"WHOA! THIS IS AWESOME!" Oren yelled out excitingly, while desperately trying to stay on the horseback, but clearly he's enjoying it.

We're all riding the horses, those elegant Swiss Warmbloods, toward the exit of the forest. Despite the long distance before, the horses made them all too easy. All you have to do is to try and stay on the horseback without falling, and let them do all the job. They seem to even know where they're heading after we told them our destination.

I tried not to think too much about the fact that I've just talked with a horse, but...well, it's a video game, right? Anything's possible.

"Well, if there's one thing good about this game, I'd say this is it!" Asuna commented. She seems to be enjoying the ride. About time something finally satisfy her...

"Heh, without the patch update, you'll probably be complaining all the way to the town, Asuna." I teased.

"Why would Kayaba released the patch update anyways?" Keita asked.

"Good question. All he ever did these past two years is locking us in here and playing god. But the patch updated added new weapons, lowering monster difficulty, gave us more chance to explore the world, even a new transportation system! Why would he be doing this to us?" Izumi said.

"Or maybe he's just messing with us," Agil added. "Those new updates are all benefit to us players. Maybe he thought we'll let our guard down and not taking the game seriously."

Agil does have a point. Nowadays, more and more players who aren't working in guilds or have utmost devotion in clearing the game simply gave up and settle their lives in Aincrad. Some of them even thought that the game's unbeatable and they should enjoy life while it lasted, and prepared themselves for their permanent stay in SAO.

If not for all the monsters out there, Aincrad is nothing short of paradise. Who's to say that anyone doesn't want to live here? The patch update just made all the best things in SAO better.

I'd probably gave up and settle down here too if not for the fact that I still have a life out there. My sister's probably worried sick about me right now.

"Hopefully the town isn't too far away now, it's getting dark." Keita spoke.

After five more minutes, we finally got out of the Tranquil Forest, and the sight that laid before us has to be seen to be believed.

The small town of Mayfair stood in front of us. Overshadowing it is the mountain range that laid across in the distance, presumably acting as the floor's borders as well. Near the town stood a large lake with reflections of the sunset shimmering in it. A truly magnificent sight.

"Honestly, Keita...I think we should just sell our house and buy a new one here!" Sasamaru said, he's staring in awe at the scenery in front of him.

"Don't get sidetracked, Sasamaru. We're here on a mission, not sightseeing." The ever-calmed Keita responded, gaining a somewhat disappointed face from Sasamaru.

We got off our horses in front of the town's gate. The saddles all disappeared soon after, but I managed to give a quick pet to the black Swiss Warmblood I've rode on before it ran back into the forest.

Damn it, I could get use to this horse-riding stuffs. Maybe when this is all over, I'll spare some money to buy a personal horse of my own.

"So, shall we get to work right now?" Agil asked. "I can't wait to find that bastard already."

"Yeah, let's get this done. Hopefully this merchant of yours will tell us more about the thief." Asuna added.

And then we walked into Mayfair.

"Holy hell, where is everybody!?" Asuna shouted.

The town of Mayfair seemed abandoned. Not a single soul in sight. Heck, not even usual NPCs like merchants or guards, who should be in every towns in this game, are here!

It's just quiet, too quiet.

"Why can't anything just go right for once today!?" Agil added, also summarizing what I thought about all this perfectly.

"Calm down, everyone!" Sachi said. "At least we're all still here."

As we walked along the empty street inside Mayfair, we noticed that there's no sign of fighting, or even battle. In fact, everything is in fine condition, it's just, there's nobody here. The whole situation gave me a feeling of 'ghost town'.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." I commented.

"Of course you are. Nothing ever goes right with you involved!" Asuna said sarcastically.

"Does anyone think all of this have to do with the patch update?" Keita asked. "Maybe...something...happened to those town residents when the update took place."

I tried not to imagine that, but it's the most likely scenario. Maybe the update patch accidentally, at best, move the residents to other locations while the NPCs were removed. At worst, well, I don't want to think about that.

"So much to find the missing merchant..." Agil sighed.

"Well, with nobody's here, there's not much to do, and it's getting dark now. Let's find somewhere to rest." Keita suggested.

"Yeah, the inn's NPC's probably gone, too. At least we can all share a free night here." Tetsuo added. Totally missing the point, if you asked me.

We found a tiny inn named 'Mayfair Meadows' in the town square. It's not too much, only three tiny rooms that can accommodate three people each, but at least it's cozy enough for us.

I shared a room with Agil and Asuna (for some strange reason, Sachi wants to share a room with me, but Keita was against the idea, and let's not start about Asuna...) but that night, I just can't bring myself to sleep.

With everything that's happened to this town, I just can't get it out of my mind. What happened with the townspeople? Even the NPCs? Did it has to do with the patch update?

"Hey Kirito? You're still awake?" Asuna's voice spoke up.

"Yeah..."

"Still thinking about the townspeople's disappearances?"

"Yep, something just doesn't feel right."

"Well, that's obvious!"

A loud creak came up from behind me. I turned to look, and saw Asuna dressed in her usual KBO uniform, as opposed to her casual wear just hours ago.

"Let's go find something out about all this, shall we?" She asked.

"Are you crazy!? It's almost midnight now! Can't we just wait until the morning!?"

"What makes you think I want to do this!?" She asked back. "At least it's only us that's still here. What if something happen to us and there's no one left to warn other players who might come here? The sooner we solve all of this, the better. That way, we could continue to find Agil's missing merchant as well." Asuna explained.

I glanced at Agil, who's now sleeping peacefully on his bed, unaware of our conversation.

"What makes you think we're gonna find anything out there, anyway? We don't have any clue of where to start."

"Well, that's why I'm asking you for your help!" Asuna replied. "I've already seen how you were able to solve that murder in a safe area incident. You're the best person around here when it comes to investigating!"

"It was just pure luck..." I argued. "I'm not that good, honestly."

Asuna crossed her arms. "Hmph, if you're not going, fine! I'll do this myself! And nothing you say will change my mind!"

And she started stomping her way out of the room.

"W-wait!" I yelled, before quickly equipping my gears and ran out after her.

As we strolled along the dark streets, I noticed that Asuna clung on to my arms, while glancing around nervously.

"Will you stop doing that already?" I asked.

"Shut up and just keep walking! I'm trying to focus here!" She yelled, her voice somewhat tensed up than normal.

It doesn't take a genius to tell that she's afraid of the dark. Heh, one more thing I could tease her with now.

We kept walking until we got out of the city, and eventually into the Tranquil Forest. My guess is that if there's nothing wrong in the city, I should start with the surrounding places.

Well, another reason is that because the forest feels a lot more comfortable than in the town right now. The atmosphere's feel calmer now, with the moonlight providing enough illumination for us to see in the dark, and Asuna finally let go of me.

"Is this your idea of walking in the moonlight?" Asuna asked.

"Heh, you idiot."

We kept walking until we reached a forest clearing somewhere in the forest.

That's when someone took us by surprise.

"FREEZE!" A female voice shouted up.

Me and Asuna ready our weapons, before turning to face the source of the voice.

The speaker; a young black-haired girl with a pair of glasses, is pointing her weapon, a metal spear, at us.

The kicker? She's wearing an armor with Holy Dragon Alliance insignia.

"Who the hell are you!?" Asuna asked, her rapier pointed at the mysterious HDA spearwoman.

"I didn't order you to speak, KBO knight!" The spearwoman spoke. "I'm investigating the disappearance of the Mayfair townspeople, and I need to know, one way or another, the reason that you two are here."

"Well, miss, we're trying to do the same thing here." I said, trying to ease the tension, but I didn't lower my sword yet.

"How could I trust you? You're travelling with a KBO companion." She gave a death glare to Asuna, while she did the same to her.

"It's Asuna, you idiot!" Asuna gritted her teeth. "What's your name, anyway!?"

The mysterious spearwoman used her left hand to adjust her glasses.

"My name is Sinon. I'm the vice commander of the Holy Dragon Alliances."

Editor's note: Another chapter down! Damn it, so much for studying for the test! -_-*

Well, another surprise for you guys, right? Sinon wasn't originally in SAO. Heck, she didn't appeared until well later into The Phantom Bullet (aka GGO) arc! But well, why not? Sinon's one of my most favorite characters in SAO (Technically GGO but...ah screw it) so I wanted to include her here, too. Besides, it's 'Alternate Story' so obviously something won't be the same. I decided to let her be the spear user because I thought Sinon would like to use long range weapons, and since SAO has no guns or even bows, spears will have to do. I planned her to be some sort of a rival to Asuna in my story (I even made her to share the same rank as Asuna in their respective guilds!).

No more chapters for a while! I need to study for my test!