Saturday, July 22nd, 2023
There were a lot of things about the past year that Kirito could understand well enough, however great the changes were from the life he'd lived before Sword Art Online. He didn't fully grasp Kayaba Akihiko's intentions, but he could at least generally grasp the idea of a megalomaniac. He could see why the death conditions had been instated, however horrible they were.
He could even understand, though he railed against it as much as anyone, why things had been changed from the beta.
Kirito could understand those things, and roll with the punches well enough. What he didn't get was how his position in society had changed so much. Being reviled by some as a "Beater"? He could get that; it was because of faulty logic at best, but the logic was there. The situation he was in now? Not so much.
That Kizmel more or less had to share his room, he could get, but not her casual—sometimes, he occasionally thought, just this side of outright flirtatious—reaction to the necessity. Sachi turning up made some sense, given her explanation, but it still left him wondering what kind of cosmic "perfect storm" of coincidences led to two girls sharing his bedroom.
Argo wandering in at exactly the perfect moment to troll him about his supposed luck with girls? Kirito was about ready to pack it in and declare the universe completely insane. If Asuna had suddenly appeared to complete the "set", he'd have been strongly tempted to jump out the window. It would've been an insane act, but he was already starting to doubt his own sanity anyway.
I'm a gamer otaku who can barely speak with his own sister these days. Why is it I have only one guy on my friends list, in a game where the gender ratio is skewed away from girls?
At least he wasn't alone in his embarrassment for once. Kizmel might've taken Argo's teasing completely in stride, but Sachi had been reduced to sputtering, hiding her face behind the pillow she'd brought with her.
The Rat herself cackled unrepentantly, flopping herself inelegantly into the chair by the room's desk. "Found yourself another Aa-chan, have you, Kii-bou?" she said, flipping back her hood and grinning. "I wondered what you'd been up to lately; hardly saw you when the Thirty-First was being cleared. Then outta nowhere you ask me about quests fifteen floors below the front?" That grin, Kirito thought, was showing fangs now. "Got a story for me, Kii-bou?"
Groaning, Kirito dropped back on his bed and covered his face with both hands. "Nothing exciting, Argo. Kizmel and I were just looking for mats for upgrades a couple weeks back when we ran into another party having trouble. They asked us for help, so we've been giving them a hand with leveling since then."
"Given the need for additional clearers, at least for mapping the labyrinths, it seemed worth the delay," Kizmel put in, propping herself up on one elbow to better look past the girl sharing her bed. "As Kirito says, though, not a particularly noteworthy tale."
"Uh-huh. Not quite sure Aa-chan would believe that, but I guess we'll only find out if she thinks to ask." Definitely teeth showing now, if they hadn't been earlier. "So, you gonna introduce me?"
Giving a resigned sigh, Kirito lowered his hands. "Right… Argo, this is Sachi, of the Moonlit Black Cats; Kizmel and I are training her up to be one of their forwards. Sachi, this is Argo. They call her the Rat, and it's not just because she's the best info broker in Aincrad."
Reluctantly, Sachi lowered the pillow, revealing a bright blush. "U-um, nice to meet you, Argo," she managed. "Er… I think we actually met before, once? You were asking some questions a week or so before the first boss fight…?"
That was possibly only the second time Kirito had ever seen Argo puzzled by something. The satisfying experience didn't last, though, as the Rat's expression quickly turned from a thoughtful frown to raised-eyebrows recognition. "Ah, that's right, I remember now. Back when I was… Never mind, I'd have to charge Kii-bou and Kizmel-chan for that one, and I don't think they could afford it."
Eh? Kirito exchanged a confused look with Kizmel. The only other time he could remember not being able to afford Argo's prices—as opposed to not finding it worth it—had been the question of why she had whiskers, which he'd gotten out of her anyway as a favor. What on earth had Argo been researching that far back that would be as expensive as she was implying?
"Never mind that, anyway," Argo said, waving a hand dismissively. "Good to see you're doing well, Sachi-chan. Your guild's in good hands; whatever some idiots may say about Kii-bou, he and Kii-chan are real softies, and almost as good at what they do as I am at what I do."
Almost? And "Kii-chan"? Somehow I get the feeling Asuna would either laugh at that one, or hit me. For some reason.
"So." Suddenly, the Rat was all business, propping right leg on left knee. "You're looking for quests that a group of low- to mid-level players can do, if they've got a couple of clearers for backup? I can think of a few. Though first you might wanna do a little more regular grinding; I know one place on the Twentieth that's good for that…"
"I know, Asuna and I sold you the info in the first place, remember?" Kirito said dryly. "Big praying mantises, easy to dodge if you know what you're doing, that's what you're thinking of, right?"
"Darn, that's right. How'd I forget that?" From the grin, Kirito suspected Argo hadn't; after all, it wasn't her fault if somebody bought info they'd just forgotten they already had. "Okay, then. Three thousand Cor for Argo's Midlevel Quest Guide, Floors Twenty to Twenty-Five; sound fair?"
Sachi blinked. "You… already have something like that?"
"It's Argo," Kirito told her, shaking his head. "The Black Cats probably aren't the first mid-level players to ask her about that." Pulling up his menu, he materialized a small pouch of Cor.
"Besides which, she was undoubtedly taking notes when the clearing group went through," Kizmel agreed. "Be careful, Sachi: the fact that you're here is now something she can sell, if she finds the right buyer."
The other girl looked, if anything, even more confused. "Why would anyone want to buy information like that?"
"Remind Kirito to tell you later what happened the last time I said that." The elf smiled, apparently amused by the memory. "Suffice to say Argo made a profit off the leaders of the Knights of Blood for a story I thought of no particular value."
"Yep! You just gotta know your clients." Still grinning, Argo hopped out of her chair, exchanged a small book for the coinage Kirito offered up, and headed for the door. "Get through those, then talk to me again when you're ready for more of a challenge, eh? And Kii-bou—don't get too carried away tonight; gotta save some strength for the mobs!"
A full minute after the Rat had swept out the door with a cackle, Sachi still looked like her face could double as a furnace; thanks to SAO's emotional expression system, there was quite literally steam coming out of her ears. "Is… is she always like that…?" she got out, hiding her face in her pillow again.
"Pretty much, yeah." Kirito strongly suspected the only reason he wasn't steaming himself was a measure of resistance from frequency of exposure. "Like I said, she's not called the Rat just because she's so good at getting information. Don't even ask what happened the first time she met Asuna…"
He shuddered. It had taken some time for him to even remember exactly what happened; he thought his mind had probably blocked it out for his own sanity. When some glimpses of the truth had returned to him, he'd made very, very sure not to betray even a hint of recollection to Asuna.
"Interesting… That's a story I haven't heard before, Kirito." When he looked up again, it was to see Kizmel looking back at him, obviously intrigued. "Knowing Argo, it must have been quite—"
"Don't ask," he repeated, more forcefully. "Really, don't. Asuna will kill me if she gets any suspicion anybody else knows what happened."
To Kirito's surprise, the next sound to break the silence was a quiet giggle, from Sachi. The girl was still blushing, but the steam at least had subsided, and she was even smiling now.
"Sorry," she said, when she realized he was looking at her. "It's just… that's one way to take my mind off everything else. Even if it is embarrassing, it's… It feels kind of normal, you know? Like schoolgirl gossip. Well," Sachi amended, giggling again, "schoolgirl in a dating sim, anyway."
"'Dating sim'?"
"Don't ask about that either," Kirito said hastily, not liking the look on his partner's face. "Or if you have to, ask Sachi later. Or Asuna. Just—sometime when I'm not here." Abruptly, he flung himself down on the bed, turning determinedly to face the wall. "Anyway, Argo's right. Let's get some sleep."
He tried very, very hard not to pay any attention to the rest of the world after that. He even managed to convince himself he did not hear a chuckle from Kizmel.
Kirito did, however, resort to ever-so-inconspicuously grabbing his pillow and putting it over his ears, when the whispering started. He did not, by any means, want to risk overhearing "girl talk". It was an experience he was sure he was less likely to survive with his dignity intact than even the first hours of exploring the Fourth Floor.
I'm a socially-hopeless solo. How the hell did this happen to me?!
Tuesday, July 25th, 2023
Kirito wasn't sure what, exactly, had changed, but when they got back to leveling the morning after Sachi's crisis of confidence—and Argo's trolling visit—the Black Cats' coordination seemed just a little bit better than it had been before. Or rather, he knew what had changed, he just didn't know why.
Kizmel, he figured, did have some notion of why Sachi was just a bit more willing to go on the offensive with her sword and shield combination, but if so the elf didn't seem inclined to explain. When Kirito asked, she just smiled, shook her head, and said something about "girl talk".
Those were the magic words to get him to drop the subject. Even still, he was intensely curious.
They'd spent one more day in their usual hunting grounds, Keita being unsure that Sachi really was recovered from her depression. After that, they'd gone up to the Twentieth Floor and the clearing Kirito remembered well from when he and Asuna had originally helped clear the floor. A small patch of open ground between a forest and a cliff pockmarked with caves, it was home to Venom Mantises, whose combination of spawn rate, EXP reward, and simple attack patterns made them ideal for careful grinding.
For this, Kirito and Kizmel mostly stood back, only intervening if it looked like the Black Cats were about to be surrounded. In contrast to when they'd been farming Spike Boars and Rage Crows, the small guild was more coordinated, and Sachi's slowly-growing confidence was a helpful change from her earlier timidity.
Watching with a clinical eye as the Black Cats split up to take on a pair of mantises—Tetsuo and Keita handling one, Sasamaru and Sachi the other, Ducker using his knife to strike wherever there was an opening—Kirito reflected that the biggest issue now was purely logistical. The mantis' claw swipes weren't too hard to deal with, once you got the pattern down, but they were called Venom Mantises for a reason.
The poison they spat was also pretty easy for Kirito to dodge, but he was used to mobs with projectile-based attacks. The way Sachi had to take one such noxious glob on her buckler, causing the metal-rimmed wood to sizzle audibly, showed that the Black Cats had little experience with the threat themselves. More to the point, the corrosive poison was rough on the equipment durability; Kirito estimated they'd need to have their gear repaired at least twice as often, until they got the timing memorized.
They're getting there, though, he thought. Sachi flinched at the sizzle, but struck back gamely with a Slant that took one of the mantis' claws off at the elbow. After waiting out the Skill Delay, during which Sasamaru held it off with a Straight Thrust at the giant bug's thorax, she braced herself, let out a yell, and put her whole body into a Horizontal that took its head clean off.
Huh. She already knows the trick of "helping" the System Assist… y'know, when her skill level gets high enough to get some of the longer combo skills, she's going to be pretty good.
Not that the other Black Cats were slouches, for all that Kirito still thought they tended to be a bit overenthusiastic. It was just that Sachi seemed to know a little bit more than they did, and had just needed a push to realize she did. Not just in terms of fighting skill, either; sometimes he thought he saw a depth in her gaze, an understanding of the real gravity of the situation, that even the cautious Keita didn't quite seem to match.
Or maybe he was just imagining it. It could, Kirito realized, just have been that he saw more of Sachi than he did the rest of the guild. Contrary to her own words that one night, she'd been turning up at the room he and Kizmel shared every night since; only three nights so far, to be sure, but enough that it was starting to feel like a routine.
He wasn't sure how to feel about that. Kizmel didn't seem to mind, though, and it was the elf's bed that Sachi was sharing, so Kirito had decided it wasn't something he should speak out against.
No matter how weird it feels. If there's anything about SAO that still feels unreal, it's how many girls keep showing up.
With a shout of triumph, Tetsuo bashed the remaining mantis' head in with his mace. With the bug dispersing into blue polygons, Ducker and Sasamaru exchanged a high-five, and Keita clapped in approval. "Nice work, everybody!" he called. "Now, it'll be about fifteen minutes before the next respawn, and we don't want to hog the EXP, so let's break for lunch."
Those were two reasons for a break that Kirito would never question. He didn't need any more problems with his reputation—however welcoming the Black Cats had ended up being, he had no illusions that they were the norm for their level—and food was one of the few real luxuries he had in Aincrad.
Asuna would say it's the baths, he thought, as the group made their way to the field Safe Haven they were using as a rest area. Me? Give me a good sandwich any day.
Kizmel, Kirito suspected, would split the difference and say both were about equally worthwhile out in the field. Of course, he also suspected a lot of her apparent fondness for baths stemmed from the opportunities to mess with his head—maybe she really was as unconcerned by human standards of modesty as she appeared, but she did know mixed bathing wasn't normal among the Swordmasters.
He really wanted to blame Argo for that. Unfortunately, Kizmel had shown signs of that particular brand of mischief as far back as the time he'd ended up scrubbing her back, long before she ever met the Rat. Worse, Argo was really all talk; Kizmel might've liked his reactions, but that very incident proved she'd take the assistance as readily as she would the laughs.
As they all trooped into a clearing distinguished from the rest of the forest only by map icon and a faint visual distortion around its edges, though, it was food that had her attention for now. While Kirito contented himself with a sandwich, and the Black Cats pulled out similarly simple rations, Kizmel withdrew from a belt pouch a carefully-wrapped slice of apple pie.
It was only NPC-vendor food, nowhere close to what a player could make if they got their Cooking skill high enough—though why anyone would waste a valuable skill slot and the time needed to raise it on a non-combat-related skill like that, he had no idea—but it seemed to be good enough for her. Human food in general was something she'd been experimenting with a lot lately.
Most of it, Kizmel seemed to find at least interesting. One dish they'd come across on the Twentieth-Eighth Floor, though, had had her looking as disgusted as she had back when they were dealing with messily-explosive Fire Goats.
Not that I blame her. If anybody needed any more proof Kayaba's crazy, including haggis as a menu item at NPC restaurants would be it.
Kirito's thoughts were interrupted by Keita flopping down next to him, resting his back against a tree. "You know, I never would've guessed there was a place this good for leveling on this floor," he said, around a bite of plain bread. "We'd actually been up here a couple of times before we met you and Kizmel, but everything we encountered was a lot harder to deal with."
"You just have to know where to look," Kirito replied with a shrug. "It's like any RPG, really. Places that can be exploited like this to give an early advantage can be found on a lot of floors. You just have to search carefully, that's all."
"With a full party, I might have risked doing just that," Keita said, shaking his head. "A full party, and a few more levels. With just one other player, like you and Asuna-san did? Not a chance."
"We did have Argo's info on a lot of the rest of the floor," Kirito reminded him, and paused to take another bite out of his sandwich. "Otherwise, though… Yeah, it's safer to go around in a full party, but if you know what you're doing, you'd be surprised what kind of places you can reach by yourself."
"I'll take your word for it." Keita chuckled. "Me, if I was all by myself, I'd probably run back to the City of Beginnings and never come out again… But I'm not, and we're doing a little better every day." He glanced at the beta tester sidelong. "So, this… Argo… She gave you some suggestions for some tougher quests we can tackle?"
More like sold at top market value, Kirito thought ruefully. "A few," he acknowledged. "There's one on this floor that we can try tomorrow; before that, I think you guys can probably reach the next level by the end of today."
He still wasn't happy about moving on to more challenging battles. With Asuna or Kizmel, he wouldn't have been too worried—from first meeting with both, he'd known they could handle themselves well enough, even if Asuna had started out frighteningly fatalistic—but the Black Cats still seemed a bit too carefree about fighting for his liking.
They'd push it with or without us, though, Kirito reminded himself. Besides, I'm probably selling them short… And if anything does go wrong, Kizmel and I should be more than strong enough to handle anything this floor has to offer. Asuna and I already managed it once, after all…
"There you are, Kirito-kun!"
Kirito was so startled he almost dropped his sandwich. Fumbling frantically for it, only when he secured his grip did he glance up to look at the source of the voice that had almost cost him his lunch. "What the—Asuna?"
Just now walking into the Safe Zone clearing, it was unmistakably his former partner, wearing the fancy guild uniform he still hadn't fully adjusted to. She had a slightly fancier rapier than when he'd last seen, too; though if he knew her, it had been crafted using her previous weapon for raw materials.
Asuna was just sheathing said rapier as she approached, having presumably just fought her way through the local forest mobs. "I've been wondering where you and Kizmel-chan kept disappearing to," she said, coming to a stop a mere meter or so away. "We've been so busy lately that I didn't have time to check into it, though."
Uncomfortably aware of the stares the Black Cats were favoring the both of them with now, Kirito cleared his throat awkwardly. "That's, uh, kind of a long story, Asuna," he said, hurriedly tucking the remains of his sandwich into his item storage. "Um. I'm surprised to see you down here," he went on, groping for a topic. "If you're still so busy—"
"I need some mats to upgrade my armor, and when I asked Argo, she said I should talk to you before I went farming. Something about how it'd be easier if you vouched for me." Asuna glanced around, only then seeming to notice there were people other than her target and his partner present. "Oh. Could someone introduce me, please?"
Kizmel smoothly drew herself to her feet. "Of course. Asuna, these are the Moonlit Black Cats, the guild Kirito and I have been helping for the last few weeks. Guildmaster Keita, Macer Tetsuo, Lancer Sasamaru, self-proclaimed Thief Ducker, and Swordmaster Sachi."
Kirito stifled a chuckle at the way she referred to Ducker; and wondered, inwardly, why Sachi was the only one his partner explicitly referred to as a Swordmaster. Might just be because Sachi's the only one who actually uses a sword, he mused. We don't hang around other players enough for her to really make a distinction most of the time, I guess.
"Keita, everyone," Kizmel went on, "this is Vice-Commander Asuna, of the Knights of Blood. Kirito and I traveled with her extensively some months ago, and still fight together against Field and Pillar Guardians. I can assure you that she won't monopolize resources or hunting grounds here on the lower floors."
Asuna's eyebrows went up for a moment, then she nodded in understanding. She, of course, would know as well as any clearer—with how long she'd traveled with Kirito, actually, better than most—the tensions between low- and mid-level players and those who blazed the trail ever higher through the Steel Castle.
"That's right," she said, bowing politely to Keita. "We're expecting to fight a Field Boss up on the Thirty-Second Floor soon, and my armor could use a little work first. I'll be out of your way after that."
"I see," Keita said, looking more than a little off-balance at meeting one of the most famous people in Aincrad. He was still doing better than his guildmates, though; Tetsuo and Sasamaru were trying not to stare, while Ducker and Sachi were openly fixated on Asuna. Not, Kirito suspected, for the same reasons, but still. "Ah, pardon me! It's a pleasure to meet you, Asuna-san."
"Likewise, Keita-san. Now… hopefully, we'll have a chance to speak more later, but I'm afraid I'm on something of a tight schedule." Asuna turned to Kizmel. "Can we talk for a minute, Kizmel-chan? I want to know how you and Kirito got into this in the first place, and I trust you to give me more details than him."
"Hey," Kirito protested. "Are you saying I'd lie about it?"
"If you have any embarrassing secrets about the last couple of weeks, yes," she said bluntly, with a deceptively sweet smile totally at odds with the declaration. "Since I don't feel like paying Argo a few thousand Cor…"
As was all too common when Asuna called him out on something like that, Kirito could only manage incoherent sputtering in reply, which served to confuse the Black Cats and provoke a quiet laugh from Kizmel.
"There, you see?" Asuna turned back to the elf once more. "Now c'mon, Kizmel-chan, give it to me straight…"
The two of them drifted off to the other end of the clearing, leaving a shell-shocked Kirito with an equally-unbalanced Keita. "That is Asuna the Flash?" the Black Cat guild leader muttered. "She's…"
"Impossible to say no to?" Kirito finished, leaning heavily against his chosen tree. "Hard on a guy's ego?"
"I was going to say, just like anyone else," Keita replied, shaking his head. "I mean, she's a legend, and yet she's… And she talks to Kizmel the way you do. That's not something I expected out of the second-in-command of an up-and-coming clearing guild."
"She and Kizmel hit it off pretty well, back when we all first met," Kirito said, raising an unsteady hand to bring his sandwich back into physical form. "Asuna didn't start out as a major figure in guild politics, y'know… And after Tilnel died around a month before that, she's been the closest Kizmel has to a sister."
It took him a moment to realize he'd said anything that might be considered odd, and even then only did because he noticed Keita directing a very strange look at him. The Black Cat was, actually, giving him the kind of look Kirito thought would be reserved for someone who'd just claimed to be Napoleon.
"…What?" he asked, when the silence began to drag on.
"Nothing," Keita said slowly. "It's just… You do know she's just an NPC, right? I mean, yeah, she's got better response algorithms than I've ever seen, but… Considering the nature of her quest line, Tilnel probably didn't even exist, Kirito. It's just flavor text."
Kirito blinked. It had been so long since he and Kizmel had dealt with anyone but other clearers on a regular basis—people who knew them well by this point—that he'd forgotten the usual reaction to her wasn't blasé acceptance. I don't even think about it very much anymore myself. I mean, after the sixth or so time an "AI" trolls me Argo-style, not to mention she handles even vague comments just fine…
"Kizmel isn't 'just' an NPC, Keita," he said at length, watching as the elf in question carried on her animated discussion with Asuna. "Maybe you're still using the kind of keywords and phrases you would with any quest NPC, so you haven't noticed, but Asuna and I both talk to her just like we would any player. I've never seen Kizmel fall back on any kind of 'I don't understand the question' line."
Keita shook his head. "I've seen you explaining things to her before, Kirito."
"And half the time, she figures out the answer before I'm halfway done, even with things I'm positive aren't in the Cardinal System's database." Kirito took a few moments to finish off his sandwich while he had the chance, and continued, "Sure, sometimes I have to explain, but with ordinary NPCs that wouldn't even work. Sooner or later, I'd get the stock response, and with Kizmel I never have."
The Black Cat guildmaster stared at him a heartbeat longer. "If you say so," he said finally. He was obviously unconvinced, but he turned his attention back to the remnants of his own lunch after that.
Kirito didn't entirely blame him. All this time, and he still didn't understand Kizmel's nature. He knew pretty much everything that had been publicly released about SAO's core systems, and kept up with the literature about research into artificial intelligence, and as far as he knew true, bottom-up, fully-sapient AI was considered to be decades away at best.
Still. After all this time, I haven't found anything that she couldn't handle. At some point, even SAO's AI roulette should've hit a roadblock, especially in casual conversation—but she never has. Either Kayaba managed to account for an insane number of possible topics—way more than it would be worth it for just a regular quest NPC—or she's being directly controlled by some human accomplice of Kayaba's, or…
Or there's something else going on. And given her "dreams" about our meetings in the beta, unless Kayaba somehow singled me out of a thousand players to specifically mess with, I don't think there's a human behind her.
He didn't know of any way to explain all of that, though, so he kept silent. All he had to go on was speculation and gut feeling, nothing really concrete.
It was enough, though. He and Asuna knew there was more to Kizmel than what met the eye, and he was getting the impression Sachi didn't see her as just a program, either. As far as Kirito was concerned, what everyone else thought didn't really matter.
The worst that will happen, Kirito thought, is people will think I'm a bit strange. That's not exactly the worst anybody's ever thought about me. So long as we keep up our end of things in boss fights, nobody is going to care enough to make much of an issue of it.
His musings were interrupted one more time by Asuna and Kizmel rejoining the group. "I'm sorry to interrupt your training," she said, with another formal bow. "But I'd like to borrow Kirito-kun and Kizmel-chan for a couple of hours. I just need some mats from this floor's labyrinth, and it would be more efficient if I had their help."
"That's fine," Keita said quickly, obviously still struck by being spoken to by a virtual idol of Aincrad. "We're close to the point we're trying to reach just now anyway… Actually," he added hesitantly, glancing at his guildmates as if to ask their input, "if you'd like, we could help, too. It would be a change from fighting Venom Mantises all the time…"
From the back-slaps Tetsuo and Sasamaru exchanged, Ducker's cheerful "Yeah!", and Sachi's tentative nod, Kirito didn't think he'd face much opposition to the idea.
Asuna hesitated herself for a moment, but when Kirito gave her a reassuring nod, she smiled. "All right, then, we'll all go. I'll be in your care, everyone."
Just don't let Argo show up, Kirito prayed silently, as they shifted party arrangements around to put himself, Asuna, and Kizmel into a separate group. I can't imagine how she might make things worse here, but that's actually even scarier—no, wait. I do know exactly what she'd do, and it is that bad.
Doubtless Kizmel had explained what was up with Sachi, in a conspiratorial, sisterly way. Even she, though, obviously hadn't mentioned Argo's crack about harems. Kirito knew that, because Asuna wasn't breathing fire.
Within moments, the two parties were on their way toward the tower leading up to the next floor. Every step of the way, Kirito kept an eye out for whiskers in the shadows.
Sachi had learned a lot over the weeks since meeting Kirito and Kizmel. About how much bigger and deeper SAO itself was than she'd ever imagined, about how to use the sword Keita had urged her to take up, and how to really fight within the rules the game enforced. She'd even been given a glimpse into the world of the clearers, even if Kirito was always quick to point out he and Kizmel weren't really representative.
Seeing how the two clearers she knew fought when they were working with a third, instead of the inexperienced Black Cats, was an educational experience by itself.
Normally, it would've taken around two hours for the Black Cats to reach the labyrinth from the Twentieth Floor's central town, slowed as they were by looking out for and actually fighting mobs across the intervening distance. Even lately that hadn't changed, with their "seniors" letting them do most of the work; their teamwork was improving, but they still had a ways to go, and their levels were still fairly low.
Today, Sachi found herself forced out of her own usual hesitance simply from trying to keep up. The party of clearers maintained a steady pace that she could tell was actually slower than what they were truly capable of, allowing the Black Cats to keep up, and any mob that got in the way was summarily shredded with a degree of coordination that to Sachi's eyes seemed nearly psychic.
Kizmel had said that Vice-Commander Asuna had started the death game as a complete amateur, and Kirito had privately told her afterwards that "the Flash" not only had no experience with VR games, but had never played more than a mobile game prior to being trapped. If that was true, then Sachi was deeply impressed; Asuna was the first player she'd ever seen who approached Kirito's own insane speed.
A couple of hundred meters from the entrance to the labyrinth, Tetsuo whistled. "No wonder they call her the Flash," he said, as Asuna ran a stray Lizard Knight through with blinding speed. "I don't think I've even seen Kirito move that fast… Just how high is her level?"
"I don't think it's just her level," Sachi replied, jogging to try and catch up. "She's not just letting the system handle it; she really knows how to perform the skills." That, Kizmel had explained to her one night, was one of the keys to using Sword Skills to their fullest: deliberately moving with the attack, instead of just being pulled along by the System Assist.
Of course, if you messed up, it left you stuck and vulnerable to counterattack, but the elf girl shrugged that off as a risk of any improperly-performed act on the battlefield.
Not that she'd phrased it in terms of System Assist, framing it instead as one of the simple but effective charms left to the people of Aincrad. Still, it got the point across well enough, as with most things Kizmel had told her since they'd started to get to know each other.
Watching as Kizmel sped into the gap Asuna created to casually lop the head off a second sword-wielding reptile, Sachi wondered again what was really going on. Keita, she knew, wrote it off as just highly-advanced AI, no different from any other NPC in Aincrad; if Kizmel was any better at combat than most, well, she'd been intended to fight with players, not against.
Ordinarily, Sachi might've agreed; the Black Cats were a computer club in the real world, she knew the current state of AI development as well as her friend and guildmaster. Maybe Kayaba was ahead of the rest of the world, but this was the man who'd invented the NerveGear and done the vast majority of SAO's programming. It wouldn't be odd if his AI coding was equally groundbreaking.
She had something Keita didn't, though: in the earliest days, before the Black Cats as a whole adjusted to the conditions of the death game, Sachi had gone on quests without them. Tragedy had driven her back into a shell with her friends, but before that happened, she had gone on quests that included NPC allies.
They were never this smooth. You had to give specific commands, and they still didn't always do exactly what you needed them to. Try and give vague directions like Kirito and Asuna-san do, and they'd freeze. Gamer-invented slang? Forget it. Even SAO's bots just aren't that good.
Never mind having late-night girl talk. Sachi had been so delighted to have another girl to talk to again, even with Kizmel's elven worldview, that it had taken her two nights to realize it shouldn't have even been possible.
They were clear into the dungeon before anything broke her train of thought. So thoroughly had the party of clearers demolished everything in the way that she'd allowed herself to lose track of her surroundings, right up until Asuna shouted a warning. "There's something coming from the side passage—Sachi-san, look out!"
Adrenaline flooded Sachi's veins with ice water, and she spun just in time to see a trio of Skeleton Knights blundering through the doorway immediately to her left. In the frozen clarity of the moment, she recognized that their cursors were a red dark enough to be worrying—and that Kirito's party was a crucial few meters ahead, facing an even tougher Skeleton Knight Commander.
"Tetsuo, take the one on the left!" someone shouted. "I've got the right!"
It was only when her buckler came up to smoothly block the right-hand skeleton's opening Vertical that Sachi realized it was her own voice.
Acting on pure, startled reflex, she shoved back against the attack, forcing the Skeleton Knight off-balance. Then her right leg swung forward, bringing her closer, and her sword arm flashed out with a blinding red flash; first a backhand across the skeleton's empty eye sockets, then a forehand back across its neck.
Its HP dropped in the yellow from the two-hit Horizontal Arc she'd learned just two days before, but it was still alive, and she was trapped for a few crucial heartbeats in the recovery frame. Again without conscious thought, though, she called out, "Sasamaru, Switch!"
Her guildmate's spear drove past in a simple Straight Thrust on the heels of her yell, catching the Skeleton Knight right in the ribs. Had it been a living mob, it would've been a critical hit to the heart; as it was, it bounced off the rear of the ribcage, doing minimal actual damage and merely knocking it back half a step.
Half a step, half a breath. Long enough for Sachi to be released from the recovery frame, and launch another Horizontal Arc to take the skeleton's HP down to zero, sending the white-boned skull flying off its bony neck to shatter in brilliant blue.
Two paces to her left, Tetsuo's heavier mace—generally a superior weapon for dealing with skeletal enemies—smashed his target out of existence with a blow to the top of the skull; he'd been slower off the mark, and had a good five percent knocked off his own HP for his troubles, but he hadn't required Sasamaru's assistance.
One to go, Sachi thought, heart pounding. She thought she heard another shattering sound somewhere behind her, a distant, calmer part of her mind noting it wasn't the pitch of a player's death, but paid it no mind, instead raising her shield to defend against the Sharp Nail the last Skeleton Knight tried to deliver to her head.
Up to one side, across to the other, then down in a blow that by rights should've left her arm numb from the impact. Even so, Sachi's shield held, and she gathered herself to take advantage of the mob's recovery time. Her brain was still lagging behind her reflexes, and she began the pre-motion for another skill she'd just recently learned—
The sound of rapid footsteps, a flash of white and red. A brilliant blue light, like a meteor in the dark. Aimed precisely at the Skeleton Knight's left eye socket, a thin blade drove forward with impossible speed, and with one thrust sent its lifebar plummeting from blue to yellow, then to red and gone in a fraction of a second.
Pulling her rapier out of scattering polygons, Asuna flourished the blade, then sheathed it; a motion that looked as smooth and practiced as any Jidai Geki samurai flicking blood off a katana. Turning to face Sachi, her face smoothed from intense concentration to a friendly smile. "Made it," she said, sounding distinctly satisfied. "GJ, Sachi-san," she added, uttering the gaming shorthand as casually as if she really were a long-time gamer.
Drawing a deep, shuddering breath, Sachi slowly straightened from the crouch her defense had left her in. "GJ, Asuna-san," she said in return, trying to match the other girl's casual demeanor.
I did it, she thought, trying to quell the shaking in her limbs as the adrenaline high left her. I didn't even think about it. I just—acted. I… I haven't done that since before that day…
Sachi abruptly noticed Asuna was studying her intently. She wondered if something in her thoughts had shown after all, and if so, what the Vice-Commander of the Knights of Blood thought of it. This strong, incredibly fast girl who'd risen from the newest of "noobs" to de facto leader of boss raids in just a few months.
Whatever Asuna saw, she apparently liked it, because she suddenly smiled again. "Kirito-kun always did have a good eye for talent," she said. "Keep it up, Sachi-chan. Kirito-kun and Kizmel-chan will make a clearer of you yet."
With that pronouncement, the fencer turned and headed back to her own small party. Sachi was still staring after her, full of conflicting emotions, when a hand clapped her on the shoulder and about sent her straight into the labyrinth's stone ceiling.
"See?" Keita said with a grin, when she spun to face him. "We're getting there, Sachi. Someday the Black Cats will be right on the frontlines with the KoB and the DDA!"
For just a moment, remembering that stark clarity as her body did exactly what she needed it to, Sachi almost believed it. She started to wonder if, just maybe, she could become strong, despite the dismal failure that had driven her back to the City of Beginnings, before Keita pushed them all back out again.
She was still frightened. From the damage Tetsuo had taken from only a single unblocked hit, she knew Death lurked even within the range of floors the Black Cats considered "safe". For the first time in months, though, the fear was back to what it had been in the days following Kayaba's chilling "tutorial", not the paralyzing terror that had been her captor since the middle of December.
A clearer, me? No… I can't quite believe that. But… maybe, just maybe… I won't have to die here after all. Maybe… I can at least live to see the reason this all happened.
"Hurry up, everyone!" Kizmel called back then, interrupting Sachi's thoughts and Tetsuo's ribbing of Sasamaru and Ducker for being "useless". "We still haven't even found the Iron Beetles Asuna needs, and we're running low on daylight."
"We're coming!" Sachi called back, and led the Black Cats in trying to catch up with the well-practiced team of clearers.
It was dark by the time the two groups returned to town and teleported back to Taft. Apparently that was pushing Asuna's schedule more than she'd intended, so she quickly said her goodbyes and departed for the KoB's current headquarters on a higher floor; likewise, Kirito and Kizmel retired to their room at their usual inn, citing a need to rest while they had the chance, wanting to be fresh for when they took on the first of the quests Argo had recommended.
That left the Black Cats to themselves, gathered for the moment in Keita's room. They were tired, too, and Sachi intended to quietly slip away to join the two clearers soon, but they were also still coming down off the adrenaline from the day's trip to the dungeon.
"So that was one of the leaders of the clearers, huh," Ducker commented, sitting with his back against one wall. "I knew she had to be good, but wow, a couple of times she made Kirito look slow!"
"They say the KoB only takes the best," Keita said. He sat on the bed, his menu open to organize his share of the drops from the day's hunting. "I've heard their leader, Heathcliff, held the line against the Twenty-Fifth Floor boss while Asuna-san reorganized the rest… But like you said, we knew she was good. That wasn't what really interested me."
Sasamaru glanced up from the table he and Tetsuo were using to sort their own loot. "Yeah? What was, then? I was too busy trying to keep those three in sight; they sure do move fast when they're in a hurry."
"The way they coordinated was impressive," Sachi offered, remembering her own observations during the dungeon run. "We're doing better, but we still have to think about it. It doesn't help," she added dryly, rolling her eyes in a certain guildmate's direction, "that someone insisted that I switch weapons not that long ago. They don't have that problem."
Although if pressed, she'd have been forced to admit the sword and shield combination did have its advantages. It forced her to stay closer to the mobs than her old spear, but it also left her a good deal more mobile, and the shield meant she could actually block when she couldn't dodge.
The tradeoff, she was starting to think, might actually be worthwhile. If she could get her skill level high enough to get the kind of multi-hit Sword Skills really needed to take down the mobs on the higher floors they'd been hitting lately.
Which is why I've been spending my nights the way I have been lately. Getting advice from Kizmel, and…
"You're doing a lot better with it the last few days," Keita pointed out in response to Sachi's jibe. "You may not have noticed, but you did better against those Skeleton Knights than the rest of us. Well, except Tetsuo, but his weapon is the recommended one for mobs like that. Your sword was certainly better than my staff, or Sasamaru's spear."
"Or Ducker's knife," Tetsuo said, shaking his head. "Come to think of it… how many enemies did you actually hit when we got to the dungeon? 'Cause I can't really remember…"
"I got some hits in on those beetles Asuna-san was hunting," the thief fired back. "Like it's my fault knives are even worse than rapiers usually are against skeleton-type mobs?"
"That actually goes back to Sachi's point about coordination," Keita said, intervening before it could reach even mock-argument levels. "Of course, Kizmel had AI scripting on her side, but it really does say something that Kirito and Asuna-san could take out that Knight Commander so fast. Of course, we don't have their skill or experience yet to use any weapon on any mob yet, so we need to get better at using the right Swordmaster for the right enemy."
Sachi found herself nodding at that. Kirito and Asuna were both good enough that they could use their preferred weapons against basically anything—particularly impressive that Asuna did so well with a thrusting weapon against enemies with such narrowly-defined hitboxes—but none of the Black Cats could make that claim.
Really, Tetsuo should've been the one to take out both of the Skeleton Knights, with me Switching in to keep them distracted while he recovered. Hm… actually, I should've been backing up Keita; his staff isn't as heavy as a mace, but it's still a blunt-force weapon…
"Anyway," Keita continued, closing his menu with a wave of his hand, "those are all important points; but what really got my attention wasn't the skill, but the attitude." He swung his legs up to recline on the bed, allowing him a clear view of his entire guild. "I know what Kirito's said, but this makes two clearers we've met—three if you count the way Kizmel's AI seems to have adjusted to them—and… really, they don't seem any different from us."
"Two or three, out of a raid group of forty-eight, and who knows how many people mapping and filling in for raids, Keita," Tetsuo pointed out. "Not exactly a representative sample, Leader."
"Normally I'd agree with you," Keita admitted. "But she's the second-in-command of what's shaping up to be the lead guild in the clearing group. To hear Kirito tell it, she's also effectively the field leader, who does a lot of the raid planning. She's not exactly low-profile."
"The kind of girl you expect to be an honor's student telling everybody else to quit goofing off and study," Ducker said, nodding in agreement. "Like, the class rep of the KoB."
"Exactly." The guildmaster shook his head. "But if she'd walked into that clearing without somebody telling me who she was, I never would've guessed that was who she was. She just started in on Kirito—you know, the 'Beater' who's supposed to be an outcast—like it was perfectly normal. She was even doing the same kind of role play with Kizmel that he does."
Sachi frowned, but kept her peace. Whatever Keita thought about Kizmel, he at least treated her as normal when they actually interacted, and really, without her own experiences it was the natural assumption to make.
It still bothers me, though.
"My point is," he went on, "I'm starting to think Kirito's been overly pessimistic about clearers in general. Not that I blame him, if half of what he said about the first boss fight is true—which it probably is, I remember the rumors from back then—but I think we should maybe keep the context in mind. As it is, it looks like we might fit in up there just fine."
"Yeah, once we're strong enough to go through a dungeon ten floors below the frontline without help," Sasamaru said. Despite his words, though, he was grinning. "But hey, that's just levels. Remember, guys, this ain't our first RPG; just 'cause it's VR doesn't mean the old rules about level-grinding don't still apply!"
Keita nodded firmly. "I don't want to tell Kirito this yet," he said quietly. "I don't want him thinking we're overreaching; not until we really are strong enough to back it up. But I want us to be with the clearing group, at least for mapping, by the end of next month."
Sachi didn't quite share the enthusiasm that sparked in her guildmates. She was still afraid, even if her confidence was slowly starting to build, and she wasn't at all sure that would be possible, let alone practical. Even so, the idea stirred something in her.
I don't think we can do it that fast… but we might get there by the end of the year. It's still a scary thought, too. If we can become that strong, though, and help clear the game… It's too late for—for too many of us, but there's still over seven thousand people to save.
I want to be a part of that.
Wednesday, July 26th, 2023
Gathering with the others in the Taft tavern that was now more or less their unofficial meeting place, Kizmel took the opportunity to look over the Black Cats as they arrived. This meeting was, after all, leading up to the first serious quest they'd taken on since she and Kirito had started working with them; their skill, and their attitude, would be critical.
So far, she was reasonably satisfied with their progress. Tetsuo was proving to be a solid forward; his mace was an inelegant but solid weapon, and he had the confidence to go with a fighting style focusing on close-range blunt impact. Sasamaru, she had less of a defined impression of—perhaps unfair, but in many ways he just seemed the least memorable of the guild, to her eyes—but so far he'd been consistent, reliable backup for Sachi. If nothing else, Kizmel thought, his timing tended to be excellent.
Ducker she was somewhat more concerned about. He seemed a bit overeager to her sensibilities—particular when treasure was involved; he did live up to his self-granted title—and his knife, while quick, was a far more situational weapon than she would've preferred. Still, he was fleet enough of foot that she and Kirito, consulting with Keita, had begun discussing how he might best be employed in hit-and-run attacks on mobs the others pinned down.
"All right, everyone, listen close," Keita said into her musing, sitting at the head of the table they'd taken. "Today is going to be a little different from usual, and I want to make sure we're all on the same page. We're going to be attempting a quest on the Twenty-Third Floor, higher than we usually go."
Kizmel nodded in silent approval. In actual battle, Keita's staff made him more of a support fighter, like Sasamaru, but he also had the caution and attention to detail that a leader needed. So far, he'd always been ready to rein in Ducker or Tetsuo when they got too enthusiastic.
"According to the information Kirito bought from Argo-san, the quest is 'Dwarven Bandit Extermination'," Keita continued, laying out the small book Argo had provided. "It should be a fairly simple quest, just clearing a small cave system of minor mobs, but there is supposed to be an elite 'Dwarf Bandit Lord' in there somewhere."
"If you get far enough into the caves, you start running into more of those," Kirito said, frowning in concentration. "Asuna and I went through there once for a different quest, and had to take a detour when we bumped into a whole party of them. According to another clearer I know, there's a 'King Under the Mountain' way in the deepest cavern; I've never gotten that far, but I don't think we want to risk that."
"Right," Keita agreed. "So don't get lost, guys, Sachi doesn't have Orcrist yet."
Amid the laughter that sparked, redoubled when Sachi stuck her tongue out at the guildmaster, Kizmel leaned closer to Kirito. "'Orcrist'?" she whispered.
"Legendary sword, from the same story as Smaug," he murmured back. "Actually used by a dwarf, though… which the King Under the Mountain might have, actually, so let's try not to find out for sure."
"Fair enough." She made a mental note, though, to ask some of the elders of her own people about it sometime. For all that the Swordmasters often seemed ignorant of Aincrad, it was always a pleasant surprise to find things they did mutually recognize. That they at least knew what dwarves were, even if no Swordmaster had ever personally seen one, made her obscurely happy.
Maybe it was just that that was something with which she could connect with Kirito, specifically. She always had liked finding more things she had in common with her partner.
"Anyway!" Keita said loudly, quieting the banter. "It's simple, but that doesn't mean we can let our guards down. It's still a higher-level quest than we've ever tried, and I don't want to have to rely on Kirito and Kizmel too much for it. Also." His gaze was serious as he swept it over his guild. "They're dwarves, not human, but they're still closer than anything we've ever faced. I don't want anyone slipping up because of that."
Kizmel found herself nodding again. She was a long-time veteran of the conflicts between her Dark Elves and the Forest Elves, to say nothing of the Fallen, and she knew Kirito had a fair degree of experience fighting them, as well. To the two of them, battling intelligent foes, ones that bore a resemblance to their own peoples, was unpleasant but not something they were likely to shy from when the moment came.
The Black Cats, so far as she knew, had fought only beasts and corpses long since rotted to mere skeletons. Facing dwarves, so like in appearance to humans, might not come so easily to them.
"That said, we should still have something of an advantage, so long as we stay sharp." Keita brought up his Mystic Scribing—his "menu", Kizmel remembered—long enough to conjure up several pieces of paper, which he slid over to his guildmates. "Here's the map data for the area we're going to. As long as we keep to the upper levels, and make straight for the cavern marked on here, we'll be fine."
"I'll second that," she heard Kirito mutter, as she watched the Black Cats expand their ethereal maps with some envy. "I hope the next quest we do doesn't involve more caves…"
Remembering some of the more notable cave battles they'd fought together—ranging from spiders to wyverns, clear to some very irritating goats—Kizmel couldn't help but chuckle. Not that she disagreed, by any means. Between the tactical concern of having little room to maneuver and the personal concern of caves just being closed in and uncomfortable, they really weren't her favorite environment.
Once the others had finished compiling their maps, Keita brought up his again. "According to Argo-san's information, we'll be going around half a kilometer into the tunnels. Fortunately, they're apparently at least as wide as the dungeon corridors we were in yesterday, so we should have plenty of room to maneuver. Now, the average enemy level is supposed to be around Twenty-Eight; that's a bit higher than our average still, but if we do things right we'll outnumber any group we encounter. Skill and teamwork will make up for the difference."
Hm… Yes, I think it will work, Kizmel thought, considering the matter. It is a risk, but if you never take a risk, you never gain a victory. And if all else fails, Kirito and I will be more than a match for anything they can't handle.
"One more thing, guys," Keita said, sounding as serious as she'd ever heard him. "It's very likely that we'll take more damage doing this than we ever have before. I think we can take it, though—and if we're aiming to be clearers, we have to learn to take calculated risks. Right, Kirito?"
Drawn into the conversation for the first time, Kirito looked conflicted, but he nodded anyway. "Most clearers have been in the red one time or another," he acknowledged. "You have to be able to see that and not panic, if you want to fight on the frontlines. If you actually go into boss fights, anyway; if you're just mapping, you can usually run away from anything you can't beat."
Usually. Ducker didn't seem subdued by the caveat, but Kizmel was gratified to see the others took it seriously. She was even more gratified, though, to see that Sachi didn't go as pale as she once would have. There was definite tension in her expression, but it wasn't the sheer terror it would've been not so long ago.
"We can handle it," she said, and if her voice was a little higher pitched than usual, it didn't quaver. "If we keep up the tactics we've been using lately, we can do it."
"We certainly can." Keita banished his map with a swipe of his hand, and stood. "So. A bunch of regular Dwarf Bandits, one Bandit Lord, and a cave system. Sachi, you and Tetsuo will be forwards as usual, Sasamaru and I will back you up, and Ducker will look out for traps. Kirito…?"
"Kizmel and I will watch the flanks," Kirito said at once. "We'll make sure nothing ambushes you. And if things do get bad enough—"
"Don't even say it, Kirito," Sasamaru interrupted, waving a hand dismissively. "You're just along to make Sachi feel better; we won't need the help!" Despite the bravado, though, he added in a more serious tone, "Assuming the information is right, anyway. You said you've never been there yourself, so we've just got this information broker's word…"
"Argo's information is good," he said firmly. "She makes her living on accurate info. If word got out of her selling false information, it'd kill her. Maybe literally."
Not an exaggeration, Kizmel feared. So far as she knew, there still hadn't been any reported cases of direct murder between Swordmasters, but he'd once admitted to her that someone had tried to kill him via mobs on the very first day they'd been in Aincrad.
And "reported" is an important word…
"Enough with the doom and gloom, guys," Keita said, waving a hand as if to physically dispel the incipient dark mood. "Kirito's right—and he has been in the caves for other quests, so he'd know if the info was wrong about the usual enemies. Now, I'd like to get there and back early, just in case we do take a wrong turn or something, so let's get going. The sooner we get this done, the faster we'll level up."
As the group got up and filed out the door, Kirito held back with Kizmel. "Do you think this really will go as planned?" he whispered.
"It is a simple mission, Kirito," she replied, just as softly. "The—level gap, I think you'd say?—isn't that great, and they really have been learning quickly. A series of weak foes and one skilled opponent won't be too much for them now. And even if they do reach 'red' status… like you said, everyone does eventually. You're an exception, not the rule."
Kizmel didn't have the Swordmasters' ability to see the life force of others, or themselves, in tangible form, but she did at least have a vague understanding of it. Just as she knew that Kirito, despite his blanket statement, had never actually been injured to the point of "red", and that he was, for whatever reason, deathly afraid of others risking it on his watch.
She suspected that last was related to the strange, twisted circumstances of the Swordmasters' summoning—though given his skill and attitude otherwise, she couldn't help but believe he was one of the few who'd been somewhat prepared, especially with his status as a "beta tester"—but he'd never explained it, and so far she hadn't wanted to pry.
Especially not after her late-night conversations with Sachi. If Kirito had anything in his past like what Sachi had once suffered, Kizmel had no intention of bringing the memories of it to the fore unnecessarily.
Watching the girl in question now, walking at the front of the guild as they passed out of the tavern and into the midday light, Kizmel marveled at the strength some humans from the Swordmasters' world possessed. Someday, I want to meet more women among the Swordmasters, if only to see if they are all like that. Asuna has gone from completely untrained to the very forefront of battlefield leadership, and if Sachi isn't there yet herself, she is still making remarkable progress.
Is that the norm for their world? Did the spell that brought them here select for those who have strength, even if some need help to see it? Or have I simply been blessed to meet exceptional humans?
"They will be fine, Kirito," she reiterated quietly, watching light dance from the edges of the buckler Sachi adjusted on her back with unconscious ease. "All we need to do is guide them a little longer, and I think they'll do just fine."
Author's Note:
Okay, so the mood whiplash isn't here quite yet. Predictably, I underestimated my own verbosity, and what was originally planned as a one-shot story has grown into a three-chapter arc.
There is a reason the summary no longer calls this story a "one-shot collection". Obviously I am incapable of writing that small, so I may as well acknowledge reality. Indeed, I chose to end the chapter here because there is, at present, too much material planned to fit in this one chapter, yet if I progress much farther not quite enough to fill a third without resorting to the same methods that produced Chapter II. Luckily, I think this chapter stands on its own well enough, if only in setting up what is to come.
Knowing me, it's entirely possible Chapter V will actually be even longer than this.
That said, no whiplash here, but I state quite confidently that we are now just below the apex of the ride: Black Cat Requiem III will be a climb, a drop, and some twists here and there, hopefully not ending on a completely soul-crushing note. Hopefully.
Hm… minor prose note here: I hope the semi-repeated exposition around the midpoint isn't too egregious; I contemplated removing the apparent redundancy, but decided in the end that two subtly different points were being made, sharing some of the reasoning. Hopefully I'm not alone in that judgment.
Minor continuity note: in addition to a couple of things that I will delve into in more depth in the next chapter, the reference to "blue" in a lifebar is not an error. The anime changed it to green, but in the original novels—at least the translation I read—full health status was in fact denoted with blue.
That said, let me know what you think; I'm personally reasonably satisfied—for once—but, well, I've been wrong before. After that… hang onto your hats, Chapter V is going to be a bit of a bumpy ride. -Solid