In the center of the Aincrad Liberation Army's headquarters a meeting was hastily put together over the course of the day. Kazumi dragged Bolo along for all of the bureaucratic trappings, despite the fact that he was possibly the least qualified person on the planet to help with any of it. Bolo was patient and said nothing to antagonize Kazumi though as the man was clearly beyond stressed. To Bolo it appeared as though Kazumi hadn't slept in at least thirty hours; his usually well-combed black hair was erratically frayed, he frequently rubbed the side of his forehead when he spoke, and he avoided eye contact for most of his interactions.

In the year that Bolo had been working with Kazumi he had never once seen Kazumi lose his cool or speak louder than a firm, authoritative tone. That day Bolo watched Kazumi raise his voice once, and it was during the course of the meeting.

Bolo was surprised by the makeup of the meeting: Seated around a large round table were envoys from the Divine Dragons Alliance and Knights of the Blood Oath (Bolo recognized neither envoy, but he was not in the business of diplomacy so that was not surprising), as well as a woman Bolo did know. Her name was Sasha, and she ran an orphanage on the first floor. Beside her was Kibaou, Grand General of the ALA, and Thinker, the former Grand General. As everyone took their seats Bolo leaned in and asked Kazumi, "Kaz, what did you say to get a charity worker and two political opponents to sit down in the same room together?"

Kazumi turned his head and whispered, "Don't worry about that yet. Just sit beside me, look tough, and don't speak unless spoken to."

Bolo always suspected Kazumi didn't have a high opinion of his intelligence. In some cases this bothered him, but he could practically smell the testosterone coming off of Kibaou and Thinker; in the interest of being civil, Bolo decided to obey Kazumi for the time being.

"Thank you all for showing up on such short notice," Kazumi began, "and special thanks must go to Grand General Kibaou. I doubt anyone here would listen to me alone, so I appreciate him lending my words credence."

"Don't be too humble," Thinker interjected, "Kibaou wouldn't have helped you unless he saw there was something to be personally gained from it."

From across the room the Divine Dragons Alliance envoy balked, "Ha! I'm not terribly familiar with lower-level politics, but aren't you two from the same guild?"

Kazumi could see Kibaou and Thinker take a breath to respond. He attempted to say, "Please, let's not trade insults, there are more important matters at hand," but was cut off before he could speak a single syllable.

"Careful who you call 'low-level'," Kibaou said, arms crossed, "My guild outnumbers yours ten-to-one. If my goals weren't so philanthropic I could march my army into your guildhall and turn it into my personal villa."

"Everyone, please," Kazumi managed to say, "there is an emergency-"

"You don't have a philanthropic bone in your body," Sasha hissed, "I don't know why I was called here along with a thug like you..."

"Can we let Kazumi speak?" The Knights of the Blood Oath envoy raised their voice. "It sounds important."

"Thank you. Now if you'll take a look at this map-" Kazumi began, but was cut off when Kibaou shot out of his seat.

"And you, Mr. Knight-of-the-Blood-Oath! Your guild is so secretive and so prideful! Why should we even let you in on this meeting if you won't-"

Kazumi slammed both his fists on the table and stood up, barking, "If you fools don't shut up and listen everyone on the first floor is going to be dead before the end of the week!"

While the group, including Bolo, reeled from Kazumi's outburst, Kazumi pressed a button that lit round table up and turned it into a 3D holographic map of the first floor. A section of one of the forest areas was highlighted red. Kazumi spoke, "This is the first floor. The section highlighted in red is a part of the center-most forest on the floor. It was observed two days ago by a scout in my battalion that this forest has suddenly begun to decay from the inside out," Kazumi hit another button that brought forth an array of images, all showing the eerie devastation of the forest's plant life. All of it had either rotted or turned to dust entirely. "We have found no explanation for this 'Blight' and have no way of stopping it. But one thing-"

"Why is this our problem?" The Divine Dragons Alliance envoy spoke up. "So what if the forest disappears? Is that worth calling this big dramatic meeting?"

Showing patience that staggered Bolo, Kazumi responded in an even tone, "That is not the only thing that's disappearing. It's just the most obvious indicator of what's really happening. Yesterday my scouts and I were surveying the area and discovered that a small NPC farm had lost its crops to the Blight. In the morning I interviewed the NPCs, who were as confused as I was as to what was going on. Given that they had just lost their food supply I promised to return with rations to tide them over until we could figure out a solution. When I came back that night however..." Another button press and another picture. This one was a photo of a small farm taken from a distance. Red-eyed goblins could be seen prowling in and around a burnt-out farmhouse. Not an NPC was in sight.

"But wait," Sasha said with a quiver in her voice, "I thought NPCs respawned after death? And the farmhouse... I've never heard of a monster affecting the environment like that."

Thinker leaned in and furrowed his brow at the pictures, "Sasha's right... And monsters only go into NPC areas if players lead them there. It's possible this happened, but the monsters wouldn't stay there for long. It's like..." Thinker clearly had a longer thought that he cut off, likely due to its audacity.

Bolo spoke up in place of him, "It's like the area's rules were rewritten."

The whole table looked at Bolo with an expression of "Who is this guy? Why is he here? What authority does he have to tell us what we're looking at?"

Realizing that he had violated one of the few rules Kazumi gave him Bolo shyly said, "Oh shit, sorry. I'm Bolo and... Well... Ya know what, go on everybody, don't let me interrupt."

"Nonono," the Divine Dragons Alliance envoy said hastily, "I wanna know what you think. You look stronger than basically everyone here. Besides me, of course. Besides, Kazumi wouldn't have invited you for no reason, right?"

Bolo looked up at Kazumi. Kazumi wanted control of the meeting but he knew that the people he was dealing with were irrational, hot-blooded, and in need of placating in order to progress things. Kazumi, brow tense with discomfort from having Bolo scrutinized, nodded his head in approval of the question. Bolo said, "That Blight stuff probably ain't gonna stop until it overtakes the entirety of the first floor. Best case scenario, our crops wither and the players down here will have to subside off of trade with the players up above, who will naturally have the upper hand in trade given they have more wealth to work with."

"Not a very equitable scenario..." Thinker mumbled.

"Right," Bolo said, "but that's not the worst case. The worst case scenario is... Well... Kazumi, it's why you called us here, isn't it? You explain it, I don't like talking as much as you."

Kazumi gave a tired smile that helped the room relax. Everyone had found it in themselves to shut up and finally listen and Kazumi could feel it. Kazumi took a breath and spoke, "The worst case scenario is that this Blight rewrites all the rules of all the areas on the first floor. If it can turn an NPC farm into a monster spawning pit then we have no idea how it will interact with the player-owned buildings. But my theory is that the Blight was a deliberate design choice to force people to climb the floors after a certain time limit. If it's meant to make the floor inhospitable then it will either turn off all PVP and PVE safeguards in the towns, or simply kill anyone who stays too long in the affected areas. Many areas between towns are already deadly PVP zones. There's no telling if the towns will be safe for long.

This is the reason I need help from each of the groups represented here. There are two thousand players living on the first floor that will need to be evacuated to the second floor, possibly even higher. It will be a logistical nightmare that will require transportation, organization, and enforcement of rules while players are moved through the newly-PVP-capable zones. We'll need Sasha and both the Grand Generals' cooperation to get the communities of the first floor moving. Then we'll need support from the Divine Dragons Alliance and the Knights of the Blood Oath to establish a pathway to the floor's exit."

"I don't mean to be 'that guy'," the Divine Dragons Alliance envoy said, sealing his fate as "that guy", "but why can't we just teleport them out?"

Ready for this exact question, Kazumi tossed a teleportation crystal to the envoy. He nodded to the young man and said, "Go ahead, try it."

The envoy sighed. It was such an elementary question that he had to ask it, but now he was being made a fool of for asking it. "Teleport: Home." Nothing happened.

"You all will have to leave the first floor on foot, by the way. You can teleport to the first floor from anywhere, but as of this morning the entire floor is an anti-teleportation zone. This further confirms the theory that the rules are being rewritten."

Thinker raised his hand and asked, "I understand our roles, Kazumi, and I believe I can lend my support," at this Kazumi gave a relieved nod. Thinker went on, "But why is this mercenary here? As you may remember, such contractors were not employed during my time as Grand General. I'd rather not have such unscrupulous individuals in my ranks. No personal offense intended, Bolo."

Bolo tilted his head, "How could that possibly not be personally offensive?"

Kazumi addressed Thinker, "Bolo is the most reliable mercenary I've ever worked with, Thinker. And given that mercenaries might be our trump card in this endeavor I'm inclined to disagree with your assessment of their qualities."

"Trump card how?" Kibaou's words were direct and brief. Bolo could see in his hunched shoulders and narrow eyes that, self-serving as the man was reputed to be, he was giving the situation serious thought.

Kazumi responded, "If word gets out that the first floor is being evacuated there will inevitably be profiteers. Maybe it'll be raiding guilds and bandit groups, maybe it'll be isolated looters clearing out formerly-safe player-owned properties. One way or another, eventually this evacuation will have to deal with people trying to capitalize off of it. And when that happens we're going to have to defend ourselves. Violently."

Bolo leaned back and breathed, "Wow, this is funny, Kaz..." his eyes shifted towards Kazumi, "How many people are represented at this table? A few hundred from the Knights, a few hundred more from the Divine Dragon people... The ALA has what? One thousand members? Most of them non-combatants, right?"

"I'm sure you're drifting towards a point soon, Mr. Mercenary?" The Knights of the Blood Oath envoy grumbled.

Bolo sighed heavily and looked the man in the eye. "Kaz here is saying that I might have killed more people than all your guilds put together."

The Knight stood up in a huff, "Are you sure that's something to be proud of, sir?!"

Bolo put his feet up on the table and responded, "You think I bother with pride, Mr. Knight? Please. I do what I'm good at. Don't act like you're any different."

"Of course we're different!" The Knight exclaimed, "This is why no one likes mercenaries like you! You're never more than a step away from being hired by the Laughing Coffins. Kazumi, who is to say this man won't betray you for someone who pays better?"

Kazumi looked between Bolo and the Knight. After careful consideration Kazumi responded, "Personal loyalty."

The Knight rolled his eyes. He wasn't the only one. With the exception of the Divine Dragons Alliance envoy Bolo could feel the whole room turn against his presence. He wasn't particularly bothered by this, of course. Bolo had known for a long time what people thought of mercenaries such as himself. More importantly though, he knew they were right: Most people willing to take jobs that involve the killing of other humans were as untrustworthy as the Knight described. If a person is deadly in personal combat and has little to no moral compunctions, can they even be trusted to control their impulses? Bolo believed himself not to be a sociopath, but he was aware that he frequently presented himself as such. And at times he wondered how much difference that made.

Thinker spoke first among the group, "As you might be able to tell, Kazumi, we are not completely convinced."

Kazumi replied quickly, "The time for deliberation is quickly ending, everyone. Unless any of your guilds are interested in providing specifically anti-personnel fighters, I suggest you get used to the presence of mercenaries in our ragtag company. So, who here can vouch for their guild's joining?"

"My church will, of course, take part in the evacuation. Not that we have much of a choice."

Bolo smiled and said "You have more choice than you know. With no political obligations or strict duties binding you to the people you take care of, there's nothing stopping you from leaving this meeting right now and making a break for the second floor. It would leave your people to fend for themselves, but you could easily secure your own safety and disappear into anonymity if you wanted to."

After a pause as the table processed Bolo's words Sasha responded, "Well I don't think of it that way."

Thinker leaned in towards Bolo, "Okay, I have to address this right now. That's exactly the kind of thinking that makes me not want to work with you, Bolo. Do you know how insane you sound talking like that? How can we trust you if your mindset is always fixated on self-serving survival?"

The Divine Dragon Alliance envoy raised his voice before Bolo could, "Chill out, Thinker. Don't act like you've spent your whole life in service of others. You're just like the rest of us: Buddying up is a method of survival. How long would you stay in your guild if you thought it would kill you?"

Thinker stood up at this provocation, "How absurd! With everything your guild has accomplished you still don't believe there are things worth dying for?"

Bolo stood up as well, "Oh please! I've met the people in your army who actually do the dying. You're not them, Thinker. And you'll never be them!"

Thinker's head turned towards Kazumi, eyes full of hate, "Kazumi, I cannot stand for this. Perhaps I could put politics aside and work with Kibaou, but I will absolutely not work with a barbarian who is one step above a serial killer or anyone of his kind."

"I will commit troops," Kibaou spoke suddenly, as though he had just come to this conclusion. He stared daggers at Thinker and said, "it'll show the people of the first floor who is really looking out for them."

Thinker looked between Kibaou and Kazumi and waited for Kazumi to step in and arbitrate. When he did nothing but give him and expectant look, Thinker came to a decision of his own. Without another word Thinker left the round table and departed the meeting.

After a long silence to absorb the passing of hundreds of useful troops out of Kazumi's grasp, the Knights of the Blood Oath envoy raised his hand. "My apologies, Kazumi," the moment the Knight started speaking Kazumi closed his eyes in preparation for another blow, "but my guild cannot spare anyone from the front lines. It would require us to completely re-organize our logistics for weeks, if not months. It's just not possible right now."

Kazumi sighed, "I understand. I hope you'll understand if I ask you to keep this meeting a secret?"

"Of course."

"Thank you. And what about the Divine Dragon Alliance? Will they come to the aid of innocent people?"

All eyes went from one side of the table to the other, focusing on the envoy. He sputtered slightly, just as aware that the true answer was "no" as everyone else was. He ran his fingers through his hair and said, "Listen, Kazumi, I want to help. Personally, I very much want to help. And I'm going to try and convince my guild's leadership... But I'm in the same boat as the Knights of the Blood Oath guy here. But I'll try. Honestly."

The Divine Dragon Alliance envoy and Knights of the Blood Oath envoy both took their shameful leave. Sasha and Kibaou extended pleasantries and made plans, all of which Kazumi reciprocated as if on auto-pilot, then left as well.

Bolo stayed. He sat beside Kazumi and waited for a long while. It was a silence shared between them before, when either or both of them is waiting to decide whether they want to speak their feelings, or leave them unsaid. Bolo was familiar enough with Kazumi however to know that Kazumi would always choose to recognize and speak about his failures.

"I wonder what they think of me." Kazumi spoke this aloud after everyone but Bolo and himself had left.

Bolo sat up on the round table and asked, "What do you mean?"

Kazumi responded with a sigh that seemed to deflate his whole body. He sunk into his chair and ran a hand through his long hair. Bolo felt the gesture looked oddly childish (and completely out of place) for Kazumi. When Kazumi turned his eyes up to Bolo it seemed like the man aged ten years in a single moment. His eyes were heavy with tired bags under them and all the forceful certainty he had in his jaw and his brow drooped down under the weight of fatigue. Kazumi said, "I was always a bit... Emotionally reserved growing up. When I was excited I didn't show it. When I liked someone I generally didn't say it. My parents never worried about it. They were the same way. But people at school sometimes did. They'd call me a robot. Or say I had no emotions. But that's not true... Why do I need to say the words 'I like you' for someone to know that? I've never felt comfortable saying things like that, much less asking people to say such things. To me, what a person is willing to say is far less important than what I'm willing to believe.

I have worked for the Aincrad Liberation Army for a long time. I've always considered its goals inseparable from my own: To free everyone from this hell. No one here deserves to die. No one deserves to be abandoned. But this council I assembled... Do they feel the same way? I've never been so unsure of people's feelings before. Do they actually want to save anyone? Or are they just scheming on political power?"

Kazumi sounded ready to go on asking questions until the sun fell out of the sky, but he stopped himself. He sat in his chair for a while, perhaps waiting for Bolo to respond, perhaps trying to decide if he could afford to sleep. Bolo let the silence sit for a bit; he didn't want to rush into a response and make Kazumi's uncertainty worse. When he felt that Kazumi was really, truly about to fall asleep right there, he finally decided that it was time to reassure his friend; it was unseemly to Bolo to imagine Kazumi falling asleep to worried thoughts and waking up to find that his friend had left him in the night.

"It doesn't matter what they want." Bolo said. These words made Kazumi perk up. Bolo went on, "These people, these high-strung 'moral' types, they're so tied up in obligations and duties that they can't tell where they end and their ambitions begin. None of them would die if they didn't place themselves above others. But if you tell them they don't 'need' to run an army, I'm sure they'd rather die than give up their power. People with as much influence as them have forgotten where the line is between their needs and their desires. So use their vanity. Exploit it. If you want to save a single soul down here, you'll have to."

A small spark of life glowed in Kazumi's eyes. Kazumi looked up at Bolo and said, "Everything you said to Sasha applies to you too. You don't have to be here. More than anyone at this meeting you could've left. Why'd you stay?"

Bolo huffed out a disbelieving laugh at the question. "Because we're friends. You don't ever say why we're friends, and I never ask, but I think it's because of times like this... When my ruthlessness intersects with your altruism. It feels good. Like I don't have to think at all, I just have to take the field, draw my sword, and put my ugly, violent skills to use."