"Not always. We'll need to keep an eye out for what stores are selling, what rewards quest are offering, and what items we get form killing monsters or opening chest." Kirita pointed to the rapier that remained at Akio's waist as she told him, "Don't forget that you got your Wind Flurent from a monster drop, and I got my sword from a quest. These weapons are better than what we could've gotten from any store on the first floor and possibly on this one, so you need to keep that in mind."

Akio glanced at his Wind Flurent again before replying, "I will, but if we're just going to keep replacing our weapons or equipment, what's the point in making upgrades?"

"That actually is a good question." Kirita crossed her arms as she came up with a response, "Sometimes it's just a matter of judgment. It can sometimes be cheaper to upgrade a weapon rather than buying a new weapon that is only slightly better than the one you're using."

"How much cheaper?" Akio asked.

"Hmm." Kirita thought back to her experience in the Beta Test before replying, "I'd say buying a new piece of equipment could cost twice the amount it would be to upgrade it. We might be able to get a lot of col from monsters and quests, but we do have to be careful out here. I'm sure I don't need to remind you why."

Akio merely replied, "No."

Kirita activated her menu and pulled out an item from her list. It was the Wolf Fang she acquired a few days ago. "I have a wolf fan on me that can be used to either forge or upgrade equipment, but even I'm not sure what'll be the best choice for it. However, I also know that letting it sit around in my menu won't do me any good either. You're going to have to be ready to make choices on what to do with items like this in the future. I won't always tell you what to do with what you've got."

"Hmm." That was the only response that came from Akio.

Kirita looked around the area again before telling Akio, "There's no point in waiting around for the monsters to respawn. Let's keep moving. Can you move on that leg yet?"

"I think so." Akio stood up and put pressure on his left leg, and it felt useable. "I should be good."

"Let's go." Kirita led the way.

/

Date: Sunday, December 11th, 2022

Location: Sword Art Online – Floor Two –Taran

As the two groups were ready to converge on the meeting place, Axel and Leonardo had set up shop in Taran. It was nothing special. Leonardo placed a mat on the ground that he thought would be a good spot, and he set up the necessary equipment that he would need to forge and enhance equipment. Leonardo sat down on the mat to indicate that his mini-shop was open for business while Axel stood to the side and leaned against the wall.

Since Leonardo did not have too many skill slots, he was limited in how many things he could presently do as a blacksmith, but he was skilled enough in what he could do. He was hoping that would be enough to make him more appealing to potential customers. Thankfully, it did not take long before some other players took notice.

One large, bald player that appeared to be African gave Leonardo an axe to repair. It was a little chipped from what Leonardo could tell. "It's a good thing that I built up my skill with 'Slash Weapons.'" After observing the weapon, he assured the player that it could be repaired, and he was able to use his hammer to fix the axe. Since this was the virtual world, Leonardo did not need as much equipment or time to repair the weapon. It was done in only a matter of minutes. Axel remained quiet as he observed what was happening.

To describe the customer as being 'satisfied' with Leonardo's services would be putting it lightly. The customer was excited by how his ax looked good as new. He looked positively giddy as he was looking over his weapon.

Leonardo respectfully bowed as he told the customer, "Thank you for your patronage. Please visit me again for any of your blacksmith needs."

The bald client replied, "Count on it."

Axel remained leaning against the wall with his arms crossed as he witnessed the exchange. When the customer was out of hearing range, Axel stated, "That went well."

"Yeah." Leonardo sighed in relief, "Good thing he gave me an ax and not something like a mallet or a hammer."

"What would have happened if he gave you one of those?" Axel asked.

"I don't have the skills to take care of those items." Leonardo replied.

Axel thought about what Leonardo said for a moment as he narrowed his eyes and asked in a confused tone, "Don't you use a hammer for battle?"

"Yes." Before Axel could say anything else, Leonardo stated, "I know it's ironic. I use a hammer, but I didn't equip myself with the skill to repair it yet."

That made Axel even more confused as he asked, "Why not?"

"Weapons like swords, axes, and spears are more common." Leonardo explained, "That's why I've been focusing more on skills to forge and repair slash and thrust type weapons. There's more profit in them."

"Oh." Axel shrugged his shoulders as he replied, "I guess that makes sense."

"Luckily for me, on the way here, I managed to gain a level that allowed me to get a new skill slot." Leonardo seemed rather excited about that before he stated in a calm voice, "Now I just need to decide on what I'll equip it with."

Axel suggested, "Why not just equip yourself with the skill to forge and repair hammers and other weapons like that?"

Leonardo answered, "It's not that simple. Don't forget I use the same skill slots you use. I need to decide on what skill slots I'll use to expand my blacksmith abilities and what skill slots to use that will help me. After all, I want to do more than only be a blacksmith."

Axel asked, "In that case, why did you decide to be a blacksmith in the first place?"

"I liked being creative in the real world, so I decided to be a blacksmith in other games I've played." Leonardo fondly thought back to the other MMORPGs he participated in as he told Axel. "It was a great place to create all sorts of weapons and equipment that players would want to buy from me." Leonardo grinned as he told Axel, "Even if it was virtual reality money, it was still pretty sweet to get paid." Leonardo could hear the sound a cash register ring in his head.

"I see." Axel absentmindedly asked, "Then doesn't that mean it's a waste of a perfectly good skill slot?"

"What?" Leonardo looked in Axel's direction with narrowed eyes and an annoyed expression.

"Sorry." Axel tried to double back as he stated, "That came out wrong. If this was a normal game, I wouldn't have a problem with this, but this is a Death Game."

That did nothing to ease Leonardo of his annoyance. "And?"

"Well you just said that instead of using the skill slots to use different weapons or gaining other abilities that can help you fight, you're using them to just forge weapons you probably can't use yourself." Axel shrugged as he bluntly stated, "It kind of seems like a waste of a perfectly good skill slot to me, especially in a Death Game."

Leonardo only appeared more annoyed by Axel's attempt to 'explain' himself as he asked in a deadpan tone, "Are you going to say that came out wrong too?"

"Umm." Axel asked, "Should I?"

"You should because what I'm doing isn't a waste." Leonardo did his best to remain calm as he told Axel, "I'm sure you've gotten plenty of material from monsters you've killed. Unlike you, I make use of the material you collect. All you can do is sell it. With that material, I can create or improve weapons and armor."

Axel did not appear phased by this as he asked, "Aren't NPCs capable of doing that already?"

"Yes, but unlike them, I can actually grow beyond what they're capable of. Not to mention, while the only NPCs you'll find specialize, I'll be diversified." Leonardo sounded more sure of himself as he boasted, "The weapons and armor will be better than anything than you can get from a NPC or buy at a store. They'll be the difference between a player living and dying in this world." Before Axel could say anything Leonardo proudly stated, "You know what? I bet I'm already better than any other NPC in this town."

"That's a pretty big claim." Axel appeared rather amused and impressed by Leonardo's confidence, but he could not help but point out. "You just said you can't work on hammers and mallets."

"Anything that's not them." Leonardo quickly corrected himself. "I'll do a better job forging something that my NPC 'counterpart' can do."

Axel crossed his arms again as he said, "I got to see this."

"All right." Leonardo activates his menu and pulls out two of the same material. "Okay we'll have an NPC make something out of one of these. Then I'll make something even better with the other. I bet you a hundred col that I can do it."

Axel grinned as he said, "You're on."

/

Date: Sunday, December 11th, 2022

Location: Sword Art Online – Floor Two – Field – Rendezvous Spot

Kirita and Akio were in a rare 'Safe Zone' that could be found in the field. The two of them were waiting in the designated rendezvous point where Argo wanted them to meet up. As soon as they arrived, Kirita sent a message confirming their arrival, and Argo quickly replied that he was on his way. Kirita could tell by the map that Argo was telling the truth.

Akio was slowly pacing around the area when he asked, "Did he know there was a 'Safe Zone' here?"

Kirita was sitting on the ground when she replied, "He … He probably remembered from the Beta Test. You can … You can always count on him for that."

"And now we're back to stuttering Kirita." Akio shook his head in disappointment as he sighed. He decided to try passing the time by changing the topic, "You know what you were saying about Fire Emblem before. Can you tell me more about that series?"

Kirita looked rather surprised when she looked in his direction, "You're interested in … in playing it if we get out of here?"

"Maybe." Akio scratched the back of his head as he said, "I guess I'd rather try to play a RPG that won't get me killed."

"Okay then." Kirita pushed herself off the ground as she asked, "What … What would you like to know?"

"You told me a bit about weapon durability." Akio asked, "Can characters in that game use more than one?"

"It … It depends on the class of the character." Kirita answered.

"The class?" Akio was interested in knowing more.

"Yeah." Kirita began explaining, "In Fire Emblem, characters who … who can only use one type of weapon while others can use two. For … For example, an Archer would most likely only be capable of using a Bow while a … while a Warrior could use an Axe and a Bow."

Akio asked, "If that's the case, why would anyone want to use an Archer if he can only use a Bow?"

"Archers are usually … usually pretty fast and skilled which makes them useful units, especially against flying units." Kirita stated, "I … I think in some of the games only … only Archers are capable of using the most powerful bows. Not to mention, Archers can … can use a bow from the start while other classes need to evolve before they can do something like that."

Akio raised an eyebrow as he asked, "Evolve?"

Kirita replied, "That's right."

Akio seemed more confused when he asked, "What is this Pokémon?"

"Both … Both RPG franchises were made by the same company." Kirita stated, "Besides, it kind … it kind of makes sense that some characters could become more capable of wielding weapons after getting more experience. Just like we can."

Akio replied, "I guess."

Kirita stated, "Anyway, if a character … if a character can use more than one weapon, it can help slow down … slow down the durability problem with weapons since the characters would not always use the same weapon."

"That makes sense." Akio asked, "You just said we can use more than one weapon in this world too right? I've heard some players mention equipping themselves with a new weapon." Kirita silently nodded which got Akio excited and led him to asking, "Can they use two weapons at the same time here?"

Kirita put her left hand on her hip as she asked, "Are you … Are you asking if players can dual wield here?"

"Yeah." Akio nodded excitedly.

Kirita shook her head. "I don't think that's possible. I've … I've never been able to equip more than one of the swords I have … I have on me at the same time. I think we can only … only chose one weapon at a time."

"Oh." Akio was visibly disappointed by that news.

"That can always change." Kirita seemed as disappointed as Akio as she stated, "You … You can use different weapons in this game as long as you have the right skill slot to use it. However, I'm sure you … you already know we don't have unlimited skill slots."

"Even … Even I know that." Akio indignantly replied.

This time it was Kirita's turn to be curious as she asked, "By any chance, do … do you have another weapon in mind?"

Without hesitation, Akio answered, "I think if I get the chance to take on a secondary weapon it'll be a spear."

Kirita asked, "Why … Why would you pick that?"

"I like how they have a long reach." Akio could picture himself thrusting the weapon right through a monster as he told Kirita. "I think they'll be cool to use."

"In the Beat Test, Delano used a spear." Kirita thought back on her fight with Delano during the Beta Test. "I won, but he came … he came close to beating me."

"Really?" Akio's voice went up by an octave as he asked that.

Kirita could see what Akio was getting at, so she made herself clear. "Don't forget Akio. He was … He was skilled with the spear. Just using a weapon doesn't mean … doesn't mean you'd have the advantage automatically." She firmly told him, "You need to work at it."

"Yeah, yeah." Akio knew that Kirita was right, but he also saw an opportunity. "Since we're talking about weapons what about you?"

"What about me?" Kirita asked.

Akio clarified, "What weapon would you want to use besides your sword?"

"Me?" Kirita pointed at herself and Akio nodded. "Hmm." Kirita considered the question for a moment before answering, "Well in … in the Beat Test, I liked using the Bow and Arrow."

Akio raised an eyebrow and commented, "Somehow I'm not surprised by that."

"Yeah. Kirita nodded, "It helps that they're … they're one of my favorite units in Fire Emblem. It … It came in handy a lot, especially … especially during the six floor boss." As she thought back on how helpful the bow and arrow was for her during the Beta Test, Kirita's voice became more enthusiastic as she said, "When I … When I get more skill slots, I think I'll try using that skill again. It might be fun."

"Looks like we're getting somewhere." Akio thought, "This sounds like something she's be interested in having. I can tell she seems excited about wanting to use one." Akio said, "If you like using the …"

"Well what do we have here?" A familiar voice interrupted the moment between the two players. The two players looked towards the source of the voice and saw that it was none other than Argo, and two female players were following him.

Argo finally arrived on the scene. The moment he saw the two players, he spoke up without regard to whether or not they were having a conversation. There were other things that needed to be taken care of. He told them with a grin, "It's good to see my loyal clients again."

Akio could inwardly feel the need to face palm himself as he thought, "Not now."

Kirita had put her mask back on her face as she addressed Argo, "I … I was wondering when you would get here."

"Sorry for the delay." Argo casually remarked, "We ran into some unexpected trouble. Surely you can appreciate that."

"Yeah." Kirita replied.

"Well I'm glad to see that you both made it here in one piece, but we can save any 'heartwarming' conversations for later." Argo added a playful emphasis to 'heartwarming.' Before anyone else could respond, he told them in a more serious tone. "We should head to Taran as soon as possible. Since you two will be 'guests' of my guild, you'll be needing something." Argo activated his menu and quickly scrolled through his menu.

Akio began to say, "What exactly …"

Argo selected a few items from his menu and they materialized in his hands. "Between the trouble you two caused after the first boss fight and Otobe Village, there's a good chance someone'll recognize you if you walk out like that."

Akio noticed that the material hanging from Argo's arms were a cloak similar to the ones he and his guild members were wearing, along with rat masks. "Kirita and I already bought a few masks and new clothes in Otobe village. You don't have to give us any of this."

"All the more reason you should wear this." Argo asked, "Why take the chance of someone seeing through whatever new disguises you come up with and wasting those disguises later?"

"Well …" Akio trailed off. He did not have any answer to give to that question.

"Besides, it'll be easier to pass you off as guild members even if you're guests of mine, if you wear this trademark outfit. So here. This'll be a lot easier if you just accept them." Argo handed both Akio and Kirita the outfits.

Kirita nodded her head as she replied. "Thank you." Without hesitation, she added both items to her inventory. She removed her mask and placed the new one Argo gave her along with placing the brown cloak he gave her.

Akio was not as fast at accepting the gift. He seemed strangely reluctant. Before he could say anything, Argo said, "Time is money. We should get moving to the next spot."

Kirita chimed in, "It's … It's for the better if we do this Akio."

"All right." Akio followed Kirita's lead and equipped himself with the items that Argo had given them.

With both Akio and Kirita dressed in the cloaks and masks, Argo grinned as he told them, "They look good on you two. Now we just need to put the finishing touches." Argo activated his menu to offer Akio and Kirita to become 'Guest Members' of his guild.

Both Akio and Kirita accepted the invitation. As soon as they accepted the invitations, an icon appeared above their health bars to indicate they are members of a guild, even if they were only guests. Argo stated, "This'll make things easier, so let's get going."

Everyone followed Argo's lead to Taran. They kept their guard up for any new monsters that could come their way. Luckily, they did not have any problem like that.

As they traveled to Taran, Argo thought, "I shouldn't have too much trouble arranging Leonardo to stay in a different room or even a different Inn. Not to mention, it should be easy for me to have Kirita take care of Sasha and Suta while I have Akio deal with Leonardo. That should make things work smoothly."

/

Date: Sunday, December 11th, 2022

Location: Sword Art Online – Floor Two – Otobe Village

Otobe Village was a simple village on the second floor that most players did not bat an eyelash at during the Beta Test. There was nothing special about it until a few days ago. Some players even considered it to be out of the way on the way to the second dungeon. However, even though this village was one of the places that players did not spend as much time in during the Beta Test, the death game had changed many players' attitudes. Any village was considered a Safe Haven to players even if it could be a little out of the way. They also saw villages as potential 'Hubs' to level up by taking on the various quests.

This village in particular became notable recently. A few days earlier, it served as the site where the first Beater of Sword Art Online, Kirita, and Akio fought against Kuradeel and his gang. That fight alone was enough to cause this village to gain some attention as the location where the first attempt to capture a Beater took place. Although it ended in a failure for Kuradeel, it was enough to get many players talking about.

The newest arrivals in this village were Klein and his guild, the Fuurinkazan. When they arrived, they looked no worse for wear. Shortly after they entered the 'Safe Zone' boundaries of Obote Village, a few of the members fell to the ground. Anyone who saw this display would think they could not take another step.

Dale in particular had his left cheek on the ground as he complained, "Man. Those bulls were a real pain in the ass."

Issin was lying on his back as he concurred, "You said it."

Klein could not help but shake his head at the complaints. "What do you guys expect?" He reminded his guild, "We're on a higher floor. The monsters are going to be tougher, so we got to be tougher too."

Dale moved his head off the ground and rolled to his side as he replied, "Yeah, yeah." He sounded rather unamused as he said, "I know, but can we rest here?"

Klein stated, "We might as well. It's starting to get late, so we should get a room at the Inn."

/

They were fortunate to arrive when they did. There was not much room left in the Inn. They were able to acquire two rooms that could fit three people. After securing their rooms, Klein had all his guild meet in one of the rooms, so they could discuss their future plans.

Dynamm suggested, "You know this place could be a good mini-base of operations for us like we had on the first floor."

Klein shook his head as he promptly dismissed the idea. "We probably shouldn't think like that."

"Huh?" Dynamm seemed a little surprised at Klein's rejection.

"Taking a couple of quests here to get stronger is fine, but we need to keep moving." Klein explained, "If we stay in one place too long, we won't get strong enough to fight the bosses. We missed out on the first boss because we did that." There was a hint of frustration in Klein's tone as he continued to speak. His guild members were considerate enough not to interrupt him. "Since we're already behind, we're probably going to miss out on the second boss too. I don't want us to miss out on too many boss fights before we finally catch up. We need to change our plans if we're going to get stronger."

Dale crossed his arms as he asked, "I hope you don't want us to get stronger, so we can catch up to your Beater friend."

Klein's eyes narrowed in annoyance as he told his friend, "Don't call her that, and that's not the only reason." It took Klein quite a bit of will power to prevent himself from raising his voice at Dale. After taking a breath, he said, "I mean it is one reason, but there are others."

Dale asked, "What are they?"

"There are lots of players fighting to get us free. We can't just rely on them." Klein was not sure what he could say that would convince his friends to go with his idea, so he went with what he thought might work. "If we become stronger, we can meet up with lots of stronger players and form alliances with them." There was some desperation in Klein's group as he said, "If the rumors are true, there are only about eight thousand players left in the game. We need to work with the players who are capable of fighting, and maybe we can prevent other players from dying here. That way more of us can go home again."

All the players look at each other. They seemed to be considering what Klein was saying. While what he said appeared to strike a chord with them, they were still not a hundred percent onboard.

"I don't know man." Harry One spoke up, "I get what you're saying, but this might be a little big for us."

"This isn't just about us, or my friend, or those other players. This is about all of us." Klein clarified, "This is about everyone who is trapped in Sword Art Online. Every one of us has something to go back to in the Real World." Klein tried to emphasize, "If we're going to make it out of this, we're all going to need to play a part. I want us to play our part, but we all need to work together." Klein was desperately looking at all his guild members as he told them, "I know this is different from any game we've played before, but I know we can do this. We just need to give this the good old fashion Fuurinkazan effort." Klein tried to sound hopeful as he asked, "What do you say? Are you with me?"

While Klein's voice sounded hopeful, he was truly desperate for them to say yes. He was hoping this could be a turning point. However, the room remained silent for a few moments. It could go either way.

Dynamm finally spoke up, "He's got a point. It's pointless to sit around letting other people do all the work. We need to do more ourselves."

"I agree." Kunimittz sighed as he reluctantly stated, "Doing something is better than sitting on our asses hoping outside help will come."

Dynamm added, "It's been over a month and nothing happened. I think it's safe to say help isn't coming."

"Yeah we're going to have to do this ourselves." Kunimittz took a deep breath before stating, "If this situation really is going to become hopeless, I'd rather find out for myself than take someone else's word for it."

"Not quite what I was going for, but yeah." Klein stated, "This is going to take a team effort. If we work together, I know we can go far. What about the rest of you? Are you up for this?"

Dale was also reluctant, but he shrugged his shoulders and said, "I guess so."

Issin crossed his legs and leaned against the chair he was sitting in as he replied, "It's kind of hard to argue with those points."

Harry One put his hand through his hair as he stated, "It's better than doing nothing."

"So we're all on board with this?" Klein wanted to make sure they there was a consensus with his guild before making any plans.

Kunimittz stated, "I wouldn't go that far, but I agree with what you're saying." He gulped before he said, "I don't want to die, but I don't like being dependent on others more. Besides, supporting you has worked out pretty well for us before. I'm hoping it will again."

"Yeah." Harry One was understandably nervous as he said, "I'm really hoping my armor will be good enough for these future fights you want us go through."

"I think we can all agree that none of us want to die." Dynamm replied, "If we work together, I think we can make sure that doesn't happen."

Klein nodded as he addressed the group, "Making sure none of us die when we work together should be our first priority. That should go without saying right?" Klein heard his guild members murmur among themselves in agreement. "If we can all agree to watch each other's backs, that'll be good enough for now."

When Klein looked throughout the room, he could see that they all agreed to this idea. All five of them gave a silent nod. Klein smiled a little as he replied, "Great. I'm sure when we get strong enough, you'll change your mind about fighting bosses."

Kunimittz said in a deadpan tone, "I wouldn't count on it."

Klein asked, "Well does anyone else have anything else they'd like to add?"

No one replied at first until Dynamm replied, "I was actually wondering about what you have in mind for getting things started."

"Huh?" Klein was surprised by that question.

"You said we should change our game plan." Dynamm asked, "Have something in mind?"

"Well …" Klein trailed off briefly as he scratched the back of his head and admitted to himself, "I didn't know if I'd get this far … Um … Oh! Let's go with this!" Klein removed his hand from the back of his head as he stated, "Let's see. We should start with only taking a quest or two here, and then move on to the next village. We won't stay in one place too long. I'm sure we can keep building from there."

There were no complaints from his guild. Klein believed that this would be a step in the right direction for his guild. Only time would tell what the end results of this decision would be.

/

Date: Sunday, December 11th, 2022

Location: Sword Art Online – Floor Two – Taran

When Argo, Kirita, Akio, Sasha, and Suta arrived at Taran, they were there in time to see Wan Shotto and her guild members leaving the area. They remained hidden from the eyes of the guild members until they disappeared into the forest area to take on more quests. Due to most of them possessing the 'Hiding' ability, they were successful in avoiding detection as they remained perfectly still.

As they remained hidden, Argo kept an eye on the various players in the guild. Most of the players did not appear to possess much of a threat. However, there were a few standouts, especially the one wearing the eyepatch on her left eye. There was something different about the aura that she gave off. While they could not tell what her level was, the way she carried herself gave the impression that she was someone you did not want to mess with.

While they could not hear everything the guild said, based on Argo's observations, he had a feeling the eyepatch wearer was in charge of this particular group of individuals. Argo noticed he was not the only one paying close attention. Kirita was also observing them, and he had a feeling she came to the same conclusion he did.

They waited until all of the guild was far away from the bridge before emerging from their hiding places. They did not want to take the chance of one of the players turning around and noticing them. Even if they did turn around at that point, Argo and the others would have a clear shot to make it across the bridge without any interference.

While they were crossing the bridge, Argo warned the group, "We'll need to keep an eye out for those players in the future. Keep them in mind." No one said anything in response. Instead they silently heeded his warning.

/

Shortly after arriving in Taran, Argo left Akio, Kirita, Sasha, and Suta at the Inn while he decided to check up on how the blacksmith business was progressing. As he arrived in the scene, he was witnessing the aftermath of the bet that Leonardo and Axel had made earlier. They were comparing two different axes.

Leonardo was showing off the superior stats his ax had in comparison to the NPC created ax. "Whoa." Axel was impressed by what he saw. He could not help but admit, "Yours is actually a little better."

"I told you." Leonardo could not contain the grin as he boasted, "I told you I was better." Leonardo put both hands behind his head as he told Axel, "Now you can see how equipment made by me will make all the difference." He continued to chuckle at his success. "One day I'll make a masterpiece that no one else in Sword Art Online can even hope to create."

"…" Axel did not know what to say in the face of Leonardo's boasting.

"You two seem to be getting along." Argo chimed in which got their attention. Before either one of them could say anything, Argo asked, "Business going well?"

"Oh yeah." Leonardo was rather enthusiastic as he gave his answer. "I'm already turning a profit. I've gotten more than a few players' attention, and I'm sure more players will be heading my way soon enough."

"That's good to hear." Argo had a grin on his face that looked like it belonged to the Cheshire cat as he said, "If that's the case, I'm sure you'll have favorable things to say to Zexion."

Leonardo grinned as well while he told Argo, "If things continue going this well, you can count on that. If this keeps up, it won't be long before this becomes a gold mine. Zexion won't be able to pass up opportunities like this. Not to mention, I got the satisfaction in beating you're friend in a bet. Speaking of which, pay up Axel." Axel sighed as he activated his menu and transferred some col to Leonardo's account. "Cha-Ching!" Leonardo said in a triumph tone.

Argo appeared rather amused by that as he asked, "What was the bet?"

Leonardo showed Argo the axes. "I bet I could make the same item a NPC blacksmith could make and do it even better. As you can see on these stats, I was clearly the 'better man.'"

"That's impressive." Argo sounded genuine with this compliment.

"That's not all. If I can get the materials cheap enough, I'll be able to charge less than what than NPC would have charged too." Leonardo could not stop grinning. "Heh. That should help bring up business."

Argo remarked, "That'll definitely beat the competition."

"You're the one who told Zexion he needed to be ready for stuff like that. Anyway, I think between being able to create new items and repair services, I think things might go pretty well here." Leonardo felt as if nothing could go wrong.

Argo stated, "In that case, I got more good news for you Leonardo."

Leonardo looked rather interested in what Argo had to say next. "What's that?"

Argo answered, "I think there is some material we can acquire that's not too far from here."

Leonardo asked, "Was it in the Beta Test?"

"Yes." Argo answered without hesitation, "That's why I'm going to do some verification to make sure that is still the case. However, if I'm right, and I'm very sure I am, you might be able to forge something that players might be interested in buying."

"Humph. That sounds great, but let me guess." Leonardo quickly deduced, "You want a share of the profits."

"I'm sure we can easily work something out, but you'll see that this little offer can be quite 'beneficial' to the both of us." Argo reminded Leonardo, "Not to mention, I believe it'd be pretty difficult for you to go looking for it yourself. Not without escorts 'and' key information." Argo made sure to put emphasis on the 'and' part.

"…" After considering it for a moment, Leonardo replied, "I guess I'm always open to some 'negotiation.'"

"Excellent." Argo looked rather cheerful at this turn of events as he clapped his hands. "However, there is something else I need to do before that." Argo turned to Axel. "There's something we need to talk about. In private."

"Yes." Axel nodded. Both Axel and Argo walked away from Leonardo's mini-shop.

Axel and Argo walked a few feet while a player that Leonardo was familiar with was approaching him. He was the bald, black player who was walking alongside some new potential clients. When they were close enough, Leonardo looked rather pleased as he said, "I see you've decided to come back."

The bald player told him, "I told you that you could count on repeat business." The bald player was none other than Agil, and his associates were Nobuharu, Chikato, and Otoya who had been with him since the first boss fight.

/

Date: Sunday, December 11th, 2022

Location: Sword Art Online – Floor Two – Taran – Inn

Shortly after arriving at one of the Taran's Inns and securing a few rooms, Argo left Akio and Kirta alone with Sasha and Suta. He told them that, he wanted to check on the progress of their other guest along with verifying some information. He made it very clear to them that it would make planning things much easier, and Kirita already knew he wanted her to train Suta and Sasha, so it would be more efficient if he took care of this task first. Regardless of whether he was telling them the truth, he pretty much passed the buck of keeping Akio and Kirita occupied to his two female subordinates.

They sat in a room with several chairs surrounding a coffee table. All of them had taken their seats with Kirita and Akio sitting on one side while Suta and Sasha occupied the other. Argo had given them the courtesy of providing them with some refreshments to partake as he took care of business.

While they waited for his return, Sasha took it upon herself to break the ice. "Ahem. We haven't really been properly introduced. My name is Sasha. I'm the sub-leader of Argo's guild, the Argo Network." She stood up extended her hand to Kirita and Akio across the table. "Argo mentioned the both of you a few times. It's pleasure to finally meet you two in person."

Suta followed suit and extended a greeting of her own, "My name's Suta. I look forward to seeing if you're as good as they say."

"It's a pleasure to meet you too Sasha and Suta." Kirita accepted Sasha and Suta's courtesy and shook their hands. "I'm Kirita, but I'm sure you knew that." Kirita sheepishly stated. Unlike her conversations with other males, Kirita appeared more at ease speaking with Sasha.

Akio eyed Kirita strangely as he also stood up and shook Sasha's hand. "Thank you very much for letting us be guests of your guild. We appreciate the hospitality."

After they were sitting again, Sasha stated, "Don't mention it. It's only natural that we provide assistance to those who've helped out our fellow guild members." Before either Akio or Kirita could speak, Sasha looked towards Kirita and said, "I heard you saved Yuudai's life."

It did not take much effort for Kirita to remember that player. He was a former Beta Tester like herself, and she saved prior to the first boss battle. He had been left tied up at the mercy of the various monsters in Sword Art Online after his former party members betrayed him. She left him behind shortly after they arrived at a safe zone, and he was going to meet with Argo.

"That's right." Kirita asked in a concerned tone, "Is he doing okay?"

Sasha nodded, "Yes, but he didn't come with us." Sasha quickly explained, "Argo thought it would be better if he stayed on the first floor for now."

"He's probably right." Kirita sighed as she told Sasha, "Yuudai gave me a description of the players who tried to kill me, and they were all allied with Kira."

"I see. That's too bad for him." Sasha sounded a little down as she said, "It could make things more difficult for him later on."

Suta spoke up, "It looks like this Kira has a lot of players allied with her already. All those players we saw at the bridge belonged to her right?"

"Well, I didn't see her there, but I think I might have recognized one or two of those players from the first boss battle." Kirita stated, "I wouldn't be surprised if they joined up with her after what happened."

Suta asked, "I'm sure you know that Kira's been attempting to establish herself in Sword Art Online right?"

"I had a feeling she might try something like that, but even I didn't think it would happen that fast even if she was successful." Kirita rubbed the back of her neck as she commented, "I guess there are a lot more Beater haters than I thought."

"Well there are." Suta bluntly stated, "Since this Kira has been establishing herself as an authority figure in in Sword Art Online, that pretty much means that we're aiding and embedding wanted fugitives for helping you two out."

"…" Neither Akio nor Kirita had anything to say to that statement. It was the truth.

Sasha began to say, "Suta …"

Before Sasha could continue, Suta interrupted her, "Hey. It's the truth isn't it? Don't get mad at me. I'm sure you're thinking it to."

"That's not something you should be saying …" Sasha trailed off. She was not sure what to say next.

"No. She's right." Kirita glanced downward for a moment before looking up, "I may not technically be considered a fugitive yet, but if this Army becomes as big as I think it can, they might make me a fugitive. I may not have an orange cursor above my head, but I can definitely picture them classifying me as a criminal who needs to be captured. They've sort of tried to pull that once already."

"…" Akio had been remaining silent throughout the meeting. "She pretty much said the same thing to me earlier."

Suta asked, "So basically discriminating and capturing Beaters will soon be recognized as justice in this world?"

"Probably." Kirita tried to sound hopeful as she said, "Unless something else happens."

Suta bluntly replied, "That's doubtful."

Kirita stated in a deadpan tone, "You really like pointing out the obvious don't you."

Suta shrugged her shoulders as she said, "It's my nature. I don't like to lie. It's better to face the truth head-on."

"Heh." Kirita commented, "I know what you mean. I've done my share of brutal honesty. It's had mixed results."

"Gee." Sasha sarcastically replied, "I wonder why."

Kirita laughed a little at that before stating, "Anyway, speaking of guilds, it's kind of funny that Argo is actually a guild leader." Kirita commented, "When I first met Argo in the Beta Test, he didn't strike me as that kind of guy."

"It's funny you mention that." Sasha stated, "He kind of said the same thing himself."

Suta added, "Argo knows it's best to have numbers. If he wants his business to do well and survive this world. He's probably one of the better people to have on our side."

Kirita concurred, "It's hard to disagree with that."

Akio had been remaining silent as he observed the conversation. "She said that she might have some trouble talking to female players, but she seems to be doing just fine. Even though she's never met either Sasha or Suta, she has a much easier time talking to them than me."

Kirita briefly closed her eyes as said, "Between that along with the fact you guys are putting yourselves out on a limb for us, I'm more than happy to help train the both of you. I look forward to helping you two train." Kirita seemed rather happy when she said that.

As Akio was watching this, he thought, "At least it looks like she might enjoy it."

"That's great and everything, but what about him." Suta pointed to Akio who did not appear to hear what she said. She called out, "Hey lover boy!"

That was enough to get Akio's attention. "Huh?"

"Yeah you! Lover boy!" Suta asked, "Where do you fit in this equation?

"Lover boy?" Akio did not have any idea of how to respond. "What do you mean?

Suta casually remarked, "I mean your girlfriend is going to help us fight more monsters," The mere mention of the word 'girlfriend' caused Kirita's cheeks to start flaring up as Suta continued to speak, "so we can level up. What're you going to do?"

"Um … Well I'm not really sure I … um." Akio was at a loss of words for how he should say.

"We're not a couple!" Kirita blurted out, but her cheeks appeared rather red, but they faded away as soon as she took a breath and calmly told Sasha and Suta, "We've only known each other for a few days. We're just friends."

"Oh. Is that so? That's a shame." Suta then turned back to Akio and asked, "So you don't really know what you're supposed to be doing here? Argo-san didn't ask you to do anything?"

Akio sheepishly scratched the back of his head as he replied, "Not exactly, but I'm sure he has something in mind for me."

"Right." Suta remarked in a sarcastic tone.

"Suta." Sasha reprimanded her fellow guild member. "You don't need to be rude. They're our guests."

Suta crossed her arms. "How am I being rude? I'm just asking some questions. Besides, we're putting our necks out there. Kirita even said so herself. Answering the questions is the least they can do."

Sasha continued to scold Suta, "Even so, you should watch your tone."

As Akio was observing this, he could not help but think, "She's acting like a parent scolding a child."

Suta responded in a childlike tone, "Whatever you say 'Sasha-sensei.'"

"Sasha-sense?" Akio raised an eyebrow at that last part. "You're a teacher?

"Not yet. I'm trying to be one in the real world." Sasha clarified, "I was taking University courses, and I tutored my little brother and sister regularly."

Suta playfully added, "Not to mention, our precious 'Sasha-sensei' runs an orphanage down on the first floor and acts as their teacher and mother." Suta appeared to enjoy putting emphasis on 'Sasha-sensei.'

Hearing the word mother elicited a reaction from Sasha, but before she could say anything, Kirita replied, "You run an orphanage?"

"You could say that." Sasha stated, "After the Death Game began, I ran into a lot of young children and decided to take them in."

Akio's eyes widened. "Holy crap! That's incredible!"

"It's true. You should see how much those little munchkins love her." It was hard to tell if Suta was praising Sasha for what she did or making fun of her. "She's practically become their mother over the past few weeks."

"I wouldn't go that far." Sasha seemed embarrassed by this.

"Oh don't be modest." Suta grinned as she told Akio and Kirita, "Those kids love you, and you're filled with maternal instinct." That comment made Sasha blush as Suta pushed the envelope even further, "With the way you are now, you're bound to be a great mother yourself someday."

"Let's stop right there!" Sasha demanded, "I'd rather not think that far ahead yet."

"Okay. Suit yourself." Suta casually stated.

"Suta really changed things around on that. It went from Sasha reprimanding her to making Sasha feel embarrassed from being a surrogate mother." Argo sighed, "I can see why Argo must like having her around."

The conversation between the four players continued for a while. However, it was far from being as eventful as that.

/

Date: Sunday, December 11th, 2022

Location: Sword Art Online – Floor Two – Taran – Meeting Room

Argo had a quick discussion with Axel who informed him about the player 'Wan Shotto.' Argo quickly deduced that 'Wan Shotto' was probably the identity of the girl wearing the eyepatch. He was also fairly sure there was a player identified as 'Wan Shotto' in Tolbana, but he never met or saw her, so he was not sure.

Shortly after speaking with Axel, they walked back to Leonardo's make-shift shop to see that he was busy tending to some new customers. Among those customers Argo was able to easily recognize the player Agil based on some descriptions he received. The said customer appeared to recognize Argo as well despite never meeting him before. It was easy for the two of them to agree to have a private chat in one of the nearby meeting rooms.

After they were seated, Argo commented, "I didn't think you'd recognize me from some descriptions that Gorobei and Kikuchiyo sent you."

"Not too many people have painted whiskers on their face." Agil stated. "I bet I was probably easy for you to recognize too."

"Heh. That's putting it mildly." Argo bluntly commented, "I think you're the only black guy I've seen in this world, so the process of elimination is pretty easy."

Agil shrugged his shoulders as he replied, "You might be right about that."

"Anyway, let's get started." Argo's voice sounded more serious as he got down the business. "It's good to finally meet you Agil. I heard quite a bit about you from a few players."

"Likewise." Agil stated, "Gorobei and Kikuchiyo told me that you were interested in speaking with me."

"Yes I am." Argo said, "I hear you are quite friendly to 'Beta Testers.'"

"I'd say I'm more tolerant and rational." Agil stated, "I know the Beta Testers shouldn't be responsible for all the crap that's been happening in Sword Art Online."

"Good qualities. Not to mention, you have common sense unlike some other players here." Argo seemed rather pleased as he said, "All the more reason why I'd like to speak with you."

"The very fact you managed to get those two to join you interests me." Agil asked in a curious tone, "How did you pull that off? I didn't think they would join a guild let alone an Information Broker guild."

"I made them a very good offer. There are plenty of other benefits to being in a guild. Heh." Argo chuckled a little as he mentioned, "Not to mention, the fact Kikuchiyo has a soft spot for children didn't hurt."

"Is that so?" Argo nodded in confirmation to Agil's question, "Do you want me to join your guild? Because sorry to disappoint you, but I already got plans to form one of my own?"

Argo shook his head, "No. I wasn't going to ask you to become a member of my guild. In fact, I was hoping you'd say you were forming your own guild. You were planning on forming a merchant guild right?"

Agil did not appear surprised as he asked, "They told you that didn't they?"

"They mentioned it." Argo did another one of his trademark grins. "I was hoping we could talk business."

It was Agil's turn to grin. "Now that's what I like to hear." Agil's tone was rather enthusiastic. "What do you have in mind?"

Argo cut to the chase. "I'd like our guilds to form an alliance, so we can have a 'mutually beneficial exchange.'"

Agil replied, "I'm listening."

"I'd like to have things set up that we can give our respective guilds discounts." Argo further explained the preliminary terms. "Any shop that is owned by a member of your guild will provide discounts on the items they're selling to members of my guild, and my guild will provide any useful information at a discount as well. This is only for starters. I would definitely like to go into more details about exchanges we can have."

"Hmm." Agil brought his right hand to his chin as he considered the idea. "I'll admit the offer is already tempting. I can see why you got those two to join you." Once again that elicited one of Argo's grins. "However, it isn't my place to make this decision alone. I need to talk it over with the others."

That did not stop Argo from looking rather cheerful as he reassured Agil, "Of course. Take your time. That's fine by me, but try to make a decision before the next boss fight."

Agil nodded. "Fair enough."

/

Date: Sunday, December 11th, 2022 – Night

Location: Sword Art Online – Floor Two

Argo and Klein were not the only ones discussing the future of their guilds. After spending the past day training more intensively with Gorobei and Kikuchiyo, Griselda called for another meeting with her guild before dismissing them for the evening. As with the previous meeting, Gorobei and Kikuchiyo were not included in the meeting since they were guests. For this meeting Griselda addressed the group that she would be ending their extended contract with Gorobei and Kikuchiyo soon.

Grimlock was the first to voice out, "Are you sure that was wise for us to dismiss Gorobei and Kikuchiyo tomorrow?"

Griselda answered, "It wasn't my intention to keep Gorobei and Kikuchiyo onboard with us for more than two or three days."

"Don't you think it's a little too soon though?" Grimlock protested.

"Not exactly. The contract we had with the Samurai Brothers came to an end when we completed the quest yesterday." Griselda reminded the guild, "Everything we've done afterwards has been a bonus due to an extended contract I worked out with them. As a result, we are paying them quite a bit extra. That's why we put a lot of extra attention on training today."

"So what? Are you prioritizing money over the guild?" What Grimlock said was enough to take almost everyone sitting in on the meeting aback. No one expected him to say something like that. Griselda was momentarily at a loss for words.

"That's not a fair thing to say Grimlock." Yolko was the first to speak up in Griselda's defense.

"Yeah." Caynz also spoke up in Griselda's defense. "I'm sure Griselda-san had a good reason for this."

With the attention back on her, Griselda took a deep breath before stating, "It's true that I'm concerned about our budget, but I'm not going to just dismiss them right away. I want to wait until after we do a few fights tomorrow. I want to make sure we're strong enough to fight some of the monsters on this floor without needing their help."

"…" Grimlock did not have anything to say to that.

Schmitt spoke up, "I can understand that, but don't you think we should try keeping them around a little longer. We have made a lot of progress."

"We have. They've been a big help to us so far, but we can't be dependent on them. Don't forget they aren't members of our guild. They have their own guild to get back to." Griselda emphasized, "They were good at helping us get started, but we need to be able to make progress without relying on them. We need to be capable of relying on ourselves."

"Does that mean when we dismiss them that's that?" Grimlock clarified, "We're not going to hire any other players to help us out?"

Griselda answered, "If we fall behind again, I'm not opposed to rehiring the Samurai brothers or hiring anyone else to help us become stronger. We just have to avoid becoming dependent on other players. Otherwise, it'll defeat the purpose of hiring them in the first place."

From the looks of the players' faces, it appeared they were becoming more favorable to her decision which led her to finish things off by saying, "I'm making the decision to terminate the contract after tomorrow as the leader of this guild." Griselda looked to all the different members of her guild as she said, "However, I want to make sure everyone understands why I'm doing this, and I'm hoping you'll all be fine with it."

As expected, Yolko and Caynz were the most supportive of what she was saying while Schmitt understood what she was going for. Ryoichi, Sho, and Takara appeared to go along with what Griselda had said. Grimlock was the most reluctant, but he went along with it.

While Griselda did not show it, she was becoming concerned about her husband Grimlock. He had be having a more difficult time adjusting to the virtual world than she did. It looked like it was taking a toll on their relationship. She had been busy trying to take care of the guild and the other players that the two of them had not had many opportunities to truly talk recently. She knew that she would need to amend that.

/

When the meeting was over, Griselda walked over to her real world husband and said, "We need to talk Grimlock."

"Can it wait?" Grimlock looked away and sounded rather annoyed and ready to go to sleep when she approached him.

"No." Before Grimlock could walk away, Griselda put her hand on his shoulder, Griselda was not going to let Grimlock just walk away. "Why'd you say that? Since when have I ever made it seem like I cared more about col we have than the guild?"

"…" Grimlock did not have an answer to that.

"I know that this world has been tough for you Grimlock." Griselda did her best to sound sympathetic to her husband as she said, "I understand that this'll take longer for you to get used to, but we need to work together. I want us to support each other Grimlock. I'm fine with you criticizing any decisions I make. I can definitely understand why you might not be completely onboard with them, but don't make it sound like I care more about money than the people of this guild. I want all of us to survive, but we also need to be careful about a lot of things too. That includes budgeting and relying too much on others."

Griselda could not see the face Grimlock had from her angle. Every time she referred to him as 'Grimlock,' he briefly looked annoyed. However, he refused to let her see that. Instead, he took a breath and said, "Fine."

Even though she could not see his face, she could tell his response was 'reluctant' at best. Griselda let go of her husband's shoulder and told him, "We can continue this conversation in the morning. It's probably better if we let things cool off for now."

"Fine by me." Grimlock looked over his shoulder and told her, "Goodnight."

Griselda hugged her husband from behind and told him, "Goodnight."

Grimlock put his hand on the hands that encircled him. After she released him from the embrace, he walked away. She was disappointed by the lack of affection, but she decided not to hold it over his head this time. She hoped that things could be better tomorrow.

/

Griselda walked into the room that Gorobei and Kikuchiyo were waiting in. As soon as she opened the door, she apologized, "I'm sorry I kept you two waiting again."

Gorobei respectfully replied, "That's fine. It's your guild, and we're just guests. We don't belong in your guild meetings."

Kikuchiyo concurred, "What he said."

"I'm going to cut to the chase." Griselda told the two, "I wanted to let you both know, that I appreciate the extra help you've given my guild yesterday and today, but I believe it might be for the best."

Kikuchiyo looked like he was about to speak up, but Gorobei put his hand in front of him. Instead, Gorobei spoke, "If you want to terminate the contract after tomorrow, that's fine. It's your choice, but are you sure that's what you want to do?"

"I do, but I don't plan on ending it without being sure of something." Griselda stated, "I want to make sure we're capable of handling these monsters without your assistance."

"That's a good idea." Gorobei complimented her. "Wanting to make sure you're able to handle things on your own while we stay on the sidelines in case something goes wrong would definitely be a smart thing to do."

"It's kind of like the Golden Apple is the bike and we were the training wheels." Kikuchiyo stated.

"That's one way to look at it." Griselda asked, "However, if things don't go well in our little exercise, do you think you'd be willing to stay a little longer."

"As long as you don't terminate the contract." Gorobei answered.

"Good." Griselda nodded to herself, "Thank you."

"You don't need to thank us." Kikuchiyo politely said, "We're happy to be of service."

"Yeah." Griselda thought, "It's always good to have a backup plan."

/

Date: Sunday, December 11th, 2022

Location: Sword Art Online – Floor Two – Taran – Inn – Argo's Room

Argo made sure that he had a private room with a desk. Similar to the office he set up back at the current Headquarters for the Argo Network, he had numerous documents spread on the desk. He was busy going through documents in his room when he heard someone knocking on his door. That was another thing his room here and his office had in common.

The knocker was Suta. As soon as he let Suta in, he did not waste any time to ask what was on her mind, "Let me guess. You have a problem with Kirita being your trainer tomorrow."

"I don't have a problem with her in particular." Suta commented, "I can tell she is probably a player whose skills are far superior to mine just by looking at her. She might be capable of teaching me a thing or two."

Argo stated, "I'm sensing a 'but,' and I'm pretty sure I know what it is, but you might as well say it."

"She is the Beater that a lot of players hate." Suta stated, "Whether she deserves it or not, a lot of players already hate her, and they would probably want to kill her."

Argo replied, "I can't deny that's probably the case."

"She's cute, and I do feel a little sorry for her, but it might not be a good idea to openly associate with her." Suta had her arms crossed. "She could cause us trouble. She even said so herself that she could be a problem."

Argo did not appear to be bothered by this potential issue as he told Suta, "As long as we maintain her disguise, we should be fine."

"When we're training, don't you think it's possible that we might run into those Army players we saw?" Suta reminded Argo, "There were a lot of players, and one of them might notice something off about her."

"Maybe. There are always trade-offs when you make a decision. That includes even good decisions." Argo maintained, "I do believe having her help you and Sasha will ultimately be a good decision."

"Why do you say that?" Suta asked.

"Kirita was not only a Beta Tester, but she might have been one of the best. She's probably one of the best players in Sword Art Online right now." The tone in Argo's voice indicated he was rather genuine when he told Suta this. "You're strong Suta, but you still fall short. They'll be plenty of monsters that will try to ambush and kill you. You might do a good job taking them down, but I can see you having some problems in the future. Having a skilled player like her will help you work out the kinks in your abilities."

"What kinks?" That was the first question that came to Suta's mind.

"I'm sure Kirita will be more than happy to point it out to you." Argo replied.

Suta's arms remained cross as she said, "It still seems like a risk to associate with her."

Argo assured her, "A risk that will be worth it."

"If you say so." Suta did not seem entirely convinced, but she was not going to argue any further. "I'll give it a try."

"Good." Before Suta left the room, Argo told her, "Also there is another reason why we cannot simply turn her away."

"What's that?" Suta was curious to know the answer.

"We don't turn our back on paying clients." Argo sounded serious as he told her, "We're going to need all we can get. Be sure to remember that."

Suta replied, "Yes sir." Suta then left Argo's room shortly afterwards.

/

Date: Sunday, December 11th, 2022 – Night Scene

Location: Sword Art Online – Floor Two

It did not take long for Argo to receive another knock on his door. This time it was Sasha. As his sub-leader, she made it clear that she wished to discuss some topics with him. She felt she needed to be more in the loop of what was going on with the guild.

The first topic she brought up was, "Have you heard anything from Gorobei and Kikuchiyo? Are they done with that quest yet?"

"Yes. They were successful in fulfilling their contract with Golden Apple yesterday." Argo pulled up the contract indicating it's successful completion. In Sword Art Online, contracts that were completed would automatically receive a 'Complete' stamp on them regardless of who held the contract or where that person was. He told Sasha, "I received the transfer payment for Griselda a little bit ago."

"Yesterday?" Sasha said, "Really? That's great. Are they okay? Will they be heading our way soon?"

"They're fine, but they'll be staying with the Golden Apple a little longer." Argo informed his sub-leader. "Griselda is paying them a little extra col, so they can help out a little more."

Sasha narrowed her eyes and asked, "When did they tell you this?"

Argo replied, "I think they sent me a message shortly after they finished that quest yesterday."

"So they sent you that message yesterday?" Sasha asked once more for clarity.

"That's right." Argo casually answered.

"You didn't feel like telling us this?" The volume in Sasha's voice rose up in annoyance, "You didn't even tell us they managed to fulfill their contract with Golden Apple. Hell you didn't even tell us that you planned on having Kirita help train us until right before we met her."

"I didn't think it was necessary." Argo casually remarked, "We have different objectives right now that doesn't concern them."

Sasha remarked, "I think telling us that you're going to have another player act as our trainer is 'necessary' information to know."

Argo replied, "I did tell you."

"Yeah. An hour before we met her, and you were making arrangements long before that." Sasha told Argo. "You should tell us these kinds of things. You're the leader of this guild, and it's an Information Guild. You should keep your guild members informed of things."

"When I aim to complete tasks, I prefer only giving out the necessary information." Argo stated in a matter of fact tone, "That way we can focus more on the task on hand. I don't give away all the information I know."

"But this is …" Sasha trailed off not sure of what to say.

Argo completed the sentence for her, "Something different right?"

Sasha stated, "Yes. I can understand you keeping some things secret, but you should really try putting more consideration in what shouldn't be kept secret from your guild members. If someone's going to train me, I'd like to know who it is more in advanced. Did you ever consider that maybe I wouldn't want to have her train me?"

"I did, but I figured it would work out better this way." Argo stated.

"That's my point. You made these arrangements without letting us know. What you did feels more like it just came out of the blue." Sasha sounded even more annoyed as she brought up, "That's not even going into how you had Axel leave the group with Leonardo, so we could be more welcoming to Kirita. I get what you were doing, but you should try being honest about things." Sasha emphasized, "You need to communicate more with us."

"I was honest that having Axel and Leonardo leave would be more efficient. Axel never asked me about Kirita, so I never told him anything about her. If he asked, I might've told him a few things like I did with you and Suta." Argo stated, "Leonardo already established a few customers, and I ended up meeting with one of them."

"Wait what?" Sasha asked.

"I had a meeting with one of Leonardo's clients. There's nothing solid yet, but it could be another potential alliance." Argo stated.

Sasha shook her head as she asked, "When were you going to tell us about that?"

"Not until I actually had something more solid." Argo replied, "There's no point in telling people about an opportunity before I have a stronger footing in it."

Sasha was more hesitant as she continued to speak, "I … I guess I can understand that one, but there are some things you shouldn't keep a secret from us. You could've told us that Kikuchiyo and Gorobei were finished with the quest and they were staying longer. I think we should all be allowed to know what the status is of our guild members."

"You could always see them on the map since they are members of our guild now. You could always send them a message and asked them." Argo casually responded.

"Still … you shouldn't … you …" Sasha was once again unsure of what to say.

Argo leaned back on the wall as he crossed his arms. "When you're a guild leader Sasha, you need to be capable of keeping secrets even from your own guild members. If you ever become one, you'll understand. I can assure you of that."

"…" Sasha remained silent.

"However, you might have a point." Argo stated.

"Might?" Sasha replied in a dismayed tone.

"Communication is important after all. I'll try to keep that in mind in the future." Argo's tune changed as he said, "Either way this development with Kikuchiyo and Gorobei is great news."

"Did he just admit he might have made a mistake just now and change the subject?" Sasha decided not to dwell on that and ask, "You like the fact they're still with the Golden Apple?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Argo gave Sasha a gleeful expression as he told her, "This means they were successful with not only pleasing their client, but the client wanted even more of their service. It might be too early to say this, but this new expansion of my business could be quite lucrative." Argo seemed rather excited as he said, "I made the right call in convincing those two into becoming guild members. I look forward to seeing what'll happen."

Argo was envisioning so many possibilities. Sasha could picture col symbols appearing in Argo's eyes as he was talking. He calmed down a little as he told her, "Anyway, I suggest you get some sleep for tomorrow. You have a big day training with Kirita. You're going to need all the rest you can get."

Sasha felt less than satisfied with their conversation, but she ultimately left the room. She knew that he was right about tomorrow, and the last thing she needed was sleep deprivation. She also decided that if she was to talk to Argo in the future, she would need to come with a different approach.

/

Before the night was over, Argo received one more knock on his door. Argo sighed when he heard this knock. He mused, "I'm really popular aren't I? Can I get any work done?" When he looked to see who it was this time, it turned out to be none other than Akio.

Argo was not surprised by this last minute guest. Argo said in a deadpan tone, "I should've figured you'd come around sooner or later. Come on in take a seat."

After taking a seat Akio remarked, "I would've come earlier, but you seemed busy with your own guild."

"How considerate of you. Anyway, what can I do for you? If it's advice about Kirita, I don't think I can help you. You probably know her better than me at this point." Argo said in a teasing tone, "After all, you and Kirita seem to have become quite close."

Akio shook his head. "I wouldn't go that far."

"Really? That's not how I saw it." Argo sounded disappointed.

"We've been getting along, but I wouldn't say we've become that close." Akio stated, "We definitely had a few close encounters, and I've enjoyed spending time with her, but we've only known each other for about a week. We're just friends. I like her, but I'm not trying to get into a relationship like that."

"Had some bad experiences in the real world?" Argo phrased it as a question, but the tone in his voice indicated he was sure that the answer was yes.

"… You could say that. My parents didn't help." Akio glanced downward. This was clearly a subject that Akio was not too keen on discussing.

"Say no more." Argo was able to take the cue and shifted the subject. "Things are good between you two right?"

"You could say that. She's helped me out a lot, and she's done it without complaining." Akio tried to sound hopeful as he told Argo, "Traveling with her on this floor has been a lot of fun, and I hope we can keep going." However, there was something off about Akio's tone as he spoke to Argo.

"Glad to hear it," Argo asked, "but is there anything else wrong?"

Akio was surprised by Argo's question, and he responded with a question of his own. "What do you mean?"

"I can tell by your tone." Argo explained. Before Akio could say anything, Argo interrupted, "Don't try lying. I'm good at noticing these things. Something else is bothering you. It's probably why you came to see me right?"

"…" Akio was not in a hurry to give an answer.

It was easy for Argo to figure out the answer. "She still having trouble talking to you?"

"A little." Akio seemed a little embarrassed. "She's a lot easier to talk to after a fight."

"I suppose that includes duels?" Argo inferred.

"… Yeah." Akio hesitantly answered.

"She kicks your ass a lot doesn't she?" Argo seemed like he was having a hard time containing his laughter.

"…" Once again Akio was not ready and willing to give an answer.

However, Akio's wordless answer was enough of a confirmation for Argo. He could not contain his laughter at the thought of Akio repeatedly getting beat up just to talk to Kirita.

Akio shamefully shook his head. "Should've seen that coming."

"You should've." Argo managed to cease the laughter, but he could not stop grinning. "Ahem. Anyway, tell me when you have another duel. I could use some entertainment."

"It's not funny." Akio indignantly replied.

Argo continued grinning. "I think it is. I bet you sometimes ask for a duel, so Kirita can talk to you easier don't you?"

"That's … That's not the only reason." His stuttering sounded similar to Kirita.

"To be honest, I didn't think you'd risk getting your ass handed to you, so you can have an easier time talking to her." Argo remarked.

Akio scratched the back of his head. "A duel with her is practically a guaranteed ass kicking."

"For you anyway." That caused Argo to earn a glare from Akio. "Anyway, I suggest giving it time. Kirita is not used to having male friends."

"I got that message loud and clear. Most of the time when I talk to her, she prefers wearing a mask or partly covering her face with something." Akio reflexively curled his fingers into a fist before releasing them. "When I saw her talking to Sasha and Suta earlier, I was happy to see her having an easy time talking to someone, but it made me feel envious of those two. She was able to have a conversation with those two without stuttering even though she never met them before." Akio's frustration became more evident as he continued. "Hell I even feel envious of that NPC she talked to. She was able to talk to it without any problem either." Akio sighed. "It's annoying."

"…" Argo was silent for a few moments before he asked, "You want to know something funny?"

Akio asked in a mildly annoyed tone, "What?"

"I told her that it would be a good idea to bring you along after the boss fight, but she kept saying there was no way she'd do that." Argo had to keep himself from chuckling.

"Seriously?" It was hard to know what Akio was more surprised by. The fact Argo suggested to Kirita to let him travel with her or the fact Argo was telling him this.

"Yeah. Look how that turned out." Argo smirked as he told Akio, "I was surprised that you finally managed to convince her to let you tagalong. I didn't think you could pull it off. Good job." Argo gave Akio a thumbs up.

"Um … Thanks." Akio was not sure if he really should be accepting this as praise.

"Kirita was able to change her mind about something like this. I know that couldn't have been easy, but you did it." Argo complimented Akio. "I can tell that she enjoys traveling with you."

Akio thought of how Kirita referred to him as a good alteration to her plans as he happily said, "I'm sure she does."

"The point is it's not impossible that you might be able to help her change. You were able to change her mind on one thing. If you give this enough time, I wouldn't be surprised if she'll become quite an eloquent speaker with you." Argo playfully remarked before stating, "You might not be able to change how uncomfortable she feels right now, but I'm sure you can eventually. You just need to be patient."

"I'll try." Akio replied.

"Anyway, for the time being, we should let her enjoy spending time with Sasha and Suta." Argo remarked, "They'll probably be the first female players she's met in this game who haven't tried to kill her."

"Yeah ... That's probably true." Akio could not help but feel disturbed at that thought. "How'd you recruit those people anyway?"

Argo answered, "I'm good at finding opportunities and use them to help better my chances of having 'successful recruitments.'"

Akio asked in a deadpan tone, "You mean taking advantage of them?"

Argo shrugged his shoulders as he remarked, "That's an ugly way of putting it."

Akio replied, "I'm right aren't I?"

"You could say that, but I'm not the only one who benefits." Argo stated in a matter of fact tone, "After all, they wouldn't accept my offer if they didn't know there would be something to gain. Soon enough, they will see for themselves the benefits of working for me since I pay them well not to mention that's not all I promise. When I promise something, I make sure to deliver." Argo smirked. "In the end, we're all satisfied, and no one should complain."

Akio sighed. "Something tells me it's not that simple."

Argo stated, "Good to see you're not so naïve."

"…" Akio had no words to say to that.

"If you're interested in knowing more about my guild, I'm afraid I can't answer anymore inter-guild related questions." Argo rubbed his fingers together as he told Akio, "The only way you could convince me otherwise would be to pay me a rather 'significant' amount of col, which I doubt you have."

"That's fine by me." Akio stated in a deadpan tone. "I wasn't interested in asking you anymore questions about your guild."

"Hmpf." Argo did not seem bothered by that. "I didn't think you would. Anyway, I'm sure there's probably plenty of other things you'd like to talk to me about right?"

"More than a few." Akio answered.

"As much as I'd like to have this discussion, it'd be better that you get some sleep." Argo advised Akio. "You have a big day tomorrow."

Akio raised an eyebrow. "I do?" Akio asked in a surprised tone. "You have something you want me to do?"

"Is that really a surprise?" Before Akio could answer, Argo stated, "I wasn't planning on having you waste time sitting on your ass. That'd be just inefficient and wasteful. I got a better use for you." Argo stated, "While Kirita is busy training, you and I are going to be meeting with a 'blacksmith.'"

"A blacksmith?" Akio questioned.

"Yes. He's a guest of my guild like you are right now." Argo explained, "He might prove to be quite helpful to you and Kirita. You're going to make yourself useful by helping him out, and I'm sure you two will have a lot to talk about."

"Useful huh?" Akio muttered before replying in an enthusiastic voice, "Yeah. That sounds fine. When do you want me to meet you?"

"I want you up by eight hundred sharp." Argo instructed. "You can talk to me about whatever you wanted to talk to me about right now then."

"Okay. Sounds fine to me." Akio replied.

"I figured it would be." Argo stated.

The stage was set for a meeting between the rapier wielder and the blacksmith. Only time would tell what would come of it.

/

Date: Sunday, December 11th, 2022 – Night

Location: Sword Art Online – Floor Two - Taran

Once again Akio found himself laying on a bed staring at the ceiling. Akio had undid his braid before going to bed as he usually did. His head was sinking into the pillow as he continued to stare at the ceiling. With the way he was staring, it would be easy to think he was staring at a starlit night. While Akio was starting at the ceiling, his mind was thinking about a number of things. As much as he wanted to go to sleep, his mind was keeping him up.

"Despite the trouble we had from Kuradeel, it's been a lot of fun traveling with Kirita so far. It's so much better than when I was trying to travel and figure things out on my own. I hope we can keep traveling like this." Akio felt his head sink further into his pillow. "I wouldn't want to be on my own again."

"However, am I really being useful to Kirita? I needed her help again." He thought about how Kirita managed to easily take care of those monsters while he struggled. "She took care of those monsters without a scratch while I was on my knees. I might be getting stronger, but the gap between us isn't getting smaller." Akio sighed, "If anything, it might be getting wider."

"No! No!" Akio furiously shook his head. "I can't think like that." Akio desperately told himself, "I need to keep working on it. I might not be strong enough to beat Kirita, but I can beat up other players. I can keep building off that. I got to. Besides, Argo said I might be useful tomorrow if I meet with that blacksmith. I might be able to get him to give Kirita and me some pretty good weapons and equipment. Even if I'm not as strong as her, getting her some new stuff should be good. Right?" Akio did not seem sure of that himself.

Akio reached out to the ceiling with his right hand. He held his hand in place as he gazed upon it. Akio's thoughts went back to the day Kirita saved him from the bullies which caused him to sigh again. "I wonder how much I've really changed since that day. She saved me from getting mugged and my ass handed to me. In here, she's still saving me from getting my ass kicked. I'm pretty sure I would've been killed most of those time too. Will getting her some new stuff really be enough to make up for that? Besides, this isn't even an idea I came up with. Argo's helping me do that."

"It seems like everyone's able to figure out a role to play but me." Akio brought his hand down on his forehead. "Kirita was the one who negotiated with both Argo and this 'Delano' while I was doing whatever. She's the one who made things possible for us. Argo's the one who established a guild of his own. We're only on the second floor, but it looks like he's already got a lot of connections. He even gave us disguises to blend in with his guild and let us be guest members of his guild. Sasha became the caretaker of a lot of children who were trapped in Sword Art Online. I don't know what Suta does, but she seems to know what her place is and is definitely a lot more confident than me."

Akio sat up on the bed as he continued to reflect. "I've been following Kirita's lead the whole time and Argo was the one who decided how I would be useful. I haven't made any contributions of my own. It might not be that different from how things were with my parents. I just followed what they told me to do. It looks like I'm still dependent on others."

"Before this became a Death Game, I went into the virtual world because I was hoping I'd become different. After my parents shot down my wish to become an actor, I only followed their instructions to become my father's successor." As Akio kept thinking, he began to feel a twitching sensation on the side his head. "I was hoping to become a different person. I was hoping the virtual world could make me a different person in the real world and allow me to become strong enough to confront them again. But have I honestly changed enough?"

Akio put his hand on his head to nurse the headache that he was beginning to suffer from. "Not another one. These suck." Akio continued his line of thought, "I said I wanted to be different, but am I really different? If I confronted my parents now, would I actually have the nerve or would I shrivel up to what I was before?" Akio rubbed his head harder. "Dealing with the idiots in this world is a completely different ballgame from my parents."

"I guess that's not really important right now." Akio shook his head again. "My main focus should be on what's happening tomorrow. I need to use tomorrow's opportunity to do something useful."

Akio gripped his fingers into a fist as he said out loud, "For what's to come. I need to become strong enough. I might be able to pull it off if I give it my best shot." Akio took a breath. "I need to make this work." Akio closed his eyes and repeated, "I NEED to make this work."

After repeating that to himself a few times, he finally laid back on the pillow. He saw on his menu that it was getting late. Akio knew that he needed to call it a night. His mind felt like it was going a million miles a minute, but he managed to put the brakes on by taking several deep breaths. Akio finally managed to close his eyes and sleep finally overcame him.

/

Omake:

Akio: Hello and welcome everyone! Today …

Before Akio can finish, Argo crashes the set.

Argo: We have something interesting to tell you all!

Akio: (Annoyed) What the hell are you doing here Argo?

Argo: I have this to show you! (Argo holds out several important pieces of paper.)

Kirita: Are those?

Argo: That's right! Our new contracts! (Hands them both to Kirita and Akio) As you can see here, the three of us are 'contracted' as 'Main Characters' of this story. The three of us are almost always guaranteed to be in at least one scene per chapter.

Kirita: I'm the titular character of this story. Should I really be worried? (She then remembers Naruto) Oh right.

Argo: You might not have anything to worry about, but this is a great relief for me. I've been getting so much attention lately a part of me was worried that I might get downgraded.

Akio: You talking about how you were absent quite a lot at the beginning.

Argo: I didn't become a main character until Chapter Six, but you've had a few absences even though you were a main character from the start. What's your excuse?

Akio: Well um …

Argo: Come to think of it. I think Gorobei might've appeared in more chapters than you.

Akio: (surprised) Really?

Argo: I think so.

Akio: Even if Gorobei has appeared in more chapters than me, I've had more scenes than him.

Argo: Doesn't change the fact an original character has appeared in more chapters than you, and you're supposed to be the main male protagonist of this story.

Akio cringes

Kirita: I'm not really getting a lot of attention in this omake am I? You're really stealing the spotlight.

Argo: Kind of like how that's been happening a lot in the recent chapters?

Kirita: Well …

Argo: Maybe we should change the title to being the 'Argo Chronicles.'

Kirita: (clearly pissed) OH HELL NO!

Argo: Hey! Don't worry. Don't worry. That's not going to happen.

Kirita: It better not! Or they'll be hell to pay! (Storms off)

Argo: I heard she doesn't mind sometimes not getting a lot of screentime. I guess the whole title change is a 'landmine' isn't.

Akio: No shit! Anyway, don't forget that this chapter provided a lot of focus on me and Sasha this time. We have the flashbacks.

Argo: Yeah, but I definitely received a lot of screentime too. That was crazy that I had three bedroom interruptions in a row. I guess I'm just a popular guy.

Akio: Don't let it go too much to your head.

Argo: It's hard not to sometimes. I do back up what I say don't I?

Akio: (sighs) Whatever. (Looks to the audience) Anyway see you next time.

/

Information Broker Time:

Akio: "It's my turn now!"

Argo: "What're you doing here?"

Akio: "Just crashing this segment like you did to Kirita and me."

Argo: "I actually had a good reason for why I did it. What excuse do you have?"

Akio: "Well …"

Argo: "You're lucky I'm a nice guy otherwise I'd call security."

Akio: "I wouldn't say you're a …"

Argo: "You sure you want to finish that sentence." (Sounds slightly annoyed)

Akio: "No."

Argo: "Anyway, it's just as well that you're here. The next topic does actually go along with you. We're going to be talking about 'Guest Guild Members.'" (Looks to Sasha) "Do you mind if Akio fills in your role this time Sasha."

Sasha: "Fine by me." (Walks off the set)

Argo: "Good to see she's a good sport about that. Let's get started." (A screen appears behind Argo that provides a visual to his explanations) "As some of you know, guilds and parties are not the same thing. For one thing, parties can only be composed of a maximum of six players at a time while no such limit applies to guild membership. In canon, there was a guild that apparently had three thousand players in it."

Akio: "Three thousand! That's incredible!"

Argo: "It's not as impressive as you'd think. That guild was sub-par between not having enough sufficiently leveled up players along with not all the players following the chain of command. It's difficult to manage a large guild without having more reliable people to help."

Akio: "So more is not necessarily better."

Argo: "Exactly. That's why I'm making sure the people I bring into my guild are helpful."

Akio: "How do you determine that?"

Argo: "That's not the topic here." (Looks back to the audience) "Ahem. When players form guilds with each other, there are a number of benefits that come with it, such as sharing resources, being able to locate each other on the map, among other things. However, that is not the case with 'Guest Guild Members' like Akio here."

Akio: "How so?"

Argo: "You are recognized as being a 'member' of my guild because you receive an icon on your health bar, but you aren't able to do the same things, such being able to automatically track other guild members on your map."

Akio: "Why not?"

Argo: "Don't ask me? I don't have a clue."

Akio: "You're supposed to be an information broker."

Argo: "I didn't make the rules, but I guess the programmers simply wanted to make it clear to 'guest' members that they can't have everything a regular member does. They also probably didn't want anyone who is not a regular member from being able to track other members unless they were already friends."

Akio: "Then what can a guest member have besides this icon?"

Argo: "You can send messages to us though and join in any 'chats' we might have."

Akio: "Is that all?"

Argo: "Maybe. Anyway, we should close out this segment."

Akio: "Wait! This feels like there are more things to talk about here!"

The segment comes to an end.

/

Fantasy Casting

Instead of doing Argo this time, I decided I will do Leonardo since he and Akio will be meeting each other in the next chapter. It might also be a good idea to check out the previous chapter to look at the fantasy casting I would do for Akio to get more into the casting gag.

For the Japanese voice actor, I would select Mamoru Miyano who has provided a large variety of voice work as both good and evil characters. His resume includes Riku from Kingdom Hearts, Light Yagami from Death Note, and Flynn from Tales of Vesperia. I could picture Sam Regal who provided the voice of Jude from Tales of Xillia, Donatello from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003, Teddie from Persona 4 Arena, and Flynn in Tales of Vesperia. Since both voice actors have provided the voice for two versions of the same character, I thought this would be fun. Not to mention, there are at least a few casting gags that would go with this selection.

What are your thoughts on this fantasy casting?

/

Author Notes: If any of you are confused about the timeline of this chapter. There are certain aspects of this chapter that took place either prior to or concurrent with the ending of Chapter Thirteen. For example, Akio waking up in the morning at the beginning of this chapter took place prior to Wan Shotto's meeting with the Army members to establish herself as their new immediate commander. Originally, that scene was going to be in Chapter Thirteen, but I decided it would be more effective to have it as one of the opening scenes of this chapter.

Wan Shotto beat up the players and established herself as the commander during Chapter Thirteen. During that point, it was relatively early in the day. She took the reins right away and immediately started having them go through quests to build themselves up. They were gone while Argo and his guild arrived at the bridge. They returned after Axel and Leonardo were checking out the two which is why Axel was able to overhear a conversation between some of the players. This is also what made it possible for Argo and the others to be arriving at the time Wan Shotto was about to get the guild members started on another regiment of their training.

I decided that I wanted to give Akio more focus in this chapter. While I did have a flashback for Akio regarding the aftermath of him being saved by Kirita in a previous chapter, I feel more satisfied with this one. It feels less rushed, and it does not end with him finding out about the Nerve Gear on TV like it did with the last one. You can consider this flashback to be one that happens between the ones of Kirita's rescue and that flashback.

Part of the reason for Akio's flashback was meant to further show that even after Kirita told Akio he should change himself during their encounter in the real world, it did not change him automatically. The words did stick, and he decided that he wanted to change. However, he knew it was not going to be easy, especially since his parents had more or less controlled his life. I want to go into more detail regarding Akio's life outside of the summary I previously established in some earlier paragraphs.

Both in the past and the present, the road to character development is not always clean cut and smooth. Sometimes we need to make mistakes before that can happen. The same thing goes for developing friendships with characters. They are not always going to agree a hundred percent of the time even if they go along with it since they might not have an alternate idea.

Originally, I was going to start off the chapter with it featuring Delano's guild, however, their scenes were once again moved back. When I was writing the scenes for Delano's guild, I decided that these scenes might work better in another chapter. When I write chapters, I try to reach a goal, and I feel it makes more sense for Delano's guild to have more screentime during that one.

Similar to what the paragraph above states, this chapter was originally going to be longer, but I felt it was becoming too long. However, I do not plan on deleting any of the scenes, and I will utilize them. They will help develop and establish more plotlines.

In the earlier author notes, I stated I plan on there being a time skip in the future. In the near future, when I reach a certain point, I will more or less hit a 'fast-forward' button for the story. That way more of the plotlines can develop a little faster, and we can see more boss battles. Please be a little patient, and I know I will deliver on that.

As usual, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, and I hope you will provide reviews.