February 14th, 2023 (Floor 1: Town of Beginnings)

"You realize we keep doing these things on holidays, right?" Blake asked as I watched our second training event unfold. Things were a lot better organized this run now that we knew what our audience was looking for. Some things stayed the same- people came and went freely, weapons were distributed, players were taught new skills- but the way they happened changed. Blake or I ran the logistics, keeping rosters of the players that came in and out. If a player levelled, we noted what level they rose to, not just the fact that they did. We kept track of who got which weapons, so we would know better if they were being used or collected and pawned off. New skills were taught in shifts. I taught smithwork and medicine mixing, Heidan taught negotiation and tracking, Maisie taught acrobatics and sneaking, while Blake handled first aid and throwing weapons. Nymer was there through it all, lazing around and thoroughly enjoying the children's attention.

Instead of having a sprawling compound on a field, everything was neatly confined within a protective fence. There were two ways in and out, one for the hunting parties to go back and forth into the field, and the main entrance where we registered new players arriving. Blake and I were standing at the main entrance, but she kept her eye on the other side of the compound, waiting for a party to come back.

"I don't think that matters much. I don't think many of these people were going to celebrate Valentine's Day anyway," I murmured. It was dangerous to fall in love here. As I watched Blake's eyes dart to Heidan as he and his hunting party walked back into the compound. Heidan was laughing, as per usual, and he had one of the younger player, a girl probably twelve years old, up on his shoulders, I sighed. "Blake..."

"It's not like this is a choice of mine," she said quickly and defensively. I nodded slowly before smiling sadly.

"Just be careful. If you get in too deep, in this world... Anything could happen, Blake. Anything."

"I know."

"Uh-um, excuse me?"

I turned to face the newcomer, a man clad in dark purple armor that has seen better days and a longsword that looked much loved. I tried racking my brain to come up with a name for the player in front of me but nothing quite came to mind. I was about to apologize when I noticed the blue emblem on his breastplate: a swallow in flight. At that sign, I knew exactly who stood before us: the sole survivor of the Blue Avis.

"Can I help you?" I asked politely, trying not to stare at his armor. The man nodded, smiling a little shyly.

"I was actually wondering if I could help you. I'm quite good with numbers, and I'm sure you've got a lot on your hands trying to keep everything from going into chaos."

"Sounds great! Here, take over for me!" Blake said, dumping her work on the man before ditching and walking over to where Heidan was talking to a mid-clearer by the name of Klein. Klein was a good guy and a good leader from what I'd heard. His Fuurinkazan was probably going to rank up from a mid-clearing guild to a front line assault guild. With so few of us left after the 25th floor, we'd need all the manpower we could muster.

"Sorry about her," I apologized. "Blake can be a little... eager. My name is Riva, by the way."

"I'm Taka." Taka, or hawk. I heard that all of the Blue Avis members had names that came from birds but I didn't think it was true. It seemed like such a basic thing to base an alliance on.

"If you're still interested in helping, you're more than welcome to. Blake was keeping track of earned loot. Whenever a hunting party comes back, she goes and writes down how much cor and what sort of items were earned. If the party members want, we offer a market value cor exchange here so they can better redistribute the cor. It's a good way to make sure everything stays fair and it also helps provide me with raw materials with which to make and upgrade weapons. After this event, I'm hosting a weapon and armor upgrade service for players who can't afford an NPC upgrade and can't travel to find a player-smith."

"That sounds very efficient. Are you planning on continuing these events? I know it's only the second but, after what everyone heard about the last fight..." Taka's voice dwindled away as he recalled the last boss battle and I nodded.

"My condolences," I murmured, gesturing to the symbol on his armor. "Blue Avis was new to the front lines, wasn't it?"

"New and unprepared, apparently," Taka confirmed. "We hadn't been a guild very long, but we had some luck in the labyrinth before the strategy meeting. It got to our heads..."

"I think that's why things like this need to happen... We need to show the people waiting for us to save them that we're still committed to the cause. We still care about getting out and we still care about them. Training sessions like these help show that clearers don't just care about getting themselves out, I think. We're not out of Aincrad until all of us are out of Aincrad."

"A noble sentiment."

"Noble..." I laughed. "That's Heidan's business. I'm more interested in keeping the Hunters alive and patched together until I can kick their asses in the real world for scaring me so much in this one."

A new group approached from the Town of Beginnings as I excused myself to greet them. Taka scurried off towards Heidan's hunting party to get their numbers. The new arrivals were clearly a guild in their red and white uniforms but I didn't recognize the emblem. As they approached, a man stepped out in front of the group as if to alert me that the group behind him belonged to him.

"Hello. I'm Riva, alpha of the Hunters of Artemis. Can I help you with anything? We're offering training in non-combat skills as well as reduced pricing on weapons and... armor... up..." I very suddenly lost my voice when the red and white coats parted enough for me to see a familiar figure. My heart constricted just a little to see her out of red and bronze and into red and white. "Hello, Asuna."

"Hi, Riva... This is my new guild, the Knights of the Blood Oath," she introduced a little sheepishly. It was perfectly understandable why; the last time I'd seen her, she had left so that she could think and get away from the front lines. The guild in front of me had clear intentions to join the clearers. It was in everything from their pristine gear to the way they walked around like they owned the place.

"Bit of a mouthful, isn't it?" I joked. The older looking man at the front frowned.

"I'm Heathcliff, leader of the Knights of the Blood Oath. Do you have a problem with our name?" I immediately knew that this man was dangerous but, at the same time, I really didn't care. If Asuna had joined a guild, it had to be a strong one. She's not a believer in pity parties. If this guild was so strong, they didn't need this training; they just came to show off their new acquisition.

"I don't necessarily have a problem with your name. I just hope you don't mind my abbreviating it whenever I'm calling the shots at a strategy meeting." I stepped closer, a challenge.

"Don't worry. I'm sure that's a stress that you won't have to suffer much longer." He took another step so that we were nearly chest to chest. I hated how tall he was. I was well over five feet tall but I had to crane my neck to hold his gaze at this distance. "We can hold our own very well."

"Oh, it's my pleasure," I insisted. I looked behind him to where Asuna stood. She was looking almost green when I took a step forward. "So, Heath, what can I do for you? Does one of your guild require any training? The Hunters tend to be quite keen whenever someone's weak and out of their depth."

"No, I believe we're quite alright in that standard. We came merely to observe what's left of a guild that nearly lost to the last boss."

"Well if it's personal reflections and observations you want, please go ahead and ask your newest guild member. I'm sure she got a good look at the two headed giant when she and I were fighting it together."

"Actually, I believe your large ego was in her way most of the time."

"Do you have something to say, old man?" I growled. Heathcliff merely smiled politely as if I were a cute dog. Nymer appeared at my side and growled at the other guild leader, nipping at his cloak. Heathcliff stepped back distastefully and one of his followers raised a sword to strike at Nymer.

I drew my own sword and leveled it in front of Nymer protectively.

"Do not touch my companion" I commanded. I looked between Heathcliff and Asuna. "If you don't want anything, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I'm sure you understand."

"Ah, yes, I do. Have a nice day, Riva."

"Same to you, Heathcliff," I said as nicely as I could manage. The Knight of the Blood Oath turned and walked back towards town, probably heading for the teleport gate, but Asuna lingered behind.

"Riva..." she began. I turned to her with hard eyes.

"What could you possibly have to say to me, Asuna?" I demanded. "The Hunters supported you. We've been together for so many battles, then you turn around and leave us for a new guild? What do they offer that we don't? I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's not their good company."

"Heathcliff approached me a few days ago," Asuna began. She looked down at the ground with shame. "He offered me a place in the guild-"

"And clearly you accepted."

"I refused!" she insisted. After a pause, she continued. "He challenged me to a duel. If I won, the Knights would leave me alone. If I lost, I had to join them."

"You lost? How? You're one of the best in the business."

"I don't know. It was over so quickly... If Heathcliff challenges any of you to a duel, though, run. Don't do it, or you might be trapped too," Asuna said sadly. She glanced down the road, where her new guild were already halfway to the town. "I have to go... Good luck, Riva. I'll see you again."

"Yes," I said distantly. Asuna sprinted away, catching up with the Knights before they entered the city, leaving me alone at the gate of our little settlement.

Like the first event, our training session extended past official hours as new people arrived for training. Most people who came initially for the combat training/safe hunting spree ended up staying for non-combat training and, altogether, the Hunters and other clearers and mid-clearers ended up offering training in almost twenty additional skills. The event had grown, as well. We had well over three hundred attendees, with forty clearers and mid-clearers showing up to help.

After the event was officially over, a handful of player smiths and I took over the NPC forges of the Town of Beginnings and offered low-cost upgrades and maintenance.

The entire time, however, I could only think of Asuna. Somehow, we'd get her out of the Knights. We just needed time to figure out how.

February 26th, 2023 (Floor 26: Boss Room)

I allowed myself a sigh as I secured my bladed staff to my back. My health was in the yellow, but my battle healing was already kicking in and working to fix that. I glanced over the chaos that had taken over the boss room in the aftermath of the fight, searching for my guildmates.

"Taka, report!" I ordered briskly, tossing my hair over my shoulder as I walked towards the tall man, clearing out my Level Up! screen alerting me that I had reached level 31 as I went. My second in command appeared at my side, his mouth in a grim line as he threw a calculating glance around the boss room. Ours was a small guild, and close knit. With only five people in it, myself included, the Hunters of Artemis could hardly afford to have anyone out of service.

"No deaths, several injuries. Blake is treating the worst off now. Maisie got into the red but she fell back and her battle healing is helping take care of her now," Taka summarized. Taka was, in all honestly, a bit of a stray but he had a good head on his shoulders. He'd been running with the Hunters shortly after our second training event and we recognized him as an official member about a week ago. He wasn't quite on our level- he was still trailing around level 26- but he was another set of hands. He became my lieutenant when it became clear to everyone else that my game was more the 'kick ass and take names' sort and his was the 'balance the checkbooks' sort.

"What about the KBO?" I asked. Taka glanced their way, towards Heathcliff and Asuna. "No fatalities. Heathcliff seems to know what he's doing."

"Yes... It would appear that way." I glanced around, my eyes tracking down the other three members of our guild. I spotted the three close to the teleport gate to the next level of Aincrad.

Despite Taka's assurances, it felt good to see my three friends alive and well after a boss fight. Blake, as always, was fretting over Maisie, who was trying very hard to appear unconcerned about her health. Heidan had a carefully composed look on his face that let me know that he was trying very, very hard to not laugh.

"Can you convince Blake that I'm okay?" Maisie asked helplessly as her little sister flitted about her, talking a mile a minute about the rising prices of healing crystals and the decreased durability of her armor increasing her future risk of harm.

"Nope. You're the one who scared her by being an idiot."

"I wasn't-"

"You rushed in and forced a switch with Asuna," I reminded her. "You know her stats; her agility is way beyond yours, making your sacrifice totally unwarranted. She could have slipped out of the way without injury, you obviously couldn't."

With Maisie looking appropriately shamefaced, I turned towards the teleport gate.

"Are you all ready for the next floor?"

"Are we ever?" Heidan said with a teasing smirk.

"Fair point."

I reached out to activate the gate when I heard a voice cry out.

"Hold up! What gives you the right to be the first to cross over?" a voice I didn't recognize demanded. I looked into the crowd of players gathered around in the boss room and waited until my aggressor stepped forward. It was a man bearing the white and red robes of the new guild. I recognized him ever so vaguely. He had likely been in boss battles before with me, judging by how familiar his pinecone-esque mace seemed to me.

"Excuse me? What are gives you the right to question me? You're clearly new to the front lines, otherwise you'd know that the Hunters of Artemis is the oldest clearing guild here. We've participated in twenty-four boss fights, including the 25th, and we've never had a fatality. So, Blood Oathsman, you'll excuse me if I don't care too much for your immaturity."

I stared him down and, looking approproately chastised, the man backed down. As I watched, Asuna silently crept towards him and smacked the back of his head with a scowl on her face.

That's my girl.

"Right then. Let's go."

Updated 22:10, 1.27.2022