Mito, December 22nd

Minutes later, Mito and her new party returned to the pier they observed the sailors and Fallen Elves unload cargo. Kirito and Asuna lingered behind, using the Argyro's Sheet to cover the Tilnel once again. According to Kirito, it lost ten percent of its durability within five minutes of use, so they have forty-five minutes to make it back to their boat before it is exposed. Jaymes didn't seem worried, given that there were no guards on or around the pier in the first place.

Meanwhile, Mito joins Jaymes and Koharu to ascend the stairs to a metal door at the top of the staircase. The male of the partnership clasps the red doorhandle and gives it a light tug, testing if it is unlocked or not. Once the trio notices the door isn't resisting, Mito reaches out and grabs his wrist. "Try not to open it too quickly. We might make some noise or something."

"Good point. Koharu, you put your ear into the gap when I pull a couple of inches, look inside."

Mito turns to Koharu, unsure what Jaymes speaks of. "You have a sight skill?"

Koharu nods. "Mhm. I decided on it last night, but I have the Night Sight skill. It allows me to see some at night and in extremely dark places, which I'd figured would be useful for excursions like this." To demonstrate this, Koharu leans into the slight gap made by the door and peers inside. At this time, Mito steps back, looking at the second half of the original quartet join them. Kirito eyes the door in quiet interest while Asuna stands beside Mito with a brand new cloak. Its made of a purple, silky material with patterns woven into the cloak. She keeps her opinion to herself, but purple doesn't really suit Asuna compared to red. Asuna could rock a different color, like light blue, but red and white just looked awesome on her.

Mito smirks anyway and brushes her purple tunic. "Trying to match?"

Asuna shrugs. "As if."

A couple of steps in front of them, Koharu backs away and gestures for Jaymes to open the door while she whispers her findings. A long hallway with a single guard visible to her is ahead of them. At its current level, Night Sight allows Koharu to see fifty feet in front of her as if it was daytime or a well-lit room, with progressively darkening vision beyond that point. So for sixty feet, while somewhat lit, she could see everything clear as day, including a guard who wouldn't present them much trouble at their levels.

Kirito and Jaymes are first inside, Koharu and Asuna behind their respective partners, and Mito making up the rearguard. Jaymes reaches the end of the hallway first, leaning against the right wall before the hallway splits, and leans towards the right path. Hand on his sword just in case he has to take action, he gives a thumbs up. Kirito, on the left wall with Mito and Asuna, gestures for the group to head left. By the time the crimson warrior came over, the guard had begun to retrace his steps back to the corridor's center.

The left path turned to the right, which is where everyone made it before the prior guard resumed his patrol. Ahead of them is a hallway that's guardless and presents multiple doors. With no clue where the cargo was, Mito could see the words written on each of her companions' faces and tried raising their spirits. "If nothing else, there might be good loot here."

Kirito nods and faces everyone. "This'll be a long job, even for the five of us, but we'll have to take it slow and careful."

None of the doors contained the boxes they were looking for. Sure, they had found multiple chests of relatively fine-looking loot and took a small break in one of the rooms, but it was a bust. Mito's experienced mind may love late-night gaming, but she had her limits, and two in the morning is encroaching on that limit. She doesn't know how Asuna and Koharu are still active two late nights in a row...though she can guess her friend may have had many late nights in the real world as the excelling student she was.

"Hmm... There's still a long way to go, I think," Kirito says as he, Asuna, and Mito stand at the opposite end of the hallway, morphing into a descending staircase.

"Are you tired?" Asuna asks him.

"N-no, I'm fine. What about you?"

"I'm perfectly all right. I got better sleep than usual yesterday... I usually don't sleep all that much anyway."

"...I see."

"Come on, let's go. My instinct is telling me that those wooden boxes we want are down there," she says with a pat on Kirito's shoulder, then takes the lead downward. Kirito and Mito glance at each other, with the purple-clothed girl shrugging.

"Her instincts are rarely wrong."

"I've learned." Following Asuna, the three come upon an area that's comparable to a warehouse. Within are countless stacks of boxes, and on the other end of them is a double door with armored elven guards on each side. "Ooh, there they are."

"We'll probably draw the attention of the guards if we just walk in there... If we can just sneak behind those boxes somehow to the left or right."

"We could take them down, but whatever is behind those doors..." Mito trails off as she focuses her ears on the opposite side of the warehouse. It's faint, but there's some sound emitting from the other side of the guarded doors. Based on the banging and scraping, something was being broken or constructed.

Kirito picks up a pebble and aims for the right side of the room. "Asuna, we'll go investigate. Mito, can you stand guard here and let Jaymes and Koharu know what's up?"

"Sure." On that note, Kirito throws the pebble to the right, hitting one of the boxes. The duo shoots right as the distraction draws the masked elves' eyes to the sound of the pebble, and Mito watches from the darkness of the steps. She can see the pair safely made it to their destination, so she relaxes and waits in the darkness. She watches as Kirito and Asuna open the box and the telltale expression on their faces.

"Empty. Damn."

"So we found them, huh?" Jaymes strolls down with Koharu, the pair fresh from a short break. Jaymes quickly scans the room from the darkness of the staircase, spotting Asuna and Kirito open another box. "The boxes are empty, you say?"

"Seems so."

"Weird... They just got here. Maybe they're looking at the wrong boxes."

"Possibly."

"Oh no, look!" Koharu's warning alerts Mito and Jaymes to the large door that begins to open. From their position, they could see ten or so people enter the room from the large doors. There was no time for Kirito and Asuna to scuttle back to them, which the pair don't attempt; they leap inside a box. Jaymes gestures for the girls to get low on the staircase while placing his back on the right wall. They have the perfect view of the warehouse and pray that the darkness gives them some protection from the elves in the warehouse.

Of all the elves, one takes Mito's interest - a burly, hammer-wielding elf titled Eddhu, Fallen Elven Foreman. She doesn't know what foreman means, and he stops just a couple of meters away from the covered box Asuna and Kirito leaped inside. Jaymes grabs the hilt of his sword but doesn't pull as the elf begins to speak to his followers. "Thanks to today's shipment, we've now got the total we need."

"Well done," says a second elf, slender and tall like an everyday depiction of the mythical race, minus the frosty voice. He bears leather and metal armor, seemingly unusual for the masked warriors, and a cape as crimson as Jaymes' tunic flowing from his shoulders. Speaking of the mask, his black one covers his entire face with horns protruding from the top. "But the assembly is taking longer than expected."

"I am very sorry, Your Excellency. We should be caught up within three days," Eddhu says with a bow.

"Good. Then I may assume that it will be finished entirely in five days, as the plan stated?"

"What will be finished?" Mito whispers to Jaymes, knowing he doesn't know the answer as much as she does, but there's something off about the warrior. He continued to look forward in silence, but his face was frozen in fear. "J-Jaymes?"

Koharu notices too. "Is everything okay?"

"That cursor... That's..." Mito turns back to "His Excellency" and the foreman. Having read the foreman's name, she knew his cursor was light red in color. But the other man, she focuses on him now to make his cursor appear...and her heart stops.

Mito is level 16, just like Kirito and Jaymes, which is relatively over-leveled for the fourth floor from their prior experience in the beta and remains so for the official release. Koharu and Asuna are a level behind, still at a good strength for the floor. Enemies have a red color, and the easier they are, the lighter the red; the harder, the darker.

Mito had not seen a black cursor in the beta or the official release prior to now.

"Damn..."

"Is black...very bad?"

"'Bad' is an understatement, Ko... I've never seen one before, but if darker cursors mean the enemy is of higher difficulty... That's an invitation to death, and considering what that means..." Jaymes gulps and kneels down, lowering his sword hand. "His name, though. I can't pronounce it, but 'Fallen Elven General' doesn't sound so foreboding after we took down a Forest Elf Commander."

Mito doesn't share that sentiment. "Remember the leap from Colonel to General to King on the second floor? Not to consider Illfang was a Lord."

"True."

"As for the name...N'ltzahh, seems to be pronounced by 'Noltza.'" Mito learned that from the foreman who just spoke the general's name and is patted by the general after pledging his life to complete whatever the elves are cooking. N'ltzahh steps away from the box containing their friends, stopping short as he faces another elf. "It truly is a farce, isn't it? Eons since we were removed from the blessings of the Holy Tree, yet we are still bound by the taboos of the elven race."

"Yes," says a feminine voice from the third elf, "if not for that nonsensical taboo, we would not need to strike this deal with the filthy humans in order to gain these materials."

"It is not worth complaining about, Kysala. Pay them as much gold as they want. once we have all of the keys and open the door to the Sanctuary, even the greatest magic left to humankind will vanish without a trace."

"Of course, Your Excellency. The moment of triumph grows ever closer."

"Indeed. But our initial mission is to recover the first key that the special forces commander let slip from our grasp. The plan begins in five days, once all of our preparations are complete. I have great expectations from all of you." The elves shout, salute, and hustle out of the warehouse. Mito, Jaymes, and Koharu remain frozen in their positions.

"Mito... You did the campaign in the beta, right?"

"Yes."

"I take it that guy is a new addition."

"Indeed."

"...Well, that's awesome." Jaymes sighs and looks at his partner. Mito also faces the girl on her left, seeing she's still stiff as stone. She hadn't said a word since she asked how bad a black cursor was, so Jaymes' response must've been a shock to the system. Mito looks for the words to comfort the girl, but she doesn't get a chance. Jaymes takes one step over to the girl and kneels in front of her. bringing her head to his chest while wrapping his arms around her upper body. That wakes her, and she shudders in response. "Hey, no need to be scared."

"I-I'm sorry. It's just... Asuna and Kirito were right there...and if something went wrong..."

"We're all fine. Look, they're fine as well." He backs off and points to Kirito and Asuna, who exit the box they hide in and remain in cover. Koharu sees them and begins to slowly calm down, taking an excessive breath in and exhaling slowly. She clutches the small, flower-shaped brooch above her left breast, which calms her down even more.

"Okay... I'm fine. You're right; we're fine." She presents Jaymes with a weak smile, which he responds to with a nod. Her eyes, however, don't falter from the warehouse. "Also... I may be wrong, but I think I figured something out."

"You did?"

"Mhm. It might be a stretch, but if there's something common among all interpretations of elves, it's that they're in harmony with nature, right? Those boxes Kirito and Asuna found were empty; if they were the ones we saw earlier, it didn't seem like they were emptied before our arrival. So what if they were always empty? What they need was not anything inside but the boxes themselves?"

Back in Rovia, the party elected to visit a new inn to avoid the chaos of the prior morning. No one spoke of the events inside the Fallen Elves' hideout, either too tired to discuss or silently deciding to talk on it later. In any case, Mito finds herself in her own room, lying on her bed restlessly.

She maintained a brave face earlier, but Koharu's earlier fear was shared by Mito. N'ltzahh had gotten too close to Asuna, and if the worse happened...she heard what nearly happened to Diavel against Illfang, and that guy was on par with the height of the first floor's level range. If he nearly died to a boss his level put him fairly against, she can only imagine what the black cursored N'ltzahh could do to them. And if they somehow got away from N'ltzahh, he had the foreman and the other elves right at his side.

If her best friend in the real world, the person with who she got involved in SAO in the first place, died in such a dangerous, reckless manner, Misumi Tozawa would never forgive herself. She hasn't forgiven herself for abandoning Asuna to die before; to allow her to die without trying to protect her is irredeemable.

Her mind rustled with too many thoughts at the hour, Mito growls to herself and rolls out of bed. Stomping toward the door, she swings it open softly not to wake the others - though she knows the doors of Aincrad are soundproof when they're closed - just to find herself faced with Kirito. He seems as shocked to see her as she is to see him. She recovers first, though. "Kirito. What has you up at this hour?"

"O-oh, I just left Asuna's room... N-nothing sketchy, I swear!"

She cups her chin and analyzes him. "Hmm... I believe you. Jaymes says you don't seem like you're the type, despite your hair type and color."

"Type? What does that mean?"

"'He may look like a typical protagonist in an isekai harem series or an h-anime, but he's really scared to see a girl naked. He'd probably die if a girl as good-looking as Asuna were forward with him like a shut-in NEET who dies from shock and pissing himself while trying to save a girl from a tractor.'" She gets a giggle at the disgruntled look on Kirito's face and continues while leaning against the doorframe. "Of course, he's sleeping right beside Koharu right now, I suspect, and he's doing everything in the world to not lay a hair on her. In other words, you're both great guys."

"I... I take that as a compliment."

"You should. Anyway, I know I did this earlier today, but I'd like to directly thank you for taking care of Asuna, as much pain I know she must've been to you. it's my fault she's here in SAO in the first place, so it is my responsibility to make sure she's safe yet... I feel like I've failed horribly at that once, and I really have no right to continue doing so. So may I ask a favor that you keep doing what you're doing?"

Kirito drops his head slightly, his eyes on the floor. He looks...conflicted. Mito knows what she asks is more or less passing her responsibility to someone else, and maybe she's asking the wrong guy. Asking Jaymes to watch over another person is extreme, though. She witnessed how much he has his hands full with Koharu. Even if Asuna is of stronger stuff, there's no telling when she'd break, and she cannot ask Jaymes to handle that as well. Besides, of the two boys, it is visibly obvious who Asuna has a better synergy with.

Kirito eventually has an answer once he looks back up to her. "I told Asuna that she'd do better with a guild than with me. She has all the qualities of a leader, and it'd be a waste of those qualities to stay at my side."

"I know those qualities well if I'm honest. I never thought they'd show up here. But why haven't you pushed her to join DKB or ALS if that's the case?"

"Because...they're not suitable for her, I think..."

Kirito searches for an answer while Mito conjures up one herself with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Ho ho, Mister Kirito. Maybe you're more of a man than I thought! I warn you, Asuna is very beautiful, but she hasn't had much experience with boys, so be patient with her while exploring your love."

"I-I-I don't like her!"

"Maybe not now, but one day... Yes, I can see it. You two will be annoyingly cute together, just like those two will." Seeing Kirito's red-faced and speechless, Mito steps back into her room and holds her door. "Teasing aside until she joins a suitable guild. I entrust you to her."

"...Yeah. Yeah, I'll do my absolute best."

"That's nice to hear. Thank you, and good night, Kirito." He nods, and Mito shuts the door afterward. Sighing, she returns to her bed and drops down on her back. Staring out the window, Mito closes her eyes and places a hand on her heart. The outside world is quiet, so all Mito can hear is the soft, calmed voice coming from her real brain through her avatar's throat and tongue.

"Asuna and Kirito...and Jaymes and Koharu. Argo spoke highly of your four, and I thought she was exaggerated a bit. But if she's correct...then I have nothing to worry about. As long as your four are together, we may escape this death game yet..."