Episode 25 — Between A Boss In A Hard Place
Sixteenth Day in the Month of Holly (December 16) in the Year of the Hawk
Third Floor - Early Morning
The Third Floor was a milestone in Aincrad. For the first time, human “monsters” were present. The only distinguishing marker was the color cursor above their head. It was mostly elves, either forest or dark, but SAO was no longer human players against monsters or beasts. The elves could use sword skills and were a lot more complex in their fighting tactics as well as talking back in combat. They were indistinguishable from a player outside of their red cursor.
While everyone else was either doing the guild creation quest or other things in the south portion of the map to build their levels, the Wondercolts were looking north. That meant they had to defeat the only field boss, The Indolent Treant, which was blocking a very narrow pass.
Yesterday, the Wondercolts had been the first to complete the guild creation quest, edging out Kibaou by less than ten minutes. Thunderborne had been sent ahead to sprint to the finish after the last task was completed. The rest of them, especially their tanks, were too slow to get ahead of Kibaou. Bladescape was thrilled they beat Kibaou, more so than she should have been. She really didn’t like him or his attitude. She found pleasure in knocking him down a few pegs.
It was Thunderborne who officially logged the Wondercolts as the first guild in Sword Art Online’s system. They had agreed upon their colors, navy and gold, which were a stronger contrast to Canterlot High’s light blue and yellow colors and better for Diemond to work with. The guild tag icon by their name was a blue background with a gold horse head. Guilds also had a 2-4 letter abbreviation. Wondercolts was shortened to WCS.
The creation of the Wondercolts had caused a few issues to arise. First, while they had helped with the guild creation quest, the invitation was officially extended to Kiefer, Reisenki, and Soryuto. They gratefully accepted the offer. The Wondercolts were officially eleven members, not eight.
Second, because she had set it up, the official guild leader was Thunderborne. Now that they were not just parties of players, it brought up the discussion of who should officially run the guild. Bladescape was unanimously voted in as their leader and Natora as their second, but they wanted a third to round out the council and specifically to cast the tie breaking vote if they needed that. Thunderborne wanted to be the third leader. Malus nominated Knightstar because of how much she was doing in leading them all in their non-combat pursuits, as well as the metrics for combat skills. Knightstar wasn’t going to nominate herself and didn’t particularly want to be in charge of anything, but she would accept if the others voted her in. Since the first floor when it was first discussed, Thunderborne had been more active as a leader, but in the blind vote, she still lost 6 to 3 in favor of Knightstar, with Bladescape recusing herself and someone else giving a “no vote.” Bladescape had been the one to collect and tally the votes since she had recused herself.
Thunderborne wasn’t happy, but she transferred control to Bladescape. The guild Contract Scroll only recognized a primary leader, but others could be set as managers. Leadership could only be transferred. Bladescape couldn’t be voted out of leadership by others who had been given management access. Members with access as the Contract Scroll had several features added to their menu under the guild’s panel.
The Contract Scroll also allowed access to the vault. Members were automatically taxed on earned income. Bladescape set the taxes low, but as a guild, those taxes would be what they used to purchase a headquarters and temporary housing, like inns, as well as being able to be used to pay for items, materials, or upgrades to members who needed the assistance. They could pull from the vault to upgrade their crafters’ equipment rather than pitch in out of personal finances.
Guilds allowed members to send more messages between each other then what friends could and a leader or manager could send a guild wide message through the Contract Scroll. It also increased the number of characters in a message, however the count was still short. Members could see where the others were in their own menus, unless the member was in a dungeon, which blocked their location, just like it blocked messages. The guild also had a common storage that members could share, but it was small and also didn’t work inside dungeons. There was mention in the scroll that having a home registered as guild lodging with a storage room could expand that capacity. It did make potions easy to distribute because members could refill on their own from the common storage, so long as they kept the storage stocked, which was also easily done by any guild member buying potions for the guild. Guild members in the same party received a slight increase in their stats.
The night before, after the initial rush to create guilds was over, there had been a strategy meeting. Kibaou had declared that he wanted the third floor cleared within a week. The other guilds were still working on building up levels for another day before the big push to achieve that goal. Bladescape knew her guilds’ levels. Knightstar had it all charted out, but Bladescape’s Silver Sagacity Circlet was getting stronger as Search was leveled up. Bladescape could see Lind and Kibaou’s levels, as well as almost everyone they encountered. All of the Wondercolts were above them. The only player she couldn’t read was Doombunny, because her Hide Skill was stronger than Bladescape’s Search Skill.
Bladescape was keeping the power of the Silver Sagacity Circlet secret, so that no one could accidentally slip up and spill it. She had shared it only with Natora during one of their nightly debriefs. Natora had warned her that knowing the overall level of other players at a glance would be seen as a breach of privacy and many wouldn’t like it or feel comfortable around Bladescape if they knew she could see certain things. They would think she was looking for an angle or edge to have on them. The fewer players who knew what she could do with the circlet, the better. Two mouths were easier to keep sealed tight than eleven.
Being able to see their levels gave Bladescape the confidence to propose the Wondercolts’ private actions for the next few days, which was technically in line with the others. She wanted them to beat the field boss on their own. Bladescape didn’t want to get caught up in more of Lind and Kibaou’s drama. They were taking 3 or 4 parties to a field boss fight and the Wondercolts were half that number with higher levels.
The sun was barely up and Natora, Thunderborne, Reisenki, and Konpeito were scouting the field boss, checking out its attack patterns while everyone else observed. The goal was to determine not only the attack patterns, but if they were strong enough. Beating the field boss would put a major dent in both Lind and Kibaou’s arrogance while also reinforcing that the Wondercolts deserved to be there. They kept trying to push the Wondercolts out of the picture and Bladescape wouldn’t have it.
Natora called off the scouting mission, getting a clean break from the fight. They regrouped with everyone.
“Thoughts?” Natora immediately asked.
“You made it look easy,” Knightstar said.
“That’s because it was!” Konpeito exclaimed with an excited hop.
“From what I saw, with three tanks and two shield users, we can do this,” Bladescape said.
“I have to agree,” Knightstar said. “It looks doable and it only seems to have two attacks, the branch whip and root punch. Soryuto, Doom, and I may not want to fight floor bosses, but this is a field boss. We have helped beat a few dungeon bosses, so I know we can do this. Bosses are a part of SAO, a part of winning our freedom, and the stats are in our favor.”
“Then let’s not stand around,” Bladescape said. “I would rather not be discovered by the others. It is still early enough that I don’t think any of them are really up and moving yet.”
They were already set up in their parties. Bladescape was going to be the main hitting squad with Natora’s squad supporting and flanking. There wasn’t really any room to flank, because of how narrow the pass was, but they would be ready to adjust and take advantage of any openings. Natora had paired Thunderborne and Soryuto together and had Doombunny and Knightstar with her, with the goal of using the shields to cover Thunderborne and Natora so they could take advantage of any openings. Malus was paired with Konpeito, Bladescape was with Reisenki, and Diemond was paired with Kiefer. They would be going in with a three-pronged approach, having Malus hold the center.
The whip attack was more powerful than it looked. The branches were quick as they cracked through the air. Reisenki blocked it easily on his shield without breaking stride. Konpeito used the opening to dash forward and bury her axe in the treant’s trunk. It stayed there as Konpeito was punched in the gut by the roots, causing her to double over. Malus grabbed her and pulled her back to a point that she could protect her. Diemond blocked a whip attack and Kiefer used the brief moment they were on the face of Diemond’s shield to sever them.
The treant groaned audibly from the loss of some of its branches. Bladescape took the opportunity to strike. Reisenki also landed a blow with his axe. Natora dashed between their pairs and dealt three quick stabs to the trunk, which Konpeito used as cover to grab her axe and pull it free. Thunderborne bounced off the wall of the canyon cutting at the upper branches before she dropped back down and dove into a roll to avoid the roots punching her. Malus grabbed the roots that popped out to hit Thunderborne and Konpeito got revenge by severing them in one clean chop. Doombunny pegged the treant three times with her throwing knives.
Those attacks had knocked off two thirds of the first health bar. It had three. It didn’t take them long to redo the process. When they got the field boss into the red, it extended its roots, diving them under the front line and directly attacking Knightstar and Soryuto. It also started thrashing them all with its limbs, forcing the tanks to raise their shields. Konpeito, and Kiefer followed Bladescape in a charge to the trunk.
Bladescape blocked a root that tried to punch her and then sliced it off before it could retreat underground. Kiefer was quick with his katana, slicing The Indolent Treant in several spots before he was in a delay. Konpeito unleashed back-to-back two combination attacks.
“All yours, Blade!” Konpeito yelled with a smile as she entered her delay.
Bladescape hit it with everything she had. One thing she had realized from her failure to finish off Asterius the Taurus King was her failure to set up her attacks to let her chain a follow up if it had failed. It was no different from what she had been learning about in Iaido, always being ready and knowing the options available to you for where your sword stopped. Her book of memories helped remind her of those lessons. The only difference between Iaido’s forms and SAO was that SAO had preset locations the sword had to be in, the “initial motion”, to trigger a sword skill, and she didn’t have many skills available to her at her level. Bladescape succeeded in chaining a second, then a third, a fourth, and then a final fifth, ending with her plunging the Red Sun Sword into the heart of The Indolent Treent. It shattered into polygons from the stab.
Bladescape was in a very long delay, the penalty stacking exponentially for chaining so many sword skills. She couldn’t celebrate with the others.
“Now that’s how you kill a tree,” Konpeito said, flipping her axe up onto her shoulder. “Why were we worried?”
“That was some mighty fine swordsmanship,” Malus said. “I reckon I ain’t seen nothing like it in any of the fights we’ve been in.”
Bladescape finally was released from the delay. She sunk her sword into the stone to keep herself from falling over. She was able to grab a glance at the Last Attack Bonus screen before addressing her friends. “Thanks, but it also was really risky, being exposed and unable to respond, even to defend yourself.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t let it live,” Natora said. “You made sure it went down. It was impressive and you should be proud. Don’t sell yourself short. Chaining all of those together takes skill.”
“It’s all from my Iaido lessons,” Bladescape said. “But I wasn’t the only one putting on a good show. Thunder, your acrobatics and speed have exponentially increased. Very impressive.”
Thunderborne got more praise from the others, which she happily soaked up. She then admitted it surprised her and that she had almost overshot the tree on the first leap.
“And we cleared the field boss ourselves,” Natora said with a sly grin. “That will force Lind and Kibaou to recognize that there really is a third guild with them, clearing this game, even if we are small compared to them. It also is nice to keep everything it dropped and the XP in our hands, not theirs.”
“It was a significant amount,” Knightstar said, scrolling through her drop list. “I am glad I was wrong about my estimates.”
“Let’s get moving before we get discovered,” Natora said. “We didn’t do anything wrong, but I would prefer to keep them guessing about who beat the boss as long as possible.”
As they moved out, Bladescape scrolled through her items, noting the various items dropped. None appeared to be better than her current equipment. She found the Last Attack Bonus, “Treant Heart,” but didn’t pull it out while they walked. It felt good to score the Last Attack Bonus, and a field boss was not going to be something weak, but it wasn’t the same as a floor boss’ LAB. That was her true desire and would be the ultimate test and proof of her skill. Beating over forty players to the same goal while still working as a team was not a trivial task. Her guild had let her get it, not that it was undeserved, especially with how she pulled it off. She was their leader and they expected her to finish bosses, assuming she was in a position or role to do so.
The path from the pass led them to a town called Dessel. There was plenty to discover in the town. Like Zumfut, the main settlement in the southern half, it was made inside the giant baobab trees, with bridges connecting the trees and also going out to some treehouses hanging from the massive branches.
“You know the drill,” Bladescape said. “Pair off and look for quests.”
“I’ve got a question for Blade,” Natora said. “So, Thunder, sorry, pair off with someone else this time.”
Thunderborne didn’t put up any complaints and paired off with Soryuto.
“So, what was it?” Natora asked when they were alone.
Bladescape swiped up her menu and pulled it out. It was a ring, carved from petrified wood. Bladescape brought up the item menu.
“Defense Plus-Five,” Bladescape said.
“Wow!” Natora exclaimed. “That is a jump. Something you need without a helmet.”
Someone started clapping behind them. Bladescape’s hand went to her sword hilt out of instinct as she turned around. Natora’s spear was twirled around until it was brought to bear on the surprise guest. It was Argo. They both relaxed.
“Very nice drop and well earned,” Argo said. “Your guild left so early, I was wondering what had your attention. Tailing you was easy. Taking on the field boss was gutsy, but clearly a good move. I know I fought with you, Bladescape, but watching you all work as a guild was impressive. Better than what Lind has scraped together. He is trying to be the reincarnation of Diavel, and it puts to shame Kibaou’s group. Unlike them and their guilds, you know how to keep your cool and are not acting for selfish reasons.”
“Shouldn’t you be quest grinding?” Bladescape asked, unsure of Argo’s intentions.
“Normally, yes,” Argo said with a sigh. “But Kirito has this floor covered because of the Elf War quest. Instead, I’ve been leveling and waiting for the fourth floor to be opened up. You, Natora, may not have made it off the first floor in the Beta, but you still have the title of Beater, which isn’t totally undeserved. The rest of your guild is as good as they are because of the jumpstart you gave them, but you also wouldn’t be as strong as you are without them.”
“Is there a point to that statement?” Natora asked.
Argo shrugged. “It’s an observation, free of charge, but it does lead to my next statement. We can be powerful allies or you can be at a disadvantage, not being able to have access to my information. Kirito is a free agent in ways, able to help me get something done because he doesn’t have a guild he has to follow, but there will be times, like now, where Kirito won’t be available. Other times he won’t be enough to help me, even if he brings Asuna with him. That is where you come in. It would, of course, come with compensation.”
“That sounds like a good deal,” Bladescape said. “But something else is prompting this, not being bored or watching us turn that treant to splinters.”
“Yeah, okay, I guess you deserve that information,” Argo admitted. “After all you are not against Kirito, if anything, I would say you are for him. Also, while Lind and Kibaou are writing you off, or trying to, they are fighting to not let any other guilds join the clearers. You were there last night, but stayed silent. They want to build their two guilds and they have currently sealed off the ability for another guild to rise up and help clear. You are not a threat because you don’t intend to grow. It won’t be long before they are each twice your size or even three times. So watch your back, because they may dislike each other, but Lind and Kibaou have a private pact with each other. Any deals with you can easily be nullified if they both have you outnumbered six to one. Or more.
“Which brings me to the real point. Another Beta Tester, Morte, is causing problems, specifically helping both the Dragon Knights Brigade and the Aincrad Liberation Squad, while also sabotaging them and trying to cause them to fight. No one needs me when they are getting it free from him and they don’t realize he is causing them to clash. They won’t let me get close enough to them to counter his grip on them. Not that Kibaou is openly using any beta testers because he doesn’t trust them.”
“So we have a lot of factors in play,” Natora said with a sigh. “Yeah, I remember Morte. He was a pain in the beta,” She spat. “He baited me into a friendly duel, half loss, and got me just above half before he killed me because it was a critical hit. Half loss can be dangerous if you know how to exploit it, which he does. I think he mob PK’d me in the beta too. He isn’t a good guy to have around now that SAO isn’t a game.”
“None of that surprises me,” Argo said.
“Any worthwhile information, like quests, that we could buy off you?” Bladescape asked.
“Yeah, I have some,” Argo said with a coy grin. “But about quests, I can’t believe you beat Kibaou to be the first to complete the guild creation quest. He is really mad about that. Lind currently tolerates you because you are useful, but Kibaou doesn’t care if you are not, he wants you gone.”
“Well, hello,” Knightstar said, joining them. Doombunny was with her. “You must be the infamous Argo.”
“The one and only,” Argo said with a nod.
“We were just about to purchase information on quests,” Bladescape informed Knightstar.
“Perhaps a trade will be better,” Knightstar said. She pulled out her notebook. Argo was clearly interested in the fact that she had the pouch on her chest dedicated to making the book and its writing utensils easily accessible. “I have calculations, all covering leveling, that accurately predict the experience needed to be gained for each player level all the way to one-hundred. Once you get through the first ten, the algorithm they use is quite evident and my calculations have been spot on for each level after.”
“Why a-hundred?” Argo asked.
“It’s just where I stopped,” Knightstar said with a shrug. “It is easy to calculate, but I was running out of materials and needed it for more relevant notes. We won’t get to one-hundred for a long while, so it was a good place to stop.”
“Notes on what?” Argo asked.
“Everything,” Knightstar said, getting coy. “I have details about every monster we have fought. Some are more detailed than others, but it includes physical stats, attack styles, targeting range, critical attack locations, and drop rates.”
Argo stood there, thinking. “I’ll give you not only the list of quests in the northern area, but a quick walkthrough for each for that leveling data. All the way to one-hundred.”
“Deal,” Knightstar said, snapping her notebook shut.
There were only a handful of quests in the north section. With the guides, the Wondercolts could knock them out easily.
"I'm really interested in this 'Find a Pet' quest," Doombunny said. "It would be nice to have an animal companion."
"Hold up there," Argo said. "I want to make something clear: a pet is not a familiar. It gives no boosts, no assistance, and it is more likely to run away from combat. You need a place to care for it and safely leave it, which you don't seem to have."
Doombunny let out a sad sigh as that hope was squashed.
"We will remember it for when we get a place of our own," Bladescape assured her.
They got everyone together and went off to do two quests since it was still early enough.
The next day, Bladescape was walking with Natora in Dessel after finishing the last of the quests. A few teams were finishing another quest or locating the boss labyrinth and would be back soon. The Wondercolts had gotten a lot of good work done. It felt good.
That feeling ended as Bladescape saw Lind, Kibaou, and their respective guilds enter the town. They were immediately spotted.
"You!" Kibaou yelled. "Are you the ones who cleared the field boss?"
Bladescape tried to play innocent. "Me? The Wondercolts? If you mean the tree blocking the pass, then I guess so, but I would hardly call it a field boss. It didn't even take us ten minutes. You guys put so much effort into field bosses, taking twenty odd players. I can't believe it was one. We could have beaten it with just one party, not the eleven players we had."
Lind put his hand up, stopping Kibaou from saying anything. "Are you seriously suggesting that you beat the field boss with eleven players and could have done it with less?"
Bladescape dropped the act and got real with them. Both of them needed to take the Wondercolts seriously. "I'm not suggesting. That is a fact. We easily beat it in several minutes with eleven players simply because we had not only the levels, but also the unity. If you boys would quit playing around or trying to out compete each other, you might get someplace. You may have your boys club, but whether you like it or not, there is a third guild clearing Aincrad. The girls are here to stay and more importantly, to work together to beat the game.
"But before you go wasting your time, the quests in the north are all done except the pet quest in that building, which anyone can do.” Bladescape pointed to the building and then pointed at a pillar in the distance. “And I will also add that that pillar has the boss labyrinth in it. But if you level nines and tens can't even manage to work together and smoothly clear a field boss with half a full boss raid party, you need to seriously consider your current levels and safety margins before we clear the boss. No one wants dead players at the end of the raid. Make sure they have sufficient levels to survive and maybe help out."
"Nine!" Kibaou raged. "You think I'm level nine!"
"No, you idiot," Bladescape spat. She could see his level, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. "From what I've seen, I'm guessing you're level twelve, but you will be a nine so long as you allow players at that low of a level into your ranks."
"And what level are you at?" Lind asked, stopping Kibaou from going off.
"Wouldn't you like to know," Bladescape retorted. "We don't give out member data. All that matters is that it was sufficient enough to splinter that oversized tree without breaking a sweat."
"Why I ought-"
"Pipe down, Kibaou," Agil said as he stopped by the shorter man's side. Kibaou involuntarily pulled back at the sight of him. "Don’t you remember the last boss raid? The girls have some mad skills. I have no doubt they easily took it down. They know more about teamwork and cooperation than either of you have shown. Although, don't the Wondercolts have some guys in their ranks?"
"Oh yeah," Bladescape said with a laugh. "I'm so used to hanging out with our group IRL, which is all girls, that I used it without thinking. The same way as, in English, we use ‘guys’ as an informal term to mean a group of people we are addressing. Yeah, we have two men in our ranks. A strong tank and a quick samurai."
"It's okay," Reisenki said, joining them. Kiefer was with him. They had been checking out a pillar for the boss labyrinth. "Kiefer and I have already discussed it. We realize we are in the 'girl guild' and are totally cool with it. It's nine verses two and you all are cool about it. You are not trying to take in only girls, it is just how the cards fell. You only see a player’s skills and contribution to the guild. That is what matters."
"I'd rather hang out with ‘the girls’ than ‘the boys’ and have to deal with Kibaou and Lind measuring every little detail," Kiefer added.
Lind wasn't happy to hear that and Kibaou was fuming. Neither knew how to counter that. Agil just started to laugh deeply.
"Hey!" Natora suddenly yelled, pointing off to the side. "I see you there, Morte! Yeah, I remember you. You PK'd me twice in the beta and were always stirring up chaos where you could."
Everyone was now looking at Morte who had been trying to slip by into the settlement without being noticed.
"I don't know you," Morte said, playing it off.
"I recognize that grin of yours anywhere," Natora retorted. "I couldn't forget it after our 'friendly' half loss duel where you chipped me right above half and then executed a kill move. You were no good in the beta and you are clearly up to no good right now."
"Are you saying you want to duel me?" Morte asked. "If you are...well I might oblige you."
"So you can pull the same trick on me?" Natora snorted. "Or so you can make me look bad for the duel? I know your real game. I wouldn't be surprised to find out, since your nose is this close to the front, that you have been sticking it in both the Aincrad Liberation Squad' business and the Dragon Knights Brigade's business and intentionally setting them both on collision courses with each other."
Morte didn't have a response. If he walked away, it was as good as admitting it. If he admitted it, that would be worse. He was backed into a corner.
"That is a serious accusation," he finally said. He took a step towards them all. "A real slight against my honor. You better be prepared to back up such nasty words."
"Can you beat him?" Bladescape quietly asked.
"Yeah," Natora whispered back. "I think so."
A duel request screen popped up in front of Natora. It was for a half-loss duel.
"There won't be any need for that," Lind suddenly said. "I believe Natora. I know the information we got from friendly Morte was useful, but it did send us careering into the Aincrad Liberation Squad a few times. Looking back, the coincidences were easy to shrug off in the moment, but are glaringly obvious now that they were engineered."
The challenge screen was still in front of Natora. She turned to the side to not cancel it and put her hand up to block her lips from being read while she whispered to Bladescape. "I have more levels and HP than he does. He can't account for that, right?"
Bladescape was able to turn around fully. "He is level thirteen. You have him in that way, but if he is as tricky as you indicated, he will figure it out if his hits land even one blow, ending that advantage. It isn't worth risking your life over. Lind is on our side. What would it prove?"
"If you're afraid, just say so," Morte stated. "I'll retract the offer in exchange for your admission and an apology for hurting my good name."
Natora faced him again. "I'm right and you know it. You got me trapped over this duel now, but unlike you, I actually care about having a good reputation. I care about my friends. My pride doesn't trump their necessities. In the beta, I was alone and weak. Now, I'm strong and supported by a team. A duel would prove nothing, especially a half loss duel." Natora slammed her fist on the X to deny it. She immediately sent a request to him. "But a first hit duel would be... interesting. Win and I'll apologize. Lose and admit what we already know, that you were manipulating those guilds, intending to cause them harm in any way possible. Or you can walk and not get that apology you so desperately want...or perhaps deserve?"
Morte snorted and then hit accept. He drew his sword, an Anneal Blade, as he grinned from under his unkempt chainmail hood. Its edges were loose and torn, looking like locks of hair instead of proper armor.
"So you changed equipment," Natora said as she took her stance. "I see you got rid of that horrible axe and shield combination."
"What of it?" Morte asked. "Scared you can't beat me when I wield a sword?"
"Nah," Natora shrugged. "I'm just surprised that after all of that, you were stupid enough to admit that you have dueled me with an axe and shield, after claiming to not know me."
The clock hit zero as Morte's anger flared over getting tricked into the admission. Natora took two solid steps forward and stopped, spear still at the ready. She was waiting for him to trigger a skill, to give away his plan. He didn't as they got within striking range. He thrust his sword at her at the last minute, without stopping. Natora drew her spear in and up. Blocking it and forcing his sword to go high. She stepped to the side, forcing him to run into her. He wasn't ready for that. Natora took the moment he needed to regain his balance to flick her spear into position and run him through his right shoulder.
She was declared the winner and pulled her spear out. She stepped back as he stood there, HP in the yellow and unsure what to do. The grin on his face was gone.
"Get out of here,” Natora spat. "We know what you did. You are now an evil puppet master without any puppets. Their strings were cut and they won’t be going back to you."
"Fine," Morte spat. "But I'll be back for you."
Natora immediately headed to the tavern. She was done with the entire debacle, including the drama before the duel.
Bladescape nodded to Lind, a silent parting gesture that asserted their position, and led Reisenki, and Kiefer to the tavern to wait for the others to get back. As they waited for their drinks to come, they were approached by Kirito in his all-black attire.
"May I have a word with you, Bladescape?" He asked.
Bladescape nodded and stood up. They went to a corner booth to talk.
“You were there two nights ago,” Kirito said. “You heard the talks as they tried to cut me out, as well as stop me from starting a competing guild. I don't want to be in a guild, ever, but I don't want to limit Asuna or harm her prospects with guilds and clearing. The longer she is with me, the harder it will be to get into some of the guild's, particularly the clearing ones."
“Don't sell yourself short,” Bladescape said. “Asuna could have joined either guild if she wanted to. She is going places with you, whereas they would hold her back, putting her under their leadership. She is a sharp girl who is adaptive and quick. I understand your concern, but not only can she stand up for herself, she also could get a following if she wanted it. I'll give you no guarantees, but if things go really badly, the Wondercolts might be able to open up our guild for her. I would hate to have her stop clearing the game because Lind or Kibaou blacklists her. She is valuable to the Wondercolts for many reasons, but those facts sound harsh and cold. Honestly, a friendship with her is her most valuable asset and it cannot be undersold.”
Kirito shifted a bit uncomfortably.
“Just...don't worry about her too much, specifically in that way,” Bladescape advised. “Simply take care of her. She is staying because she wants to. She sees something in you. Maybe being alone isn't what you should be doing.”
Kirito's eyes betrayed him. Hearing Bladescape’s observation was shocking, but they were filled with fear. He was afraid of something. Perhaps it was just because he was willing to take the hate of Kibaou and others, but he also decided to become the scapegoat for their anger, which might be due to something else he had experienced. A month had passed before that boss battle. A month of him being alone, or at least he had indicated he had been alone, surviving by his wits and skill without any help.
Bladescape wasn’t sure how that would have affected her, a month, alone in this “game” knowing it was all for real. She had her friends, but she didn’t sleep for the first few days. She couldn’t remember things she should be able to. She was still relearning her forgotten memories.
“Just keep pushing forward,” Bladescape said. “Asuna is clearly independent enough to make her choice. If she stays fighting with you, it’s because she wants to and it’s to her advantage to. If not, well she has never struck me as the type of woman to leave over something stupid. She will leave if there is a better place. Neither Kibaou or Lind can offer her something better than what you can. Don’t doubt yourself or deal in absolutes. You never know what prospect might come up for you either.”
Kirito did not have a response. He was lost in thought. Bladescape looked at her friends and saw that everyone was assembled.
“Hey,” Bladescape said, getting Kirito’s attention. “The rest of the Wondercolts are back. If you need to talk, you can find me any time. You’ve got an ally with me. But if you don’t have anything else you need to discuss…”
“No, go,” Kirito said. “Thanks.”
“No problem,” Bladescape said, flashing him a smile. “Anytime.”
BLADESCAPE: Level 19 — Two-Handed Sword — Searching — Weapon Defense — Leather Armor
NATORA: Level 19 — Two-Handed Spear — Purchase Negotiations — Sales Negotiation — Weapon Defense
KNIGHTSTAR: Level 18 — One-Handed Sword — Shield — Light Metal Armor — Equipment Appraisal
MALUS: Level 19 — One-Handed War Hammer — Shield — Light Metal Armor — First Aid
THUNDERBORNE: Level 19 — Rapier — Sprint — Acrobatics — Weapon Defense
KONPEITO: Level 19 — Two-Handed Axe — Cooking — Weapon Defense — Light Metal Armor — Martial Arts
DIEMOND: Level 19 — Mace — Shield — Sewing — Light Metal Armor
DOOMBUNNY: Level 18 — One-Handed Dagger — Hide — Fighting Spirit — Blade Throwing
KIEFER: Level 15 — One-Handed Curved Sword — Slash Weapon Forging — Light Metal Armor — Weapon Defense
SORYUTO: Level 14 — One-Handed Sword — Shield — Light Metal Armor — Music
REISENKI: Level 15 — One-Handed Axe — Shield — Light Metal Armor — Equipment Repair