Sword Art Online - Volume 8 - Chapter 1.1

A Murder Case in the Area
Aincrad 57th floor, April 2024


Part 1
Just what's with her, this girl?
Well, sure, the one who said "The weather's so nice, so why don't you go take a nap" was indeed me, the one who laid down on the grass to demonstrate those words was also me, and of course the one who carelessly fell asleep was me yet again.
But to think that just by taking a short nap of slightly less than thirty minutes, I would open my eyes to find her soundly asleep right next to me. There should be a limit to how much someone can exceed my expectations. I don't know whether to think this as boldness, stubbornness, or maybe —— it was simply a lack of sleep?
Just what is with this. Shaking my head left and right with that thought of utter helplessness expressed on my face, I stared at the beautifully dignified face of the rapier user Asuna «The Flash» —— the sub-leader of the guild "Knights of the Blood", lightly breathing as she slept.

The story started when I, having lost my mood to go into the gloomy labyrinth area with how good the weather was, planned to spend the whole day counting butterflies at the small knolls surrounding the teleport gate in the main town.
The weather was truly splendid. The virtual floating city Aincrad's four seasons is synchronized with reality, but the degree of accuracy in the replication is really overly rigorous, with the summers hot without fail daily, and the winters cold as they are supposed to be. In addition to temperature, there are also rain and wind, moisture, dust level, and even swarms of insects included as parameters for the climate. Usually, if one of the parameters was good, you can expect another to be horrible.
But today was different. The temperature was mildly warm, genial rays of sunlight permeated through the air, the gentle breeze blew constantly, yet not overly so, and to top it all off, no weird insects appeared. Even if it was spring, having this many parameters for the climate set at good values is an event that occurs no more than five times a year.
The digital god was probably rewarding me for the hardships I endured whilst clearing the front lines, and wanted me to lie down for a nice nap. Understanding this, I was about to follow his will but ——
When I laid down against the lush gentle hill and began to fall asleep, a pair of white leather shoes crunched down right beside my head. At the same time, a familiar voice strictly came from above. Saying thus:
——The clearing group is in the labyrinth zone doing their best, so why are you here leisurely taking a nap?
With my eyes virtually closed, I replied. Saying thus:
——'Tis weather is most fullsome from that of the year. We canst do naught but enjoy it to its end.
The strict voice then rebutted yet again:
——The weather hath changed naught from day to day.
To this, I answered thus:
——Rest hither by my side and thou shalt soon understand.
Of course, the exchange proceeded in modern tongue in reality, but anyway, as a result, she really laid down beside me for reasons unknown to me, and actually managed to fall into a deep slumber.
Now then.
It was currently before noon, some of the players going to and leaving from the teleport gate plaza were staring without restraint at Asuna and I neatly lying side by side on the lush field. Some of them stared wide-eyed in shock, some giggled and there were even a few impolite ones flooding the area with flashes coming from recording crystals.
Then again, they can't really be blamed. When speaking of the sub-leader of the KoB, Asuna, a conquest monster that could make crying kids quiet down, or a turbo engine that continues to push down the front line at a surging quick pace is what comes to mind. And as for this solo player, Kirito —— although not quite to my liking —— the top delinquent of the clearing group, who always hung out with a bunch of frivolous guys, and played stupid games with them.
With that particular combination taking a nap together, even I, one of the people involved, felt like laughing. Even though I say that, I would be the one suffering if she were to get angry after I wake her up, so leaving her there was probably my only choice.
——The desire to do so was great, but I couldn't actually do it.
Because if «The Flash» had continued to sleep soundly like this, she may be targeted by all sorts of harassment —— and not to mention —— at worst, she may even be PKed.
It's true that where we are at now, the central plaza of the main street area of the 59th floor was still within the «area».
More accurately, it should be said to be the «Anti-Criminal Code Effective Area».
Inside this area, players are definitely unable to hurt other players. Even if they used weapons to hack at each other, there would only be a purple system effect, and the other player's HP bar wouldn't drop by even one millimeter, with the various poison-causing items having no effect as well. Of course, theft of items and such is also impossible.
In other words, the area was just like what the term "Anti-Criminal" meant; with no way to carry out criminal acts directly. This is an absolute rule in this death game called «SAO», on the same level with the rule that «Once the HP becomes zero, it means death».
But unfortunately, there were still some loopholes around this rule.
One of them is when the player's sleeping. There are times when players, with their energy exhausted through long durations of battle, are basically unconscious when they go into a deep sleep, and unable to wake up even with some stimulations. With that opportunity, one could raise a request to duel in «Complete Decisive Mode» and move the sleeping opponent's finger to press on the OK button. All that was left was to literally make the opponent sleep like the dead.
Another method, that's even more daring, was to drag the opponent's body out of the area. The player lying on the ground couldn't be forcefully moved through the protection of the «Code», but they can be moved about freely if placed on the «Stretcher» item.
These two methods were actually used by people in the past. The «Red»s' evil passion can be said to be completely out of our imagination. Right now, all the players were taking such tragedies as a lesson, and would definitely sleep in player homes with doors that can be locked, or inns. Even for me, I'd use the «Searching Skill» before I sleep to set up an alarm nearby and wouldn't dare to sleep soundly before that.
——However.
At this moment, «The Flash», fast asleep beside me, was doubtlessly letting out delta waves recklessly. She probably wouldn't wake up even if I took out a make-up item to draw graffiti on that face of hers. Seriously now, I don't know whether she's really daring or stubborn or——
"Maybe...she's really tired."
I muttered.
In SAO, even though it depends on the build as well, solo play will be the most effective for those who are aiming to level up. However, this girl was not only spending time intently watching the leveling progress of the other members in her guild, but also leveling up at almost the same rate as me. I guessed she must have sacrificed lots of sleep to train on mobs even late at night.
I, too, have memories of the difficulty of doing that. The me from 4 to 5 months ago was similarly immersed in such hardcore experience gaining, and I would sleep for several hours, during which I felt like I was dead, completely unable to be woken up.
I swallowed a sigh, took out a drink from my storage to get ready for the long battle, and sat back down on the grass.
I was the one who told her to sleep. In that case, I should have the obligation to stay here until she woke up.

As the orange sun revealed its face from the outside of the floating city, Asuna «The Flash» finally woke up with a soft sneeze.
I believe that she'd been sleeping for well over 8 hours. It wasn't a simple problem of her taking a nap anymore. Having accompanied her without getting to eat lunch, I looked forward to seeing this cold and cool sub-leader-sama's interesting reaction upon understanding the situation at the very least, as I stared at her fixedly.
"...Unyuu..."
Asuna muttered something strange, blinked a few times, and then looked up at me.
Her perfectly shaped eyebrows frowned slightly. She used her right hand to push herself off the grass shakily, and then shook that chestnut-colored hair of hers before looking right, left and right again.
Lastly, Asuna looked at me who was sitting beside her cross-legged once more——
Her transparent-like snowy-white skin immediately flushed red (most likely, out of embarrassment), and then turned somewhat blue (most likely, she's thinking hard), and finally, reddened out once again (most likely, out of extreme rage).
"Wha...yo...wh..."
I gave my biggest smile to «The Flash» who was again muttering strange things to herself yet again, and spoke.
"Good morning. Did you sleep well?"
Her hand, covered by the white leather glove, jolted.
However, as expected of the sub-leader of the strongest guild, Asuna seemed to have succeeded on the saving throw for restraining her rage as she neither drew her rapier nor immediately ran away.
She just gritted those elegantly glossy teeth of hers, from which a short phrase was forced out,
"...One meal."
"Ha?"
"A meal. I'll treat you one, no matter how expensive. We're even with that. How's that."
I don't hate this girl's straightforward personality. She, who has just woken up, immediately understood why I'd spent so much time accompanying her until she awoke. Not just to prevent PKs, but even to the extent of allowing her to relieve the fatigue she'd built up, letting her sleep for as long as she wanted.
I curled my lips —— without a trace of sarcasm this time —— and smiled before answering with an okay.
I actually wanted to use this chance to joke and say that we should just go over to her house to eat her self-prepared food, but I still managed to control this impulse in the end. I raised my stretched-out legs and used the recoil to stand up, then offered my right hand as I said,
"The restaurant on the main streets of the 57th floor is rather good, despite being run by an NPC. Let's go there."
"...Fine."
Asuna coldly grabbed onto my hand and stood up before sharply looking away. She raised her hands up high as if she was about to breathe in all of the sunset air into her lungs.
1 year and 5 months have already passed since this death game called «Sword Art Online» began operating.
Before we knew it, almost 60% of the 100 floors of the floating city of Aincrad, which we first thought was extremely distant, were conquered, with the foremost front line at the 59th floor currently. The time taken to clear each floor on average was thus, 10 days. As for whether such a speed was fast or slow, even I, who was more knowledgeable about the clearing, couldn't tell. However, with this constant clearing speed, «A sentiment to enjoy life» seemed to develop in the upper-median floors, regardless of how meagre it was.
On the main street of the 57th level «Marten», such an atmosphere was rather abundant. This large street that's only 2 floors away from the front line had inevitably turned into the base camp for the clearing groups, as well as a tourist attraction. With the arrival of evening, the place would become extremely busy with the players returning from the front line above, or those coming from lower floors for dinner.
Asuna and I, who came down to Marten through the transfer gate on the 59th floor, walked side by side on this main street crowded with people. The many people we passed by who widened their eyes, startled, gave a feeling not at all pleasant. It's no wonder that they would have such an expression, since this aloof, beautiful woman, reputed to even have a fan club, had a very suspicious looking solo player walking brazenly by her side. I guess Asuna really wanted to use all of her agility to rush into the aforementioned shop, but unfortunately for her —— or perhaps fortunately, only I knew where the shop was.
As I pondered upon how there wouldn't be such a chance again even until the last day of SAO as we walked on for about 5 minutes, on the right side of the street, I could see a somewhat large restaurant.
"Over here?"
Asuna looked at the shop with a relieved, as well as suspicious expression, and I nodded to her.
"That's right. I recommend the fish here over the meat."
I pushed open the swing door and held it, and the rapier user just looked nonchalant as she walked in.
The voice of the NPC waitress welcomed us in, and as we started to move around in this somewhat crowded shop, I could still feel several stares being shot at us. The mental fatigue on me was starting to weigh a lot more than the happiness in my heart. It's not easy being stared at like this every day.
However, Asuna was unaffected as she passed through the center of the shop, and immediately headed for the table deep inside, beside the window. I awkwardly pulled out the chair, upon which she sat down in a fluid manner.
Somehow, it appears that the one being treated was forced into the role of an escort, but I still sat down in front of her. There's still the fact that I could feast without holding back, so I ordered the appetizer with a wine, the main course and even the dessert, all in plentiful amounts, before heaving a sigh.
Asuna immediately drank up the beverage in the flute glass that just arrived, then just like me, let out a long sigh.
She used her light brown eyes that had let their guard down somewhat to look at me, and murmured to me with a barely audible voice,
"We...anyway, for today...thanks."
"Heh!?"
Asuna stared at me, who's looking shocked, and said again,
"It's a word of thanks. For guarding me."
"Ahh...no, well, erm, y- you're welcome."
Normally, in our clearing group meetings, I would often debate with her intensely over the weaknesses of the boss and the positioning of the vanguards and the rearguards, so after hearing such an unexpected thanks, I was really flabbergasted. Asuna then chuckled and leaned back against the chair. She then stared off into the sky with a expression much more gentle than before, and whispered,
"It felt like...that was the first time...I slept so soundly since I came here..."
"Is...Isn't that an exaggeration?"
"Not at all, it's true. Normally, I'll sleep for 3 hours at most before waking up."
I wet my mouth with the sour-sweet fluid in the cup and asked,
"That's not because the alarm clock woke you up?"
"Yeah. It's not as serious as insomnia...but I would get a nightmare and end up waking up."
"...I see."
My heart suddenly felt a sharp pain. Someone had once said the same thing to me before, and that person's face flashed through my mind.
I then finally noticed the ever-ordinary fact that «The Flash» was a living player too, and pondered on how to answer.
"Er...well...how do I say this. If you ever want to take a nap outside, just tell me."
The words sounded stupid even to me, but Asuna smiled again and nodded,
"That's true. If there's a day with such great weather settings again, I'll leave it to you."
On seeing her smile, I noticed that this woman in front of me was a beauty of a near unbelievable scale once again, and was immediately at a loss for words.
Luckily, the NPC who brought the plate of salad over killed the current awkward atmosphere. I immediately took up the mysterious spice atop the table and sprinkled it on the mysterious vegetables of various colours, and then used the fork to stuff them into my mouth.
After wolfing down for a while, I randomly grumbled to avoid the earlier tension,
"Thinking about it, even though it's not beneficial to us nutritionally, why are we eating vegetables?"
"Eh— but it tastes good."
Asuna elegantly chewed on what looked like lettuce, and argued back.
"It's not disgusting per say...but if only there's mayonnaise or something."
"Ahh—that's right. I agree."
"And salad sauce...tomato sauce... and..."
""SOY SAUCE!!""
Both of us shouted out at the same time and started laughing together——
But at the next moment,
A scream of what is unmistakably, horror, could be heard in the distance.
"...KYAAAAAHHHHH!!"
————!?
I took in a breath and raised my waist as my hand reached for the sword on my back.
Asuna, who also put her right hand on the hilt of the rapier, whispered in a sharp tone,
"Outside the shop!"
She shouted and immediately kicked the chair away before running to the entrance. I also hurriedly chased behind that white knight outfit.
As we ran out to the road, another ear-piercing scream like that of silk being ripped could be heard.
The voice most likely came from the plaza a building block away. Asuna glanced at me first, and then sprinted south with all she had.
I continued to chase this profile that was like pure white lighting. As the spikes of the boots ground on the pavement scattered sparks about, I turned east and finally rushed into the round plaza in front of me.
There, an unbelievable scene laid before me.
On the north side of the plaza, there was a towering stone building that looked like a church.
A rope was dangling down from the display window in the middle of the second floor, and at the front end of a loop —— a man was dangling there.
That was not an NPC. Perhaps that guy had just came back from hunting since he had full plate armor with a large helmet on him. The rope was sinking into the armor on the neck, but the players gathered at the plaza weren't screaming in fear for this reason. In this world, there's no such thing as dying from suffocation with the use of a rope-type item.
The source of fear for everyone was what stabbed deeply into the man's chest, a black short spear.
The guy had both hands grabbed onto the grip of the spear as his mouth opened and closed. During this time, the wound on his chest continued to give out a red flash effect like that spilling blood and as it kept flickering.
In other words, at this moment, the man's HP was decreasing bit by bit. It was the «Pierce DoT» trait that only a few of the piercing weapons had.
It looked like the black short spear was a weapon that focused on continuous damage. I caught sight of a countless number of spikes sprouting out from halfway down its shaft.
I recovered from my momentary shock and shouted out,
"PULL IT OUT!!"
The man glanced at me. He then moved his hands sluggishly and got ready to pull the spear out, but a weapon that's embedded deeply inside a body couldn't be moved that easily. Of course, there's the possibility that he's unable to exert his strength because of the fear of death.
The man who's being hanged on the wall was at least 10m away from the ground. Even with my agility, there was no way I could reach him if I jumped up.
Then, could I use a throwing pick or something to cut the rope? But if I missed the rope and hit the man, and if his HP ended up dropping to zero...
Normally speaking, this place was still «Within the area», so there's absolutely no chance of that happening. But speaking of which, if that were the case, that spear wouldn't cause any damage.
As I was stuck in my indecision, Asuna's sharp shout entered my ears.
"CATCH HIM FROM BELOW!"
And then, she rushed towards the entrance of the church at a lightning quick speed. It seemed that she was trying to use the stairs inside to climb up to the second level and slice the rope.
"Got it!"
I shouted a reply from behind Asuna, and hurriedly ran down to the spot below where the man in the air was dangling.
——However.
As I ran halfway through, the eyes peeking from the bottom of the large helmet worn by the man suddenly widened and stared at a certain spot in the air. I immediately sensed that he was looking at something.
It was his own HP bar. Or more accurately, the moment it turned to zero.
Mingled into the shouts and screams of the crowd in the plaza, the man seemed to have yelled out something.
And then —— a flash of light dyed the night sky blue together alongside the sound of countless glass breaking. I could only look up blankly at the polygon fragments that scattered.
The rope that lost the object it was holding slammed against the wall. A second later, the black short spear that fell —— or the weapon —— let out a heavy metallic sound as it stabbed into the stone floor on the ground.
The screams let out by countless players overwhelmed even the peaceful sounding BGM that filled the town.
I was thoroughly shocked, but I still tried to widen my eyes and tore through the wide space around the church with my vision. It should be around —— what I was searching for was something that would definitely appear.
In other words, «The declaration message of the winner in a duel».
This was the main street, which meant that it's right smack inside the effective range of the Anti-Criminal Code. If the player HP was damaged and even resulted in death here, there's only one possibility.
The person had agreed to a decisive mode duel and lost.
There was no other way. Definitely.
In that case, with the death of the man, there should have been a huge system window like «Winner/name, match time minutes/seconds» appearing nearby. If I see the window, I could immediately tell who the person who used the short spear to kill the man in full-plate armor was.
——However.
"...Where is it..."
I couldn't help but mutter.
The system window didn't appear. There was no sign of it at all around the plaza. Despite how it would appear for only 30 seconds.
"Everyone! Please help find the system window that shows who won!!"
I shouted out loud enough to overwhelm the surrounding commotion. It appears that the other players immediately understood my intention as they started to look around for the window.
However, no one shouted out saying that they found the target. It's been past 15 seconds.
Did it mean that it was inside the building? Did the window appear in the room on the second level of the church where the rope dangled out from? If that's the case, Asuna should be able to see it.
The moment I thought of that, I spotted the white knight uniform of «The Flash» at the aforementioned window.
"Asuna!! Is the winner shown there!?"
Normally, I wouldn't call her name out directly out of fear, but I had immediately asked her without adding a '-san' just for the sake of gaining time. However, the face that was as pale as the clothing quickly shook left and right.
"None! There's no system window, or even anyone else inside!"
"...Why..."
Moaning so, I looked around as futilely as before. A few seconds later, I heard a slight whisper.
"...It's impossible now. It's been more than 30 seconds..."
I passed by the nun NPC who was always stationed at the first level of the church and immediately climbed up the stairs deep inside the building.
The second level was separated into 4 small rooms that were just like the private rooms in inns, but unlike inns, they couldn't be locked. I passed by three rooms, and couldn't find any players hiding in them, whether it's by the «Player Search» skill or by sight. I bit my lips and walked into the 4th small room where the incident happened.
Asuna, who turned her head to look at me from beside the window, was still looking strong, but I could tell that her heart was really shaken. In fact, even I couldn't hide my tense eyebrows.
"There's no one else inside the church."
I reported, and the sub-leader of the KoB immediately asked back.
"Is it possible for the person to have some cloak with hiding capabilities?"
"Even at the frontlines, I haven't found anything that can negate the effects of my player search ability. For added precaution, I've requested other players to block the church entrance. Even if the person's invisible, he should come into contact with the other players and be automatically revealed. There's no back door here, and this is the only room with a window.
"Yeah...I understand. Look at this."
Asuna nodded her head, and then pointed at a section of the room with her finger that was covered in the white glove.
There was a simple wooden table placed over there. This furniture that couldn't be moved was a so-called «Position-locked object».
On one of the table's legs, there was a somewhat thin-looking yet sturdy rope tied there. It was tied, but in fact, that was not actually done by hand. Someone just needed to call out the rope popup window, click on the tie button and then chose what to tie for it to fix itself onto the target automatically. Once tied, the rope would definitely not break or loosen unless the weight on the rope was beyond its durability or it was cut by a blade.
The black glossy rope took up about 2 meters length inside the room before extending outside through the window to the south. One couldn't see it from here, but the tip was tied in a loop, and the full-plate armor man was dangling from the loop.
"Hmm..."
As I let out that low sound, I tilted my head,
"Just what's going on?"
"If this is a normal situation..."

Asuna answered me while tilting her head as well.
"...The duelling opponent of that player tied this rope, stabbed the short spear into his chest, and then stuffed the victim's neck into the loop before thrusting him through the window...something like that..."
"Was he deliberately showing it to everyone...? No, before that..."
I forcefully took a deep breath, and then declared with a clear voice,
"There was no window of victory declaration anywhere. Not a single one of those people standing at the plaza found it, you know. If it was a duel, there should be a window appearing nearby."
"But...that's impossible."
She gave a sharp rebuttal.
"In the «area», the player's HP bar can only be damaged through an accepted duel. You should know that as well!"
"...Yeah, that's truly the case."
Both of us stared at each other and remained silent.
It's like what Asuna said; what happened just now couldn't possibly happen. And all we knew, was that one player died while everyone was watching, without the slight idea on who did it, why it happened, or how it did.
The voices of commotion that continued to come from the plaza outside the window could be heard. It seemed that they were noticing the anomaly in this «incident» too.
Soon after, Asuna looked straight at me and said,
"We can't leave this alone. If someone really found out about something like a «PK skill inside the area», we'll have to hurry up and find it, and announce a way to counter it, or else it will definitely develop into something huge."
"...It's rare for me to have such a moment with you, but I wholeheartedly agree with you."
After seeing me nod my head, «The Flash» gave a barely noticeable wry smile and quickly reached her hand out to me.
"Then, be sure to cooperate with me until this case is solved. I'll say this first. There's no time for naps."
"Aren't you the one who's been sleeping..."
I grumbled softly and offered my hand.
And then, the hastily assembled detective and assistant —— though the role assignments aren't clear —— joined together their hands gloved in white and black tightly.


Part 2
After retrieving the rope «evidence», Asuna and I left the room and returned to the entrance of the church. As for the other piece of evidence, the black short spear, I had already put it into my item storage before we moved.
I had requested two players I knew to watch the entrance. I thanked them and raised my doubts, but no one actually moved through here. I returned to the plaza and raised my hand to the crowd watching the commotion before shouting out loud,
"SORRY. TO THE EYEWITNESS WHO FIRST SPOTTED THIS, IF YOU'RE STILL AROUND, CAN WE TALK TO YOU?"
After a few seconds, a girl timidly walked out from the crowd. I'd never met this person before. She was equipped with an ordinary one-handed sword made by an NPC. It seemed that she was someone who came here to sightsee from the middle levels.
What was vexing was that this girl actually showed a frightened expression after seeing me. Asuna then substituted me and walked in front of me before saying to her in a gentle tone,
"Sorry for bothering you after you saw such a horrifying thing. Your name is?"
"I...I'm called «Yolko»."
I really have a slight impression on this slightly trembling voice, and couldn't help but ask.
"Were you the one...who gave the first scream?"
"Ye...Yes..."
The female player called Yolko nodded; shaking her slightly curly deep-blue hair in the process. From the appearance of her avatar, she was probably about 17-18 years old.
The simple large eyes that were of the same color as her hair suddenly let out tears.
"I...I...I'm a friend of the person who was just killed. We agreed to come here to have a meal today, but we got lost here...and...and then..."
It seemed that she couldn't continue on as she could only use her hand to cover her mouth.
Asuna gently patted her slightly trembling shoulders and brought her into the church, there were many benches that were lined together, and Asuna let her sit down on one of them before sitting beside her.
As for me, I stood slightly further off as I waited for the girl to calm down. If she saw exactly how her friend was killed viciously, that would be a huge trauma the likes of which we couldn't even imagine.
Asuna gently stroked Yolko's back for a while, and Yolko finally stopped crying before apologizing in a faint whispering tone.
"It's alright. We can wait. Can you talk to us slowly once you've calmed down?"
"Yes...I-I'm a lot better now."
Unexpectedly, Yolko's rather strong as she straightened her back while Asuna patted it, and nodded.
"That guy is...called «Kains». We used to be in the same guild...and would now occasionally team up together or have meals together...and today, we originally came here to eat..."
She forcefully closed her eyes, and then continued on in a trembling voice.
"...But there were too many people here, so we got lost at the plaza...as I was looking around, suddenly, someone —— «Kains» dropped out from the window of this church and was dangling in the air...and there was a short spear stabbed into his chest..."
"Did you see anyone else around?"
After hearing Asuna's question, Yolko immediately quietened down.
She then slowly and clearly nodded.
"Yes...it was just for a moment, but I felt like I saw...someone standing behind «Kains»..."
I clenched my fists subconsciously.
Was the criminal in that room? If that's the case, the criminal pushed the victim —— «Kains» out of the window and got away while everyone's looking.
In that case, the criminal must have used some sort of equipment with a stealth ability equipment, but such an item effect would naturally weaken when moving. Speaking of which, does the criminal have some high level hidden skill to make up for this flaw?
At this moment, my mind thought of the dangerous-sounding term «Assassin».
Don't tell me there's really a weapon system that even Asuna and I don't know of? If such a skill can negate the Anti-Criminal code...?
Asuna may have thought the same thing as me as her back shuddered. However, she immediately raised her head up and asked Yolko,
"Was that profile someone you know?"
"..."
Yolko closed her lips and pondered for a while, and after a few seconds, shook her head to indicate that she didn't. After seeing her indicate so, it was my turn to ask with my calmest possible voice,
"Well...it may not be the best time to ask this, but do you have any clues...? Like any reason why Kains-san was killed..."
Just like what I was worried about, Yolko immediately stiffened the moment she heard that. It couldn't be helped, since I was asking a girl who just witnessed her friend being killed whether there was any reason for revenge. This question may be rude, but it couldn't be ignored. If she knew of anyone that hated Kains, that would become a powerful clue.
But this time, Yolko shook her head again.
I was somewhat disappointed, but I simply said "I see, sorry."
Of course, it may be that Yolko didn't know. However, the criminal that killed «Kains» could either be a real killer or a «Player Killer» in this MMORPG. In this PK, they're basically players who existed to kill other players. The red players who were massacring through Aincrad in the darkness were these kind of players.
In other words, one person, out of the hundreds of players who are said to be criminals, killers or have the tendency to be such, may have killed «Kains» inside the area through such a mysterious means. To be honest, I really don't know how to find the killer from so many people.
Asuna seemed to have reached the same conclusion as she weakly sighed.

As Yolko indicated that she didn't dare to walk downstairs alone, Asuna and I sent her to the nearest inn before returning to the transfer gate plaza.
30 minutes had passed since this incident happened, and the surrounding people were starting to decrease in number. However, there were still about 20 players at the scene. Most of them were clearing members, waiting for the report from both Asuna and me.
Asuna and I first explained to them that the name of the murder victim was called «Kains», and the way he was killed was unknown. I then told them that there's likely an «Inside area PK» skill that might exist.
"...That's how things are. Everyone is to be careful when walking on the streets. If possible, please warn other players, too."
I concluded, and the rest nodded with a stern expression.
"Got it. I'll ask those selling information to publish this on the newspapers..."
A player representative of a large guild answered, and everyone scattered. I glanced over at the clock in the corner of my eye and found that it's just past 7pm, which caused me to be somewhat shocked.
"Then...what do we do next?"
I asked Asuna beside me, and she immediately answered,
"Let's check the evidence we have first, especially the rope and short spear. If we know its origin, we might be able to find the criminal."
"I see...since we can't find the motive, let's start from the evidence, shall we? In that case, we have to use the Inspection skill. You probably...never added this skill, right?"
"I guess you didn't, either...speaking of which..."
At this moment, Asuna's expression started to change. She stared at me and said,
"Can you please stop referring to me with «you, you, you»!?"
"Eh? Ah, I see...then...should I use «-san»? «sub-leader»? Or «The Flash-sama»...?"
The last one is how her fanclub always called her. What she thought of that was clearly seen when Asuna's facial expression became tense and she burned me through with a laser stare. She then looked aside and said,
"Just call me «Asuna». Didn't you call me that before?"
"Un-Understood."
I, who felt scared, obediently nodded and hurriedly dragged the topic back.
"As for the Inspection skill...do you have any friends you know of with it...?"
"Hmm~"
She pondered for a while, and quickly shook her head.
"I have a friend who runs a weapons store, but it's the busiest time at this point, and I really can't ask her to help me out immediately...."
It's true that this is the time players who finished their adventures would run into a weapons store to repair or buy weapons.
"In that case, I'll have to ask the boss of a merchandise shop. That large-axe warrior's proficiency is a little unnerving for me though..."
"Are you talking about...that very tall man? I think he's called...Agil or something, right?"
Asuna asked me as I immediately called out the message window and started typing.
"But the merchandise store should be rather busy now, right?"
"Who cares?"
I answered and immediately pressed the send button.

Asuna and I walked out from the transfer gate, and immediately reached the main street of the 50th floor «Algade», where the buzz and chaos remained as usual.
The transfer gate was still in effect, but along the shopping street on the main roads, there were numerous player shops lined up together. As for the reason why, it's because the rent here is unbelievably cheap compared to the streets on the floors below.
Of course, the area for these cheaply rented shops is very narrow, and the appearance is dirty. However, some players like such an Asian-styled —— or the messiness of a certain electronics district. I'm one of them as well, and I recently thought of buying a player's home here and using this street as my base.
Amidst the exotic BGM and the cries of selling, I smelled junk food coming from the stalls and lead Asuna forward quickly. The rapier user revealed a pair of nice legs from under the mini-skirt of her white knight uniform, and her looking like this when walking was really too eye-catching.
"Oi, let's move faster...OIII!!!"
I realized that the sound of high-heels on the left-rear side was moving further and further away, so I widened my eyes and shouted.
"HOW CAN YOU JUST BUY THINGS SO RANDOMLY!!!"
«The Flash»-sama, who bought a suspicious looking kebab from a suspicious looking hawker, took a bite of it and answered nonchalantly,
"We just ran out after eating only salad. Yup...this tastes good."
She continued to chew and said to me "Take this" as she handed the other kebab in her left hand to me.
"Eh? For me?"
"Didn't I say that I wanted to treat you?"
"Ah...ahh..."
I instinctively lowered my head in thanks and received the kebab, and then realized that the treat the other party was supposed to give went from a grand meal to a kebab. On a side note, as we ran out of the restaurant, the expenses of the meal were deducted from our item window based off the average.
I chewed on the ethnic tasting kebab that had a unique foreign flavour, thinking that I must eat this girl's cooking one day, as I headed forward.
Once the two sticks of kebab were finished, we arrived at our destination. I let go of my hand to let the wooden stick disappear, and then wiped my hand that wasn't dirtied on the leather coat before talking to the shop owner whose back faced us,
"Hello~ we're here~"
"...I won't entertain guys who aren't customers."
The boss of the grocery store and the axe warrior Agil grumbled with an awkward voice that didn't fit his rough appearance, and then, said to the customers in his shop,
"Sorry, we'll be closing shop for today."
"""Ehh!?""" On hearing the grumbling, the burly shopkeeper cringed back and apologized as he chased all the customers away. He then called out his shop management menu to close the shop.
The extremely messy racks automatically closed, and the metal doors outside let out a creaking sound before closing up. At this moment, Agil finally turned over to look at me and said,
"I say, Kirito. In the field of business, the most important thing businessmen look for is trust, and the second most important thing is still trust. I'll skip the third and fourth, and for the fifth, if there's a chance, I'll make a killing..."
These strange notes vanished as he noticed the player standing beside me. Agil's beard at the bottom of his bald head shook as he just stood there. Asuna herself was smiling purely as she nodded at him.
"Long time no see, Agil-san. I'm sorry for bothering you at such short notice, but it's urgent, and we really need your help..."
Agil's stern expression immediately eased up, and he patted his chest saying to leave it to him, and even served us tea.
Men, who are unable to resist their congenital parameters, are really pitiful.


Agil finished listening to what we said to him in a room on the second level, and seemed to understand the seriousness of this situation too as the eyes under his promiscuous eyebrows narrowed.
"Did you say that his HP dropped to zero inside the «area»? ——Are you sure it wasn't a duel?"
The giant said with a thick and slightly deep voice, and I, who's leaning my body on the back of the chair, slowly nodded.
"In that situation, it was impossible for us not to see the victory declaration screen, so we should be thinking about it in such an aspect. Also...even if it was a duel, the victim was going to have a meal, so it would be impossible for him to accept such a request. Besides, it was in a «Decisive duel mode», too."
"He was walking with that girl...Yolko-san before he died, so it's definitely not a «Sleep PK»."
Asuna shook the mug-type glass on the small round table and added on.
"Besides, it's really too complicated to have a sudden duel like this. I think we can consider it to be a planned PK. And...with this..."
I opened my window and materialized the rope evidence from my item storage and handed it over to Agil.
Of course, the end that was tied at the leg of the table was undone, but the other side was bound into a large loop.
Agil put that loop right in front of me, gave a disgusted look and snorted coldly before touching it with his large fingers.
He chose the «Inspection Skill» that pops out in the window. Asuna and I don't have such a skill, and even if we chose it, we would only get a failure ignore. However, as a merchant, Agil should be able to get some level of information.
In the end, the giant used a deep voice to state what only he was able to see on the screen.
"...Unfortunately, this isn't created by a player; it's just a common item that can be bought in an NPC shop. It's not of a high rank, either. The durability has already dropped by about half."
I remember that horrifying scene, and nodded.
"I guess so. Besides, it was dangling a player in full-plate armor. The weight had to be quite a lot."
But to a killer, several seconds was enough to drop the guy's HP down to zero.
"Never mind. I'm not really expecting anything much from the rope anyway. The important thing is this."
I touched my still open item window and materialized the next item.
The shiny black short spear immediately created a heavy sense of presence in this small room. In terms of weapon class, this short spear couldn't be compared to Asuna and my main weapon, but right now, that wasn't the point. This spear was used by someone to cruelly end another player's life, and it could be said to be a real «murder weapon».
I cautiously placed the short spear in Agil's hands to prevent it from touching anything else.
The entire spear was made from black-colored gold, and this kind of weapon was really rare. Its length was probably about 1m, and the base had a grip about 30cm long. At the tip of the handle, there was a 15cm long blade.
The special characteristic of this weapon was that the spear itself seemed to be covered with short spikes. Once the spear was stabbed deeply into the enemy, it would create the unique effect of becoming non-removable because of the spikes. A high strength value would be required to pull it out.
In this world, the strength power is represented by the value parameter set by the player and also the signal strength released from the brain to the Nerve Gear. At that moment, the full-plated guy stricken by fear —— Kains, was unable to produce clear signals to move his virtual body, which was why the spear didn't move even when he used his hands to grab onto it.
The moment I thought about this, I just felt even more convinced that this wasn't just a sudden PK. It may be a «premeditated murder». This was because the death caused by the «Continuous Pierce damage DOT» was too cruel. The victim wasn't killed by the enemy's own sword skill or weapon —— but by his own cowardice.
This thought instantly flashed through my mind, and suddenly got interrupted by Agil, who finished his inspection.
"This is made by a PC."
Asuna and I immediately pushed our bodies forward and inadvertently cried out, ""Really?""
A PC created item would mean that this weapon was created by a player with the «Smelting Skill». There would definitely be a record of that player's «name». Also, this short spear is likely to be a one and only item. Once we directly ask the player, there's a high chance that we can know who ordered it.
"Who's the creator?"
On hearing Asuna's pressing voice, Agil lowered his head as he looked at the window and answered,
"«Grimlock»...that's how it's romanized. I have never heard of such a person, so at least he isn't a top-rated swordsmith. Maybe he's a guy who improved his smelting skills only to forge his own weapons..."
If even the merchant Agil didn't know who this swordsmith is, it was obvious that Asuna and I wouldn't; and the room entered a short silence again.
"However, we should be able to find that person. If he managed to upgrade his rank to such an extent to create this weapon, he can't possibly be a solo player all the time. If you go and listen to gossip in the middle floors, you'll definitely find someone who teamed up with «Grimlock» before."
"That's true. There can't possibly be many people like this idiot."
Agil nodded, and together with Asuna, looked at this stupid solo player.
"Wha...What? I-I'll occasionally party with other players, too."
"Only during boss battles."
After being told off coldly like this, I could only remain silent since I couldn't argue back.
Asuna snorted, and then turned to look at the short spear in Agil's hand.
"But...to be honest, even if we find «Grimlock», he probably won't say too much to us..."
I agree with that.
The one who killed Kains is actually an unknown red player who bought this short spear and not the swordsmith «Grimlock» himself. Using one's own weapon, recorded with their own «name», to kill someone will basically be like writing a name on a chopper in the real world and using it to kill. But speaking of which, the crafter-class players who have some sort of knowledge and experience should be able to determine the customer's intent when designing this weapon.
The «Continuous Pierce Damage DOT» has a rather weak effect on monsters. Mobs, which act according to the system, don't show any signs of fear as well. Even if they're hit and stunned by the piercing weapon, they'll immediately pull that thing out. Of course, the monster wouldn't possibly return it nicely to the player, instead it throws it far away, so it's impossible to get back that weapon until the battle ends.
Thus, the spear that was created was obviously meant to be used to deal with other players. Of all the swordsmiths I know of, all of them would refuse once they know the design.
But Grimlock still created this spear.
He may not be the killer —— we can know his name through validation —— but he may be a weak-willed person, or even a player who's secretly part of a red guild.
"...At least he won't reveal the information to us easily. If he wants payment for providing information..."
I just whispered, and Agil shook his head vehemently while Asuna glared at me.
"We'll pay half each then."
"...I understand. I'm on a pirate ship now anyway."
After shrugging my shoulders, I raise my last question to the stingy merchant.
"It's not much of a clue, but just tell me the name of this weapon."
The bald giant lowered his head for the third time to look at the window, and said,
"Yes...it's called «Guilty Thorn». Which means thorns of sin, right?"
"I see..."
I looked at that spiked short spear again. Of course, the weapon's name is randomly set by the system, so this name itself shouldn't possibly have any «human will» behind it.
——However.
"Guilty...Thorn..."
Asuna's murmuring suddenly caused a chill in me.