Talking

Thinking

Wow. The alerts and favorites and reviews that are coming in for this story are nice to my ego.

Hunter-35 – Thanks for the review. You hit the main character pretty spot on for what his character has been thus far.

ShadowFreddyRaven – Thanks for the review? I can't really tell because it's in Spanish and Google Translate translated it into a mess.

Hector4349 – Thanks for the review.

This chapter was somewhat rough to write. I'll leave it at that. I have more written, but I felt it better belonged in the next chapter before this one turned into a monster that I didn't like.

Chapter IV: Murder?

I munched on the virtual sandwich in my hand, still marveling at how real it tasted. You'd think I'd be used to it by now, since it has been well over a year now since the death game started. To tell the truth, I would have thought in the three months since the rumors of Laughing Coffin being formed that they would make some sort of mistake to reveal themselves. The only thing I had at this point was more rumors, which is the reason I was sitting in this small outdoors cafe' on floor fifty-nine, enjoying the breeze.

I took a sip of the cafe's lemon tea and sighed. Well if Argo's information is completely wrong then at least the food here is good.

A loud scream made me jump and drop my sandwich.

"Well," I sighed to myself, flipping my hood back over my head, "Either that's Argo's information being right or Klein just got kicked in the balls again."

I slapped some Col down on the table and took off down the street in the direction of the continued screams. The sight that awaited me a few blocks from the cafe wasn't a pleasant one. A man in heavy armor was hanging by his neck off of a building's balcony. If that wasn't enough, there was a massive spear protruding from his chest. It was a nasty looking spear too. A dark reddish-brown with jagged edges. Right. You can't hang someone in SAO, it'd be sort of necessary to stab someone to kill them. Still though, if this isn't a sleep PK** I wonder how someone could have pulled it off.

"The hell is that?" a voice from behind me startled me. I turned to look and saw Klein's friend Kirito. Behind him was a girl with auburn hair. Doesn't Lisbeth have a friend with auburn hair? I wondered if it's the same girl. Enough. I needed to do something before this poor guy dies. Hopefully my agility score is high enough to do what I was about to try to do. I equipped my claws and immediately sheathed the blades so no one would notice. Taking a deep breath, I sprinted towards the building.

"S-Someone get ready to catch him!" I ran up the wall, thanking Kayaba that he put the ability to run up walls in the game. Too bad it took so much agility, so most players couldn't do it. Slowly, I felt gravity pulling at my body, so I flipped off the side of the building and swiftly slashed the rope before retracting the blade on my left claw once again. Unfortunately I didn't plan my landing all that well, and I was forced to painfully roll against the cobblestone street.

"Dammit!" I heard Kirito shout, "The spear won't come out!"

I turned my head just in time to see the armored man dissolve into nothing with a scream of pain. My body went completely numb. How the hell was someone able to kill another player inside a town without sleep PKing them**!? I was unable see a victory message anywhere!

"H-hey Kirito!" thankfully my last few months spent with Klein's guild and Lisbeth had made it so I could actually make decent conversation with people I wasn't friends with, "D-did you see any victory message!?"

"Do I know you?" Kirito raised an eyebrow. Oh right, Klein never actually introduced me to him.

"A-ah." I scratched the back of my head, "I'm a friend of Kleins. I only really know you from what he's told me in passing."

"OH!" Kirito's face lit up in realization, "You're that nervous American friend of his! Aurain right?"

"Y-yeah."

"Well to answer your question Aurain, I didn't actually see a victory message either," Kirito sighed, "Which is what is confusing me right now."

"Right." the auburn haired girl finally walked up next to Kirito's crouched frame, "You aren't supposed to be be able to simply kill someone inside towns. They're supposed to be safe havens."

"M-maybe we should talk about this somewhere more private?" I could hear the crowd's frightened murmurs getting louder, "I d-don't want to deal with a frightened mob."

"Well first we should probably ask if anyone in the crowd saw anything we didn't." Kirito turned to the girl, "Want to go discuss this at an inn afterwords Asuna?"

"That's fine by me." Asuna answered and turned to me, "I'm gonna assume you want to come along too?"

"I-If I'm not a bother." I stared at my feet, watching Asuna's face out of the corner of my eyes.

"Nah." Asuna waved her hand, a warm smile slowly forming on her face, "The more heads the better."

"Alright!" Kirito stood to his feet, "Now that that's settled, is there anyone here that knows anything about what happened here? Any little bit of information could help."

The crowd talked loudly amongst themselves for a few minutes, and it didn't look like anyone was going to come forward. Finally, a timid looking girl with purple hair slowly worked her way to the front of the crowd

"U-um..." She softly spoke, "My name is Yolko."

"Was that first scream yours?" Kirito had returned to crouching by this point, and was slowly looking over the nasty looking spear that had been used for the murder.

"Y-yes," the girl looked on the verge of a breakdown, and was shaking like a leaf, "I was supposed to meet the man who just died here for dinner. His name was Caynz. We...We were in the same guild not too long ago, and we've remained close even after the guild broke apart. We got separated, and the next thing I knew I saw him hanging from the church window with a shadowy figure behind him."

"Hmm..." Kirito was deep in thought, "I hate to be the one to ask this, but was there anyone you know that might've had a grudge against Caynz?"

The girl slowly shook her head, shivering in the embrace Asuna had now wrapped her in.

"Y-you know." I finally spoke up, "Maybe we should walk her to an inn. It's getting late, and the killer might be after her too. N-not to frighten you miss."

Kirito got to his feet and stored the spear in his inventory, "That's not a bad idea Aurain. Where are you staying Yolko?"

"I'll lead you there," the girl wiped her eyes and directed us to follow us to the south part of town.

"So." Kirito was leaning up against the side of a fountain just outside the inn Yolko was staying at, "Where do we go from here?"

"It might not be a bad idea to get the item appraised and find out who made it," Asuna suggested, "Maybe they figured out a way to make an item outside the system that can kill players."

"That's a good start." Kirito got to his feet, "Either of you know anyone?"

"W-well," I replied, "I do know a girl that needs it because she does a lot of blacksmithing, but she's really busy at this time of day. The last time I bugged her around this time s-she almost bit my head off."

"Wait a sec..." A light seemed to go off in Asuna's head. "You're that shy guy that Lisbeth is always going on about! I thought your name sounded familiar!"

"Y-you're Lisbeth's friend Asuna then?" I stuttered, "D-does she really go on about me?"

Asuna's face morphed into a sneaky looking grin. I didn't like the looks of that, "Oh yes. She always has the nicest things to say about you. How courteous you are, and how heroic you were that time you saved her from being eaten by a giant lizard."

I felt heat rushing to my cheeks, and I immediately found my feet extremely interesting for the second time that day. I heard Asuna giggling loudly, and my face only got hotter. Luckily Kirito saved the day before Asuna could do anymore teasing, and mentioned a shop owner friend of his named Agil that might be able to get the job done. His shop was on the 50th floor, located in a back alley. Just as we were about to enter, the door almost knocked Kirito over as a guy carrying a spear stomped out sighing angrily.

"Still running your business as cuttthroat as ever Agil?" Kirito's grinned and walked in. He must be pretty good friends with this guy.

"Oh come on Kirito," A MASSIVE black man walked to the front of the counter, his muscles rippling with every step, "You're going to ruin my good name. You know my motto is 'Buy Cheap, Sell Cheap'."

"I really doubt the last part." Kirito grumbled good-naturedly before fist-bumping the man.

Suddenly Agil's eyes widened, and he grabbed Kirito's head and yanked him down below the counter, loudly whispering about why Kirito was visiting him with Asuna the Flash of all people. I turned my head to see Asuna's eyebrow visibly twitching, and took a step back from her.

"Geez Agil," Kirito pulled out of his friend's chokehold, "I'm just here to investigate something, and Asuna wanted to help out. Stop making such a big deal about it."

"Sorry Sorry," Agil patted Kirito on his shoulder, "So are you going to introduce me to your other friend?"

"His name's Aurain." Kirito replied, to which I nodded in response, "He wanted to help out with the investigation as well."

"N-nice to meet you." I ducked my head and held out my hand. Agil chuckled and shook it.

"So what do you need me for?" Agil sat down on a stool behind the counter.

"There was a murder on the 59th floor." Kirito pulled out the spear, "It was done without a duel, at least we think so since none of us saw a winner notification."

"Hmmm..." Agil seemed deep in thought, "And that's the spear that did it I assume?"

"Yeah." Kirito handed it over to the giant, "We were wondering if you could appraise it for us so we could know if its player-made or not."

Agil picked up the spear and pressed a few buttons on his interface, before frowning deeply.

"Your suspicions are correct. It's player-made all right."

"Well then who made it!?" Asuna spoke rapidly and leaned forward.

"Some guy named Grimlock," Agil shrugged, "I've never heard of him in my life. Honestly, this isn't even that good of a weapon, it's pretty average in every way. The weapon's name is Guilty Thorn if that helps any."

"Hmmm." Kirito took back the weapons and seemed to think about something for a second. Then suddenly he shoved the spear down at his right hand, eliciting a shriek from Asuna and a gasp from me. She grabbed his hand and slapped him across the face.

"Owww..." Kirito rubbed the red mark forming on his cheek, "Why'd you stop me?"

"Are you an idiot!?" Asuna got right up in his face, worry spread across her face, "That weapon already took one life! What if you stab yourself and we can't remove it!?"

"We can't be sure until we test it." Kirito looked completely serious. Does he think the man didn't actually die? Wait a second. Now that I think about it, I don't remember the man's life bar even going down. I bet Kirito is thinking the same thing, unless we both missed it happening. But we saw him die! How would you replicate something like that!? Whatever, maybe I'll tell Kirito my suspicions tonight in the inn. It can't hurt.

"No." Asuna wrenched the spear out of Kirito's hands and forced it into Agil's hands, "You take it Agil, and don't you dare let Kirito have it."

"R-right." Agil and I both shrank into our seats. Man Asuna could be scary for such a short and petite girl. Wonder if that was how a lot of Japanese girls were.

"Geez." Kirito sighed, seemingly unfazed by Asuna's outburst, "Let's just go to an inn then. Maybe when we meet Yolko tomorrow she can shed some light on the murder."

We met up with Yolko the very next morning, who spun us a tale of her guild's past. Golden Apple as it was called, was a small guild of only eight members. One day they found a very nicely enchanted ring that gave the wearer plus twenty strength and agility. I definitely would not mind having that. Anyways, the guild members ending up having an argument over whom the ring would belong to. Finally the majority decided to sell the ring, which was Griselda (the leader), a man named Grimlock, and three other guild members. The detail that threw up the biggest flag to me was the fact that Grimlock was Griselda's husband.

The real point of the story was just so Yolko could tell us her personal suspicions. She believed that the murderer was after one of the people who didn't want to sell the ring, and had set us off to go and look for Schmitt, who along with Yolko and Caynz were the ones that didn't want to sell it. We promptly set out to do just that. On the way there, Kirito and I both came to an agreement that the entire affair was suspicious, mostly because unless the murderer has found some massive exploit, everything about Sword Art Online's rules were fair. Once we found Schmitt the man came along quite easily, and we were back at the inn Yolko agreed to meet us at in no time at all.

"Why would Caynz be killed after this all this time!?" the man stood to his feet and gestured wildly. I couldn't help but agree with him on that point, "Is this about that stupid ring!? Did Grimlock kill his wife for it, and now plans to kill anyone who might know anything about the ring!?"

"I think whoever it is probably just after the ones that were against selling the ring," Yolko replied softly, "That means you, me, and... Caynz."

"Yeah." Kirito decided to throw in his own thoughts, "The spear could have just been made by Grimlock in the past. It doesn't mean he was the one to murder Caynz."

"What if..." Yolko began to shiver uncontrollably, "It isn't one of the alive guild members at all?"

"W-what like some random person killing you guys for the enjoyment of it?" I was skeptical to say the least, "T-that doesn't seem likely."

"N-no" Yolko's eyes were visibly bulging, "What if it's Griselda!? What if she's come back to take revenge on us because we wouldn't listen to her and forced her to call a vote."

A ghost? Surprisingly that almost sounded like some sick thing Kayaba would program into the game. It still didn't seem all that likely though.

"Urkkk..!" Yolko suddenly froze. She mouthed help me, before suddenly falling backwards out the window. I just managed to catch the sight of a dagger stuck in the small of her back before she fell out of sight.

Kirito and I dashed to windowsill just in time to see her disintegrate into particles. That was a really fast death.

"S-she's dead guys." I turned away from the window solemnly, "I think before she hit the ground."

Schmitt looked stricken, and seemed like he was about to bolt from the room any second. Can't say I blame the guy, two members of his former guild dead, and all the facts pointing to him being the one next.

"Asuna, protect Schmitt and lead him back to his guild!" Kirito shot out the window, "Aurain, you're with me if you can keep up!"

"W-what!?" I gaped at Kirito as he shot out the window. Did he see the killer!? I grumbled under my breath and leaped after the Black Swordsman. Hopefully I would be able to keep up with him without having my claws equipped.

"So what's the deal!?" I shouted over the wind rushing past my face, adrenaline coursing through my veins, "D-did you see the killer or something!?"

"Maybe!" Kirito shouted back, "Follow that cloaked guy!"

The two of us chased the cloaked figure over the rooftops for several minutes, before the man gave us the slip by teleporting away with a teleport crystal. I'd say that pretty much does away with the ghost theory unless that wasn't the killer. Ghosts that used teleport crystals couldn't exist.

Sighing in defeat, Kirito and I both headed back to the inn. We were greeted by an irritated Asuna who bopped Kirito on the head and a terrified Schmidtt. After assuring Schmidtt we'd catch the killer, we sent him on his way back to his guild. The poor guy was still convinced that the ghost of Griselda was behind the killings.

"I-I'm gonna part ways with you guys till tomorrow." I tugged on the back of Kirito's jacket, "I've got some stuff I need to take care of. Can I add you to my friend's list so we can get in contact later?"

Asuna immediately nodded her agreement, but Kirito spouted some stuff off about him being a soloer and didn't add anyone. Weird, I thought Klein had Kirito added. Maybe Klein was an exception.

I didn't really have anything to do before tomorrow, I just wanted some alone time to think things over. Could Laughing Coffin be involved in this incident? Argo's information that had said they might have been around on the 59th floor would match up. It was terrifying if Laughing Coffin had found a way around the rules of the game to kill anyone anywhere. I really hoped that wasn't the case. Eventually exhaustion won over me, and I slept.

A message notification was what rudely woke me up the next morning. Grumbling sleepily, I opened it. Enclosed was a message from Asuna apologizing for not contacting me sooner and asking me to meet her and Kirito at the grassy fields outside the restaurant we met Yolko at the day prior.

"S-so what's up?" I yawned tiredly, taking a seat at the table "Did you guys figure something out about the murders?"

"Actually we solved it last night," Kirito rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Sorry we didn't get in contact sooner."

"I-It's fine," I reassured him, "I probably wouldn't have been much help anyways. So who did it."

"Yolko and Caynz did." Asuna was the one to answer.

"Wait what?" I swear my jaw dropped several inches.

As it turned out, the entire murder mystery was concocted by Yolko and Caynz with an elaborate plan to fake murders. This was done to lure Grimlock out of hiding for killing Griselda. He had apparently done this by hiring a member of Laughing Coffin. Argo's information was somewhat correct apparently.

Our conversation was interrupted when a rock slammed roughly in the middle of my forehead. Attached was a simple message: "Stay out of our business any further."

**forcing someone to press the accept button for a duel and then killing them

As a weird side note, SAO fans should go google Leeandlie's channel on youtube. She does AMAZING SAO song covers in english.

-Forscythe