Chapter 5 - Organizational Behaviour
The Tolbana Forest, a forest area southeast of Tolbana, is a place I haven't been much before. It was covered in trees that stood as tall as the eye could see. Sunlight was
blocked by the numerous branches, making the path develop an eerily muted atmosphere. The wildlife didn't help brighten the mood, either. Once in a while you'd hear th
sharp, ruffling sound of disturbed plants, or feel like something nearby is watching you. Of course, once you've improved your Scanning skill tab, you're gonna notice that
the sounds and disturbances are just stock forest sound effects, and the "things" watching you are natural formations that look very vaguely like a face.
Fortunately for me, my Scanning skill level's pretty high. It's still pretty unsettling, but the magic wears off once you can clearly separate the stock sounds from actual sign movement. As a game location, it's a good place to level up if you're in a group. It's also possible, but tricky to farm XP alone, but I prefer leveling in the Labyrinth.
"It's glad to have you on board, Riwet." Klein said as we walked around, our group keeping close attention to the surroundings.
"Thanks for having me, Klein." I replied with a friendly smile.
Earlier today, I messaged Klein, asking him if I could tag along. Of course, he agreed to take me with him and join his team in leveling. I owe him one. We're now a team
seven. After introducing myself, Klein laid out our plans for the day, which was to help the lower-leveled Players in our group to be stronger. Aside from Klein and Dale, thi
our first time in here.
Word on the street is, the mobs here give 50% more XP if you're in a group. Klein and his second-in-command, Dale, checked it out a few days ago and found that it was t
Klein told me that that's how he normally scouts for leveling locations.
"Seriously, you only partied once?" Dynamm chimed in. He was a typical Sword and Shield user. He was one of the lower-leveled Players.
"Yep."
"And your level's higher than ours?"
"That's right."
"...how?"
"I...didn't have to share XP with anyone."
"But still, I can't even imagine playing solo in this damn death game. Aren't you scared of fighting alone?"
"...it's scary, but I got used to it. You just gotta keep a good safety margin and pay attention."
"Oh, you're doing those, now?" Klein asked, grinning.
"Yep." I replied, also smirking back at him. Dynamm and the others looked at me, confused. Oh, they didn't know. I shrugged. "Yeah, long story short, I lost an arm and w
into the red zone when I traveled from the Starting City to Horunka. All because I got lost in thought." I grinned as I added, "You could say that I learned it the hard way."
chuckled while the rest of the group looked shocked.
"Well, if you didn't learn from that, you're a bona fide idiot." Klein finally commented. "You guys find anything?" His team shook their heads. Our group was purposefully m
noise to attract mobs. We didn't come here just to admire the scenery.
"Nope. There's nothin-" I started to reply, but I paused, something catching my attention. Unnatural and noticeable rusting emanated nearby. Turning my head, I narrowed
eyes, squinting at the source of the sound, my senses amplified by my Scanning skill. Now that I'm looking closely, I could clearly see the enemy mob.
I jerked my head to the mob's direction. "Over there, guys."
They turned their heads and tensed up at what we saw. We slowly unsheathed our weapons.
"They're getting closer. They're aggroed to us." Dynamm said nervously.
"Sure looks like it." Klein replied. "Relax. We've got tons of potions and antidotes." He pointed behind us. "There's a clearing over there. Let's go and lure them to the clea
We'll fare better out in the open."
"Good idea. Let's go, let's go." I stayed behind a bit, letting the rest of the group go first.
Since I've been leveling alone, I had the highest level and Skill Proficiency out of all of us. Klein and Dale weren't far off from me. The rest of them need a bit more time o
battlefield. There were also four more people in Klein's group, but he told me that they're still a bit too jumpy when it comes to fighting monsters, so they're training in ea
areas.
We reached the clearing. It was pretty wide. It was also pretty empty. There were no trees that would block swings, and no branches, roots or other large plants that could
us. I took a quick scan of the surroundings. Other than the ones already aggroed to us, there were no other enemies present. Perfect.
Eventually, the mob ventured out of the shadows and into the clearing. Once they're out in the open, I got an even closer look at the bastards.
Almost a month of playing SAO, I was grateful of not encountering this monster alone. They were called Pestilent Nepenthes. They resemble the classic Pokémon Victreebe
basically a cup or pitcher with a mouth on top of it. But that's where the similarities ended. Instead of being just a bit tough-looking like Victreebel, these Nepenthes were
intimidating and freaking disgusting. Its lower body consisted of numerous roots that it uses to slither around like a spider. It had arm-like vines attached to either side of
body, its "hands" resembling a Venus flytrap. But the worst part of its looks was its "second mouth" located at the front of its body. Instead of having, like, barbs or spines
resembled a human mouth. It had rotting teeth that were partly enclosed by crimson lips, curved into a nasty smile.
"Gross." I couldn't help but comment, as three of them crawled towards us.
"Yep." Klein replied, his face turned serious. He then called out to the group. "Dynamm, Riwet, you're with me. The rest of you split up from us. Try to draw aggro from on
'em."His group nodded and broke away from us. One of the Nepenthes followed the other group, while the two were still targeting us.
"Alright, Riwet, Dynamm. Remember to watch out for its Paralyze attacks." Klein reminded us.
"Right." Dynamm replied attentively as I nodded quietly.
As we braced ourselves, the three Nepenthes lunged at us, with surprising speed. Not as fast as Dire Wolves, but considering their size, they were pretty fast. Must be the
additional limbs.
***
Cue Music: Persona 3 OST - Mass Destruction
***
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I darted to the side, catching the two Nepenthes' attention. I faked an attack to get a reaction out of them. They took the bait. As soon as one of them lashed its tentacles
I used my halberd to parry and jumped out of the way of the attacks I couldn't parry. Once both Nepenthes were adequately distracted, Klein and Dynamm unleashed thei
strongest Weapon Skills they had on one. Klein, a Katana user, let loose a devastating three-hit combo, his Katana whistling in the air as he swung it in wide, slashing arcs
both hands, rending the mob's flesh. Dynamm, with his trusty sword, attacked with a three-hit combo of his own, which, compared to Klein's, was modest, but it still did q
bit of damage.
"Oh come on, you gotta be kidding me!" Klein exclaimed.
Unfortunately, despite the impressive show of strength, Klein and Dynamm couldn't close the deal. The Nepenthe survived with so little health that its health bar was esse
empty. Shifting targets, the two Nepenthes turned around, their mouths closing and ballooning. Oh, crap. Klein and Dynamm were still stuck in post-motion delay and can
dodge.
Gritting my teeth, I decided to pull back the aggro towards me. Running towards them, I tried to make as much noise as I can, trying to catch their attention. It worked –
Nepenthes froze a bit. I held my halberd with both hands and intentionally missed, slamming the ground very close to the Nepenthe.
"Dynamm, now!" I shouted. With the Nepenthes solely trained to me, Dynamm finished the job with a quick swipe. After an explosion of particles, the Nepenthe was no m
One down, two to go. Even better, Dynamm both dealt massive damage to the mob and got the Last Hit Bonus. That, and adding the Group XP Bonus, Dynamm received a
massive amount of XP.
"Riwet, look out!" Klein shouted.
While that was going on, the other Nepenthe shifted its attention back to me, its mouth disgustingly ballooned. Uh oh. I hurriedly dodged to the side, but my feet sort of s
slightly, so I wasn't able to cover a lot of distance. Its mouth opened, spitting out a wet ball of poison the size of a basketball. I narrowly avoided being hit directly, but onc
toxic spit hit the ground, it exploded, showering the nearby area, including me, with toxic, purple fluid.
The fluid splattered onto me. The armor I wore caught some of the poison, but so did my face, and the unarmored parts of my body, which stained my clothes and still cam
contact with my skin. My HUD told me that I was now suffering from a status effect, Paralysis.
Almost immediately, I felt the effects. I rapidly lost control of my body, barely keeping myself standing. With as much effort as I could muster, I tried taking a step, but my
swayed, and I started to fall. Before I hit the ground, the Nepenthes' arm bit into my body and lifted me up in the air. With a high-pitched screech, it slammed be back into
ground, making a small crater. My halberd flew off of my hands.
"Riwet!" I heard Klein and Dynamm call out my name. My HP went down by a quarter total. Ironically, due to the poison, I didn't feel the pain from its teeth digging into m
sides. What I did feel was the back of my head hitting the ground. And boy did that hurt.
"I'm okay!" I shouted in a pained voice. The Nepenthe let go, turned around and whipped its arms towards Klein and Dynamm. Thankfully, they completely dodged it and w
their way to help me. I focused my mind, activating Battle Healing.
Paralysis is prevalent and deadly status effect. For a player to be afflicted with this debuff, they need to be hit with a toxic attack. That toxic attack can range from being s
by fangs, claws, or even weapons coated with poison, to inhaling poisonous fumes and, in my case, being splatted by basketball-sized toxic loogies. Its effects are also num
The first ten seconds is full body paralysis, but you can still talk and make very slight movements if you try hard enough. After that, you'll regain control of your arms. Wh
thirty seconds pass, you'll regain control of the rest of your body, but you're still sluggish until a total of ten minutes pass. What's worse is that even if you have an antidot
that'll just cut the duration by 75%, leaving you with a minute of sloppy movement. You need someone else to use an antidote on you to immediately cure it.
Fortunately, Battle Healing doesn't suffer a penalty nor require any movement. Just gotta concentrate and you can activate it. Still immobilized, I took a quick look at how
other team's handling the Nepenthe. From what I could see, they were doing pretty well. All of their HP were still in the green, but the Nepenthe's HP was halfway gone.
"Dynamm, you're doing well!"
Klein's voice snapped me back to the issue at hand. They were pretty good at dodging the tentacles, but they're getting pretty tired. I gotta do something.
The numbing around my arms subsided, and I was able to move it again. I hurriedly produced a bottle of antidote from my inventory and splashed its contents to my body
able to control my legs again, I slowly stood up, searching for where my halberd ended up, which was too far out of the action. I sluggishly ran toward the fight, drawing o
knife.
The Nepenthe got a good hit at Klein, forcing him to his knees. Dynamm swooped in and took the next hit targeted at Klein. His shield absorbed most of the damage, but
also forced to kneel from the impact. No time left now. I took aim with my knife, activating my Blade Throwing Skill.
In SAO, Throwing is a very basic skill. It's what it says on the tin - you throw your weapon at a target. It causes good damage, but I haven't leveled it because it costs qui
of Col. Thrown weapons take a massive hit in durability and thus needs to be repaired. Shops also sell weapons designed specifically for throwing, but they're single-use a
expensive.
The system recognized my motion, and my knife was covered with a greenish-blue light as it left my hand, flying towards the Nepenthe. In my horror, the Nepenthe darted
side. I missed its body. Miraculously, I nailed one of its arms and destroyed it, sending the plant reeling. Not wasting the opportunity, Klein and Dynamm recovered and
unleashed their strongest Weapon Skills. This time, though, the Nepenthe was cleanly and completely obliterated, with Dynamm getting the Last Hit Bonus again.
***
End Music
***
Shortly afterward, we heard a scream. Our other group killed the third Nepenthe, but they also sustained quite a bit of damage. Exasperated, I sat down on the grass. Kle
rushed towards me, using an antidote to fully cure me of Paralysis. As he was helping me up, Dynamm retrieved my halberd and gave it back. We headed back, getting my
while on the way to rejoining the other group.
"Good work for today!" Dale exclaimed, looking more exhausted than the rest of his team, probably covering for them.
"Likewise!" I replied.
After that fiasco, we hunted for mobs till sunset. The other encounters went better than the first. The mobs were killed efficiently and nobody got seriously hurt. This conti
for a few days until the night before the meeting for the first-floor boss raid.
As for the results, everyone leveled up. In fact, Dynamm and the other lower-leveled players in the leveled up so much that the gap between them and the rest of the team
really short. As for me, I leveled up to 11. We celebrated on a pub, happy to be alive.
As the sun disappeared and darkness dominated the sky, I yawned for a bit, feeling a bit tired.
"Tired?" Dynamm asked.
"Yeah."
Klein chuckled. "In all seriousness, Riwet...you, and the rest of the group did very well these past few days."
"Thanks."
"Honestly speaking, I don't think that we're ready yet for a boss fight, so we're not gonna participate in this raid. We still need to train more. Lots more. But you...you've
improved a lot. Are you sure that you're gonna join the raid?" I nodded. Klein raised his drink bottle. "Then, here's to your safety, as well as the safety of everyone else
participating the First Floor Boss raid!"
"Cheers!" We shouted and drank.
"Alright, go and get some rest. You've earned it." Klein declared.
"Yeah go get 'em!" "Good luck!" "Stay safe!" The rest of them exclaimed.
"Thanks, guys!" I left the pub and went straight to my inn. And just like that, the deadline approached.
***
Loading...Complete.
***
Tolbana, due to being close to the Labyrinth, was designed to be a very busy city. It was bustling with activity everywhere, from players busy preparing for their venture, t
idly walking by. However, there's one part of Tolbana that's usually quiet. At the center of the city lies an amphitheater. This place is devoid of NPCs and serves as a meetin
ground by players. Today, however, is not just a normal meeting.
I opened my Player Menu, checking my stuff as I sat on the very back row. It was a couple of minutes before the meeting started, and people were trickling in and settling
on the seats. Eventually, I saw Kirito taking a seat on the back row far away from me. Beside him sat a player covered with a dark red hooded cape. I couldn't completely
player's face, but judging by the body shape and height, the player's probably female. Realizing that, I stopped ogling at her and went back to checking my own stuff.
Eventually, a player climbed up and stood on the center stage. I closed my Player Menu, sat upright and focused my attention on the player. He was wearing bulky armor a
a longsword strapped to his waist and some kind of shield strapped to his back. He had blue eyes, long, blue hair, and blue clothes under his armor, except for his pants, w
were white. His blue was a lot lighter compared to my navy blue getup.
Wait a minute. I've been running around inside cities with my weapons unequipped and stored inside my inventory, except for my knife which wasn't really annoying to ca my person. I took a quick look around and found that everyone's got their weapons equipped. It's not the most comfortable and necessary thing to do right now, but I gue
should do the same. I brought out my halberd and spear and strapped them on my back as the blue-haired player began to speak.
"Good morning, everyone. Thank you for coming to this meeting." He greeted us with a firm voice and continued, "My name is Diavel. I like to consider my 'job' as a knigh
said as he confidently pumped his chest with his fist.
"There's no job system here, man!" "Come on, take this seriously!" "Screw 'Knight', you really wanted to say 'hero', right?" The players jeered and clapped at him as he
awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. Nice way of breaking the tension. After a moment, his posture straightened and his face turned serious. The change was noticed b
everyone, and the commotion died down.
"As you know, there was the Message my team and I posted on the Message Boards a few days ago. About how the First Floor Boss was found. Initially, I wanted to have a meeting as soon as we found it, but I know that even though word gets around, it takes some time to prepare. As we are gathered here today, I believe we have prepared
enough!" A lot of players nodded. Diavel raised his hand and pointed to the Labyrinth. "Tomorrow, we will reach the First Floor Boss room!"
The players cheered. I was also pretty pumped at his speech. He lowered his hands and looked at us directly. "One month. It took us one month to come this far. Even so,
have to set an example! By killing the boss, we show that this death game can be cleared! That is our obligation! To inspire the other players into action! To prove that we
powerless! And that we are in control of our destiny! And that whatever happens, we can and will clear this game! WHO'S WITH ME?!"
The crowd exploded into a cacophony of cheering. I raised my hands vigorously. Man, that Diavel guy can really work up a crowd. As the noise died down, Diavel continued
"Alright, let's take a couple of minutes and break down this crowd into parties."
Uh oh. I looked around nervously. I did not know these people, and it seemed like a lot of them already formed their groups. I looked at Kirito, and he seemed pretty alarm
too. He looked at where I was sitting and nodded at me. I stood up and made my way to him.
"Hey." I sat beside him.
"Hey." He replied.
"So, can I party with you?"
"Yeah, sure." Kirito then turned his head towards the hooded player sitting beside him. "It's okay, right?"
"...does he know?" The player asked quietly.
"Yeah." Kirito replied. Do I know what? Noticing my confused stare, he replied to me in a whisper. "It was if you knew that I was a beta tester. She doesn't want you to cau
commotion."
'She', huh? The hooded player looked at me and nodded before looking away. Kirito sent me an invite to join the party.
I accepted. "Thank you very much, Kirito." I turned to the hooded player and bowed my head slightly. "Nice to meet you."
She nodded back and replied, "Likewise."
My HUD was updated with the names of my party members. Aside from Kirito, another name was included – Asuna. I guess her name's Asuna.
"Should we go look for more party members?" I asked.
"All of them look like they've formed parties already." Asuna replied. I took a look at the crowd. Sure seemed like that.
"Alright, you guys finished?" Diavel called out. Then-"
"Just a second!" A player called out from the crowd. He then jumped to the stage. He had cactus styled brown hair and an evil-looking goatee. He smugly pointed his thum
himself and started talking.
"My name is Kibaou. I wanna say something before we take on the boss." He pointed at the crowd. "Some of you here need to apologize to the two thousand players that
far!"
The crowd was shocked. I don't like where this is going. Diavel spoke quietly, "Kibaou-san, are you referring to the beta testers?"
"Of course I am!" He replied angrily. "On this day this stupid game started, the beta testers ditched us, and they all disappeared. They kept what they know and hoarded t
good spots, caring only for themselves. The news of them dying is lies! All lies!" He pointed again to the crowd. "I know that there are beta testers in here somewhere! Yo
should get on your knees and apologize, and give up all the items and money they've hoarded!" He crossed his arms. "Otherwise, we can't trust them to protect us as part
members! That's all I want to say!"
The crowd was silent. I looked beside me. Kirito was sweating and shaking. I held his shoulder. "You know that what he's saying is bullshit, right? Beta testers had a highe
mortality rate than normal players. That's the truth. Even with all of the discrimination, you still helped me. You have no obligation to even entertain people who spit on yo
when you try to help them." I whispered to him.
As that was happening, a rich, commanding baritone voice permeated the silence.
"May I speak?" The voice asked. I tracked the sound to the figure slowly walking towards the stage. Boy, oh boy, did the voice match the body. He was huge, towering ove
Kibaou as he stood in front of him. He had a chiseled face, bald head, and dark skin. Definitely not Japanese. He wore a large chest plate and a sleeveless shirt underneath
armor, accentuating his well-toned body. He was also carrying a large battleaxe in his back.
He bowed to the audience. "My name is Agil." he turned around and faced Kibaou. "Kibaou-san, you're saying that because the beta testers didn't care for them, a lot of
beginners died, that they should take responsibility, apologize, and provide compensation, correct?"
"Th-That's right." Kibaou replied, still intimidated by Agil's size. He looked like a freaking kid when he stood close to the big guy. After a few seconds, he began to recompo
himself. He was about to start ranting again when Agil held out his hand, showing Kibaou what looked like the Player Guidebook.
"This is the Player Guidebook, given to players free of charge at any item store the day SAO launched. You have it, right Kibaou-san?"
"Yeah...yeah, I do." Kibaou slowly agreed. "What about it?"
"This book," Agil pointed at the book, "Has information regarding the first floor as a whole. In spite of that, it came out the first day. Don't you think that's too fast, Kibaou
"Again, what about it?"
"The ones who provided monster info and map data in this, cannot be anyone other than the original beta testers."
The crowd started murmuring. From what I could tell, the majority of players present at least agreed that the information was unnaturally quick to be gathered.
Kibaou, however, was apparently blind to reason. He pointed at the book Agil was holding. "Th-th-that's not enough of a proof! I-It's probably an item included in the gam
"The proof is in the Afterword section." Agil calmly replied. He then turned to the audience. "For those with a Player Guidebook, I request you to take a look for yourself." I
quickly withdrew my Player Guidebook from my inventory and started looking for the Afterword section. Most of the audience did the same.
I felt someone tap my shoulder. "Hey Riwet, can I also take a look? I don't have one." Kirito asked.
"Sure." I replied. Eventually, we found the section and the proof.
Don't forget! Information in this edition of the Guidebook is subject to change. It's from the beta, after all.-Argo
"Argo...you sly devil." Kirito murmured, flabbergasted.
"You know him?" I asked.
"Yeah, I do. And it's a 'her'. As the book implies, she's a beta tester, really good with gathering information. But in the beta, she's notorious for only giving info in exchang
Col. Lots of Col." He replied, reminiscent.
I can't believe that I missed this detail. Looks like I'm more indebted to beta testers like Kirito and this 'Argo' person after all.
"Did everyone find it?" Agil's voice was audible, despite the crowd's murmuring. We nodded. "We all have this information, and still, many people died. While some of the
information's outdated, we cannot deny that this book helped us immensely. But, Kibaou-san, this is not the time to point fingers and pass blame."
Diavel stepped forward. "He's right, Kibaou-san. It's about time we look forward. We need the strength of everyone here to fight the boss, regardless of whether they're be
testers or normal players." He held his hand out. "Our obligation to the people comes first and foremost. If we remove the beta testers, and the raid fails because of that,
what's the point?" He swept his eyes at the crowd. "It's understandable if you have preferences, but if you are absolutely against teaming up with a beta tester for the sak
clearing the first floor, then...it would be unfortunate, but you are free to leave. Teamwork is absolutely essential, especially when dealing with a boss." His eyes stopped a
Kibaou, gazing at him intently.
Kibaou silently stepped away from the stage and sat. Agil also went back to his seat. When it was clear that nobody planned to leave, Diavel spoke up again. "Now, where
we? Oh, that's right. Has everyone formed a party?" Everybody nodded. "Alright, then. According to the Guidebook, the boss' name is Illfang the Kobold Lord. He is armed
an axe and shield. He has four health bars, and when the last one enters the red, he switches to a curved sword-type weapon called a Talwar, and he also changes his atta
pattern. He is also escorted by Ruin Kobold Sentinels throughout the battle. As Agil-san said, this was from the beta, so take the information with a grain of salt, and plan
accordingly. We'll divide the parties tomorrow into three groups, one to tank the boss' attacks, one to deal damage to the boss, and one to handle the other monsters."
Silent murmuring was heard again. Diavel closed his Guidebook. "Lastly, EXP goes to the party that kills the monsters, and whoever gets an item can keep it. Any objectio
"The crowd was silent. "Then, we'll meet again here tomorrow, and leave Tolbana at ten in the morning. This concludes our meeting!" He made a sweeping motion with his
"Dismissed!"
***
Scene Break. Loading...Complete.
***
The night was particularly lively in the streets of Tolbana. The parties were, well, having a bit of a 'party', with drinks and food all around. I saw Kibaou and Diavel drinking
together at the center of it. Everyone was smiling, determined to take the first real step in clearing the game.
Immediately after Diavel dismissed the meeting, Asuna left without even saying anything. Kirito also left, saying that he needed to do something quick and asking to let hi
know if anything happens. He also asked if he can have my Player Guidebook, which I agreed and gave it to him. I can always get one at a store for free. After both of the
gone, Diavel proposed to have a celebration to increase morale.
After a short while, I left the party and took a walk. Parties aren't really my thing. I messaged Kirito about it, and he replied that he wasn't interested. Asuna...well...she's
probably not interested either.
I saw Kirito sitting on a bench, checking his Player Menu.
I came closer to him. "Hey." I greeted and sat beside him.
"Hey." Kirito greeted back.
"Ready for tomorrow?"
"Yup. How about you?"
"Also ready, but just a little question with our plan."
"Ask away."
"Did Diavel intend it to be that simple and straightforward? Just separate the parties into three groups?"
"As far as I can tell, yeah."
"What do you think of the plan, as a whole?"
"A bit too simple, but certainly the most practical plan." Kirito replied matter-of-factly.
Curious, I leaned in. "How did it go in the beta?"
"This was also what we did to beat the first-floor boss back in the beta. Illfang and the Ruin Kobold Sentinels have straightforward attack patterns. Strong, but predictable
can easily tell that an attack is coming, so if you're paying attention you can dodge it easily. The first few times we fought him, we actually overcomplicated it. This plan's
work smoothly. Plus, it's flexible enough to handle surprises that weren't there in the beta."
"Also, it's simple enough that it won't fall apart easily even if things go wrong."
"Exactly." Kirito materialized the Player Guidebook I gave him and stared at it. "I quickly skimmed it. From what I could tell, most of the relevant information written here
the same, concerning the first floor."
"Nice. Also, why didn't you have one?"
"I have, it's just a bit different." He stored the Guidebook and pulled out a different book. "This was a guidebook I bought from Argo. The contents are identical, except tha
no Afterword section. And I had to pay quite a bit for it" He smirked. "Ever the saleswoman, that Argo."
"I see." I sighed and looked at the street in front on us. "It feels a bit unreal, you know. Almost a month ago, I was still curled up in my room. Now, I'm a 'clearer'."
"And tomorrow, you're going to be facing your greatest enemy yet." Kirito added.
"True, that." I looked behind us and did a double take. Is that...? Yep, there she is. Asuna's sitting alone on a bench not too far away, her back covered by the leather cape
was wearing. I haven't seen that kind of hooded cape being worn by anyone else in Tolbana besides Asuna.
Kirito withdrew a piece of black bread. The guy sure loves his bread and cream. "Dinnertime."
I stood up. "Yep, time for me to get some grub and hit the sack."
Kirito smirked. "Not gonna keep me company? That's cold of you." He said in a comically sad voice.
"I wanna take a bit of a walk, build my appetite. Also, you bailed on me after the meeting. I can't work my magic without a wingman, you know?" I couldn't keep a straigh
on the last part, and both of us chuckled. I recomposed myself. "Besides," I motioned towards Asuna's direction, "Looks like somebody needs your company right now."
Kirito turned around and saw Asuna. "Uhhhh, you got my back, right, wingman?"
I tried to make a serious face. "I said to keep her company, not ask her out. This is not the time to flirt, you know." keyword being 'tried', as my face cracked into a smile.
gotta work on my poker face. I gathered myself and smiled. "Come on, the worst thing she could do to you is ignore you."
"Oh, she'll do a lot more that ignore me if I piss her off, that's for sure." Kirito replied nervously and looked at Asuna. "Buuut...she does look a bit lonely." He looked at me
sure you don't wanna tag along or something?"
"Nope, I'm good."
"Alright, then. See you tomorrow, Riwet."
"Likewise. See you tomorrow, Kirito." I walked away. When I rounded a corner, I stopped, turned around and peeked at what Kirito's doing. He got out from his seat and w
talking to Asuna. Well, at least they're talking.
I really wanted to know what'll happen next, but I didn't wanna snoop. Besides, my stomach's grumbling. I turned around and started to look for something to eat.
I went inside a restaurant and ate a bowl of noodles for cheap.
…
It tasted bland.
It's a big day tomorrow. I hope it doesn't turn to shit.
***
Chapter End
***
A/N: That's all for now. Thank you very much, and have a good one