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As luck would have it, there was a massive gust of wind and they managed to cut their distance by a quite a bit, well it what Kirito, Leafa and Romina believed, but the truth was that Cardinal finished updating the copy of herself in Alfheim, and as a thank you that copy made a gust of wind to thank her and her friends. I guess it pays off to have friends in high places, then again you sometimes get help from the most unexpected places.

The real reason that the attack was taking longer is that one of the field commanders was late. Eugene was seriously considering demoting the slacker. As Kirito flew closer he saw a figure that sort of look familiar, surrounded by at least 50 salamanders no less. "Hey, Klein what are you doing here?" Klein looked at him and smiled, "Territory invasion, but somehow I am late. What about you?" Kirito began to laugh, "Same old Klein. Different game, same slacker attitude. I am stopping that invasion as a matter of fact. I am on my way to finalize an alliance with 2 other races." Klein too laughed, "You know this is a game, why do you have to always be an overachiever in an VRMMO?" Klein could see that he was faking all his laughter, "Asuna is being held hostage by the Admin in this game. She and 300 other players never woke up from SAO." Klein could really kick himself for saying that. "Look, let me help you out. We could try and reason with Eugene, but knowing him, he is as much a battle freak as you are. So I make you a bet, if you manage to defeat him, I will join your guild. I know my guys will want to join too. That will put a hold on Mortimer and his invasion plans."

As they began to see the number of salamanders, Kirito decided to use his maximum speed. To Leafa and Romina it looked like he almost disappeared. Just as Eugene was about to give the order to attack, he landed hard between him and the Sylph and Caith Sith. Alice was pretty surprised when she saw him land, Sakuya not so much. "Nice to see you again, Kirito." Sakuya told him. Without even looking back he told her it was nice to see her too, but right now he needed to deal with a big red problem. "Hey, where is your commander? tell him to come and meet me immediately!" The salamander decided to tell him that he had no authority to order him around. Kirito took one of his swords out, and he looked pissed. "Listen you pathetic maggot, when I tell you something you do it! Think about that when you suffer the death penalty!" He rose his sword ready to attack, but he was interrupted. "There is no need for that, I am here. I have to say you have some guts threatening one my subordinates." Eugene told Kirito all the while smiling. Finally a player with guts, Eugene began to think, I will get a decent fight at long last. "I am Kirito ambassador for the Spriggan-Undine alliance. I am here to complete the alliance with both the Sylph and Caith Sith. If you attack them I assure you, you will have 4 races attack yours, and they will be more than happy to use your territory as a col farm."

Eugene began to consider the ramifications of what he told him, it was true that they would never win against such a force, but something in him did not allow him to trust Kirito. "You are an ambassador but you have no bodyguards and are wearing some of the crappiest looking gear I have ever seen. Why don't we let our skills do the talking?" Kirito was not one to mince words. he agreed and took a battle stance.

As Leafa and Romina landed near Sakuya, she was happy to greet her. "He does know that Eugene is the best swordsman in Alfheim doesn't he?" Sakuya asked Leafa, to which she told her that maybe he was more confident about her brother beating Eugene into the ground. As the fight began Eugene saw him guard and he was happy to have his sword, his sword would pass right through it and kill him in one blow, or so he believed, but as soon as it passed it clashed with a second sword. What the hell, there was no dual swords skills in Alfheim, what in the world is he up to. The fight end on for 30 minutes and each other was evenly matched. But then he decided to use a smoke screen spell. The Sylph and Caith Sith flat out said that he ran away. Leafa told the one who said that he was a coward, that her brother would never do something like that.

As Eugene looked for his opponent he saw him flying straight to him but he could not focus, Kirito was using the sun to blind him. The thing that no one ever considered happened as he reached Eugene and he called a skill that made most salamanders freeze with fear. "Starburst Stream!" That was an SAO skill used by the conquerer of Aincrad, if he was the same Kirito then Eugene was not going to win. They never figured that Kirito could do the skill without it being programmed into Alfheim Online. He knew the motions and the pattern so well that he could do the skill without OS assistance. After a 70 hit combo Eugene was sent flying into a nearby tree and he fell and was defeated as his body touched the ground.

"Amazing, that fight was simply amazing!" Sakuya began to say over and over again. The other delegates looked really happy. Nobody likes the death penalty after all. Romina simply walked over to where the remain light was, and used her resurrection magic. Eugene appeared and looked as Kirito landed. "So do you believe me now? or do you want me to prove it again with these blades of mine?" Eugene began to think about it, when Klein called for permission to speak freely. He of course was given permission. "Sir, this is Kirito, trust me when I say you will be the most respected level 1 player if you continue fighting him. He is not lying, I think he was holding back in that fight. Being married for so long, made you a softy!" Klein punched Kirito on the shoulder. "You tell me that when you find someone to marry!" Klein complained that Kirito was being cruel with him. "So, that was a skill of SAO, what guild and what rank where you there?" Kirito smiled, "I was the Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath. Why would it matter here in Alfheim. Here I am just a the head of the Spriggan Mercenary Guild." When he heard that Eugene was so shocked that he looked like he was about to drop him sword. "So that why. I see I have no other choice but to accept what you said as truth. It was never our intent to wage war on the Sylph-Undine alliance. If the Sylph and Caith Sith join, then I might be able to convince my brother to try and negotiate the salamander's be able to join too. We just need a way to make enough col to raid the world tree. It was never personal, it was just business." Kirito understood where he was coming from. "I am planning to raid the world tree pretty soon, why don't you join the alliance forces even if your brother decides not to join?" Eugene really like the guts on this guy. "Sure thing, me and my friends will join in that raid. But Klein and his slackers are getting a demotion to civilians." Kirito laughed and simply told him that they would simply join his guild, after a good boot camp, that should fix their slacking problem once and for all. Eugene laughed and shock his hand, "Well I need to go, but be sure to send me a message when that raid happens." Kirito simply told him that he would and every salamander was surprised to see the smile on Eugene's face as they all flew away from the Sylph and Caith Sith delegates.

Kirito told him everything he had learned about the attempted act of treason. Leafa after what she heard she could not believe that Sigurd would do something so callous and disloyal. She made a few excuses from everything from being blamed for something he would not do, to how could they mistrust such a long friend. When Kirito heard the friend excuse he put a stop to it. He looked at her with a real cold look in his eyes, "That bastard doesn't have friends, he had disposable tools, pawns. If it was for his benefit he would kill every single sylph. More than likely there was a benefit for him in this attack." Sakuya felt the anger that Kirito felt, she too did not forgive treason as quickly as others. A leader can not show weakness, or allow themselves to be blinded against the evidence just for mere misplaced trust. "I think the reason was due to the new update that is coming soon, it has a reincarnate system. Sigurd was not to happy that we were losing rank in terms of military and economic power." Kirito looked even more pissed when he heard that. "So basically Mortimer promised him to allow him to be a salamander if he brought to him the head of his current leader on a silver platter? What an absolutely stupid thing to believe. Mortimer was never going to go through with his deal, he would never welcome a traitor to his race, he could betray him when it was convenient for him after all. You betray one leader, betraying another won't be as difficult." Sakuya and Alice both agreed that to be true. Leafa had never seen Kirito look so angry, Romina was looking at him with even more respect, Yui was seated on her daddy's shoulder offering whatever emotional support she could.

"How do you think we should handle the traitor?" Sakuya asked Kirito. "Expose him by publishing an entire article on his betrayal, and exile him from the Sylph at the same time the article would be out for public consumption. I would place a heavy fine on those that try to get the exile revoked. In the exile if I could I would strip him of everything he ever earned while being a sylph. Use that to do some help for newbies, say a newbie class besides the tutorial from the game." Romina knew that this way everyone would know what kind of a slime ball Sigurd really was, and prevent other from being tricked by him. The money would help new players out and made the sylph much stronger. Leafa wanted to say that the exile would be enough, but Kirito reminded her that treason must have heavy consequences to prevent it from happening again. Yui knew that her daddy would not punish lightly such an act, he might be a fiend but even fiends did not behave like Sigurd did.

Alice walked closer to him and smiled, it almost made Kirito look nervious. "So tell me handsome, how much do we owe you for the rescue? and who are you exactly?" Kirito looked at her and smiled, "Me, I am Kirito your friendly neighborhood mercenary. If both Sylph and Caith Sith join the alliance with us Spriggans and Undine I would be more than consider myself rewarded." Alice began to laugh, "Oh, I like the confident type, tell me handsome why don't you become a mercenary for the Caith Sith, you get a room, 3 meals, and a snack." She pressed her body close to him. "Kirito, why don't you join me for a drink? I know a lovely little pub in Swilvane, my treat." Alice did not like her pressing her breast against Kirito. "Ah, Sakuya you are totally seducing him with those big things, give a girl a chance." Alice complained as she pointed at her breasts. Sakuya simply smiled in a really seductive smile, "In love and war anything goes." Sakuya told all who would listen. Yui was about to say something, when Leafa stepped in. "Well I have some bad news for you. My brother is happily married and my niece doesn't look that happy from what I can see. She probably would rip open a can of whoop ass, if she could." Both leaders looked not to happy to hear that he was already spoken for.

They both did decide to join the alliance and he gave them a copy of his training schedule and method, they both saw how useful it would be, and not to mention effective. As the leaders and their members left Yui told him, "I told you no more flirting daddy!" Kirito told her that he was not flirting with anyone. She told him that she could hear his heart rate increase, and so did Cardinal. "I am a guy, when a girl gets so close and their that attractive it's an instinctual response." Leafa asked if she was a problem. Yui simply smiled, and answered, "Oh, don't worry Auntie I know that you care about daddy it's not like you are in love with him." Romina did not like to be left out of this conversation and flat out said that she would not be against the idea of being his mistress. This shocked everyone present, including cardinal. They all decided to continue their trip towards the capital and continue the training of both Leafa and Romina.