Disclaimer: I don't own Sword Art Online

A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed!

The Path of a Beater

Chapter 3

"What do you know?"

"Depends on what you are asking about." Argo replied as she leaned back in her chair and carefully took in the tavern they were sitting in to make sure no one was listening in on them. While it was alright in her mind for her to spy on people, she did not like it when others did it to her. Anyone who wanted information had to pay her for it.

"I know Dragon's Kings is planning something, but I haven't been able to get any information about it. Redwing has been keeping a very tight lid on it."

Argo refocused her gaze onto Ridwig. "It would be pathetic if he wasn't trying to keep information about his plans on the down low." She leaned forward and put her chin on her fist as she stared into Ridwig's eyes. "I don't mind selling you any information you need, but is it really worth it to buy info on another guild just because of a rivalry?"

"Of course." Ridwig said immediately, eyes alight with the flame of competition. "I will not lose to someone like him!"

The information dealer raised a brow, but smirked. Ridwig and Redwing never changed. No one was able to understand the whole rivalry thing they had going on, but it was there since day one of the beta. It started off just between them, but when the guild quest became available, they started to involve their friends who joined their guilds. She wouldn't be surprised if a guild war broke out one of these days. Because of the leaders' rivalry, the members of Dragon's Kings and the Holy Knights Allegiance were fiercely opposing of the other and would follow their leaders' orders without complaint if it meant one upping the other guild.

"So, anything you can tell me about his plan would be great." Ridwig said, adopting a serious, calm manner once more.

"Even at the hefty price it will cost you?" Argo asked slyly.

Ridwig's mouth set into a firm line, but he nodded. "Name the price."

"Hmm," Argo said. "Well, I can't." She weakly tossed her hands up and shrugged. "I do not know what Dragon's Kings is planning."

"Seriously?" Ridwig almost shouted, but he managed to keep his voice down just in time. He leaned back into his seat with a frustrated sigh. So even the Rat couldn't figure out what Dragon's Kings was planning. That was surprising to say the least. She was one of the best information dealers around which is why he came to her. If she didn't know, then how was he to find out just what Redwing had planned? "And you're supposed to be the best of the best for info brokers?"

"If you really want to know," Argo said, an annoyed frown forming on her lips at Ridwig's insult. "I do have some info that might interest you." Her words alone brought Ridwig's full interested stare back to her. "It's possible a player outside Dragon's Kings has info on their plan, but he won't even sell the info to me. For a price, the name is all yours."

"10,000 Col." Ridwig said, already opening his menu and going to the trade menu.

"15,000 Col."

Ridwig's hand stalled at her voice and he lifted his angry gaze to hers. "What? You upped the price? It was always 10,000 Col."

"It's that or there is no trade." Argo replied firmly with a knowing smirk on her lips. When people were desperate for information, they were eager to spend their col for it. This is why she enjoyed the rivalries between the guilds. It brought her so much good business.

Ridwig stared at her for a moment longer before sighing and changing the amount of the trade to 15,000 Col. "There, rip-off info broker." He mumbled quietly. "Now what can you tell me?"

Argo accepted the money before saying, "Two days ago at the PvP after party, I saw Kirito speaking to Henrik of Dragon's Kings. They seemed to be having an interesting talk and when I asked Kirito later, he refused to tell me what it was about."

"Kirito?" Ridwig repeated with a smirk. "I should have known. He's probably the only person outside his guild that Redwing will trust, skill wise at least. For information though, Kirito isn't very trustworthy." He leveled Argo with a stare. "Though you're even less trustworthy than him. Neither of you have any loyalty to anyone."

Argo smirked. "Do you want the rest of the info or not?"

"What else is there?" Ridwig asked.

"If you want to speak with Kirito, he is in the sixth floor dungeon." Argo replied before she rose to her feet. "That is all the info you are getting for 15,000 Col."

"It's more than enough." Ridwig assured her quickly as his mind was already spinning with plans and a trip to the dungeon.

Argo laughed. "You say that now, but good luck with getting anything from Kirito about this."

*Kirito*

CLANG!

Kirito felt his foot slide back a bit from the pressure that the «Salamander Slave» was exerting on his sword with its two handed sword. Gritting his teeth, Kirito pushed back by putting more strength into his attack. He managed a small step forward before both swords were flying up from the pressure of attacks.

With a grunt, Kirito yanked his arm down into position on his shoulder for a «slant», keeping his eyes entirely locked on the «Salamander Slave» in front of him. It was a strange monster in this dungeon. It was a black salamander with yellow stripes that stood on two legs and had a tail that dragged along the floor behind it. It wore some basic armor over its chest and wielded a two-handed sword.

Having been in the dungeon for close to four hours already, Kirito already learned much about the «Salamander Slave», and one of those things included that blasted tail. His sharp eyes caught the motion of the tail twitching. Not wasting a moment, Kirito quickly stepped forward with his sword coming down for a diagonal slash from top-right to bottom-left using the «slant» skill. An orange gash ripped across the monster's chest, but it wasn't enough to destroy it. Immediately after the skill finished, Kirito jumped back and just missed being hit by the «Salamander Slave's» tail.

That was a surprising attack with the first «Salamander Slave» he fought. He never expected them to be able to swing their tails around and attack with them. But after four hours of fighting these monsters, he had gotten the hang of it and knew when to dodge the tail.

Kirito adjusted his sword to the position for «vertical arc» before he ran forward. As his sword started to glow for the attack, he dodged a coming attack and unleased his own attack on the «Salamander Slave». It was the final attack needed to destroy the monster as it burst into polygons.

A window popped up in front of him to display the experience, col, and items he won. One such item was «salamander meat» which he seemed to be getting a lot of. He wondered how it tasted, but he didn't put a lot of points into his cooking skill so he wasn't willing to try to make anything with it. Maybe he could just cook it over a fire later.

Finished with that, he closed his window before turning around to make his way out of the dungeon. He had spent enough time grinding his level, besides there was a task that he needed to do since it seemed he couldn't do it alone.

*Beater*

After another hour of fighting his way out of the dungeon, Kirito stepped out of the dark dungeon and into the bright sun. As soon as he did, he had to shield his eyes for a moment while they got used to the light. It only took a few seconds before he was able to see clearly again and this led him to being surprised at seeing Ridwig learning against one of the trees of the forest that surrounded the dungeon.

"Clearly, you must be bored if you are just going to stand there." Kirito commented as he walked towards him. "There is a giant dungeon in front of you and you're not even going to go in?"

"If I did that, I would have missed you if I chose the wrong path." Ridwig replied easily.

"Missed me?" Kirito commented as he continued past Ridwig. "I didn't realize my charming personality was so endearing to you that you would hunt me down."

Ridwig snorted and knocked Kirito on the head with his knuckles. "It's definitely not for your personality that I would spend my time looking for a pesky brat like you."

"I take offense to that. I am by no means a brat." Kirito retorted.

The other player raised a brow. "Oh? But you are pesky?"

"Course, I make it a point to irritate people." Kirito replied easily with a lazy smirk that he shot over his shoulder at Ridwig. "Course, you irritate me in return. Is it that time of the week where you push my buttons too far that I stab you and go orange for a few days? I didn't realize that time was upon us already!"

Ridwig laughed as he fell into step with Kirito. "No. Sorry, Kirito, not this week. I actually need your help with something."

"Oh? Another job from the Holy Knights Allegiance?" Kirito asked as he jumped over a fallen log. "It's been a while since you've hired me."

Ridwig calmly stepped over the log as he looked at Kirito more closely. He was one of the best players in the beta, but Ridwig found the way that he acted to be sometimes childish. It really did make him wonder at times just how old Kirito was. Was he a childish adult? Or was he really just a teenager?

"Sorry, no job, but it could always lead to one. It depends on what you tell me." Ridwig said casually as he looked at Kirito out of the corner of his eyes. He noticed the kid didn't react at all to what he said. "Argo happened to mention to me that you know what Dragon's Kings is planning."

Unknown to Ridwig, Kirito was cursing Argo to hell inside his head at that very moment. On the outside though, Kirito didn't even flinch at the news that Ridwig wanted information about his rival guild. He really should have seen this coming. If Argo got paid, she would give any information away.

"I really want no part in your guild rivalry right now." Kirito replied stiffly, eyes narrowed as they scanned the forest.

"Then just give me the information you have." Ridwig said with a grin. "As soon as you do, I will be out of your hair."

Kirito shook his head. "Spreading that information will involve me." He came to a sudden stop and raised his hand to the handle of the sword on his back.

Ridwig, having gotten to know Kirito rather well in the few weeks he had known him, knew that the action wasn't directed towards wanting to kill him. He hadn't done enough to warrant getting stabbed by Kirito yet. So that meant…Ridwig jumped and turned around to cover Kirito's back, while he covered his. His hand went down to his side where his Shadow Edge dagger was. It was a dagger he received from the fourth floor boss last attack bonus. The dagger had a black blade and a handle that was crisscrossed in black and white wrapping. He slid it out of its sheath a bit as he looked around the forest.

"Who is it? Monsters or players?" Ridwig whispered.

"Players." Kirito whispered back, eyes narrowed as he looked around. His searching skill was at a level that was apparently higher than their hiding skill. Already he had found six players around them. It was one party, unless there was a second one around.

Ridwig growled to himself. Was it a party of player killers? But what were they doing out here? They couldn't have known that Kirito was out here or that Ridwig was coming to find him. Were they just lying in wait for a random victim or were they tracking them?

"Come out! We know you're there!" Ridwig called out.

It was silent for a moment. No movement from the players or even the forest, which seemed to have fallen still in the tense moment. Then, three players jumped down from the trees. Two landed in front of Ridwig while the other landed in front of Kirito. The other three surrounded the two on their sides.

Staring at the player in front of him, Kirito raised a brow as he saw it was Siren, the right hand man of Redwing in Dragon's Kings. Like the other members of the guild, he was wearing black and red armor. His consisted of black pants and boots with metal plates on the front of them. He wore a sleeveless red shirt and white gloves that stopped just above his elbows. His guild mark, the roaring dragon, was actually tattooed on his left arm between the end of his glove and his shoulder. A silver armor plate covered his chest and a single silver gauntlet was on his left forearm as Kirito learned he used it to defend against weapons as it was strong enough to block weapons. An one handed hung from a brown belt. Siren had crimson red eyes that felt like they were examining one's soul and long dark green hair that he kept pulled back into a ponytail.

Kirito's eyes moved to the side to see Henrik and other players from Dragon's Kings there too. What was a party from Dragon's Kings doing ambushing them like this?

Ridwig tsked. As soon as he got out of this, he knew his own right hand man, Mazart, was going to give him grief for being reckless and leaving to find Kirito alone. "What do you want, Siren? Going to kill us?" He sneered, but kept his eyes on the players in front of him.

"I just came to pick Kirito up." Siren said casually, making Kirito narrow his eyes. "It's troublesome when you spend so much time in a dungeon, Kirito. We can't send you any messages."

"That is not my problem. I am not at anyone's beck and call." Kirito replied, hand tightening on his sword. This is why he didn't want to get in the middle of the guilds' rivalries. It was always such a pain to deal with. "How did you even know I was here?"

Siren smirked as he twisted his wrist and pointed at Ridwig. "He is not the only one that Argo sells information to. Interesting enough, she also told me Ridwig was coming here to talk to you as well, which is why I brought a party with me."

"I think they want to kill you." Kirito mumbled.

"Yeah," Ridwig said with a bit of sweat trailing down his face, but also determination shining in his eyes. "Damn, Mazart is really going to kill me later when I get out of here."

Kirito smirked a bit in amusement as his eyes shifted to Henrik then back to Siren. Redwing's right hand and left hand man. It basically meant that Siren was second in command and Henrik was third in command. They were both powerful players in their own right. This was going to be a pain to deal with.

"Come now, Kirito. Don't look like that. We don't want to kill you, just talk." Henrik said. "Ridwig on the other hand, we want to kill."

"Note to self, guild leader, don't come alone next time." Kirito threw over his shoulder.

"Note received." Ridwig replied as he shifted his eyes around to each of the players. Seeing as they wanted to kill him, it wasn't shocking to find that four of the players were closer to him to keep him surrounded while Henrik and Siren were nearer to Kirito. "What's the plan?"

Kirito looked out of the corner of his eyes at him in annoyance. "I want no part in any of this. How did I ever get involved with the Holy Knight's Allegiance and the Dragon's Kings in the first place? I am just a simple solo mercenary wandering the lands of Aincrad!"

"So I take it you won't come see Redwing peacefully?" Siren asked with a smirk as he drew his sword. "I love it when the target struggles."

Kirito's brow twitched. "Just how many times have you forcibly dragged someone to meet your leader if you can say that?" He sighed and pulled his sword out. This was not what he wanted to deal with right now. If this continued, he was either going to get dragged back to town, get killed, or he would be forcibly logged out by his mother when he didn't show up for dinner. At this point, he didn't know what the best choice was. He didn't like any of the options. So, since he didn't like them, he was going to have to raise the pot. He needed a plan, some type of way to get out of this.

A frown formed onto his face as he slipped into a fight stance. What could he do? What type of action should he take for this situation?

"You know the plan." Siren said and that was all the warning Ridwig and Kirito got before they were suddenly being attacked.

Kirito cursed silently as Henrik moved in from the side with his two handed sword glowing blue with his sword skill. Coming from the side, Kirito was forced to spin towards him and swing his sword up as he parried the attack. With a successful block, Kirito wanted to take the chance to go on the offensive, but wasn't giving the chance as Siren was charging at him. He jumped away to avoid him and landed with a tree to his back. His eyes narrowed as he was able to take in the full situation from this point. Four of the members of Siren's party were attacking Ridwig while the second and third in command of Dragon's Kings were after him. He should have seen this coming a mile away.

His eyes trailed over to Ridwig again. He knew the leader of Holy Knight's Allegiance was strong, but he didn't think he could handle four players at once. It was a dangerous game he was playing over there.

A flash of silver and an uncomfortable feeling pulling through his cheek had Kirito's eyes moving in front of him. Siren stood there, sword impaled in the tree right next to Kirito's head. He saw his HP drop a few points from where the sword sliced his cheek.

"You should pay attention to the enemies in front of you, Kirito." Siren told him with a smirk. "Don't tell me you are worried about Ridwig? As a solo player, you have no such loyalties to anyone. Unless you happened to join his guild at some point?"

Kirito snarled. It was a well-known fact in the game that Kirito was an avid solo player who only formed parties when he absolutely had to. No one could understand why he hated partying so much. Well, it wasn't that he hated it. He just preferred solitude. Though he would admit it was entertaining to be around the other players from time to time. Unless they dragged him into their guild rivalries. Like right now for instance!

"Exactly, I have no loyalties which is why I will have no problem killing you two." Kirito retorted, but when he went to move, he found his legs refusing to cooperate. His eyes widened when he found nothing was obeying his commands. A yellow symbol with a black lightning bolt through it caught his attention near his health bar. Paralysis? When…

His eyes caught sight of the sword in the tree next to him to finally see it dripping a green liquid. The only thing keeping him standing at this point was the tree he was leaning against so he didn't notice the effect of the poison right away.

"You doused your sword in poison?" Kirito said shocked. They really had planned this out. Him not cooperating, Ridwig being here, separating the two players. Siren never planned for a long fight.

It was a key fact that Kirito had forgotten. Siren was an enthusiastic poison user. The only thing was that Kirito knew he never doused his main weapon in poison. He only ever covered throwing knives and picks in the poison of his choice. To think he would actually poison his sword to get him…

"You tricky bastard." Kirito mumbled as the sword in his hand fell. With the effects of paralysis, he had no gripping power left and so there was no way to keep hold of his sword.

"Kirito!" Ridwig shouted, having heard his sword drop. "Damn it! Seriously, Kirito, how could you lose so fast? You were just crowned the best PvP in the game the other day!" He dodged an attack before slamming his foot into the stomach of the player near him. He twisted around another sword and risked a glance towards Kirito and Siren, cursing silently. Damn poison user.

Siren yanked his sword from the tree. The sudden vibration caused Kirito to lose his balance and fall to the ground where he stayed lying. "One down." Siren said.

"Damn it." Ridwig growled before he left his four opponents behind and charged at Siren. He wasn't sure how long the paralysis would last on Kirito, but he had to hold these six off until it did.

An annoyed Kirito watched from his uncomfortable position on the ground to see Ridwig charging at Siren. He could not believe he had been so careless to get poisoned and so fast. He never did like Siren's way of fighting. Stupid crazy poison fanatic that he was. While he was at it, stupid bloody guilds. He was never going to deal with them again after this. He would make both of these guilds despise him. Yes, that would be his plan. His plan had been formed.

But for it to succeed…He would have to let Siren drag him back to Dragon's King HQ. Well, he was already paralyzed so that shouldn't be too hard to do.

Oh, these two guilds would hate him before the end of the week and they would never bother him again. There was no way he was dealing with this crap ever again. And maybe when this was all over, he would kill Ridwig and Redwing just for the heck of it.

A dark chuckle almost escaped him at his dark thoughts, but he forced it down. For now, he must play the helpless victim. He could use this time to better form his plan so all his cards would be played right. They weren't going to know what hit them.

Before Ridwig could hit Siren, Henrik suddenly dropped down in front of him and parried his attack.

"Kill him." Siren ordered before he turned to Kirito and pulled him up. He tossed the paralyzed teenager over his shoulder and casually strolled away from the five vs one fight happening behind him.

'This feels like an abduction.' Kirito thought with a scowl as his body bounced with each step Siren took. Each step caused Siren's shoulder to hit him in the stomach which left an uncomfortable jerking motion in it. 'That's it. I'm killing Siren at the end of this fiasco too. Screw going red. I'll just live in dungeons and forests for a few days.'

"You guys are willing to become orange and even red just for this?" Kirito asked with a frown, glaring at the ground that was speeding past his sight. In just a few minutes the paralysis would wear off. Just a few minutes.

"Of course. The rivalry is strong." Siren said with so much dedication to the cause that Kirito wanted to smack his face or Siren. Yes, most likely Siren. "And don't try to preach to me about becoming orange or red. I know you have player killed outside of duels too."

That was true. It was a weekly goal to kill Ridwig at least once. Of course, he didn't always succeed in that. He only succeeded in actually killing him twice. As he said earlier, Ridwig was strong. He was no pushover, but even he would falter against five enemies. Not to say it wouldn't take some of them with him, because Kirito was sure he would.

Kirito shook thoughts of Ridwig away and refocused on the task at hand. Siren was an orange, along with the rest of his party by this point. As they were orange, there was no way they could enter a town. The NPC guards would attack them if they attempted that. So that meant that Siren was meeting Redwing somewhere else. Well, that at least saved him the embarrassment of getting seen carried like this.

Honestly, getting kidnapped in a game. This was a new low for him and he was sure Akihiko would laugh at him about this if he found out. Dragon's Kings was now even lower on his list of guilds he hated. And to think, after what happened in the PvP tournament, he didn't think they could get any lower.

And for that, he was really going to enjoy the next couple of days. His plan was formed; now he just needed to implement it and he would start with Redwing. The end result of this plan was to get the guilds to leave him alone, but another end result might also be his death at the hands of both guilds. But if it led to them stopping with dragging him into their damn wars, he was fine with a single death. Not that he really wanted to die though.

The shadows that covered him and Siren soon disappeared and Kirito felt the sun bearing down on his back. That meant they were out of the forest. He was starting to wander where Redwing was waiting for them when he suddenly felt his body before shifted before he was tossed.

Kirito barely saw the sky for a second before he could no longer see it because it was covered by a roof.

SLAM!

Kirito shifted his eyes towards the sound and found a door that was most likely the sound. His eyes moved towards Siren, who was sitting on the other side of the….carriage?

A sudden shift of movement jerked Kirito in his seat. Yep, this was definitely a carriage. He wouldn't call carriages rare in SAO, but they weren't exactly something that the players normally used since they wanted to run through the fields and to the next town so they could fight the enemies they came across.

Besides, carriages were expensive. It was mostly NPCs who used them. Kirito could remember a quest where he had to escort some merchants and their precious cargo to another town. It was quite troublesome because they got attacked by bandits and monster during the trip, but the reward was very nice so it was a quest worth doing.

But if Siren was using a carriage, then that meant the Dragon's Kings were either crazy or just earned enough money to actually be able to afford a carriage and still have enough left over to buy equipment for their boss raid they were planning.

"Really, a carriage?" Kirito grumbled.

"Seeing as how my best men can't enter a town for a while, I thought this would be a nice way to travel for a while."

Kirito's brow twitched as he shifted his eyes to the player sitting next to Siren. Redwing. "I hate you."

A quick, short laugh escaped Redwing. He rested his elbow on the window next to him and leaned his chin on his knuckle. "I imagine you might, Kirito. I told Siren to be gentle and not kill you so we could discuss plans."

"You know, you could have just waited til I got back to town." Kirito snapped. "It was where I was heading."

Redwing used his free hand to wave that idea off. "Ah, but where is the fun in that type of plan?"

For a moment, Kirito just stared blankly at Dragon's Kings boss before muttering, "And people call me the crazy one."

Seemingly not hearing him, Redwing continued. "Besides, we bought the info from Argo that Ridwig was coming to find you. We couldn't have you giving him any information and we also got to ensnare him in our trap and take him out."

Once again, Kirito could still not figure out if Ridwig and Redwing were friends or not. Did they hate each other or not? Or was this all still a part of the story they were building amongst themselves?! And if so, why did they have to drag him into it? He did nothing to deserve this kind of treatment!

Noticing the paralysis symbol disappear from besides his status bar, Kirito started to open and close his hands a few times to check their movement before he sat up. He quickly opened his menu and navigated through the motion to return his sword to him. His sword that Siren just so happened to have left in the middle of that forest. It was lucky for him that Kirito knew he could retrieve it before a certain amount of time past. Once he found it, he materialized it in front of him and returned the blade to the sheath on his back.

With that done, Kirito leaned back into the seat he was thrown onto. Despite the situation, he found it incredibly comfy. He looked over his shoulder to see a window in the wall above his seat. A curtain would normally cover it, but it was pushed to the side so Kirito was able to see out of it to see who was driving the carriage. The player was Tal, a spear wielder and a midlevel player of Dragon's Kings. Though not very strong, Kirito knew he was extremely loyal to Redwing.

Sighing, Kirito looked back at Siren and Redwing with a frown. "Please tell me the point of this. And preferably now."

"Straight to the point, aren't you?" Redwing asked amused. "Alright, well, as you know, my guild is planning to raid this floor's boss by ourselves. You did good in not informing Argo, but Ridwig knows something is up and you know something. We simply wish to keep this information very quiet until we defeat the boss. And as Henrik already told you, we are planning to hire you to help us with the dungeon." As he spoke, Redwing started to manipulate his menu.

Kirito watched as he deftly moved his fingers through his menu. Without looking away from his window, Redwing pushed a button on the wall of the carriage. As he watched, Kirito saw the wall glow briefly before a board fell from it and landed between him and the two players from Dragon's Kings. He blinked when he noticed it was a table.

A moment later three silver goblets and a bottle appeared on the table. Siren immediately grabbed the bottle and poured some of it into each of the goblets before he pushed one over to Kirito. A sweet herbal scent of lemon mixed with mint wafted up to his nose.

Kirito picked the goblet up and swished the liquid around in the goblet. "There better not be poison in here." He sent a nasty, daring look towards Siren. "If there is, I just might have to kill you, Siren."

Siren laughed and lifted his own goblet up in cheers. "No worries, Kirito." He took a long sip of his own drink.

Figuring it was fine after seeing that, Kirito took a tentative sip of his own drink.

"It's a special tea that will increase your battle healing by +2." Redwing explained as he held his own goblet, but he didn't take a sip of it.

Kirito took another sip of his tea before he put the goblet down on the table and leveled his stare at Redwing. "Is there another reason you decided to….abduct me?"

Siren snickered before he slipped back into his serious composure when Kirito shot him an annoyed glare. "Sorry, sorry, Kirito." He said with a careless wave of his hand.

"That dungeon you were in, we received some good information that it is the boss dungeon of this floor." Redwing said, completely ignoring Siren for the time being.

"Is that so?" Kirito replied, though he already knew this information. Another party happened to enter the dungeon and found some information about it being the boss dungeon before they were slaughtered by the monsters. Any information was good so they happened to have sold it to Argo. She was the reason Kirito was in the dungeon since he bought the information about it from her. Which was also the reason why he was found by Ridwig and Dragon's Kings. Damn that Argo. It was no wonder she was called Rat.

"So what? You want me to give you information about the dungeon?" Kirito continued.

"That would be nice. How to defeat the monsters, the map data you have so far, and anything else you have learned." Redwing replied.

Kirito raised a brow as he swirled his tea around in his goblet again. "Is that so? Let me be frank with you, Redwing." He leaned an arm on the table and a smirk crept onto his face. "You're a bit late. The Holy Knight's Allegiance hired me as their mercenary."

SLAM!

"WHAT?!" Redwing shouted as he leaned on the table, having thrown his goblet to the side which slammed into Siren's head. He was in Kirito's face, though the solo mercenary was currently trying not to laugh as he stared at the tea covered Siren who lost some HP points when he got hit by the goblet.

"Damn it, boss. Watch where you are throwing things." Siren grumbled as he rubbed his head.

Not able to help it, Kirito started to snicker at Siren's predicament and had to throw a hand over his mouth to silence the snickers. No, this was not the time to start laughing. This was a serious moment.

Completely ignoring his right hand man, Redwing narrowed his eyes at Kirito. "When? When did they hire you?"

"I have no obligation to answer you beyond that. Mercenary/client confidentiality policy." Kirito replied casually before he picked up his goblet and took another sip from it. "Very delicious tea, Redwing. I must thank you for it."

"Cut the bullshit, Kirito!" Redwing snapped. "Mercenary/client confidentiality policy?! That doesn't exist."

"Ah, I created it. Isn't it fine when I use it while working for you? But when it's the other way of around, it annoys you?" Kirito asked, raising a challenging brow at Redwing.

"Were you really working for Ridwig? He had to buy information from Argo to know where you were." Siren said suspiciously as he grabbed his leader's shoulder and pulled him back in his seat.

Kirito shrugged. "He hired me to scout this floor's dungeon when it was found, but I never told him when I was going. He came to find me because he found out I knew something about your plans. Normally, he wouldn't hunt me down like that. So, really, the fact that he was there was your fault."

"You were scouting the dungeon for him?" Redwing demanded. "Why? Is he aiming for the boss as well?"

The mercenary raised a brow as he snorted. "Who isn't aiming for the boss, Redwing? You know Holy Knight's Allegiance wants the glory, items, experience, and col from defeating the boss alone just as much as your guild does."

"So, that's it." Redwing growled as he slammed his fist into the palm of his hand. "He will go that far to defeat me, huh?"

"Seems so." Kirito replied. "Though, he doesn't know that defeating the boss is your goal as well, Redwing."

"When?" Redwing asked.

"When what?"

"When is his guild planning to attack?" Redwing demanded.

Kirito shrugged. "I haven't been privileged with that information yet. I was going to speak to him today after I gave him the information I got from scouting the dungeon, but then you guys dragged me away."

Redwing rubbed his chin. "Is that so?" He seemed to be lost in thought for a moment before he nodded, seemingly to himself. "Alright, this is how it is. I know you have no true loyalties to anyone, Kirito, so whatever Ridwig is paying you, I'll double it and after the boss raid, I'll let you take whatever two items we receive from the boss."

"Hmm?" Kirito raised a brow as he lifted his goblet and hid his smirk behind it. "That sounds tempting, but Ridwig offered me three items. The money is nice, but the dungeon items are so much more appealing."

"Four items." Redwing countered. "And double pay for you."

"You sure? He is paying me 50,000 col." Kirito replied.

Siren jerked in his seat. 50,000 col? That meant they would have to pay Kirito 100,000 col at the end of this! Were his services really that needed for Redwing to actually pay that?

"And I want a third of it paid in advance." Kirito continued. "I do need to prepare for the raid after all. Plus, it can be good insurance for you. Ridwig refused to pay me a bit in advance so I don't really trust him to pay me later on. I'm not sure if he even has the col to pay me. It's not like he bet his whole guild's fund on the PvP tournament."

"I think you have been spending too much time with Argo." Redwing told him with a smirk. "So I pay you a third in advance, it ensures your loyalty to me and not Ridwig?"

Kirito leaned on the table, giving his acquaintance a vicious grin. "I'll do you one better. Ridwig trusts me and thinks I am working for him so why don't I be a double agent for you?"

"Would that work? He saw you get dragged off by us." Siren pointed out.

"Don't sweat the details." Kirito said without an ounce of worry. "I know how to play this to my favor." He looked back towards Redwing. "What do you say? I am sure I can get the details from Ridwig about his plans and tell you so we can prepare faster."

Redwing was silent for a moment as he thought it over. It was a very tempting offer. He would get a spy in the Holy Knight's Allegiance and get the best mercenary out there to work with his guild for their coming raid. Not to mention, it would be extremely helpful in showing up Ridwig. The only downside was whether Kirito was trustworthy or not.

Well, he needed the information on Ridwig so for now he would have to put all his faith in Kirito and hope it didn't come back to stab him in the back. It shouldn't though. Once Kirito was hired, he would loyally work for his client. He was sure he would still be loyal to Redwing, but whichever guild moved first on the boss would be the one to get Kirito's help so it should be fine.

"Alright, Kirito." Redwing said as he opened his menu and then a trade window. He inputted 33,000 col into it and sent it Kirito. "Here is the first third. I am hoping our working together goes as well as it has in the past."

Kirito accepted the payment. "I'm sure it will, Redwing." He replied just as the carriage jerked to a stop.

"We're here!" Tal called back.

"Huh?" Kirito mumbled and he looked out the door window to see them outside the village Ludis, which was the main village on this floor and also what Kirito's original stop was before Siren got in the way. "Well, that's convenient."

"Then I was right in my guess in you coming here next." Redwing said. "Since Siren can't enter the town, we'll be going separate ways here, Kirito. Send me a message when you find anything out."

"Understood." Kirito drowned the rest of his tea before jumping out of the carriage. He stopped before closing the door and said, "Pleasure doing business, Redwing."

Kirito slammed the carriage door shut and entered the village, nodding to the NPC guards as he walked past them. The moment he was in town, he took off running towards the teleport gate. If he was right in his thinking, the Holy Knight's Allegiance HQ was on the fourth floor. He tended to avoid guild HQs so he wasn't exactly sure of where it was so he hoped he at least got the floor number right.

*Beater*

"So, you really got killed." Kirito said, standing casually in the doorway of the Holy Knight's Allegiance HQ. An amused smile graced his lips when he took in Mazart scolded his boss for going alone while the other guild members around watched in extreme amusement. Mazart was the second in command here and took his boss's safety very seriously. "Did you kill any of those bastards before you were taken out, Ridwig?"

Ridwig, happy for the distraction, pushed Mazart away and looked at Kirito. "I managed to kill two of them before I was overpowered. And it's nice to see you're still alive, Kirito. But then again, it was Dragon's Kings who took you. Redwing loves your strength too much to order your death."

At the mention of Redwing, Kirito scowled deeply and stepped into the HQ. "About that, earlier you were asking me for information on them." He said as he walked over to Ridwig. "After what I had to go through today with them, I'm more than willing to tell you if you let me help in thwarting their plans and of course, if you pay me."

"Really?" Mazart deadpanned as he rubbed his green eyes. "I don't know why Redwing and Ridwig put up with you. Your services are so expensive."

"And for good reason. I work so hard for you guys." Kirito retorted as he stared at Mazart. He moved his eyes to Ridwig. "Redwing wants me to work for him on what he has planned so I am privy to the information. For a price, being a double agent for you and helping you with your counterplan, I want 100,000 col and a third of it paid in advance."

Ridwig began to choke on the air he was breathing in as soon he heard the price.

"Oh?" Kirito asked slyly. "Is that price too steep for the Holy Knights Allegiance? And here I thought it was cheap for what I was going to do for you." He crossed his arms and smirked at Ridwig. "I am the best mercenary in the game, Ridwig. You know I don't come cheap."

"Are you sure you aren't a con artist?" Mazart retorted, glaring at Kirito.

"Well, if you want to believe that, I don't have to offer my services to you, go work solely for Dragon's Kings, and help them achieve all that glory while Holy Knights Allegiance is left totally forgotten." Kirito told him in such a causal tone it was like he was talking about the weather.

And with those words, there was ensuring chaos among the present guild members as they screamed about crushing Dragon's Kings and making sure they got no glory. Really, sometimes Kirito really did have to wonder just how Ridwig and Redwing managed to drag their guild mates into their rivalry like this. But right now was not one of the times he would question it. He was going to work that guild rivalry to his advantage.

"QUIET!" Ridwig screamed loudly to shut up his guild.

Immediately, the guild quieted and Kirito blinked. What? Were they soldiers trained to immediately obey the orders of their leader?

Ridwig nodded in satisfaction at the silence and looked at Kirito. "What are they planning?"

"Their plan is to raid the boss of this floor with just their guild and me so that they could get all the honor and glory that comes from defeating it." Kirito explained.

"The boss?" Ridwig muttered. They were going after the boss alone? If they actually managed to defeat it, they would get more recognition and probably be named the strongest guild in Aincrad. That just wouldn't do. He couldn't let Redwing get ahead of him. "I understand, but you were with Dragon's Kings for a while, Kirito. Why should I believe you are here to truly work with us on this?"

Anger entered Kirito's eyes as he glared at the wall. "The PvP tournament."

"What about it?" Mazart asked.

"The match between Redwing and me to decide the winner." Kirito growled. "That bastard purposely slowed his reaction in the last moment of the fight so I would win." He slammed his hand on the closest table to him and moved his angry gaze to Ridwig. "His guild bet all their money on me as the winner so they would be assured a big income from the fight. I want to destroy them for the shame they brought upon my fight."

"They rigged the match?" Ridwig asked shocked. "Yes, I see." He put a hand to his chin. "That would explain why you disappeared so fast after your match that day and why there seemed to be tension among you and Dragon's Kings. They injured your honor and pride as a swordsman." Nodding his head, Ridwig opened a trade window with Kirito. "With that anger in you, I know you will be loyal to helping us defeat Dragon's Kings, Kirito." He transferred 33,000 col over to Kirito, who quickly accepted the advanced payment.

Perhaps he should feel bad about scamming these two guilds since they were a good source of jobs for a mercenary like him. But then again, he was actually having a lot of fun with his plan to pit the two guilds against each other. They really made it too easy.

"Then I should tell you, Ridwig. They are planning to raid the dungeon tomorrow at two." Kirito replied.

"What?" Ridwig shouted before calming himself with a frown. "We can't let them get to the boss before us, but we need time to prepare. We don't even know the route to the boss room."

Kirito coughed. "You've hired me for scouting jobs before and now you are completely forgetting that fact." He manipulated his menu to find his map data. "I already located the boss room."

"Seriously?" Lirus said excitedly, leaning over Kirito's shoulder.

Kirito pushed the player away from him. Lirus was an odd one. He acted like a hyperactive, excitable child which made Kirito think he was around his age. "Yes, I do spend a lot of time in dungeons. Though you guys are still going to need time to prepare for a raid, but if you want to beat Dragon's Kings, I highly suggest you go tomorrow before two."

Ridwig hummed thoughtfully and rubbed his chin. "Good point. Mazart, how long will it take us to prepare for a raid?"

"Hmm, most of our members already have updated equipment so we just need to inform the guild of our plans of a raid, get the route to the boss room, and any information that Kirito has about the monsters in the dungeon. Once we get that and the party formed, it is up to you to come up with the battle formation and we should be good." Mazart replied.

"Alright, I'll work on the battle strategy with Kirito's help. Mazart, you inform the guild of our plans and start getting parties together." Ridwig ordered before turning to Kirito. "I'll need your help with the battle strategy, along with you giving me information about the monsters in the dungeon." He paused and thought for a moment. "Actually let's do that first so Mazart can form parties that will be efficient in dealing with the monsters. Oh, and did you get a look at the boss, Kirito?"

Kirito collapsed in a chair at that table that Ridwig was sitting at and nodded his head. "Yeah, I saw it. I briefly entered the boss room earlier and came face to face with it. Its name is «Smot, Ruler of Fire» and he wields a scythe….."

A/N: I like the names Redwing and Ridwig, but I am beginning to think I shouldn't have used both so closely together. I keep mixing up which one is the sword user and the dagger user. Then I keep messing up which one is in charge of which guild. So freaking complicated.