The Shadow of the Black Swordsman
On the 35th floor of Aincrad.
Keep your eyes open, Sachi thought cautiously as a mantis approached her.
She watched it raise its scythes in alternation, as if deciding on which one it was going to use to strike her.
Clutching her sword and shield, she prepared herself to finish it off before it would strike.
A second later, it raised its right scythe.
Sachi brought up her sword to defeat the monster…
Suddenly it roared, taking her off guard.
EEK! she shrieked internally. Keeping her eye on the enemy, she saw it approaching her.
Reflexively, she raised her shield to protect herself as the mantis brought its scythe down onto her.
Kuh, she thought as she realized what she did.
An instant longer than she wanted, the strike made contact with her shield, briefly staggering the monster. Without wasting the opportunity, she used a «Storm Slash» on the mantis, killing it instantly.
Annoyed at herself, Sachi sat down. For the 13th time tonight, she failed in her objective.
Today, the «Moonlit Black Cat» guild had come to the floor to get some supplies. Due to the fact that she actually had supplies for herself already, she had asked if she could go out and train instead today.
Since he always liked to hear that she was getting stronger, naturally, Keita had agreed once she assured him that nothing on this floor could even touch her.
However, as she already knew well, strength and courage were two different things.
She was spending the time trying to build the instinct to attack with her sword rather than block the enemy first. However, saying that progress was slow was too generous.
Scanning the field, she saw that there were no more monsters around to practice on.
Before she could get up to wrap up for the night, Sachi thought she heard a faint scream from far away. Looking around, she located the source of the scream from a forest that was just barely in her sightline.
Please let me make it in time! she thought desperately as she ran into the forest at full speed.
After a few minutes, she saw the source of the scream. There was a young girl, probably not even in her teenage years, being assaulted by a huge group of apes with gigantic clubs.
A flash of aqua blue launched from the girl, colliding with the club of one of the apes, preventing it from striking the girl.
There was no time to make sense of it as she mercilessly struck the ape that attacked before turning around and killing the rest before they could react.
As soon as the final «Drunken Ape» disappeared, Sachi let out a sigh of relief. I guess I am getting stronger, she thought as she turned to the girl.
"Are you alright?" she asked gently before stopping when she heard her sobbing.
She saw the girl clutching a blue feather to her chest. "Please… don't leave me… Pina…" she heard her whisper to the feather.
As soon as she said the name, she knew that she did not truly save this girl.
"I'm sorry," Sachi whispered to her, hating herself for being too late.
The girl shook her head and tried her best to stop her tears.
"...No... I was... being stupid... Thank you...for saving me..." she forced out as she stopped herself from crying.
Sachi bent down to eye-level with the girl and hesitantly put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"It's alright," she reassured. The girl turned up to look at her. "You don't have to force yourself to be strong."
The girl looked into Sachi's gentle blue eyes, seeing that they were devoid of scrutiny or harsh judgment. Slowly, she opened her feelings and hugged Sachi with her free arm, while the other arm clutched the final remainder of her friend.
Sachi stroked her back kindly, allowing the girl to cry into her chest, until there were no more tears left.
"Come on," Sachi said after several minutes. "Let's get you back to town, I'm sure your friend would have wanted you to be safe."
The girl slowly detached herself from Sachi and nodded in agreement.
With a gentle but forced smile, Sachi stood up and offered her hand to the crying girl.
She took it without hesitation, still clutching the feather, the two walked back to the nearby town.
"I haven't introduced myself yet," Sachi realized as they started to walk. "My name is Sachi."
"My name is Silica," the girl known as Silica introduced herself. "…and my partner's name is Pina," she told her, ready to cry again.
Sachi tightened her grip on Silica's hand as she was holding in her tears. "I'll make sure you get back to town safely," she told her protectively.
Silica nodded sadly as she tried to find comfort from the girl who had saved her.
"Why are you being so kind?" she asked carefully, finally realizing that the blue-haired girl had no explicit reason to help her.
Sachi looked down at her kindly, her eyes slightly misting over sadly as her chest felt tight.
"There doesn't always have to be a reason to be kind…" she told her weakly. However, saying this made the clenching in her chest tighten, unable to convince herself that this was completely true.
"…And honestly… I know what it's like to lose a friend…" she admitted sadly. As she spoke, the memories of her lost friend kept flooding in.
Silica looked up to her saviour sympathetically, tightening her grip on her hand reassuringly.
Sachi put away her sword as they entered «Friben Village». Throughout their whole walk back, not a single monster had approached the duo, as if being kind to the mourning girl.
At the same time, they hadn't exchanged any more words after leaving the forest area as Silica wanted to mourn in silence while Sachi would let her do so.
How can I help her? Sachi asked herself as she took another look at the sad beast-tamer.
Silica was still looking down, holding Sachi's hand, as if it could bring her comfort.
Sachi perfectly understood what she was going through… and she knew that Silica needed someone right now.
My friends helped me through my pain, she thought as she rubbed her thumb over Silica's hand. Maybe I can help her too.
"Do you live around here?" Silica asked quietly, snapping Sachi back into reality.
It took her a second to compose herself before she could answer. "No, I live in Hanada town on the 22nd floor," she informed the girl, curious as to why she was asking. "I just came to this floor to train."
Silica nodded sadly at her. It seemed like she wanted to ask her something, but before she could speak further, a couple of voices interrupted her.
"Silica!" came two voices from nearby.
"Huh?" asked Silica.
The two men crowded around Silica, ignoring Sachi in the process.
"You were pretty late getting back!" said the chubby one. "We were worried about you!"
They must be her fans, she thought as she wondered whether if she should let Silica take care of this.
"Want to team up with us?" asked the skinny one. "We'll take you where you want to go."
The increased pressure on her hand told her that Silica was getting nervous.
"That's really nice of you to offer, but…" she told them as she grabbed Sachi's arm with both hands.
"I'm sorry, but I've decided not to go on quests for the time being!" she declared.
The two boys looked horrified that she'd say this and reject them like this.
"Butbutbut," stuttered out the chubby one. "You can't retire like this!"
"You're «Dragon Tamer Silica»!" the skinny one reminded her.
Silica shrunk back a bit, unsure of what to say to them.
"You can't just leave us!" yelled out the chubby one.
"Please reconsider!" they begged at the same time, startling her further.
Seeing this was enough for Sachi. Quickly, she pushed Silica behind her and held an armoured arm in front of her protectively.
"Please don't put her on the spot," she admonished quietly. "Silica can make her own choices."
The two jolted when they heard her say this.
"Who are you to speak for Silica-chan?" asked the skinny one bitterly with his eyes still on Silica.
"You shouldn't cut in line," scolded the skinny one. "We've had our eyes on Silica for quite a while now."
The two of them turned up and fixed her with a glare for a second – a second later their eyes softened when they saw her face, recognizing that she was another girl.
"We-well, I suppose it's fine if you two stay together," stuttered out the skinny one.
"Maybe… you can join us?" asked the chubby one nervously.
Sachi scratched her head with a flattered expression before smiling at them.
"I'm sorry," she apologized nervously. "I already have a guild that I care for."
The two of them had utterly defeated expressions on their faces as the two girls turned away from them.
"I'll send you a message next time," Silica called over to them sadly.
They walked away quickly, hoping to get away from the crowd of people that their conversation had gathered.
Eventually, they cut across the gate plaza and into the main street where there were no more players looking at them.
"…I-I'm, sorry," Silica said sadly. "For making you go through all this trouble."
Sachi smiled at her and pet her head gently. "It's alright," she reassured. "I'm sorry too, I should've been able to handle them better… but I get nervous really easily."
Silica looked at her apologetically, still sorry for putting this on her. This made Sachi decide to change the topic.
"Silica sure is popular," she told her kindly.
"It's not because I'm popular;" Silica confessed sadly. "They're just trying to get me in their party as a sort of mascot, really. But… I thought that I was special and went into the forest by myself… and ended up…"
Tears began to flow as she thought of Pina.
"I'm sorry," Sachi apologized again, still feeling guilty about being unable to save Pina. "We'll do our best to bring her back."
Silica wiped her tears and looked at Sachi, curious as to whether it was possible to bring back a beast. If that was possible… then maybe people can be brought back to… she thought sadly.
She recalled her mentioning that she knew what it was like to lose a friend. Maybe we can bring them back to.
As she looked up to Sachi, she saw something familiar in her – a kindred spirit.
"Thank you Sachi," she said gratefully "You're a very kind person."
Sachi was briefly taken off guard by this, but she smiled regardless.
"Thank you, Silica," she responded, genuinely touched at her kind words.
Still smiling, she opened her menu and went to message Keita to tell him her plans.
"Um… Sachi?" interrupted Silica, making her turn to the younger girl.
"Are you a solo player?" she asked uncertainly. "I know that you told those guys earlier that you have a guild, but I haven't seen you with anyone."
Sachi blinked at her new friend before smiling, amused at her question and grateful to help keep Silica's mind off of her dead friend.
"No, I'm not a solo player," she confirmed. "I'm a member of a guild who's in town. Which reminds me, I should probably tell them that I won't be going home tonight."
She was prepared to stay with Silica for as long as she needed.
"Maybe you've heard of us," she said as she opened her menu. "We're the «Moonlit Black Cats»."
Silica blinked at her, not recognizing that name. She was somebody who kept up with the latest gossip about the game, so she figured that they must be a small guild.
"Sorry, I don't think I've heard of the «Moonlit Black Cats»," she said sadly, hoping that she wasn't sounding insulting.
"Tehe," Sachi chuckled. "That makes sense, we haven't done anything publically impressive."
"Although we do have a solo player in our guild," she told her, confusing Silica when she heard the fondness in her voice.
Furthermore, solo players were rather rare, so it was strange to think that someone would consider them such, even if they were an official member of a guild.
"Wait, how could a solo player be a part of a guild?" she asked uncertainly.
"Oh, he sometimes just comes and goes," Sachi informed her as she sent her message to Keita. "He's always been a stray cat of sorts."
He? Silica thought suspiciously, curious as to what relationship this solo player had with her new friend.
"Sometimes it's hard to say whether he's being truthful when he says he's a solo player or a member of our guild," she spoke wistfully.
Before she could ask anything further, a voice interrupted them.
"Hey, Sachi!" came a voice from behind them.
Instinctively, Sachi shot up and turned around. Silica did the same. They turned around to see a boy with black hair and wearing a black coat. He wasn't particularly tall and Silica briefly wondered if he was actually a girl.
He approached them with a friendly smile, however, Silica noticed that his eyes were focused on Sachi. Curiously, she turned to look up at Sachi, and what she saw concerned her. Sachi seemed very concerned and nervous, just from standing beside her, she could sense her apprehension.
In the past, a couple of male players who had been much older than her had tried to gain her love; she had even received a proposal once.
Worried that this boy may be like them, or even a stalker, she moved in front of her and put her hand on her dagger, preparing herself to defend her new friend.
"Hello, Kirito," she heard an excited voice from above.
Surprised, she turned to look at Sachi again; this time she saw a bashful smile on her face and a longing look in her eyes.
With a kind smile, the older girl gently pushed Silica to the side and stood close to the boy
"I didn't expect to run into you here, what are you up to?" he asked, before turning to Silica. "And who's this? A new guildmate?"
"This is Silica," she introduced her new friend. "I was training in the fields when I ran into her."
The boy's eyes widened, surprised to hear this.
"She was under attack," she clarified, downcast. "I was barely able to save her… but I couldn't save her friend…"
"I'm a beast-tamer," Silica clarified as she showed Pina's remaining feather, not wanting this boy to think that Sachi failed to save a player. "And she did everything she could."
The boy's gray eyes widened when he heard this, no doubt surprised to find out that his timid partner was able to do something so heroic.
He grabbed her hands in his own, "You're incredible, Sachi," Kirito complimented, making her blush.
Never having a boyfriend of her own, Silica wasn't sure what to make of this.
Still smiling, he turned towards her and told her something incredible.
"And for you, I know of a way to bring your friend back."
He opened his mouth to tell her, but then started to look around suspiciously.
"I shouldn't tell you where people can hear us," he said suspiciously. "Let's have dinner first then, I'll tell you everything."
Silica glared at him suspiciously, even if he promised to help her bring back Pina, she knew better than to go off somewhere with a strange male.
"Maybe you should tell her here," suggested Sachi, recognizing her caution. "There isn't anyone else here."
"And it'd be a little weird to bring her somewhere random," she whispered into his ear.
Kirito took another look around. He had a very high tracking skill, so if he could tell anyone was there, then it wasn't safe.
"Alright," he sighed. With a smile, Sachi pulled him by the hand over to the bench to sit down. Silica followed them cautiously, but not before noting how close they were sitting next to each other; there was no space between them and their hands were touching ever so slightly on their laps.
"First of all, does that feather have a name?" Kirito asked the young beast tamer.
Surprised by the question, she immediately checked for what he was asking.
"Its name is «Pina's Heart».
"Perfect," he exclaimed. "You see, if a heart item is left behind, then you can revive it."
"Really?!" she shouted.
"It's something that was discovered not too long ago," he confirmed, "so there are still lots of people who don't know. There's a dungeon in the northern region of the forty-seventh floor called «The Hill of Memories». It's quite hard despite its name... but they say that the flower that blooms on the top of it is a familiar revival ite—."
"The 47th floor…" she interrupted with a sad look on her face.
"Maybe we could go for her?" Sachi suggested before Silica would lose hope.
However, Kirito shook his head to that.
"The sentiment is nice," he said in a bothered voice. "But they say that the flower only shows up if the beast tamer who lost their familiar goes..."
That was a concern. Silica however did not let this get her down.
"No... I'm happy with the information you gave me. If I work hard to raise my level, someday I'll be able to..."
"Well the reason you can't do that is, they say that you can only revive the familiar within four days after it was killed. After that, the item's name will change from «Heart» to «Remains»..."
"What…?!" Silica shouted.
"No!" Sachi whispered.
I can't let that happen.
"What if we were to go together, Silica?" she asked the young girl immediately.
"Really?" Silica asked, her eyes shining with hope.
For once she was actually feeling excited for a mission. "Yeah, we can gather my guild and escort you through the «Hill of Memories»."
"Look at you taking the initiative," Kirito said happily as he placed his head against Sachi's.
"And don't worry about your safety, because I'll come with you too,"
Silica's eyes widened happily as she nodded enthusiastically.
"Wait," Silica realized something strange. "Why are you helping me?"
Kirito smiled at her as he grabbed Sachi's hand.
"Well, I can't expect my partner to do all the work,"
"Partner?" Silica asked in confusion.
They were certainly close, but why would he refer to his guildmate as his partner? When she looked at Sachi, she noticed that her face was flushed crimson.
"Oh… OHH!" the realization finally came to her.
"You two are dating!" she blurted out.
Kirito smiled although his face was red. Meanwhile, Sachi had already buried her red face in to her hands.
"Sorry!" she exclaimed but for some reason, she felt excited about finding this out.
"No, no, it's fine," Sachi was finally able to say.
It took her a while to finally sober up.
"Let's go find our guild," she said to Kirito who was still grinning.
She held his hand as they started to walk.
For some reason the sight of them bothered Silica, so she grabbed on to Sachi's free hand.
"Oh, if it isn't Silica," a voice called out from the alleyway. "Ho~, you somehow managed to get out of the forest. That's a relief."
The entire party group stopped.
The person speaking was a rather tall woman with red hair that covered one eye.
"But you're too late. We've already distributed the items," she spoke condescendingly.
"I said I don't need them!" Silica replied. She tugged on Sachi's hand, trying to get them to go. "I'm busy right now so goodbye!"
They were about to leave, before,
"Huh, what happened to that lizard? Could it be that..." she provoked Silica.
"Pina died, but I'm bringing her back to life, no matter what!" she proclaimed.
Hearing her resolution, Sachi couldn't help but feel a new respect for the girl.
"Meaning that you're planning to go to the Hill of Memories... But at your level, will you be able to clear it?"
Sachi protectively put an arm in front of Silica as she started to feel the same way she did around the bullies at school. Not that she was ever bullied herself, but she knew that Rosalia was trying to provoke Silica into lashing out or breaking down.
"Of course, she can," Kirito proclaimed before anyone could speak. "It's not that hard of a dungeon anyways."
The woman looked at him contemptively, as if trying to ascertain his strength just by looking at him.
"Don't tell me that you two have been seduced by this girl," she mocked them, "none of you look that strong."
Kirito merely smirked at her as he pulled on Sachi's hand.
"Don't worry about a thing," he said arrogantly, "we'll be just fine."
And with that, he led them towards the inn.
Once they walked into the inn, they were immediately greeted by the other Moonlit Black Cats.
"Yo, Kirito! Good to see you man!" Ducker called as soon as they walked in.
The two boys greeted each other by giving a bro fist.
Tetsuo and Sasamaru also went up to him and greeted him in the same way.
Instead of following them, Keita walked over to Sachi and gently put his hand on her head, petting her.
"Good job." He spoke concisely, but it felt like he gave her an entire speech.
They exchanged smiles as he turned towards Silica.
"Nice to meet you," he greeted her as he extended his hand out to her. "My name is Keita, I'm the leader of the Moonlit Black Cats."
Silica hesitated a bit but ultimately returned the handshake.
"Sachi filled us in already, how are you holding up?"
She was caught off by the warm tone. In spite of knowing how kind Sachi was, she wasn't necessarily expecting her guild to be as kind.
"I'm fine," she responded with a brave smile. "I'm going to bring Pina back."
"And we'll help you with that," he said with a smile.
Then he turned to Sachi and whispered something into her ear,
"Do you know how we're going to do that?"
"Kirito explained it to us after I sent the message," she explained.
He smiled at this. "Always one step ahead, aren't you, Kirito?" he called to the black-haired boy.
The boy gave him a startled look before putting on a smile.
"You two mind staying together while he catches the rest of us up?"
"No problem, Keita."
He smiled at her before joining the rest of the boys.
"Your guild is really nice," Silica complimented once they were out of earshot.
"They're always great to be around."
"No, really," Silica insisted, "I've been in several parties before, but your guild seems like they're genuinely friends with each other."
This was true of course. Having known each other ever since middle school, and even longer for her and Keita, there was no doubt that they were close.
"Want to hear a secret?" she asked. "They're the reason I can fight at all. Without them, I never would have left the Town of Beginnings."
"That's not true!" Silica yelled a bit too loudly. The boys turned to them, wondering what was going on. Sachi waved them off, telling them that it was fine.
"Sorry, but I think you're being too hard on yourself. You're very strong and not only that, you were willing to help a person you didn't even know."
Sachi looked at her, surprised to hear this being said to her. Although she couldn't feel like her words were completely true they made her feel a little better.
"I think you're amazing, Sachi."
"Thank you, Silica," she said with a smile.
"Sorry to break up the bonding session," Keita had seemingly teleported and was standing over them, "but I think we should talk about the plan."
"Of course," Silica called as she bounded over to the boys.
Sachi followed after her as they stood in a circle.
Kirito pulled out a small box which contained a small crystal ball inside. He quickly manipulated his menu to pull out a hologram from the sphere. It displayed an entire floor of Aincrad in great detail.
"Wow…!" Silica breathed as she stared.
"Where do you get these things?" Sasamaru asked as he tried poking at some of the displayed trees.
"Here and there, but that isn't important," Kirito said as he turned his head to find the location he wanted.
"This is the living area, and this is the Hill of Memories. You have to go past this way, but... there are some strong monsters around here..." he explained to the gathered group, "And if you cross this bridge you can see the hi..."
Suddenly, he stopped talking and turned towards Ducker.
The boy nodded and ran to the door quickly,
"Who's there?!" he yelled into the hallway.
At the same time, they heard footsteps running away.
Ducker disappeared from the hallway as Keita and Sasamaru ran to the door in his stead.
"Wha-What is it!?" Silica cried out as Sachi protectively held her around the shoulders.
"Someone was eavesdropping," Tetsuo answered as he kept his eyes on the door.
"What...? But you can't hear anything past a wall, right?" Silica asked, bewildered,
As she said this, Ducker walked back in with a satisfied look on his face.
"They got away," he told everyone as he closed the door behind him.
"That's not good!" Silica called out. "What if they decide to follow us for the treasure?"
It was subtle, but her guildmates were being far too calm about the whole situation. It was clear that they had something planned.
"I get the feeling they were counting on it," Sachi answered, referring to her guildmates.
She looked them in the eyes and they returned with more apologetic gazes.
"We were going to tell you two," Keita said lamely trying to defend them, "but that just came up."
"I'll stay on watch," Ducker called over as he placed his ear against the door.
"Does he have the eavesdrop skill to?" Silica asked.
"That's right," Tetsuo answered, "Although there aren't all that many people who would train that skill, Ducker insisted on learning it."
"He insists that he needs to fit the "Thief Motif" that he's aiming for.
"And I'm right," Ducker called over.
They couldn't help but smile at him. Ducker always kept up the cheer for the group, even when he didn't mean to.
After a few moments, and a thumbs up from Ducker, Kirito started to explain what he knew.
"Right so, the truth is I've been on the trail of a thief recently at the request of a different guild."
He paused and looked at Silica.
"And unfortunately I'm fairly certain it was that woman who was mocking you today."
"T-that means…" she realized with mounting horror. "That means she knows that I'm on my way to get a rare item!"
He nodded as Sachi reassuringly put a hand on hers.
"Unfortunately, that means we may have to play directly into her hands."
There was an uncomfortable silence as the gathered players considered their options.
"Silica," Keita bent down to eye level and looked Silica in the eyes, "I promise that if you decide that you still want to go, you'll have the full protection of the Moonlit Black Cats, but this is a choice that you have to make on your own."
Silica stayed quiet for a few moments. Slowly she looked up and gave a resolute look.
"You say that this is my choice, but I think I really don't have one," she commented. "If it's to bring Pina back, I'll fight all of «Laughing Coffin» to bring her back!"
«Laughing Coffin» was the biggest group of player killers in all of Aincrad. Naturally, no one would ever fight them directly, but they understood her conviction.
Everyone smiled at her, impressed by her courage and loyalty to her friend.
"Let's make a plan! No thief will stop me!" she declared with resolution. "Sachi, Kirito," she said the names she actually remembered so far, "everyone, just tell me what we'll do and I'll follow!"
"All right," Kirito nodded to Keita who walked over and stood next to him, "here's what I was thinking."
As Ducker stayed on guard, the other Moonlit Black Cats along with Silica made their plans on how to bring Pina back.
After a night of rest, the trio of Kirito, Sachi and Silica arrived at the 47th floor.
It was covered in flowerbeds, overflowing with flowers of various colours.
"It's beautiful," Sachi breathed as she took in the spectacle of the floor.
"It's like a dreamland," Silica called out. She quickly bent down to observe some flowers which caught her eye.
"This floor is known as the Flower Garden," Kirito explained. "The entire level is covered in flowers."
"I don't think I've seen anything like this in Aincrad before!" Sachi spoke, awestruck.
"Yeah, it is great," Kirito conceded.
As he spoke, he saw a flowerbed of blue flowers.
Within seconds he pulled out a few.
With quick motions, he snuck up behind Sachi and stuck one behind her ear.
She turned around and saw him presenting a flower to her, a beautiful flower which resembled a blue rose.
"They reminded me of you," he said with a blush.
"Thank you," she said as she took the flower from his hand. Quickly, she reached out, pulled his hair away from his right side and put it behind his ear. "Now we match," she said with a blush of her own.
He smiled at her and leaned down to her.
Before anything could happen, they noticed that Silica was looking at them. Quickly they pulled back in embarrassment.
She smiled at them knowingly, already knowing how close they were.
"Don't worry, you two don't look out of place here," she said with a meaningful look around.
Looking around, Sachi understood what she meant. Across her sightline, there were quite a few couples.
"Well today we aren't here on a date," Kirito said, trying to mask his embarrassment. "We have a mission."
"That's right!" Sachi went with his enthusiasm. "We'll do this together!"
"We'll bring Pina back!" Silica added.
At they all cheered together and started walking forward.
However, once they arrived at a bridge, "Hold up," Kirito stopped them.
The two girls turned to him questioningly.
He quickly pulled out a teleport crystal and placed it in Silica's hand.
"I didn't want to bring it up in front of everyone yesterday, but if something happens, I want you to use this crystal immediately."
"But-" Silica tried to protest.
"Please," he interrupted her with an imploring look in his eyes. "I don't want you to be in danger if I can't protect you."
She hesitated for a bit before nodding.
"Don't worry, Kirito," Sachi tried to reassure her partner. "As long as we're with you we'll be safe."
He looked at her gratefully however he grabbed her left hand.
"Actually, can you promise me something too, Sachi? If the situation comes where Silica needs to teleport, I want you to go with her."
She immediately tried to protest, but the look in his eyes said something he didn't want to put in words, I want you to be safe.
She took a deep breath and pulled out a blue teleport crystal from her inventory to show that she had one on standby.
"I promise," she said. "I'll protect Silica if something goes wrong."
He smiled at her and started walking forward.
"And with that out of the way…" he prompted Sachi.
"Let's do this!" the two Black Cats called their guild's cheer.
"Let's do this!" Silica echoed as she pumped her fist into the air.
And with that, they crossed the bridge and entered the main area.
It wasn't long before the trio started running into monsters. They mainly looked like bestial flowers with little of the beauty of actual flowers.
The first one immediately tried to wrap their ankles.
Impressively, both Kirito and Sachi were able to cut the vines with their swords before they could pull them.
Silica however was not able to do so.
"Kyaaa!" she shrieked as she was hung upside down by the vines.
"Silica!" Sachi called although she found herself rooted in place.
The young girl screamed as she futilely waved her dagger in the general direction of the monster plant. Meanwhile, her other hand was holding her skirt firmly up, trying to avoid exposing herself despite the situation she was in.
"Anyone help! Don't look but help."
"That's a little hard," Kirito said. Funnily enough, he was following her order of not looking by covering his eyes.
In spite of the situation, she couldn't help but grin at him. That takes him out of the equation.
Taking a deep breath, Sachi brought her sword into place.
Don't be afraid, she told herself. Not when someone needs you.
Activating a sword skill, she attacked the monster and killed it immediately.
As it disappeared, Silica fell from where she was held but was able to right herself before landing. Although she still fell onto her backside after catching herself on her feet.
"Did you see?" she asked in embarrassment as she held her skirt down.
"No, I didn't…" Kirito said from a small distance away.
Sachi smiled and offered her gauntlet-covered hand to the fallen girl. "He better not have."
As they continued down the path they ran into a few more monsters.
For the most part, Silica took the initiative and attacked the monsters, hoping to get more EXP as they went along.
Kirito would usually only support them and cut through any vines which threatened to grab them. Although he didn't say it, he mainly let the girls attack them to help them level up. And she couldn't help but believe that he wouldn't attack because he trusted her to keep them safe.
Sachi tried to gather her courage and attack the monster but usually couldn't bring herself to do so before Silica could do so on her own.
In spite of her age, Silica was a brave young girl. Silently, Sachi couldn't help but admire and feel slightly envious of her drive, especially because it was to bring a friend back.
At some point they came to a place that held less monsters. They walked in silence together until Silica decided to ask something that she was curious about.
"Sachi," Silica called her name. "Could I ask about your friend?"
Kirito looked over to her curiously, no doubt curious as to how Silica knew about her.
"Why are you asking me all of a sudden?" Sachi asked nervously, not really wanting to relive the moment she found out about her death.
"I just… feel like this is something important, to you," Silica said bashfully. It was clear that she was starting to regret asking such a personal question.
"If you don't think you should…" Kirito tried to allow her to choose.
She briefly considered whether she should and made up her mind quickly.
"It's alright," Sachi confirmed, suddenly sounding strong. "I guess… it wouldn't hurt to let more people know about her."
After all, what happened was a part of the world of Aincrad, there was no moral against talking about this.
Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself to speak. "Well… her name in SAO was Yukiho," she started, slowly gaining the courage to speak of her first and greatest loss in this world. "Ah… I'm sorry, I would prefer if I didn't reveal her real name."
"That's alright," Silica assured her, not wanting to get too personal and bring the real world into this.
"Thank you, anyways, Yukiho was like me; timid and scared of dying. Unlike me, she was able to gather her courage before I could even consider leaving the «Town of Beginnings». I think it was a month after the game started, she told me that she was going off with her guild to become a «Clearer». At the time, I couldn't even tell her not to."
As she said this, she noticed Kirito subtlety cringe.
"I don't blame the players who inspired her," she hastily added, trying to ensure that Kirito doesn't think that she was blaming him for the death of her friend "They couldn't know that people like us would try to bite off more than we could chew."
"Anyways, due to her timidity, she would only train in safe zones. However, due to her bad luck, she was killed by mobs on her way back to town while separate from her guild."
Sachi had to pause. As she thought of the moment she found out that Yukiho's name was removed from her friend list, she felt ready to cry for her all over again.
Why didn't you do anything?! She was your friend! It was your responsibility to keep her safe! she recalled a line that only she ever heard.
Silica stared at her, horrified at her story.
"Anyways, after that, I pondered over what happened to her, as well as various other things, and I came to a conclusion. To continue surviving in this world, it matters not how strong their companions are, if a person does not have the will to live or the determination to survive, no matter what, death definitely awaits."
Silica's eyes widened. She had thought of Sachi as somebody with a great deal of emotional baggage, but this was too much.
"The thing is, even though I came to this conclusion, I haven't been able to live by it. Without my friends, my guildmates, I never could have made it this far."
She paused to reflect on what happened before going on to describe what drives her.
"Actually, I want to survive until the end for Yukiho's sake as well. If I can become stronger because of her sacrifice, then I know that us being in this game would have had meaning."
"Th-that's incredible…" Silica breathed, in awe of the girl who had saved her.
Sachi turned away, feeling unsure whether this was something that should be praised.
"I'm sure that Yukiho would be proud to know that she inspired such an incredible person," Silica continued.
Sachi smiled gently at the younger girl. In spite of everything, she had never truly come to terms with her dear friend's death, in fact she believed that she would carry this guilt with her forever. But nobody needed to know that.
As she thought of her friend, she felt somebody grab her hand. Looking to her side, she saw Kirito at her side, giving a sad but reassuring look.
Well… nobody except him needed to know.
She squeezed his hand and smiled gratefully at him, letting him know that she appreciated him.
After the conclusion of her story, it didn't take long for the trio to reach their destination.
Reaching a hillside, they found an open space which stuck out against the area which was surrounded by dense woods of flowers contending against themselves as they bloomed.
"This is the place!" Silica called out as she ran towards the pedestal.
The other two stayed back as they watched her retrieve the flower.
Smiling for Silica, she took a look at Kirito, expecting to see him smiling in turn.
And he was, although his eyes betrayed some sadness.
Sympathetically, she reached over and grabbed his hand. "Are you alright, dear?" she asked gently.
He squeezed her hand in turn before answering. "Yeah, it's just… she reminds me of my little sister."
His sister.
During the period of time after they had left the Moonlit Black Cats together all those months ago, Kirito had mentioned his little sister a few times, always telling her that he wanted to make things right with her and his family when he got back to the real world. He had even slipped her name a few times, but she wasn't going to tell anyone.
The truth is, she had imagined meeting his sister and the rest of his family one day with him by her side, introducing her to them as a part of his other family. It was a nice idea.
Gently, she put her other hand on his. "She would be proud of you for helping Silica," she whispered to him, "for a lot of things really.
He smiled as he laced their fingers together and wrapped his free arm around her.
"Thanks."
Pressing their heads together, they let themselves lose themselves in that moment.
"Ummm."
Hearing the voice, he quickly pulled his arm back but kept his grip on her hand.
"S-sorry, were you saying something?" he asked, unable to keep the embarrassment out of his voice.
"I wasn't… I mean," she looked away nervously, "I was wondering exactly how to use the flower to revive Pina."
Shaking off his embarrassment, he explained how to use it, "You just have to drip the droplet of water in the flower on the heart item. But there are a lot of strong monsters here, so it would be better to do it after we get back to the village. Let's just wait a bit longer and hurry back."
"Okay!" Silica nodded enthusiastically.
As she opened her menu and put the flower away, Sachi took a quick glance around, mentally preparing herself for an ambush.
Following the path they took to get there, they didn't run into any issues. At most a few monsters had respawned but they were easily dispatched.
By the time they had made it back to the bridge, the girls almost believed that they would make it back to town without an issue.
Suddenly, Kirito grabbed Sachi's shield hand reassuringly. He gave her a quick glance that told her to trust and leave everything to him. She squeezed his hand, telling him that she trusted him.
With a terrifying expression, he glared at the dense group of trees across the bridge.
"—You guys lying in ambush, come out right now," he commanded in a low, tense voice.
"What…?!" Silica cried as she looked towards the other side.
A few seconds later, two green cursors appeared.
The person who came into view was someone who they met before.
"Ro-Rosalia…?!" Silica asked in disbelief. "Why are you at a place like this?"
Rosalia ignored her question, instead focusing her eyes on Kirito.
"To think that you saw through my hiding; it seems that your scan skill is pretty high, swordsman. Did I underestimate you a little?"
Then she turned towards Silica. "Looks like you managed to get «Pneuma's Flower». Congratulations, Silica."
Sachi felt Silica take a few steps back, no doubt confused at the situation.
"Now hand over that flower right now!" she demanded.
"I can't let you do that, Rosalia," Kirito spoke dangerously. "No— I should call you the leader of the orange guild «Titan's Hand»."
The red-haired woman's smile disappeared as she glared at Kirito.
"How is that possible?" Silica asked Sachi. "Rosalia's cursor is green."
"It's a trick. The green members find targets, and lure them to where the orange players are lying in wait," she explained, remembering similar tricks from other MMOs that she played in the past.
As she spoke she felt a small headache form. For a brief second, she remembered a time when she couldn't leave her place of dwelling after-
"That was one of your comrades eavesdropping on us last night, right?" Kirito accused.
"The—then, the reason she partied with us for the past two weeks was because..."
"Yeah~ I was checking out how strong the party was, and at the same time was waiting for them to grow fat on the money they earned through their adventuring. In fact, I was going to take care of them today."
Sachi felt disgust and fear at how casually she was talking about killing off people. Party members especially, there shouldn't be a reason to distrust others like that in a team!
"You were the prey I was most anticipating. It was unfortunate that you left, but then you said you were getting a rare item."
Then she looked at them mockingly.
"But you two, you knew all this and went with her anyways? How stupid are you?" She tried to anger them.
But Kirito merely smiled in response. "We were counting on it. In fact, I was looking for you, Rosalia."
Now it was her turn to be surprised.
"What do you mean?"
"You attacked the guild «Silver Flag» ten days ago on the 38th floor, right? The one where four members died and only the leader survived."
"Oh, you mean those players with no money..." Rosalia said without a care.
"Their leader... he was looking for somebody to avenge his team in the gate plaza at the front lines, crying from morning till night."
"But he didn't want you killed... He asked that you be sent to prison. Do you have any idea how he felt?"
"What? Why are you acting so serious? Are you stupid? There's no evidence that the person dies in real life if you kill them here anyway. Besides, it's not like this will be a crime when we return to the real world. We don't even know if we can go back, yet here you talk about justice and rules; it's not even funny. I hate guys like you the most — people who dragged some weird logic in with them when they came into this world."
As she spoke, everyone else felt disgust bubbling up inside them.
Having known somebody she knew personally die in this game and even coming close to death herself, Sachi felt a particular kind of resentment for this woman who treated lives so callously.
"So, you mean to tell me that you seriously took the words of some guy who couldn't even die properly and were looking for us? You really have nothing to do. Well, I'll acknowledge that I fell for your bait. But... do you really think that you can do anything with just three people...?"
When she finished talking, she snapped her fingers. Within moments, around ten orange cursor players appeared from behind the trees on the other side of the bridge.
If we kept going we would've been trapped. Sachi realized as the other guild brought out their weapons.
She took a look at Kirito who still looked angry.
Thank God he's here with us.
Silica pressed into her, slightly shaking from what was going on.
Although she was also afraid, Sachi pushed Silica behind her and put up her shield, ready to defend them.
"Kirito, Sachi, there are too many," she pointed out. "We have to run."
Nervous herself, Sachi sympathized with her fear, but a few words from Kirito reassured her.
"It's fine," he told the younger girl reassuringly. "Just stay close to Sachi and have your crystals ready until I tell you to get away."
"Kirito…" Sachi whispered as he began to walk towards the enemy. She wanted to ask him to let her help him – to make sure that he was safe.
Briefly, he paused then turned towards her with a close-eyed smile.
"I'll be fine," he whispered. "Trust me."
Hearing that was enough for her.
"Do your best," she said quietly. In her heart, she had no doubt that everything will turn out alright.
Silica however was not convinced.
"Kirito!" she called after him as Sachi firmly held her back.
"Kirito…?" muttered one of the bandits.
His eyes quickly scanned the boy as he walked to the centre of the bridge.
"Dressed all in black… a one-handed sword without a shield… «The Black Swordsman»…?"
It's incredible how Kirito is so infamous, Sachi thought when she heard him. It's too bad that people don't know the real him.
The man's face grew pale as he stepped back.
"Thi-This is serious Rosalia-san! That bastard... he's a beater and... a clearer...!"
Sachi tightened her grip on her equipment, feeling angry that these people would dare to insult him.
As he spoke, the other members had expressions of shock.
Suddenly, some of them, including the speaker turned to look at her.
"And that girl… midnight-blue hair… dressed in blue… a sword and shield combo…" His face drained of colour completely. "If he's the «Black Swordsman»…" he considered fearfully. "Then that girl must be the «Midnight Shadow»!"
She could feel nearly everyone staring at her in horror. Even Silica seemed shocked at her identity.
I thought everyone would have forgotten that name ever since I returned to the guild, she thought nervously, beginning to feel afraid that she was a subject of interest for these Pkers.
Kirito on the other hand seemed completely unconcerned at the reveal of their identities. With a teasing smile, he turned to Sachi. His smile was silently asking her; "What the heck did you do?"
His teasing smile calmed her down immensely, enough that she could return it with a wry smile. "That nickname is on you."
"Wh-Why would a clearer be wandering around here!?" Rosalia asked in a tone that sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than anyone else. "They're probably just wearing some cosplay of stronger players. And— even if they really were «The Black Swordsman» and «The Midnight Shadow» they should be pushovers with this many people!"
Don't underestimate Kirito.
"Ye-Yeah! If they're «clearers» then he should have a lot of items and money too right!? This is a really big chance!" shouted the man wielding an axe.
At those words, everyone except for Rosalia and the player with the green cursor attacked Kirito.
They attacked him from every angle while he merely stood there without even drawing his sword.
The two girls stared at the onslaught.
Trust him! Sachi had to force herself to stay in place and not rush in to protect her partner. Trust him!
Her fingers dug into Silica who was desperately trying to escape her grasp and run in.
"We can't just let them-!" she tried to protest as she failed to escape from the older girl.
"Trust him," she said aloud barely able to remain calm, "look at his HP."
Due to the fact that they were in a party together, they could see each other's HP gauges. They watched it reduce by a small amount before refilling
"H-how is he doing that?" Silica asked in confusion.
"What the hell are you guys doing!? Kill him!" Rosalia commanded.
Slowly they stopped attacking him when they realized that he wasn't reacting at all.
"About 500 every 10 seconds? That's the amount of damage you nine dealt to me. I'm on level 74, my HP is 14,300... add that I automatically regain 600 points every 10 seconds with «Battle Healing». The whole lot of you can't defeat me even if you keep hitting me for hours."
"Is... is that even allowed...?" asked one of the attackers in shock, "It doesn't even make any sense!"
"It is. High enough numbers will give you a ridiculous advantage... That's what makes MMOs that use a level system so unfair."
The bandits stepped back, as if they were intimidated by Kirito's voice, which seemed to hide something behind it. Their surprised faces were replaced by looks of terror.
"Damn," Rosalia swore and then pulled out a crystal from her inventory.
You can't escape.
She raised it into the air and began to speak the incantation, "Teleport–"
Before she could finish, Kirito ran up to her and hit the crystal out of her hand. With a terrifying expression, he held his sword to her throat and pulled out a deep blue crystal.
"The person who had asked me to do this bought this corridor crystal with all the money he had," he explained. "He said that he set the prison area of the Black Iron Castle as the exit. So I'll be teleporting all of you to prison, and «The Army» could cover the rest from there."
"I'm green, so if you hurt me, you'll go orange..." Rosalia tried to weasel her way out of her predicament.
Kirito was not deterred. "I'll tell you this: I'm actually a solo player. Not to mention that I have a safe house where I can hang out for a day or two until I can head out again." It was a bluff but a very effective one.
The woman lowered her weapon slightly. For a moment it seemed that she was ready to give up.
But all of a sudden, she had an idea.
"Well… I can see that I'm going to go to jail regardless of what happens," she said dangerously. Suddenly, her eyes darted towards the two girls across the bridge.
"Then I might as well go down fighting!" she proclaimed. "Attack the girls!"
Now that Kirito was next to their leader, that meant that there was an opening straight towards the girls.
Kirito turned to them in horror, leaving himself vulnerable to get stabbed by Rosalia's spear.
Without warning or hesitation, the bandits got up and did as she said.
Sachi's scream caught in her throat.
At that moment, something came over her. She didn't realize that she was probably too strong to be killed before Kirito would slaughter everyone here to protect her. It didn't matter that the fear that she held ever since the first day threatened to consume her.
She felt Silica flinch in her arms, scared of the upcoming attackers.
All that mattered was that she had somebody to protect!
I don't want to die! she told herself. And I won't let you hurt Silica!
In that moment, somehow, she gained courage.
Grabbing her by the shoulder, she pushed Silica behind her back and brought her shield back in front of her.
"GRAB ME!" she yelled at Silica.
Somehow, the younger girl understood what she meant, jumped up and grabbed her around her neck.
As the first bandit approached her and tried to attack her with his sword, she swung her shield to intercept the weapon.
It stopped with a clanging sound. Not wasting any time, she turned around and intercepted another weapon with her sword this time.
STAY AWAY!
She wasn't sure how, but somehow she was able to block every hit from every angle without letting a single one get close to Silica.
Spinning around at an inhuman speed, she used both her sword and shield to protect them.
Before a blow could actually connect with her, the weapon stopped in midair.
She kept her shield in place as the men attacking her slowly slumped to the ground.
"Didn't anyone tell you not to be aggressive with girls?" came a mocking voice.
Looking up, she saw Tetsuo holding up his mace with his usual close-eyed smile.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she released Silica and put her arm down.
"You all came…" she whispered to her friends.
"Of course," Keita responded.
"We promised, didn't we?" Sasamaru asked rhetorically.
Turning back to Kirito, they saw that he was clutching Rosalia's spear in one hand, barely a centimetre away from his shoulder and a status knife seemingly with the intention to use it to kill the woman in front of him.
"You… you're supposed to be alone…" Rosalia croaked.
"You made a serious mistake, attacking Sachi," he growled. "I could kill you…" he threatened. "After all, my friends would still accept me."
She couldn't help but feel afraid that he would actually kill the woman.
Suddenly, he took a deep breath and slightly lowered the knife.
"But that isn't me," he said after seemingly calming down.
Without another word, he hit the woman with the back of her own spear, then grabbed her and threw her into a pile composed of her lackeys.
"«Corridor open!»" he shouted as he pulled out a corridor crystal.
The crystal shattered as a blue whirlpool of light appeared.
The message was obvious.
"Damn it all," muttered one of the men as he walked into the light.
The others swore as they went into the portal, but not one of them dared to fight back.
The only one left was Rosalia.
She tried to glare at them but immediately flinched when she saw Kirito's murderous look.
Reluctantly, she stepped towards the portal but stopped and glared at Silica.
She seemed to say something with her gaze, so Sachi turned her away.
Kirito seemed to lose his patience and pushed the woman into the portal with the handle of his sword.
When all the enemies were gone, it was calm once again.
Still nobody moved or spoke.
"Well that worked out well," Ducker was the first to speak.
His nonchalance immediately brought all the tension down.
Kirito shook his head and walked next to Sachi.
"Are you okay?" he asked her with deep concern.
"I'm fine," she whispered back. "We both are," she indicated Silica who was still holding her for dear life.
He smiled at her before turning to everyone else.
"Thanks for coming guys," he thanked his guildmates. "Things could have gotten messy if you hadn't showed up when you did."
Keita laughed heartily. "Are you kidding? You three didn't need us!"
Kirito smiled at them, before turning to Silica who was still being held against Sachi.
"...Sorry, Silica. It seems we ended up getting into trouble after all. I guess Sachi was right to tell you beforehand... but I'm really sorry about you getting caught up in my troubles."
Silica shook her head, making Sachi realize that she was still holding her against her tightly.
"No, thank you."
"We'll take you back to the guild house," Kirito said as he started to walk in the direction of the town.
Sachi let her go but she swayed unsteadily on her feet.
"My—my legs won't move," she said while slightly giggling.
So Sachi offered her hand to her as they walked back to the town.
The team arrived back at the Weathercock Inn on the 35th floor.
They mostly stayed silent on the way, worried in case Titan's Hand had any last surprises for them.
"Thank you all for helping us!" Silica said with a bow once they entered their room.
"It was our pleasure," Keita said for all the guild.
"We're always glad to help," Sasamaru added.
"Sorry that things went so dangerously at the end though," Tetsuo said apologetically. "But at least everything worked out, right?"
"That's fine! You're all good people who helped me, that's enough."
Sachi couldn't help but feel warmed at the fact that they were being called "good" people, rather than just "strong". It reminded her that there are more important things in life.
"So, are you all leaving soon?" she asked, almost sounding sad.
Kirito spoke first. "Yeah... I've been away from the front lines for five days already. I need to get back to clearing the game as soon as possible..." he paused and gave a meaningful look to Sachi. "And I promised somebody important that I'd get them out of this game."
"Meanwhile the rest of us need to get stronger so we can support him," Keita explained.
A small part of Silica wanted to ask if she could join them. To become a part of the Moonlit Black Cats and help clear the game.
But she couldn't. She knew it wasn't her place.
Somehow knowing what she was thinking, and remembering being in her place, Sachi walked up to Silica.
"Remember what I told you about Yukiho," she reminded her of their talk. "You don't have to be strong to have meaning in someone's life."
Silica nodded and hugged Sachi gratefully.
"Levels are just numbers. The strength in this world is nothing more than an illusion. There are things far more important than that," Kirito said.
"Nice speech, Kirito," Ducker teased him. "You think of it on the fly?"
Kirito turned to him with an amused grin.
"I made it up," he admitted, "but it's as good as any speech that our great leader gives."
Their great leader in question merely smiled and swatted at both of the boys' heads.
"That's enough out of you two," he said, his voice full of amusement.
Silica couldn't help but smile at the friendly interactions happening in front of her.
"You're like siblings."
"Siblings, family, whatever makes us happy," Ducker said as he avoided another swat.
"I really wish I could join you."
They all stayed silent as they contemplated what to say.
"Well if that's how you feel," Keita considered. "Why don't you become an honorary member of the Moonlit Black Cats?"
"Honorary member?" she repeated.
"Yeah, you know," he said excitedly, "it means that even if you don't join us on the frontlines, that you're still a friend and ally to the guild."
"It also means that you can still walk into our guildhouse whenever you want," Ducker interrupted.
"You can ask us for any request whenever you need it," Tetsuo added.
"You can crash with us when you need a place to stay," Sasamaru went on.
"You can join us for meals if you're ever hungry," Sachi added.
"Well there is all that," Kirito cut them off before they could keep going on. "But more than all that, it's a promise. A promise that we'll be friends… and even when we make it back to the real world, we'll still be friends."
The real world…
"Then I accept! It's a promise! I'll meet you all in the real world!"
There was a collection of cheers as everyone tried to greet Silica at once.
Sachi took her aside and whispered something into her ear. "Let's revive Pina now, that way she can join the guild as well."
"Okay!"
Silica nodded and waved her hand to summon the main window. She scrolled through the item inventory and took out «Pina's Heart» and «Pneuma's Flower».
She placed the blue feather on the table and poured the droplet of water from the flower.
As everyone gathered around to watch the familiar revive, Silica thought of everything she wanted to tell her friend.
Pina… I'll tell you lots and lots; about the amazing adventure that I had today… and about the friends who saved you, and the two who became my sister and brother for just a day.
AN
Due to the character limit, I had to change the name of this chapter on FFN. The proper name of this chapter is: "The Shadow of the Black Swordsman".
You ever write lines that you know are going to hurt later? There's a few here, and I can't help but smile at them as I read this over.
Fun fact, other than me making up the name, Sachi's friend "Yukiho" was a part of Sachi's story in the light novels and I assume the web novels as well. I think finding out about this helped influence me to write this since having a lost friend is such a "main character thing". Interestingly, I was going to say that her guild died alongside her and I kept that crossed out on my draft, but the official English translation said they didn't die with her, so they get to live. I have plans for them but let's see if I get far enough to introduce them.
Actually, I'm willing to take some suggestions for her guild's name. Preferably something that compliments or contrasts with the Moonlit Black Cats. If you have an idea, please put it in a comment on Wattpad or AO3.
Until next time.