"I'm sorry, Shivata..."
Liten said to Shivata.
The distress on her face was almost overflowing—a clear sign of someone caught in the middle, torn between both sides.
From the looks of it, the members of ALS probably all knew what their guild was planning, but had most likely been placed under a strict gag order.
As a member of the guild, Liten had to follow orders.
But at the same time, she was also the one who had planned this countdown event together with Shivata.
The awkward position she was in now was painfully obvious.
"If there was really a problem, you could've talked to me, Ricchan. I'm not just a member of DKB, I'm also—"
Shivata placed his hand on the plate armor on Liten's shoulder, speaking with emotion.
But Liten lowered her head and stayed silent.
Akimi and Kirito exchanged a glance, and then Kirito gave a small cough.
"Since Miss Liten can't explain the details to you, Shivata, I'll do it for her—
but please stay calm—ALS will not be participating in the countdown event. They're going straight to challenge the floor boss."
Both Shivata and Liten looked shocked—Shivata had a face full of disbelief, while Liten asked in confusion:
"K-Kirito-senpai... how did you find out?"
"That... I'm afraid I can't say."
Liten's lips trembled slightly.
After a moment, she said,
"Okay... I understand."
Then she pressed her lips tightly together.
Akimi sighed and said somewhat helplessly:
"We're not members of either major guild to begin with, so we weren't too interested in their rivalry... Maybe a little competition could even make future raids smoother..."
He paused briefly, then looked seriously at Shivata and Liten.
"But this sneak raid is going too far—whether they succeed or fail. If they succeed, the conflict between ALS and DKB will explode. If they fail, ALS could be wiped out completely, and our hard-won hopes of clearing this game could be shattered."
Shivata spoke in anguish:
"How… how did it come to this?! Kibaou may be reckless, but he's not an idiot. He should know how foolish it is to challenge the boss alone."
Akimi and Kirito remained silent—because they were wondering the same thing.
After hesitating for a long time, Liten gritted her teeth, made up her mind, and said:
"Then I'll tell you what I know—"
"ALS values equality, so all members usually participate in meetings. But this time, for the boss strategy meeting, only about a dozen veteran members attended. I heard this from my squad leader..."
"It seems that three days ago—on the 28th—one of those veteran members obtained a piece of intel: that among the loot dropped by the fifth-floor boss, there's a rare item that could change the balance of power between the guilds. And supposedly, that item can't be shared."
"So Kibaou and the others decided they'd take down the boss on their own while the New Year's event was happening. According to my captain, the atmosphere in the meeting was like... if they didn't get that item, ALS would be swallowed up by DKB."
Shivata looked at her and asked hoarsely,
"Then… Ricchan, do you know what that item is?"
Liten shook her head.
"I don't. My captain only told me what happened at the meeting, but not what the item actually was."
"What about you?" Shivata turned to Kirito.
"You were in the beta test—you should know what the boss drops, right?"
"Let me think..." Kirito said, closing his eyes and digging through his memories.
The fifth-floor boss during the beta test was a massive blue stone golem.
It dropped about ten items, which were distributed randomly into players' inventories.
The most notable drop was a two-handed sword.
At the time, after a quick evaluation of the drops, the players moved straight on to the sixth floor.
There didn't seem to be anything especially remarkable...
Kirito frowned, trying hard to recall if there had been any special item back then.
Suddenly, something came to him.
He opened his eyes wide and blurted out,
"Fg."
"Fg?" Akimi stroked his chin.
"Could it be that?"
He remembered a post he had read on the SAO beta tester forums, which mentioned something about the fifth-floor boss's loot—
Among the boss's drops was an item that looked like a lance or a banner, but it had very low attack power, so everyone joked that it was junk.
The player who originally obtained the item got annoyed and threw it away.
But someone else picked it up and discovered its true value—when the item was planted into the ground, all guild members within a 15-meter radius would receive an all-stats buff.
The item's name?
Guild Flag.
Akimi slowly explained all of this.
After hearing it, Shivata's eyes widened in disbelief.
"You're saying... what...?"
After receiving this information, Shivata suddenly rushed off in a hurry—it wasn't clear whether he was going to inform Lind or do something else.
After he left, Liten bowed slightly to Akimi and Kirito, saying,
"I'm sorry,"
and then left as well.
"It seems like Mr. Shivata and Miss Liten are in a relationship now," Asuna said.
Earlier, after hearing from Kirito that there was a large bath at the Dark Elf village in Shaya, she had dragged Argo along with her and had just returned.
After listening to Akimi's account, Asuna commented:
"Hmm... Looks like it. Especially since Shivata's started calling her 'Ricchan'—that's a pretty affectionate nickname."
Right now, the two of them were sitting at a café along the street, leisurely enjoying a peaceful moment.
As for Kirito—he had been sent off by Akimi to go find Argo.
After finishing her bath with Asuna, Argo had gone off to handle the boss mission.
She had just sent a message asking to meet up at Mananarena.
Akimi, under the pretense of "ensuring Argo's safety," had made Kirito go pick her up.
So at this moment, Kirito was probably already in the labyrinth area meeting up with Argo.
"Still... there are some things you can't really do in SAO like you can in the real world," Asuna said.
Yep—certain "things" from the real world couldn't be done here, mainly because SAO has an anti-sexual harassment feature.
If a male player tried to do anything inappropriate to a female NPC or player, this feature would automatically activate: first, a repulsion force would protect the female, followed by a warning to the male.
If he continued to ignore the warning, he'd be teleported straight to the prison area in the Black Iron Palace on the first floor.
But most of the time, the boundaries of what counts as "inappropriate" are pretty vague...
In other words, intimate gestures like kissing or caressing are basically impossible in SAO, even for couples—unless they enable the "Adult Content Override Option."
This setting was buried at the very bottom of the system configuration menu.
Once activated, it would allow users to engage in mature content—yes, the kind of "mature" you're thinking of.
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