A/N: Oops. It only just occurred to me that each new chapter now gets over 50 views in its first fortnight up. Thanks! I get that many of those views may be repeats from users who need to come back multiple times, but hey, engagement is engagement! I am forever grateful.

I was the first to open my eyes on the morning of January 2nd, 2023. Checking the time, I saw that it was 6:54. I sat upright, and glanced to my right, where I saw Kirito starting to stir, arms gently round Asuna who was fortunately waking up slower than him.

"Adorable…" I chuckled softly, a vocalization which helped Kirito open his eyes.

The boy seemed to flinch, just as the fencer in his arms murmured lightly. Almost immediately, he turned his head back toward me.

"Pull me. Now."

Without a second of hesitation, I slid out of bed and onto my feet, then reached across it and ripped the poor boy from under the covers. At the exact same time, Asuna awoke, startled.

"W-What just happened?"

I was quick on my feet as I set Kirito down on his. "It's almost seven, we gotta get to breakfast with Kizmel in the mess hall."

We got there just as everyone else was sitting down, including Kumiko's party with Vantorain. Today began with fried fish, salad, toast, and an herbal tea. After breakfast, Kizmel and Vantorain brought both cooperating parties to the supply station of Castle Galey, where each party received five health potions, five Level 1 antidotes – worthless against Level 2 paralysis poison used by Fallen Elves – and ration bags, which included snacks. We could get this collection for free, every day, once per.

It was a shame that the storyteller would only be in the library between noon and 3PM, but while we had two Dark Elven Royal Knights in our company, no other sorts under the poncho man could come after us with much success – especially since he was down two men.

…Two men who were dead, now. With little ability to actually move orange players to the Black Iron Palace by force at this point in the game, the only real option to stop them was to remove them from play, which could only be done by emptying their HP – which would kill them in real life through the discharge from the NerveGear. I had killed a handful of players by accident in launch week, whether a Total Loss duel before Kayaba told us the stakes, or HP continuing to drain out from a powerful strike within a Half-Loss duel. But this was the first time I deliberately took a fellow human's life, and it was two in roughly the same minute.

I had to dismiss it as best I could, knowing that those two deserved it. In fact, I'd feel more guilty for future victims of that group, before I could get to them. Shaking it out of my head, we headed out, while light bells accompanied our exit from the fortress gates.

Only a minute over the dry sand past the bridge, a debuff icon appeared on Kizmel's HP bar in our party display – Kumiko appeared to notice a similar thing for Vantorain in her party. I remembered seeing this particular icon before: weakness, which cut off a chunk of Strength and Agility stats. My one experience with this debuff in the beta, consisted of a run-in with the snake priests in the Castle of a Thousand Serpents on the tenth floor. Without being able to run too well, both due to my lower Agility, and the encumbrance penalty from my lower Strength, I only made it out with the help of a boomerang, keeping the enemies back just long enough for my cooldown to end on my best melee Sword Skill at that point.

If the skin of Kizmel and Vantorain were truly coffee, then they had certainly been creamed. I took a moment to keep myself from laughing at my own mental phrasing, during which the former opened the pouch against her back, removing a thin cape.

"…I thought… that I could last longer… but this is merely a reminder that we elves are powerless without the bounty of the forest and water," she grunted, switching out her typical hiding cloak for that cape – a mysterious shade of green with silver tinting, and a pattern resembling leaf veins. The moment she pulled the hood over her head, the debuff was replaced by a buff icon, and the color quickly returned to Kizmel's face. While the debuff was a person hanging their head, the buff icon resembled a leaf.

"That cape on her is a special treasure that has been kept within the kingdom since before the Great Separation," Vantorain explained, "It is carefully sewn together from the precious leaves of the Holy Tree, which hardly ever fall, even in midwinter… Among all the castles and fortresses together, there are no more than ten of these capes remaining."

"Rarely falling leaves, huh?" I chuckled in amazement, "Wonder if the Holy Tree's eating as good as Galey's Spirit Tree, or if it's just that powerful."

"Interesting perspective," Kizmel commented with a smile, "I don't believe that anyone has seen if there is any open space beneath it, like there is beneath our Spirit Tree."

I slowly nodded, becoming curious. "Anyway, the Agate Key. We are going to the south caves to find its resting place, aren't we? And we're in the northwest piece of the floor."

Vantorain chuckled weakly. "The south caves? Yes, the shrine is there. Impressive that you knew."

"I guess that's another consistency with my visions prior to being summoned to Aincrad."

Kirito turned to me as we walked. "Do you recall an easier way there, than through the next two mountain tunnels? That part of my visions… They're cloudy."

Another chuckle escaped me. "It has been just over four months since the last vision. But I know it has something to do with Lake Talpha."

Kirito and Asuna saved their questions. For the time being, we fought our way through the desert spiders and death worms in the canyon, until we made it back to the flat ground. Kizmel did most of the work against those enemies, with Vantorain a distant second, much more closely followed by myself due to him still having the weakness debuff.

It was around 10AM that as we walked, Kumiko spoke up. "Hey, Vantorain's looking better now."

Kizmel lowered her hood. "The surroundings are less dry, if barely. There are a few plants, with the occasional spring of water."

I looked around with a smile. "I guess succulents are just as much a plant as any other."

She removed her cape, and the leaf buff disappeared, but the weakness debuff didn't reappear. However, both she and Vantorain still looked pale and uncomfortable.

I shrugged. "Suppose anything is better than nothing."

The female knight nodded as she put away the cape and retrieved her original hiding cloak.

"I could not let this Greenleaf Cape be damaged in combat while wearing it unnecessarily."

Kirito and Kumiko retrieved bottles of water, ten in total – one each for all present. We all drank together, draining every bottle halfway, as I glanced over at a nearby cactus.

"Hey, we should grab some of those," I suggested as I pointed at the large green T-poser.

The others turned to see red fruits dotting the space between spikes, each berry less than three centimeters in diameter compared to the 10cm-long spikes.

"Celusian Fruit," Kizmel explained as she plucked one from the cactus, "There is no telling for how long they have been there, so we must eat quick; they fall but 30 minutes after growing."

The smaller the hand, the less cautiously it had to move. As a result, the women ate better at this moment, clearing away the fruit fairly soon after I'd pointed them out. Each bite was a juicy wave of sweet, cold, sour and fizzy, numbing to the mind while consumed in this biome.

"The flowers bloom and produce fruit only once a year," Kizmel continued once we finished the last fruit from this cactus, "But that could happen in any season. That is why it is so important to eat as much as you can within the half-hour of the fruit growing."

"Seemed important enough for you and Vantorain," I chuckled softly as I cupped the left side of her jaw in my right hand, thumb gliding up and down her cheek, "I'd say you 'look better already', but I think you look better every time I see you again."

Kizmel exhaled sharply with a smile. "I'm glad to know you feel that way. I can't help but admire the contrast between your lean figure, and your stunning acrobatics. As well as your fierce fighting spirit and leadership, both in fighting off your assailants as you stated last night, and that day you came to my aid against the forest elf on the third floor."

I slowly drew my hand away with a grin, fingers brushing down her cheek and jaw.

"If it's leadership you're looking for… I can demonstrate it a lot more easily, with the opportunity to command only one…"

Asuna sighed behind me. "Can we get moving?"

Another chuckle left me. "If it will please you."

"Don't say it like that!"

"The phrasing or the tone?"

"Yes!"

For the next kilometer, the enemies consisted of simple coyotes and lizards; much easier for the rest of the group to work through alongside the dark elves. And after another hour, Lake Talpha in sight, the two converging mountain walls were but half a kilometer apart.

"Ooooh, wow!" Asuna exclaimed at the sharp-curved edge of the beach, pure white sand which led into crystal-clear water, sunlight being caught by deeper and deeper water as past the clear, was an emerald green, and then cobalt blue. Just over half a kilometer across the lake, was the mountain splitting the banks of the southern cave section, and the eastern desert section.

The fencer then turned towards myself and Kirito. "You two discussed a starfish-type monster called Ophiometus, right?"

I nodded. "Its arms reach right up to the bank. Speaking of which…"

Just then, I received a message notification. "Ah, perfect timing! Chumi's giving me the details. Made sense they're not hanging about here, then… 'Three casualties per party, we were only there a few minutes this morning. Do not attempt even with all three top guilds.' Guess we just have to cross it without disturbing the surface tension."

Kumiko tilted her head. "How do we do that?"

Kizmel and Vantorain each retrieved a small glass bottle, no bigger than the thumb of the former, containing a pure blue liquid.

"Kumiko, could you give me the sole of your boot?" asked the latter.

Without hesitation, Kumiko pulled her leg behind herself, holding her ankle up in her hand. Then, Vantorain put a single drop from the bottle on her sole, and then on the other when she lifted it. Kizmel did the same for my party as Vantorain got to the female beta testers' soles, and all of our shoes glowed blue. The buff icon over our HP bars depicted a shoe atop a flat, yet rippling, plane. Then, Kizmel and Vantorain each did their own boots, and stepped gingerly onto the water.

After about four steps into the sand beneath the surface, their steps rippled atop the water, and the dark elves' feet were clearly on top of it. I smiled and followed, looking back to my fellow humans.

"Touch down gently, or you'll break through," I explained as I passed the elves, "Your other foot may remain stable, but the starfish will notice."

Eventually, the rest of both parties caught up to us, and we began making our way across the lake.

"Suppose we ease our minds with conversation," I suggested as I checked my Farscribing charm as Kizmel had referred to it on the fourth floor, "The summoned humans have passed the mountains between the wasteland and the swamp. They didn't find anything guarding the tunnels."

"Theano must have defeated whatever was there," Asuna concluded.

I nodded in agreement. "And Speen said his investigation of the Fallen camp on the third floor is proceeding smoothly. It's clear even down there, that the Forest elves and Fallen elves have what is evidently a mutual interest in the Sanctuary being opened. However, that fact is not made visible intentionally, to the lower-ranking Forest elves."

"I cannot imagine it would," Kizmel commented.

"Only other thing is that the human front line can't find a settlement in the swamp."

"Hm, that's a shame…" Asuna replied, before turning to Kizmel, "Hey, is this charm the same reason that Viscount Yofilis didn't sink when we fought Wythege, the Hippocampus?"

I shrugged. "He was running about everywhere, that whole time, though."

"Asuna's guess is half-correct," Kizmel answered, "The liquid on our shoe soles, is a valuable elixir, called the Droplets of Villi. It can only be made by villi – water spirits, undine maidens. But Viscount Yofilis' shoes are woven with villi hair and will never sink into the water."

"If their hair is that pleasant, they must be pretty," I chuckled as Asuna lightly jabbed my arm, "But how quickly does their hair grow, if they are to receive haircuts at a practical rate?"

"I could not tell you myself," our dark elf companion answered, "To us elves, the undines, including the villi, are just as sacred as the dryads of the forest. They are our neighbors and our protectors… If we consider cutting down a living tree or despoiling a clear brook as breaking taboo, then killing any villi herself would be calling down a curse upon all elvenkind."

Vantorain picked up from there. "As for how the viscount found himself with those shoes, well, there is a rumor from the distant past, of him and a villi maiden—"

The male dark elf grunted as Kizmel elbowed him in the side.

"Please pretend you did not hear of these uncertain things," the elven woman suggested.

I shrugged again. "Fair enough." I spent the rest of the walk staring through the clearer water, at all the small fish, coins and jewels set as a trap to pierce the surface. Only a little after that, we made it onto the southern beach.

"Well… there's a first for everything. That was rather exhilarating."

I turned to Kizmel. "I suppose I shouldn't expect too many elves to come all the way here from the wasteland when those capes are so limited."

She nodded, pulling out a parchment scroll. "Correct. But I know the way."

I looked at the detailed map of the southern section, a natural cave formation with a few openings above to see the underside of the seventh floor disc which mimicked the sky outside Aincrad. Red markings on the map showed a point in the caves, and a line there from the lakeside.

"Beautiful cartography," I commented as I observed the map, "That's the lake, that's the shrine, and this insect head looks to be a warning…"

"Lurking in the caverns, is a giant centipede covered in rocky armor," Kizmel explained, "Fortunately, we need not cross its path, but I hear tell of many humans who have wandered into its lair and paid the ultimate price."

Asuna shook her head. "Sheesh… Starfish, centipedes – this place has everything. I just hope there aren't any millipedes or ganymedes."

I caught my chuckle at the last noun. "That's a moon in our world, but I could see something in this world having a name like that."

The fencer sighed. "I guess I'm not as steely against bugs as I had previously claimed. But I will still manage as I have."

I shrugged, closing my messaging interface again after opening it for a minute. "In any case, I just Farscribed to Chumi about the centipede. If I remember the layout of the swamp from my visions, they should be into these caves around the evening, and that lair appears to be just short of Goskai, the cave city in this section."

"That Farscribing charm is very handy," Vantorain commented with a chuckle.

Asuna nodded as we continued into the caves. "The elves have to send scouts to hand over letters, don't you? Even with your spirit trees, that seems like a lot of hard work."

"That is right," Kizmel answered, "We dark elves and forest elves have thought little of your human charms, but seeing what you are capable of doing, I suspect that your Mystic Scribing and Farscribing alone might surpass all the magic we elves still possess."

I tilted my head. "Now that I think about it… It occurs to me that only we summoned humans have these charms. I've never seen the typical Aincrad resident humans using it."

Kizmel blinked. "What was it that N'ltzahh, the fallen elf, said on the fourth floor? When they have all the keys and open the door to the Sanctuary, the greatest magic of humankind will vanish, correct?"

I snapped my fingers in recollection. "Yes, he was saying that to Kysarah – his 'adjutant', as it seems."

Vantorain cupped his chin in thought. "I cannot imagine that the Fallen would have always been targeting magic exclusive to summoned adventurers. It must be something that truly applies to all humans, not just ones they hadn't met until less than a month ago."

"Hmm…" I cupped my own jaw for a moment, as well, before shaking my head. "In any case, we'd better take care of this key collecting thing and get back to Castle Galey while it's light."

On the topic of light, there was enough from gaps in the ceiling, that we didn't need to carry light ourselves, meaning we could keep all of our arms' attention on the bats, aquatic enemies, and the debuting slimes, much more frustrating in a realistic game than in typical JRPGs, where they were usually the first enemy seen in the game. Without fire or ice magic, we had to rely on the physics engine to determine how to fight such things – blades were not effective, and even blunt weapons were just barely practical.

Though they were all girls, the beta testers with Kumiko had chosen weapons attributed to their peculiar choices of game ID names: Mace, Slapjack, T-Bar, and Kentucky, who had chosen to wield a mace, a two-handed hammer, a two-handed axe, and a spear, respectively. All of these names were dismissed as a 'joke from our world' by Kumiko, when asked by Vantorain, and Kizmel accepted that when he told her the same, but in truth, the first three were names of male members of the WWE stable Retribution, and the last referenced KFC, a nod to WWE chicken mascot Gobbledygooker, for which a wrestling critic award was named.

Fortunately, this meant that two players present could attack the slimes head-on, while I would have to guide the rest with their slashing and thrusting weapons. The first example, was a Covetous Ooze, brown and able to form a club-like appendage.

"Get them into the light, so you can see the core. Then, hit that."

Asuna slipped away from a tentacle, made to grab her rapier, and drew it under a hole in the ceiling, where the ooze shone golden. Then, she found the shiny and reflective sphere, and struck it with a single-thrust Sword Skill, «Streak». The core was but 2cm wide, but exploded when the silver light pierced through it, and the slime followed suit, dark yellow jelly splattering onto Asuna's face and torso before eventually shattering into blue glass.

I couldn't help but chuckle at the brief sight, looking up at the ceiling. "Well, I was going to suggest thanking nature for these openings, but it looks like we have another enemy waiting up there."

It was another Covetous Ooze, which Kizmel was able to catch this time, but the color of the enemy just wasn't aesthetically pleasing on either person splattered by its death. Further along, different slimes bore different colors, such as blue, red, and black. Kizmel and Kirito had demonstrated the creative act of just slightly slowing down a Sword Skill, using the flash of light to illuminate a slime, which made it possible to see the core without needing to find a hole in the ceiling; eventually, the rest of us got the hang of it, after about three slimes each.

We had some rations early in the afternoon, consisting of a baked treat full of nuts and dried fruit, before entering the dungeon containing the key's shrine. The monsters within were different from those in the natural caves, but we tore through them into 1PM, as we arrived at the shrine doors.

"Huh…? This was a dungeon the elves built ages ago, right?"

Kizmel nodded to Asuna's question. "That is correct. According to legend, in the olden days just after the Great Separation, the six keys were split across six floors and placed within six different labyrinths to keep them hidden and safe."

I sighed. "Those spirit trees come in handy for your lot, never having to be in contact with any of the guardians in the Pillars of the Heavens."

Asuna pointed at the topic of discussion. "Why is that there, then?"

"…I do not know," Kizmel answered, touching the numbered tiles on the 6x6 panel – a slide puzzle, similar to the 4x4 in the inn we used in Stachion, "This… is not anything made by the dark elves, nor the forest elves, I believe. Count Galeyon said nothing about there being such a contraption in this labyrinth, either."

I slowly shook my head. "That damned cube is plaguing the floor overall, not just humankind."

"Cube?" asked Kizmel, puzzled.

"A golden puzzle cube," I began to answer, "It belonged to the lord of a town in the forest region, Stachion. The Puzzle King, Pythagoras, was that lord, until he was murdered by a man called Cylon. That man's lover, Theano, was the intended heir, unbeknownst to him, and she planned out a neat little test of redemption, including the objective to reclaim the cube after she hid it. She did this following the onset of a curse which filled the town with puzzles, and a few other out-of-the-way places across this floor, hoping that Cylon's redemption would fix everything. But he was killed by those guys that tried to kill us, as he was in their way before us. We told Theano, and now, she is taking the cube to the Pillar of the Heavens, where she speculates the real solution lies."

"I see… So, this number puzzle on the door, is a result of that curse?"

I nodded, the only thing I could do. "Considering it all happened ten years ago, it had to reach this place someday."

For once, the dark elf shrugged. "Curses are truly terrifying and unpredictable things. Especially the curses set by the dead… The dark elves have a number of stories about those unfortunate enough to have come into contact with curses unrelated to them. To say nothing of the famous tale of how the wicked dragon Shmargor came under the Holy Tree's curse, and then tormented the humans who did nothing to it."

"Uh-huh. I would love to see the mortal plane after my death, just to see how it changes, too."

Everyone blinked a couple times at me.

"What? Wouldn't you be curious, how the world would be without you? Especially if you feel your departure was unjust. You would want that to be remembered, right?"

Kizmel slowly smiled. "I understand what you are suggesting. Though I don't feel like she would do such things, it is amusing to imagine Tilnel doing something humorous to torment the Forest elves."

I chuckled awkwardly, patting her shoulder. "I'm sure she could at least think of something for you to do to mess with them. But for the time being, we should see you solving this puzzle. Uh… If elves are the people to do puzzles. You can, can't you?"

"Hmm? Well… as children, we solve picture-matching boards and tangle rings, but I have never seen a puzzle of numbers like this. Are we meant to reorder the boards in numerical order?"

"That's right, left-to-right rows from the top," I answered and looked at the rest of the group, only to turn to Kizmel again three seconds later and see her rapidly knocking tiles around like I'd only seen in shuffling animations for digital versions of these puzzles.

The last tile snapped into place, and the whole stone board glowed, before the door slowly rumbled open and Kizmel turned back to us with a grin. "Your human puzzles are quite refreshing."

I couldn't help but chuckle once more. "Whenever we get the time, we might show you more."

It wasn't much further past this point, before we reached the last room, guarded by a Dullahan just like the fifth-floor key shrine – except this one was stronger, of course, if not for the fact that two parties were doing their key quest at once; we killed it faster than the fifth-floor one. After that, we proceeded to the shrine at the back, and on the altar in the middle, was the pitch-black Agate Key.

Once we had it, we reached the entrance of the dungeon in half the time it took to reach the shrine inside, and we got from there to the beach in three quarters of the time it took us from the beach to the dungeon. We took a short break on the beach, then crossed without incident across Lake Talpha, made our way across the wasteland again, and Kizmel put the Greenleaf Cape back on when we got closer to Castle Galey; we walked back through the fortress gates just as it hit 4PM.

I almost didn't want to turn in the key to Count Galeyon, knowing Kizmel and Vantorain would be heading up to the seventh floor after their work was done here. On the other hand, I didn't have the best memory from the beta, of the rewards for this floor's chapter of the elf campaign, and it could very easily be something that would come in handy on later floors. Plus, hanging with Kizmel on the higher floors could be even more fun than on this one.

"So, Kizmel, I've been meaning to ask," I lied immediately, only becoming curious of this just now for whatever reason, "What exactly is the relationship between the knight factions within the Dark Elf kingdom, which you mentioned on the third floor when I pointed out disagreements between our human factions?"

Kizmel smiled, drawing us in as Vantorain drew Kumiko's party over. "You see, this is why it is so important to me, that I join you on this mission to retrieve the keys. In the background are a host of troublesome political calculations and squabbles. As I told you then, my Pagoda Knights Brigade, the palace security Sandalwood Knights Brigade, and the heavily-armored Trifoliate Knights Brigade, are often at odds… Our leadership, especially, has always been competitive with one another. When the word came out that the forest elves were going after the hidden keys, there was the considerable argument over which brigade should respond."

I snapped my fingers, shaking my head. "And they were clamoring for the responsibility, rather than foisting it upon another."

"Correct," replied Vantorain, "It has been over a century since knights of Lyusula left the castle for a practical missions, rather than training; and against the forest elves of Kales'Oh, no less. The three brigades fought for the honor of this duty, and ultimately, it was given solely to the Pagoda Knights Brigade, for our light armor and fleet movement."

Kizmel resumed afterward. "A vanguard of sixty was sent down to the third floor but there is no dark elf fortress there. We were to build a camp for our base and scout the labyrinth containing the key. There was not supposed to be any combat…"

I nodded slowly. "The Falconers…"

She and Vantorain nodded as the latter responded. "The commander of the vanguard did request more members from the brigade's headquarters, but it was refused. They surely knew that if it was revealed that the group freshly descended to the third floor was already half-gone, then the other brigades would swoop in to steal our glory."

"Makes sense," I commented as we sat on a bench with a view of the spirit tree, "The pressure is perpetually on you to not just fight hard, but win."

Kizmel nodded. "With smaller numbers, however, we were able to put together a new plan. We had about ten knights taking turns to distract the forest elves, while one stealthy knight would get the keys from the labyrinths. Tilnel and I played tag and hide-and-seek in our youth, so I confidently nominated myself for the task."

"That is not our only way of deceiving them," Vantorain chuckled proudly, "I am one of the knights tasked with leaving mock-up keys on the shrine altars. I know you all noticed that I had stayed back, just for a moment, as we were making our exit. Now you understand why."

"I couldn't think of more appropriate knights for either duty," I chuckled as I stood upright again and stretched with a small grunt, "In any case, I suppose we should just get this out of the way, so that if this is another goodbye for a couple more days, we can get to that next reunion sooner."

Kizmel grinned, standing up as I did. "That is certainly a valid reason to part again so soon."

Mundane rewards aside, when we did turn in the Agate Key, we learned that Kizmel and Vantorain would each get all of tomorrow as downtime, leaving the morning of the fourth. And as we left the count's office, I got a message from Brandi.

"Hah…! A squad from my guild has managed to trick the Forest Elves into helping them empty the mountain between the swamp and cave areas."

Kizmel blinked at this announcement. "Impressive. It is good to know that they will be busy."

I nodded with a smile. In truth, Brandi was just taking advantage of the forest elves' side of the key quest only being one biome away by comparison, and opting to merge with the front line again, just until they could break through.

"On the topic of the Forest Elves," Kumiko interjected, turning to me, "I have something for you, that I have consistently failed to use since I got it. I just can't think of anything I would want to switch out for something else, temporarily. But, well, you know how it goes with drops from high-floor mobs…"

As I suspected, she opened the trade window and submitted her Crystal Bottle of Kales'Oh, which I accepted with compensation of 50,000 Cor for her. I already had a feeling that I would use it soon.

As agreed last night, our second bath on this floor was split by party rather than sex, which meant more giggles from Kumiko's half. Ignoring it was easier this time, and then we sat in our guest suites while Kizmel returned the Greenleaf Cape to the treasure repository.

Around 5PM, she came back, after we'd only waited for about five minutes. All of us sat down where we could – Kirito, Asuna, Kizmel, Vantorain and myself eating up the better furniture first, while the female beta testers and Kumiko sat around us.

"We have another hour to go before dinner is called," Kizmel told us as she opened a bottle, pouring pale-golden liquid into each of the glasses on the table – just enough glasses for all of us. Upon the toast to the mission, I caught the familiar scent of the moontear wine favored by the late Tilnel, and was the first to finish my glass, even while trying to take my time with it.

"As I'm sure you understand," Vantorain picked up the conversation between sips, "It was not well expected for the Forest elves to attack Yofel Castle, with Fallen-built ships. But Castle Galey is truly immune to attack; you saw how we suffered in the barren climate outside."

Asuna nodded in understanding. "Right. The forest elves would not have enough Greenleaf Capes of their own for a large-scale attack."

Kizmel waggled her glass delicately. "Correct. And the Fallen were cursed by the Holy Tree. If they should put on the cape made of its leaves, they would be burned to ash; or some similar fate."

It was around this time that I finished my glass. "Well, regardless of what happens, we are always by your side in any matter, keys and otherwise."

The elven knights smiled. "Thank you," answered the one from my party, "I will never forget your service to the kingdom of Lyusula. It may be a service to the floating castle of Aincrad."

I nodded again, with a smile of my own. "I do hope we summoned humans will have the option to keep Aincrad intact, when we finally escape it."

Kizmel patted my shoulder like I had done to her a couple of times before. Glancing back at her, she reminded me of an older sister… with pointy ears.

"If it is possible, I would like to see your world. It sounds like you miss it painfully."

I shrugged. "Don't get me wrong, I love this world – I would stay, if we weren't being constantly confronted with our mortality. Honestly, our home world is rather boring… but honestly, we need boring days. That is how we relax."

"Hmm… Well, what does tomorrow entail?" asked Vantorain, across the table from Kizmel.

I couldn't help but shrug, this time. "It kind of depends on the time we have for tonight. If you two aren't necessarily obligated to sleep in a dark elven base, we could get started right after dinner."

The two dark elves looked at each-other, and then nodded to me.

"As long as we sleep comfortably, we will go where you take us," Kizmel answered with a grin.

"Excellent!" I chuckled excitedly, leaning back, "I'll show you two, the appeal of humanity."

In the meantime, I taught Kizmel and Vantorain some modern Japanese slang with the help of the other humans, including English slang commonly adapted in romaji. Then at six, we went off to the dining hall for grilled fish. Finally, Kizmel took 15 minutes to obtain the Greenleaf Cape once more. Around 18:45, we departed Castle Galey for the second time today.

As Kizmel put on the protective cape, I opened some conversation again.

"While you were off getting permission to use that cape again, Kizmel, I had received Farscribing messages from my guild. They have arrived in Goskai safely, just under an hour ago; they didn't see that rocky centipede, though – just a lot of stone cubes on the floor."

Kizmel tilted her head at my statement. "How peculiar. At least they made it to town."

"Indeed," I chuckled lightly as we made our way through the canyon, "Speaking of town, I think it would be fun to show you some of our human towns."

Kirito patted my shoulder for my attention. "Will that work? You know how the summoned…"

I nodded with a smile. "I see your concern, Kirito. But I will explain on the way."

What I told Kizmel and Vantorain, was that our Mystic Tome – the main game menu displayed for summoned adventurers with the Mystic Scribing charm – not only stored our items, recorded our floor maps, and reminded us of our own knowledge; it also told us our exact combat capability, in addition to offering us special forms of perception which allowed us to see clearly who was an ally, who was an enemy, and the disposition of fellow summoned adventurers, relative to our morals. I came up with as much explanation as I could for the game mechanics I was covering up – our stats, and the color cursors, mostly.

"So, you see, Kizmel – I worry that without the pre-established knowledge that we have chosen to support the dark elves, summoned adventurers without a reason to choose either side, may be severely confused, and even frightened, by the presence of a dark elf so strong – let alone, two."

She slowly nodded, taking it all in. "I think I understand. I will try not to intimidate anyone."

I grinned like she usually did. "Perfect. The other message I received, is that one squad of Martial Artists will be joining the effort to liberate the Pillars of the Heavens."

Vantorain coughed awkwardly. "The girls frequently talk about these Martial Arts. Just how helpful would it be to learn the techniques I have seen them use?"

"We may get to see," I answered him plainly, "We will be visiting landmarks and the sites of very specific events surrounding the summoned adventurers. That way, you may come to terms with the way our presence in your world affects us."

"So we will be using the teleport gates in town…" Kirito murmured at my side, concerned. It then occurred to me that he may have been wondering if NPCs could use them at all. I was reasonably confident that they could – how differently could the spirit trees function mechanically in the game, after all?

Regardless, with Droplets of Villi to skip the single mountain across a single arm of the lake, and the elven navigation through the woods of the northeast section, we reached Stachion at 9PM. The two dark elves tied the backs of their standard cloaks to the front of themselves in a way which cleverly concealed the Pagoda emblem, and pulled up their hoods, after Kizmel had put away the Greenleaf Cape for the foreseeable future.

"It is beautiful…" Kizmel murmured as we entered town, "But what an odd place…"

"Are all large human towns built this way?" asked Vantorain from behind Kumiko.

"Just this one," I answered with another chuckle, "In particular, this one is constructed of blocks of wood and stone cut to the exact dimensions of that golden cube we mentioned."

"…You cut the trees down to this size and then stack them up again…" Kizmel commented, rubbing one of the dark brown wood blocks as we passed a building, "Humans do the strangest things…"

I looked to Kirito, then to Asuna, before turning to Kizmel again. "Humans think and feel a very wide variety of emotions and ideas. There is a formulaic pattern to stacking similarly-sized blocks, often found aesthetically pleasing. Some things need to look uniform; intricately planned and designed."

The dark elf lady couldn't help but smile more. "It must take a great diversity of human thought, for there to be so many directions for their societies and cultures to take. I wonder if the frequency of them driving themselves apart is a key component to why they feel relatively similar despite that."

I shrugged – the only thing I could do, again. "In our world, we ask that all the time. It is all we can ever ask of one-another, really – humans are the only humanoid life, there."

"Only humans, huh?" Vantorain chuckled, intrigued, "Do you get along any better than the human kingdoms from our world's surface?"

I hesitated, with a sigh. "I feel that we get along worse. Even just the 10,000 summoned, we do not get along here, either. Not all the time, at least."

He cupped his chin in thought. "…Maybe you need other humanoids in your world. To remind you exactly of just how much you have in common."

I took a deep breath, staring ahead toward the teleport gate plaza. "Maybe…"

Once we reached the plaza, I showed them the gate in the middle. I pointed to the innocuous stone spire there, and how it occasionally rippled when stared at for long enough.

All four of my party – one NPC included – and all six of Kumiko's – again, with one NPC – accounted for at this point, we approached the obelisk together, and I spoke the command words, hoping that when the light dissipated on the other side, that the two dark elves would be with us.

"Teleport: Town of Beginnings."

A/N: Well, there you go. I haven't started on Chapter 25 yet but I will definitely have it done by the time it needs to go up, because In Defense of Beaters Chapter 3 is almost done. That'll go up next week, and I'll have 12-13 days to do Chapter 25 of this work. And I already have a rough idea of its content anyway, so I should get it done in like a week. Remember that IDoB 3 will be its last chapter unless prompted by readers – I just wanted a round trilogy, at least. The fortnight after, should be Aincrad Interim Chapter 3.

As usual, any opportunity to roast me or my writing ability should be taken on the SAO Fanfiction Central server on Discord, accessible using the key Sycypugbxq and if you're having trouble with that key, better and longer fanfictions from other authors like Monochrome Duet, Aincrad Retold, ACES Online, An Englishman in Castle Aincrad, and Sinonon will likely have different keys to the same server.

See y'all next Friday-Saturday overlap.