29 Not so valuable information

Now the question is what are we supposed to do now? Kirito is probably already on his way to the next village. I had no idea even where to start to catch up to him. Nor did I know if it was even worth it in the end. His basic knowledge of the game would be invaluable but I could get that from any number of people. The beta testers will eventually release that guide book and that would help immensely. The issue with that is it would take far too long for my tastes.

I could try to find a cannon character and get the information from them. Surely not every single person is as fearless as Kirito was. The kid knew it was a death game but he was willing to take a risky route to advance. Not every one can be that brave. I seem to recall that there was an information broker in the game. I could get the information I wanted from her for a price but I don't think cor will ever be an issue for me. The problem with that is the information broker is a part of an anime meaning they are another Waifu for Kirito to get along with.

Ashley was not having a good day. She had effectively trapped her self in a death game for years. She was better after we traded quips for a little bit but she was still not well. The distracted look on her face was a good tell of that. So maybe I should avoid the waifu bait for now?

No, that was giving her far too little credit. She may hate any woman on principle but this girl had what we needed. It was not just about our survival if she wanted to leave this place even a day earlier we needed that information. So well she might not like the situation she should be capable of accepting it. Not to mention she would be by my side the entire time through the transaction.

Granted she did not know all of the options we had as she did not know this world like I did. If she did she might advocate for tracking down Kirito despite the risks. It would be a small lie that would protect her better. Luck and Fate can be a fickle thing and being by Kirito's side would throw that balance into wack. While we had Luck on our side he had Fate. It just so happens to be that his Fate is to be a loner who fought desperately by himself until Asuna dragged him out of it.

So the best route no longer was following Kirito but to find this information broker. Maybe that is why everything had turned out the way it did despite my initial plan of following Kirito. That though brought into question any and all of my own actions. If I always happened to stumble upon the best route were any of my decisions my own? 

I crushed that thought quickly. Even now I could disregard my new plan and chase Kirito. There might be stumbling blocks along the way but I could do so. So the question of free will was not that concerning. Why would I stubbornly follow a crooked path when the alternative paved one was presented to me? For my own pride? The years of suffering I went through because of that can attest to that not being worth it.

"We need to gather information about this game if we want to leave faster." I spoke out quietly and that seemed to knock Ashley out of her brief stupor. Her eyes shined just a little more at the thought of leaving.

"Information would be good, So how are we going about that my captain?" She smiled lightly at that.

"I know about an information broker she would be able to get us all the knowledge we needed for a price." The light in her eyes dimmed slightly but she reacted better than I thought. She had the determination to go forward despite her own insecurities.

"Right, so where is she?" She smiled at that but it was just a tad more brittle. It was to be expected but not something I liked seeing. I may have had other options but I was not willing to do them just to treat Ashley like glass. It would be an insult to the girl I got to know.

"I don't know." I let out in a no nonsense sort of way. That caused Ashley to freeze in confusion. I really did not. The only information I had was that she existed and that was not ground breaking. I also knew she was a beta tester but I was unsure if she started dealing with information later in the story. She might be one of the reckless ones that charged ahead for the best gains. I doubted it as that type of reckless endangerment to her own life did not fit the character of someone who dealt with information.

"You don't know?" I definitely threw Ashley through a loop but it did seem to bring up her mood oddly enough.

"Nope, so we are just going to have to rely on Luck." I declared as I chose a random direction to walk. Ashley remained frozen for a moment before she started to catch up to me. Once she managed to march beside me she looked over at me in disbelief.

"Luck really?" She let out hesitantly. She knew I was capable of stealing luck and that I believed strongly in my own Luck. That did not mean she could really believe luck was the only thing I was relying on. It was a rather strange prospect after all. 

Even if I proofed my luck early it was not really a good showing of it. We needed to find new mobs to grind so it only made logical sense to move. Since she knew I had some knowledge about the world she could assume my whole sword throwing act was to break the tension. Or she could assume that we were just heading in a random direction. Mobs were bound to change eventually after all. It was not something supernatural that had a hard time being explained.

She was far more used to taking on a grounded approach even if she never followed the most sound method. She was just going to have to grow used to the whimsical world that Magic could provide. She would have to even if she wanted to remain a friend of mine.

"It really is just Luck." I grinned teasingly at her. She only looked back at me as her lips twitched. That caused me to chuckle lightly and she swatted me for it.

"Alright magic man lead the way. Let's see where your luck will lead us." She spoke out with that small smile blooming on her face. I snorted at her she would see how bullshit of a character I was. As we were walking I would some times stumble and change directions randomly. Every time it happened Ashley would throw a quip at me and I took it on the chin. These small accidents were exactly what I needed after all. I guess I did not need to be so blatant like throwing my sword in the air.

After a few minutes, a figure crashed into me as I made a sudden turn. I was at a higher level than most of the Players so instead of being knocked over the person charging into me fell backwards. I did have to take a step back from the force.

The figure was a small girl wearing a tattered hood. As she fell the hood fell down revealing a blonde girl with her hair cut short. She had a narrow face but she was cute. Not in the jaw dropping way Ashley was or in the overwhelming way Narcissa was. No, she was cute in the way that you would expect from a girl in your class you had a crush on. If this was who I thought it was then it made sense as she was not a heroine. She was a side character at best and a minor one at worst. Not that she would appreciate said comparisons.

"Sorry I was in a bit of a rush." The girl spoke out in embarrassment as she rubbed the back of her head. She then got a good look at us and froze.

"You are the two with that spear." The look on her face grew ever so slightly sharper. I swear I could see dollar signs in her eyes. That certainly enforced my thoughts.

"That we are." Ashley spoke out sourly. She did not know that this was the information broker that we were looking for. No, to Ashley this was a random girl who slammed into me. Then said girl spoke about her shiny loot. Not the greatest impression this girl could have made. To be fair she had a massive obstacle she had to overcome if she wanted to make a good impression.

The potential information broker winced and shifted her expression. She must have been able to read the hostility Ashley was emitting. Before she could do something that might lead to upsetting Ashely accidentally I spoke.

"Perfect I was looking for you." I announced with a bright smile on my face. That caused the girl to switch rapidly to me and Ashley to gain a look of disbelief.

"You were looking for me?" There was confusion on her face but it faded quickly. If she was who I thought she was she should know exactly why someone would be looking for her. Not that anyone should know what she looked like. In the beta she probably changed her appearance so me recognizing her immediately should still be a bit of a shock.

"You are the information broker correct?" I spoke out with all the confidence that I was entitled to. I could be wrong but I did not believe that this lucky encounter happened for no reason.

"No fucking way." Ashley muttered as she got a look at said information broker. This should cause Ashley to trust in my Luck just as I did. We really did randomly walk all over the place but I managed to find the girl I said I was looking for. The random directions I went might not have been leading me to her but leading her to me. In the end, it did not matter as the result was exactly what I needed.

"That I am." The now confirmed information broker announced with a sharp smile. She also subtly reached for something behind her. There were only so many reasons someone would look for an information broker. If I knew she was one then I was likely a beta tester as well. Meaning I could have a grudge I wanted to take out on her. So she had to take some precautions when presented with this situation. I only gave her a knowing smile to show her I knew what she was doing.

"How the fuck?" Ashley questioned before she shook her head and looked back at the girl.

"We need information bimbo." Ashley spoke out darkly as she clutched her blood soaked spear. I winched as that was probably not the best route to take but I should have expected her to say something. She did not strike me as a person who would quietly take a back seat. 

The unnamed girl froze and looked back at Ashley. She was still clutching whatever she had behind her back but Ashley's crass nature actually seemed to calm her down slightly.

"Well you came to the right place, what do you need to know?" The girl spoke out with false cheer. She was smiling but it was ever so fake.

I looked over at Ashley as she tried to pass the buck back to me. She had no idea what we needed she just wanted to make her disdain noted. I rolled my eyes at her and she flipped me off. I then looked back at the small information broker.

"We need basic information about the game." I grinned sharply at the girl. I knew enough about her that giving out basic information was something she was completely willing to do.

"You just want to know basic information? You don't want monster information? Or the location of good loot? Or a quest that offers good XP?" The girl seemed stunned at our request. To be fair to her she was under the assumption that we were beta testers ourselves since we know who she was. To ask an information broker for what is effectively a tutorial must have come as a shock to her. It's not like I needed to know any of those other things as Fortuna would lead me to far better options. Well, I suppose having information on the mobs would be nice as well.

"That is what we are looking for. Information about mobs would be helpful as well." I spoke out softly to take away some of the bite of Ashley being well Ashley. As the girl was glaring at the small girl.

"I can send you the basic information for free." She spat out like she hated the word. I had no idea why she was so upset about it she was the one offering the free information. Maybe losing out on money bothered her even if her good nature did not allow newbies to go without basic info.

"The information about mobs on the other hand will cost you." She gave me a toothy smile at that. I was not exactly intimidated by it as I fully planned on paying her for the information. It did not seem like a good idea to skip out on an information broker. I was going to have to use her services for a very long time.

"You little bitch." Ashley muttered at the small broker. Again said girl did not seem that bothered with that. I guess she was used to her customers being mad at her for profiting. She had to have a thick skin to work in the field that she did.

"For the information on Mobs will cost you twenty five thousand cor." She gave me the same razor sharp smile but again it was not threatening. It was not even a large amount of money. I did not make quite as much from grinding mobs but the quest we got more than covered it. Before I could go to reply she once again opened her mouth.

"I doubt you have that so I'm willing to give you that information if you tell me the stats on that spear." Her smile sharpened ever so slightly. It was a deal that was massively in favor for her. She could use that information to bring in far more Cor than she was losing here. I'm certain there would be a large amount of people curious about Ashley's spear. Too bad for her we did not need to give into that deal.

"No need for that, twenty five thousand cor right? That is certainly doable." I then brought up the trade window between us and dropped the exact amount she asked for. Seeing that I did in fact have the amount of money she asked for she froze. She then gave me a long sour look. Ashley just started laughing at her which only worsened the girl's mood.

Still, while she was not happy about losing out on a better deal she was a woman of her word. So she started to explain the basics of the game as well as all the information she had about the Mobs on the first floor. There was a fair variety of mobs but this was still the first floor so there were not any obnoxiously over powered mobs. Well, none that she knew about. The starved wolves we fought were actually a mid ranked mob here. We should have only challenged them when we reached level six and had better gear. That made sense as the quest we got for escorting the girl was worth a pretty large chunk of Cor.

Everything she explained to us made sense but she could be pulling all of this out of her ass to trick us. Ashley did not make the best impression after all. Again I killed that thought it was paranoid for no reason. Fortuna would not have allowed her to do such a thing. Not to mention for an information broker integrity was their life line.

"Are you sure you don't want to know anything else? I know about a quest that can get you the best sword on this level?" Her smile was forced and stiff which was hilarious. Ashley has just been smug behind me the entire time clearly enjoying this girl not getting her way.

"No need you provided us exactly what we needed." I gave her a bland smile and that made her smile stiffer. I can't lie I was also enjoying rattling her. 

"What about a spot that you could grind until level ten!? Come on there has to be something you want?" She whined out to us and I felt even more amusement. There was really nothing she could provide us about this floor that interested me. I suppose there is something I did want just not something outrageous.

"Now that you mention it there was one thing." I trailed off as the glint of greed appeared back into her eyes. Ashley was back to glaring at her but I guess that was to be expected.

"I knew a cash cow like you would want something else. So what is it? Do you want to know about the grind spot or maybe a place to learn a skill?" She smiled with a far more real smile which increased the malice Ashley was emitting. The girl did not even flinch at that she must have assumed Ashley was all bark no bite. She was hilariously wrong as Ashley would really stab her if she overstepped.

"Do you know where I could find a physical map of this floor? It does not need to be anything detailed just a general map would be fine." With my request, her expression fell and I felt amused at her dramatic mood swing. Ashley released her glare and was back to laughing at her.

"Two thousand Cor." She spoke out her price blandly. She did not even offer the trade for information. She clearly knew that I had enough money to cover such a small cost. She was still making a big profit on this as this was probably not even remotely important information. She then told me the location of the map.

"Is there a way to contact you if we need more information?" Having access to an information broker is good even if I don't need any of her more expensive knowledge. We did need to know the information on the other floors after all.

"Just friend me." She spoke out tiredly and revealed her user name, Argo. I started to open up the menu but Ashley grabbed my forearm and gave me a strained smile.

"I got it." She spoke out darkly and let go of my arm. She then brought up the friend menu and added Argo with a sour look on her face. She was not happy about being 'friends' with Argo but she did not want me being one either.

I just chuckled and closed my menu. If she wanted to make sure I had no interactions with women that was fine. I really had no interest in anyone. I was just an empty thing how could I hold a scrap of affection anymore?

"What the fuck is that Username!?" Argo shouted out as she saw the friend request. She was looking back and forth between us with a massive blush on her face. Ashley for once was not smug or glaring. She as well was blushing but at a far more reduced level.

Finding out what our Usernames were was not something I really thought about. We just got transported to this game so of course,

we would have ones. It just never occurred to me to check. I brought up my menu again to check mine as Argo was asking hushed questions to a nervous Ashley. 

Username: RedHead-Obsessed-Prince

Right, that tracks.

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Right now that we have a foundation I will speed up the mission. Be prepared for SAO time skips the truly best way to experience content.