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"Asuna" - Regular Speech
'Kirito-kun' – Thoughts
[Congratulation!] – System Announcement
Beta'd by BigCC
Chapter 28: Sudden Meeting in Swilvane
With Joan
Once she'd managed to calm herself down enough that she was no longer crying (though she was willing to bet that her eyes IRL were quite damp), Joan took a moment to truly look at her daughter with something akin to astonishment as they stood under the night sky. "Erato, that form…how…?"
"It was a final offer of apology from Father." the former SAO Floor Boss answered. She was currently covered in a dress that looked like it was made of hundreds of interwoven leaves, but her feet had been left bare. "He accessed my data while I was stored within your NerveGear and provided a few minor upgrades. I no longer have access to either my first or my third forms, but in exchange I have this new childlike form as well as functionality similar to MHCP001-Yui, taken from Cardinal's scans of her as she became an emergent AI."
While she was still bitterly furious that Kayaba had once more altered Erato without her permission, Joan could at least appreciate the spirit that was behind these newest alterations. This gesture was likely the closest thing to an actual apology that the mad programmer was capable of offering another human being. That this gift was being obviously offered for forcing her to fight and defeat Erato herself in Aincrad as well as the month-long imprisonment she'd been forced to undergo afterwards was obvious. And it did mean that Erato, her beloved creation, was now far closer to being human just like Yui had been.
'Very well Kayaba. For this gift I will forgive the pain you personally forced upon my daughter and I…but I will never forget what you have done to cause all of this madness in the first place.' the SAO Survivor admitted begrudgingly.
"Well, this is all good to know." she stated aloud. "Erato, we are currently in Alfheim Online, a game that was made using Sword Art Online as its base. Can you interact with the system here?"
Erato closed her eyes for a moment, tilting her head slightly, before opening them again. "Yes mother. This system is running off a copy of the Cardinal System, albeit a rather outdated version of it in comparison to SAO, and I can easily interact with it. As I am now formatted to be similar to Yui-nee-san, the system is already treating me like I am an entity referred to as a 'Navigation Pixie.' Downloading data…done. I can now alter my appearance to match that of a Navigation Pixie in order to aid in my concealment from GM oversight. So long as your Player Data is not given a more than casual inspection by one of the GMs, I should be perfectly undetectable."
"Well, that is good news at least, but be sure to pull back into my computer network when I log out of ALO. I don't want you to risk yourself." Joan instructed. "And it might be best if you change into that Navigation Pixie form right away, we do not want to risk a casual observation by a GM blowing our cover so quickly."
"As you wish, mother." the former Floor Boss offered an obedient nod before, with a flash, she changed. Where there was formerly a petite girl that looked to be around seven or eight, when the light faded there was now a tiny pixie, no larger than ten centimetres in height. Her dress was now made of a far smaller number of leaves that looked like it had been wrapped around her in such a way that it appeared quite dainty. She also had a pair of wings that looked like leaves as well, which she quickly used to fly up and perch herself on Jean's shoulder.
It took a considerably larger amount of willpower than she would care to admit for Joan not to squee at how utterly adorable her daughter looked in this newest form. Oh god, she was an oya-baka; her mother could never learn of this.
"Right, that should do quite nicely Erato." she praised her AI daughter. "Now, I need to find Swilvane, the capital of the Sylphs. Where are we and just how far do we need to travel in order to reach it?"
"We are currently located in the outer edges of Cait Sith territory, known as Butterfly Valley." Erato reported. "If you utilize the flight system, we would simply need to head south and we would quickly be within Sylph territory. Swilvane is located near the Ancient Forest in the south-west section of their territory. It would take considerable time to reach it by foot travel, but a considerably shorter amount if you make use of the flight system."
"Hmm…I am only able to fly for ten minutes at a time before I have to let my wings rest if the online forums I accessed were correct." Joan hummed in thought. "Well, if that is the only way, then it is the only way. Still, no point wasting flight time by starting off on the ground and taking off…"
Looking around, she quickly spotted a tree that looked climbable and swiftly scaled it. Her old tree climbing habits, left over from her many childhood camping trips with her father, were still strong it seems.
"Mother, what is your reason for entering this world?" Erato asked after a moment of silence.
"Other than the chance to see you again? I am here to rescue Asuna, your auntie." the Sylph answered grimly. She went on to explain everything that had brought her into ALO and precisely what her goals were while they were here. By the time she'd finished she needed to land to allow her wings time to 'rest' and she was simply jogging through the forest, not even bothering to try for stealth.
Honestly, she was kind of hoping that someone would try and ambush her. She needed to knock the rust off after being out of combat for a few months.
"Mother, this plan appears to be quite reckless." Erato offered, a hint of worry in her tone. "If your suppositions are correct then our current enemy has a position of power similar to what Father held within SAO, that of a Supreme Game Master. And unlike Father, this Sugu Nobuyuki person does not appear to have any sense of fair play or any idea of honour to him."
"We simply do not have a choice, Erato. This guy has Asuna, and I know for a fact that if it was me being held captive, Asuna wouldn't hesitate to come charging in after me herself." Joan replied firmly.
"…data concurs." her daughter offered with an adorably serious nod. "Very well, let us rescue Auntie Asuna."
"Attagirl Erato." Joan offered with a smile, gently reaching up to pat her tiny daughter on the head. "Now, it is time to scale another tree."
It really was an annoying limitation to have to deal with, flying on a set time limit. She could see why 'limitless flight' sounded like such a grand prize for those who enjoyed this game. Just about the only thing that Joan could say about it herself was that at least the duration was long enough that she was able to get the hang of using her thoughts rather than her controller to direct her flight. The forums had said that that particular skill had been dubbed [Voluntary Flight] and that most of the mid-level and up Players from the Nine Fairy Races were capable of using it.
"Seriously? No animals or monsters? Just what is with this place?" the girl muttered, scowling as a flicker of blonde hair caught her attention and forced her to suppress a growl. She desperately needed to find some silver hair-dye soon; she absolutely hated her blonde hair IRL and she had absolutely no intention of dealing with it in a game any longer than she absolutely had to.
Thirty more frustratingly encounter-free minutes later and Joan almost cried in relief when a team of five red-armoured Players started pursuing her while she was running on foot across the ground, once more letting her wings rest, with Erato hiding inside the left breast pocket of her top. The leading player raised his left hand towards as he flew forwards and started chanting, bright red runes appearing around him as he spoke.
"Ek Verpa Einn Brandr Muspulli, Kalla Bresta Bani, Steypa Ludr Drótt! (I throw the flame of a demon, call the exploding death, to throw down the army of the forest!)"
A fireball, roughly the same size as a medicine ball, gathered above his hand before shooting straight towards her. It was fast, she would give the 'spell' that much. However, for Joan, who had stats that were worthy of a Level 90+ character as well as instincts and reactions that had been honed to a razor's edge by the life-and-death struggles within Aincrad, dodging it was far too easy.
'So that is Aincrad's magic system, hm? Using a speak-the-words mini game to allow vocal invocation of magic rather than using a console set-up…bold.' the currently blonde-haired Sylph mused as she leapt up, easily dodging the fireball as well as the explosion that followed its detonation as it impacted the spot she'd been running through a moment ago.
"What the-!?"
"She dodged it!?"
Catching a tree branch with one hand, Joan easily flipped around it before landing atop it as she turned to face the Salamanders, whose red wings rapidly faded as she watched them land, all glowering up at her.
"Hello there Salamanders." she grinned down at them. "Less than a full hour into this game and someone's already trying to PK me? That has to be some kind of record. Am I just special or are you guys out on a 'Sylph Extermination Mission' from your Lord?"
"So what if we are?" the apparent leader spat back arrogantly. Even that worthless bastard Kibaou hadn't been quite so up his own rear when she first had the displeasure of meeting him as this one seemed to present himself as. "What can one under-equipped Sylph hope to do against five experienced Salamanders."
"True, I can't deny that my current equipment is well beneath my usual standards, but hey, I simply haven't had the chance to properly upgrade myself just yet." Joan responded with a lazy shrug as she drew her shitty short sword. "Just out of curiosity's sake, what exactly happens to one's money and items if they are PK'd?"
"Hah, you need to be more worried about your skill progression." another Salamander scoffed out. "Dying by any means will cause you to lose a set amount of any skill levelling progress. If someone PK's you, they will get a set amount of money and items as well. Now that you know, why don't you be a good girl and just hand over everything you've got so this doesn't have to get ugly!?"
"Ah, good to know." the Sylph nodded absently. "However…I sincerely doubt that any of you have the ability to actually kill me. Was that fireball the fastest spell that you have? If so, then you had better get to chanting, because if your next shot does not land perfectly…you will be dead before you get a chance to even start another one."
Her words obviously unnerved the five Salamanders, their AmuSphere-derived reactions made that obvious. Or perhaps it was how those words were spoken, flat and utterly matter-of-fact rather than a confident boast or angry threat, that bothered them so much.
"U-Use precision bombardment magic!" the leader ordered out, managing to minimize his own nervous stutter to his own credit. One of his subordinates quickly complied, raising their hands to point at Joan as they chanted.
"Ek Fleygja þrír Geirr Muspilli! (I throw three spears of the demon's flame!)" they intoned quickly, fire gathering in their hands. Joan readied herself, sword held loosely in one hand.
"Shoot!" the leader barked and a lance of fire erupted from their hands not once, not twice, but three times in rapid succession. The Sylph's own eyes widened slightly in shock, before narrowing as she tensed and leaping from the branch she had been perched on so quickly that the Salamanders below her literally couldn't follow her movements. She appeared behind them a moment later and sheathed her worthless sword with a slight flourish.
With the click of her sheathed weapon, a single slash instantly appeared across the chest-plates of the armoured Fairies, their armour utterly meaningless before the might that had driven the blade and had managed to cut them all through. In the next moment, the bodies of all five Salamanders burned away in a flare of fire, leaving five red Remain Lights behind.
"…wow, just one hit each?" Joan blinked in surprise. She'd expected that she would at least have to land a second blow on a couple of them given how poor her equipment was. "Man, I must be stupidly overpowered in this world."
Scrolling through the items and Yrd she had just earned as she strolled away from the Remain Lights, she quickly swapped out her crappy [Sylph Starter Short Sword] for a sword that was both miles better in terms of stats and far more her speed. A curved scimitar quickly replaced the straight sword on her waist as Erato popped her head out of Joan's pocket.
"That was a decisive victory, Mother." the dryad/pixie offered in confusion. "Those Salamander were not weak by any of this game's metrics, however. Why were they so easily defeated?"
"That comes down to the simplest difference between an amateur and a professional, Erato." Joan informed her daughter simply. "I lived and breathed as my game character for over two years while trapped within Aincrad because to do anything less while fighting on the front lines would have been suicide. The strength of my avatar and my character build were absolutely crucial to my survival. Here it is far, far, far less important because there is now a zero chance of death thanks to the changes made to the AmuSphere. Without that motivation to drive their characters toward perfection and not being forced to focus on the game every hour of the day, most of the Players here will take the long, slow, careful approach as they normally would. That means that even capable players will have builds that are imperfect and with plenty of holes and weak-points for one such as I to exploit."
"I see." Erato conceded thoughtfully. "I shall have to take that into account for future encounter modelling purposes."
"Please do. Also, could you please look up a Wind Element spell for me to practice with?" Joan asked. "Something simple to start with, if you please."
Her daughter was almost frighteningly swift in how quickly she managed to complete her request. The spell, [Wind Needles], was apparently a common spell that nearly every Sylph knew, and it was a highly useful one as well.
Raising both hands as she directed them towards a tree, Joan started to chant once she'd taken a moment to memorize the words and their pronunciation.
"Ek Skýt Tuttugu Smár Striða! (I shoot twenty small needles!)"
Light gathered in front of her hands as she chanted and, the moment it was completed the light flared, firing off twenty needles of wind which rapidly slammed into the tree that she was using as target practice one after another. While each was individually quite average in power and they lacked a homing property, the sheer number of them and the cluster that they were fired in made them useful and hard to avoid. A good combat spell, Joan concluded.
"I'll have to look into magic more, and not just the wind element. Overspecialization is one of the swiftest killers, after all." Joan mused. While as a Sylph, she had a fairly strong affinity towards wind, which both increased the power and reduced the cost of casting such spells, that did not mean she was forbidden from learning spells of fire, earth, water, sound, darkness, and illusion. Certainly, most of the truly high-level spells from those elements would be utterly beyond her means, but the simple ones were well within the reach of every Player.
Shaking her head, she resolved to look more into simple spells of the other elements on the various discussion forums when she had a bit of time to ensure she had a proper armoury when it came to magic.
"Let's go, we need to get to Swilvane." Joan stated, looking towards the nearest tree. "While this was a pleasant-enough distraction, we still have quite a ways to go."
Later
Entrance of the Sylph Capital of Swilvane
"So this is Swilvane, huh?" Joan mused aloud as she looked around in interest.
The Sylph Capital was undeniably a beautiful place, easily one of the prettiest cities she had ever seen, and that included some of the jaw-dropping locations she's seen in Aincrad. Rather than being built within or at the edge of the forest, it was more like the city itself was a part of the forest, with houses and shops set within the towering trees. Piercing far into the sky from the centre of the city itself and from each of the cardinal directions was a single enormously tall tower, each linked together by delicate-looking bridges. Outside those four corner towers were another four towers, though these were at least a third smaller than their immense counterparts.
Despite herself, Joan couldn't help but find herself feeling moderately impressed. She very much doubted that that louse Sugou had anything to do with the actual designs within the game and the Nine Races beyond maybe the core pieces of stupidity, like the time-limited flight system and the whole race-driven civil war, so she was more than happy to give whoever had actually designed the Emerald Capital, as Swilvane was apparently also known as, due credit for their work.
A few quick and polite questions to some of the nearby Sylphs got her directions to some good clothing and weapon stores, where she quickly began to splurge a good chunk of her funds purchasing new armour, clothing, and weapons; not to mention a silver hair dying potion that she immediately applied to herself and rid herself of those damnable blonde locks.
She also sold off all of the useless bric-a-brac that she'd 'liberated' from the five Salamanders, including the scimitar that had been her temporary weapon, along with her abysmal starting equipment. Joan finally felt a bit more comfortable in her new avatar now that she was properly armed and outfitted in gear befitting her level and power. Walking around in that low level junk honestly left her feeling like she was wearing tissue paper and waving around a stick.
One of her 'luckier' finds was a rather unusual-looking katana-type weapon. The blade was perfectly standard with a black and red tsuka-ito, but the tsuba was odd, looking like it was made up of three interlocked gears arrayed horizontally around the base of the blade. The Player shopkeeper had rather grumpily informed her that that particular sword had accidentally been included as part of an order from the Leprechauns and no Sylph wanted to use that particular kind of weapon, so he'd been more than happy knock off 90% of the price just to keep it from taking up space any longer. Very naturally, he was absolutely delighted when Joan offered him full price for it.
The weapon, [Tri-Linked Gears], was a very good katana. Nothing compared to the anything that Joan or the other front-liners would have wielded past the 50th Floor of Aincrad, but a decent enough weapon for the current circumstances. Liz would have just clicked her tongue at it in disappointment before heading off to her forge to make something better.
Moving on to clothes and armour, she was a bit surprised to find both were rolled into a single category here, with most Sylph women seeming to prefer lightweight armour if they chose to wear any at all if the availability was any indicator. The heaviest set of armour that she could find, which wasn't saying that much, was also rather…racy in its design.
"Hn, damn whatever bastard designed the female armour in this game. Nothing but a bloody rampaging pervert." the former Silver Knight grumbled out as she absently adjusted her right pauldron. She wore a forest green battle dress that left quite a bit of her avatar's cleavage exposed (hey, at least it wasn't her actual body shape this time, so she wasn't going to complain too much), but also had armoured sections on her waist and over her breasts. On her legs, she wore a set of forest green thigh-high stockings, covered by green, brass, and grey armoured greaves (that also included those dumbass lady stilts for some damnable reason!) that went up all the way to her mid-thigh, about the same length of her stockings. Her arms were protected by a set of forest green and brass bracers, with a set of segmented pauldrons resting atop her shoulders. To finish things off, she had a set of green and brass faulds resting atop each of her hips.
When it came to pure stats, it was actually quite an excellent set of armour that gave her about the same amount of protection as her old [Dwarven Scale Mail] had back in Aincrad but with only a third of the movement penalty that her old armour had imposed on her. And that had been a fairly light set of medium armour! Yes, the penalty was still fairly bad for light armour, but in all honestly at the moment she was already strong enough that only the strongest players in ALO, such as the Lords of the Nine Races and their Guards, were any real threat to her.
Now properly dressed and armed, Joan designed to finish her ensemble by buying a hooded cape and equipping it to conceal herself a bit and make her looks stand out a bit less.
She would still stand out…just in a different way than before.
'Well, now that I have gotten myself properly kitted out, I should start making my way towards the World Tree…or maybe not.' she thought as she wandered into the area known as the Lily of the Valley Pavilion, a gathering place for Sylph Players and glanced upwards. The sky was in the middle of twilight and night was starting to give way to day on the server. 'Tch…I likely won't be able to make it to the nearest town after Swilvane before I have to Log Out for the day. I should best find an Inn, logging out anywhere but a private room or owned space in this game is nothing but foolishness. I'll just have to head out tomorrow.'
Decisions made, Joan made her way to an inn, rented a room for a day and a night, and then entered the room before bidding Erato a good night and logging out.
Morisato Ai's Room
Blinking slowly as she opened her eyes back in reality once more, Ai sat up and removed the AmuSphere from her head. There was no sign that anyone had been in her room, so her mother was treating her threat seriously, for now at least.
"Well, that was both a productive day and a waste of one." Joan muttered as she placed the little plastic accessory of a gaming device onto her bedside table.
"Mother?" a voice sudden came from her computer's speakers, making her jaw drop in surprise.
"E-Erato!?" the teenaged girl gasped before quickly regaining her feet and charging over to her computer monitor. There, on the screen, was the Navigation Pixie form of her AI daughter!
"H-How?!" Ai bleated out in shock. "You should only be able to travel between ALO and my VR Hub!"
"I am an advanced AI now, Mother. The limitations created by games like SAO and ALO no longer apply, especially when there is a secondary copy of my data on your computer." Erato explained. Pausing, she then hesitantly asked "Are you…upset with me? For coming here without permission?"
"No! No, no, no dear; you just surprised me is all!" the girl quickly and firmly denied, looking straight into the small camera that was sat atop of her monitor and was the likeliest way that Erato was 'looking' at her. "I just honestly did not expect you to be able to follow me here, Erato, and you caught me completely off guard. Is it…cramped in there?"
"The space is much smaller than the servers where ALO is located, but it is more than sufficient enough for me to rest in, Mother." the former Boss Monster answered.
"Okay, that is good at least. I'll try and scrape together some funds to get a server of some kind that you can stay in in the future, but for now, I would like you to do a bit of data mining for me." Ai stated with a smile. "I want you to plot the least time-intensive route from Swilvane to the World Tree. I want the route itself, the types of monsters we're likely to come across, any terrain hazards, and any likely opposition we are likely to face among the other Nine Races as well. Can you do that for me, Erato?"
The image of her daughter on-screen happily nodded. "Of course. I will have it done before you wake up in the morning, Mother."
"Good girl." Ai whispered, a smile on her face. "Now, please do not speak to anyone in this house but me, and not even that if either my mother or stepfather is in the room with us. They won't be able to accept that you are alive like I can. And do be careful with our bandwidth; the last thing I need is to give my mother an excuse to take away my AmuSphere."
"I shall be most cautious, Mother." Erato promised.
The Next Day
Inn Room, Swilvane, Ancient Forest, Alfheim Online
As her avatar flashed into existence, Joan stretched herself and sighed contentedly. In all honestly, being back in VR was a lot more comfortable for her than having to deal with reality sometimes.
'Certainly better than dealing with Jūzō's attempts to nag and guilt-trip me over 'threatening' my mother rather than trusting her like an idiot.' she scowled. She would give the man points for his persistence (and perhaps for the fact that his actions at least seemed to be coming from the best of intentions), but his moral crusade to try and get her and her mother to reconcile was unfortunately flawed. Joan knew her mother well enough to know that she would stubbornly cling to her beliefs even if faced with overwhelming proof that they were completely wrong, and Joan had long grown beyond being willing to give ground to appease her crybaby of a mother. Unless one was willing to bend in their stances, there would be no reconciliation between them and Joan refused to be the one to bend any longer.
Re-equipping her cloak and having Erato hide in her hood once more, the now silver-haired Sylph strode out of the inn and headed straight towards the middle tower of Swilvane, the Tower of Wind. Erato's planner called for her to start by flying off from the top of it, which give her extra altitude and thus increase the distance she could travel before her flight ran out. She'd just made it into the building's main atrium on the ground when a loud, strident, and self-important voice spoke up, drawing her attention.
"Leafa!"
That name in particular got her attention quickly. One of the things that Erato had done without even needing to be asked was gathering information on the particularly important or famous members of the Nine Races. Leafa, if this was indeed the same Player, was a female Sylph who was famous for being among the five fastest Sylph in the game and was reputed to have a nigh-obsession with flying that had earned her the popular moniker [Speedaholic]. She was also acknowledged as one of the most powerful swordswomen in the game, having recently won an in-game tournament to determine the strongest member of the Sylph race.
The speaker was a tall, male Sylph with a rather stern face. He had long green hair that was tied back into a braid and he was dressed in what looked to be some form of heavy plate armour made of silver beneath an ankle-length green cloak. He also had a golden circlet around his head. He was flanked by two more similarly dressed Sylph, presumably members of his party.
Who he was speaking to was far more interesting, however. The first was presumably 'Leafa' and she was quite the beauty, or at least her avatar was, anyway. She had long blonde hair tied into a ponytail that was fastened by some kind of flower petal-shaped ornament with two small braids framing either side of her face, which seemed to make her emerald-green eyes pop quite spectacularly. Her outfit was a bright green battle dress which only slightly more conservatively cut than Joan's own armour but did absolutely nothing to hide the size of the woman's impressive bust. Underneath her breasts, she wore a leather corset that likely acted as armour as well as a pair of white, spat-like shorts that covered her upper legs. Brown leather booths and white thigh-high stocking finished the outfit and she had a katana-like sword strapped to her waist.
The other was a major break from the utter monotony of greens, blondes, and whites that seemed to make up the Sylph capital, since the avatar in question was quite easily identifiable as a Spriggan, the all-black outfit he was wearing practically broadcasting his race to one and all. He had black spiky hair and wore a long black coat with a single armoured pauldron on the left shoulder along with black trousers and lightly armoured boots that completed the image. He had a frankly ridiculously oversized black greatsword slung over his shoulder and Joan felt an incredulous urge to ask if that weapon had a permit for carrying a concealed wielder.
'Oh for…really, Kirito?' Joan though in utter exasperation mixed with more than a bit of incredulity. How in the name of all the eighty-million kami had he somehow come across, and seemingly befriended, one of the most high-ranking female Sylphs in less than two days of gaming?! The Spriggan Race's capital, the Ancient Ruins, was easily the easternmost of the Nine Territories and there shouldn't have been any possible way for him to make his way to Swilvane from there in just two days!
'Unless whatever stupid error that threw me out in the middle of nowhere also got Kirito and sent him falling far from Spriggan territory…' she mused thoughtfully before shaking her head. It was more than possible, but she set that curiosity aside to listen in on the rather public argument, keeping herself back and out of sight, but moving to a spot where she could quickly intervene should it be needed.
"Hello Sigurd." Leafa greeted the other Sylph politely but there was a noticeably tense edge in her voice.
'Sigurd…he's supposed to be the assistant to Lady Sakuya, the Sylph Lord.' Joan thought, recognizing another important name from Erato's list. 'He was also a losing candidate for the selection of Sylph Lord and the second-place winner of the tournament that Leafa won. How interesting.'
"You're truly intend to leave the party, Leafa?" Sigurd asked bluntly, ignoring any and all niceties.
"Yeah…I suppose I am." Leafa responded blandly.
"Don't you understand how your own actions will inconvenience the other members?" the male Sylph tried to rebuke her, but, contrary to what Joan had honestly expected to happen, Leafa didn't even flinch at the man's words.
"Weren't you the one who promised that I would only have to join in when I had time?" the blonde Sylph responded pointedly. "And that I could come and go as I pleased?"
"But you've already a well-known member of our party!" Sigurd shot back in annoyance, confirming Joan's already low opinion of the man. He obviously didn't consider Leafa as anything more than an asset that he could use as part of his party, both for her skills and her reputation as a Player. "If you just leave without giving a good reason, our own reputation will suffer for it!"
"Eh…?" Leafa looked a bit dumbfounded by that implication. Not really a surprise, most players outside the ones who actively sought out big and important guilds to build a reputation didn't really think of things on a political level. It was then that the otherwise silent Spriggan spoke up and confirmed beyond any doubts that it truly was Kirito standing there.
"Party members are not items for you to use like that." he stated very quietly and calmly as he walked forward to stand in front of Sigurd, who scowled down at him.
"What did you say to me?" he rumbled out in displeasure, evidently very unused to having someone so openly defy him.
"You can't keep other players 'equipped' to you just because you want them, like they were a sword or armour." Kirito responded clearly, looking into Sigurd's eyes without a sliver of hesitation.
"Why you…!?" Sigurd recoiled a bit at the blunt words, his right hand moving to his sword, a standard one-handed straight sword by the looks of it. "You're just another piece of Spriggan trash that likes to rummage through the refuse looking for shiny bits! You're probably just another renegade that was kicked out of your own territory!"
Joan's hand absently fell to [Tri-Linked Gears], but she remained still for now. If Kirito was really playing this game, then he had to have a plan. Stepping in suddenly would likely just prove detrimental to it. However, if Sigurd drew that sword and tried to attack her friend, then the gloves were coming off in an instant.
"Sigurd! Don't you speak to my new partner like that!" Leafa shook herself free from whatever shocked state had befallen her at Kirito's intervention to snap angrily at the male Spriggan.
"What!?" the man looked taken aback at that sudden announcement, which quickly transformed into a look of frustration and brewing anger. "Leafa, are you going to abandon our territory and become a renegade as well!?"
"Tch…yes. Yes, I am." the blonde Sylph shot back after only a minute pause. "I am leaving this place for good!"
"…!" That seemed to cross a line for Sigurd, as he drew out his sword and brandished it at Kirito, who still seemed utterly calm. "If you were just going to buzz about like an annoying insect, I wouldn't have needed to bother myself with you, but if you intend to steal from our territory then it's an entirely different matter! If you're here, in the territory of another Race, you can't complain if you're killed, can you?!"
Rather than being intimidated by the bluster, Kirito just looked tired and annoyed of the entire debacle. He had always hated guild politics, so this kind of showboating and grandstanding was something that was always going to wear through his patience really quickly.
Realizing that the Spriggan before him was utterly unaffected by his attempt at intimidation, Sigurd looked ready to attack, only for one of his flunkies to whisper something to him that made him look around and see that they had become the centre of attention for every Sylph in the atrium. With no other choice available that wouldn't harm his standing, the man backed down, clicking his tongue in annoyance. Still, he couldn't help but try and get the last word in and redirected his glare onto Leafa
"Once you leave, be sure to run and hide, Leafa." Sigurd growled out as he sheathed his sword. "Those who betray me will soon come to regret their decisions."
At that, Joan couldn't help but let out a bark of laughter at the ridiculously clichéd line.
This, unfortunately drew Sigurd's attention, his face instantly flaming red in anger at being mocked so openly. "Who dares to laugh at me!?"
"That would be me, Siggy." Joan drawled out lazily as she walked forward, lowering her hood to reveal her face…and her shining silver hair, which instantly made Kirito's eyes widen in recognition.
"S-Siggy…!?" the man practically choked on the mangling of his name.
"Well, such a laughable excuse for a man deserves an equally laughable name, don't you think?" she snarked absently. "I've been in Swilvane for all of two days and you are easily the least impressive person that I have seen here. I do think I'll join Leafa in being a renegade if you're an example of the quality of people I'd be expected to work with staying here, and at least she has her priorities straight. Although, I'm sure it's going to be quite an interesting conversation when Lady Sakuya discovers that you basically drove one of the five fastest Sylphs and the best Sylph swordswoman into exile to soothe your own wounded pride. That'll certainly make your workday quite a bit more interesting, won't it Siggy?"
At the mention of the Sylph Lord, the only Player capable of issuing the exile command from her menu, Sigurd flinched before visibly straightening himself up again. "You obviously have no clue what is going on here, and I don't time to stand around and explain myself to some nobody!"
With a flourish of his cape, he abruptly about-faced and started to march off, his flunkies hurrying to follow after him.
Shaking her head, she looked over towards Kirito and Leafa. "Man, what a complete and utter ass. How exactly did you put up with that pompous blowhard for so long if that's how he usually acts, Leafa?"
"I…honestly have no idea." the blonde sighed before looking over at Kirito apologetically. "Sorry for getting you mixed up in my personal spat with Sigurd, Kirito. It's…probably been coming for quite a while now."
"It's fine. I didn't like the way he was trying to treat you like a possession rather than a person anyway." Kirito waved the apology off, before looking concerned. "But…are you sure about this? Abandoning the Sylph territory and becoming a renegade sounds like it's a pretty big deal around here?"
"The deed has already been done now, Kirito. Trying to worry about it at this point would be kind of pointless." Joan interjected a bit tartly. She would rather not deal with her friend's 'white knight' attitude at the moment. "Anyway, let's get to the top of the Tower. By the way Leafa, I'm Joan. It's nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you as well." Leafa nodded as she led the way up to the elevator, pointedly ignoring the stares she was receiving from her fellow Sylphs. "You're new, right? Why'd you suddenly decide to throw your lot in with Kirito and I?"
"If the rumours I've been hearing around here are right, then that Sigurd guy is the assistant to Lady Sakuya, the Sylph Lord. If that's the case, then Lady Sakuya either has a very bad eye for subordinates or there is something rotten going on in Swilvane." the silver-haired Sylph answered as they got into the lift before it started moving upwards. "Either way, using this place as a base with the likes of Sigurd around would be just as dangerous as trying to set up camp at a monster's spawning point. And, to be frank, that Sigurd guy just gave me a major bad feeling. Something in my gut tells me that he's up to something big and I really don't want to get caught up in it whenever the other shoe drops."
She then levelled an utterly exasperated look towards Kirito, who had enough self-awareness to look sheepish. "And you. Seriously, can you not go for two full days without getting yourself stuck in the middle of some kind of trouble? Did you hack the system and give yourself some kind of universal 'May You Live In Interesting Times' skill that automatically activates in whatever game you end up playing or something?"
"You two…know each other?" Leafa asked slowly, green eyes darting between Joan and Kirito curiously.
'In the name of Ōmiyanome-no-Ōkami, this guy's gone and done it again! He's somehow managed to attract another girl in less than two days!' Joan realized in detached disbelief. 'Asuna, Silica, Argo, Liz, Sachi, and now this new girl! Just how many girls are you going to throw at this thick-headed fool before you are satisfied, gods!?'
Shaking off the realization that she was somehow friends with a living Visual Novel Protagonist, she offered Leafa a smile. "We're old gaming buddies. A PVP focused game like this usually isn't really my thing, but with the way all of the reviews have been raving about it, I figured I should at least give it a try. This one here decided to do the same, and we were planning on meeting up later on down the line after we got a feel for the game itself."
Pretending not to notice the look of relief on Leafa's face as she registered the casual 'friend-zoning' that she had just used on Kirito, Joan stepped off of the elevator when it reached the top floor and was stunned at what she saw.
A long, almost unending vista lay sprawled out before them as far as the eye could see. It mostly plains and grasslands at the majority of angles, but a wild, untamed forest stretched out below them to one side. The sheer beauty of it, virtual or not, was enough to steal her breath away.
"This is gorgeous." Kirito breathed out, agreeing with her without even realizing it. "We're so close that it feels like we could just reach out and touch the sky itself…"
Leafa was smiling at their obvious enjoyment of the view. "Right? Whenever I see this endless sky, it makes everything else in the world seem so very small by comparison." she offered, stretching out one hand as if she was reaching out to stroke the sky itself. "I was always planning on leaving this place, you know, so this is just fine by me."
"I still feel like I made you exit end on a sour note though." the Spriggan offered hesitatingly.
"Whether you got involved or I decided to leave for some other reason entirely, my leaving was always going to end on a sour note." the blonde Sylph shrugged, letting out a tired sigh. "Sigurd's not exactly subtle or to hard to predict when it comes to maintaining his 'reputation.' He was never going to take me leaving and 'damaging' it well. I was honestly prepared to go renegade from the day he talked me into joining his party."
"What exactly does that even mean? It certainly sounds like a big thing, but…." Kirito asked.
"When a Player abandons their Race's territory, they are labelled as a renegade and a lot of 'loyal' Players look down on them for it." Leafa explained. "The main focus of ALO is to conquer the Grand Quest at the World Tree and achieve Unlimited Flight for your Race, after all."
She let out another sigh and shook her head. "I don't see why they're so obsessed with tying everyone down like that. This game literally gives us wings after all…"
A moment of silence stretched before a female voice piped up from Kirito's coat pocket.
"Humans are complicated." Yui stated as she pushed herself out of her hiding place. "I cannot understand the psychology that causes their desire to seek out others and form groups to manifest in such odd ways."
Joan had to hold in a squeal as she caught sight of her pseudo-niece in pixie form. She was so adorable! The pale lavender dress she was wearing looked like it was made of flower petals and she also had little wristlets and anklets that looked to be made of the same material. The two pairs of delicate-looking fairy wings rising from her back completed her appearance as a Navigation Pixie.
"Indeed. Such things are quite hard for me to comprehend." Erato offered as she poked herself out of from under Joan's hood, making Yui, Kirito, and Leafa double-take at the sight of her.
"Ah, this is my Private Pixie, Erato." Joan introduced them.
"Are Private Pixies that much more affordable these days?" Leafa blinked. "And that recent update must have really advanced their AIs if they can start talking about philosophy and stuff out of nowhere now."
"Ours are a bit different than most." Kirito sighed, grabbing his daughter and gently putting her back in his pocket.
"Erato, back into my hood if you please, we're about to take off." Joan instructed.
"Yes, Mother." the dryad pixie answered diligently before obeying.
"'Mother'?" Leafa blinked at her.
Any questions that the blonde Sylph had were, rather fortunately, interrupted by a short, male Sylph emerging from one of the elevators, much to Leafa's visible annoyance. This Sylph, Recon, was apparently another former party member, and he was, to Joan's annoyingly experienced eye, nursing a crush the size of the tower they were standing on for his female teammate.
After she stopped him from leaving with them and took off, Kirito swiftly followed suit after offering Recon an apologetic looking, who was still hopping around on one foot because of Leafa's stomping on the other. Joan hesitated, before saying. "Later kid. Looks like you're facing one heck of an uphill battle there. I'd wish you luck, but I think she just made her feeling on the matter quite clear, hm?"
"Wha-!?" Recon gawked at her, blushing like a tomato as Joan leapt off of the tower, spreading her wings as she did so.
'Now, to finally properly begin the rescue.' the silver-haired Sylph thought as she joined the flying formation with Leafa and Kirito. 'Wait for us Asuna, we're on our way!'
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Next Chapter: Traversing the Legrue Corridor
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