32 Needless Strife

I awoke with the chattering of the room surrounding me. I had a potion being shoved down my throat and I was confused. I looked up and Ashley was forcing the potion down my throat with glistening eyes. Her eyes held a focus that was not something I was used to seeing. For the past month, her gaze had flicked from empty to distracted. Now they were clear and it was like seeing her on the first day all over again. No, even then this is slightly different even back then her focus was not nearly this intense.

She was distressed but there was a hint of something else in her eyes that I still could not read. It was strange I thought I had a handle on reading people but whatever that was it was unfamiliar. Not something I ever saw at least.

The girl hovering above me in concern seemed to realize I was awake. Her eyes shone brightly and I was suddenly picked up and held tightly in a hug. I was used to the intensity of this hug but it felt different. My lower body was still lying down so it was fairly awkward but it was nice. It no longer felt like she was grasping tightly in search of something else. This hug was for me.

I should have expected a genuine hug from her. I did almost bite the dust there. Which should never have happened. Fortuna would bring me nothing but luck so why did Ashley end up like that? The timing and everything in between was not something that I wanted. She was in very real danger of dying it was only my last ditch effort that changed things. Was Fortuna trying to kill Ashley?

The very real desperate distress that Fortuna was emitting from that thought killed said thought. So if she was not trying to kill Ashley what was she trying to do? What happened there was clearly there for a reason. I looked at the girl who was still holding on to me desperately in thought.

Was that it? Fortuna brought that event to life to have Ashley like this. The girl clutching tightly to me needed help and I wanted to help. The thing was I could not do so as anything I did was an empty platitude. So a situation needed to be brought that allowed those words to no longer be empty.

It was possible, not that I liked it. I clutched Ashley just as tight as she was doing to me. Even if that were true I did not want something similar happening. I felt so very distressed with everything that was happening earlier. She very well could have died if I succumbed to my despair. Even if this is for Ashley's best in the long haul I did not want to risk her life on something that could have been done differently. Not that I had any idea how to get similar results.

I was just so confused about it all. I could only clutch onto the girl in my grip. She seemed just as eager to return my grip. She was shaking in my arms. I wanted to give her the comfort she was desperately seeking. It was just not the time for it.

I let go of her as I could not spend all my time here. We had other things to take care of. The chattering from the room was getting rather loud. I may have let go but Ashley was still very much hugging me and it might as well be a pin in this position.

"I'd like to get up Ashley." I spoke softly to her. She seemed to shift around a bit before backing up from the hug. Her eyes still were full of tears that had not fallen. She bit her lip in indecision but let go of me so I could get up.

I stood up and she was just looking at me. I looked around we were still in the Boss's room every member of the raid group was still there. I could not have been out for too long if that was the case. My question is why is the raid group standing around arguing with each other?

I looked back at Ashley in confusion. Who was still just looking at me. I don't know if this really could be counted as an improvement. At least she no longer looked half dead. I would just have to deal with her sudden focus.

"So what the hell is going on?" I was not going to get anywhere if we just stared at each other. Ashley blinked and finally looked away from me to the arguing raid group.

"I have no fucking idea." She announced blankly as if taking in the situation for the first time.

"You had to have seen something." I looked over at her and expressed my disbelief. The arguing group kind of took up a large fucking space. To not see what was happening was outrageous.

"Look I was fucking distracted. Somebody decided to pass out right in front of me." She announced bitterly and faced me with teary eyes. I winched and rubbed the back of my head. That made sense tunnel vision is a very real thing. When you are feeling particularly emotional it can get rather bad.

"Right, sorry." I let out awkwardly as she huffed. She then walked well into my personal space. With how often she needed to hold onto me this was not something new. 

"I'm glad you're fine." Again she looked at me with something I could not read. I got the sentiment though so I just smiled back.

"Well might as well find out what the fuck we missed." I said as I walked towards the arguing crowd. I think I heard cries of beta tester so it was probably more bullshit.

Once I got close enough I saw that Kiabou was shouting at Kirito who was looking guilty again. Diabel was standing between them trying to placate the irate dumbass. Good the other dumbass lived it would make things easier.

"All right what the fuck is going on!" I shouted to the crowd and the building anger died a little. Kirito looked relieved to see me well and Diabel winced. Kiabou spun around from Kirito and glared at me. I rolled my eyes in return. 

"That kid is a beta tester! He knew about the attack pattern, he should have told everyone what it was. Diabel could have died!" Kiabou snarled out towards me and I felt my eyes twitch again. Really this bullshit was still happening. 

"Kibaou you need to calm down." Diabel spoke out trying to calm the dipshit down. It did not work as he was fired up from god knows what. Kiabaou did not even turn back to acknowledge Diabel.

"You are probably one as well!" He shouted at me and I saw spit flying from his mouth. I sighed, I did not want to deal with this bullshit.

"First of all fuck you." I spoke out blandly. Seriously fuck this guy I had better things to do than argue with a pineapple. He glared at me and was preparing to get into a tirade but I cut him off.

"So let's get some things straight first. Are you angry about him being a beta tester or that he withheld the information about the boss?" I spoke out tiredly as I rubbed my face. Diabel's fake smile tightened ever so slightly. Yeah, this guy was still hiding his beta-tester status.

"The information obviously!" Again pineapple head shouted at me and I wanted nothing more than to cut him open. His statement drew more angry mutterings from the crowd. His hostility had a dark look flashing across Ashley's face.

"The guide book said that the weapon the Kobold Lord would take out was a Talwar." I spoke out slowly but that did not seem to change the angry little man's opinion. 

"What the Boss used was a Nodachi." Again I spoke out slowly and yet he still did not get it. The crowd also seemed confused. I hated all of these people.

"So the guide book was lying as well!" Kibaou shouted out as if he figured out what I was trying to say. The fucking dumbass.

"No, the guide book was not lying. You are acting under the assumption that everything is the same as the beta test. That assumption is dumb and you should feel dumb." I spoke out blandly and Kiabou returned to glaring at me. Again he seemed very confused. I just sighed at all of this. 

"We had no way of knowing that it changed until he brought out the Nodachi. At which point the boy over there shouted at Diabel to get back. We operated off of bad faith and it bit us in the ass just be glad everyone survived." I mean I could have warned them but I did not know the small details. I was just piecing together my lackluster cannon knowledge to make a theory.

Kibaou gritted his teeth as my statement killed all of the steam he was building. The crowd was no longer as hostile as well. Kirito seemed relieved. Was it so hard to explain shit? No, I was giving cannon too little credit Diabel died there so the tension was far higher. The crowd would not have listened to reason. Even if they really should have.

"He is still a filthy beta tester!" Kibaou shouted out as he found another reason to be mad. God give me a break, please. 

"Which I have no problem with. He was here risking his life to beat the boss. Good for him." I spoke out blandly as I really wanted to undermine this guy's cause.

"You would say that. You constantly defend them! Seeing all your fancy gear you are definitely one as well!" He shouted at me and I was just done with this.

"Once more fuck you." I spat out tiredly and faced the crowd instead of the dumbass.

"We beat the boss!" I shouted out to the crowd and that caught their attention.

"Yet instead of celebrating that we are again splitting into us vs them. Fuck that!" I shouted to the rest of the people who knew they might actually be reasonable.

"We should be partying! We can beat Kayaba and we did not lose a single person here!" That seemed to bolster their spirits as they started to cheer. Good, I was not willing to deal with this any longer. I could only hope that Kibaou's movement died here. If it did not then I was going to have to argue with the dumbass further down the line. God, I wish he was not one of the only high level players.

I had other things to worry about than arguing like the shiny loot I got. I looked it over and well I did not get the last hit bonus I still got a rare item. It was an amulet that offered life steal, it was only one percent but it would increase my survivability. It would also massively boost my ability to train parry. This boss fight taught me how valuable that ability was.

I then walked towards Kirito as Diabel started to organize celebrations. He better I was tired of taking charge of something that really should have been obvious.

"Thank you." Kirito said as he showed me a bright smile. I mean I did not do it for him but because those things needed to be said. Asuna was nearby looking at Kirito. I was expecting Ashley to glare at her but her attention was focused entirely on me.

"Don't mention it. We need to be united not whatever mess Kibaou wanted." Honestly, was it so hard to understand that causing strife was only going to bring us down? Then again I should not expect a good decision from a man with a pineapple haircut.

I brought up my menu and friended Kirito as I needed to make sure he was in the best shape if I wanted a good fighter. He was the hero of this story so having him buffed and ready should be good. Luck OP do not nerf. Even if said Luck was giving me a little bit of grief earlier.

Kirito looked over my request and accepted it with a smile. 

Asuna decided now was the time to interrupt.

"Hey, how did you know my name?" Asuna asked Kirito and I looked blankly between the two. What the fuck did she mean?

Kirito seemed to share my confusion as he looked confused.

"It's on the hud in the upper left corner?" Kirito let out in confusion.

Asuna scrunched her face and then smiled brightly.

"So it was right there." She spoke out excitedly. I thought the Abridged was making a joke about a woman gamer but the cannon Asuna really had no clue. Fucking baffling.

Asuna's bright smile faded as she read the corner. Her face then started to light up in red. She then looked at Ashley with shy and shocked eyes. Oh, she must have gotten to her username. I thought she was just ignoring it because of her pet rock status. Turns out she really was too much of a newb.