Floor 56: Pani
An assortment of high-level players were surrounding a map, staring intensely at it.
At the same time, several whispers could be hurt, unrelated to the plan.
This was to be expected. Behind the boy known as the «Black Swordsman» was a girl with midnight-blue hair whom several players had seen before. But the last time she was seen on the frontlines was 3 months ago.
Unlike her companion, who wore no armour at all, she was covered in several pieces of silver armour lined with gold.
Somewhere around the back of the crowd was the rest of their guildmates, who were excited and nervous at being at their first frontline meeting.
Back at the front, the Black Swordsman was locked in an argument with the Vice-Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath. As they argued, she kept shooting nasty looks to his companion.
"We'll lure the field boss into the village," Asuna stated.
"Wait a second," Kirito argued. "If you do that the villagers will be slaughtered!"
"That's the idea," she said icily. "While the boss is killing NPCs, we'll attack and kill it."
"NPCs aren't just 3D objects like trees or rocks," he tried to reason. "They're-"
"Alive?" she cut him off. "Is that it?"
Sachi couldn't help but wonder why Kirito was so opposed to the killing of NPCs. After all, what Asuna was saying was true, they weren't alive in the traditional sense. Still, she didn't argue in front of everyone – If Kirito would believe in something like this, he must have a reason.
"They're only objects," she stated emotionlessly. "Even if they're killed, they'll just respawn."
Kirito fixed her with a disapproving glare.
"After what happened, I would think that you of all people would value the lives of the people in this world."
For the briefest of moments, Asuna's eyes widened before misting over, as if thinking back to the past.
Her expression was quickly erased and it went back to her hostile glare.
Kirito glared back before backing away.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not going with this plan," Kirito spoke firmly.
And with that, he turned around and exited the room with Sachi following closely behind him.
As they walked out, they sensed around 4 other people following behind them. They didn't turn around to check until they rounded a corner where nobody could see them from the same room.
Kirito took a deep breath and let it out.
"Sorry, guys," he apologized to his guildmates, "this was supposed to be your debut on the frontlines but I screwed it up."
He was answered by a gentle pat on the shoulder.
"Don't worry about that," Keita assured him. "We're your guildmates, so we stand by you when we think you're right."
Kirito smiled, touched at his leader's words.
"Also occasionally when you're wrong too, but in this case you were right."
"But honestly, I knew the frontlines were tough, but this is beyond anything I was expecting!" Keita said.
For some reason, that seemed to calm the guild down as they all cracked a smile.
"I agree!" Ducker called. "And that Vice-Commander girl, what was her name, Asuna? She shouldn't throw her weight at us, we don't even know her!"
"Yeah, so what if she's Vice-Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath?" Sasamaru asked, "We aren't a part of her guild! We hardly listen to our own leader!"
They laughed a bit, although Sachi couldn't help but feel bad for Asuna. Even if she was being a bit rude and harsh, she WAS making the hard decisions.
"I don't think we should be so judgmental," Sachi spoke softly, "Asuna is just doing what's necessary to finish the game, it's unfair to be so rude to her."
The boys looked away, a bit ashamed at themselves. Although Kirito looked at her a bit more gratefully.
She knew that despite how they talked, Kirito and Asuna did have some sort of relationship before he joined the Moonlit Black Cats. Although he was a bit defensive about it and often refused to speak about it.
"Well with that kind of attitude, Asuna should definitely like you a lot better."
They turned around to see the speaker.
In front of them was Agil, who must have exited the meeting room recently.
"What do you mean by that, sir?" Tetsuo asked him.
"Oh you know, despite what you saw in today's meeting, Asuna really likes Kirito here despite always arguing with him."
He turned to Sachi who was looking at him with a smile.
"On the other hand, she was just as hostile to the «Midnight Shadow» here as she was to him, despite the fact that she didn't say anything against her plans."
Kirito shrugged in response.
"I don't get her, when we separated, she told me to find a guild," he recounted a time when he was a solo player, "but now that I'm actually in one she seems to hate it."
Everyone stared at him, a bit dumbfounded at what they could only see as the densest boy in existence.
"Well, I'M glad that you found a guild," Agil said heartily. "Now I don't have to worry about you dying on your own."
"That might still be a problem," Sachi interjected. She was comfortable enough with this man so it was easy to speak with him. "My partner here still likes to do silly solo stuff whenever he gets the chance."
Kirito looked at her with a look of utter betrayal, making everyone laugh.
"You've found a good guild, Kirito," Agil commented. He turned to Sachi before adding, "You both did."
They smiled before Keita put his hand forward in greeting. "Nice to meet you, my name is Keita, the leader of the Moonlit Black Cats, and these are my guildmates, Tetsuo, Sasamaru and Ducker."
"Sup," Ducker greeted casually.
"Hello," Sasamaru spoke simply.
"Nice to meet you," Tetsuo said more formally.
"You've already met Kirito and Sachi," Keita finished.
The man returned the handshake enthusiastically.
"My name is Agil, shopkeeper, occasional frontline fighter and one of the few people whom the Black Swordsman can call his friend."
"Friend is kind of pushing it…" Kirito mumbled.
"Hey, you called Sachi «The Midnight Shadow» earlier," Ducker inquired. "Can you tell us how she got that nickname?"
"Oh they didn't tell you?"
The boys shook their heads.
"Nope," Ducker answered, "she gets as defensive about that as when I ask about their relationship status," he explained as he gestured to Kirito and Sachi.
She returned the gesture with an embarrassed glare.
"Why am I not surprised?"
Kirito looked away while Sachi smiled innocently.
"It never really came up before," she said weakly.
"Sachi, the last guys who recognized you by that name nearly crapped their pants," Ducker reminded her. "I think we should know why."
Agil laughed at the exchange.
"Well you see about a year ago. your friend here used to come to boss meetings along with Kirito, usually covered in a dark blue cloak that prevented anyone from seeing her face. Kirito never introduced her and she never spoke in front of anyone. That brought up the question, 'Who is this girl and why is the Black Swordsman willing to let her stay around'? Everyone assumed that she was some kind of uber powerful player who even impressed the forever solo Kirito."
"Most of the time, people called her the «Swordsman's Shadow» until one day I declared that she was the «Midnight Shadow» in front of everyone. It was about 2 months before I rejoined you guys," Kirito finished the story. "I think you can imagine why," he said as he put his hand on her head of dark-blue hair.
"And I've had that title ever since then," Sachi concluded. "Even when I thought everyone would just forget about it."
"Well it's a great name," Kirito insisted.
"Oh definitely," Ducker agreed with his guildmate.
"Yeah, it's really good," Tetsuo stated.
"How come we don't get cool titles like you guys?" Sasamaru asked.
"You really want to go around with names like those?" Keita asked apprehensively. Evidently, he wasn't impressed by their titles.
"I think it's great," Sachi whispered. It was the truth, plus she would like any kind of nickname Kirito would give her.
As they teased each other about their names, they didn't notice that somebody was staring at their friendly interactions from across the hallway.
"That one looks like a sheep."
"That one looks like a dragon."
"That one looks like the exact same one I saw a few minutes ago."
"No, it's definitely a bit different."
A week after the meeting, the Moonlit Black Cats were laying on the grass. Enjoying the weather, they found themselves lazily staring at the clouds or taking naps.
Admittedly, it wasn't something that they would normally do, due to their leader's drive to gain more power, but even he agreed today.
Sachi hummed the tune of a song she remembered, filling the air with the sound of her hums, harmonizing with the BGM of the area.
Finding themselves in the grips of their exhaustion, eventually everyone began to nod off.
"What are you doing?" a familiar female voice called out to them.
They didn't bother to open their eyes, too comfortable and lethargic to bother getting into another pointless argument with her.
"The other lead group members are all working hard to clear the dungeon," she admonished them. "Why are you all out here taking a nap?"
Despite the lecture, they still didn't answer.
"Even if you're a rookie guild, you need to be serious–"
"Relax, this is the best season in Aincrad," Kirito said drowsily. "It'd be a waste to spend it in a dungeon."
He didn't bother to say anything more as he squeezed Sachi's hand and drifted off.
By the time Kirito woke up, it was still during daylight hours.
He tried to get up, but there was a soft weight keeping him on the ground.
Looking down, he saw the midnight-blue hair of Sachi, her head resting on his chest.
With a smile, he gently wrapped his arm around her as he leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek.
"I'll protect you, my dear Sachi," he gently whispered.
Despite the fact that she was most likely asleep, she still smiled a bit.
Lost in that blissful moment, he had completely forgotten that they weren't in a room that they were sharing and that they were actually outside, taking a nap with their guildmates.
…Oh shit!
He panicked as he got up and looked around.
Fortunately, it seemed that nobody was there to see his embarrassing actions, as their guildmates were nowhere in sight.
Although there was somebody else laying on the ground a few metres away.
"Huh, didn't think she'd actually fall asleep," he commented when he was sure that she was actually sleeping.
As he made his observation, he felt some movement against him. Within seconds, Sachi groggily got up and rubbed her eyes before looking him in the eyes.
"Good morning," she greeted. "Or whatever time it is."
"Good evening," he replied, "We've been sleeping for quite some time."
"It was a nice nap," she said as she got up and stretched out a bit.
For a moment, Kirito was distracted by just watching her.
"Yeah well, we may have revealed a bit too much while we were."
"What do you mean?" she asked.
Turning, she noticed Asuna sleeping on the ground.
"I think the others, saw us sleeping together, a bit too intimately" he confessed.
It took her a while to process what he was saying. Once it finally hit her, her face turned bright red.
"Oh-oh!" she stuttered.
It took her a while to finally compose herself, although she was still red in the face. "W-well, it's not the worst thing. They would have found out eventually."
"Found out what?" a voice called from behind them.
Turning around they saw… nothing. Then a second later, a flash of yellow jumped out of the tree and landed in front of them.
"The whole guild already knows that you two are dating," Ducker said as he grinned.
They stood there blushing for a bit. However, they were actually relieved that he didn't know the full story just yet.
"It's not like you're subtle about it," he teased.
Kirito fixed him with a look of despair, urging him not to say anything further.
The mischievous boy smiled but didn't go any further, winking at him in a way that Kirito hoped meant that he wouldn't tell anyone – including Sachi – what he did.
"The others went into town a while ago and I had to stay behind to wait for you guys to wake up," he explained.
"Thank you, Ducker," Sachi said gratefully. "We appreciate it."
He smiled in return, before turning to Asuna who was still fast asleep.
"So, what do we do about the great, Vice-Commander there? Who knows when she'll wake up."
"We could leave her," Kirito offered jokingly.
"I'm in," Ducker agreed in the same jovial tone. "Let's all run on the count of 3!"
"Guys," Sachi admonished, even though she was aware that they were joking, "she's only here because of us, we can't just leave her."
"Do we gotta?" the boys whined at the same time.
She sat on the nearby low wall. "Yup."
They grumbled as they sat on the wall next to her.
And so they waited. Half an hour later, the rest of the Moonlit Black Cats returned. Apparently they had found a great restaurant in town and wanted to eat there tonight. However they willingly stayed behind when they were told about the situation.
It took about an hour for Asuna to finally start stirring.
" If I'm next to you, I feel the sun shining on me. " When she got up, she was greeted by the sight of Kirito and Sachi sitting on the low wall next to each other, their heads on each other's shoulders. She was showing him the lyrics that she thought of for a song she wanted to finish one day.
Hearing her get up, they turned to her.
"Good evening," Kirito greeted, "you slept like a rock."
Sachi was going to say something as well, but she was distracted by the piece of grass that was sticking to her cheek.
Suppressing her laughter, she scratched her own cheek to try to tell her it was there.
All of a sudden, she glared at them and put her hand on her rapier, seemingly ready to pull it out.
With a squeak of terror, she hid behind an equally terrified Kirito.
Hearing her squeak, the rest of their guild rushed over.
However, overwhelmed by Asuna's killing intent, they wisely stayed away.
"One meal…" she said after she seemingly calmed down. "All you can eat, then we'll be even, okay?"
Somewhat afraid of what she may do if they refused, all six of the Moonlit Black Cats agreed at once.
Floor 57
"Hey, is that Asuna, the «Lightning Flash»?"
"I think, so, but who are those people with her?"
"Maybe her new lackeys?"
People whispered as they walked through the town.
It may have been an odd sight for them, but they continued walking regardless.
"It's a real pain to be recognized wherever you go," Kirito whispered to her.
She immediately knew that he was referring to how people had recognized him in the past. However, in his case it was rarely flattering, as words such as «Beater» were thrown at him.
According to him, the Moonlit Black Cats were one of the first people he met who didn't recognize him. It was probably why he had joined them in the first place.
She stealthily grabbed his hand to tell him that he wasn't alone anymore.
It didn't take them very long to reach the restaurant. Like many buildings on this floor, it had a rustic look to it.
"Are you sure you're willing to pay for seven people?" Keita asked once they sat down around a large table.
"Yes, I'm sure," it was the first thing she said ever since they got into town.
"I mean, we don't mind paying for our share," Keita insisted.
"Speak for yourself," Ducker mumbled in a whisper so low that only his guildmates could hear.
"I said it's fine," Asuna insisted. "I already offered, so just drop it."
Still somewhat afraid of her, everyone nodded in unison.
They quickly ordered, avoiding ordering too much due to the fact that they were being treated by somebody else. Especially because she had a bit of control over their lives in some way…
"Anyways, thanks for earlier," Asuna spoke after they cleared some of the food.
The guild looked at each other, asking each other who wanted to speak for them.
Apparently, they all agreed that their leader should speak.
"You mean for watching over you?" Keita asked. "It was no problem, like you said we were just wasting time anyways."
She smiled wryly at him. He quickly ate some more food to distract himself.
"Right, I'm sorry about that," she said after a while.
Now everyone looked at her in shock.
Did she seriously just apologize? They all asked themselves.
"I think that was the first time I slept so soundly since I came here," she went on.
"You're like that too?" Sachi couldn't help but ask her.
The girl turned to her. Sachi couldn't help but flinch back under her powerful gaze. At least this time it wasn't filled with hostility, unlike the meetings she accompanied Kirito to.
"That's right, Sachi. Normally, I'll sleep for 3 hours at most before I would get a nightmare and end up waking up."
Sachi really empathized with that. For so long, her nights were plagued with nightmares that kept her up.
She felt a hand reach across her lap and hold the one that wasn't on the table.
She smiled gently. It was because of Kirito that she could sleep more peacefully, even when he wasn't in bed with her.
"Well in that case, we're glad to help," Keita said. "Life's no fun when you're tired, right?"
Asuna smiled at that. "Right," she agreed. "But really, you guys should be more careful too, PKers are getting smarter."
Keita shrugged. "We're in a group, so even if we're asleep people tend to leave us alone."
"Still," Asuna spoke in a tone that communicated that she wasn't convinced by his reasoning, "there have been cases of sleep-PKs."
"Using someone's hand to manipulate the menu into accepting a duel," Kirito added to the conversation. "That way a player's HP can go down, even in a safe zone."
Everyone looked at him, impressed at his knowledge.
"Looks like you're still smart, aren't you, Kirito?" Asuna spoke in a condescending tone. "I'm glad that you're able to help your new friends so well."
Kirito grimaced in response before he put some food in his mouth.
There was an awkward silence as everyone was thinking about the topic of PKs. Not to mention that they were still terrified of the girl who was treating them to the meal.
"Hey," Ducker broke the silence. "What exactly happ-"
Before he could finish his question, a scream cut him off.
Asuna and Kirito put their hands on their weapons as they looked to the entrance of the restaurant.
"Outside the shop!" Asuna said as she ran out the door.
Without knowing exactly why, the Moonlit Black Cats followed after her.
No! Sachi thought as she collapsed to her knees.
When they arrived at the source of the scream, they were greeted by a horrifying sight.
From the balcony of the town's church, a man was hanging by a rope around his neck. Through his chest was a black short spear.
Quickly observing the situation, Asuna ran into the church.
"PULL IT OUT!" Kirito yelled as he tried to follow Asuna with Ducker following closely behind.
The rest of the guild could only stare at the scene in horror, not knowing what to do, they stayed in place.
"CATCH HIM FROM BELOW!" Asuna's voice called out.
Her voice roused them to action and Keita, Tetsuo and Sasamaru immediately ran toward the church, ready to catch him.
However before they were even halfway there, the man shattered into countless polygons.
"Everyone! Look for the player with a winner icon!" Kirito called to the crowd.
Numbly, Sachi turned around to do as he said, but she couldn't find anything.
Look for it… she thought numbly. Look for it…
Before she knew it, 30 seconds had passed. There was no way the winner icon could be found now.
We aren't safe, even in a safe zone…
She wasn't sure how long she stayed there before she felt a tap on her shoulder.
She got up to see Ducker at her side.
He gave her a look of deep concern, which she returned by trying to calm down.
"We got a lead," he whispered.
Finally getting her bearings together, she saw that Kirito, Keita and Asuna were talking to a woman with deep purple hair in front of the church.
"Sorry, I know you've just had a frightening experience." She heard Asuna speaking to the woman. "What's your name?"
"My name is Yolko..." the woman answered.
"Was that first scream yours?" Kirito asked.
"Y-Yes," she answered nervously. "I just came here to eat dinner with the man who was killed. His name is Kains. We used to be in the same guild. But we got separated in the plaza. I looked around, and I saw him hanging from the church window..."
"Did you see anyone else?" Asuna asked.
"It was just for a second," Yolko answered, "but I thought I saw someone behind Kains."
"Did that person look familiar?"
"No..."
"I hate to ask this..." Kirito said hesitantly. "But do you know why anyone would've wanted to kill Kains?"
Yolko opened her eyes, revealing a traumatized expression.
"Thank you for walking me here." Yolko thanked them once they reached the yaMahya Lodge
"Don't worry about it," Keita assured her.
"We can talk more tomorrow," Asuna said.
"Okay," Yolko nodded with a slight tremble to her voice.
She bowed to them before entering the lodge and closing the door.
The group walked away from the inn, trying to come to terms with everything that was going on.
"So what do we do now?" Sasamaru asked.
Obviously they couldn't just leave the situation as is, even though it had little to do with them, they still felt as if they should do something about it.
"Let's check the evidence we have first," Asuna recommended, "especially the rope and short spear. If we know its origin, we might be able to find the criminal."
"I picked up the spear earlier," Ducker said as he pulled it out of his storage.
It materialized in his hands. A second later, he extended his arm and kept it as far away from him as possible.
"Great job," Asuna complimented him. "Now I don't suppose one of you has the «Inspection» skill?"
"Sorry, no," Keita said.
"I have a friend who runs a weapons store," Asuna considered, "but it's the busiest time at this point, and I really can't ask her to help me out immediately..."
"What about Agil?" Sachi suggested.
"Won't he charge us an arm and a leg for this?" Sasamaru pointed out.
"Clearly we don't have a choice," Keita pointed out. "Kirito, can you message him?"
"On it," he said as he pulled out his menu.
"Alright then, let's get going!" Asuna called as she beckoned them towards the teleport gate.
Awkwardly, the Moonlit Black Cats stayed in place, not sure if they should follow her.
"You know, we can handle this ourselves," Keita tried to reason with the girl. "Maybe you should head home."
Asuna turned around and fixed them with a hard to read expression. On her face was an unnerving smile which certainly wasn't happy.
"I get the feeling that you guys don't want me around," she pointed out.
"…"
They all stayed silent at the truth which nobody dared to vocalize.
She sighed in response, clearly having guessed the truth.
"Look, I know that we don't always get along and you may find me overbearing. But I want to find out the truth about what's going on and bring the killer to justice. So please, let's work together, even if it's just this once."
There was a collection of looks, grunts and shaking heads as the Moonlit Black Cats talked to each other, trying to figure out the best course of action.
After a minute they stopped and turned to Asuna together.
"We'd be honoured if you would allow us to accompany you on this mission, Vice-Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath, Asuna-sama" Keita spoke overly formally.
She stared at him without a word for a few moments before starting to giggle.
"OK, OK, thanks," she tried to suppress her laughter, "I accept your request to join me on this mission, but please, just call me Asuna, «Vice-Commander» is what my guildmates call me."
"Okay! Let's do this… Asuna," Sasamaru said hesitantly.
"It's too weird!" Ducker called out. "Can we just call you VC, Vice-Commander?"
"Why not?" she decided it wasn't worth arguing.
"Thanks, VC!"
"Come on let's go, and while we're at it, why don't you introduce yourselves, I only know of the Black Swordsman and the Midnight Shadow here."
Floor 50: Algade
"Thanks man, come back anytime," Agil spoke to a customer who was walking out the door with a disappointed expression.
"Looks like you're still running all the suckers down with those hard deals of yours," Kirito called as they walked in.
"Seriously Agil, if you keep ripping people off you won't have any customers left at all," Keita informed him.
"Buy cheap and sell cheap, that's my motto," Agil reminded them. "I'm a businessman, you all know that."
"That selling cheap part is a lie though," Kirito commented as they exchanged a fist bump.
He exchanged fist bumps with each of them until he saw the last person.
Quickly, he grabbed Kirito and Keita around the necks and dragged them over the counter.
"I know I told you to get along with Asuna," he spoke in a low whisper, "but I didn't mean you should invite her into your guild!"
"We didn't invite her!" Keita said frantically. "She just forced herself in! Besides, we're actually going with her instead of the other way around."
"You're sure?" Agil asked.
"We promise, now let go!"
"Fine, fine," Agil conceded as he let go of Keita, but his arm stayed around Kirito.
"Word of advice though, Kirito," he spoke urgently, "try to avoid hanging around other women when you've got a wife, ok?"
"Hey!" Kirito yelled, "I would never hurt-OW!" he was cut off by Sachi unintentionally driving her fingers into his arm with a vacant look in her eyes. He could only be grateful that she took off her gauntlets earlier before they went to sleep. "I wouldn't hurt Sachi like that!"
"Of course you wouldn't," Agil laughed as he finally let him go.
Sachi held his arm as she fixed Agil with a worried look.
"I think he knows," she whispered.
"I don't think so," Kirito responded in an equally quiet voice. "He's probably just playing around."
"So what brings you to my humble shop?" Agil asked.
They quickly recapped the situation, mainly letting Keita and Asuna do all the talking.
"Our only clue is the murder weapon," Keita said as he nodded to Ducker.
The boy pulled out the spear and placed it on the counter.
Everyone held their breaths as Agil scanned the spear.
"A player made this," Agil said once he finished scanning.
"Really?!" Keita said, glad that they finally got a lead.
"Who was it, can you tell?" Asuna asked impatiently.
"Grimlock," Agil answered. "Never heard that name before." Neither did anyone else in the shop. "It's not one of the top blacksmiths that's for damn sure. As far as I can tell there's nothing special about this weapon."
"Yeah, but it's something to go on, right?" Asuna said optimistically.
"Is there an item name listed?" Tetsuo asked.
"You'll love it," Agil said dramatically. "«Guilty Thorn» there's a name for you. it kind of fits though, don't you think?"
He placed the weapon on the counter. A second later, Kirito picked it up and looked at it closely, as if he was looking for any extra info that Agil couldn't.
"Seriously, Guilty Thorn..." Keita said thinking how fitting the name was. "It's far too appropriate."
"You think it has some kind of hidden skill?" Ducker asked. "Maybe something that allows it to specifically hurt someone in a safe zone?"
"Only one way to find out," Kirito mumbled.
Nobody understood what he was saying until he put his open palm on the counter and held the spear above it.
"Well, here it goes."
They all panicked, but before they could try to stop him, he was already bringing the spear down.
However, before the point made contact, Sachi grabbed his wrist and the shaft of the spear. She wrenched his arm away as the spear stabbed into the counter a foot off of its mark in the opposite direction.
"What the hell are you doing?!" she yelled at him with uncharacteristic anger.
He stared at her, unused to her being angry in general, but especially at him.
"I was…" he hesitated. "I was trying to see if this spear had a skill where it could harm someone in a safe zone."
"And you would test that by attacking yourself?!" she couldn't believe his reasoning.
"…"
Finally getting over his shock, he noticed that everyone was staring at him, probably just as shocked at his actions as Sachi.
"What if you die?" she asked, sounding ready to cry. "It would hurt us all if we lost you… especially me…" Her hand tightened its grip on him, making him feel something he could never forget.
He couldn't bear to look at her, already feeling disappointed in himself – He had promised to protect her and all their guildmates. He couldn't break that promise by doing this.
"…Sorry…" he apologized.
She gave him a look of heavy disappointment.
"Let's drop it for now."
There were several moments of silence before anybody dared to speak.
"Can you hold on to this for now?" Keita asked Agil once he got over his shock.
"Um, yeah…" Agil responded, dumbfounded.
Again, everyone turned to Sachi who had not completely calmed down and Kirito who looked ashamed at his actions.
The next day, Asuna invited the Moonlit Black Cats to accompany her as she asked questions to Yolko.
They met up at the same restaurant that they had eaten at the day before.
Asuna, Keita and Kirito sat on one side of the table, looking at Yolko on the other side.
The rest of the Moonlit Black Cats sat at an adjacent table, watching over the interaction.
"Hey, Yolko, have you ever heard the name 'Grimlock'?" Asuna asked.
Yolko stared at her with a look of shock before turning her gaze downwards with a sad expression.
"Yes," she answered. "He was a member of the guild that Kains and I were once in."
"When we had the spear stuck in Kains's chest appraised, we found out that it was made by Grimlock," Kirito explained.
"Can you think of any reason why that would be?" Keita asked gently.
"Yes, I can. I'm sorry I wasn't able to tell you yesterday. I wanted to forget. It's something I don't really want to remember. However, I'll tell you. What destroyed our guild... Our guild's name was Golden Apple."
Golden Apple of Discord, Sachi recognized the allusion to Greek mythology. It's a strange thing to name a guild after, but right now it seems too fitting.
"Six months ago, a rare monster we defeated dropped a powerful ring that raised agility by 20. We were divided on whether to use it for the guild or sell it and split the earnings."
"Sounds like a no-brainer to keep," Ducker whispered, recognizing the value of such an item.
He was greeted by two elbows jabbing him to keep him quiet."
"But in the end, we put it to a vote. The vote went 5-3 in favour of selling it. Our leader, Griselda was going to stay overnight at a large town on the front lines, to give it to a broker. However, she never came back. Later, we learned that she'd died. I still don't know why."
"No one would leave a safe zone with that kind of rare item," Tetsuo pointed out.
"Which means a sleep-PK?" Sasamaru considered what Asuna told them about yesterday.
"Six months ago would have been just before the method really spread," Asuna pointed out.
"But it's hard to think it's a coincidence," Kirito considered. "Whoever attacked her must have been a player who knew about the ring."
"In other words..." Ducker said.
"One of the other seven members of Golden Apple..." Yolko whispered.
This sent a chill throughout all of them. For the five original members of the Moonlit Black Cats especially – It was their trust in each other that got them through their darkest times. The idea of turning on each other was unbearable.
"The most suspicious ones would be those who opposed selling it," Kirito pointed out, shaken himself.
"You mean they attacked Griselda to get the ring before it was sold?" Asuna concluded.
"Probably…" Keita considered the possibility.
"Who is Grimlock?" Sachi asked.
"He was Griselda's husband."
Her eyes widened at the word.
"Just within the game, naturally," she said hastily.
"Griselda was a powerful swordswoman," she explained. "Pretty and smart."
As she said this, Tetsuo's and Sasamaru's gazes fell on Asuna.
And she didn't notice it, but Ducker's gaze went to Sachi.
"Grimlock was a kind man who was always smiling. They made a great couple, and they got along well," she recounted. "If he was the one responsible for yesterday's murder, he must be after the three who opposed selling the ring. Two of the three were myself and Kains."
"A husband trying to avenge his wife…" Kirito mused quietly. "I can understand that, but…"
"Who was the other one who wanted to keep it?" Keita asked.
"A tank named Schmitt," Yolko said. "I've heard he's on the front lines now, with the «Holy Dragon Alliance».
"Schmitt?" Kirito repeated. "I've heard that name..."
"He leads the Holy Dragon Alliance's defence forces," Asuna recalled. "He's a big lance-user."
"I think he was at the last floor meeting," Keita recalled.
"Oh, him," Kirito remembered the man.
"You know Schmitt?" Yolko asked.
"I've only seen him a few times while clearing bosses," Kirito answered.
"Could you let me talk to him?" Yolko requested. "He probably hasn't heard about what occurred. And what happened to Kains could happen to him..."
Realizing that he may be in trouble, everyone consented to finding him.
"Let's call Schmitt," Asuna said urgently. "I know someone at the Holy Dragon Alliance. If we go to their HQ, perhaps we can talk to him."
"But first, we should get Yolko to her inn," Keita said. "Yolko, please don't leave the inn until we return."
"All right," Yolko agreed.
"I can stay back with her for protection," Sachi offered.
"No, I'd rather you stay with me," Kirito said protectively.
"Tetsuo, Sasamaru, you guys mind staying on guard duty?" Keita requested the two.
"No problem," Tetsuo answered.
"We won't let anyone get through," Sasamaru promised.
After bringing Yolko back to her inn room, Kirito, Sachi, Keita, Ducker and Asuna were walking to get Schmitt from the Holy Dragon Alliance's HQ.
"How do you think the murder was carried out?" Asuna asked as they walked.
"I see basically three possibilities..." Kirito mused.
"Let me guess, the first is a fair duel," Keita said.
"The second is through an exploit that combines known methods," Ducker suggested.
"Yeah, I can see that," Asuna mused. "And the third?"
"Perhaps some skill we don't know about, which bypasses safe areas," Sachi considered fearfully, thinking of Ducker's idea from yesterday.
"Or possibly an item," Kirito added. "No, I don't think those are possible."
"Why?" Asuna asked.
"Because it's unfair," he said simply. "I hate to admit it, but SAO's rules are mostly fair."
Everybody looked at him as if he said something strange – They weren't sure whether they'd call this death game "fair".
"I can't imagine this game allowing murders in safe areas."
She wouldn't say it, but after everything they saw and the things she's been through, Sachi wouldn't put such a thing outside of the realm of possibility.
It didn't take long before they met Schmitt at the HDA's HQ. Asuna quickly filled him in before they lead him back to the inn.
And then there they were; Schmitt faced Yolko with his back to the door; Yolko facing Schmitt with her back against the open window behind her; Kirito and Keita stood to Schmitt's left; Asuna stood to his right; The other 4 members of their party stood against the wall with the door. Everyone watched over the interaction, ready to get involved if anything went wrong.
"Is it true that Kains was killed with Grimlock's weapon?" Schmitt asked nervously.
Yolko nodded. "It is," she answered sadly.
Somehow, her simple answer increased his panic.
"Why would Kains be killed after all this time?! He... Did he steal the ring? Was he the one who killed Griselda? Does Grimlock plan to kill the three of us who opposed selling the ring? Is he after you and me, too?!"
"It could be another member, and Grimlock just made them the spear."
After hearing her speak so reasonably, nobody expected for the next thing she said to sound so outrageous.
"Or perhaps it may be Griselda's revenge... Only a ghost could kill someone inside a safe zone."
As soon as those words came out of her mouth, everyone took a shocked look at each other, wondering if it could be possible.
"Huh?!" Schmitt could only exclaim as he tried and failed to form any other words.
Yolko stood up with a terrified, vacant look in her eyes.
"I stayed awake all last night, thinking..." she continued, starting to sound deranged. "In the end, all of us were the ones who killed her! When that ring dropped, we shouldn't have ever voted... We should've just done what she wanted! Grimlock was the only one who said we should simply let Griselda decide. So he has the right to take revenge for Griselda on the rest of us."
Schmitt started to shake. "You're kidding me," he said, disbelieving. "You're kidding me... After all this time, six whole months... Why now? You're okay with this, Yolko? You're okay with being killed like this?!"
He got up as if ready to approach Yolko. Before he could even move forward, Keita kept a firm grip on his wrist, not letting him do anything he may regret.
Suddenly, Yolko's eyes widened as she gasped. She stumbled to her side, before almost dramatically turning around and showing her back to them.
Slightly obscured by her long hair, embedded in her back was a black dagger.
In an almost dramatic movement, she stumbled toward the windowsill before falling backwards.
Keita ran forward and tried to stop her from falling, but he was too slow.
Sticking his head out the window, he saw Yolko fall to the ground before shattering into polygons, leaving only the dagger in her place.
Thank you everyone for your reviews and views. Your compliments and suggestions really help and make me feel better. I'm willing to take suggestions for the other guild's name for a while.
Sorry if this chapter feels a little half-baked, I considered skipping it and posting it later so that I can get to the more relevant chapters. But when I was going over my notes, I remembered that there was some important exposition in "The Murder in The Safe Zone" episodes, so I couldn't skip it, in case people haven't read/don't remember something important from the real series.
Also I couldn't skip it because this is the first interaction between the Moonlit Black Cats and Asuna. The team feels complete now.