When Shindo’s vision finally returned, everything was still slightly blurred.
The light from the cavern crystals stabbed into his eyes, forcing him to blink several times before his sight adjusted.
“He’s awake!” Those were the voices of the two mysterious girls.
At the moment, both of them were leaning in close, carefully examining Shindo’s face while he was still trying to figure out what was happening.
“…” Shindo jolted when he realized just how close the shadowed face beneath one of their hoods was.
“Too close!” The girl had invaded his personal space so suddenly that he had no idea how to react.
There was even a faint fragrance coming from her, which only caught him further off guard.
“Heh.” Both mysterious girls laughed at his reaction.
“What exactly are you two doing?!” Shindo pushed himself upright and sat cross-legged on the ground, glaring at them with mild irritation.
“Protecting you, obviously!” “Protecting me?
I already told you, didn’t I?
When a player gets Disconnected, they’re protected by the system.
Nothing can happen to them.” Shindo genuinely did not understand.
The two girls in front of him clearly disagreed, and judging by how self-righteous they looked, one might almost think Shindo was somehow the unreasonable one.
“But leaving you lying here all by yourself just felt wrong, didn’t it?” “What about the other players?” “They reconnected before you did and already left.
They said they’d repay us once they reached town.” “I mean, technically—” Shindo started to argue, then stopped.
This world had already become far too much like another reality, and danger existed almost everywhere outside the safe zones.
The two girls had stayed because they were genuinely kind enough to worry about leaving him defenseless, even if the concern had been unnecessary.
There was no point arguing with them over it.
“It’s decided!
You’re the one!” Shindo stared at them.
The two girls finally revealed what they had apparently been working toward all along.
“Mysterious Beta Tester-kun, would you join our party?
Just until we’ve defeated Aincrad’s First Floor Boss.
How does that sound?” ‘So that’s what this was about.’ Their hidden agenda had surfaced remarkably quickly.
“I already told you that I prefer playing solo.
And since you’ve figured out I’m a beta tester, I’m guessing the two of you are beta testers too, right?” Shindo looked at them cautiously.
“If that’s the case, you should know better than anyone how limited early-game resources are.
Why would you deliberately invite another player into your party when we’d only end up splitting EXP and drops?” He genuinely could not understand what they were trying to accomplish.
“Because we want to defeat the First Floor Boss,” one of the girls replied.
“After seeing how strong you were back there, we decided that having you with us would make the raid much more likely to succeed.” Clearly, neither of them intended to give up.
“Sorry.
I still refuse.” “In that case, if we’re going to put a price on the favor we just did for you, Mysterious Beta Tester-kun owes us one hundred thousand col in protection fees!” “What?!” Shindo had plenty of experience squeezing money out of other people.
Being extorted himself was entirely new.
“What are you two, those crooked NPC merchants in the Town of Beginnings who scam new players?” “Then how about we settle it with a duel?” one of the girls proposed, immediately switching tactics.
“Seriously?
That’s cheating!” “We have a reason we absolutely have to cheat when it comes to you, Mysterious Beta Tester-kun.” Faced with their sheer persistence, Shindo finally raised both hands in surrender.
“Fine, fine.
But if we’re settling this with a duel, we’re waiting until we reach Tolbana’s safe zone.
Outside the Area is not the place to start challenging each other.” The moment he gave in, the two girls happily high-fived each other.
Then, apparently realizing that celebrating his defeat right in front of him might have been a little rude, they looked back at Shindo and gave him apologetic nods.
Shindo shook his head, his expression practically saying, ‘I don’t understand you two at all.’ Still, he stood immediately.
“This temporary rest area outside the safe zone only stays protected for an hour.
Once that time expires, MOBs can start approaching again.” “Then let’s hurry to Tolbana!” “Sure, but aren’t you supposed to introduce yourselves first?” Shindo looked between them.
“I don’t even know what either of you looks like.
What kind of party invitation is this?” “You can find out after you officially become our party member, Mysterious Beta Tester-kun!” Somehow, they were being even more evasive than he was.
Shindo decided to respond with equal enthusiasm.
“Yeah, yeah.” After killing several goblins that wandered too close, the three of them resumed their journey through the mountain tunnels.
There was very little conversation along the way.
Shindo walked in front, while the two girls followed several steps behind.
They only slowed occasionally when they passed side caverns that looked like treasure rooms.
Before long, a brighter point of light appeared in the distance.
The sunlight shining through the far end of the tunnel was far stronger than the glow of the crystal deposits illuminating the passage, making it obvious that the exit was close.
All three quickened their pace.
The moment Shindo stepped out of the cave, the air seemed noticeably fresher, and he instinctively drew in a deep breath.
“If we follow the valley from here, we’ll reach Tolbana pretty soon.” “Mm.” The First Floor Labyrinth, towering at the northernmost edge of Aincrad, was already visible in the distance.
Before challenging it, however, they would all need more training.
During the beta, the recommended level for fighting the First Floor Boss had been Level 10.
Now that SAO had become a death game, anyone who wanted a reasonable margin for error would probably need to be even stronger.
Shindo himself was still only Level 8.
Between Tolbana and the region surrounding the Labyrinth, however, there were plenty of high-level elite MOBs.
A few more days of serious grinding should be enough to push him to the recommended level or beyond it.
They continued through the valley until the opening gradually widened.
At last, Tolbana came into view.
Its architecture resembled the Town of Beginnings, and the familiar cheerful strings of Aincrad’s Gothic settlement BGM began playing in the background.
“There it is.
Tolbana.” Shindo visibly relaxed as the safe zone drew closer.
“Once we’re inside, we can finally settle this duel.” More than anything, he wanted to get rid of the two burdens attached to him as quickly as possible.
“Mysterious Beta Tester-kun, you’re not going to hold back just because your opponent is a girl, are you?” “Absolutely not.
I’m trying to get rid of you two!” “You can fight at full strength.
Not to brag, but we’re very strong.” “I can’t exactly argue with that part.” Shindo glanced back at them.
“But I’ll return that line right back to you.” He smiled.
“I’m pretty strong too.” …
The three of them stood ready in Tolbana’s fountain plaza.
Since the upcoming fight was a formal Duel, Shindo rearranged his Skill setup.
He removed «Searching» from one of his Skill Slots and equipped «Weapon Defense» in its place.
After they agreed to use First Strike Mode, Shindo opened the equipment section of his menu and removed his cloak before sending a Duel request to the two mysterious girls.
As its name suggested, First Strike Mode awarded victory to whichever duelist struck the opponent first and caused even a slight decrease in HP.
Of SAO’s three Duel modes, First Strike Mode was the safest and most restrained.
The other two, Half Loss Mode and Total Loss Mode, were considerably less friendly.
“I’ll fight him.” The quieter of the two girls stepped forward and took her place opposite Shindo.
She opened her system menu and removed her cloak as well.
Long hair spilled down her back to her waist.
A red ribbon held her bangs away from her forehead, framing a quiet, adorable face with dark eyes and dimples that deepened when she smiled.
More importantly, two stubborn strands of hair stuck up from the top of her head.
Shindo froze.
She looked almost exactly like Yuuki Konno.
The girl he remembered from New ALO, the swordswoman who would one day be known as Absolute Sword.
The girl confirmed the Duel request and raised the Iron Straight Sword in her hand, pointing its tip toward Shindo.
A countdown sounded in their ears.
Then— [DUEL] She charged.
Shindo hurriedly reacted, bringing up his Anneal Blade to knock aside her thrust.
Perhaps because his thoughts were already tangled, however, Shindo spent the opening exchanges entirely on defense and never attempted a serious counterattack.
His opponent noticed.
Apparently interpreting his passivity as condescension, the girl became visibly irritated.
Her attacks grew faster and more precise, each strike flowing naturally into the next.
“Can you tell me your name?” Even while doing nothing but defend, Shindo somehow found time to ask.
The girl answered with her sword.
Her attacks only became fiercer, and with Shindo’s mind nowhere near the Duel, keeping up was becoming increasingly unpleasant.
After several more exchanges, the girl apparently became convinced that he was deliberately holding back against her—perhaps because he had seen her face beneath the cloak and decided not to fight seriously.
Her irritation grew.
Then, just as Shindo moved to parry another thrust, she finally answered him.
“Yuuki.” The sword continued straight toward him.
Shindo’s defensive motion stopped.
Completely.
The instant he heard her name, whatever focus he still had on the Duel disappeared.
Yuuki saw him suddenly freeze and instinctively pulled the strike.
Instead of driving the blade into him, she merely touched the tip lightly against his arm.
His HP dropped by the smallest possible amount.
The Duel ended.
“Why are you two here…?” Shindo murmured the words almost unconsciously.
Yuuki slowed to a stop and lowered her sword, staring at him in confusion.
The strange beta tester who had suddenly gone blank in the middle of their Duel did not fit the explanation she had just invented for his behavior, and she had no idea what his muttered question was supposed to mean.
“Mysterious Beta Tester-kun?
What’s wrong?” The system chimed to announce Shindo’s defeat.
Only then did he seem to return to himself.
“I…
Sorry.” Shindo apologized for completely losing focus.
The timeline had diverged far more dramatically than he had expected, and the realization had caught him so thoroughly off guard that he was struggling to process it.
Yuuki, however, had something much more immediate on her mind.
“Then, Mysterious Beta Tester-kun, according to our agreement, you’re joining our party until we’ve defeated the First Floor Boss.” “…” At this point, whether he joined their party was the least of Shindo’s concerns.
After several seconds of silence, he finally gave a defeated nod.
“Fine.” “Big Sis, he agreed!” Yuuki turned and waved excitedly toward the other girl.
Her sister walked over to them with a smile.
“Then we’re partners from now on.
My name is Aiko, and this is my younger sister, Yuuki.” She gestured toward herself and then Yuuki.
“We’re both swordsmen specializing in straight swords, and we’re currently Level 7.
It’s nice to meet you.” “Nice to meet you.” Shindo’s thoughts were such a mess that his reply came out almost mechanically, like an artificial intelligence following a preset dialogue tree.
“That’s kind of rude, Beta Tester-kun,” Aiko said.
“Spacing out in the middle of a conversation with two girls…” Neither sister knew what had caused his distraction, but it was obvious enough that they felt compelled to point it out.
“Sorry.
I think my brain’s malfunctioning right now.” Shindo rubbed the back of his neck.
“You can call me Shindo.
I’m Level 8, and I specialize in swordsmanship.” “Shindo-kun is a whole level above us,” Yuuki said.
“And yet someone insisted he wouldn’t go easy just because he was dueling a girl.” “Well…
something unexpected happened.” The answer came out automatically.
“Something unexpected?” “Ah—no, don’t worry about it.” Shindo quickly changed the subject.
“It’s getting dark.
Finding somewhere to stay in Tolbana is more important right now.” “That makes sense.” Aiko nodded.
“Do you know anywhere good?
Yuuki and I aren’t very familiar with Tolbana.” “Yeah.
I know a decent inn near the plaza.
The rooms have balconies, and there’s a bathroom where you can actually soak in a bath.
You two might like it.” Still distracted, Shindo did not even wait for their answer.
He simply turned around and started leading the way while continuing to think.
Aiko and Yuuki exchanged glances.
As far as they were concerned, Shindo was an exceptionally strange beta tester.
Possibly even a suspicious and calculating scoundrel with some ulterior motive.
Still, there were two of them and only one of him.
Even if something unexpected happened inside the safe zone, neither sister believed they would lose to Shindo together.
After hesitating briefly, they followed.
Shindo had no idea that he had just acquired several new labels, including weirdo and scheming villain.
What he did know was that, according to the timeline he remembered, Aiko and Yuuki Konno should still have been receiving treatment in the real world.
Neither of them should have been anywhere near Sword Art Online.
In the original course of events, both sisters would eventually die several years later as a result of AIDS, which they had contracted at birth, and the complications that followed.
Why they were here now—or why they had entered a death game like SAO in the first place—Shindo had no idea.
He could only wait until he knew them better before asking something so personal.
For now, he had no choice but to accept the fact that the timeline had changed.
Perhaps the sisters’ appearance had simply been too abrupt.
Whatever the reason, Shindo suddenly felt as though the pressure bearing down on him had doubled, both from the reality waiting outside Aincrad and from the death game surrounding him now.
First there was Kirito, the obsessive leveling machine.
Now there were Aiko and Yuuki Konno, two monsters capable of staying online and grinding around the clock.
The thought alone filled Shindo with an overwhelming urge to sprint straight toward the nearest high-level grinding area and slaughter MOBs until his EXP bar begged for mercy.
So naturally, Shindo decided to sleep.
He had been pushing himself far too hard recently, and his mental stamina was beginning to suffer.
Perhaps if he woke up tomorrow morning, he would discover that all of this had merely been a bizarre dream.
Clinging to that faint hope, the three of them found lodging near Tolbana’s fountain plaza and rented two rooms.
Then they split up for the night.
Shindo’s own plans could not have been simpler.
He stripped off his equipment as quickly as possible, climbed into bed, pulled the blanket over his head, and slept straight through until morning.