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Chapter 4
Floating Castle Aincrad, 10th Floor.
January 30th, 2023, 7:25 PM
After everything that had just happened to the players known as Kirito, Argo, and Asuna, their trek back to town was thankfully quite uneventful. Luckily the gaming gods (or in this case, the Game Master (or GM), aka Akihiko Kayaba) had seen fit to not have any mobs spawn on their walk back. At some point Argo's leg had finally regenerated, but it seemed she was too enamored with the young man dressed in black carrying her to notice at first until Asuna cleared her throat and pointed it out. The moment she did though, Argo hopped down and tried in vain to hide her bright red face in her hooded cloak being that it was missing said hood, all because of the previous encounter she had that also led to her now regrown leg being missing too. As it was, the trio made for an unusual sight upon re-entering the town and it's blissful safe zone, Asuna's cloak and clothes in tatters and her armor dented and scratched everywhere, Kirito's coat, clothes and armor in the same condition and Argo with her cloak in shambles and half of her bare leg and foot sticking out in stark contrast to the rest of her gear. Anyone looking at them might have guessed that either they tried to tackle the floor boss on their own with disastrous results, or simply that their expedition out into the wild was more than they could handle.
They quickly made their way back to the inn to escape the watchful eyes that seemed to follow them, paid for another night, and made their way to the room. As Argo attempted to make her way to the bathroom, Kirito's hand on her shoulder stopped her before she even took a step.
"Argo, wait. Before that, we need to talk" he stated firmly. "But first, we should probably change into something else so we can get our gear repaired ASAP." He turned to Asuna as Argo stepped into the nearby bedroom instead. "I know I'm probably asking a lot here, but could you handle the repairs?" he asked her.
Asuna looked at him in shock for a moment before collecting herself, and with her patented smile that could freeze virtual blood calmly said "Oh, so you think my Sewing skill has increased enough to become your personal seamstress and housewife?"
Kirito looked like a deer caught in headlights for a full six seconds before spluttering "W-w-what?! O-of course not! I only meant going out and seeing if there was anyone who could repair everything! I know you don't have any Metalworking skills and I figured it would help take your mind off everything by looking around town!"
Asuna blinked twice at the response. "Oh, I guess that makes sense," she replied "but finding people who can fix everything isn't going to be cheap, much less quick" she mused.
"I know. I was even gonna help out with that too" he said opening up a trade window. "Here's 20,000 col and some mats. That should cover a majority of the repairs at least. And if you need more just message me and let me know."
"Here's 7,000 more along with my stuff" Argo chimed in, having come from the bedroom wearing a faded orange T-shirt and brown shorts, her own trade window already open. "An' ditto what Ki-boy said. But if ya have any left over ya can find somethin' fer yerself. It's th' least I can do fer yer help earlier!"
"I-I seriously doubt I did much of anything back there" Asuna said, flustered at the thought.
"Nonsense. Without you there, those guys wouldn't have hesitated as they did until Klein showed up" Kirito intoned. "And I seriously doubt we would have survived long anyway with the position we were in."
Argo nodded in agreement, with Asuna blushing at the praise.
"Okay then. Hopefully I'll be back before it gets too late though" Asuna said as Kirito stepped into the bedroom himself to change.
"I wouldn't worry 'bout it too much" Argo commented "and we'll make sure ta save ya some food if they close before ya get back."
Kirito returned to the common room quickly, wearing a black shirt with grey sleeves and black slacks before handing Asuna his gear neatly folded and bowing courteously "I thank you so much for the help. And like she said, we'll definitely make sure to save some food for you just in case" he said, standing upright again.
Asuna was almost taken aback at his formality but luckily remained composed as she put their gear away in her inventory. "I thank you both for the thoughtfulness" she said. "But just make sure there's no funny business while I'm gone, okay?"
Kirito almost face faulted at the question. "Really, Asuna? All we're gonna do is have a talk" he almost whined, red creeping into his face, Asuna lightly giggling at his response.
"Yeah, an' besides, it's not like we'd keep ya from any of th' action if ya were interested, Aa-chan~" Argo teased, the other two actually face faulting at her statement, causing the Rat to fall over onto the couch, cackling hard. "Nyahahaha! Yer faces! It's too much!" she managed to get out in between laughs, rolling back and forth, nearly falling off herself.
Both of the fallen teens stood up again quickly, albeit with cherry red faces at the insinuation. Asuna managed to recover first, barely managing to stutter out "U-u-um, I-I think I'll head out now..." Before all but running to the door and disappearing in a flash.
She had managed to regain her composure by the time she had left the inn before belatedly realizing she never changed out of her gear herself. Cursing the Rat's antics inwardly, she began her search to hopefully find a tailor still open at the very least. As luck would have it, she found one just a couple of blocks away and could have the repairs done in less than an hour, and considering how damaged everything was, it was also a bargain at less than 6,000 col for everything. So when she stepped out of the store to find a blacksmith to repair their weapons and armor while waiting for their clothes to be fixed, the cream colored long sweater along with the light brown skirt and flats she found while browsing there almost gave her a spring in her step as she moved towards the opposite end of town.
Unfortunately when she arrived, her light mood quickly turned to despair at seeing that most of the shops were closing or already closed for the night. Increasing her speed, she began searching for anyone still open. The further in she got however, the more deserted the stalls along the street became. She almost started running down the virtually exclusive blacksmithing street in desperation to find anyone still open and willing to do business so late when she heard clinking coming from the other end of the street. Spurred by the sound, she increased her speed even more, praying she wasn't too late. As it was, she blew past the place in question before sliding to a stop almost 20 meters beyond, turned around, and jogged back to the person still hard at work.
As she approached the smith, she was almost surprised to see that it was a girl around her own age with short, mousy brown hair (not unlike Argo's blonde locks) and freckles on her cheeks, wearing a dark grey shirt and tan overalls with a white-ish apron covered in dirt and soot from the portable furnace she was working at. Her thick-gloved hands were picking up a scimitar she had just finished creating to inspect its quality when Asuna approached her. As she turned around, she nearly screamed in surprise and almost dropped the blade in her hand at the shock of a potential customer. She quickly recovered though, and placing the blade alongside the other merchandise on display along the merchant's mat she was kneeling at, she bowed and introduced herself.
"Welcome to Lisbeth's Blacksmith Shop!" the young girl announced with strained hopefulness. "How may I be of help to you today?"
"Well, I was wondering if you were going to be open much longer" Asuna said uncertainly. "You see, my friends and I need to have our gear repaired and upgraded as soon as possible" she finished, silently praying that she wasn't too late.
"Actually, if you hadn't shown up, I was just about to pack up for the night" Lisbeth said, a bit shyly. "B-but it's nice to have an actual customer for once. Beats keeping busy breaking down and reforging my wares just to build my Blacksmith level up" she added. "So what do you need repaired?"
Asuna opened up her inventory and materialized their equipment. As she set everything down Lisbeth's jaw dropped. Almost all of their equipment (except for Argo's, as she had mostly kept hers in decent condition) looked like they would shatter at the slightest touch. As she gingerly picked up Asuna's breastplate, she couldn't help but wonder out loud "What the hell did you put your equipment through!? It's almost shot to hell!"
Asuna looked down and away from the blacksmith as she replied "It's... a long story. We would be here half the night or longer trying to explain everything" her voice was almost whisper quiet.
"I-I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to put you on the spot like that!" Lisbeth quickly responded. "I'm just shocked that you only came when it got this bad off."
"As I said, it's a long story" Asuna repeated. "But if not for a very good friend of mine we likely wouldn't have any equipment left at all. And it would have gotten repaired a bit sooner if not for another incident earlier today that delayed my partner and I."
"Well, I'm glad you got it here before it completely broke" the blacksmith said. "But repairing this isn't gonna be cheap."
"I'm pretty sure I have the funds to cover it" Asuna replied. "And, if possible, I would like to enhance as much equipment as is available. I even have mats to hopefully do both." She quickly produced an array of materials for everything.
"Hmm... Taking a quick look at everything, it's gonna cost around 15,000 col for repairs alone" Lisbeth mused. "And enhancements will likely run 7,000-10,000 depending on what you want enhanced and how many chances are left."
"That's not a problem" Asuna said, producing a trade window. "How about we start with 20,000 col and go from there?"
Lisbeth blinked a few times, unable to believe her luck (or her customer's finances). Quickly composing herself, she accepted the money while replying "Sounds like a deal!" As she placed Asuna's armor on the anvil she cheerfully said "Well, let me get started!"
Asuna quickly bowed and said "Thank you so much, Ms. Lisbeth! You don't know how much this means to us!"
Lisbeth blushed lightly before getting settled into work mode with a smile plastered on her face, saying "It should be me thanking you! And please, call me Liz!"
Kirito sat down on the couch opposite Argo who had finally composed herself and sat up straight, his hands clasped between his knees and looking as anxious as she felt.
"So... what exactly happened back there?" he nervously started, turning to her.
Argo herself was looking down at her fidgeting hands on her lap as if she was too nervous to answer. Several moments passed and Kirito was starting to think he approached the issue too fast when she suddenly blurted out "I overheard ya talkin' ta Aa-chan 'bout how we met!"
As her face rapidly turned darker and darker shades of red, he himself looked confused. "But what does that--"
"I also heard ya talkin' 'bout th' crush ya had on me!" she all but yelled in rapid succession, cutting off his question as her face approached peak redness, now looking directly at him with determination she didn't seem to have moments before.
"Oh..." he trailed off, his face quickly blushing to match hers, looking away guiltily. Soon though, he turned back to her and asked "So why were you so far away from town? And what happened to get you caught up with that group of PKers?"
Argo took a moment to calm down and collect her thoughts before explaining everything that happened, from her bolting at what she unintentionally overheard, to her nearly being beheaded again at almost the same place Kirito nearly did the same thing the day before (and him hanging his head in shame at the memory), the reveal of their name and why they were there (which led up to her leg being cut off) and how she managed to flee to a nearby tree and was able to hide in it before he and Asuna showed up.
As he listened to everything and her concluding the story, it suddenly dawned on him how big of a target he had on his back just trying to help free everyone. Even worse was how the leader managed to escape and how he didn't know how many other members of the newly formed PK group there still were. And that thought spurred even more as he was quickly lost in his own world at how to deal with them...
"-Oy... -rito... KAZUTO!" He suddenly jerked toward Argo shaking his shoulder and yelling his real life name. "Are ya okay? Ya looked like ya saw a ghost or somethin'..."
Kirito looked at her as his eyes came back into focus. "Sorry about that. I just realized how much of a threat these Laughing Coffin guys are. Especially to anyone I care about..." he trailed off, looking down at his hands.
"Nope. Not gonna happen" Argo said pointedly, scooting towards him and grabbing one of his hands, wrapping it up in hers.
"What do you mean?" Kirito asked, a blush creeping its way back to his face again.
"I know how that brain of yers works, Ki-boy" she said, the look of determination on her face and in her voice. "Right now yer tryin' ta think of a way ta get rid of both of us so we can't be used against ya."
"B-but it's true!" he cried out. "I care about you and Asuna too much to put either of you in harm's way like that!"
"An' that's all th' more reason fer us ta protect ya" she calmly stated. "Asuna wouldn't care 'bout ya like she does if she wasn't around ya all th' time. And I..." she trailed off, uncertain whether or not to continue.
"You... what?" he asked after several moments of silence.
"I... I've loved ya almost since we met!" she yelled, almost having to force it out. "I didn't really know how ta feel 'bout it 'til recently... In fact, that's why I tracked ya down yesterday. I knew somethin' was up wit' ya and I had ta do somethin' ta help. I just didn't know yer situation was so bad at the time..." she trailed off, unsure how to continue, tears forming in her eyes.
She squeaked in surprise as he wrapped his arms around her in a fierce embrace, her eventually returning it and crying her eyes out on his shoulder. After what seemed like forever, her sobs finally turned to hiccups as she pulled away from him, wiping her face of any leftover tears.
"Sorry ya had ta see that" she said as she smiled weakly.
"Heh. It's still probably not as bad as you've seen me lately" he chuckled.
"So are ya still hellbent on yer solo crusade?" she asked, hopefully with him relenting to logic and reason.
"Actually, in a way, yeah" he said, causing her to stare at him disbelievingly. "I mean, anyone who has had anything to do with me is in danger now too" he explained. "So I should probably try not to have too many new additions to that list if I can help it. T-that's not to say that I don't appreciate the friends I do have!" he hastily added, her glare almost drilling into his soul with its intensity. "You and Klein are proof enough of that! It's just that I still want to protect everyone I can and doing what I have been doing seems to be the best thing I can come up with right now."
Her glare softened considerably at the last statement, but then she asked "What about Aa-chan?"
"She's... a special case I guess" he said, looking away from her. "My goal with her was to help her eventually become strong enough to survive this game without me. After that, she would be able to choose for herself what she wanted to do without having to rely on me for help. Although, now I'm not so certain, especially with what happened tonight" he finally looked back at Argo. "In fact, we should probably let her know about Laughing Coffin too" he added, opening his menu and sending her a quick message.
"Yer probly right fer once" she said almost jokingly. After he finished with the message and closed his menu, a few silent moments passed. "Well, afta all that, I think I'm gonna grab a bath" she announced as she stood up and stretched, revealing her toned stomach intentionally and looked back to him staring and blushing yet again. "Yer welcome ta join me if ya want~" she teased.
"M-maybe next time!" he all but yelped as if he was caught doing something he shouldn't. "I-I was actually gonna go down and grab us some food before they stopped serving any" he sweat dropped.
"Coward..." she mumbled to herself as she turned and walked towards the bathroom. She was halfway to the door before she was stopped again, turned around, and was given a quick, chaste kiss on her lips.
"If you know so much about me, you should probably know my Perception skill is advancing nicely" he said, both of their blushes deepening. "Like I said, maybe next time. Making sure we all have food comes first right now..." as he said that, both of their stomachs rumbled in unison, as if proving his point. As he turned to walk to the hallway door he added "If Asuna comes before I get back I'll shoot you a message to let you know" before opening the door and disappearing through it.
She stood there frozen, her fingers brushing her lips where he just kissed her before she started jumping in silent joy and then skipping to the bathroom, beside herself with giddiness that her worst fears were finally vanquished.
Asuna made her way back toward the inn, worry evident on her face.
Liz was almost finished repairing their equipment when she received a message alert. When she opened it an ominous feeling formed in her gut.
Asuna,
Need to talk when you get back. Found disturbing info about the group that attacked Argo tonight.
Kirito
After wrapping up with the repairs and enhancing what Liz could (only costing an additional 1,900 col), Asuna made a point to friend her before leaving to pick up their other equipment at the tailor (which luckily was just before closing by the time she got back there) and headed back to the inn.
As she entered, she saw Kirito waving her down before opening his menu for a moment. He had just closed it as she sat down and said "Luckily I was able to get everything repaired and enhanced tonight. We'll have to look for another sword for you and restock our supplies tomorrow though."
"Yeah, I kinda figured that" he said. "It's gonna suck having to make due with whatever I have until I can find something better, but that's my fault."
"Please don't beat yourself up over it" she pleaded. "Neither of us were in the right mindset then. And speaking of which, how is Argo doing?"
"She's handling everything better than I expected" he answered. "As usual though, she's more concerned with us instead. In fact, some of what she was able to learn until we got there to rescue her is why I messaged you earlier."
"And what was that?" She asked, concern growing on her face.
"You might want to order something. It's going to take a bit of explaining" he answered again.
She did so, and as she ate, he told her about what had happened and how. All the while, she listened without interruption. When he finished, she had a pensive look on her face as she asked "So you want to try getting rid of me because I'm a risk to you now?"
Kirito let out a heavy sigh before a quick, single laugh escaped and said "Am I really that bad? Argo already asked the same thing earlier. And before you say anything, no that's not my plan."
Asuna blinked in surprise before saying "I just thought that with the way you've been so far, that would be the first thing you would try to do, just to protect us in the process... especially now we know you're being targeted directly."
"Believe it or not, that actually was my plan to begin with" he revealed. Asuna was about to retort before he held his hand up to stop her and continued "Argo already beat you to the punch to reveal the folly of that idea though. Keeping a low profile and avoiding most people in general so that others don't get unintentionally roped into this though is my main focus for now. I'll message Klein and let him know he's likely gonna be targeted as well, especially after what happened tonight. Letting him know is the least I can do. Agil too, just in case."
Asuna was at a loss for words. Someone able to (even somewhat) get him to budge from his headstrong soloing and reckless abandon? She would need to have a long talk with the info broker to thank her AND get some pointers herself...
"Uh, you okay?" Kirito asked.
"Um, yeah... It's nothing!" Asuna hastily replied.
"Okay... Well, I'm gonna go order something for Argo and head on up. You coming?"
"I'll be there as soon as I've finished eating."
"Alright. See you there."
When he entered the room, he found Argo asleep on the couch. He stood there for a few minutes admiring her lithe form sprawled out on the makeshift bed before setting the food down on the table and scratched out a quick note, putting it beside the plate just as Asuna walked in. Putting a finger to his mouth and then pointing at Argo, she quickly got the message and quietly bade both of them goodnight before heading to the bath herself.
Before retiring to the near bedroom, he grabbed a blanket from the arm of the couch, tucked Argo in, and gave her a quick peck on her forehead. She seemed to relax even further if possible then, snuggling into the blanket and sighed contentedly. As he closed the bedroom door, he quietly stole one last glance at Argo's sleeping form and quietly murmured "Sweet dreams" and crawled into bed himself before sleep overtook him too.