8
THE LARGE FOREST ELF CAMP AT THE TOP OF THE HILL was not an instanced map generated only for players in the middle of a quest, so it was perfectly plausible for multiple parties to find themselves there at the same time. In addition to that, it was also possible for them to get into a fight over who was allowed to finish their quest first.
But with only a few dozen players this far ahead in the game, the odds of that happening were slim, and as far as I knew, Asuna and I and the DKB were the only people following the Elf War questline at the moment. Was this some kind of internal squabble in the DKB?
I didn’t want to get any closer, but even in the few seconds I watched, the two groups were getting visibly heated. If they raised any more noise, the elf warriors atop the hill would notice and be on alert. Reluctantly, I climbed over the lip of the cliff, feeling it necessary to get a better idea of what was happening.
I was at the western edge of the hill, a semicircle protruding to the south. The dozen or so players were congregated at the southern end. There were only a few bushes at best for cover in the straight line between us, so I couldn’t approach directly. My best bet was to head into the forest surrounding the hill and swing to the southeast, avoiding the gnarled roots and shrubs along the way.
Thanks to my recent life in the forest, I managed to circle around to my destination in less than a minute without tripping over any roots. The massive trees at the lip of the hill were ideal for hiding, so I hugged the back of a particularly thick trunk and activated my Hiding skill before peering around.
A small path ran east and west at the foot of the hill, and branched north to climb toward the camp. At that T-intersection—actually an upside-down T from my perspective—the two groups glared at each other. There were six on the east side, while on the west side there were over ten. If this was DKB infighting, this had to represent about the entire guild.
Based on what I could see by the dim moonlight, they hadn’t drawn their swords yet. But some of the members did have hands on the hilts of their weapons, and there was raw anger in the open air. The furious shouts and insults from before had stopped, but the mood seemed even more tense because of it.
One of the players from the east side of the intersection stepped forward. His long hair was tied behind his head, and a slender scimitar was strapped to his waist—this was clearly Lind, leader of the Dragon Knights Brigade. I could only see his silhouette from my position, but it seemed like the angular outline of his face was even more tense than usual.
Lind stared at the opposing party and spoke quietly. “There’s no use continuing to argue about this. We reached this point first. As the rules state, we have the right to proceed with this quest before you.”
It felt like a very stuffy, formal statement for an internal argument. And sure enough, another man leaped out from the other group, jabbing an accusatory finger at Lind.
“First? Ya only beat us by a couple seconds at best!”
—!!
I nearly gasped in astonishment but closed my mouth just in time.
That morningstar-like spiked hair, longsword on his back, and aggressive Kansai dialect. It could be none other than Kibaou, leader of the Aincrad Liberation Squad.
Which meant the dozen or so players across from Lind’s half dozen were the ALS. But why were they here?
Kibaou’s next outraged bellow halfway answered that question.
“And whaddaya mean, rules? If you made ’em up yourself, we don’t gotta play along! We’ve got ta beat this assault quest, too, no matter what it takes!”
Beat this assault quest.
The words were loud and clear. So the ALS were on the Elf War campaign, too—and on the dark elf side, to boot. But during the field boss battle that day—well, the day before—the ALS members had seemed disinterested in the campaign when I’d asked around about it.
That left two possibilities. Either all members of the guild were ordered to keep quiet about it, or they’d started the campaign yesterday afternoon and reached the sixth chapter already in just twelve hours.
I couldn’t believe the latter. The “Jade Key” quest was over in the span of a single battle, but “Vanquishing the Spiders,” “The Flower Offering,” “Emergency Orders,” and “The Missing Soldier” couldn’t all be completed in half a day without the presence of someone who truly knew what they were doing…perhaps a former beta tester taking the lead…
Which they had.
Yes, the ALS had a member who fit that profile, too.
Morte, the coif-wearing man, who’d traded blows with me just minutes before, a little ways down the river. He’d hidden his face and switched his weapons in order to slip into both guilds. If he was the guide for the DKB, nothing said he couldn’t do the same for the ALS.
So had Kibaou beseeched Morte for assistance in order to blaze through all the quests in the campaign up to this point? But he was steadfast in his stance not to associate with former testers. Why would he ignore that philosophy so suddenly?
Confused, I watched the two leaders face off. Now it was Lind’s turn to lose his cool.
“Whether it’s quests or hunting grounds, first come, first served is the obvious way of things! If you’re going to be the leader of a guild, you’ve got to follow your good conscience, Kibaou!”
At this haughty, sweeping statement by Lind’s standards, Kibaou flashed his canines in a snarl.
“Conscience? You’re gonna talk ta me about conscience, Lind?” He crossed his thick arms and leaned back, staring up at Lind’s face with menace in his eyes. “Well, I got a bone to pick about that. Ever since we got here, you been hidin’ the fact that this elf quest is crucial ta beatin’ the floor boss!”
Wha—?!
I clamped my mouth shut before the startled exclamation could burst out of it and into the virtual night air.
Certainly, proceeding through the campaign carried its own rewards, such as money, experience, and loot, but it certainly wasn’t necessary to beat the boss. The chamber door in the labyrinth tower would open whether the quest was active or not, the boss was available to fight, and if defeated, the way to the fourth floor was open. At least, that’s how it was in the beta…but it was also that way on the first two floors in the retail game. And even if it had been changed for the third floor, nobody here could possibly know that for a fact yet.
But Kibaou continued his rant, full of the righteous anger of one absolutely convinced of his facts.
“You remember what happened five days ago. The raid nearly got wiped out ’cos we didn’t know the boss cow had turned inta three. That same trap’s been laid here on the third floor. Some trap that’s gonna do us in if we ain’t cleared the elf quest and got whatever items it gives out. You knew it was true, and ya didn’t say a word of it during that strategy meeting! So where’s your conscience now, huh?”
“…N…”
No! I had to prevent myself from screaming, right along with Lind.
At the very least, none of the quests in the campaign I completed on the third floor in the beta had any bearing on the floor boss. It was possible that the rewards had been altered since then, but the only ones who could confirm it were those who’d completed all ten chapters available on this floor, and it was unthinkable that anyone could have done that much in just four days. It was one thing to rush through the early quests, but the ninth and tenth were long affairs that required an entire day to complete.
Which meant this hypothetical life-saving item Kibaou was talking about was probably false info someone had maliciously fed him. And I had a bad feeling I knew who would do that…
“No! I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Lind shouted, breaking me out of my thoughts. I focused on the scene ahead of me, and even from this distance, I could make out the folds on his brow as he glared back at Kibaou. “The DKB have only been doing the campaign quest for the experience and rewards! I didn’t mention it because there was no reason to bring it up!”
“Hah! And the rewards are items we’ll need to beat the boss, no doubt!” Kibaou shot back, leaning forward and meeting Lind’s gaze furiously. “You just wanna call the shots for all the frontline players, that’s all! Well, I ain’t gonna let you tell me the rules. We’re goin’ first, so wait here like good lil’ boys!”
Kibaou turned forcefully toward the hill, but Lind’s hand caught his shoulder. Instantly, the guild members behind both men bristled.
“Wait, don’t do this! Maybe you’re not aware of this, but these key spots disappear once someone completes the quest, only to reappear elsewhere at random. If we wait here, we won’t be able to finish the quest after you!”
At this, Kibaou reached out and grabbed Lind’s shirt at the chest. “This is what I mean about you not sharin’ details! What you’re sayin’ is that if you do the quest first, we don’t get to do it!”
“As is our right for being the first to the camp!”
“And I’m tellin’ you, I ain’t followin’ your rules! If you want, we can set up some rules that make this whole kit and caboodle real simple!”
“…And what do you mean by that?”
…Oh no.
They were both absolutely furious. Shivata in the DKB might be able to step in before things got truly dangerous, but there was no officer with a similarly cool head on the ALS side.
I certainly couldn’t improve the situation by trying to interfere now. But what options were available to defuse this perilous situation? I gritted my teeth hard.
Suddenly, Lind’s words from just moments ago replayed within my head.
These key spots disappear once someone completes the quest.
From what I heard later, Kibaou and Lind stood there holding the other, neither backing down an inch, and all eighteen players present nearly ended up in a footrace up the hill to see who could ransack the forest elf camp first.
As allies of the forest elves, the DKB were supposed to deliver supplies from the home base to the captain in charge of the camp. But the ALS, working the dark elf story line, needed to steal the commander’s orders, the same as me.
Meaning that if both guilds charged in at once, the dozen-plus forest elf warriors in the camp would be friendly NPCs to the DKCB but powerful (yet not as much as elite types like Kizmel) monsters to the ALS. If that happened, Lind’s party of six would witness an open battle between Kibaou’s dozen and the forest elves.
How would the DKB react?
The most sensible reaction would be to ignore the allied NPCs and deliver the supplies to the captain, thus completing the quest. It wasn’t clear if the camp would simply vanish on the spot as soon as the quest ended, or if the captain would even be able to accept the supplies if he was stuck in combat, but at least that would do as little damage as possible to the frontline group as a whole.
But depending on the mental state of Lind and the DKB, the worst was also possible: siding with the forest elves and turning their swords on the ALS.
If the six DKB members joined with the dozen or so forest elves, their power would be about equal to the twelve ALS warriors. Since they weren’t going to calmly challenge each other through the duel system, players on either side would turn into orange criminal players. At that point, there would be no stopping the infighting. We might be on the verge of the first top player killed since the first-floor boss battle…and at the hands of another player. If that happened, the frontline clearers would never again be a unified group.
Fortunately, that dire outcome for the state of our advancement in the game was avoided at the last moment.
Just as Kibaou and Lind began to climb the hill, each trying to push the other back, the elf camp simply disappeared, as though by magic—though according to SAO’s story, it probably was elven magic.
The two guild leaders and their sixteen followers, all comically locked in place in sprinting poses, stared dumbfounded at the top of the hill.
Eventually, a single player came trotting down the moonlit path. The moment they saw the face of the player who’d just beaten both guilds to the punch and completed the quest in the camp, no doubt that all present had one thought on their minds.
Not him again.
Faced with eighteen pairs of eyes, I was much less comfortable than I let on.
As soon as I made up my mind to beat them to the quest, I took the following actions.
I ran back through the forest the way I’d come, only several times faster, then sped along the river until I was directly beneath the camp. From there, I scrambled up the twenty-foot cliff. Once inside the camp, I made my way around the preset guard routines and snuck into the captain’s tent. Careful not to wake the sleeping leader in the back, I snatched the sheet of orders off the table in the center of the tent. Once out in the open again, I retraced my steps around the guards and descended the cliff behind the camp.
It sounded simple when put like that, but if I hadn’t learned the details from someone else during the beta test, I would certainly have been spotted in the process. Once I set foot back down on the riverside mud and the quest log updated, I nearly fell to the ground with relief.
A part of me wanted to just slip away and return to the base. But if I was going to help avert disaster between the DKB and ALS, I couldn’t just spirit the camp away and leave. It had to be made clear to all that someone had completed the quest—or as good as completed, since it wasn’t official until I reported to the dark elf commander.
So I climbed back up the cliff again, where the entire camp was vanishing in a poof of green light. Anyone else who wanted to finish the “Infiltration” quest or deliver supplies to the forest elf captain would have to find the camp in its new, randomized location, following the new marker on their maps. No matter where it appeared, there would be a way to sneak in the rear, but this cliff-climbing location was the only one I knew well. Even Argo the Rat would have a difficult time providing detailed maps for this part of her strategy guide series.
I crossed the hilltop, now bare of even a single fence, and descended the path to the foot of the hill.
Stopping a slight distance away from the stunned looks of the two guilds, I opened my window to check the time. It had taken just under five minutes to steal the commander’s orders, traversal time included. Meaning that Lind and Kibaou had spent at least that much extra time trying to convince the other of his logic since I left the scene. Sadly for them, that effort had gone to waste.
Window closed and my hands in my pockets, I tried to put on as casual an attitude as I could.
“Sorry, I just finished this quest. You’ll have to look for the camp elsewhere.”
Lind’s face went pale, while Kibaou’s only grew darker. By the light of the moon, it was hard to tell which of them was angrier.
As I might have suspected, the first to speak was Kibaou, he of the blinding rage against all former beta testers.
“…No wonder I ain’t seen ya around. The little beater boy was busy with the campaign. And just like this fool with the topknot, you knew we needed a quest reward ta beat the boss and didn’t see fit ta tell anyone.” Kibaou elbowed one of his DKB cohorts out of the way and glared back and forth at me and Lind. “In the end, y’all don’t give a fig for rescuin’ all eight thousand folks trapped in this game; that’s all secondary to ya. Yer only among the top players so y’all can get your weapons and items and lord it over the rest of us, nothin’ more. Yer just like all the other beaters what up an’ vanished from the Town of Beginnings on the very first day. You ain’t got the right to pretend yer inheritin’ Diavel’s lead!”
He’d been keeping his volume low prior to this, but now that the camp was gone, all restraint went out the window. As Kibaou’s torrent of rage spilled forth, the ALS members at his back shouted encouragement and called Lind a cosplay freak.
The taunts about Diavel’s will and cosplay were aimed squarely at Lind, who had dyed his hair blue in honor of the late knight. Even after I’d snuck in and nicked the quest from under their noses, their rage was still focused on the DKB.
Lind’s face was clearly pale, even under the moonlight. His slender eyes were burning with anger, and his teeth were gritted hard.
But he did not explode in kind. He held out his hand to stifle any return shouts from the DKB team. Perhaps he felt ashamed of his attempt to force their way ahead to the camp. In any case, he showed great restraint in holding back, but the internal tension must have been unbelievably high.
He sucked in a deep breath, held it for several seconds, and let it out, then spoke, his voice tense but low.
“Kibaou. I will repeat myself: None of the DKB members, including me, had any idea that the rewards from the campaign quest would be crucial to defeating the boss. Where did you get this information?”
But Kibaou, still in the midst of his outburst of rage, ignored that question.
“Nice try, but I ain’t fallin’ for it! You’re just thinkin’ you can monopolize all that info for yerselves!”
“I just told you, that is not the case!”
They headed into a fresh round of angry shouts. I watched the back-and-forth, frustrated by this turn of events.
The “clearers” might be a handy shorthand term for those players who were active in advancing our progress in the game, but they were not a unified force.
There were the DKB, a group of handpicked elites; the ALS, who focused on expanding their group; Agil’s neutral team; and then me, the outcast beater, and my partner, Asuna. On top of that, there was Morte, who for reasons unknown, was moonlighting in both guilds to get them to advance in the campaign, and the person (or people) acting as his dueling partner.
Ironically, I recalled Kizmel’s story about the background of this world and how the humans had split into nine different nations.
“Lind, Kibaou,” I said. They stopped butting heads long enough to glare at me.
There were no magic words that would heal the wounds between these two groups—they were too far apart for that. And all magic had been lost from this castle since the Great Separation of old. All the foolish remnants of humanity could do was make use of what they could.
“You both know I’m a beater. So I know what the rewards of the Elf War quest are and what effects they have. But I’m not rushing through the campaign for the rewards. I’m doing it to level up and strengthen my equipment so I can beat the floor boss. I’m sure you didn’t go through the trouble of the guild quest just so you could squabble like this.”
As soon as I stopped speaking, Kibaou jabbed an index finger at me. “Don’t talk down ta me, just after ya slipped in and stole this quest like some kinda sneak thief! How you gonna prove yer not after the item rewards?! Even as we stand here, I know that deep down, yer just dyin’ to get on with the next quest!”
“I’m stopping the campaign at this point,” I said flatly. Kibaou growled a wordless question, and Lind squinted at me, his brow furrowing. I removed my hand from my coat pocket and jabbed a thumb behind me—up the gentle hill and far into the distance, where the dark silhouette of the labyrinth tower loomed.
“I’m about to start tackling the labyrinth. And while you’re stuck in the campaign quagmire, bickering every step of the way, I’ll be ransacking all the chests and ores in the tower. Remember, I’m a beater—don’t expect me to leave any of the good stuff. And if you don’t catch up by the boss chamber, I’ll gather my own group of players to take him down. I’m a beater and a front-runner, and I’ll do things however I please.”
I stopped talking and put my hand down, but no one spoke up. The silence that covered the hill had to be 20 percent surprise, 30 percent anger, and 50 percent exasperation. Even I felt like I was overdoing it with this speech, but it was necessary to bring this tension under control.
Again, it was Kibaou who reacted first.
“…Ya got to the sixth chapter of the quest, and now yer gonna abandon it?”
“That’s right,” I confirmed, feeling a guilty throb deep in my chest.
It was heartbreaking to leave in the middle of this lengthy quest sequence—there were ten on this floor, and dozens if you counted everything up to its finale on the ninth floor. The system would allow me to come back and resume after finishing the labyrinth, but I expected Kibaou to demand that I destroy the commander’s orders I’d just stolen to prove that I wasn’t secretly after the rewards. Once that story item was gone, I could never complete the “Infiltration” quest.
That wasn’t the only thing. Giving up on the campaign quest here meant leaving Kizmel behind. Her help in our activities the last few days was predicated upon our assistance of the dark elf advance force in their fight against the forest elves. If we abandoned that mission, she would have no cause to help us anymore.
But that was just how big campaign questlines worked.
If a single quest was a book, then a campaign was a series that spanned several volumes. As long as we were in the process of reading that series, we were within the story. But close the book, and the setting and characters were out of reach. The items and experience were just window dressing. The true value of the campaign quest was how it gave flesh and blood to the virtual setting and turned it into a story…
As I hung my head, feeling gloomy, a high-pitched cry stabbed my ears.
“That’s impossible!”
I looked up and saw a man in the midst of the ALS crowd, waving a fist around as he screamed. His skinny torso was clothed in the moss-green tunic of the guild and dark studded leather, and he wore a leather mask of the same color, which covered his face except for the eyes and mouth. He was obscured by the other members, so I couldn’t see his weapon.
The man’s screech was strangely familiar. “He’s full of it! You can’t get to the boss chamber on your own! He’s just pretending to go to the labyrinth so he can finish the campaign behind our backs!”
The other ALS members, and some of the DKB, started to rustle uneasily. From what I could make out of their voices, most were skeptical of my statement.
The skinny man screeched again. “Don’t let that beater lie to you! He’s the reason Diavel died! Ignore him and focus on the campaign…”
“Shut up, Joe,” Kibaou grumbled, and the masked man named Joe grudgingly lowered his arm. This opening gave Lind a chance to speak.
“…I’m well aware of your skill, Kirito, but even you cannot conquer the labyrinth on your own. I’m not in total agreement with the ALS, but I do find it hard to believe that you have given up on the campaign. As a former tester, you certainly understand the benefit of completing an extended quest series. Besides”—his sharp eyes scanned the area—“where is your partner? What if she took the story item and ran off to complete the quest while you’re occupying our attention here?”
It was completely off the mark but difficult to deny. My partner—temporary party member, technically—was back at the dark elf base, sleeping in the tent next to Kizmel. There was no way to spirit her here to prove my innocence.
I had no choice but to stay silent as both guilds hurled accusations in my direction. As the volume grew louder and louder, I was struck by faint déjà vu. It was the same kind of massive public condemnation that surrounded Nezha of the Legend Braves after admitting to his upgrading scam just after the second-floor boss battle.
Back then, the cries had eventually demanded his life as payment. If the other Braves hadn’t gone down on hands and knees to apologize with him, someone might actually have drawn their sword on Nezha.
Now that I thought about it, one of the reasons that terrible, tense scene had come about was the mysterious man in the black poncho who taught the Braves about the trick to swindling others through the upgrade system. His presence seemed eerily similar to that of Morte’s in this case.
Was it possible that they were the same person?
If that was the case, Morte’s motivations were definitely evil. He’d convinced both guilds to take part in the elf quest on opposite sides and got them to collide at that hill. And that meant he was hiding at the riverside hoping to prevent anyone—meaning me—from completing the quest and causing the camp to disappear.
But…
What did he possibly stand to gain by pitting the DKB and ALS against each other?
While we weren’t a unified group, the frontline players had successfully beaten the first and second floors and were just about to reach the third labyrinth. Weakening the group with infighting would only delay our ability to beat this game and escape. It would have a much wider effect than just PK-ing me.
Did Morte…not want to escape this digital prison?
Could anyone really think that way?
“Say something!” came the high-pitched screech again. I raised my head. The man Kibaou had called Joe was shouting, his eyes blazing through the holes in the mask. “Where is she? I bet she’s rushing ahead, finishing all the quests before anyone else! And if not, bring her out here to prove it!”
It was not me who answered that challenge, or Kibaou, or Lind.
The other DKB members like Hafner and Shivata, and even the ALS, listened in silence to Lind’s rare confession of his innermost feelings. When he raised his head again, there was a new light of determination in his eyes as he stared at me. The question that followed caught me by surprise.
“I think this is a good time to ask. You were the one who heard Diavel’s dying words. What did he say…at the very end?”
I couldn’t answer right away.
It wasn’t because I’d forgotten, of course. But it was such a short and obvious message that I couldn’t tell if it contained what Lind was hoping to hear.
Obviously, I couldn’t make something up or refuse to tell him. I closed my eyes for a moment and summoned a mental image of the self-styled knight’s face before answering.
“You have to take it from here. Kill the boss…That’s what Diavel said.”
Lind’s face immediately scrunched up, and he hung his head again.
Eventually, his trembling voice traveled along the night breeze to my ears.
“…We will. On this floor…and the next, and the next after that. That’s why the Dragon Knights were formed.”
He turned back to his five comrades, head still hung, and held out a clenched fist. Hafner, the subleader of the group, joined him, then Shivata the swordsman, Naga with his flail, and two more whose names I didn’t know yet, all thrusting their fists forward in a salute.
When Lind turned around again, back properly straight, his face held that familiar lofty, elite expression. He looked at me, then Kibaou, and announced stiffly, “The DKB will begin tackling the labyrinth in the morning. We will meet next at the assembly place in Zumfut on the twentieth, seventeen hundred hours. Good evening.”
Even Kibaou watched without his usual sarcastic comments as the six Dragon Knights marched over the grass to the east. Finally, he summoned all of his scorn and spat.
“Keh! Stupid brat, always lookin’ down on us like he’s so high an’ mighty! As if I ain’t got a heapin’ helpin’ of Diavel’s will myself! C’mon, let’s go! We ain’t gonna stand around and let them get the jump on us. Let’s go find that damn boss chamber!”
The other members of the ALS roared in approval, and the dozen headed off to the west. Apparently they had already set up base in the next town.
Kibaou, walking at the rear of his team, proceeded about five yards down the slope of the hill before stopping and turning back in our direction.
“Hey, kid…” He stopped briefly and made a face like he was drinking an antidote potion. “…Mr.…Kirito…”
My eyes went wide, and Asuna gurgled a sound that went something like “Frb!” Fortunately, Kibaou didn’t seem to be paying attention to our reactions. He scratched at his cactus hair.
“I ain’t gonna thank ya, ’cos ya stole the quest out from under my nose. But…I’m startin’ to get the feelin’ that it ain’t the worst thing in the world ta have a guy like you—just one!—among the group. That’s all.”
He turned back to catch up with his group, and I managed to get out one final sentence.
“No need to ‘mister’ me next time.”
With a wave of his hand in response, the leader of the Aincrad Liberation Squad descended behind the slope of the hill and disappeared.
Once the sound of their footsteps died out and there were no more color cursors in view, Asuna let out a deep, long breath.
I glanced over at her and she looked up to catch my eye. I realized that I still hadn’t said anything to her about the fact that I’d left to complete the quest on my own while she was sleeping. She didn’t appear to be angry, but it could also be her normal-looking next-level rage mode, so I knew I had to bring up the topic gingerly.
“Umm…I’m certain you have many things to say…”
“Of course.”
“R-right.”
“But I’m willing to wait until we get back to base.”
“R-right.”
With a secret sigh of relief, I turned to Kizmel this time. The dark elf knight was staring at the direction of the ALS in silence, then noticed my gaze and smiled.
“Your human knight brigades are not so bad after all, but they are a far cry from my Pagoda Tree Knights.”
“W-well, naturally. We just call them guilds, though.”
“I shall remember that. But, Kirito…I do not approve of this recklessness. If I had not woken and found you missing, we would not have been able to race here in time.”
“S-sorry. And…thanks.”
So it was Kizmel who had noticed first, not Asuna. My partner must have sensed what I was thinking, because she pouted and said, “It was my idea to chase after you, just so you know. I figured you were up to another one of your insane schemes. And I was right…Just after you told me not to go antagonizing the guilds, too.”
“S-sorry. And thanks.”
I bowed to them deeply and removed a sheaf of parchment from my coat pocket—the commander’s orders I’d stolen from the forest elf camp.
“Well, let’s leave the labyrinth up to them and deliver this bad boy to our dear commander.”
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