Author's note: Thank you, everyone, for reading this story, here is the newest chapter. A lot of talking in this chapter, me trying to flesh out the characters and introducing the supporting cast that would play a role later in the story. And of course a continuation of the trials of Sawada Nana.
Angron: Thank you for the review. I completely agree with you, it shouldn't have been a surprise that the beta is different than the final game, or where is the fun in that?
Sachi's death…that's a tough one. Right now I'm on the fence about that because I don't plan on much interacting between Natsu and Kirito after this chapter and before the 74th floor. But anything can happen.
Also, I am Hungarian and my Word use „" instead of "". I forgot to change that last chapter, I will try to not forget it in the future, but I think that one little thing can be overlooked.
Now, let's begin-
Episode Nana
"Here you go."
Sawada Nana accepted the tea with a tired smile on her face. The always cheerful housewife looked nothing she did a little over a month ago. She had heavy bangs under her very red eyes, her face was pale and she looked disheveled. One month ago, her only son was trapped in a death game and all she could do was watch over her darling without able to do anything.
Yamamoto Tsuyoshi sat down next to her with an equally tired sigh. Like her, the sushi restaurant owner looked haggard and tired. His son, a classmate of her Tsu-kun was also trapped in that game, but thankfully both of them were alright for the moment.
Out of Namimori, there were 25 children and 14 adults who were victims of that sick game and now, after a month there were only 21 children and 5 adults who remained 'alive'. The odds were not looking good, especially because the government or anyone really was unable to free the ten thousand people who were prisoners of Sword Art Online.
After the first few days, they created an efficient routine. Nana and a few other housewives usually remained in the hospital, standing vigil, since they did not have immediate work to do, while Tsuyoshi and the others went to work. The man always was the first to arrive back, usually with some sushi for Nana to eat. They helped out each other, trying to keep up with each others' spirits. It helped a lot while she waited for Iemitsu to come back.
As soon as she could gather herself together she called her husband about the fate of their son. While at first, she couldn't reach him, she was able to eventually talk to him. He was just as distraught as her and promised her that he would join her as soon as he could, talking about calling in favors and trying to find someone to help. And while it was a month since he told her that, he made sure to call her every day asking about their darling son.
"Guess no news is good news, right?" the forced cheer of Tsuyoshi broke her thoughts, refocusing her attention on the older man.
"One can only hope." she answered, unable to voice any hopeful thought after such a stressful month. She still remembered the day before when a girl not much older than her son unexpectedly died, her parents screaming in grief over her body. That night she dreamed the same happen to her son.
Before they could continue the conversation, a small commotion gained their attention, when a large man runs into the room, out of breath.
He was an Italian man with short, blonde hair wearing a black suit. Nana immediately stood up recognizing the man, and with teary eyes, she ran up to him.
"Iemitsu!" she cried, embracing him.
"Nana." answered the man as he held his wife.
Tsuyoshi slowly eased his stance, seeing that the man was just Nana's husband instead of anyone else. While the couple reunited he silently signed the worried hospital staff that nothing was wrong. After a few minutes, they separated, Nana still crying slightly.
"You're here. You're really here."
"I'm here darling." soothed his wife Iemitsu. "Sorry for the wait. I promise everything will be alright."
They conversed softly for a while before Nana seemed to calm down. They walked back to Tsuyoshi, where the two men greeted each other. While Iemitsu had not spent much time in Namimori, they met a few times. Nana sat down, tired, but she had a small hopeful smile on her face. Iemitsu also sat down, one arm around her while he turned to Yamamoto.
"Tsuyoshi, you also have somebody here too?" he asked, trying to be sensitive considering the matter at hand.
"My son, Takeshi." came the solemn reply.
"I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully, both of our sons will come out none the worse for wear." said the Italian man, gaining a thankful nod back.
They have fallen silent once again, Iemitsu deep in his thoughts, trying to give form to what he wanted to say. Nana basked in her husband's presence, for the first time since she was told what happened to her son she felt hopeful that everything will be alright. Her husband always had that calming effect on her as if she was finally home.
"Nana." said Iemitsu, gaining the attention of his wife. He seemed to contemplate what to say before he began to talk. "I was not idle this past month. Thanks to my work, I had several acquaintances who moved to different parts of society. I called in a lot of favors, to find someone, something to get Tsuna out of that game."
Tsuyoshi narrowed his eyes, feeling a little suspicious, last he heard from Nana Iemitsu was a construction worker, but for the aging sushi chief several things didn't add up. Still, he remained silent, letting Iemitsu continue.
"I managed to reach a brilliant scientist named Verde. You wouldn't have heard of him, he goes under four different names in scientific communities. The point is, a friend of mine called in a favor he owed to him, to look into this Sword Art Online." he let out a sigh, running his free hand through his hair. "The not so good news that this will take time. According to him, the system is very protected and somehow modifying itself to protect itself from outside. It will take time, but if someone could crack this, Verde will do it."
Nana could only stare wide-eyed, daring to hope, while Tsuyoshi was more skeptical. There were already many people trying to outsmart Kayaba Akihiko's deathtrap. Time was also against them, with every day more and more people could die, including Takeshi and Tsuna.
Iemitsu seemed to share his concerns because he still had a troubled look on his face.
"There's one more thing." he continued to explain. "I'm not an expert on this, but as I understood from Verde's explanation there was a small gap in the system, he says it's named Cardinal. We were able to log someone into the game. Soon after the Cardinal repaired the 'hole', but the one we sent, a subordinate of mine, successfully arrived into the 'world' where Tsuna and the other victims are."
"What use is sending someone else to die in that…trap?" exclaimed Tsuyoshi, cutting of Iemitsu. He couldn't understand what such a thing would accomplish.
Iemitsu stared down the older man, his eyes deadly serious. The battle of wills was broken by Nana, who lightly tapped on her husband's arm, wide eyes asking silently 'Why?'.
The man's face softened almost instantly and he took her hand in his, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
"The one we sent in, Basil is actually a very talented swordsman. The hope is that he can use his knowledge to be able to protect himself and Tsuna in the game. I would trust my own life with him. They will be fine."
Nana could only offer a half-relieved smile at her husband before embracing him. Soon the tired housewife was out like lightning, her exhaustion finally worn her will out. The two men eyed each other for a few minutes before Tsuyoshi stood up. He took one look at the sleeping Nana before he turned towards Iemitsu.
"She was barely able to hold on these past days. Make sure she eats because I don't know when she ate last. Take care of them, both of them. They need you." said the man and walked away, leaving behind the married couple.
Iemitsu eyed the door leading towards his son's room with resolution in his eyes. He tightened his grip on his wife, his eyes took an orange hue.
"They will always have me. I swear it on my dying will." gave the man his silent oath, to protect his family.
-0-
Level 4: The rat and the plant
"How's the new blade working out?"
Natsu let out a non-committal hum at Agil as he made a few practice swings with his weapon. After Illfang shattered his previous blade, the weighed iron blade, he needed a replacement that could hold up for the second floor. Thankfully they were able to buy one, a tempered bronze sword which was only a little worse than his previous weapon. Hopefully, a better one would drop from a monster, or a quest soon.
"Could be better. I'm still trying to get used to a much lighter blade."
Ken and Buzz were not far from them, battling with a couple of Wind Wasps, probably the smallest mob in the game at only fifty centimeters in length. Natsu honestly freaked out when he first saw one of them, it was bigger than any other insect he ever saw and scarily lifelike. Ken and Buzz worked well together as well as Agil and Natsu. A tank and a damage dealer, they could hunt down most mobs easily in pairs.
It was about a week since the first-floor boss fight, and the newly dubbed cleaners were making good progress. Most of the floor was mapped already, so it would take only a small while till the boss room is found.
Thinking about the fight a week ago, Natsu can't help but ask.
"Do you think Kirito-san will be okay?"
Agil thought about the black-haired swordsman who was all too happy to have almost all the players aim their hate at him. Not even a week, and the term 'beater' was already in common use among players.
"That guy…Probably. He knows what he's doing. And if he ever goes over his head…well we can always help him out, right?"
Natsu lets out a happy smile in response and with his conscience clear, he went back to fighting the respawned wind wasps with a renewed vigor. Seeing this Agil can't help but laugh slightly, before hefting his ax and joining the young boy.
A while later, Buzz walks up to them with a serious expression on his face. Ken is a step behind him, the sword resting in his shoulder, with a confused look.
"What is it?" asks Natsu who was first to notice the two walking up to them.
Buzz seems to ponder for a second, trying to decide what to say. In the end, he goes with the way that always worked. The blunt one.
"It's Argo. It's sounded urgent."
-0-
Argo. Most commonly known as the Rat.
She was the information broker. Do you need info? She will get it for you for the right price of course. The death game only started a little more than a month ago, yet her information network is already up and running. Rumor has it, she would sell her grandmother for money if she could. Natsu had to disagree with this rumor.
He met with Argo once, a few days before the first boss battle. From that time he was able to tell, that yes, she was greedy, loved to tease him to hell but she was also honorable in her own way and had a kind heart.
She was also a former beta tester, who knew Buzz from the beta. Buzz told him, they weren't exactly friends, more like they had a 'she is useful, he is useful' kind of relationship. It went right above Natsu's and Ken's head, making Buzz laugh about naive brats.
The most puzzling thought was, that she rarely needed any help, so for her to request Buzz's and by extension, their help, ought to be interesting.
The meeting place was a little inn, in the second floor's city, Urbus. It was quite far away from the teleport gate, so very few players frequented the place. And if there was one thing Argo valued it was her privacy. Hers, not others.
For the sake of efficiency, especially considering the next boss fight would be any day now, only Buzz and Natsu went to the meeting. Ken and Agil stayed to farm for materials to upgrade their weapons.
Natsu walked in behind Buzz, seeing only an NPC waitress standing at the bar, and a lone figure sitting in a corner, drinking a cup of water. The figure instead of being Argo, was the now infamous beater, Kirito wearing his Cloak of Midnight. Looking up and meeting the duo's eyes he gave a half-hearted wave.
Before he could great the swordsman, Natsu felt a pair of arms hug him from behind, the back of his head meeting something soft. His face reddening tried to broke free from his captor's grip but to no avail.
"Na-kun, still cute as ever!"
The cooing above his head didn't help him calm down, neither the amused faces of the other two men. Eventually resigning to his fate, he ceased his thrashing, letting his captor get their 'cuddle time'.
When he was finally released, he quickly híd behind the quietly snickering Buzz, leveling an accusing glare to the new arrival. And he did not pout. At all.
"Was that necessary, Argo-san?"
She was a girl on the short side, still a little taller than Natsu and she wore a brown cloak that híd everything, except for the 3 lines on each of her cheek, the source of her nickname, the Rat, and her Cheshire grin. Taking a step into the inn, she threw back her hood revealing short blonde hair and green eyes.
"What did you say? I didn't hear you."
As the information broken continued to tease him, Natsu's face began to imitate a tomato. At their first meeting, the girl quickly demanded that he could only call her Argo-chan. Not an easy task for the boy who seldom talked to a girl or called then –chan.
"A-Argo-ch-chan…"
Her grin widening, Argo opened her mouth to continue to tease the poor boy, but a loud cough caused her to look a still far too amused Buzz's direction.
"Not that it's not funny, but you did call us here for a reason."
Face quickly turning serious, Argo nodded and led the three of them to Kirito's table. They sit down, ordered from the waitress beverages, then all eyes landed on Argo. She seemed to mull over, debating what to tell them, before finally speaking.
"I did call you for a reason. There's a particular rumor that I need help to investigate."
With this, all three of them sat straight and looked seriously at Argo. She was notorious to work by herself, rarely using others to verify the information. For her to need help, it sounds serious.
The first to school his face was Kirito who had a hand n his chin as he thought out loud.
"What is it you need help with? All three of us relatively high leveled and two of us are former beta testers. Is it some kind of field boss, or some surprise left by Kayaba?"
But Argo shook her head, making it obvious Kirito was on a wrong thought.
"Not exactly. I asked for your help because I trust you more than others. For Na-kun the second reason is that he is connected to the rumor."
Blinking in astonishment, Natsu ignored the questioning looks from Kirito and Buzz and simply asked Argo.
"How am I connected? And you didn't even tell us what the rumor is in the first place."
"To tell you the truth, there are two different rumors, but I think they are connected. Listen up, at the Monument of Life, there is a new name."
At that, all three of them let out shocking sounds. The monument of life was placed on the Black Iron Palace in Starting City in place of the respawn room in the beta and the monument contained the name of every player along with the date and reason for death if they are dead. It was confirmed after the first player's death.
After they digested the information, Kirito shook his head lightly as if to clear it, before asking Argo.
"Are you sure there are more names than before? Do you know which one? When it got there?"
"I checked it myself. There are 10001 player names recorded in the Monument of Life. Also because the names are sorted in alphabetical and the new name sticks out like a sore tomb at the very end of the list. When it got there? From what I learned it appeared between one week before the first boss battle and the day after it. And the mysterious name is Basil."
As he listened, Natsu tried to wrestle with the strange mix of elation and dread in his chest. Someone got in after the Death Game was launched. Who and how? If there a way to log people in, isn't there a way to log out? Why are they still here? And who is this Basil and what does he have to do with this?
Buzz who was silently listening let out a huff of air, face serious as he turned to Argo.
"Could it be Kayaba Akihiko or someone under him? Maybe to observe us? Could he be among us?"
As he began to talk, his voice became louder and louder, almost shouting. With his face red, looking almost accusing, the spear user stared Argo down.
Before the broker could answer, the black swordsman cut in, his face solemn, his voice calm and controlled.
"I highly doubt it. It was too easy to find out. This Basil or whoever logged him in didn't really try to conceal this new player. My gut says something else is going on."
Argo gave a small smile in thanks to Kirito before manipulating her menu, and soon everyone's system pinged, alerting them to a message from Argo. It contained a screenshot, showing a boy around Natsu's age, with dirty blond hair and blue eyes, and at first, glance looks Italian. His fringe covers his right eye. He wore the simple leather starting gear, with a one-handed sword on his back. The picture seems to be taken in a town.
As he studied the picture, Natsu was surprised that the mysterious new player was a kid his age. Looking at the others, he saw both Kirito and Buzz with a puzzled frown on their faces. After letting them study the picture, Argo began to talk once again.
"One of my contacts found him in Talbot, where the first boss strategy meeting was held, around 3 days ago. He sent me this screenshot after he spoke with him. According to him, this Basil seems like a newbie from how little he knew about how MMORPGs work and spoke a rather old form of Japanese. And he seems to search for someone, for an unclear motive. One Sawada Tsunayoshi. And from his description the only one I could come up with is Natsu."
Natsu couldn't stop the large intake of breath as he heard his name. His real name. From the corner of his eye, he saw Buzz's sharp glance in his direction, but it was not acknowledged. He didn't know this Basil, but for some reason, he was searching for him. But why?
Realizing the others were waiting for him, he shook his head to clear it, before he addressed them.
"Sawada Tsunayoshi. That's my name, my name in real life. But I never met this Basil guy, he doesn't seem a bit familiar."
Hearing this Argo let out a hum as if saying she thought so, while Kirito narrowed his eyes. Ever since the start of the game, there was very little info exchanged about the real world among players, mostly because talking about it was just a cruel reminder, that they were imprisoned in this virtual world.
With a hand on his chin, the black-haired teen began to spoke out his thought.
"They only know your real name, not your game ID. But why would someone who was able to log in almost a month into the game, search for you?"
At his words, all four of them descended into a short silence. It was impossible to gauge Basil's intentions, with only one thing for sure. Sooner or later he would find Natsu. He was not as well-known as Kirito or Agil or Buzz, but among the frontliners, there would be one eventually who could lead this mysterious boy to Natsu.
The silence was broken when Buzz let out another huff of air, in this case in irritation, then turned to Argo.
"I assume you know where this guy is? I would rather he find us on our terms, not on his. It's the same for you, right? No doubt you have your own questions and what better way to get them, than through us."
With a sly smile on her face, the information broker leaned back in her chair, before graciously nodding to Buzz.
"Why of course, I know where our mystery figure is. And I would happily sell you for a small price of 5000 cor."
Natsu had to stop himself from spluttering in disbelief. 5000 cor. On a good day, at this level spending the whole day farming, the four of them could gather around 1500 cor, plus materials they would need for their gear. So the price of the information was more than 3 days of farming. This was outrageous.
The displeased frown on the spear user's face told the same story, while Kirito scratched his head, his face saying 'here we go again'.
"No deal. We can wait him out, now that we are aware of him, but unlike us, you would like to get those answers as soon as you can. How about you give the info for 100 cor, and we will sell you what we gain for the guy, for 2000 cor?"
As Argo and Buzz began to banter, Natsu, still in a light shock over someone looking for him, turned towards Kirito, silently asking what is going on. He couldn't understand why they would need to argue about this. The other teen could only shrug and went back to watching the two hash things out.
Before he could realize it, the two came to an agreement, Argo merrily skipping from her seat and throwing her arms around a once again blushing Natsu.
"Alright. So 500 cor and Na-kun will be my little helper for a day on a date of my choosing, in exchange for my always helpful information."
"Wh-what?!" Natsu cried out in shock, throwing a betrayed look towards Buzz, who seemed to suddenly develop a headache and was rubbing his head tiredly. Argo continued, heedless of the interruption.
"Also, I'll pay a thousand col for the information you can get from this Basil, regarding how he got into the game and if there is a way out. Of course, I won't distribute personal information."
Traitor Number Two, aka Kirito, ignored the pleading glance from the brunette instead, he poised his own question for Argo.
"And why was I also called here, Argo? For muscle?"
"Not really. You know SAO well enough, that you could probably see through if the guy tries to feed you false info." replied the whiskered girl, still cuddling to Natsu, who gave up all hope of being released."Also, I trust you more Ki-bou, than grumpy old Buzz, so I need you to protect Na-kun's innocence. I'll give you a discount next time you need info, okay?
Letting out a sigh of his own, the swordsman gave a tired shrug as agreement. Natsu was not sure what innocence needed to be protected, but he still felt there was something scary to her worlds. As the two men descended into silence, Natsu gathering all of his remaining courage addressed the information broker.
"So, where can we find Basil, Argo-sa-chan?" asked the boy quickly changing the suffix, feeling Argo's arms tightening around him in warning.
Letting go of the still blushing boy with one hand, Argo quickly checked that Buzz sent her the required amount of col, before answering.
"He's here in Urbus. Specifically, he's staying in the inn on the other side of town, in the Cloudy Pepper."
Natsu felt the question marks literally appear on his head after hearing the name. Cloudy Pepper? Who names an inn like that. Of course, knowing who made this virtual world the answer was relatively easy. Kayaba.
If one were to observe closely they could see the minute twitch of Buzz's eyebrows. The way Argo came about the whole situation, it appeared to be harder to find the mysterious player than simply walking to the other side of the town. But of course, the rat would take her fun where she could get.
Getting enough cuddling to last for a while, Argo fully released Natsu, taking a step back and addressing the 3 front-liners.
"This could be very serious. If there is a way to log in, maybe even to log out, it could change everything. So please, find out what you can."
Seeing the solemn face of the information broker, Natsu stood up from his chair, letting a confident smile appeared on his face.
"Don't worry Argo-chan. We will look into it."
"What the kid says." added Buzz, patting the head of the now indignant boy, while Kirito silently laughed in the background.
-0-
"Where the hell is he?" asked Buzz impatiently, drumming his fingers on the wooden table.
The three of them, Kirito, Buzz, and Natsu went to the Cloudy Pepper after separating from Argo, choosing to wait for Basil there. Though not as big as the City of Beginnings, Urbus was still large enough to make it hard to find someone there, without anything to narrow it down. In the end, they chose to rely on Argo's information and wait out the player there.
Kirito was simply leaning back on his chair, eyes closed and in deep thought. Buzz was getting fed up with waiting for someone who for they all knew was not going to arrive till night. It was already past midday. Natsu was drinking in silence a beverage he ordered from the NPC waitress, which tasted like green tea.
When a thought came to him, the brown-haired boy looked up, eying Kirito.
"Kirito-san?"
The black swordsman only let out a simple hum, opening one eye, showing that he was listening.
"Thank you."
At those words he straightened up, opening both eyes and looking at Natsu with curiosity.
"What for?"
A little self-conscious, Natsu let out a sheepish smile before he answered.
"For what you did in the boss room. For getting everyone to focus on you. It must have been hard, but thanks to that the players are working together, instead of pointing fingers at each other. You took a lot of heat off of Buzz, Argo, and other beta testers. So, thank you."
Kirito could only let out an embarrassed laugh at the heartfelt words. He gathered a lot of enemies, so a thank you probably was not something he heard a lot. With a scratch to his head, he murmured a quiet "You're welcome" before they descended into silence once again.
The silence was broken when the door of the inn opened and all three of them looked up, hoping that the mysterious Basil had arrived. They were disappointed though when instead of the boy they were waiting for, two familiar faces appeared in the doorway.
Biggs and Wedge the brothers they fought together with at the boss battle a week ago. As usual, Biggs walked a few steps behind and to the side of Wedge who talked animatedly about something and gestured wildly with his arms. The giant of a man noticed the three of them first and quietly pointed them out to his brother. Wedge as soon he saw them broke in a wide grin and cheerfully walked up to them.
"What a small world." he greeted them, stepping next to their table. "Hey Buzz, little boss! What's up?" he gave a curious look to the silent Kirito. "You are Kirito, right? Nice to meet you, I'm Wedge. The big guy is my brother Biggs."
As they softly exchanged greeting, Natsu smiled happily at the duo, he was wondering how they were doing.
"Hey, guys. Nothing big, we are just waiting for someone. How are you two doing? Everything alright?"
They soon began to talk with each other about everything they thought of, while Buzz exchanged a few words with Biggs and Kirito stayed silent, content in staying out of the socializing.
"Oh, I almost forgot," said Wedge, after they talked about Natsu's new sword a bit, looking like a thought suddenly came to him. "We were actually about to message you in a bit. See, there this guy we met a few days ago and farmed with him for a while. Kinda awkward, but not a bad guy. See, the thing is, he is searching for someone but only knows their real name and how they look, not the ID. We talked and offered to help him and when he described who he is looking for, we immediately thought of you, little boss. Biggs had the idea we should message you about the guy looking for you, but since we ran into you we can tell you in person."
The three front liners looked at each other for a moment, before with a shrug Buzz answered.
"We were actually waiting for that guy. Heard from Argo that he was looking for the kid, so we thought to get answers from him."
"Cool," said Wedge with a smile as he opened his menu and began to manipulate it, while Biggs walked away to order some food for the two of them. "I'll message him since we friended him and tell him to come here, okay?"
After Natsu nodded he sent the message away and he got confirmation from Basil he left them after a few more words to eat with his brother. All that left was waiting for Basil to arrive, so Natsu went back to drink his tea.
They had to wait for about ten more minutes before another figure walked into the inn. Basil looked exactly like the picture Argo showed them, with the only difference that his gear was higher-leveled now. When he noticed the three sitting in the corner, his face lit up, and hurried to them, looking over Natsu carefully.
"Sawada-dono!" he exclaimed when he stopped before the surprised boy, giving a deep bow of respect. "I finally found you."
'Well, Argo's information was right. His Japanese is odd' thought Natsu, feeling a little flustered by this show of respect. It didn't help that he could see Buzz trying to hold back a snicker at the side.
"My name is Natsu. We don't use real names in here," he said, focusing on the blonde kid. "You are Basil, right? We heard you have been looking for me."
Basil could only offer a simple nod before Kirito cut in. He sat straight in his seat, sharp eyes staring down at Basil.
"More importantly, somehow you were able to login to the game after it was declared a death game. Why? How? Are you able to log out?"
Basil didn't seem very fazed at the string of questions, coolly staring back at the black swordsman. After a while he seemed satisfied, he slowly sat down at the empty chair facing Buzz. He contemplated for a while, giving a sidelong glance to a curious Natsu as if he was looking for his approval before he began talking.
"It's a little complicated so I will try to keep things simple. My name is Basil, and I was sent here to protect Sawada, I mean Natsu-dono by his father."
"My father!?" Natsu explained, totally confused.
"I don't get it." said Buzz, idly scratching his chin. "Your old man some big corporate guy or something?"
"No." answered Natsu, shaking his head. "Last I heard, Mom said that he worked at construction sites."
Before they could continue Basil cut in, looking extremely uncomfortable.
"Actually," he began, gaining their attention once more. "It supposed to be a secret, but it is for the best that I tell you a little. Master, I mean Sawada Iemitsu-dono, works in Italy, leading an intelligence branch of a large corporation. I am actually his subordinate, I've been training under him for a few years."
Natsu's eyes widened almost comically, completely blown away. His father!? The always goofy man, who was rarely home, yet when he was all he did was sleep, eat, drink and goof off? He had a very hard time believing.
Basil took his silence as permission to continue.
"When he heard about Natsu-dono trapped in here, Master used a lot of favors he collected over the years, to find someone who could help him get Natsu-dono out. He eventually found a scientist named Verde, who agreed to help. Unfortunately, this game's system, I think its name is Cardinal, is so sophisticated that it will be a long before there is a chance to control it."
Kirito nodded absently, well aware that if they couldn't just hack in and log out people in the past month, the game's system would be so protected that there would no help from outside. Yet, before them sat the exception to the rule.
"Somehow you were able to log in, right?" asked the black swordsman at last.
"I'm not really sure about the specifics," started to say Basil, uncertainty filling his tone." From what I understand there was a small gap in the system that they were able to use to log me in. Unfortunately, there was no way to log out anyone and Verde-dono said that they would be unable to log in anyone after me because the system would recognize the gap and seal it."
Kirito hummed thoughtfully, not finding anything that would suggest that the teen before them was anything but truthful. Buzz seemed to ask the question that was on his mind for a while.
"Why were you the one they sent in?"
"Because of experience and lack of other options mostly." answered Basil, earning a raised eyebrow from the spear user. "I was with Master when he went to Verde-dono and this gap was found. Time was of essence since they weren't sure how long before the system made that route unusable. I also have been training with various sword styles from a young age. I was able to convince Master that I would be more help here than him, who did not have any experience."
Natsu had to blink a lot to hold back to tears that threatened to overwhelm him. While his mother loved his father, he didn't really feel anything towards him. He was gone most of his life, only occasionally appearing. But hearing that he was trying to get him back, that he was ready to dive into this death game for him, meant a lot to the young boy.
Buzz gave a silent approval at that. He himself was a father, he knew very well how far he would go for his kid. Hopefully, the new brat will be as good as he says. He shared a look with Kirito, the black swordsman giving his okay with a simple nod. He turned towards Basil who was busy waiting for a response from Natsu.
"Well, get ready kid, soon like coming with us."
"With you?" Basil looked up uncertainly, Natsu doing the same.
"Yeah. A friend of mine, Agil, and I sort of looking out for the squirt and another brat. If you want to protect him, you might as well stay with us. And until I'm one hundred percent sure we can trust you, it's better if you are here, where I can keep an eye on you."
The blonde-haired youth gave a sidelong glance to his Master's son, who seemed to follow the older man's lead even if he still protested the constant mentioning of his height. With a resolute nod to himself, he turned towards the spear user and bowed his head.
"I'll be in your care."
Buzz answered with a small smile, before addressing the two kids.
"We have to come up with some story for Basil if anyone else notices that his name is differently placed at the monument."
Basil looked confused and was about to ask what they were talking about when Kirito cut him off.
"No need." stated the black-haired teen, reading a message that appeared in front of him. "According to Argo, Basil's name in the monument of life was placed on its alphabetical place. She just checked it now."
Buzz furrowed his brows as he thought what would have caused the change.
"Either Kayaba himself or the system detected it and corrected the list, but didn't do anything about Basil himself. What do you think?" he asked Kirito.
"Probably the former. The system had a week to notice it, but it was only now corrected. But that leaves the question if it was the only thing he did or not."
"That guy didn't seem interested in doing anything else, but observe us. But with a madman like him, we could never know. Best be ready for the worst, right?"
As the two descended into a heavy silence Natsu decided to voice his thoughts.
"I think it doesn't change anything, no matter how much we think about this." the others looked at him in question, so Natsu decided to elaborate. "Kayaba is a game master, basically a god in here. We could theorize all we want, but it would mean nothing if he decided to do something. Instead, I think we should focus on something we can control, we can change. The second-floor fight for example."
"Also, my account is a little different from yours. I'm logged in through Verde-dono's servers, so I think he could counter almost every direct attempt at me." Basil also added his two cents.
The older man scratched the back of his head, before letting out a bark of laughter.
"Guess you are right. No use trying to predict what a madman would do. Anyway, now that we found Basil and everything cleared up, what do you say getting back to the fields. We still have time to farm something worthwhile.
Natsu and Basil agreed, the former quickly inviting the other to their party, while Buzz sent a message to Agil to expect the plus one they would bring with them.
"Well then let's get going. Kirito, would you tell Argo what we learned?" at the swordsman's amicable nod, the spear user stood up, the two young boys following his lead. "Then see you around, black swordsman. Don't die."
As they began to leave Natsu gave a big smile to the older teen.
"Stay safe, Kirito-san."
"It was nice meeting you." Basil also said his goodbyes.
Kirito waved his arm back, a small smile on his face. Also waving goodbye to Biggs and Wedge, the trio left the inn.
-0-
It was night at Aincrad. The now five-person Team Natsu spent the rest of the afternoon grinding, opting to spend a night at a remote village they found near the edge of the map, instead of going back to Urbus.
The boys went to bed, all three of them exhausted after the day they had. Agil and Buzz sat in the living room of the small house they rented. Buzz was absently looked to the side, while Agil calmly drank a cup of what looked like green tea.
"You know, if you keep this up I will never again send you alone with Natsu. It seems like whenever you two go somewhere you bring back someone else too." said Agil, chuckling at the annoyed expression on his friend's face.
"It's not my fault. The brat is the one who keeps finding strays, not me." Buzz let out a snort, before continuing. "God knows the kid could use a few kids around his age. If they can keep up, that is."
The two once again descended into silence, before the spear user once again spoke up.
"When do you plan to retire from the frontlines?"
"What do you mean?" asked Agil shocked and a little bit guilty. Buzz gave the Afro-American a 'Are you serious?' look.
"You are no warrior, Agil, you are a merchant. Here or out there. Look, I know you help out a lot of low-level players with what we farm and sell the rest to the cleaners. It's admirable and all that, but as the level difference between the average player and the frontline becomes bigger, you wouldn't able to do this. Sooner or later you have to choose, and I know you enough to know what you choose. The only question is when."
Agil looked away, deep in thought. After a while, the large man answered.
"Not for a while, that's for sure. I realize sooner or later I will part ways with you. But even then I don't intend to fully retire from the front lines. Guess, I will cross that bridge when the time comes. And you?"
"Probably stay with the kids until I'm sure they can survive on their own." answered Buzz ."After that? No idea. Maybe I will go solo. For me, the only way to go is forward."
Agil gave a healthy laugh and smiled at his friend.
"Look at you. When did you get so soft?"
Buzz only sorted in response, choosing not to answer. But even so, a small smile was shown on his face as the two old friends continued to talk.
-0-
In a darkened cave somewhere on the second floor an armored figure fell to a knee. He had long dark hair with a single strand in front of his face. He had an exotic, handsome face and wore black colored heavy armor. A few meters away from him a large two-handed sword lay, out of his reach. Despite no visible injuries, the man was clutching his right hand, panting heavily and sweating.
The figure standing before him was literally shrouded in darkness. Shadows flowed off of his form as he idly twirled some kind of polearm in his hands. The only other visible feature that was seen on the figure was its right eye that seemed to be surrounded by some kind of indigo fire.
"What do you want?" bit out the man on the ground, glaring hatefully at the thing before him.
The figure let out a soft laugh, sounding as if multiple people, male, female, old, young were laughing with it.
"Oh, I want many, many things. But for those, I don't need you. I only need you for one little thing." the figure knelt down as well, caressing the angry man's face with his left hand. "What I need you, is to be my new face, PoH."