October 4th, 2023

"Life's never boring when you're around, Kii-bou, I'll give ya that." Argo took a bite of her cheesecake, swallowed, and shook her head in obvious amusement. "Trials to prove courage, wisdom, and strength? Powerful ancient artifact at the end? Heh. You guys do know what you've stumbled on, don't ya?"

Kirito, having decided not to skip directly to dessert the way the info broker had, took his time chewing his bagel before he answered. "Yeah," he said when he'd finished, "that was kind of obvious by the time we were halfway through the first dungeon." He lowered his gaze to his plate, remembering what happened after that. "It wasn't a boss battle at the end of it, though. We… saw a ghost."

She set her fork down on her plate, favoring him with an unusually serious expression. "Sounds heavy, Kii-bou. C'mon, tell Argo-nee-chan all about it." A trace of a grin reappeared, showing just a hint of canine teeth. "Usual rate, o' course. Bonus if it's really juicy."

A forkful of omelet halfway to her mouth, Kizmel sighed. "It never ceases to amaze me the kind of information you're willing to pay for, Argo. You yourself said this quest was unlikely to be of any use to other Swordmasters, and in this case I don't even see any potential blackmail material."

"You do know me, Kii-chan! You're catchin' on." Argo's grin returned in full. "Like I've said before, you'd be surprised what comes in handy. So spill! I can tell you're both just dying to hear what I've got to say about it all."

It was Kirito's turn to sigh, but he didn't deny it. At the outset, and most of the way through the Trial of the Brave, the quest they'd received at Fort Renya had seemed reasonably straightforward; it had convinced Kirito that Kayaba had no more scruples about business practices than any other kind of morality, but it had at least been—he thought—predictable.

Right up until the expected boss fight to receive the Pendant of Bravery had turned out to be a test of character, given by what looked remarkably like the ghost of the martyred first raid leader, Diavel. That by itself might not have bothered him too much—other than the fact that it made it seem even more like the whole quest had been very specifically designed for a particular pair of clearers—since it did stand to reason that Cardinal would have access to the avatar data even of dead players.

But the way he seemed to know about my life offline… that wasn't normal. I've never talked to anybody about that in-game—not even Asuna or Kizmel. I'd like to think it was just lucky guesses based on the game's target demographic, but…

Well, that was why he and Kizmel had headed back to Mydo, after spending the night at Fort Renya. If anyone had any answers, it would be Argo the Rat, the extent of whose full sources and knowledge base even Kirito couldn't guess at. He'd sent a message asking for a meeting as soon as they'd settled into the Fort's barracks for the night, and so they'd come back to the central human town at first light.

Early as it was, there were other players around the NPC restaurant, unlike the place in Ilden they'd met at last time. Kirito had even noticed a couple of players in the white and red of the Knights of Blood, obviously getting ready for a day's push toward reaching the labyrinth leading up to the Thirty-Eighth Floor. He didn't recognize either of them, but then he'd mostly kept his distance from guilds in general since the dissolution of the Black Cats.

"Well, Kii-bou," Argo said, when he and Kizmel had finished the tale up to that point, "I gotta admit, that's a new one on me. And honestly, I think it just supports my talk yesterday that this might not be a quest you should be taking on at all. This is really starting to smell fishy. But," she continued, before either of them could retort, "I can already tell you ain't stopping now."

"No," Kizmel said quietly. "Leaving aside my duty to my people—there is something going on that I need to face. I'm certain Swordmaster Diavel was right about that."

"No turning back now," Kirito agreed. "We have to know, Argo. So… instead of the 'usual rate', how about a story for a story? I'd just be paying you back what you'd be paying us, anyway."

Argo grinned again. "You are getting the hang of this, Kii-bou. Good thing you're hangin' out with elves half the time, instead of hunting down every last lead, or I might have some competition." She sobered, and bought herself a moment with one last bite of cheesecake. "Awright. I dunno about any 'ghosts' that know things they shouldn't. I do know, though, that there's been a few… weird things popping up, here and there. Rumors mostly, but—turns out this ain't the only thing going on that's got to do with only certain people."

Kirito leaned forward, intent. "Like what?"

"You know about 'extra' skills, right? Ones that don't show up from regular leveling up or skill-grinding?"

He nodded. Around the time he, Asuna, and Kizmel had assaulted the Fallen Elf stronghold on the Ninth Floor, he'd gotten a message from Klein asking if he had any idea where to get Katana-type weapons. That the weapon type was usable by players wasn't itself particularly surprising, but up till then no one had figured out how to gain the required skill.

As far as Kirito knew, the exact conditions still weren't known, but it had been determined that a player could get it consistently if they spent enough time leveling the "Curved Sword" Skill; the precise skill level seemed random, but it was reliably within a certain range.

One or two others had been discovered since then, he'd heard, and under the same vague conditions. That was old news, though, so he wasn't quite sure why she'd brought it up.

Seeing the look on his face, Argo waved a hand. "It's relevant, Kii-bou, trust me. Y'see, the thing is… there's another skill that's turned up without explanation. Doesn't seem to have anything to do with regular skills, and so far, only one person has it—and like this quest you've gotten yourself into, it's suspiciously appropriate to the one who got it."

Kizmel's eyebrows went up in obvious interest. "How so, Argo?"

"Ah. Now, the details, you guys will have to pay extra for," the Rat said, leaning back in her chair. "They're kinda trying to keep it quiet for a little while. You'll prolly see it when the boss raid comes around, though, and it ain't the specifics so much as the fact of it that matters here, so… far be it from me to turn down a profit, but maybe you wanna save a little Cor for now."

Kirito eyed her suspiciously. "If you're suggesting we not pay you… you must be looking forward to the looks on our faces, aren't you? I can't think of anything else that'd be worth for you."

"Me? Perish the thought, Kii-bou! I'm just trying to run a generous business." The grin gave the lie to her words, but Argo only waved a hand again, as if it didn't matter. "'Sides, I still think what you've got going on is lots more interesting. So, back on topic, I'm thinking you want info on the route to this 'Trial of the Wise', yeah?"

He nodded. The first edition of Argo's guide for the floor had covered the eastern forest surrounding the Trial of the Brave well enough, as several other early quests had dealt with the area; much less had been known of the regions west of Mydo at that point. Given the kind of trouble he knew lay on the road to Ilden in the south, he and his partner both wanted any advance info they could get.

Like if there's something like the Drunk Apes from the Thirty-Fifth Floor. Leveled up a bit, those could be nasty again.

Kirito started to say as much, but just as he opened his mouth someone else beat him to the punch. "So you finally show your face, Kirito? I'd wondered; normally you and your… partner are ahead of the pack at the start of exploring a new floor. You haven't been this hard to find since you came back from your sojourn on the lower floors last month."

He stifled a sigh. That voice, he knew all too well, and glancing up, he saw he was right. Long blue hair, silver plate armor, blue tunic… the scimitar that completed the ensemble was fancier than the last one Kirito had seen, but it was still perfectly recognizable.

So was the look on the man's face, which seemed to be a genuine attempt at friendliness, but to Kirito's eyes usually had more than a trace of condescension in it; though this time, there seemed a darker shadow in it.

"Guildmaster Lind," Kizmel said, before Kirito could make any reply. "It's good to see you well."

"Likewise, Lady Kizmel," Lind said, bowing graciously. The Divine Dragons Alliance leader's attention immediately returned to Kirito, though, with a raised eyebrow directed at the black-clad swordsman. "If you're meeting with Argo, I assume you're in need of information to… catch up, after whatever has had your attention this time?"

"Something like that," Kirito replied noncommittally. Lind's air of I know best had been irritating as far back as when the DDA and ALS competed for top spot in the clearing group; since the KoB had begun to take a firm lead, it had only gotten worse. "It's always a good idea to touch base with her when we have the chance, don't you think?"

"Her information is generally good," Lind acknowledged. "Though with her prices, it can be advantageous to… distribute the costs, in my experience. There are ways to make things easier on yourself, you know."

This, again? Kirito groaned inwardly. Why now? I thought once Kizmel joined up with me, he'd given that up!

"I'm sittin' right here, ya know," Argo put in, rolling her eyes. "Not that it's any of your business, Lind, but I can tell ya right now Kii-bou doesn't have any problems meeting my prices. Matter of fact, half the time—like now—he pays me with information—when exactly was the last time you had anything like that to barter?"

Lind's face tightened, losing a bit of his affability, but he rallied quickly enough. "Fair enough, Argo. I'm just suggesting it would be more efficient to do things as a group, the way even Kirito's former partner has. Especially since it seems there are more dangers than ever, these days."

PKers, Kirito thought with a shiver. That's right, Argo said Naga was murdered…

"You ask me, Kii-bou's as safe as he can be with the help he's got. Lots more 'efficient', that's for sure." Argo waved a dismissive hand. "Unless you got something else to say, Lind, would ya let us get back to business here? Face it, yer princess is in another castle."

The DDA master looked at her for a moment, then shrugged; a hint of annoyance slipped through, despite his best efforts. "Sorry for getting in the way, then. I trust there'll at least be something interesting in the next edition of your guide, if Kirito's been so busy."

With an admirably knightly bow, Lind turned to leave, at which point the various players who'd turned to watch the encounter also seemed to lose interest.

"I see he still hasn't changed," Kizmel remarked when he'd gone, shaking her head. "…What princess, Argo?"

"Old joke from back home," Argo said, turning her attention back to her second slice of cheesecake. "Before Kii-bou's time, so I'm not surprised he hasn't mentioned it…"

"I'm pretty sure you're not much older than I am, Argo," Kirito pointed out. "That 'joke' has got to be, what, thirty, forty years old? You don't look…" Too late, Kizmel took a page from Asuna's book and kicked his leg under the table, reminding him far too belatedly the dangers of that particular topic, especially with girls. The exasperated look his partner favored him with only added to his sense of impending doom.

Surprisingly, Argo only grinned at him. "Oho? Well, Kii-bou, if you really wanna know, you know how it works: you got the Cor, it's for sale. My age, favorite food, three sizes…"

"It's not important!" he said hastily. The frightening thing was, for all he knew she was entirely serious; supposedly, the identities of beta testers were the only things she wouldn't sell. Right now, next to his all-too-mischievous Dark Elf partner, he had no intention whatsoever of testing that. "Right! About the path to the Trial of the Wise…?"

The info broker's smirk grew; the fact that Kizmel seemed to be smiling as well, just a little, made him distinctly uneasy. "O' course, the trails to the west. So happens, Kii-bou, that I've already gotten word of an old ruin that nobody can seem to figure out how to get into, so I bet I know just where to send ya. As fer the route there… I got one piece of advice for you."

Kizmel leaned forward, obviously intrigued by Argo's continued—nay, increasing—mirth. "And that advice is…?"

There were fangs in that grin now, Kirito was sure of it. "One word, Kii-chan: soap."

Manning the stall he'd gotten set up in Mydo's shopping district, Agil raised an eyebrow at his customers' large purchase order. "There's a story here, ain't there, Kirito. Last time I saw you two this desperate for soap, you'd just been at ground zero of a bunch of exploding goats. Right now, you ain't even smudged."

Considerably more sober than at the height of Argo's trolling, Kizmel grimaced. "As Kirito might say, Agil, this time we 'read the fine print'. Or rather, Argo told us quite specifically some of what we can expect to deal with on the road we're traveling today. When Argo advises something like this…"

"Better to have more than we need than less," Kirito finished, signing over an amount of Cor that otherwise might've bought a couple of dozen healing potions without complaint, in return for a large bag of the highest-quality soap currently available. "She was looking way too happy about the whole thing."

"Ha! Now you've really got me curious." Agil grinned. "Might just have to buy that story from the Rat, later… Come again if you need more! I'll be here."

Argo has a gift for understatement, Kizmel thought, slogging determinedly down what Kirito's immaterial map insisted, against all evidence, was a road. Soap, indeed. Trying to wash all this mud off my armor and cloak is going to be a challenge by itself.

The western "road" that Countess Ryella had said led to the Trial of the Wise was one of the first that the clearing group had investigated, on arrival at the Thirty-Seventh Floor. As such, Argo's information included meticulous maps—which was the only reason she and her partner had any idea where they were going. The road was only visible as such at the few points it reached higher ground; otherwise, it was only a jagged line on a map, leading straight through a swamp.

Kizmel was coated up to the bottoms of her thighs in mud already, and from the unpleasant squelching it had gotten into her boots, as well. Kirito's pants were similarly stained, and from his grimace he was no happier than she. When another of the large snakes that inhabited the bog slithered a little too close and raised its head just enough, he took obvious pleasure in venting his frustrations by lopping said head off with a well-placed Horizontal.

"A swamp," he groused, inspecting his sword carefully for mud. "That's just… It's almost making me nostalgic for the Seventh Floor. At least the jungle was only humid. Mud up to our knees, poisonous constrictors… What next, rain?" He looked up quickly at that, as if expecting his words to have summoned up a storm that very instant.

It was difficult to tell through the heavy foliage of the swamp, but no deluge followed; Kizmel chuckled at the way Kirito continued to stare distrustfully upward for a few moments anyway. For her part, she might almost have welcomed a little rain, if only to wash some of the mud off. Certainly, it wasn't going to make road conditions any worse at this point.

"At least we shouldn't be dealing with this for long," she said, another dozen meters or so down the road. "From what Argo said, after we've conquered this Trial we should be focusing on preparing ourselves for the greater battle to come, at least for a few days."

A loud sigh from her partner. "True enough. Never thought I'd be grateful for a field boss… I do kinda hate taking time off from this quest for it, though."

"The quest for the Reliquary is, itself, for the sake of conquering the Pillars," she reminded him. "Delaying the retrieval of its treasures to aid in clearing the way to this floor's Pillar is no diversion from our cause; and from what Argo's information said, every Swordmaster available will be needed."

Usually, the guardian creatures Swordmasters referred to as "field bosses" were singular monsters of great power; strong, often large, but thoroughly outnumbered by a properly prepared raid. Indications from some of the more daring clearers' explorations, however, were that a mob of merely "elite" status was waiting in the broad clearing in the northeast of the floor—but had gathered to itself a veritable army of lesser foes.

If the camp laid out across the path that led most directly to the Pillar was any indication, between three and five hundred Wood Goblins were waiting for the Swordmasters. Individually they would likely be no match for any Swordmaster of appropriate skill and equipment to the Thirty-Seventh Floor, but the sheer numbers were certainly daunting.

"I guess you've got a point there," Kirito admitted now. "I could wish we'd managed to get clear to the Reliquary first—we could use a little more power—but, eh. We'll manage."

"And it at least is nowhere near the swamp." Kizmel glanced down at her boots in disgust, wrenching one foot, then the other, out of the mud as they finally ascended another hill. "Ugh. No matter what challenges await us in the Trial of the Wise, I'll be content as long as it is dry."

He shot her an exasperated look. "You had to say it."

When they came out of the dank forest, Kirito was glad to see that the swamp did, in fact, also end there. Actually, the wide open space was about as bright and peaceful as was likely to be found on the entire floor. They stood now on the shore of a placid lake, with the only sounds being distant bird calls.

That placid lake was also why he wasn't anywhere near as relieved as he otherwise would've been at escaping a swamp.

At his side, a mud-spattered Kizmel stared at the island in the center of the lake, carefully scrutinizing the ruins perched on it. The place was, if anything, in even worse shape than the Trial of the Brave, with pools of water visible on the inside through holes in its crumbling walls; obviously the lake had made some inroads on the island itself, and the ruins had suffered for it.

"Kirito," she said after a moment. "I'm not certain why, but I feel very uneasy about this place. I have the oddest premonition that I will soon have a headache. Does that make any sense?"

"Yeah," Kirito said, sighing. "After what happened last time, I think we can expect something other than a boss fight at the end of it—but if I know the stories, getting there is going to be a lot worse than the Trial of the Brave. A ruined temple surrounded by water? No way this is going to be fun."

And speaking of getting there… Is there anything else Argo left in the guide that she didn't mention when we talked? Remembering the Rat's grin, he wished now he'd actually read the guide before coming this far, rather than taking her at her word that the area around the temple was safe. Bringing up his menu long enough to materialize the guide, he quickly confirmed that, yes, her notes did mention the probable inspiration for this particular dungeon.

It also, as he'd feared, didn't say anything to suggest there was anything on the shore that he was missing now.

Sighing again, he dropped the guide back in his inventory; there obviously wouldn't be any information about what they'd find inside, given the nature of the quest. "Kizmel? I'm pretty sure there's no boat here, and Argo's notes don't mention one either, so…"

After a moment, Kizmel nodded in understanding. "We'll have to swim for it, then." Shrugging, she mustered a rueful smile. "At the least, it should clear some of this mud off. A pity we'll not be able to wash our armor the same way."

That was the other reason Kirito was uncomfortable now. As far as Argo's sources knew, there weren't any mobs of note in that lake—which was fortunate, because swimming with anything resembling full equipment just wasn't happening.

The consequences at least weren't likely to be as hazardous as when he and Asuna had had to swim to Rovia on arrival on the Third Floor, Kizmel being considerably less self-conscious than the fiery fencer. At the same time, that was kind of part of the problem, as far as he was concerned.

Look on the bright side. Argo isn't here, and she hasn't found any recording crystals yet. A sudden shiver went down his spine. …I think. Right, let's get this over with.

Kirito turned to Kizmel, already opening his mouth to say as much, only to see a flash of light as she anticipated him. Mud-covered armor vanished into whatever ether Dark Elves used for storage, leaving a thin singlet; with arms and legs bare, it was much more suited for swimming than her battle gear.

Realizing she was being watched, she directed a raised eyebrow and small smile in his direction. "I'm prepared to begin as soon as you are, Kirito."

Wrenching his gaze away from dusky legs with more effort than he was willing to admit to, Kirito hurriedly brought up his menu and went into his equipment tab. A few quick jabs of his finger, and his own leather gear disappeared, replaced by a pair of swim trunks. Ordinarily, it would've left him quite cold—this being one of the floors that did seem to reflect the real-world calendar, by now descending into autumn—but under the circumstances, he hardly noticed the chill of the air.

It could've been worse. At least he'd long since made a point of replacing both the set he'd gotten from the Second Floor boss and equally-undignified variant Asuna had made for him on the Fourth. His new swimwear was far more abbreviated than he was comfortable with in present company, but it was a simple, plain black; no silly animal prints of any kind.

Regardless, Kirito didn't dare look back at his partner. He felt like he was being stared at as it was, and he had no desire to confirm it. "Okay, then! Let's get over to that lake and get this over with!" Only then sparing a—very brief—glance to confirm she was with him, he rushed for the water's edge and dove in.

Unlike the air, the shock of the cold water did get through the warmth of embarrassment, and only with difficulty did Kirito manage to remember the unique technique required for swimming in virtual water. Fighting thermal shock all the way, he flung himself into the swim, arrowing across the lake as quickly as he could.

There were, as promised, no monsters to try and drag them into the depths during the twenty-meter sprint to the island shore. Kirito was darkly suspicious of a long, narrow shape darting around near the lake bottom, but whatever it was seemed totally uninterested in the potential snacks at the surface; the only things that came anywhere near them were some curious fish, and some kind of non-hostile mob that resembled a condor-sized pelican that seemed more interested in the fish than the people.

He was still grateful to haul himself up on the shore, out of the freezing water. Swimming might be a perfectly fine way to pass the time, but not here, not with potential man-eater fish, and definitely not with company that could get him blackmailed if the wrong people happened by at the wrong time.

As soon as he was on solid footing, Kirito wasted no time in bringing up his menu and reequipping normal clothes, heavy coat, and the comfortingly familiar weight of his sword. Hearing a splash from a meter or so away, he turned to make sure his partner had similarly made it across without incident.

From the look of things, not only had she been fine, but she'd enjoyed it a lot more than he had. If the cold bothered Kizmel at all, it wasn't obvious; if anything, she looked refreshed by the experience. When she came to her feet on dry land, she took a moment to shake water out of her lilac hair.

The way the motion affected her body, and the way her water-soaked singlet clung to her, drove anything Kirito might've been about to say right out of his head.

Noticing his petrified state after a few moments of shedding water, Kizmel only smiled, shook her head, and tapped her shoulder to call up her muddied armor. "That was refreshing," she commented. "Would that we could take the time to clean our armor, but I suppose this will suffice for now. Shall we?"

Shaking himself out of his stupor, Kirito redirected his attention to the ruins they were here for. "Uh, right! Yeah, let's see how we're supposed to get into this place." Turning, he marched toward the steps leading to the temple entrance, determinedly ignoring his partner's chuckle.

The Trial of the Wise would have been, if intact, roughly a pyramid in structure, with a couple of rectangular wings to the sides. In the ancient, decayed state the game rendered it now, there were enough holes in the walls and the "floors" of each outer level to let plenty of sunlight in; there was even a sizable gap in the highest layer, which in theory could've been a shortcut right to the end of the dungeon.

In practice, Kirito was unsurprised to see, the staircases leading above the Trial's ground level were too broken to use. A few more points to his Strength and Agility stats, and he might've been able to jump; as it was, sequence-breaking was obviously impossible.

They could, possibly, have gone in via some of the damaged walls that were within reach. Practically speaking, though, he was pretty sure there would be traps to discourage the attempt. That left just the main entrance, at the top of the only exterior stairway that was at all intact.

When they'd reached it, Kirito wasn't really surprised by what kind of gate awaited them. "Is that what I think it is?" he asked his partner, more resigned than anything else at this point.

Kizmel leaned close to examine an inscription beside the gate, writing in the same script as that outside the Trial of the Brave. "The second half of the inscription is the same as before," she reported, "save for speaking of Wisdom rather than Courage. It's probably safe to assume we enter through the same means. The first half is somewhat different, however:

"Bravery alone means little; a journey must have a destination. Without Wit, doors remain forever closed; without it, Courage is but foolhardy fearlessness. Determination is only the beginning; the road demands the Wisdom to rend illusion that leads astray, to find the true path to that which is sought."

Pure flavor text, Kirito thought—or so he would have assumed, had it not been for Cardinal confronting them with Diavel's ghost last time. Being as this was specifically a test of wisdom, he was already starting to worry about what was waiting for them in this Trial's inner sanctum.

"Well," he said, "that at least proves we're in the right place. And this time, we've got a better idea of what's likely to be thrown at us. I hope." He turned a rueful smile on his partner. "No point in putting it off, right?"

"None at all." Kizmel drew closer as they approached the gate, and this time there was none of her previous amusement at their enforced proximity when she swept her cloak over them both. "I'm sorry for the mud this is going to get in our hair, though."

Kirito managed a shrug, regretting it only slightly when he realized just where his left shoulder was, relative to her. "We'll still have to swim back to the mainland when we get out. That should take care of most of it."

"Until we have to go back to the swamp on our way back to Mydo," she reminded him, as their translucent bodies made contact with the barred gate, and slipped through as easily as ghosts.

"…Yeah. I was kind of trying to forget that part, actually. Something tells me getting it all off our gear is going to be even worse. With our luck, this is as stubborn as Fire Goat ashes…"

"I knew it," Kirito said forlornly, slapping a bright green switch with his off-hand. "As soon as I saw this place, I knew it was going to be like this… no wonder Argo was grinning like that, she must've known from the descriptions…"

Listening to stone grinding in the distance as she watched his back, Kizmel couldn't help but share his melancholy. Strange stone-moving puzzles aside, the Trial of the Brave had at least been reasonably easy to navigate. So far, they'd been in the Trial of the Wise for half an hour and had, by her count, gotten turned completely around at least five times.

The strangely mobile architecture was not helping. At all. Kirito's map was keeping up with the changes the various switches made to the temple's labyrinth, but that only applied to areas they'd already been in; it was useless for predicting where they were supposed to go next, or exactly which arrangement of switches would open the next path.

At least the monsters had, so far, been reasonably easy. Such as the one that was just now swarming up the hallway toward her, apparently drawn by the noise of the rotating walls elsewhere; from Kirito's comments, the "level" was almost perfectly balanced for increasing their own abilities according to Swordmaster numerical measurements.

Taking a burst of fire on her shield, Kizmel decided that she didn't really care very much about "experience points" just then. Her concern was that the beast scuttling up to her had far too many tentacles, an assessment she expressed by lopping three of them off with a single Reaver. One more got through, drawing a hiss of pain from her when it opened a scratch on her face; she smashed it away with her shield, then pushed forward through the retaliatory fire to drive her saber right through its beak.

"Land-based, fire-breathing squid," Kirito remarked as it disappeared in bright blue shards. He sounded more bemused than anything else. "Okay… not quite what I was expecting."

"But you were expecting a temple whose hallways change direction at the touch of a switch." She glanced at him sidelong. "Perhaps, Kirito, when we're someplace safer you should give me at least the short version of one of the tales you know of this quest."

"Not sure how much good it'll do, but yeah, I guess I probably should." Summoning up his Mystic Scribing, he consulted his map of the temple, frowning thoughtfully. "First lesson: dungeons associated with water are bad news. Always. Given this is supposed to be a trial of wisdom, and they're a lot more literal about it than I was expecting, I really should've figured this was going to happen… Okay, I think that did it. According to the map, the way to the second sublevel is clear."

"Barring beasts out to strangle us, burn us, or worse," she said wryly.

"Well, yeah; I can tell already that there's at least three mobs coming up the stairway now…"

Five minutes later, with two Ignition Squids and an Octoshark shattered, they stood at the bottom of the second staircase leading to the temple's lower levels. Kizmel eyed the door beyond with deep suspicion; the Octoshark, according to Argo's notes, was an amphibian that preferred water to land, yet the stairwell itself had been bone dry. Moreover, this door was one of those that required Mystic Scribing to open.

Exchanging a wary look with Kirito, she moved forward with him to open the door, blades drawn and ready. If there was a repeat of their encounter with Black Knights in the previous Trial, they would be ready. So, tentatively, the human Swordmaster reached out, tapped the door, and pressed an acceptance on the ethereal page that appeared. Obligingly, it slid open—

Water rushed out with a roar, nearly sweeping them both off their feet. Cold and completely unexpected, it left Kizmel coughing, unable to see, trying to at least keep her shield between them and anything that might be waiting on the other side.

A few seconds only, and it subsided, leaving them waist-deep in water, soaked to the skin. With no trace of monsters on the other side, the two were left to simple look at each other in silence for a moment, united in resigned disgust at their predicament.

"Well," Kirito offered presently, "at least it got the mud off our clothes?"

Kizmel sighed. "That would be so much more comforting if we did not need to face the swamp again after we leave, regardless." Lifting her waterlogged cloak, wincing at the added weight, she directed a glare at the hallway beyond. Also flooded to waist-height. "As you Swordmasters might say, whoever originally designed this Trial had a very unpleasant sense of humor."

"Kirito," Kizmel asked an hour later, voice a dangerously level tone Kirito normally associated with Asuna about to kick him, "please, tell me. Does your world have such an unpleasant abundance of sea creatures with tentacles?"

Hacking another limb off the Tyrant Squid King that laired in the lowest level of the temple with the quick down-up combo of a Vertical Arc, he winced. "Not capable of coming up on land, anyway," he got out, skipping back a step to dodge a tentacle aiming to wrap around his throat. "Though you should probably avoid—uh, some books that neither of us should really go anywhere near anyway…"

Even in the middle of her attempt at giving the Tyrant Squid a death of a thousand cuts, the elf spared a moment to give him a very narrow look. "Normally that's the kind of comment that would have me asking Argo for more details. This time, I believe I don't really want to know."

"Hey, this one I really do only know by reputation!" he protested, ducking around flailing limbs to ram his sword into the hideously oversized cephalopod's face. "Do I really look like that kind of guy?"

Actually, he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer to that. Certainly Asuna had expressed some dark suspicions about the purity of his intentions, in times past.

"…That was unfair of me, I apologize." A tentacle got through Kizmel's guard, forcing a grunt of anguish from her; in return, she took the opportunity to grab hold of it with her shield arm, giving her the chance to bring her saber down on it with brutal force. "I'm just—frustrated—with these things!"

Oof. It was times like this that reminded Kirito that making his partner angry wasn't really a good idea. The last time he'd heard that tone out of her, it had been just before they launched their final joint assault on the Fallen Elf King, a battle that had been one of the most brutal he'd ever experienced in Aincrad.

A few minutes more parrying and assaulting heavily-muscled appendages—punctuated by Kirito at one point being flung clear into the ceiling, when he'd missed a dodge—and he saw the opening they'd been waiting for. With only two of its original twelve tentacles left, both of them far to one side, the Tyrant Squid King's main body was vulnerable.

Kizmel saw it at the same time he did, and her eyes narrowed. "Kirito, match my timing!" she snapped, sounding every bit the Royal Guard Knight in full fury. "It's time to end this!"

Watching her backflip twice to gain distance, then crouch like a sprinter at the starting line, Kirito swung his sword up and behind his right shoulder, assuming the starting position for a Sonic Leap. When she rushed forward, soon engulfed in the white light of her chosen skill, he let the System Assist take over for him as well, taking him up in a flying lunge.

In the middle of the Flashing Penetrator, the Tyrant Squid tried to swipe Kizmel aside with one of its remaining limbs. Gripped by the brutal momentum of the skill, though, she powered right on through it, ripping the tentacle in two and hardly slowing down as she did; the sheer wind of her passage flung both halves well out of her way as she continued on.

Kirito's own skill didn't take him as far as he'd intended, the last remaining tentacle sweeping into his path before the halfway point; instead, his blade buried itself to the hilt in muscle, taking a lesser but still nice chunk of HP from the giant squid's bar. It also seemed to trigger a programmed pain reflex, ensuring the tentacle wouldn't obstruct his partner's attack.

The unintended consequence was that Kirito himself ended up slammed into a stone wall hard enough to leave a dent and take a good twenty percent off his HP, but he was muzzily certain it was worth it.

By the time he'd recovered his senses, along with his sword, he was proven right. Kizmel's powerful blow drove her saber deep into the Tyrant Squid King's skull, wrenching a high-pitched squeal of agony from it. When she ripped her blade free again, it shrieked again—and exploded.

It took Kirito a moment to realize the squid's main body actually had shattered in the normal fashion of SAO. The cloud of ink it released in its death throes made it kind of hard to see details like that, after all.

Covered in ink from lilac hair to armored boots, for a moment Kizmel only stood there silently. Kirito tensed, expecting an explosion of another kind from the normally even-tempered elf; the way her sword shook visibly in her hand for a moment only made his expectation worse.

After a few moments of silent fury, though, she said only, "It's as well we need to pass through half-flooded halls again, before we find the Trial chamber. …We are never coming here again."

He nodded hurriedly, and walked very quickly to the chest that the Tyrant Squid King had been guarding. "Here's the final key," he reported, checking the contents. "Let's head back up."

"Yes. Please."

The above-ground levels of the Trial temple at least were comparatively free of cephalopods. What seemed to be palette-swaps of the Giant Bats from lower floors lurked in shadowy corners, instead, and large rodents with metal-armored heads were the most common hall monitors. The former were easily dealt with so long as they kept their wits about them; the latter were trickier, being nearly invincible from the front, but standard Switching tactics made reasonably short work of them, as well.

Dealing with a pair of them simultaneously, in a narrow corridor near the highest floor of the temple, was a bit of a sticky moment, but nothing two determined clearers couldn't handle with some awkward acrobatics.

All in all, not the hardest dungeon they'd ever conquered together, even taking into account the giant squid. That just made Kirito more nervous, as they approached a door with a heavy lock on the top level. Both Trial dungeons had been comparatively easy as far as combat was concerned, but the Trial of the Brave had done a number on them both mentally.

He wasn't sure he wanted to know what waited for them in a trial of Wisdom.

This isn't even the right genre for this, he complained inwardly, fishing the large key out of a belt pouch. This game was supposed to be about swords, and nothing else. Not weird mind puzzles that try and break us for real.

"Judging from the map, there isn't much beyond here," Kizmel remarked, seeming no more eager than he to see what waited for them this time. "I doubt the room ahead is large enough for a serious fight to be our final obstacle here. …This probably will be similar to the previous Trial."

"That's what I'm afraid of, yeah." Sighing, Kirito slid the key open, twisted it, and watched the door rumble out of the way. "No point in putting it off, I guess."

The next room was very small, as he'd more or less expected. Just large enough to have another pair of doors, just like in the first Trial: one for Swordmaster, one for Elf.

This time they didn't hesitate, simply going straight for their respective gates. As she drew her cloak around herself, wavering out of sight, Kizmel gave him one last encouraging smile. "See you on the other side, Kirito."

"I'll be right with you, Kizmel." Tracking her departure only from the sound of her footsteps, Kirito tapped his door, pressed [Yes] on the pop-up that appeared, and stepped into the darkness beyond the narrow passage.

Wait. Last time it just led right into the next room, this is more like—

Kizmel was not expecting a fight when she passed through the gate into the final chamber of the Trial; not after what had turned out to be waiting at the end of the first. Neither, though, did she expect to briefly be engulfed in darkness, similar to the effects of a human Teleport Gate.

When there was light again, she flung her cloak back and reached for her saber. "Kirito?" she called out, realizing quickly that her partner was nowhere to be seen. All that could be seen in the small room were torches lighting murals on the walls, and a locked chest protected by glass doors at the far end; there was no trace of anyone else. "Kirito, can you hear me?"

There was no answer, and as her chest began to tighten anxiously Kizmel started to draw her blade—only to be brought up short when another voice did speak. "It is alright, Kizmel. Swordmaster Kirito only has his own Trial to face; he is perfectly safe… for now, at least."

Eyes widening, she whipped her head around to see who had spoken, and her heart leapt into her throat. A semi-solid figure had appeared in the middle of the room, much as Diavel's shade had in the Trial of the Brave; but this one she knew from more than just stories. The young woman who was fading into view wore the robes of a Dark Elf herbalist, not the armor of a knight, but her features were very close to Kizmel's own.

"Tilnel…?"

The apparition of her sister, gone now nearly a year, nodded, smiling softly. "In a way," Tilnel said. "Much like the Swordmaster Diavel, and yet… not. As he appeared before you in the first Trial, I am here for your second, Sister. For this, the Holy Tree has granted me a little time in this realm once more."

Shaking, Kizmel took her hand off her sword. "What kind of trial?" she asked, voice trembling. There were a thousand questions she would've rather asked, so many things unsaid before tragedy had struck, yet this was the only one she could. If Tilnel was here for this one task, Kizmel couldn't put personal feeling before duty… however much it hurt not to.

From the sad twist in her smile, Tilnel understood. "I am here to ask of you, Sister, a question: what conclusions have you drawn about the dreams? The visions you have had of other outcomes of your first meeting with Swordmaster Kirito?"

Kizmel inhaled sharply. She knew what her sister spoke of: the same dreams that had prompted her to leave Lyusula's capital and rejoin Kirito, the ones that she'd first begun to have shortly after meeting him. Nightmares, really, showing her battles that ended in her death, not her living to see Kirito and Asuna's victory at their side.

"…I assumed, once, that they were nothing but ordinary nightmares," she said slowly. "But Kirito seemed to react to the details I shared with him, and I've since learned that he had visited a dreamlike version of Aincrad before…" Kizmel hesitated, trying to put into words the theory she'd begun to form, in recent months. "I… have begun to wonder if, in my own dreams, I may have truly visited that copy myself. I don't know how, but…"

Tilnel nodded, seeming unsurprised. "You suspect that the dreams are more like memories, that you were somehow linked with Kayaba Akihiko's incomplete copy of the Steel Castle… Yet you continue to trust Kirito?"

Kizmel started in surprise. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Think of it, Sister," Tilnel said gently. "If you truly were, somehow, within that copy, and your 'dreams' are true memories… then Swordmaster Kirito let you die, more than once."

The question was like a blow to Kizmel's stomach. "Kirito… let me die…? No. No, that can't be…"

"Can it not?" Her sister's eyes were sad, yet firm. "Sister, your life was saved by two Swordmasters, alone. In the dreams, Kirito is accompanied by not one, but several of his people—and yet each time, you fall. Do you truly believe that they made any serious effort to protect your life? Even your companion?"

The swordswoman shook her head in mute denial. The Kirito she knew would never "let" anyone die; if there was anything that truly frightened him, it was failing to save the lives of those around him. She'd seen it, time and again, just as she'd seen his anguish when three of the Moonlit Black Cats fell, one after another.

Yet—she couldn't speak to deny Tilnel's assertion. In the dreams, Kirito was not so skilled as she knew him, and in some of them he and his unfamiliar allies… they seemed almost to be expecting her fall, in the end. They stood with her against the Forest Elf knight, but pressed the attack with none of the brilliant determination Asuna had possessed in the "true" version of events.

Even Kirito, in some versions of the dream, seemed more resigned to an inevitable fate than truly fighting to win. As if he believed only her sacrifice would bring victory…

"No," she whispered. "If that's what it would mean for them to be 'true', then those must be nothing but dreams. I can't believe that Kirito would… would accept such a thing…"

"He is human, Sister," Tilnel reminded her, not unkindly. "The Swordmasters seek to free themselves from this Castle; you know that better than any of our people. You have seen with your own eyes how all too many of them aid even the humans of this world only for the rewards they will receive, increasing their own power and the chances of their own survival. Is it really so hard to accept that your own companion would be so different, when aiding our people has granted him great rewards?"

Kibaou, the rough-spoken, hot-tempered Swordmaster who'd endangered even some of his own people in his zealous pursuit of "fair" advancement of all Swordmasters. Lind, Diavel's would-be successor, who projected an air of nobility, yet seemed convinced it was his place to dictate, not merely lead. Morte, Kirito's attempted murderer, who seemed to seek nothing but chaos…

"There are people of true nobility among the Swordmasters," Tilnel said now, as if sensing the wavering in Kizmel's heart. "That much is true. Yet their own people will, must, be their priority. How can our people truly expect to trust them, in the long term?"

Kizmel wanted to deny that. Even as she recognized the truth in her sister's words, something in her refused to accept that Kirito, her partner, could possibly be like that, yet she couldn't find the words. A conviction as solid as anything in her soul, yet one based as much on emotions she herself still struggled to understand as any kind of logic.

Looking back into Tilnel's sad eyes, the words wouldn't come. There was an answer here, she was certain of it, yet how could she justify it to her sister, who had died without any Swordmaster ever lifting a finger—

Sad eyes. I've seen that expression before… in my dreams…

The dreams. The "beta test". Kirito always looks like that, as my consciousness fades. What did he say about the "test" that some of his fellows went through, before coming to the true Aincrad…?

"…He didn't know." Shaking herself, Kizmel met her sister's eyes, feeling herself on firm ground once again. "Tilnel. Those dreams always end with Kirito looking so very sad… and he told me he didn't know that this world would be real. That the people here would be real."

Something shifted in the specter's expression. "Can you truly believe that, Sister?"

"I can," she said firmly. "I always wondered, before we spoke of it, why the Swordmasters seemed such a strange mix of people, why they seemed so completely unprepared for this world. Why they'd come here to 'save' it, only to seem to need saving themselves.

"Kirito's words, that this was not what they expected to find, explains much of it. And, Tilnel… since the day he and Asuna saved my life, Kirito has always been a steadfast companion, no matter the risk." A memory of a few hideous moments of combat, against the twisted Fallen Elves, flashed through her mind, and it was her turn to smile sadly. "Even when, to save me, he had to make a terrible choice."

Tilnel tilted her head. "That does still leave questions," she pointed out. "I have seen the Swordmasters, even Kirito, and to this day few, if any of them, truly accept this world as real."

"I know. There are still mysteries, I know, but…" Kizmel shook her head. "I don't believe it's malice, Tilnel. I believe there are things here that I don't understand, that I can't understand yet, but if it is anyone's fault, it is Kayaba's. I know Kirito still has questions of his own about this world—but I truly believe he sees me as a person, not a dream. Even if there are still questions, that answer I do have."

For a long moment, Tilnel simply stood there, regarding her silently. Then, slowly, she smiled, looking strangely proud. "I believe you have the right of it, Sister. You have found one answer—and you and your companion are both seeking the others. The truth, I believe, is somewhere between you—and it is knowing where to look that is the true wisdom, not knowing what lies at the end of the path."

Tension flowed out of Kizmel's shoulders, leaving her briefly lightheaded. "That's… what I think, too, Tilnel," she whispered. "So, you truly believe this is the right path for me to walk?"

Her sister stepped to one side, gesturing at the glass doors silently swinging open. "The powers that judge this Trial seem to think so," she said dryly. "But myself, personally… Yes, I do. It is not the path I might have expected either of us to follow, but I believe it to be a good one." She paused. "You should understand, though, that the answers you seek cannot be grasped as you are now."

Kizmel started for the chest, her eyes still focused on her sister's shade. "I'm beginning to see that, yes. Kirito and I come from very different worlds; I can tell simply from how he struggles to explain himself, sometimes, that there are entire concepts we do not share. I'm willing to chance learning things I would rather not, for the sake of knowing the truth."

"For knowing what Kirito's world is?" Tilnel chuckled softly. "That is good, Sister. After all—you have already begun to change, have you not?"

Hands poised to open the chest, the knight paused. "Tilnel?"

"Have you not noticed, Sister? Your very speech shows the path you have taken. Your words are as much of the Swordmasters as they are of our people, now."

Kizmel blinked, thought back on her own half of the conversation, and realized her sister was right: Kirito's more casual way of speaking had begun to rub off on her, without her even noticing. The words were much the same as her own people's but the way she said them had changed somewhere in the months she'd spent with the young Swordmaster.

Abruptly, she shrugged and lifted the chest's lid. "Well," she said, reaching for the sapphire pendant within, "I think there are worse people to take after, don't you? At least I have not begun speaking like Guildmaster Kibaou."

That got a genuine laugh out of Tilnel. "Yes, the man is quite difficult to understand, is he not? Kirito is assuredly a more suitable companion for you, Sister." She was beginning to fade now, still smiling. "You have found the true path ahead, Sister, and proven your Wisdom. Take the symbol of it, and return to your companion's side."

Settling the pendant around her neck, alongside the Bravery Pendant, Kizmel watched her sister fade from sight with a lump in her throat. "Tilnel," she asked suddenly, "will we… meet again?"

The blue flare of a teleport began to whisk her away, but she still heard the shade's reply. "In another world, perhaps, Sister… but for now, your path is beside those living in this world. Where you go from here… is your own choice…"

When the teleport released her, Kizmel found herself at the base of the stairs outside the Trial of the Wise. It was as peaceful and free of monsters as when she'd gone in—but not quite empty. Almost the first thing she saw, after the blue light faded, was Kirito pacing just a few steps away, sword in hand, face tense and anxious.

He obviously heard her arrival, though; he quickly spun to face her, and a relieved smile replaced the tension. "Kizmel! I was starting to get worried. I tried to go back in as soon as I got here, but without your cloak to get through the—oof!"

Taking time only to see that he, too, wore a blue pendant around his neck, Kizmel cut him off with an impulsive hug. "I'm fine, Kirito," she said into his ear. "I passed the Trial. I've no intention of going anywhere."

"Um… okay…?" Obviously bemused, Kirito took a moment to sheathe his sword, then awkwardly returned her gesture. "Kizmel… did something happen in there?"

"…I don't think this is quite the place to talk about it." She held onto him a moment longer, reaffirming her own conviction—reaffirming that whatever dreams might say, this was real—then let go, stepping back a pace. "The Trial was… a little trying, that is all. Perhaps we can discuss it later. At Fort Renya, maybe? I don't know about you, but I think I would rather unwind from this somewhere the likes of Lind will not be."

Kirito nodded ruefully, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, you've got a point there. Especially since we're going to have to wade through all that mud again, with no lake or flooded dungeon on the other side to wash us off."

"That, too." She grimaced. "I hope conquering this floor will not require us to pass this way again."

There was little left to be said after that. The sooner they departed the Trial's island, the sooner they would pass through the swamp, and the sooner they could find somewhere private to clean up, and take stock of the day's trials, both of the body and the mind.

Returning to the water's edge, Kizmel noticed Kirito's hesitation with some amusement. She knew perfectly well what his problem was, and that it had nothing—well, very little—to do with the impending cold. When she dismissed her armor, using the pale shadow of the human Mystic Scribing the Dark Elves possessed to replace it with a thinner garment far more suitable for swimming, she watched her partner from the corner of her eye.

She didn't miss the way he watched her for a few moments, before abruptly turning away to don his own swimwear. Nor, when they'd crossed back to the mainland, his distracted gaze when she shook herself off. Not that she objected in any way; it was silly, she thought, to be so concerned about being seen exposed by not merely a fellow warrior, but her trusted partner, with whom she'd shared living space for so long now.

Actually, Kizmel enjoyed it, just a little. Partly out of vanity—but mostly, these days, because it was proof Kirito did see her as "real". A dream, he might've admired without shame; his obvious embarrassment said his spoken assurances weren't meaningless words.

Besides, she mused, as they put their battle gear back on, fair is fair, isn't it? It wasn't like she wasn't getting an interesting view herself, after all.

When they'd gotten back on the road returning to Mydo, Kirito cleared his throat. "W-well," he said, "I guess we're making good progress on this quest, huh? Two dungeons in two days."

"Indeed. From what Countess Ryella said, we have but one more Trial to face before the way to the Reliquary is opened." Kizmel reached up to grasp the paired stones resting against her chestplate, proof of what they'd accomplished so far. "Of course, it seems likely the Reliquary itself will provide its own challenges…"

"Probably," he agreed, sighing. "I'll be surprised if we don't run into trouble just trying to get to the place, let alone inside—gah!"

Distracted by the conversation, Kirito's foot caught on something hidden beneath the swamp—a tree root, Kizmel suspected belatedly—and toppled face-first into the mud. He choked, flailing against the muck; she hurried to his side, caught him by the collar of his leather coat, and hauled him up.

For a moment he leaned against her, sputtering as he tried to clear his mouth of the mud. The sight was such that she had to stifle a laugh—made easier by the knowledge that she was going to be nearly as dirty herself before long—before she could say anything with a straight face. "You have first call on the bath, Kirito," she said, when she was sure her voice wouldn't crack.

"…Thanks, Kizmel." Spitting out a last mouthful of dirty water, Kirito lifted his head to glare at the sky, hidden by the floor above. "This, I almost hate more than the whole 'tricked into risking out lives' thing. Fighting's one thing; this is sadistic."

Fort Renya, while a more solid fortification than the forward camp on the Third Floor, still wasn't anywhere near as elaborate or well-appointed as Yofel Castle on the Fourth. Still, while the Fort's bath chamber was small, it was nonetheless better than just a tent with wooden tubs; this was smooth stone, and there was even an actual door, even if it had no lock.

Kirito was just glad that the Fort Renya elves were as accommodating of a human guest as the forward camp and Viscount Yofilis' castle, graciously allowing him bathing privileges. He wasn't Asuna, who used them for fun, but after the trip through the swamp he wanted desperately to be clean. As Argo had warned, the mud didn't just wear off.

Fortunately, the soap Agil had sold did seem to be up to the task. He wasn't quite sure how he was going to reach parts of his back—the swamp water had gotten everywhere, soaking clear through cloth and leather both; which he'd also had to remove and soak separately—but everywhere he could get to, it was working wonderfully.

Mud, and a Water Temple, Kirito thought, sinking into the tub in the faint hope that a long soak would get his back clean. Did Kayaba get stuck there when he was kid, and decide to take it out on players of his "game" all these years later? Not to mention getting put through the ringer by a "ghost" at the end of it…

He still didn't know what to make of Diavel's so-called ghost, especially with how well it copied the original. Even so, he had to admit the shade had given him a lot to think about. It was giving him a headache, and he wasn't sure he liked all the implications, but he couldn't deny there was some hope in there that he hadn't considered before.

We're all going to be here awhile, Kirito reminded himself, scrubbing the last of the mud off his arms; one break from reality he was grateful for was the way the muck simply dissipated into fragments, rather than dirtying the tub. Even if we keep up the current rate of clearing… it's going to take a long time. We have to think about what we can do day by day…

Lost in the thoughts Diavel's "simple question" had stirred up, he almost didn't notice the bath chamber's door opening. He did clearly recognize the next sound, though. "Ah, Kirito. I'd hoped you'd still be here."

Urk! He forced himself not to turn to look at the last moment, remembering what had happened the first time she'd walked in on him in the bath; as it was, he was grateful he'd had the presence of mind to wear a towel this time. "K-Kizmel! What're you—?!"

Kizmel chuckled. "Oh, relax, Kirito. I have learned some things about Swordmaster society—even if I question the necessity. It's safe to look."

Her definition of safe wasn't one he was prepared to trust, in this context, but when she moved to slip into the tub beside him, he found himself unable to resist. Fortunately for his blood pressure, though, he found that she was telling the truth: this time, she was wearing a towel herself. The water quickly soaked it to the point of hugging her form more closely than he was comfortable with, but it was something resembling modesty, at least.

Even so. "Uh… Kizmel…?"

"I was hoping you might wash my back," she told him. "I fear I can't quite reach, and… I'd rather not ask a stranger."

Um. Well, Kirito could understand that much, at least; Kizmel hadn't seemed any more comfortable around Fort Renya's soldiers than he, and she was still as mud-drenched as he'd been. She did look like she needed the help…

"Also," she continued after a moment, "I… wanted to talk. About the Trial."

He told himself quite firmly that it was sheer practicality that led him to agree, and that the only reason he watched so closely when she slipped the towel away from her back to hold it against her chest was curiosity as to how she'd done it, in a world where manual adjustment of clothing was generally impossible. Just as clothes could only be put on or taken off by menu commands, towels, in his experience, were either wrapped securely or not at all.

When Kizmel had moved in front of him, half-submerged, and he'd knelt behind her with scrub brush in hand, Kirito ventured, "I take it you saw… a person, in the Trial?"

She nodded. "I did. When I emerged in the Trial chamber alone, I was worried for a moment… but then she appeared." Kizmel paused, using a nearby bucket to dump some of the bath water over her hair. "My sister, that is. Or… her spirit, at least."

Beginning to scrub at the mud coating her back, he winced. Not that he was surprised, exactly, after seeing the facsimile of Diavel; just concerned. Kayaba… you'd do that to her? Diavel was bad enough; this is her sister we're talking about here!

He kept it to himself, though. Explaining Kayaba's true nature was still something he wasn't remotely ready to attempt; even if he thought there was any chance she'd truly understand it. So he only sat silently, scrubbing, waiting for her to continue.

"I don't know what question you faced, Kirito," Kizmel said after a moment, rubbing shampoo into her hair. "But Tilnel… she asked me about the dreams I've had of you. What I thought of them. And then… she asked me if I truly trusted you."

Kirito's breath caught, and his stomach clenched. The dreams. The ones she has about the beta test? "Kizmel…?"

"She said… that you let me die," she told him, very softly. "Three versions I've seen of our first meeting, that did not match what happened in the waking world. Three ways I die, with your sword and your companions' doing naught to save me, when yours and Asuna's were enough to grant us victory themselves. Tilnel suggested that… it made you no different from other Swordmasters, such as Lind or Kibaou."

He swallowed, scrubbing brush forgotten against her shoulder. That wasn't really so different, he knew, from his own self-recrimination after they had saved Kizmel. Which meant he couldn't even deny the suggestion—not convincingly. He could say that he'd realized the error of his way afterward, but why should she believe that?

Kirito was startled from his bitter thoughts by Kizmel's hand reaching back, holding his against her shoulder. "That, of course, was the test, Kirito: to see if I could find the flaw in that argument. Because I do trust you."

"Y-you do?"

"Of course." She turned to look back at him, smiling. "You told me yourself, the night we defeated The Commandant: none of you knew what you were getting into, when you came to this place. Certainly, many of your fellows still treat Aincrad as a dream world, and I know you cherish doubts yourself… but since the day we truly met, you've always treated the people here as if they were as real as your comrades." Kizmel squeezed his hand. "And much as we both may regret the consequences, I haven't forgotten that you chose to save my life that day, over a Swordmaster."

He let out a shaky breath, feeling a wave of relief, and belatedly resumed washing her dusky back. "That's more trust than I probably deserve, Kizmel. I told you before, I didn't even think about it…"

"Exactly." Kizmel leaned back into his ministrations, eyes drifting closed. "We come from different worlds, Kirito, and I know there is still much I don't understand about yours, and what you believe about this Steel Castle. Even so, you've been a true companion—and my most trusted friend."

Kirito glanced away, feeling his face flush with embarrassment. "Well, I… I'm doing my best, Kizmel. And… well, you're one of the only friends I've ever had, so… er…"

She laughed, but said nothing more, only gracing him with an understanding smile that made his stomach feel strangely queasy. The elf only went back to washing her hair, while he rubbed the brush as low as he dared down her back, dislodging the last of the stubborn swamp muck.

After he'd finished in the companionable silence that had fallen, Kizmel wrapped the towel around herself again. "Your turn, Kirito," she announced.

He blinked. "Um. What?"

"I'll wash your back as well, of course," she said, as if it were obvious. "Doubtless you've as much trouble reaching the worst of the filth as I."

Kirito protested, but only weakly, utterly unable to come up with a logical objection. Soon enough, he was the one kneeling in front of her, while she took the scrub brush to his back. Okay, he thought, fighting vainly for calm, this is… different. I mean, it's nice, too, but, uh… Wow. Really good thing Asuna isn't here to see this. A chill ran down his back. Or Argo. Eep, I shouldn't even think that…

"So tell me, Kirito," Kizmel began, either oblivious to or unconcerned by his discomfort. "What question was asked of you, in the Trial of the Wise? …Actually, come to think of it, there was something else I was wondering, first."

He was almost afraid to ask. "What's that, Kizmel?"

"Nothing serious, I suppose," she admitted. "But I was wondering about something Argo offered to sell. Exactly what did she mean by 'three sizes'? Sizes of what?"

"Urk!"

October 7th, 2023

It had taken three days since the discovery of the field boss' location for the full raid of Swordmasters to be ready for it. Three days of upgrading equipment, mapping territory, and training up their skills and physical abilities according to their odd numerical standards.

One of those days had, for one particular pair of clearers, been lost to a quest to find a particular kind of soap. Kizmel had not been amused to learn the mud that had so stubbornly clung to their bodies had required even more stringent methods to remove from metal armor.

Now forty-eight clearers—forty-seven Swordmasters and a single Dark Elf—gathered on the south side of the single large clearing on the floor, directly opposite a veritable army of mobs. Roughly two-thirds of them wore the dark armor of the Divine Dragons Alliance; of the remainder, a scant handful wore a motley assemblage of non-uniform equipment typical of solos, while the rest were clad in the white and red of the Knights of Blood.

Kizmel wasn't especially surprised that Guildmaster Heathcliff's distinctive red and white armor was absent. While the man they called the Paladin was always present for Pillar Guardians, often as not he delegated command of lesser battles.

Despite his absence, there was no real question as to who the raid leader was. Lind stood at the head of the DDA contingent, looking dissatisfied, while at the forefront of the entire raid stood Vice-Commander Asuna, cool and radiant in the afternoon light.

One hand resting on the hilt of her rapier, the chestnut-haired girl faced the raid as a whole. "The final scouting reports have come in," she said, sounding every bit the calm and collected leader despite her youth. "An exact count is difficult, but it's estimated that there are around two hundred and eighty enemies in the army in front of us—approximately six times our number." There was some murmuring among the clearers, but she continued on evenly. "Their levels, fortunately, are lower than the average for this floor, so each of us killing at least six of them isn't as impossible as it may seem."

Kizmel nodded at that. Exchanging a quick glance with Kirito, she saw that he shared the sentiment: to the Swordmasters who felt no pain, so long as their flesh was stronger than the enemy's muscles, six to one odds only meant more targets.

"Don't get careless, though," Asuna warned. "The mobs are a mix of Forest Lizardmen and Wood Goblin Warg Riders; according to reports, the Warg Riders have poisoned blades, and the Forest Lizard Knights can inflict paralysis. In this kind of battle, either one can be… bad."

"That's an understatement," Kirito muttered, just loud enough for Kizmel to hear. "Go down here, and you'd be trampled before anybody could heal you…"

Lind cleared his throat. "And the boss itself, Vice-Commander?" His tone, the elf noticed, was a mix of resentment and respect. He obviously still wanted the top spot, but even he wasn't immune to the mystique of the Flash, apparently.

"That's more difficult," Asuna acknowledged. Her free hand gestured at thin air, and with a few strokes materialized a sheet of paper, which she briefly consulted. "It's called [Forest Lord: The Hobgoblin], and it's mounted on a giant Warg. It's armed with two shields, which according to reports are large enough to effectively cover it from frontal attack. Its cursor also indicates it's much stronger than its army. Not as much as most field bosses, though."

"That's going to make it trickier," Kirito noted. "Too bad bows don't work in Aincrad…"

Kizmel nodded in silent agreement. One of the most vexing things about the Steel Castle, she sometimes thought, was that its very nature seemed to make any ranged weapon more sophisticated than a throwing knife go astray. According to the old tales, in the days before the Great Separation archers had been an integral part of most armies; in Aincrad, they were useless.

Though her partner hadn't spoken loud enough to be heard by the raid at large, Agil quickly voiced the same concern, and Asuna nodded in acknowledgment. "Trying to get through the shields probably isn't going to work—unless one of you has gotten their Throwing skill higher than you've bothered to mention?" After a brief round of chuckles and sounds of derision, she continued, "So we're going to use overwhelming force: hit The Hobgoblin from all directions, with as many Swordmasters as will fit."

"That's going to be difficult, with an army of adds distracting us, Vice-Commander," Lind pointed out.

Asuna smiled. It was far from the friendliest expression Kizmel had ever seen on her face. "That's true, Lind. Which is why we're going to kill every single one of them, first."

Asuna hadn't been kidding about her battle plan. Despite there being nearly three hundred monsters waiting for them, she simply assigned each of the eight parties to a section of the battle line, and ordered a full assault. It was a brutal, straightforward approach that against a Pillar Guardian, or even other field bosses, would've been suicidal.

The DDA members, Kizmel could tell, thought that it still was.

Kirito, though, seemed unperturbed as he fell naturally into leading their own group of six unaffiliated clearers toward the east flank of the enemy line. "Look," he said, as they started running across the hundred-meter gap between them and the mobs, "their cursors are practically pink. Sure, we're outnumbered six-to-one, but at those levels, this is more like a Musou game than a usual boss' adds. We probably won't even get much XP from these guys."

Agil, one of four merchants who'd ended up teamed with them for the battle, nodded thoughtfully. "Okay, I can see that… Heh." He grinned, spinning his axe lightly as they ran. "When you put it that way, guys like me should be the MVPs, right?"

"Mind explaining that in ways the rest of us can understand?" A brown-haired girl with a heavy mace, whose name Kizmel hadn't quite caught, rolled her eyes. "Some of have barely even heard of that series, y'know. I play MMOs, not hack and slash!"

…And sometimes, I still don't understand half of what they're saying, Kizmel thought ruefully. Though at least now I know why they speak so much of games.

"Means they're so weak each of us could probably take at least ten," Agil told her. "And us big guys with polearms can make out like bandits with AoE." He shot the girl another grin. "Hey, don't look so glum! You may not have the reach, but that mace'll knock 'em dead, you watch!"

"It better," she grumbled. "Can't believe I was crazy enough to join this, but she said the drops were supposed to be really good mats…"

Kizmel wondered briefly who "she" was, but didn't have time to dwell on it. They'd crossed a lot of territory during the banter, and now they were just reaching the first rank of Lizardmen. With a yell, she drew back her saber and charged, the red streak of her Reaver cutting across the chest of one of them at the same time Kirito ripped into another with a quick Horizontal Arc.

To one side, Agil waded right into the fray with his axe, a wide, spinning sweep sending three Lizardmen flying clear off their feet. The two other combative merchants who rounded out their group drove into the gap, one stabbing with a spear, the other dancing in with a wicked dagger.

When the macer darted in to smash Kizmel's own first target in the head with her warhammer, the elf felt a brief, painful moment of déjà vu. If Agil had used a staff instead of an axe, this would've been so much like…

No. The past is gone. Done is done. All we can do is make sure the sacrifices were not in vain.

Yelling again, Kizmel left the first Lizardman to the macer and followed Kirito in. "Switch!" she called out; he broke away from his foe, continuing on to the next, leaving her an opening to take the tall reptile in the throat. Gurgling, it staggered back, tried to rally, then succumbed to blue shards when her next thrust caught it in the snout.

She blocked the next Lizardman's Vertical with her shield, shoved at it, moved to take advantage of the momentary opening; fell back a pace, hissing in pain, as another got through and tried to take off her sword arm at the elbow. The offender soon flew back from the impact of a mace to its chest, though, and Kizmel quickly realized the injury was minor.

Kirito is right. They're weak. The only advantage they have is sheer numbers!

The next few moments were a blur of spinning steel, the ringing of swords-on-shields, and occasional high-pitched shattering. Here and there, there was a grunt or cry of surprised impact from her companions, and more than once she found herself wincing as a Lizardman got through her defenses, but armor and flesh both proved more than a match.

How the battle was going on overall was difficult to judge, busy as they all were. Through a brief gap in the fighting, though, Kizmel did see Asuna's team efficiently tearing apart a group of Warg Riders; nimbly dodging the jaws of one such monstrous wolf, her friend leapt clear off the ground to launch a midair Linear at its rider, while her comrades took the flanks. The simple but efficient—and blindingly-fast—thrust catapulted the Wood Goblin off its perch, slamming into the ground well behind with enough force to shatter it.

Beyond that, Kizmel caught a glimpse of Lind's party, which despite its leader's best efforts had gotten surrounded, having pushed too far, too fast. They were giving as good as they got, as individually superior to the goblins and Lizardmen as any of them, yet for every one they killed, it seemed as if there were two more, and the other DDA groups were too far out of position to help.

Somewhere in the midst of finishing off her group of Warg Riders, Asuna apparently saw the same thing, and raised a shout. "KoB Team B, reinforce Lind! Team C, help the solos at the east flank! KoB Team A will continue the advance!"

Lind will not be happy about that, Kizmel mused. I'm glad for the help, though. Returning her attention to her own battle, she bashed a dying Lizardman to the side, giving her room to unleashed a spinning Treble Scythe on a Lizard Knight that was bearing down on the brunette macer.

Skipping back a pace, the girl gave her a nervous smile. "Thanks for the save!"

"My pleasure." The Lizard Knight was falling back, bleeding red particles, but it wasn't quite dead. As her skill's delay released her, Kizmel drew back her saber to finish the job—

"Gah!"

Kirito's cry of anguish changed her plans in an instant. Seeing her partner falling back from another Lizard Knight's yellow-dripping blade, limbs rigid, she felt a rush of anger. "Agil—!"

The axeman was by her side in a moment, heading for her current foe. "I got it, go!"

She didn't need to be told twice. Before Kirito could hit the ground, Kizmel charged in, saber held low to her left, pointed straight forward. Ignoring the sting from a passing goblin's blade against her cheek, she let the skill's charm take her as soon as she was close enough: the blazing crimson thrust of an Oblique, stabbing low and deep into the Knight's stomach, below its light chest armor.

Her blow finished what Kirito had obviously started, sending the reptile to the next life in a shower of azure shards.

Kizmel hardly noticed its death, nor that they'd managed to clear a gap in the enemy's lines. She just dropped to her knees by her partner's side, digging into a belt pouch as she went. Oh, how I wish I could see vitality directly, as the Swordmasters do! "Kirito! Are you all right?"

He actually managed a small grin, looking up at her. "Yeah… that thing didn't hit that hard. I, uh… just can't move. They really do have paralysis attacks…"

"Just a moment, then." She finally found what she was after, and pulled the antidote bottle's cap with furious haste. Carefully lifting Kirito's head with her free hand, she poured the drink into his mouth.

It wasn't as prompt as the effects of the still-rare crystals she'd sometimes seen Swordmasters use, but in just a few moments Kirito's limbs slackened from their rigor. "That's better… Thanks." He glanced up at something she couldn't see, then, and his smile vanished. "Kizmel! You're poisoned!"

"Eh?" Kizmel blinked, only then noticing the faint burning in a line across her face, spreading deeper into her body. "Ah. That goblin—"

"Take five, guys. We got time." Agil shouldered his axe, leading his fellow merchants and the macer girl over. "KoB's coming to help; we can take a minute for POT rotation. Take care of that poison, first."

She nodded, and with a brief moment of focused will the ring on her finger flared brightly, its charm cleansing the poison before it could eat further at her body.

Something flew toward her, and she reflexively reached up to catch it: a potion bottle, tossed by the macer who was now opening one for herself. "I owe you for earlier," the girl said. "Thanks again… Kizmel, right?"

"Yes." Kizmel took a long drink from the medicine, realizing only then that as weak as their foes were, she had taken a number of minor wounds in the last ten minutes or so. The sudden absence of stings and aches was very welcome indeed. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name…?"

"Lisbeth," the macer said, dropping inelegantly to the ground. "Master macer and blacksmith." She glanced over at the continuing battle, her gaze lingering on The Hobgoblin, who so far had remained at the rear of the enemy force. "Those shields… supposedly, that's some great metal for smithing. That's what I'm here for."

"Better hope it drops them, then. Besides, first we have to actually kill it," Kirito pointed out.

"We just smashed like a full raid party of the adds ourselves," Lisbeth retorted. "I think we're doing pretty well. Besides…" Her eyes turned to the slight figure in white and red, directing the center of the assault. "She's leading the attack. We'll beat it." The macer's eyes flashed. "So let's hurry and get back on our feet! I don't wanna miss out the drops because we didn't even land a hit on the boss!"

The battle had, so far, been less frightening than Kirito had expected. Not that he'd been worried about getting through it himself, exactly—this many floors up, field bosses were a known risk—but when Asuna had casually assigned him and Kizmel to a party that included a couple of people who hadn't previously been clearers at all, his first thought had been of the Black Cats.

She'd more or less given him a peremptory command, though, and there hadn't been time before the battle to argue. And so far, he thought, sword whirling in a Horizontal Square against one of the last Warg Riders guarding The Hobgoblin, it seems to be working out okay.

After all, this time it wasn't just him and Kizmel with a team of low-level players. Agil and another of the merchants had been participating in clearing since the very first floors, and the feisty macer girl was more than pulling her own weight. Even the last of the merchants—whose name Kirito still hadn't found time to look for, despite being in the same party—was holding his own with his spear.

We just need to hold on a little longer, he thought, as Lisbeth smashed a goblin right off its mount with a simple but brutal Hammerblow to the chest. We're almost—there!

"Teams KoB and DDA A, advance on the boss!" Asuna shouted over the din of battle. "Solo team, you're with us! Everyone else, hold off the remaining adds!"

Lind tore the head off a Lizard Knight with a vicious Horizontal Arc from his scimitar, then whipped around to look at her. "Why split our forces now?!" he demanded. "Better to concentrate them—"

"We can only hit the boss from the flanks!" she snapped back. "Too many of us, and we'll just get in each other's way; we need to take turns, and there's no sense putting everyone in the rotation!"

Kirito could see that the DDA guildmaster didn't like that, but he personally agreed. Against a floor boss, it would make sense to rotate everyone in and out, to better keep up with healing needs; against a field boss, especially one whose true strength was in its adds, it was better to use the extra manpower to keep from being surrounded.

Lind is just mad his people get less of a chance at glory, that's all. Ignoble thought, but for all that he believed Lind was sincere in wanting to lead the players to victory for their own sake, he was also pretty sure the man was as much a glory hound as Diavel had been, just in a different way.

He was following orders anyway, though, and soon the player teams that had started to converge dispersed again, leaving only the lead groups of each guild and Kirito's motley crew of solos advancing on The Hobgoblin directly.

Mounted on a Warg even bigger than those used by the Wood Goblins, The Hobgoblin was itself like a Wood Goblin scaled up to match: dark green, seemingly made of muscles, wearing a hodgepodge of metal armor plates and an ugly smirk made uglier by its goblin-ish face. So far, the hideous monster had been content to let its minions take on the Swordmasters—and die in droves.

Now that they were approaching it directly, though, The Hobgoblin suddenly kicked its Warg with both heels, spurring the giant wolf into motion. It leapt forward, jaws snapped at Asuna; she dodged nimbly sideways, but at the same time, The Hobgoblin itself swung its shields out to the sides.

She managed to duck under. Hafner of the Divine Dragons wasn't so lucky, taking one of the huge, round pieces of steel in the face. With a yelp, he went flying back, bowling over another of his team along the way.

The Hobgoblin had to bring its shields back in right after that, though. Asuna had recovered from her evasion, and with a shout unleashed the four rapid thrusts of Quadruple Pain into the Giant Warg's flank. At the same time, Kirito and Kizmel tore into it from the other side; the elf's Reaver cut a long red line in the Warg's side, while Kirito's Sonic Leap drove his blade into The Hobgoblin's back.

With a cry of "Switch!" Lisbeth darted in, daring to smash at The Hobgoblin herself—only to be rebuffed when, recoiling from the last hit, the brute swung around to interpose one of its huge shields. A loud clang heralded the meeting of mace and shield, and she was flung back by the recoil.

Agil's axe swung into the gap then. Not even trying to get past The Hobgoblin's shields, he aimed for one of its legs, the head of his axe biting deep; it howled in pain, and he was forced to leap back from the snapping jaws of the Warg.

Those jaws were rebuffed in turn by Agil's lancer friend, and in the moment of time that bought them their knife salesman jumped in to nick the beast's ear. He was promptly swatted with a shield the size of a table, but managed to roll with the blow, unlike poor Hafner.

It was quickly clear to Kirito that the reports had been right: The Hobgoblin's real strength was in the size of its army. Once enough of the adds had been cleared away to let the players focus on the main target, it was swiftly overwhelmed by numbers in turn.

Here Kirito himself lunged in with a Snake Bite, trying to take off one of the Hobgoblin's legs; there, Kizmel and Lisbeth teamed up to batter the Giant Warg, while from the other side members of the DDA and KoB jostled for position and unleashed their own skills where there was time and room.

The HP bars of both wolf and rider were sizable, despite their relatively low levels. Even so, after a few minutes of relentless pounding, chopping, and stabbing, the Giant Warg let out a howl, made a last half-hearted effort to bite Lind's hand off, and collapsed. After a death rattle that Kirito found entirely too convincing, the beast shattered to pieces.

A moment before its mount succumbed, though, The Hobgoblin let out a roar of its own and leapt clear, landing on the ground with enough force to send Swordmasters stumbling. The shield in its right hand started to glow a bright azure, and it drew back its arm—

Not good!

On the bright side, Kirito reflected as the world spun around him, he now had empirical evidence that he was at a high enough level to attempt the labyrinth clearing, when they got that far. The flung shield that had sent him rolling across the ground had only taken off around a quarter of his HP; not nearly as bad as he'd feared.

Besides, now he had a great view of Asuna and Kizmel trying to stab the brute to death, while Lind and Agil took turns keeping the sword it had drawn in check, and Lisbeth did her dead-level best to smash its remaining shield to the ground.

The fact that pretty much nobody else could find an opening to get attacks in of their own almost made up for the fact that, by the time Kirito shook off the Tumble and sprang back to his feet, there was no more chance to get the LA Bonus himself. He rushed back to the fight as quickly as he could, but he could see The Hobgoblin's last HP bar draining fast, overwhelmed by so many attacks from all angles.

Poor Lisbeth was sent reeling from another rebuffed Hammerblow, but that was The Hobgoblin's last gasp at vengeance. Kizmel took the chance to actually jump on the shield, using it as a platform from which to drive her saber in a brutal Fell Crescent to the face.

The Hobgoblin froze in place, while the elf gracefully back-flipped off the shield to land lightly on the ground. Then, with a mournful groan, it followed its mount into fragmented death.

In the aftermath of the battle, with evening falling, the raid gathered around a large bonfire in the center of the clearing. With everyone worn out by the battle, and a fair bit of meat dropped as loot by the lesser monsters, it was decided that a giant barbecue would be a good way to unwind, while they all took stock of the various rewards from the battle.

Kirito wished that Asuna could've spent some time with his party, but she ended up having to mediate several disputes between the KoB and DDA players; at the same time, the two merchants he didn't know very well had gone off with a handful of crafters who'd turned up after the battle to discuss the merits of the drops they'd gotten.

That did still leave him with Kizmel, Agil, and the macer Lisbeth, at least, and Argo had shown up as well—to kibitz, as nearly as he could tell, but that was Argo.

"That wasn't as scary as I thought it'd be," Lisbeth commented, sitting cross-legged as she checked over her own share of the raid's rewards. "I've been training up to come to the frontlines, 'cause I heard some really good stuff is starting to show up, but man… I was worried."

"The front's no place for amateurs," Agil agreed, around a mouthful of roasted Warg meat. "I think you did pretty good, though. Just gotta learn more about fighting guys with shields."

"Like it's my fault that one had shields as big as my dinner table?" The macer shook her head. "Eh, I don't care… I got the metal I wanted, anyway." She directed a grin at the group at large. "Any of you guys in the market for a new weapon? I can't wait to try this stuff out."

"I believe I'm doing well enough for now, thank you." Kizmel lifted the glittering saber she'd gotten as Last Attack bonus to the dying sunlight; it had a simpler hilt than some swords she'd wielded, but the Damascus-like wavy patterns in the blade spoke well of its quality. Kirito suspected that the "Eldhi Arc" would last at least a couple of floors—maybe more, if properly upgraded.

I guess the most important thing is that it gets us through the Reliquary quest, he thought, lying back on the grass, head pillowed on his hands. There's still the Trial of the Strong, and I can't imagine getting to the Reliquary itself is going to be a piece of cake. Not if I'm right about what we're going to find at the end of it.

…Well, if we do, I certainly won't be jealous about missing one LA bonus. Not much. …Hm? That's strange. Argo hasn't said anything yet… Why is she grinning like that?

"Ah, Kirito," Kizmel began, before he could pursue his unsettling realization. "I meant to say this as soon as we claimed victory… Happy birthday."

"Eh?" Kirito sat up, blinking. "Wait, is it…?" He thought about it, and blinked again. "I guess that is today… Thanks?"

Lisbeth glanced between them, seeming only now to notice that Kizmel wasn't exactly a normal clearer. "Speaking of things that maybe should've been said earlier," she started, "uh… am I missing something…?"

"Wait a second," Kirito interrupted, too distracted by another thought to pay much attention to her question. "Kizmel…. How did you even know about that? I mean, I probably should've mentioned it at some point, but it completely slipped my mind…"

"Ah, that." Kizmel shrugged. "I bought the information from Argo, of course."

Of course. Not that I have any idea how she knew that either, but she's the Rat; I probably slipped up and said something ages ago, and never noticed… Hey, waaiitt a second…

"…How did you pay for it?" he asked warily. "You don't use Cor…"

"Perhaps 'bought' isn't the right word," she admitted with a casual shrug. "Rather, Argo said she owed me a single answer, in return for… how did she put it? Ah, yes, a 'prime opportunity'."

Feeling a sudden sense of sheer dread, Kirito turned, very slowly, to face Argo. "…What kind of 'opportunity'?"

The Rat grinned broadly—the look of someone who'd been just waiting for a punchline to go off—and withdrew a small object from a belt pouch. Shaped like a diamond with a red light near one point, Kirito had seldom seen the item type before, but he knew a recording crystal when he saw one. "Y'know, Kii-bou, you really oughtta get Kii-chan a bikini sometime. That lake would totally have been more fun that way, dontcha think?"

"…Argo…!"

Author's Note:

This may be the most mood whiplash I've ever had in one chapter. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing…

Ended up a few thousand words longer than I intended, but on the bright side, my overall scheduling is still on track. Chapter VIII should quite nicely wrap up this arc, and then it's Christmas time—with, I believe I can safely say, some material of the kind some people have been waiting for. Well, after dealing with an Evil Santa, anyway.

There was originally a scene depicting Kirito's side of the Trial, but in the end I decided the points it addressed were more properly dealt with later, from a narrative standpoint; in addition to unnecessarily slowing down said narrative here. In the end, Kizmel's half was the more important, anyway.

Hm… can't really think of much else to say about this chapter, except that I hope it was enjoyable. Hey, it had extra Argo—and even an unplanned early appearance by Lisbeth. Let me know if that, and the Kizmel-teasing-Kirito goodness, outweighs my perhaps over-reliance on squid monsters, yes? -Solid