Chapter 38: Human After All

15th May 2023. Aincrad, Floor 22, Coral Lake, 11:03 PM, Aincrad Standard Time.

"No, it makes you human." Sachi gave a reassuring answer. She pulled away from their embrace. "Kirito.." She held up Kirito's left arm, the assailant's dagger still in the wound.

"Oh, I almost forgot it was there." Kirito reached and pulled the dagger out, a numbed simulated pain briefly surging through him.

"Kirito, that was his, right?"

"Yeah."

"He disappeared like normal right?"

Kirito looked over at where the assailant once lied, only of course to find empty space.

"Yeah."

"Shouldn't his dagger have disappeared as well?" Sachi suspiciously asked.

"You're right." Kirito held the dagger in his right hand and beckoned the menu. A prompt appeared next to the dagger:

"Claim Item?"

Kirito tapped on the green check mark.

"Added To Inventory!"

Kirito scrolled through the menu until he found his gear display. He tapped the dagger's icon to pull up information.

"?-Dagger

?

?"

"What's it say?" Sachi asked.

"Not much of anything. Most of the information is hidden."

"Why would that be?"

"There's something about it I don't have the skill level for. I'm not totally zeroed out when it comes to daggers, but they're not exactly my weapon of choice either."

"I see."

"I might be able to figure it out though. We should get back to the inn."

15th May 2023. Aincrad, Floor 15, Synethia Inn, 11:37 PM, Aincrad Standard Time.

"You aren't coming to bed?" Sachi asked Kirito as he started for the door of his inn room.

"I doubt I'd be able to sleep. I'm still not-"

"I understand." Sachi said, a sorrowful expression beginning to overtake her.

"Hey, I'll be alright." Kirito pressed his hand to Sachi's cheek, coaxing a smile out of her.

"Where are you going?"

"I need to see someone."

"Oh…" Sachi looked down, the smile dwindling. "Is it 'the other one'?"

"Wha-"Kirito briefly recounted the conversation with the player killer. "Yes."

"Ok. Kirito, who was he talking about?"

Kirito was briefly taken aback by Sachi bringing this up. "I-...I'll have to explain it to you later. But please don't worry. I love you."

"Ok." Sachi concluded.

Kirito departed.

16th May 2023. Aincrad, Floor 25, Old Granzam, Giltstein, 12:13 AM, Aincrad Standard Time.

Even in the dim moon and lantern light, the Iron and Stone castle of Old Granzam had an imposing presence. Deep crimson banners adorned with the white guild symbol of The Knights of the Blood, with matching embroidery across the edges of the flags, lined the edges of the castle walls.

Despite its show, it was surprisingly easy to get into, as Kirito walked into the inner parts of the fortress. The "common areas'' of the castle weren't guild restricted, but Kirito was immediately met with:

"Access Denied:

Guild Members Only"

The moment he attempted to open a door.

Despite being later at night, Kirito was surprised by how empty the KoB's guild hall was. He heard not a soul besides himself wandering the grounds.

Kirito eventually found his way to what looked like the living quarters portion of the castle. A door blocked his path, and he was once again met with the message of denial.

'Maybe this wasn't the best idea.' Kirito began thinking to himself. He had only thought about seeing Asuna to get her thoughts on the dagger, and not that no one would be about late at night. 'But knowing her, she might be out on one of her "expeditions".' Kirito resolved to wait, gambling that his hunch would be correct.

He sat on the paved stone floor next to the door of what he best guessed was the living quarters. Kiriot began to relax. He could feel the last dribbles of adrenaline stop flowing throughout his body, before being met with an overwhelming sense of exhaustion. Left to his thoughts, he began pushing the events of the night out of the forefront of his mind. 'There's still…' He thought to himself, thinking back to the comment Sachi left him with.

'What's the best way to explain to her?' Kirito struggled with composing an explanation. He certainly didn't plan on lying, but how much should Sachi know? 'It would be unfair not to tell her everything' he pondered. Deep in thought, Kirito drifted off to sleep.


Kirito awoke to the sound of a sword unsheathing in front of him. His eyes jolted awake as well, and as the grog cleared from his vision, he could see the tip of a sword lined up to his neck, the blade reflecting the early morning sun.

Rather than being startled, Kirito adopted a rather annoyed expression. Remaining seated, he begrudgingly said: "We're in a safe zone." Before letting out a yawn and looking up at his "assailant".

Clad in perfectly standard KoB medium armor stood someone who Kirito would describe to be around his age, maybe a year or two older. The player's hair was straight, and a very light brown, a long trail of it ran between his eyes and sat just at the top of his nose. He gripped a two handed sword still holding Kirito at neck-point, adorned on the leather wrapped grip were stitchings of red and white.

"Get to your feet!" The player ordered Kirito. Kirito complied, letting out another yawn. The player lowered his sword.

"What do you want here? You looking to join the guild or something?" The player asked Kirito.

"No, I'm here to see someone." Kirito replied, gradually getting more and more annoyed.

"And who might that-'' The player started before being interrupted by a voice from around a corner.

"Nautilus, who are you talking to?" Kirito recognized that voice. Just then, Asuna appeared, and Kirito's situation came into view. "Oh, I see."

Kirito could tell Asuna was visibly annoyed.

"Nautilus, you're dismissed for the day." Asuna ordered, but in a calm and casual manner.

Kirito saw Nautilus' expression turn to one of almost heartbreak.

"B-But...My lady, who is-" Nautilus started.

"For the day. I will see you tomorrow." Asuna calmly reiterated.

Nautilus sheathed his sword. "As you wish, my lady." He gave a short bow before walking into the living quarters.

Kirito let out a giggle he had been suppressing, and turned to Asuna. "My lady?" Kirito laughed.

Asuna let out a sigh. "I don't know why you're here. But I hope you know you've signed up to be with me the entire day."

"That's fine, my lady." Kirito laughed once more. Asuna grew visibly more annoyed.

"So what is it? I assume you have a good reason for coming to find me here? You know this could have been avoided if you would just add me-"

"I know I know. But look." Kirito produced the recovered dagger from his inventory, and held it handle first toward Asuna.

"What is this?" Asuna asked, taking the dagger and opening her menu window to see the weapon's information.

"Outside of it obviously being a dagger, I don't know. Anything come up for you?"

"?-Dagger

?

?"

Asuna was met with the same window of non-information that had previously greeted Kirito.

"No, it's not telling me anything besides the obvious either. Where did you get it? What's so special about it?" Asuna gave the dagger back to Kirito.

"I...I was attacked last night. And I- '' Asuna saw Kirito's expression drop. "And he...I..This was...I-I'm not.." Kirito's expression descended further as he struggled to get his words out. Asuna began piecing things together.

"Kirito...I'm so sorry." Asuna said as she quickly moved to embrace Kirito. Her arms wrapped around him, as Kirito's hands remained at his side. Her touch was warm and comforting.

"A-Asuna...Am I...Am I.." Kirito began, as tears started flowing from his eyes. Asuna's grip got tighter around him. "A-A..murderer...I-I...I k-killed...I-i had t-too. He w-was going to kill h-her-"

"Kirito, it's ok." Tears began to well in Asuna's eyes as well. "You're not a murderer. I'm sure you did what needed to be done." She said in a gentle, soothing tone.

"But what if-"

"Kirito, don't worry about that. It's ok. You'll be ok. I still-" Asuna continued in her calming tone, before stopping her sentence just short.

Asuna continued holding Kirito for a little while longer, not caring about any potential onlookers, though there were none. Once she felt Kirito begin to calm down, she slowly eased off of him, and placed her hands on his chest, looking up into his eyes, she started to blush.

She wanted to comfort him through this. To be there for him in a time of need. Asuna began to question herself. 'To kill her' she thought to herself. If the situation ever arose, would she be strong enough to do what he did? She shook the feelings of doubt away. She needed to be in the present for Kirito now.

"I'm here. Will you be alright?"

Kirito's expression began to turn upward. "I-I think I will be. Thank you, Asuna."

She took her hands off of Kirito.

"The dagger," Kirito began. "It was the attacker's. It was in my arm when he-"

"I understand." Asuna concluded the sentence for Kirito.

"It didn't disappear when he did. And I was able to 'claim' it after removing it."

"So it's yours now?"

"I guess so, yeah."

"But it was his when he disappeared? Did any of his other gear stick around?"

"Yes, and nothing else remained."

"Hmmm, ok."

"Any ideas?"

"None. We need someone who has either a high enough dagger skill or appraisal skill."

"Know anyone?" Kirito asked.

"I don't think anyone in the Knights is proficient with daggers."

"Hmm, ok. I might know a place."

16th May 2023. Aincrad, Floor 10, Katy's Wares, 10:07 AM, Aincrad Standard Time.

"Kirito, where are we going? We've been walking for a while." Asuna asked.

"What, tired already princess?" Kirito teased back. Asuna blushed before an annoyed expression overcame her.

"Don't call me that." Asuna demanded.

"Fine, my lady." Kirito continued. Asuna grew more annoyed and let out a groan.

"Katy's Wares? Who is Katy?" Asuna asked when they stopped in front of the building, adorned with a sign.

"You'll probably figure it out once you see who's in there." Kirito said, opening the door and motioning for Asuna to come in. "Ladies first."

"Well look who it is!" Egiru proclaimed excitedly, seeing Asuna and Kirito come through the door. He was standing behind the counter, with a sword laid out, resting on top of a cloth and was being polished. "The princess of the Knights herself!"

Asuna's annoyed expression returned, this time with a hint of pout.

"Hey, Egiru. How's it been?" Kirito walked up to the counter, and exchanged a fist bump with Egiru as a greeting.

"Please, call me Agil now. It helps me feel closer to people. How's that Spear I sold you a little while ago? Does she still like it? Has she outgrown it yet? I have another tier of selection if she needs-"

"Always the salesman." Kirito commented.

"Guy's gotta do what he's gotta do." Agil responded. "And you, little lady. How have you been? I heard you've been making quite the name for yourself." Agil greeted Asuna.

"Y-yeah, I guess you could say that." Asuna's polite demeanor returned. "It's nice to see you again, Eg- I mean Agil." The two exchanged polite acknowledgments.

"So, what brings you two in today? It's good to see you together again." Agil commented.

Kirito and Asuna both blushed. "W-we're not, we-"...They both began, stammering.

Agil let out a laugh.

Kirito regained his composure. "Well, we were hoping you could help us out."

"How so?"

Kirito produced the dagger from his inventory, and like he had with Asuna, handed the dagger to Agil handle first. "We were hoping you could tell us more about this. Our dagger and appraisal skills are both too low to get any sort of real information from it.

"Ok, let me see." Agil took the weapon from Kirito.

"'Temporal Edge' -Dagger

Effect: Desiccant Poison:

?"

"Did you get anything?" Kirito asked Agil.

"Yeah. It says here it's called 'Temporal Edge', and there's poison applied to the blade. Have you ever heard of a poison called "Desiccant" in-game?" Agil asked.

Asuna and Kirito both shook their heads.

"Hmmm…"

"Does it say anything else?" Asuna asked.

"Not from what I can see. There's another line. I assume flavor text or some sort of other description. But even my skill isn't high enough."

"Thanks, Agil. It's further than Asuna and I got."

"Any time."

"So the poison must be what keeps things in game after their...death." Asuna concluded.

"Or people." Kirito thought back to the corpses found.

"Yeah...Say, where did you two get this?" Agil asked.

"It's….I'd rather not-" Kirito began before being interrupted.

"It's ok." Agil raised his hands to indicate Kirito could stop, noticing Kirito's drastic change in expression.

"Agil, can you keep the dagger? Maybe one day your appraisal skill will be able to see the missing line of information. If we haven't figured things out about it by then, it might be useful." Asuna requested.

"Um...Y-yeah. I guess I can." Agil hesitantly agreed to storing what was at the very least a weapon used in attempted murder.

"Thanks. How much do I owe you for your help?" Kirito asked.

"Well, how about you bring that girl by again and get herself an even better weapon?" Agil proposed.

"Sounds good to me." Kirito confirmed, and the two fistbumped farewell. Asuna and Kirito began to exit, Agil waved goodbye.

"Be good to each other, you two. Stay safe out there!" Agil said departing remarks.


Just outside of Agil's shop, Kirito let out a yawn and stretched.

"I'm getting kind of hungry." Asuna proclaimed.

"Sorry, I must've messed up your routine this morning." Kirito apologized.

"That's...one way of putting it." Asuna begrudgingly noted.

"Well, I should get back to the inn. Our pseudo "Guild Hall". Definitely not as impressive as yours. I don't want them asking questions as to why I wasn't around today." Kirito stated.

Asuna drew a cross look on her face, and folded her arms.

"What's the matter?" Kirito asked.

"I told you this morning that you kidnapping me means you had me for the whole day." Asuna reiterated, maintaining her crossed look.

"'Kidnapping' huh, you really are a princess." Kirito replied.

"Whatever. It's not like I would have liked to spend more time with you or anything like that…"

Kirito let out a sigh. "Hey Asuna, want to join me for lunch?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Asuna smiled, and playfully pushed Kirito towards the central part of town.