The four members of Caenor's team stood in a line in front of his desk.
A firebrand, a mute, a former spy, and a mentally unstable, trauma-ridden girl. Variety was the spice of life, but he couldn't help but wonder if this might just be a bit too much flavor for his liking. He had explained the situation regarding Wing to the others, and they had all agreed that they would not bring her on any hideout raids until they decided she was trustworthy. When exactly that would be, heaven only knew, but until then they would have to make do with what they could get.
It didn't help that they were not the only people in the room. Though the room was big enough to fit several dozen people, it spoke volumes about the size of their team – and the issues they faced – that any more than five people present felt like a crowd.
"I believe the two of you haven't met the others, at least not in any personal capacity." Caenor motioned towards his subordinates. "Kirito and Asuna, meet Cantabile, Altorius, Wing, and Seki. Asuna, you probably already know some of them – maybe better than I do, even."
Asuna smiled. "The five of you have fought many tense battles together. Combat brings out the truest measure of a person. I'm sure you know them much more intimately than I do now."
"I would hope so. As for the two of you, I don't think either of you need much introduction, though you can go ahead and introduce yourself if you want."
Asuna elbowed Kirito in the ribs, and he rose to his feet sheepishly. "My name's Kirito," he said. "I'm technically not part of the guild, but I help out here and there. We've probably raided together once or twice, so maybe you've seen me before. I hope we get along."
Kirito had arrived at the Knights of the Blood's headquarters to discuss his next Labyrinth raid with his raiding party, and Caenor had bumped into him in one of the corridors. The Black Swordsman, ever the eager friend, had asked to meet the rest of his team and help them with whatever might be necessary. Kirito had somehow contrived to drag Asuna here as well, despite his partner's ultimately futile protests.
"You're pretty famous around these parts," said Cantabile. "I know you."
An inexplicable sinking feeling materialized in Caenor's chest.
"You do?" Kirito gave a half-chuckle. "I'm honored to hear that."
"Yeah, and it's not all good news. Why is someone from outside the guild raiding with us?"
Asuna's serene expression shifted into one of bemusement. "We need all the help we can get on the front lines, especially from someone as capable as Kirito. Why not accept his assistance if he's offering it?"
"I know what it's like raiding with someone who thinks – and knows – that they're better than everyone else." Cantabile put her hands on her hips as she glared at Kirito. "They get free reign to do whatever the hell they want in a raid, and that works most of the time. But when they fuck up and get someone weaker killed, they get off scot-free because the team 'needs' them, and everyone pretends that nothing happened. The people who die just become names on a wall. No accountability, just sacrifices for the sake of the greater good."
The room fell silent. Caenor eased his face into his palms.
"I mean…" Kirito laughed nervously. "She's not wrong. Not joining the guild is just me being selfish, really. I just can't help but want to come along with you guys."
"Don't say that, Kirito. Cantabile, that was out of line," Asuna reprimanded. "You may have your own personal opinions on the matter, but the other vice-commanders and Heathcliff have agreed to this arrangement. If Kirito commits any errors – and he makes exceedingly few of them – he is sanctioned in the same way any other guild member might be. Plus, we aren't a guild that punishes people for accidents, unless they are extremely grievous. Please try and be diplomatic, even if you can't be friendly."
Cantabile clicked her tongue in annoyance and pulled a face, but said nothing further.
"Anyway… if you need my help with certain things, I'll usually be around – just ask for me or send me a message, if you want. Unless it's raiding day, in which case I might not be." Kirito shrugged. "But if you don't, then I won't press the issue. That's all I came here to say – it was good meeting you all." He turned towards the door.
"Sorry, Kirito," Caenor said as the Black Swordsman passed by him. "As you can see, our team's an interesting bunch. I'll get them sorted out sooner or later."
Kirito put a hand on his shoulder and winked. "I trust you, Vice-commander." He gave Caenor a thumbs up as he left the room. Asuna glided along in tow, shooting one last glare at Cantabile before she departed.
Caenor returned to his seat and sank into the cushion, gesturing for the others to sit as well. The extra chairs now scattered around his room had been kindly donated to him by the guild treasury, which had evidently also found a new storage place for non-inventory items – the corners of the room, with Caenor's grudging permission, were slowly filling with racks and shelves, as well as the odd piece of actually usable furniture.
"That was out of order, Cantabile." Caenor let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "But I see your point. Regardless, none of the other guild members save for the vice-commanders and Heathcliff will be answerable to us now, and neither will we be to them. We're sort of our own thing now, so don't get too flustered about things beyond your control."
"I… Sorry." For once, Cantabile had it in her to look apologetic, though that expression soon faded. "I couldn't help myself."
"He's a nice guy if you get to know him. Though I don't know the chances of that happening now."
Cantabile sighed, her frustrations etched across her face. "If you say so. I can't stand seeing everyone fawn over him and Asuna just because they happen to be better at the game than everyone else. That in itself doesn't make them better people."
"Nothing wrong with a little jealousy, as long as you use it as fuel instead of beating yourself up with it. They earned the privilege to get fawned over, after all." Caenor coughed. "Now, I've already briefed you guys on the situation with Wing, but I want to properly hear your thoughts. My personal view is that we can first try going to the hideouts that Wing didn't cross out, and then do the rest of the list after that. That way, even if Wing is deceiving us, we won't fall behind."
"What does the list look like now?" asked Seki.
Caenor passed her the copy with the crossed-out coordinates. "The hit on the 55th floor hideout is apparently a no-go, so our schedule right now is a bit different. We'll spread out our raids over a period of three days. On the first and second days, we have hideouts that are relatively closer to their floors' teleport plazas, so we can do three per day. The last two are farther away, and one of them is close to a Labyrinth, so we leave that one for last. I've allotted a fourth day in case we take too long on any of the previous ones."
Seki frowned. "What about our members? Do we still only have four people in the team? Surely that won't be enough."
Caenor shook his head. "I agree, but I've asked around a few times, and this is all we have. Though honestly, I've been thinking – or maybe hoping – that we don't need more than five or six. If we have too many members, that makes planning and scheduling difficult, and I believe that the personnel we have now will be sufficient to flush out a small or medium-sized safehouse without too much trouble. The training we've been doing has gone pretty much as smoothly as I've expected, save a few… hiccups here and there."
He stared at each of his team members in turn, impressing upon them the seriousness of what he was about to say. "Plus, we still don't know who we can trust. We have to be wary of anyone who says they want to join us or help us, because we don't know if our timetable has been leaked, especially now that we know about Wing. It's absolutely crucial that we keep our lips as tightly sealed as possible."
"If what Wing says is true, then anyone in the guild could be a spy." Seki chewed on her fingernails. "In other words, we can't let anyone see anything that we're doing, or see where we're going. That's going to be near-impossible if we're walking around the guild headquarters in broad daylight. What do we do?"
"Exactly. So, we'll have to finish everything at night." Caenor pointed to the list in Seki's hand. "I've written down some possible times next to the dates. The time that the sun sets differs between each floor, so these are preliminary for now. We'll need to do a bit of scouting around those floors before we actually make our move." He held two fingers up. "We'll split the eight different levels between the four of us, so each of us will check two floors. I've written names next to the hideouts on that list – the rest of you should note down which floors you're going to."
Cantabile stood and leaned over Seki's shoulder, frowning as she read the list. "We're going tomorrow? And the hideout raids start the day after?"
"There's no time to waste," Caenor replied. "It's just about now or never. We don't know what we should expect, and we don't know what's true and what isn't. Like I said a few days ago, we have to make our move before they make theirs."
Seki forced a labored gust of air out of her nose. "We're actually doing this," she muttered, her forehead folding into small lines of concern.
"We are." Caenor felt a tightness take hold of his chest, clutching at his heart, refusing to let go. He did not know if it was excitement, nervousness, or perhaps even fear. He had officially declared that the snowball was to be rolled down the slope – all they could do now was steer it and hope it landed at the destination they sought to reach, wherever that may be. After so many days of numbly going through the motions, working towards a goal that still did not seem totally achievable, the most vital and dangerous phase of his newfound purpose was to begin.
Though he had spent much time musing over the motivations of his party members, Caenor sometimes queried whether the most important motivation, his own, had ever been clearly defined. There was, of course, the publicly stated aim that the game as a whole should be made safer for all those who played it, a convenient and easily justifiable explanation for gathering this troupe of misfits together in one place. Nevertheless, vengeance formed the biggest part of his drive to move forward with the idea, and he would never in a million years forget the sickened, despairing look on Ferramo's rugged features as he was drained of his health bar and his life, knowing that he would never see the light of day again, whether virtually or in the real world. Not that there was anything inherently wrong with wanting to avenge one's fallen brethren, but Caenor wondered if a vice-commander of a reputed guild wielding an influence over a sizeable – if not by any means large – number of people ought to try and stake the moral high ground on behalf of his subordinates, or at least put up a façade of doing so.
"We'll check back in here tomorrow morning," he said. "Wing, I'll take you back to your cell. All of you, get some rest for today. It may be the last real day of rest we get in a long time."
"Or maybe ever," Cantabile murmured.
No more words were spoken as they left the office. No more needed to be.