Shindo contacted Diavel by message and learned that the members of the Legend Braves were currently somewhere inside the Labyrinth region.
“Asuna, do you want to come with me?” He asked tentatively.
Strictly speaking, this matter had already moved beyond anything Asuna herself needed to deal with.
Now that her Wind Fleuret had been recovered, she could simply consider the incident settled and walk away.
“This all started because I asked Shindo-kun for help, didn’t it?” Asuna answered with a bright smile.
“When I think of it that way, I suppose I have a reason I can’t not go.” “Okay.
I wasn’t exactly comfortable leaving you alone in Taran Village anyway—” “Shindo-kun!” Asuna abruptly cut him off.
Her unusually serious expression left Shindo momentarily at a loss.
“I know you’re strong, Shindo-kun.
But I’ve been working hard too because I want to catch up with you, so…” Her hazel eyes were remarkably firm.
“Could you please stop treating me like some helpless little girl who needs protecting every second?” Shindo found himself completely unable to argue against that gaze.
Realizing he had misspoken, he immediately admitted it.
“S-Sorry…” He took a moment to rearrange his words.
“Then…
Asuna, let’s go together.” His tone was more definite this time.
“Mm.
I’d be happy to, Shindo-kun.” Asuna’s usual gentleness finally returned, allowing Shindo to relax.
“Um…
sorry.” “Shindo-kun helped me so much, and then I snapped at you like that.
I’m the one who should apologize…” The moment Shindo sincerely acknowledged his mistake, Asuna became the embarrassed one instead.
Perhaps she felt that her earlier tone had been too harsh, because a faint blush now colored her cheeks.
“Don’t worry about it, Asuna.
I really don’t mind.” Shindo smiled at her.
For some reason, Asuna gave a small laugh in return, clear and light like a tiny bell, the sound slipping straight into his chest.
…
The afternoon forest was filled with insect calls and the soft rustle of fallen leaves.
Shindo and Asuna moved through the dense woodland toward the Labyrinth region.
Every so often, Red Spotted Beetles dropped without warning from the upper branches.
The forest was too cramped for Splitter’s enormous blade to be used comfortably, so Shindo took the opportunity to focus on increasing his proficiency with «Martial Arts».
Asuna, by comparison, clearly despised the insects.
Most of the time, she was perfectly happy to leave them to Shindo.
When an Ambush Slime appeared, however—a creature particularly fond of attacking players from behind—even Asuna’s sharp rapier suddenly seemed to lose all usefulness.
She immediately moved behind Shindo.
“So Asuna’s afraid of things like these?” Shindo looked back in amusement.
She was clutching the edge of his clothing and advancing with an almost absurd level of caution.
Asuna flushed with embarrassment and promptly folded her arms.
“That’s very rude, Shindo-kun.
Most girls dislike creatures like these.
If anything, not liking them is completely normal.” Shindo shrugged.
Apparently this was knowledge he had somehow missed.
Then the number of falling leaves around them abruptly increased.
Something was moving rapidly through the branches overhead.
Wherever it passed, dried yellow leaves poured down like rain.
“Asuna.” One word was enough.
Both immediately returned to full combat readiness.
They moved back-to-back and raised their eyes toward the canopy, tracking the path of the falling leaves.
The shadow traveling through the treetops finally stopped atop a thick branch.
Its clothing was entirely black.
A torn black cloak and hood concealed most of the figure in shadow, but through an opening in the fabric Shindo could see a weapon shaped like a heavy kitchen knife.
Mate Chopper.
Shindo recognized it immediately.
And the identity of the person holding it followed just as quickly.
PoH.
Prince of Hell.
Vassago Casals.
The future founder of Laughing Coffin.
“You’re the one who put the Legend Braves up to scamming players with Quick Change, aren’t you, PoH?” Shindo called him out by name without wasting time on meaningless conversation.
The crouching figure above stiffened.
Beneath the shadow of his hood, Vassago’s expression shifted visibly when his identity was exposed so casually.
For several moments, his face became impossible to read.
Asuna looked puzzled beside Shindo, but because Shindo had not lowered his guard after recognizing the man, she immediately understood that whoever stood above them was dangerous.
“Wuhahahaha—!” PoH suddenly covered his face with one hand and burst into bizarre laughter.
Then it stopped just as abruptly.
His eyes locked onto Shindo.
“Can you communicate with the real world?” He crouched lower on the branch.
There was unmistakable probing in his voice, but also a faint trace of fear.
“Mr.
Swordsman with the big nodachi.” “Who knows?” Shindo gave him nothing.
Neither of them knew exactly how much the other understood, so there was no harm in letting PoH imagine possibilities that might not exist.
“I see…” PoH slowly rose among the branches until he stood high enough to look down at them.
“So Mr.
Swordsman doesn’t want to be friends with me.” “I’ll pass.” Shindo’s expression remained flat.
“You followed us all the way from Taran Village into a forest outside the safe zone.
I’m pretty sure we were never going to be the same kind of people.” “Tch.” PoH clicked his tongue irritably.
He had no obvious way to deal with Shindo’s deliberate ambiguity, so his gaze shifted toward Asuna instead.
“Beautiful young lady.” His finger slowly traced the side of Mate Chopper’s blade.
“Judging from the elegant outfit beneath that red cloak, I’m guessing you’re quite the beauty.” His tone became almost playfully malicious.
“But I wonder…
how much do you actually know about this so-called ‘hero’ standing beside you?” “That isn’t something a creepy stranger needs to worry about.” Asuna felt a chill, but there was not even the slightest hesitation in her eyes.
The moment she chose to stand beside Shindo, her trust in him was not something that could be shaken by a few poisonous words from someone like this.
She had spent enough time with Shindo to form her own understanding of who he was.
A stranger—especially one who looked this obviously abnormal—was never going to overturn that with a few sentences.
“I see…” PoH dragged the words out.
The visible portion of his jaw twitched several times beneath the hood before his expression suddenly went still.
“I really hate these little friendship dramas where everyone trusts each other to the bitter end.” His body slowly tilted forward.
For a moment, it looked as though he was simply going to fall headfirst from the branch.
Then his legs moved.
His right foot slammed against the trunk.
PoH launched himself diagonally downward like an arrow.
Shindo drew Splitter and charged to meet him.
The two blades collided.
A sharp metallic impact rang through the forest.
The first exchange ended decisively in Shindo’s favor.
His STR was simply higher.
PoH was blasted several steps backward by the force of Shindo’s heavy strike, though he managed to regain his footing before falling.
“Looks like your hands aren’t nearly as impressive as your mouth, PoH.” That single clash had been enough for PoH to understand the difference between them.
The instinct to retreat immediately appeared in his mind.
Unfortunately, Shindo’s taunt only twisted his expression into something uglier.
Then Asuna attacked.
Wind Fleuret flashed forward with startling speed.
Vassago was forced into a panicked series of evasions as her rapier pursued him relentlessly.
Several thrusts punched through his already-tattered black cloak, leaving enough holes that it could no longer properly conceal the body beneath.
PoH glared viciously at both of them.
Then he turned and fled at full speed.
Asuna immediately moved to pursue.
Shindo caught her before she could.
“Asuna, don’t chase him.” “Shindo-kun, we’re really going to let someone that dangerous escape?” Asuna clearly despised the idea of allowing a player who casually attacked people outside the safe zone to simply run away.
“That’s not it.” Shindo shook his head.
“I want to bring someone like him to justice too.
But I don’t want you becoming an Orange Player because of it.” His own cursor was already glowing orange above his head.
Shindo continued before Asuna could argue.
“Besides, players outside safe zones are mostly leveling in parties right now.
At his current strength, he shouldn’t be reckless enough to attack an organized group.” Seeing that Asuna’s brows were still furrowed with concern, he explained further.
“I’ll discuss PoH with Diavel later.” “For now, what we need to do is cut away the people supporting him and remove the environment that lets him operate.
If we do that, it’ll become much harder for him to hurt anyone else.” “The Legend Braves?” Asuna looked toward him for confirmation.
“Yeah.” Shindo nodded.
“He’s the one who pushed the Legend Braves into using Quick Change to scam players.
The whole point was to weaken other players and reduce their combat strength.” Asuna’s frustration finally broke through.
“We’re all trapped in this game!
Why would anyone still do something like that?!” “Asuna, criminals in the real world don’t stop being criminals just because they enter a game.” Shindo’s voice was quiet.
“Take away the laws and consequences holding them back, and some of them only become worse.
People like that were rotten long before they ever put on a NerveGear.” Asuna was silent for a moment.
Then another question occurred to her.
“Shindo-kun…
what did he mean when he asked whether you could communicate with the real world?” Shindo shook his head.
“Asuna, I might be strong, but I’m not omnipotent.
I can’t do something like that.” Asuna’s hazel eyes sparkled.
“So there actually are things Shindo-kun can’t do?” “I appreciate the incredible amount of faith you apparently had in me.” “Hehe.” They looked at each other.
Then both started laughing.
Whether Shindo was omnipotent had obviously never been the important point in the first place, and somehow they had managed to get themselves tangled up in that completely backwards question.
“Come on.” Once her laughter faded, Asuna turned around, leaving Shindo looking at her graceful figure from behind.
“Let’s go find the Legend Braves.” “Yeah.” Shindo slid the nodachi back into its scabbard and followed her.