Chapter 36.- Arcadia

September/ 18th / 2023

Thirty Second Floor of Aincrad – Aldhurst Training Grounds

Alshep

"Now you're just cheating!" I complain loudly.

"What, is Al too delicate for a punch in the face?" Owl says.

We keep circling each other in the small, circular arena. People are gathered on the edges watching us fight.

"We said weapons only," I huff.

"My bad, I guess," he replies.

"You smug bastard," I mutter.

I feint at him as if swinging my sword but quickly change my position as I approach him. I try to tackle Owl but he easily stops me from toppling him over. I stand awkwardly, sensing my fate as he drops his weapons and wraps his burly arms around my waist.

"Oh shit.." I mumble.

He lifts me with ease and piledrives me into the floor. I fall on my back and open my eyes just in time to see Owl trying to stab me with his spear. I roll away from his attack and stand up. I stumble back and manage to steady myself with the small wooden railing limiting the arena.

"Oh boy, you don't seem to be doing so well, sweetheart." Ruri says from the other side of the railing.

"Shut up," I reply.

"You're so cute when you're mean," she says.

"You never stop being awkward, huh?" I ask.

"Nope," she says with a smile, "Now go get him tiger."

She pushes me forwards practically at Owl's spear. I roll to the side and manage to get up close to him. Now I have the tactical advantage; spears are useless in close quarters.

I punch him with all the strength I can muster, which isn't much at the moment, and he staggers back, letting his spear and shield fall to the ground. We begin to throw punches at each other, my agility allowing me to evade his. He carelessly throws a punch to my stomach but I grab his arm. I pull him close to me and quickly push him over my leg, which I sneakily placed behind him, sending him crashing to the ground. A chime is heard and the duel comes to a close.

"You got lucky," Owl huffs.

"Sure, sure," I say and help him back on his feet.

He stands, stretching and brushing off dirt. People around the small arena start to leave and Ruri jumps over the railing to join us. She slow claps as she approaches us and then jumps on Owl's back. Owl is taken a little by surprise and almost trips over but he manages to just barely regain his balance.

"Such an elegant display of virility," she says.

"I know right? Could see you swooning from over here," I tease.

"I do not swoon!" she replies.

"Yeah that's too much physical activity for you," Owl pokes.

Ruri is well known for being lazy, so I just laugh a bit at Owl's comment. She pouts over Owl's shoulder but then she smiles and looks at me with those mischievous eyes of hers. She gently places her head next to Owl's and seductively traces her hand up Owl's neck.

"I don't know what you are talking about."

Owl just stands idly with a blank expression, I cross my arms and stare at the girl.

"After all," she moans, "I'm all for physical activity."

Owl pushes her off his back and starts walking to the edge of the arena. Ruri complains on the ground but quickly gets up.

"That was harsh."

"Really?" I ask.

"Yeah, like I was just kidding," she says.

She takes a few seconds to look past me and then brings her hand up to her chin. She chuckles to herself and smiles in a very dirty way.

"Although I wouldn't mind," she admits.

"I swear to god you have no filter on your thoughts," I say.

"What can I say? I'm an open book."

"You are an open porn mag," I reply.

"I've got love to share with everyone, what's the problem with that?" she complains.

We start walking out of the arena and I laugh a little.

"Ever think maybe you are oversharing?"

She gets close behind me and hugs me tightly. She wraps hers arms around my chest and presses her face against my back.

"Or maybe I don't share enough," she moans.

"Knock it off," I say and shake her off of me.

"Come on Al, don't limit yourself to just one woman," she purrs.

I stop hearing anything she has to say and catch up to Owl.

"That last bit was cheating, so you owe me a rematch," Owl says.

"Cheating? You were the one that started throwing punches," I answer.

"True…but still," he says and chuckles.

"I'm not giving you a rematch, now shut up," I say, "Let's go back already."

He speeds up and I decelerate accordingly, wary of matching his rhythm.

I mean, she's got a great rear, there's no denying that," Little Miss Pervert mumbles.

"Who?"

"Kayla, if only she weren't so mean," she complains.

"You are seriously the only one that manages to get on her bad side."

"Seriously what a bummer I really like her," she huffs.

"Well you should try being a bit more normal."

She gets ahead of me and turns around with a twirl.

"Listen here, mister," she explains, "it's no fun at all being normal. If I were normal, I'd be like Owl; we all would."

"What's wrong with Owl?"

"That big, burly, manly man is too quaint. He's nice, but he's so plain!"

She keeps walking backwards and turns around just in time to not trip over the steps that lead up to Aldhurst's gate.

"And what's not so normal about me?" I ask curiously.

She opens the gate's menu and scrolls down to floor seventeen. She turns slightly to me and presses her index finger against her lips.

"Hmm," she utters, "You I just like for no particular reason."

She disappears to the seventeenth floor and I'm left alone at the gate.

"What a great explanation," I mutter sarcastically.

I transport to Barrowdell and yawn quite loudly once I materialize on the floor. Ruri is already ahead, walking through the crowd. Despite the lack of players, the streets are still stuffed with people. I say people but I actually mean NPCs, they just feel very genuine from time to time. In all the time I've spent around here I can only say I've heard dialogue loop once.

"Hey, getting back just now?"

I look to my right only to see our smiling blacksmith greeting me.

"Hello to you too, Lisbeth," I huff, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

I keep walking when I notice she is carrying a lot of stuff. Three swords, a hammer and a dagger to be precise.

"Your guild gives me a nice bit of business, besides not like a have a store for you guys to come and pick up your stuff."

"Let me help you with that," I say taking the hammer and a sword form her, "Why not just put it in your inventory though?"

"I like showing off my work to random strangers walking about," she says, her chest proudly puffed out.

"Fair enough."

I push the door to the guild house with my back and Esra is ready and at the door the second I come in.

"Welcome back Master," she says with a little bow, "How was training?"

"It went alright, who's in?"

"Owl is yet to arrive, Ruri is up in her room," she says, "Kayla is currently in the kitchen, and Elina and Twyla are still on the first floor with the new member."

"Twyla is training Hotoka?" I ask.

"It appears so, Elina was to go with her alone, but Twyla went along with her in the last moment."

"Al, uh…you need to let me in," Lisbeth says, sounding a bit irritated.

This has happened numerous times. I just can't seem to get accustomed to letting her in like this. A barely visible yellow grid prevents Lisbeth from coming into the guild house and opening my menu sends a notification up to my face. I click "Ok" promptly and she is now allowed to come into the building. Lisbeth walks to the table not far from the door and sets the rest of the weapons over it. I walk over as well and set the sword and hammer over the table's surface.

"I'll come back for my Col later, I'm a bit busy at the moment," she says, "You guys take care."

Esra politely opens the door for her and the pink haired blacksmith exits our guild house. I take off my armor and hang my head a little.

"Is something amiss, master?" Esra asks

"No, not really…" I mumble.

"I've been meaning to say…" she says softly.

"Yeah?"

She holds her hands together near her stomach and for the first time in a long while I see her appear nervous as she fidgets a bit.

"I found something…in Daath's room," she says.

"You what?" I miff.

I stand up and quickly close the distance between me and Esra. I stare down at her as she tries hard not to look me in the eye.

"I found this key…" she mumbles, "I'm sorry master I was just cleaning and I…and I… I thought."

With shaking hands she holds up this white key, it's kind of shiny and it has an emblem with horn on it. I take the key away from her and hear shriek as I do so.

"Master…I was just….I thought you might want to know about this key," she says, sounding apologetic, "I'm so sorry."

I clutch the key in my right hand and look at her, feeling enraged, like I'm about to burst.

"I told you not to go in there," I say.

"B…but I have to clean and als-"

"And what exactly are you going to do to this poor girl?"

I turn to the door and see a black hooded player resting her back on the door's frame. Knowing I have to let her inn I quickly go through the same process I went through with Lisbeth. She walks in and slowly uncovers her face.

"Argo…come on in…" I mumble.

"I asked you a question, guild leader," she mocks.

I grind my teeth and stare her right in the eye. Her gaze is just scary. I would joke it's the stare of a dead man, but she is a woman and she is very much alive. She reaches for my shirt and pulls me in closer to her face.

"…Yes?"

"Nothing, I'm not gonna do anything," I reply.

"Then don't scare her, christ…" she mutters and pushes me away.

Esra is terrified, she looks at me with teary eyes. I examine my posture and realize how aggressive I look.

"I'm sorry, Esra…" I say softly, "Please forgive me."

"Esra, could you leave for a moment? I need to talk to Al," Argo says.

"Of…of course," she responds shyly and goes away.

She quickly goes away to the kitchen and leaves me and Argo alone in the foyer. The whiskered woman stares at me, a cocktail of disappointment and empathy swirling in her eyes. I just shrug. There's really no way for me to explain it.

"I know it's still hard for you to accept," Argo says.

"Eavesdropping…how surprising...should it be easy?" I ask, well aware of my harsh tone.

As per usual, she gazes elsewhere, seemingly without a care in the world and yet her hunched shoulders betraying her inner turmoil. I approach her slowly, she is clearly hurting too but is trying to hide it. Reminds me of a certain girl I haven't seen in a while now.

"I know he was sort of close to you…" I mutter.

"Be that as it may…" she replies with a sigh, "I thought you were keeping it together, apparently I was wrong."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Come on Al, you still have his room there, right?" she says, "And from what I heard, you won't even let anyone see it."

I remain silent because if I outright admitted it, that would mean losing the argument, and right now I really need to win this, more than I wanted to win that stupid fight. She crosses her arms and hangs her head as she gives me that emotionless stare of hers.

"I bet you didn't give his girlfriend and that other guy the same amount of respect," she says.

"They had a choice!" I raise my voice, "Daath didn't! Daath didn't walk out on us because he wanted to!"

"Oh drop the act," Argo demands, "You still beg me to check if they are alive."

I clench my fist and refuse to look at Argo. She has a way of getting under my nerves.

"I lost as much of a friend as you did," she admits, "But come on man…you need to move on."

With absolutely perfect timing Twyla, Elina, and Hotoka come in through the door. Elina comes in with a smile, one that is quickly erased as she stares at the current situation. Twyla gets off Edelweiss' back and with a cherry smiles starts approaching me.

"Yoh, guild leader, I think we ar-"

Covering her mouth quickly, Hotoka silences Tryla and awkwardly pushes her to the stairs. I nod at Hotoka for her respectful understanding and she makes haste up the stairs, probably heading to her room.

"You need to clear that room, holding on to it won't do you guys any good," Argo says and slowly heads for the stairs.

I reluctantly follow her without saying a word. My whole body rejects the idea but either way I sluggishly follow the whiskered information broker. As I take my first step on the stairs I briefly glance back and see Elina holding her hands close to her chest. She is trying to give me a comforting look, but I wish it did more than just make me smile a little.

Making it to the first landing I follow Argo down the hallway. I get ahead of her and position myself next to Daath's old room. Turning the knob feels wrong, I can't explain why. I sigh deeply before stepping through the door's frame. I haven't stepped in here since it happened.

"They…they left some stuff behind," I mumble, "Both him and Aeri."

I walk over to the small chest resting at the bed's feet. I crouch quickly and open it. A black cloak, a pair of swords, some potions and a silver dagger.

"Most of it is just trash I guess…" I add.

"What about that key?"

I get all of the stuff inside the chest in my inventory and stand up. I dig into my pockets and take out the white key.

"This?"

"Yeah."

She stares at every ridge and bump on the key, curiously feeling its cold surface. The only thing she doesn't do with the key is lick it. Every inch of the tiny object is examined by her cunning eyes.

"I think I've seen this before, but not from Daath," she exclaims, "He never told showed me this, I'm sure I've seen it from another player though."

"Really?"

"Can I get back to you on this? I think it's part of a very rare quest."

"Sure…I don't really care," I reply.

I look around the room for a few seconds. In retrospect it feels a bit dumb that I held unto this. I can't even come with a good reason as to why I did. I guess it just didn't feel right, it felt too soon even if more than three months have come and gone. He left us, but not willingly and I guess we just haven't had the strength to push through this damn mess.

"I guess I just wanted to hold onto something," I admit.

She crosses her arms again and nods at me with this understanding look.

"I mean, we've been managing along quite alright so far," I huff, "We've had new members, they've come and gone. Most left, but at least they joined in the first place. We are surviving."

I chuckle to myself for no real reason.

"But you know, that's exactly what sucks," I pause, "We've only been surviving. I want it to do so much more. I should be happy, but all I can think about is Klaus running free."

"And what would you even do?"

"Huh?" I question, "What do you mean?"

"Say I know where Klaus is, which I really don't as of now, but what if I did?"

"Easy," I say and cross my arms, "I would go and kill him."

She laughs a little, even throwing her head back as she does.

"Awesome, then you would be no better than him," she says, sarcastically.

Oh you poor whiskered girl. I laugh loudly, clearly losing it. That has got to be the greatest line of bullshit I've heard in my life.

"Oh, that's rich. That's just fucking rich," I laugh, "Get your head out of your ass!"

She looks a bit taken by my sentence. Why wouldn't she? I just told her to get her head out of her ass.

"Klaus killed Daath, he killed Kato, he tried to kill Elina, he tried to kill me, and he has killed way too many players now," I say and point my finger right at her face, "Trust me the last thing I will show that red headed fucker is mercy."

"So you'll get down to his level?"

"Oh excuse me, what the hell should I do then?" I ask, "Let him go around as he is probably still hunting us? To let him roam this world as he kills other people as well? What exactly do you want from me, Argo?"

"You should forget about him, best case scenario he already forgot about you," she mutters.

"So I should let my guard down?"

"No, never do that!" she exclaims, "but…please Al, don't let this feeling consume you."

Is she worried about me? I feel suddenly guilty about raising my voice at someone so well meaning. I want to look down or away but I just stare at this sudden expression of worry. It feels nice to know that even the All-knowing Argo is worried about me.

"Shit…" I huff, "I'm sorry."

"I have a feeling you've been saying that too often," she teases.

"I take back."

"I was kidding," she says with a soft chuckle, "But seriously…you are better than that."

"People keep saying stuff like that," I say in disbelief.

She walks towards the door and steps through the threshold.

"Maybe that's because it's true."

She's almost out of my sight when I suddenly bound forward.

"Argo," I say.

She stops and turns her head towards me once again.

"How…how are they doing?"

"They are doing well, last time I saw them they were a few floors up," she says but sighs, "I won't tell you where they are though, I'm just trying to res-"

"Respect Aeri's decision…yeah." I interrupt, "Thanks, Argo."

"You take care, ok?" she says.

I just nod, I feel the need to sit down and take a sit over the chest. I can hear Argo slowly walking away as her boots step on the hardwood floor. It takes a few seconds but after a bit I hear the front door close.

"Master? Are you alright?"

I raise my head up a bit and see Esra standing by the door. I smile for a second and then stand up.

"Hey, I'm really sorry about before," I say.

"No need to worry, I did something I shouldn't have," she replies.

"Come on, don't say it like that…" I mumble, "Just…well, I'm sorry either way."

She smiles brightly to me and then makes a little bow in front of me.

"I will be taking my leave then," she says.

I nod and see her walk towards the stairs.

"My my, taking two other girls into an empty room and poor little Elina wasn't even there to watch. Even worse, you don't even invite me."

"Shut up Ruri," I say.

"Bah, come on you know I'm kidding," she says.

I turn around and lean my back on the door's frame. I cross my arms and stare at the white haired pervert. Unamused and raising an eyebrow I make damn sure she knows I don't believe her last sentence.

"Ok, you know I'm kidding…most of the time," she corrects herself.

Still I keep the same pose and expression locked down on her.

"Ok, fine whatever," she admits.

She crosses her arms as well and tries to look at something to distract herself with. Her gaze darts around the hallway but ends up focusing on Daath's room.

"You know, after all this time," she says, "You would expect to just be able to forget…you know? At the very least forget."

I avoid doing any comments, I just nod and slowly sigh myself. I suddenly smile though, why should I remember the guy this miserably?

"Hey, you want this room?" I ask.

"Uhm…for real?"

"Yeah, it's about time we clear this thing up, anyways."

"Well, sure I'll move here," she says, "You sure?"

I nod and start heading for the stairs. Daath maybe did die like a dog, but he did a ton of great things before leaving us prematurely. I extended my grieving process too many months. I'm done with it. I go down the stairs. Elina, Kayla and Twyla are sharing some food, Esra is just standing next to the table as she joins in the conversation from time to time. The world didn't stop. It didn't stop at all, it seems I have been the only one stuck in those events, those months ago. The girls laugh at something they are talking about as I reach the door to the guild house. I turn around as I place my hand on the knob and see Hotoka leaning over the handrail of the second floor.

"Hey Hotoka, get down here," I say.

"Huh, what for?" she complains.

She hangs her head in a really dramatic fashion and sighs so loudly even everyone at the table turns to see her.

"Don't tell me we are going out, I'm already on my pajamas," Hotoka whines.

"What? It's like two in the afternoon," I huff, "And you are not even wearing pajamas!"

Bright light envelopes Hotoka's body turning her light armor into a set of pink pajamas. With a blank expression I stare at her and cross my arms. She rolls her eyes and through her menu she equips again her light armor. She sighs again and jumps over the handrail, she gracefully falls on the entrance floor and starts walking towards me.

"We are going training."

"What? But we just got back from training," Hotoka says.

"Have you done any duel training?" I say with a grin.

First Floor of Aincrad – Starting City

"Don't you think you were a bit rough?" ELina asks.

I laugh and scratch the back of my head as we make it out of the main plaza.

"Really? I actually think I was a little too soft on her."

"You beat the sh-poop out of her," Elina stammers.

"Woah, language," I tease.

"Oh shush, if anything being with you is rubbing off on me."

"I'll take that as a compliment," I say.

"Of course you will, silly."

We walk through some narrow streets an odd feeling of nostalgia starts taking over. At the beginning we didn't stay long at all in starting city, but these streets in particular are very much burned into my mind. I guess in a way people would say it's because of trauma, but it really isn't, or at least I think so.

"Are you sure about this?" Elina asks, as we go down the empty street.

"Yeah, it's long overdue anyways, besides you never said goodbye did you?"

"True…" she mutters.

This city…I don't know if every time we come it looks better or worse. Every time it just looks that more empty, which makes it look clean but then again, it just feels empty. We reach yet another familiar structure, a building with a long darkened entrance. I gently take hold of Elina's hand start heading in. The more we walk the more that slab of names becomes clear to see. The hall itself is as dark as the last time I was here. It is also very cold now.

"Uhm…so…uh what exactly are we doing?" Elina questions.

"I'm not sure myself."

Standing just a few feet away from the slab now, we stop and just stare at the thing. I notice an odd plushy near the middle of the slab, the toy just sits there. I wonder if someone forgot about it, or maybe it's just some in-game thing I never noticed before. I hear Elina clap her hands and turning my head I notice she is keeping them together with her eyes closed.

"Huh…never took you for a religious person," I comment.

She opens one eye and suddenly looks embarrassed.

"I…I'm not I just thought…uh you know? A prayer or something would be nice."

"It can't hurt," I reassure her.

I clap my hands as well and stand straight. I keep my hands together and close my eyes as I do my best attempt at this prayer thing, which if I'm honest, I have just never done in my life. Halfway through whatever I thought I was doing I start to chuckle.

"Geez, what is it?" Elina asks.

"I just remembered," I stop myself to laugh a little, "Remember how we had this thing we did so we always had a lamp whenever we quested late?"

I start all out laughing quite loudly and even bend a little as I do.

"And you always found a way to forget the lamp?" I add.

Elina chortles and starts laughing as well.

"And do you remember what a grumpy guy you were?"

"Hey hey, that's still one of my main selling points," I joke.

She comes close and hugs me and I gently hug her back.

"It's been a while now, huh?" I mutter.

"Almost a year," Elina replies.

I scan the slab for Daath's name, relishing this moment. I find it easily and a smile crawls over my face.

"Thanks for saving us back then, man," I say.

Elina hugs me tighter.

"Thank you, Daath," Elina says as well.

Eventually, we have to realize something: the story we shared, all the pain and happiness...it wasn't all for nothing. We owe Daath a great deal of things, we will take that chance he gave us. Sadly his chance is over now, but here, today, we live in his stead. And you never know, maybe, just maybe we'll meet again someday.

Crysina here!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Thank you to mangachiaki for beta-reading!

Hello and good morning if you are ready this in the morning that is, if not then good [period of time in the day]. So this week we finally got to see the old gang, they seem to be faring ok no? People grieve differently and they all take different amounts of time. Anyways, this all has been happening and happened over a somewhat big time skip in my story, I'm sure you've notice. I usually think time skips and the such are mayor bullshit things to avoid writing stuff you don't want to. AND IT TOTALLY IS! Although I would like to excuse my time skip as a way to avoid writing boring stuff and to give way to character development. So is that ok? I think it is haha. Anyways, as you may also know the character cast just seems to be growing by the chapter and I fear some characters might not get as enough attention as others, but I do try to balance that out in further chapters. You'll be the judge I guess, but in a story with so many characters I think at time is inevitable to just put some characters in background. Enough about this.

IC0 with a zero: Rising idols in Japan while some may have dedicated fan-bases tend to be rather...uh small? When it comes to actual popularity. There are tons trying for the showbiz, and everyone wants a part of it. I'll be honest the first draft of that chapter had a small scene where a fan recognized Aeri and she was just thoroughly annoyed by it since she wanted to be alone. But it further expanded an already long chapter and I felt it didn't really add anything to the story. I really enjoy reading your reviews thank you for that critical eye of yours. BeastZoroak: You'll be surprised to know that from other drafts of the chapter this was technically the softer way I had planned for Aeri to reject him. Steve:Action will come soon I promise.

As always, if you like what you read, want to share a though on the story or anything of the sort, please leave a review. I enjoy reading what any of you guys has to say about my story!

Take care, and I'll see you all next week!

Next Chapter: "Keeping Up With The Act"