Chapter 20

-Wednesday, December 24, 2022-

In front of the Second Floor Boss Room.

It's been a few days since then. 

After the capture of the Legendary Braves, the ones behind the scamming incident. 

Diabel had given them two options.

One was to rot in the first-floor jail till SAO was cleared, and the second was to participate in the second-floor raid and apologise to everybody their pranks had harmed.

But still—

"Though you told them that, they're still going to jail, aren't they?"

They were currently in front of the second-floor boss. 

Away from the raid party by a corner, Argo and Diabel stood. Their backs resting against the wall.

"Of course. It's not like the players who were harmed would just say "okay" and forgive them after everything they did for their equipment."

Diabel said that with a shake of his head. Then, Argo spoke again.

"Regardless, I thought you'd take more drastic measures than that."

"Oh no. Since Lord Sharia wishes for them to change, it's our job to see to it. As long as he gives the order, I'll make sure it's carried out."

Diabel said with conviction. It's only been roughly around two weeks since they entered the second floor, and now, they were standing in front of the Second Floor Boss Room.

This is only possible because there was a figure they could trust and put their faith in.

They had all worked towards that knowing he would take care of the Second Floor Boss.

—And then, the stronger he becomes, the more chances they have of beating this death game.

Of course they were going to offer every bit of strength too, as evident. 

Forty-seven players had gathered into eight different parties.

Kirito and Asuna were included in the bunch.

The remaining person to arrive and the one reason why they hadn't started the raid was Sharia.

Amongst the forty-seven players here, around eighteen of them belonged to Sharia's Guild—which hadn't been created yet.

The leader of those eighteen was delegated to Lind. 

—A scimitar user who would be the captain of the main attack group when the Guild is then created.

And then... 

Because Diabel hadn't died. Kibaou hadn't created the Aincrad Liberation Squad yet; however, he led some other party of seventeen on Diabel's behest.

That accounted for six parties and thirty-five members. 

Next was Agil, the massive axe-wielder, and his three friends (all muscled like he was, for some reason), Asuna the fencer, the only female in the group, and then Kirito. 

That made forty-one. With the six added members of the Legend Braves, that made a total of forty-seven.

"Did you hear? That player that was rumoured to have beaten the First-floor boss will be coming here today."

"Yeah. I'm sure it's all hogwash, but that's why I came here."

"As if a runt can ever do that, hahaha."

"Then what if it's true lololol."

"💩"

"As if! Hahahaha!"

Naturally, there were those that mocked Sharia, and the members of the Sharia Guild didn't take those jokes lightly.

They didn't do anything, but the glares they were sending their way were enough to shut them up.

"Hahah—for some reason, I'm getting chills."

"Must be our imagination."

Of course, having heard the famous. Rather infamous Sharia would be here, prompting more players to come.

Away from the main party, another group sat.

"No sign of him yet... Is he even coming?"

"We got to the boss chamber a lot faster than I expected..."

Asuna, sitting beside Kirito, looked at the main party in front, checking their equipment, preparing themselves for the raid.

"So that guy is coming, huh?"

Came a baritone voice approaching them was Agil, who had a surprised look on his face.

He had been supporting players on the First-floors by either spreading guides or prepping for his business to support players.

"Agil, huh? Long time, and yeah. It's him."

Kirito nodded. 

Agil whistled, holding his chin as he thought about a few days ago. It hasn't even been three weeks since the First-floor Boss Raid.

Of course he remembered that overwhelming speed and strength.

"If it's him. Then I guess today's raid will be a lot easier than I'm expecting."

Agil said that with a satisfied smile, relaxing his shoulder with a shrug.

"Sharia-san is more of a big deal than I originally thought."

Asuna had said that looking off to the ceiling, thinking of his build that seemed similar to Kirito.

"Of course he is. Maybe because you've hunted with him a few times, but I'll break it for you. His speed isn't what current players can keep up with. Even AGI-based players pale in comparison."

"And don't get me started on his damage output. It's like he crits on every attack, RNG isn't supposed to be like that, darn it!"

Was Kirito jealous? Asuna thought. Kirito had said that with a twitching expression as he kept on rambling how unfair RNG was.

This world was all about numbers. And he was damn sure his stats were close to Sharia's.

But then, for some reason, he finds himself lacking in speed compared to him.

"Oh my. Is Kirito jealous?"

"He does sound jealous."

"I'm not!" 

Kirito retorted with a flushed face, however, Agil simply pointed his thumb towards Kirito as if to say: 

'Get a load of this jealous guy.'

With his knowledge and all…. even for a hax'ed player like him with lots of «System MOD Skills».

It's best not to think of it.

In the end. Kirito gave up on the thoughts, proceeding to sulk instead.

"By the way. I have been hearing rumours about you two."

Agil suddenly said as his craggy face split into a grin, the light shining off his bald head. 

"I hear you two have paired up. I guess I should congratulate you."

Hearing that. Kirito swallowed his spit, finding himself choking on it instead.

"Ughk—Um...we're..."

Not a pair. 

He was going to say. 

But Asuna seemed to beat him to it, setting the record straight for both Kirito and Agil.

"We're not a pair. It's just a temporary partnership. Agil."

Agil smiled again and looked at Kirito, raising an eyebrow. 

It was a cool gesture, but it felt as though he meant it in a consoling way. 

Kirito hastily cleared his throat.

"Y-yes, well, um... that's right. So I'm guessing we're about to finalise the raid structure since we're almost at the absolute limit for eight parties…"

He said the obvious. 

Though Agil wasn't buying it. 

But then, to save the Black swordsman some face, he changed the topic.

"Yeah, that's what I came to ask you about. There are four of us, so why don't you two join our group?"

"Really. Then we'll take in that offer."

Before Kirito could even speak. Rather, she didn't even give him the chance to. 

Instead, she had just accepted his offer.

Agil turned to Kirito, seeing the boy look at Asuna unimpressed.

"Kirito. You know what? I actually have a nickname for you."

"Really? What is it?" Asuna asked. Agil glanced at her and grinned.

"The Man in Black. Or Blackie in short."

Hearing that, Asuna couldn't help but snort coldly. 

Kirito couldn't help but feel his face twitch.

Sharia had been calling him Blackie, but why are other people calling him Blackie now?

Asuna quickly composed her expression and gave Kirito a familiar glare before continuing. 

"Thanks for the offer, Agil. I suppose we'll take you up on it—me and Blackie-san."

"Oh, come on, you're not going to run with that, are you?" Kirito protested.

Asuna replied, "Blackie, as in, the prompters who wear all black during a play, right? Sounds perfect for a guy who hates being in the spotlight."

"...Oh...I see. But that's not exactly the same..."

"I mean, if you'd prefer that I just call you Kirito-kun all the time, I can do that."

"...Like I said, that's not exactly the same..." Agil, who grinned as he watched their bickering, burst out laughing at that point. 

"If you two are that in tune, then I'm leaving the switch timing up to you. The four of us will focus on tanking, so you guys do the damage."

He held out both hands, and Asuna shook his right, while Kirito took the left. 

Kirito bowed briefly to the other three behind him and received waves and thumbs-up in return. 

Kirito hadn't talked with them much at the First-floor Boss Raid, but they all seemed to be as good-natured as Agil.

After accepting Agil's party request, Kirito noted the six HP bars lined up on the left side of his view.

Just as they hit fifteen minutes until the battle would begin. 

The noise of conversation had already increased as what looked to be the last person, making his way to them.

"Ya… Sorry for the delay. I had to take care of something real quick."

Of course. 

There's no other person that could make such a commotion other than–

"Sharia."

He was immediately approached by several people, with Diabel, and Lind with them.

"Eeh? Is that person the "Sharia" people keep talking about?"

"Yeah. He doesn't look anything like it."

"Maybe they're just pulling our legs. Cleared the first boss, my ass."

"🤡"

Naturally, there were those who weren't fond of Sharia, but their opinion didn't matter.

After a few minutes like that, the noises had died down. 

Most of them had only flocked Sharia to greet him out of idolizing him or just out of plain respect.

"Yo. It's the first time we're meeting since the First-floor Boss Raid. You did well, Diabel."

At one spot which was secluded from the main party, three people were here, Diabel, Argo and Sharia.

Sharia gave a contented bright smile to Diabel who was stunned for a moment.

No. 

He had never thought about it. 

So, this is how people felt when they were praised.

Lord Sharia's smile. And his praise….. How wonderful~

Certainly, Diabel doesn't swing that way. Don't get him wrong.

But then, for some reason, the world just suddenly felt good.

But then—

"On that note. It's about the blacksmith scam. I and some other players under me had apprehended the people behind it."

Diabel had said that with a serious face.

The smile that had been on Sharia's face ceased as he also put on a more serious face.

"... Haah. And? What's the deal behind them—"

Sharia asked.

Apparently, they weren't always like that.

It all started with something related to Nezha having something called an FNC.

 ⸻Full-Dive Nonconformity.

The full-dive machine is an extremely delicate machine that sends signals back and forth to the brain with ultra-weak microwaves. 

It had to be finely tuned to work with each individual user.

Thousands of units for mass-market use, and they couldn't spend ages of time on fine maintenance.

The machine had an automatic calibration system that went through a long and tedious connection test on first use.

Once that was done and it knew the player's settings, you could dive in just by turning on the unit.

But on very rare occasions, a person received a "nonconforming" response during that initial test. 

Perhaps one of the five senses wasn't functioning properly, or there was a slight lag in the communication with the brain. 

In most cases it was merely a slight obstacle, but there were a few people who simply could not dive at all.

If he was here in Aincrad, Nezha's FNC couldn't have been that serious–but he would have been luckier if it had prevented him from playing. 

He wouldn't be trapped in this game of death.

But still….

"Hn. But then, this doesn't explain why they were forced into the scam."

While yes. He had a problem fighting because of his FNC.

And then…. even if he had switched into being a blacksmith, that would have been okay, no?

He would still be able to assist his party by becoming a renowned blacksmith, no? 

Then, why go through with the scam?

To answer that, Argo was the one who then spoke.

"According to the player himself, he claimed he was dragging them down, he wanted to fight beside them as per a promise they made, but then, seeing as it wouldn't work, he had then picked a profession for more comfortability."

Argo then brought out a few throwing knives.

"Ahh."

Sharia let out a voice as he saw the throwing knives.

"Yes. He had picked this up." Argo said, throwing the knives up and catching it.

"But then, he almost gave up, since It was still a challenge for him. Until someone approached them."

Hearing that, Sharia felt this part was important, so he glanced at the two, and sure enough.

"The one who told them about the scam, and its operatives… It was a funny talking person with a hooded cape like a rain poncho-glossy and black."

SHIT!

While Argo and Diabel had heard of this before, the best they planned to do was to be on the watch for this player.

However, Sharia had a more serious face than usual. Of course.

"A poncho wearing user."

Unknowingly, Sharia had let out something similar to bloodlust. Naturally, he knew who that was.

"L-Lord Sharia?"

"Oi-Oi, Shar-kun?"

They were suddenly confused as they somehow felt he was dangerous at the moment, but then, a second later. 

He controlled himself.

"I'm okay." Sharia spoke as he then let out a smile, more to calm himself down. "I see. Thanks for the help, Argo, Diabel."

Even though he said that, both Argo and Diabel looked at each other, already coming to a conclusion with a simultaneous nod.

The three after discussing joined the main party.

It was almost time for the raid to start.