14 “SO WHY DO WE HAVE TO BE THE ERRAND-RUNNERS here?” Asuna grumbled as she trudged along. I shrugged and answered, “What can you do? It’s just the way it is.” “No, not that! We were a party of two during the first boss fight, but this time we had a full six!” “Only because Agil was considerate enough to let us join him. We’ll need to thank him when this all blows over.” Asuna raised an eyebrow at me. “W-what?” “Nothing. I’m just wondering if your skill at getting along is earning a few proficiency points.” “That’s …” my line, I wanted to say, but I held it in. “That should be clear, since I have a gift for him, too.” “Oh? What’s that, the Mighty Straps you found in the labyrinth?” “… Ooh, good idea. I’ll have to give those to him, too.” I patted my fist into my palm. Asuna looked at me doubtfully, then her eyes went wide with understanding. “Oh, I know! You’re going to foist that thing you’ve been keeping in the inn chest off on Agil!” “Indeed.” She was referring to the large Vendor’s Carpet that Nezha left with me when he abandoned his blacksmithing and went off to learn the Martial Arts skill. It was an expensive and useful item, but offered little benefit to a combat-focused character. Plus, it couldn’t be placed in one’s inventory, so it had to be rolled up and hoisted around by hand. “Agil might be a warrior, but he seems likely to know some promising future blacksmiths, wouldn’t you suspect? I’m sure Nezha would be happy knowing that it went to good use.” “But what if Agil himself wakes up to the lures of running his own business?” “… Then I’ll be his first customer,” I answered glibly. Asuna sighed and glanced ahead. We were walking up the spiral staircase between the second and third floors. But for some unknown design purpose, the stairs spiraled around the entire eight-hundred-foot-wide tower, meaning that we actually had to walk a distance of over 2,500 feet … plus height. But because there were no monsters on the staircase, it was still a much easier exit from the tower than going from the boss chamber all the way down to the front entrance. As the roving strikers (or, if you prefer, leftovers) of the raid, Asuna and I had been given our orders by Lind: to leave the labyrinth, which was shut off from all instant messages, and deliver the news of our victory to all the players who were eagerly awaiting an update. Normally this would be the job—no, privilege—of Lind or Kibaou. But the main raid force could not leave the boss chamber for another hour or so. Not because they were locked inside but because they were too busy talking. The debate raged on about how to deal with Nezha and the Legend Braves. But I no longer had any concerns about the outcome of that discussion. The instant that Orlando and his partners had laid down their weapons and admitted their sins, the conclusion was foretold. No matter how heated up the group was, they weren’t so bloodthirsty that they would execute a group of six players, and the addition of the Braves to the guilty side changed the equation: Now Shivata and the others could realistically be repaid for their lost weapons. Orlando explained every last detail of the deception and removed all of his equipment, not just the sword and helm. The other four followed his lead, and produced a small mountain of high-level gear that would fetch a price beyond my estimation. He told the group that if they turned all of these items into cash, it would surpass the value of the lost weapons—they’d sunk their own honestly earned money into the armor as well—and serve as a repayment for all the victims of their scheme. If there was col left over, it could be used as a potion fund for the next boss battle. Now that the damages were able to be repaid, the remaining problem was the player who died because his weapon was stolen. Under the current configuration of SAO, no amount of money could make up for a lost life. The Legend Braves offered to go find the fellow’s companions and apologize in person, if that would help in any way. When they asked the dagger user who’d brought this story up, he backed down on his assertion, saying that it was just a rumor and he didn’t know the name. In the end, the group decided to ask the information agent to discover the truth of the matter. The first controversy over player-swindling in Aincrad was about to reach a close without bloodshed, but there was one problem remaining: how to convert the dozens of pieces of high-powered equipment into cash.
There was always the option of selling them to NPC merchants in town. But the NPC’s prices were always kept below the market rate by the “invisible hand” of the system in order to combat inflation. If we were going to get the maximum value, the transactions had to be with other players. The people with the most col and the largest need for good equipment were the front-line players. So Lind and Kibaou considered the possibility of selling that equipment to the few dozen players present in the boss chamber and donating the money to Shivata’s group of three. Of course, there were more victims of the scheme than just the people present here, so proper payment would need to be made once everyone went back to town. So the delay in leaving the boss chamber was due to a spontaneous auction. Sadly, none of the items was suitable for agile leather-wearers like me and Asuna—and even if there were some, I wouldn’t have been in the mood to buy and equip them. As we stood around feeling relieved that a peaceful solution was found, Lind came over and said, “If you don’t have anything better to do, could you leave the dungeon and tell the newspapers that our conquest was successful?” I couldn’t find a good reason to decline his request, so I prodded the reluctant Asuna, and we went out the door in the back of the chamber to the next floor. Agil and his friends waved goodbye, but we didn’t have an opportunity to say anything to Nezha the former blacksmith. As soon as Orlando and his friends lined up around him, his little back trembled and shook with constant sobs. “Well, it seems like the case of fraud is going to wrap up safely … What do you suppose Nezha and the Braves are going to do next?” Asuna wondered as she climbed the gently sloping staircase. I mulled it over. “Depends on them. They can’t prevent the tale of the Braves’ shady behavior from spreading around the front line. Either they’ll have to avoid everyone here and go back down to the Town of Beginnings, or start over from scratch and try to reach our level again. Before we left, Lind told me that if they wanted to, he’d allow them to keep a minimum of col necessary for the equipment they’ll need to hang around. But no matter what they choose, they won’t treat Nezha like a third wheel.” “Hmm … To be honest, I’m still not sure how I feel about Orlando … But if they do make it back to the front line, I’ll do my best to work with them. I mean, even you did all right with Lind and Kibaou, didn’t you?” I nearly missed a step. “I-I haven’t changed my attitude a bit! If anything, they’re the ones who are acting weird. Kibaou’s totally anti-tester, and Lind’s trying to raise an elite fighting force, so solos like me are only an obstacle to his goals. And yet, both of them were being oddly normal …” Asuna momentarily looked frosty when I uttered the word solo. She sighed and said, “As usual, you’re completely clueless.” “Huh? How so?” “If all of the frontier players were under the lead of either Lind or Kibaou alone, they would have been much more open about excluding you. But the blue Dragon Knights and the green Aincrad Liberation Squad are jockeying for power even as they work together, right?” “Um, yeah …” “In the current situation, they’re both on edge. They think that if they antagonize you too much, you’ll end up aligning with the other team.” “Me? With either blue or green?” I came to a standstill and chuckled. “Ha-ha, no way. They’d shut the door in my face, even if I actually wanted to join. I’m the evil beater, right? I mean, even today …” I shut my mouth and started hopping up the steps. Asuna hurried to catch up, looking skeptical, then raised a finger in sudden understanding. “Hey, by the way, what happened to the boss’s last attack bonus? On Asterios the Taurus King, I mean. I didn’t get the prompt.” “Uhh, ahh, umm …” “And now that I think about it, didn’t you win the LA on Colonel Nato and General Baran? You didn’t get the king too, did you …?” “Um, well, that’s, uh—hey, is that the exit?” “Oh, no, you don’t! You did win it, didn’t you? What did he drop? Tell me!” Suddenly we were both jogging up the stairs. At the end of the gently curving staircase was a thick door decorated with a relief. The scene was of two swordsmen facing off among gnarled old trees. The left was dark-skinned, and the right was pale, but both were slender and fragile, with pointed ears. The picture was meant to represent the theme of the floor ahead, I thought to myself. Nezha—no, Nataku. You were the real MVP of the second floor. Come on back to us. The front line’s a scary, dangerous place … but it’s where you’ll find what you really wanted. And the front line needs you, too. After all … “In a way, the third floor is where SAO really starts,” I said aloud. Asuna caught up to me, looking puzzled rather than harassing me more about the LA. “It is? Why is that?” I started off with my now-familiar, unhelpful refrain: “Um, well …” And savoring each and every step, I crossed the final thirty feet of the second floor of Aincrad.
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