Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story beside my OC and their story arcs. All other things related with SAO belongs to Reki Kawahara.

Once upon a time a villager went to a wise man and said "Our house is too small, we cannot live inside it. Can you give us a solution?" Wise man asked him "Do you have any animals?" Man was confused but he answered "Yes, I have chickens, sheeps and a donkey. Why did you ask?" Wise man told him to take chickens in and come again three days later. While he was confused man did as wise man told him.

Three days later he came and said "Our house became smaller. What do we do now?" Then wise man told him "Hmm, interesting. Then take the sheeps in and come back three days later." Man thought "Well, he is wise, there must be a reason." and did as he asked.

After another three days they met again. "It became almost impossible for us to live in our house. We are really cramped for space." As answer wise man scratched his chin and said "Interesting… Then take the donkey in too and wait for another three days." Man gave him an almost desperate look but did what he asked nevertheless.

Finally, three days later man begged to wise one "We are at the end of our rope." Hearing this wise man told him "Then take the donkey out and come see me some time later." Man did as he asked and when he returned few days later he was smiling "It was like our house became bigger!" Wise man smiled and told him "Then take out the sheep and come see me again." When man came at him again, he was happy "Wise one, our house has further expanded, thanks to your suggestions." Wise man smiled to him and said "Then finally take out the chickens and tell me the final result."

Of course, as a final result man told him that he and his family could fit their "expanded" house with ease and they were all very comfortable in their new state.

Situation in Aincrad was very similar to this story.

In comics people often argue that very existence of superheroes creates supervillains like if there was no Batman there would be no Joker. It is impossible to know whether this was the situation in Aincrad, meaning Sword of Mercy's existence was the reason why there was so many orange players and a feared red guild. But it was a fact that since Swords announced their official withdrawal from lower floors, they had turned like corners of hell.

Everywhere was an ambush spot for orange guilds. Coalition of DDA and KoB with help of other prestigious guilds were not enough to stop all the fires, since they were severely inexperienced.

What's more Swords were not accepting any help request about the subject. Ilsamor was unusually quiet about all this and he, as he told Nocturn that day, cut all ties with DDA and several other guilds that partook in false flag operation. Few days later Nocturn was thrown out of the guild, but no one knew the reason was going rogue and creating a diplomatic crisis or being caught by Ilsamor while doing his mission.

Outside Swords, some players were trying to remember a certain phrase that would supposedly grant them a request that would be impossible to be refused by Ilsamor. Though it was mostly forgotten, and it was only taught to first generation of trainees and since most of them were already in Swords of Mercy, it seemed like a deadlock.

Death count was increasing every day.

One saving grace for coalition was a solo player known as Swordsaint. He was some kind of hero and figurehead for anti-orange coalition with his dark-green robe and dark-blue sword.

This was the situation when assault team met to defeat field boss of 56th floor at 6th March, 2024.

Normally Ilsamor didn't have any intention to share even boss information with DDA but after Heathcliff's appeal he allowed them to join meetings, which were, according to Kirito, producing enough electricity to run Tokyo for few weeks at full capacity.

Ilsamor's appearance was changed as he continued to find more and more equipment from Lady and those days he was more or less had an appearance like the one before he lost them, only his robe was replaced with a white leather trench coat.

In the meeting Ilsamor gave them usual information and after that meeting had turned into a mess of voices.

That is until Asuna hit the stone table with her fist and drew attention of whole room.

"Okay here is what we will do."

She wandered her gaze around the room "We will draw the boss to the village."

Several gasps were heard, and Kirito objected to idea "But wait a minute that will cause it to attack villagers!"

Asuna looked to Kirito with cold eyes "That's the plan. While it is killing NPCs we will kill it."

"But NPCs are not like objects around us. They are-"

"Alive, is that it?" Asuna interjected. However, answer came from Ilsamor "Maybe not but this idea can lead to dangerous waters. I agree with Kirito, we should find another way."

Asuna scolded him "What dangerous waters are you talking about? I am only trying to pass this mission without losing anyone." Ilsamor shook his head "For now. But many roads to dark areas starts with good intentions. Now NPCs later solo players then powerless guilds. You cannot stop this if you start it."

"What are you-"

"We are not risking innocents to a crossfire, I don't care if they are NPC or player."

Asuna's eyes went cold "I wish you had shown this sensitivity for the lower floor's too Ilsamor-san." With her words room went even colder. Ilsamor scratched his neck "Do I need to remind you that it was your commanders that wanted me to withdraw from orange front and still has no intention to let me back? Or you have an amnesiac seizure Asuna-san?"

"Yet this does not explain why you ceased to give supplies to lower floors."

Ilsamor closed his eyes like he was trying to relax himself. "You are using this meeting beyond its purpose. I and my guild have come here today to discuss a strategy to defeat field boss, not discuss about apparent reasons…" then he sighed "But for now I see this meeting will go nowhere. I suggest we should take a small break and reassess the situation."

As if this was the signal they were waiting, Champions stood up in unison and headed towards to door with their leader. Asuna shouted furiously "I haven't agreed to it yet!"

"Maybe, but I have no intention to turn orange right now. If you'll excuse me…" Like that he left the meeting room. Kirito stood up as he was leaving "Excuse me." and followed him to outdoors. He found him as Asemi was rubbing his back and whispering something to his ear. Beside that Ilsamor's hands were shaking. He approached carefully "Ilsamor?"

He heard a sniff and Ilsamor rubbed his eyes before turning to him "I am sorry Kirito, I was about to lose myself."

"Yeah, I saw. The thing is it started to happen very frequently, ever since your meeting with DDA at 52nd floor. I started to become worried." Ilsamor gave him a sad smile "Not much as I do, believe me. I don't know but lately I am emotional, very emotional. It takes everything I have to remain composed and not act without thinking."

"Have you tried to talk with Lady about it?"

Ilsamor closed his eyes and nodded.

It was three days ago.

Ilsamor was kneeling before the statue, tired due to suppressing his emotions against latest events during the day. It had started to become very frequent, frequent enough to finally speak to Lady about it.

After his prayer he had found himself in Lady's throne room again, but this time Lady was pacing the room with a clear nervousness. He slowly knelt before her "My Lady."

Lady stopped after he knelt. Her smile was a nervous one "Welcome my Champion. Why have you come?" she asked though it was clear for Ilsamor that she knew why he had come.

He waited patiently while her smile slowly faded then she slowly rubbed the bridge of her nose "I am sorry. Of course, I know why you are here."

Ilsamor stood up "Can you help me? What's wrong with me?"

"Ilsamor… I don't know how to say this but after you erm parted ways with your old self, your brain…"

"Yes..?"

"Your brain waves started to show signs of an infant. Your "rebirth" somehow changed your brain structure."

Ilsamor was terrified after he heard this. "But I remember everything! What do you mean brain waves changed?"

"You remember everything but that's the thing my Champion. You only remember, your mind treats your actual memories like stories it read from books. It isn't shaped by them right now, your brain is in its default form. That's why you are so emotional, you are not hardened by life's struggle yet. I am sorry."

Ilsamor's eyes turned to ground and he was like a man whose all hardship was gone by a whim. His emotions started to boil again, and he spoke with a hoarse voice "Then I made a mistake by abandoning my old self. I am almost useless right now."

Lady's pacing stopped and he heard slow steps were approaching towards him. He couldn't dare to raise his face "If you want me to resign my duty, I-"

Then Lady hugged him.

It was unexpected and her hug had reminded him of his mother, so he once more forced to held back his tears. "Ilsamor…" she whispered to his ear soothingly "Your mind is just like when we first met, maybe it is just lacking all the misery you went through in the real world. It is pure, innocent and honest. I didn't say all those things to relieve you of your post."

"The-then…"

"Just like you I have to admit that timing of this is very unfortunate. But it was necessary. You cannot build a strong body on a weak skeleton. You will become like your old self and even transcend it. Besides if you didn't do it, I couldn't kept my promise."

Ilsamor's eyes went wide.

Her Promise.

Remembering it helped him to calm down. It weas true that timing couldn't be worse but what he gained was vastly outweighing the price. Still…

"Is there something you or I can do?" he asked while letting her go. Lady nodded "There is a possible way. I can make your brain re-live all the experiences it went through up to this point. But this would take time and it would be just as painful. A time that you must choose wisely because once it is started you cannot abandon it while it is going on."

"Lady have provided me a solution, but it is risky. It will leave me vulnerable for a time and temples are not exactly inside the safe zones." Ilsamor said but Asemi held his hand though it was clear as a reflex because one moment later she blushed and let go "Do you think we will leave you open at a time like this?" she asked with a slightly angered tone. Ilsamor gently smiled towards her "I know you won't but I have a bad feeling. We have enemies in both orange players and clearers. I have absolute trust in Champions, but I don't want to cause something like Coral Fields."

"You think they will know if you decide it?"

Ilsamor nodded with a grim expression "I am sure. Kirito, I know this isn't reasonable nor I have any proof, but this PoH is not a normal player. Somehow, he and I can sense each other and guess each other's plans to a degree. He won't know the details maybe, but I am sure he will sense this opportunity."

After he finished his words he looked up to sky and sighed." This meeting will go nowhere, I will scout the area and check a few intel Argo had told me. Would you like to accompany me Asemi?" Silver-haired girl nodded enthusiastically which put a smile on Ilsamor's face. He turned and shook hands with Kirito "Good luck my friend. I suspect that Ms. Vice-commander will want to have a chat with you."

"She did what!?"

"I told you she wanted a duel with me!"

Ilsamor and Kirito were sitting on a garden wall in 56th floor and talking about the events that happened for few hours.

Ilsamor's luck was no good, he checked few NPCs and quests that Argo speculated that might have further info about field boss and all he could learn was (and he couldn't understand the importance) was the existence of a musician inside the town. He asked many times about that musician, but he couldn't get a clear answer.

However real shock had come from Kirito. There were actually two shocks, one was an event that already occurred, and one was still occurring behind them.

"So not only you won a fair duel against Asuna the Flash, but you managed to break her will and persuaded her to take a nap? Man, you have a very overpowered character."

"Says the man who defeated me while using nothing but NPC-made low-level swords."

"To my defense, you were not yourself at those days. If you were, I wouldn't stand a chance."

They chuckled and continued to sit against the beautiful sunset. After a brief silence Kirito turned to Ilsamor once again "Ilsamor, will you take Lady's treatment, the one you mentioned in the morning?"

Ilsamor's eyes were locked to horizon "I want to, Kirito. However, there are doubts in my mind. Lady said that my mind turned into something very similar to a child's, in those days I always think like "What would me do?" and then act accordingly. All my instincts and senses, I don't know, it feels different. On the other hand we have a few really serious situations in our hands and she didn't give me a clear time on procedure's length, it might take few hours or few days. Honestly, I am scared."

In his eyes Kirito could see he was telling the truth. Ilsamor's eyes were filled with something different rather than the usual emotions he had carried since 20th floor, all that burden, responsibility and resolve left its place to a pure whiteness, like Kirito can look and see all the way to his soul which was surprisingly pure. He patted on Ilsamor's shoulder "Whatever you decide know that I will do everything I can to help you, you have my word." Ilsamor smiled to him "Thank you Kirito, I know I can count on you."

They could chat longer but grasses behind them rustled and duo turned to see famous Asuna the Flash in a state where many would pay millions of cols to see. "Me without my recording crystal…" Ilsamor chuckled inwards while Kirito smiled towards her "Good morning."

Asuna reflexively stood up and held her rapier's scabbard, which caused Kirito to duck behind the wall. Ilsamor just looked with curious eyes "Is that how you greet back your friends after they say good morning, Asuna-san?"

Asuna gathered herself and let go of the hilt. For a few seconds, there was silence. Then…

"One meal…"

Kirito raised his brows "Huh?"

"One meal! As a thanks for looking out for me during my nap." And she added after she saw Ilsamor's expression "And you too are invited Ilsamor-san."

Now it was Ilsamor's turn to be surprised "Huh? Me?"

"Yes, you too were waiting here, weren't you?"

Ilsamor was about to burst into a laugh, considering his information about human motives from his "life" though even a child could see that while Asuna was seeking a chance to have a dinner with Kirito she was not willing to let him know this. Since Kirito was a socially awkward nerd to boot, he decided to do them a favor.

"Sure, why not? This floor's restaurant have excellent steak, or so I heard. Let's get going, shall we?"

He could see signs of relaxation in both of them. Once again, he coughed to hide his laughter, which was actually should not work since you cannot become sick in this game.

Few minutes later they found themselves in the restaurant of 56th floor and in the center of attention.

"Hey isn't that Asuna the Flash?"

"Yeah, and that one is Silver Blade."

"They had a fight in meeting and now they are having a dinner? Call that a ruse!"

"But who is that other guy?"

Ilsamor closed his eyes and counted until ten to calm himself, sadly to no avail. He turned slightly backwards "What now, in the lack of real-world celebrities' gossips have you started your own paparazzi or something? If you don't cut it now, I will have a dueling spree in no time!"

Soon no one in the restaurant dared to open their mouths. Ilsamor sighed and turned front, only to greeted with Asuna's and Kirito's surprised gazes. He looked them back with same confusion "What?"

"Oh nothing, I have just though-"

Ilsamor understood why they were surprised and he answered their questions "Kirito, you are not the one who will practice with Asemi aftermath of these rumors spread."

Asuna looked him with a different confusion "Is it really that bad?"

"Well, let just say I have come close to death too many times in Aincrad and so far the closest one is my practice with her after someone spread the rumor of my supposedly "romantic" relationship with Hikari."

"But there is nothing between you and her."

"I know, it was probably just a prank but, well needless to say I started to carry a lot of fire resistance potions after that certain incident, just in case."

After that there was a brief silence on the table. Finally, Asuna spoke "Thank you once again for looking after me." Kirito nodded awkwardly "Yeah, it was no problem."

Asuna continued to speak "I know this is frontline but lately there are a lot of reports about sleeping PKs." Kirito confirmed her in a grim manner "Yeah, sending a duel to death request to a player, using his/her finger to accept the request then kill the player. It is monstrous."

Ilsamor took another sip from his water. Asuna looked to him with expectant eyes "Don't you have anything to say about it Ilsamor-san?" He shook his head "No. I had my share with sleep PKers, tracked and neutralized many of them."

"Many?" Asuna seemed surprised "I though this method was newly discovered?" Ilsamor snorted "Because before then there were no red guilds. There were at most red players inside the orange guilds to use this method and they were really stingy about these types of loopholes believe me." However, another aspect attracted Kirito's attention "Hey, what did you mean by "tracked"?"

Ilsamor cut a piece from his steak "Argo told us about some missions in Aincrad that really resembles detective inquiries in real world. After a number of trials and errors, Champions have developed a series of skills that when combined helping us to solve skills, especially tracking and recreating the events."

Kirito's mouth was wide open "Recreating events?! How can be that possible?!" Ilsamor shrugged "It is not something we do often. Since most of these murder types happened on the inn rooms, there were usually only two or three set of footprints. Besides recreation is kind of very expensive."

His answer was not completely true. Recreating events was not something they used often because it was kind of system of authority that granted to Asemi and Rider. And what he meant by recreation was simply the log files of the area that showing the record of actions. Reason that they were reluctant to use it was simple, same thing happened to Ilsamor could happened to them.

Asuna interrupted "By the way Ilsamor-san, I… I want to apologize from you."

Ilsamor was surprised as she continued. "I…I said those words in meeting because I wanted to anger you but I knew that you had a good reason for all those things you did. Especially after what happened between your guild and DDA."

Ilsamor bowed his head and closed his eyes "Thank you, Asuna-san. I may have also acted a bit emotionally, lately I do this often."

Kirito smiled as he looked their attempts to build bridges. However, this peaceful moment didn't last long and whole restaurant shocked in fear as a girl's scream filled the town.

"AAAAAAHHHH!"

As a reflex Ilsamor, Kirito and Asuna all shot up and drew their weapons as they raced towards to square. What they saw chilled them to the bone.

One man stabbed with a sword was hanged by his neck from the bell tower of the church. Man was groaning as he was trying to pull the sword that had been stabbed to his chest. Asuna looked to bell tower and yelled to Kirito "I will untie the rope! You catch him when he falls!"

"Roger!" said Kirito as he and Ilsamor stood directly beneath the man. "Pull the sword!" Ilsamor shouted as he was preparing catch him. Man looked towards them with eyes full of fear and made a desperate attempt to pull the sword from his chest.

Then his movements stopped, and his arms went limp. Seconds later he disappeared, leaving the sword stabbed through his chest fell to the ground. He and Kirito looked into each other's eyes with horror. He gulped unintentionally "A murder in the safe zone?"

Ilsamor, Asuna and Kirito were standing at the tower, checking the evidence of the event that occurred just minutes before. Much to trio's horror, there was no duel winner notification after the murder and the possibility of existence of a skill that allows damaging players inside the safe zone was horrifying. Ilsamor couldn't guess the death count if there was really such a skill.

And there was also the murder weapon.

Asuna was looking to it with suspicious eyes "I haven't seen anything like it. It seems like a weapon for bleed DoT."

Ilsamor nodded "Yeah, because it is. I have seen a lot of weapons like that, bleed DoT is curable only by Homeostasis Crystal and it is a very rare item. It is natural that you haven't seen it before as they are mainly used in PvPs, though I heard some versions of it can also be used for PvE due to their relatively high burst damage."

Kirito took it in his hands "Do you think the murder had been made possible by weapon's property or a skill?" Asuna sighed "We cannot learn it until we take to a blacksmith. Ilsamor can-"

"No."

Ilsamor's answer was short because he knew what Asuna was about to propose. "I am sorry, Asuna-san but if this is an orange activity, neither I nor my guild can go near it anymore, even now standing here I am on the verge of breaking my promise. I cannot offer you anymore assistance."

Asuna was about to launch a rebuttal, yet Ilsamor continued "Though there is something I can do, if you want, of course."

Asuna raised one of her brows "Oh? And what is it?"

"I can send a message to Swordsaint to come for your aid."

Asuna's eyes widened "You know him?!" Ilsamor shrugged casually "Well, we have crossed swords with him in both physically and philosophically before. You can say that I think." Kirito coughed behind him, suspiciously similar to his coughs in the field. Asuna thought his proposition a little then nodded "Then please do it. Again, thank you for all you have done today Ilsamor-san." Ilsamor gave a faint smile than got down from the tower and used teleportation stone.

Approximately fifteen minutes later he returned as Swordsaint and most of the players gave a yelp of surprise as many of them were seeing him for the first time. He didn't heed them and went straight towards to bell tower and saw Kirito and Asuna were talking to a girl. He slowly approached them and bowed towards them "Greetings."

"Oh, welcome Saint-san. I am Asuna, maybe you remember me from the few raids we have partook together."

"It is hard to not recognize you, Asuna-san. There are not so many swordswomen as strong and beautiful as you." he said while chuckling inwardly as he saw small hints of jealousy in Kirito's face. "I am honored to find another privilege to work with you."

Asuna blushed furiously and before something dangerous happened Kirito intervened "Okay, thank you for coming Swordsaint. We were talking with a friend of the victim and the owner of the scream that gathered players here. Yolko, this is Swordsaint, can you please tell him what happened?"

Yolko slowly nodded "His name was Kainz. We were to meet in this town for a dinner but now… Now…" Asuna went to console her, but Ilsamor stopped and thought. He saw too many farces and traps during that two year and his instincts were ringing. He made a another try.

"I am sorry to bother you further, but do you know whether Kainz had enemies?" Yolko shook her head. Ilsamor was now sure, she was definitely hiding something, but he needed something to press further. Swallowing a hint of anger in his throat he managed to speak with a calm voice "Okay, let us escort you to a safe place. We will let you know if something further comes up."

Like that they accompanied Yolko to an inn on the same floor. After she entered the building, Ilsamor spoke to his friends. "She is lying." That statement especially surprised Asuna. "But Saint-san, how do you know?"

"Asuna-san, you can hit the same spot with three consecutive sword skills and Kirito can parry breath attacks. These are your talents and mine is to see through the people."

Kirito seemed confused and asked while scratching his head "But why would she lie?"

Ilsamor turned to bell tower and began walking towards it "Only one way to find out."

In another ten minutes they were once again standing in the bell tower's top floor. Ilsamor was inspecting the ground "Why did you take so many people in? It has almost become a mess of footprints." Then, with a sigh, he manipulated his menu and switched his Survival skill on. "When did murder happen?"

Kirito thought a little "Around forty-five minutes ago. Why?" Ilsamor used his skill to eliminate footprints long before and after the murder time. Conclusion he reached was…

"Interesting… Kirito, take a look at this." He opened a green filter and showed the ground "This is the footprints of a ten-hour time window. When I eliminated tracks long before the murder hour and after the crowd's gathering, only this track remains."

He manipulated the filter and suddenly almost all of footprints disappeared. Only a footprint starting from two meters to window remained, and that print was almost going straightly to window.

"There is no second set of footprints."

Kirito looked to him with a very surprised look. Asuna was confused too "What does that mean?"

Ilsamor closed the filter "One of two possibilities. First possibility, this murdered had some kind of Survival ability that he managed to wipe his prints clean after the murder, which is unlikely."

"Why?"

Kirito's eyes widened with realization. "Because footprints going straightly to window without a turn or stop. Which means…"

"Kainz is the one who hanged himself. Otherwise, we would see struggle signs. Besides, why would this killer wipe his own prints clean while leaving the Kainz's? Cleaning both would leave us in a complete darkness."

Ilsamor nodded "There is still a possibility that Kainz was neutralized somehow, then his murderer teleported here, hanged him then teleported to somewhere else but why would a killer spend such a fortune for a simple murder?" He stood up "Either way Yolko is lying. Either about the murder or about not having an enemy."

Asuna shook her head "However Saint-san, there are still some points that don't sit right. What about Kainz's body? A whole square of people saw him to turn into pixels." Ilsamor looked to Kirito, who was scratching his chin. Then as he found something he stopped and raised his head, which Ilsamor quickly noticed "What is it Kirito?"

"I have just noticed. Killing animations in Aincrad, I mean items that ran out of durability, they have a rather similar pattern, right?" Ilsamor got what he was saying "Oh, that explains it if we are right."

Asuna was giving them a very confused look. "How can you two agree that good? Do you know each other that well?"

Ilsamor shrugged "We have worked a few times, yes. Besides, great minds think alike." Asuna turned her face and pouted "Calling him a great mind is an overstatement Saints-san."

"Hey!" Kirito argued. Ilsamor silently chuckled before intervened "Okay, in either case we need to talk with Yolko, before either something bad happens or they make a terrible mistake."

They returned to Yolko's room twenty minutes later. She seemed surprised to see them that quick, but she invited them to her room. "I wasn't expecting to see you so soon. Is there some problem?"

Trio looked to each other. Then Asuna started with a gentle voice "Yolko, is there something else you want to tell us?" Yolko tried show herself as confused but this time it was plain that she was trying to hide her worry "What do you mean?"

Asuna sighed "We have investigated the crime scene once more. After the last evidence we have stuck between two choices. First, Kainz was neutralized somehow and brought to bell tower with a Corridor Crystal, only to be hanged, then murderer escaped with another Teleportation Crystal, which is considering the item prices means a rather wealthy individual. Or…"

Ilsamor finished her sentence "Kainz used that Corridor Crystal, made himself looked like been murdered in safe zone, then used a Teleportation Crystal just when his armor was disintegrating. Which one is true, Yolko-san?"

Yolko was looking like a thunder struck her. Ilsamor made one more move. "Yolko. In first case me and my friends are prepared to help you. In the second case, if you still have a good reason, we won't hold back any help. But you have to tell us the truth."

Yolko looked down for a few seconds, then sighed "You really are professionals in this line of work. Please forgive us for doing such a ploy. I will tell you all that happened."

And like that she told them about the story of Golden Apple. How their guild dropped a rare item, how their leaders went to sell it and how she became a victim of sleeping PK. When she finished her story Kirito nodded "So that's why you pulled such a game. There is one thing I don't understand, why didn't you go to Swords at that time?"

Yolko shook her head. "Griselda-san's husband Grimlock did not want to further pursue the case. He wanted to let her soul in peace. But me and Kainz wanted to give Griselda-san the justice she deserved. I am sorry."

"Don't be…" Ilsamor intervened. "That story you told gives us a clear start point at least." Kirito looked to him with a surprise. "It does?" Ilsamor nodded "Griselda-san was killed in 27th floor with a sleeping PK. 27th floor is classified under the territory of Valeyard, Blackbeardsand of course everyone's favorite assassin's guild Laughing Coffin. Between those three, I know the Blackbeards didn't have that loophole's knowledge before so that leaves us Valeyard and Laughing Coffin. We can raid their field HQs and get the information we need." After that he turned to Asuna "Do you want to notify patrols to assist?"

Asuna shook her head "If this attracts a lot of attention, we might lose our lead. Best to do it, quiet and together. Three of the five strongest players in Aincrad are in this room. I think we can do it."

Kirito and Ilsamor looked at each other, then nodded. "Alright," Ilsamor said "Let's get this done."

Approximately thirty minutes later trio appeared in the square of 30th floor's town.

"I thought you had said 27th floor jurisdiction, Saint-san."

"Yes, but 27th floor is not a region on its own. It's a part of jurisdiction that covers five floors from 26 to 30. So, that region's HQ is on this floor."

All of them were wearing hoodies and capes. Even Ilsamor changed Saint's signature green robe to a dark, common one. He stepped forward and signaled them to follow him "Come on, Valeyard's HQ is at this way."

They walked for around 20 minutes, passing thorough all the party air and moved to silent hills of the floor, towards to one of inns near hills.

Inn was a wooden building, from its windows orange lights were seeping to road. When they reach it, instead of entering to it, Ilsamor moved to back of the building. When Kirito and Asuna reached him they saw he was talking to a bookstand owner. They looked each other in confusion, then shrugged and went near him.

Seller was not an NPC, which was very interesting. There are of course player store owners but neither Kirito nor Asuna had seen a bookseller before.

"Hello my good sir, how can I help you?"

"I'd like to buy a good fantasy book. Any suggestions?"

"Well, a lot. Have you anything specific in mind?"

"I'd like to buy one that expensive as Smaug's Treasure."

Asuna and Kirito noticed that man stiffened a little, but he was still smiling. "That's a lot. How will you pay?"

"In seven installments. Eight, if you accept."

Man smiled. "Oh, I think we can do it for you. If you give a Swallow as an insurance." Ilsamor opened his menu and materiliazed a beautifully ornated sword. Men took it, then with a swift hand motion materiliazed a door behind him. "You may pass, I will notify him immediately."

Ilsamor slowly nodded and moved to secret passage that man just opened.

"What was that Saint-san? How did you-"

"Patience Asuna-san," whispered Ilsamor. "You will learn the answers soon enough."

When they passed the door at the end of corridor Asuna gasped in surprise because door opened to a large depot like area. Everywhere was filled with chests and there were several men running around. Kirito wandered his gaze with an open mouth "What the-"

"Is there even a need for this place in this game?" Asuna whispered. Ilsamor didn't hesitate and continued to move towards left upper corner of the depot, finally came front of another door. After knocking it two times he entered the room.

Inside there were two people, one boy around sixteen years old was sitting behind a desk and another man around thirty was standing in corner. When boy saw the guests he turned to his guard "Okay, you may leave us. I don't want to be disturbed under any circumstances." Guard nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him.

As on cue, boy stood up and came towards them. "So, did Blade-sama send you?"

Asuna's and Kirito's mouth fell to the ground while Saint slowly nodded "Yeah, he told me about you Loki. We have a few questions."

"W-Wait a minute!" Asuna almost screamed. "What's going on here?!" Ilsamor hissed at him "They haven't heard you it seems, what about going out and screaming once more?" After he said that he sighed "Loki is an agent that Ilsamor placed into Valeyard, long before Laughing Coffin took the show. He is one of the six leaders of guild and responsible for item and material traffic between lower and higher floors."

Asuna still couldn't recover from her initial shock. "But it is orange! His cursor-" "I am sorry for that ma'am." boy said to her with an apologetic smile. "Since it would attract too much attention, Ilsamor-sama took me out of safe zone and allowed me to hit him. That's how I gained it."

Asuna seemed to have more questions, but Ilsamor did not want to compromise his cover more than required. "Anyway, Loki, we are investigating a sleep PK situation. Victim was murdered at 27th floor, about three or four months ago. Do you have any specifics?"

Vanguard closed his eyes for a second, then went to his desk and opened a drawer. When he closed it back, he was holding a black covered book. "Let me look at it."

They waited while he was looking through the records. Using the spare time Kirito asked Ilsamor "What if they have no records here Saint? Then what will we do, go to another one of their HQs?

"No," Ilsamor said firmly. "Valeyard leaders acts independently in their respective regions but if their business is in another leader's region, that leader must be notified, sometimes leader must allow for mission too. So, if we cannot find any record in here that leaves us only one suspect."

"This is wrong…" Asuna said with a slight hint of anger. "These undercover operations are not ethical. How can Ilsamor allow such a thing?"

Ilsamor sighed quietly. He knew that she had a point, but after a certain point even Argo's intel became scarce, and their orange base raids had almost come to an end. As can be guessed easily, it was not only Swords that were gaining experience in PvP, eventually orange guilds were becoming cleverer too. After he faced such a situation Ilsamor was forced to make another move. Argo, him and other Champions made a series of evaluations and as a result, five candidates were assigned to largest orange guilds. However, even though some of them had though it for a moment, none of them were sent to Laughing Coffin. Now, his time wasn't enough to explain all this to Asuna, but he can do at least…

"Asuna-san, you owe a thanks to Loki as he is the reason of 70 percent of raids in past two weeks, and more in the past."

Asuna didn't answer to him though she blushed a little. Luckily for her, Loki closed the notebook and shook his head "I am sorry Saint-san. There are no records or requests about an assassination at the time you specified. It is a high probability that Laughing Coffin was responsible for that incident."

Ilsamor nodded, that was his fear but he had to try Valeyard first. "What can you tell us about their HQ around these floors?" Loki scratched the back of his head "We only know that it is in 27th floor. That's the narrowest we get to their field HQ, we couldn't find the specific on that floor."

Ilsamor nodded once more. "Thank you for your help Loki. Ilsamor wanted me to tell you that you just have to hold this position a little more. He thanks you."

Loki straightened his back after he heard it. Saint turned to Asuna "Well Asuna-san? Are you ready test that "three-stongest player"hypothesis.""

A/N: Hello everyone, and sorry for a (relatively) short chapter. As finals and midterms opened an artillery barrage on me there might be a long period without new chapters which I am sorry for that. As the best apology I can give, I will leave the names of next four chapters here, hope to return here soon. I wish you well till we meet again.

Chpt - 15 Creaks in Dam

Chpt - 16 Ardennes of Aincrad

Chpt - 17 Forging A Silver Blade

Chpt - 18 Kalaiet