After arriving at the Second Floor Labyrinth region, Shindo decided that the first thing they should do was meet up with Diavel, whom he had contacted earlier.
Diavel’s party had also spent quite some time exploring the Labyrinth and was badly in need of a break and resupply.
The two groups met as arranged near the entrance to the Labyrinth.
“Yo, Diavel.” Shindo called out to the blue-haired swordsman waiting by the entrance.
Diavel instinctively turned around.
Then he saw the orange cursor floating above Shindo’s head.
His expression changed immediately, and his posture became noticeably more guarded.
The other members of Diavel’s party noticed it as well.
They quietly closed ranks around their leader, hands drifting toward their weapons.
Shindo caught every subtle movement.
Under normal circumstances, a player’s cursor in SAO was green.
That was the color displayed above the overwhelming majority of ordinary players.
When that cursor turned orange, however, it meant the player had committed a criminal act against another player—attacking them and reducing their HP, or even killing them.
Such players became known as Orange Players.
Ordinarily, Orange Players would eventually be hunted down.
In serious cases, front-line players themselves might apprehend them and imprison them in the cells beneath the Black Iron Palace in the Town of Beginnings.
Sexual harassment against female players also counted as a criminal action under SAO’s system.
The victim could invoke the game’s protection functions to have the offender sent directly to prison.
In that case, the system itself teleported the criminal straight into the Black Iron Palace’s jail.
So with Shindo standing there under an orange cursor while Asuna beside him remained perfectly green, Diavel’s expression inevitably became somewhat complicated.
“Shindo-kun, Miss Asuna.
Did you come all this way because something important happened?” “Of course.” Shindo nodded.
“Diavel, do you know Nezha from the Legend Braves?” “Nezha?” Diavel thought for a moment.
“The name sounds familiar…” He remained several steps away.
“But I know the Legend Braves themselves reasonably well.
All of them suddenly started carrying unusually high-quality equipment, so they’ve been a huge help with exploring the Labyrinth.” “And that didn’t strike you as strange?” Shindo asked, deliberately leading him toward the point.
“A whole group suddenly getting weapons of that quality?” Diavel frowned thoughtfully.
“Now that you mention it…
normally, unless they completed some kind of chained hidden quest, it would be difficult for an entire group to experience that large an increase in combat power.” His eyes sharpened.
“Shindo-kun, Miss Asuna…
do you know how they got them?” “Yes.” Shindo smiled and nodded.
“If by Nezha you mean the player who’s been operating around Urbus and Taran Village lately, I know a little about him.” Another member of Diavel’s party stepped forward.
Lind.
Diavel glanced toward him.
“Lind?
What do you know?” “After the First Floor Boss raid, Nezha seemed to have trouble adjusting to Boss combat.
Once we reached the Second Floor, he switched paths and started training as a player blacksmith instead.” Lind folded his arms as he recalled the details.
“His proficiency with Smithing and weapon enhancement is apparently very high now.” Then his expression turned regretful.
“Unfortunately, his enhancement success rate seems unusually inconsistent.
He suffers catastrophic failures far too often.” Lind sighed.
“My old Anneal Blade was one of them.
After an enhancement failure, it turned back into an ordinary Iron Straight Sword.” “It wasn’t bad luck, Lind-san.” Shindo did not enjoy being the one to tell him, but there was no point avoiding it.
“Nezha used Quick Change to swap your highly enhanced weapon for a cheap replacement, then disguised the theft as a catastrophic enhancement failure.” “Quick Change?!” Even Diavel looked startled.
“Very few players would bother learning that Skill this early.
And raising its proficiency high enough to use it smoothly enough for a scam like that…” “So they went that far just to get high-quality equipment?!” Anger immediately appeared on Lind’s face once he understood that he had been cheated.
“We’re members of the front line.
Nobody’s asking them to hand over everything they own to support us, but deliberately weakening our fighting strength like that—” “Damn Legend Braves!” Other members of Diavel’s party began gathering around as well.
“No wonder some of their weapons looked familiar!” One accusation quickly led to another, and outrage spread through the group.
“…” Shindo’s mouth twitched awkwardly.
“Actually, the Legend Braves were manipulated into doing it.” The group quieted.
“That doesn’t excuse what they did,” Shindo continued, “but they weren’t the ones who came up with the scheme.” “Manipulated?” Diavel immediately caught the important part.
“Yeah.
By a player with the ID PoH.” “He attacked us in the forest earlier,” Asuna added.
It was obvious she had no intention of letting the man in the black raincoat escape accountability.
“Shindo-kun fought him briefly and drove him away after he attacked us outside the safe zone.” Diavel looked once more at the orange cursor above Shindo.
Understanding dawned across his face.
“Oh.
So that’s why.” His shoulders relaxed.
“For a moment, I thought Shindo-kun had done something inappropriate to the lovely Miss Asuna—” He stopped.
Then his eyes widened dramatically.
“Wait.” Diavel stared at them.
“The forest?” “Yes,” Asuna replied.
“He was wearing a torn black cloak over something that looked like a raincoat, and he carried a very unusual short cleaver-like weapon.” She carefully recalled PoH’s appearance, though beyond those two identifying features there was not much else she could add.
“Shindo-kuuun…” Diavel suddenly said his name in a deeply suspicious tone.
Shindo stared at him.
“What?” “Just the two of you.
Alone.
In the forest.” Diavel’s smile became downright indecent.
“Isn’t that moving a little fast?” Asuna’s face instantly turned bright red.
“It’s nothing like what you’re imagining, Diavel-san!” “Diavel,” Shindo said, covering his face with one hand, “wildly speculating about things like that is going to ruin your knightly image.” He dropped his other hand heavily onto Diavel’s armored shoulder.
“Right, right…” Diavel leaned sideways under the pressure and answered in an exaggeratedly submissive tone.
Whatever caution he had felt toward Shindo’s orange cursor had completely disappeared.
“In any case,” Diavel said once he recovered, “the first priority is making the Legend Braves confess what they did, apologize properly to the players whose combat strength they damaged, and return what they stole.” Then his expression became more serious.
“And after that, we deal with the dangerous player who’s attacking people outside the safe zone.” “Exactly.” Shindo nodded.
“We need to prevent PKers from becoming a real group inside SAO.
If players start having to worry about monsters on one side and other players on the other, the entire player community will fracture.” Diavel clearly understood how dangerous that would be.
“We’ll start dealing with it immediately, Shindo-kun, Miss Asuna.” He opened his system menu.
“I happen to have several members of the Legend Braves on my friends list.
We can use Friend Tracking to find them.” He selected the Friends tab, then marked their current location on the map.
“They’re nearby.” Diavel glanced back toward Shindo.
“I’ll call them over now.” Then his eyes rose once again toward Shindo’s cursor.
“One more thing, though.
You really should clear that Orange Player status with a Crime Pardon Quest as soon as possible.” His tone turned unusually serious.
“An orange cursor automatically makes people think ‘criminal.’ More importantly, NPC guards and certain town NPCs can become hostile toward Orange Players if they enter settlements.” Standing among a crowd of green-cursor players while glowing orange himself made Shindo impossible to overlook anyway.
“I’ll deal with today’s mess first.” Shindo rubbed his forehead.
“Tomorrow I’ll pick up a Crime Pardon Quest.” …
Second Floor, Labyrinth region—entrance to the forest.
“Shindo-kun, Miss Asuna.
They’re here.” Diavel stood from the dead tree trunk where he had been sitting and motioned toward the entrance of the Labyrinth.
The members of the Legend Braves were walking toward them.
Their gazes briefly swept across Diavel’s party.
Then they noticed the orange cursor over Shindo.
It stood out immediately.
Still, Shindo was standing beside Diavel, and Diavel himself showed no signs of hostility or alarm.
At this stage of SAO, nobody had yet encountered players who deliberately murdered others for pleasure, so Orange Players were still treated with somewhat greater tolerance than they would be later.
“Kenta!
Over here!” Diavel waved.
One of the Legend Braves hurried forward.
“You called us here so urgently, Diavel-san.
Did your party already find the Floor Boss room?” “No, nothing like that.” Diavel gestured for them to sit.
“This is about your group.” He glanced toward Shindo.
“I think Shindo-kun should explain the details.” Before Shindo could speak, Kenta looked up at the orange cursor.
“Shindo-san…
what happened to your cursor?” It might have been tolerated, but it certainly had not escaped anyone’s attention.
“Kenta-san.” Shindo smiled in a way that carried considerably more meaning than warmth.
“Do you—or any of you—know a man in a black raincoat?” The Legend Braves stiffened slightly.
“His identifying features are a torn black cloak over raincoat-style equipment, and a special weapon shaped something like a short-handled cleaver.” The reactions across their faces differed.
None were reassuring.
“What does that have to do with your cursor changing color?” Kenta tried to redirect the conversation.
“He followed us from Taran Village all the way into the forest and attacked us outside the safe zone.” Shindo’s expression remained mild.
“Before that, he’d been lurking near Nezha’s temporary smithy.” “Nezha…” Kenta’s face changed instantly.
Combined with the faintly knowing smile on Shindo’s face, the name placed enormous pressure on him.
Shindo’s smile disappeared.
“Using Quick Change to steal other players’ high-quality equipment.” His voice turned serious.
“Do you really think that’s acceptable?” “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Shindo-san.” Kenta clenched his teeth and continued denying it.
Shindo sighed.
“At noon today, Nezha stole Asuna’s Wind Fleuret in Taran Village.” He looked directly at Kenta.
“I exposed the Quick Change trick, and he broke down crying.” Several Legend Braves looked away.
“Nezha is timid by nature, but he’s also genuinely kind.
Right now, he’s probably apologizing to every player your group cheated while the people who actually benefited from the stolen equipment are standing here pretending they know nothing.” Shindo’s voice remained calm, but it carried no sympathy for that attitude.
“Nezha already told us what happened.” That was enough.
“As for what you decide to do next, I can’t force you.
But I do want to ask you one thing.” His eyes hardened.
“Do you seriously think it’s acceptable to let someone like the man in the black raincoat keep doing whatever he wants?” Nobody answered.
“Your scam has only reduced other players’ combat strength so far.” Shindo continued.
“But that man attacked us outside the safe zone without hesitation.” “You willingly became his accomplices.” He looked across the entire group.
“If the people he ambushed today hadn’t been Asuna and me, what do you think would have happened?” Shindo paused.
“Would none of you feel guilty if someone died because of it?” Every member of the Legend Braves lowered their head.
“All right, all right.” Diavel clapped his hands twice, easing some of the crushing tension.
Nothing irreversible had happened yet.
There was still room to resolve the situation without turning it into an execution.
“I think everyone understands the situation now.” Though Diavel wore a relaxed expression, his eyes carried enough pressure that none of the Legend Braves could mistake his seriousness.
“Your fraud hasn’t caused anything worse yet, which means there is still time to make it right.” He looked across the group.
“As for the player committing crimes outside the safe zone, I’d appreciate any information you can provide about him.” Diavel’s expression hardened.
“At the very least, we need to stop him before he commits another attack.” “Diavel…” Kenta and the others looked as though they wanted to say something but could not quite find the words.
“Everyone in this death game wants to become stronger.” Diavel placed a hand on Kenta’s shoulder.
“Not just you.” His tone softened.
“I don’t want anything like this happening again.
It creates mistrust between players, and mistrust eventually becomes division.” He looked directly into Kenta’s eyes.
“I need you to understand that.” The Legend Braves stepped forward together and bowed.
“We’re truly sorry, Diavel-san…
Shindo-san…
Miss Asuna…” “You don’t need to apologize to us.” Shindo stepped aside rather than accepting the bow.
“We didn’t lose anything.” He kept his voice gentle.
“The people who were actually harmed are someone else.
We don’t have the right to forgive you on their behalf.” Asuna smiled softly and helped them straighten.
“If you sincerely apologize to the players whose equipment you stole, they may not forgive you immediately.” Her tone remained warm.
“But if you stop making the same mistake and genuinely try to make things right, I think one day they’ll be able to accept it.” Diavel clapped his hands again, preventing the mood from becoming unbearably heavy.
“We may be starting reconnaissance against the Second Floor Boss within the next few days.” His expression turned serious.
“I want this resolved before then.
If we’re distracted by suspicion and resentment toward one another during a Boss battle, people could die.” Kenta finally seemed to make up his mind.
“As for the man in the black raincoat…
we honestly don’t know much about him.” He rubbed the back of his neck uneasily.
“I don’t think he’s a player who spends much time on the front line.” Shindo listened carefully.
“We first met him in the western wastelands of the Second Floor.
He was the one who taught us how to exploit Quick Change to swap equipment quickly enough to scam people during trades and enhancement.” Kenta lowered his eyes.
“But after that, we never really contacted him again.” He looked embarrassed now.
“We don’t even know his player ID.” Looking back on it, even the Legend Braves seemed to realize how absurd the situation had been.
They had accepted a criminal technique from a complete stranger without knowing virtually anything about him.
Diavel exhaled.
“All right.” He turned toward Shindo.
“Why don’t we take Kenta and the others back to Urbus, find Nezha, and resolve the fraud situation first?” Then he glanced at Shindo again.
“What about you?” Shindo said nothing.
He merely pointed upward.
At the orange cursor over his head.
Diavel nodded.
“Right.
Fair enough.” The teasing smile he tried to hide was less successful.
Shindo turned toward Asuna, intending to ask what she wanted to do.
Instead, his gaze immediately met hers.
“Asuna…” Her hazel eyes shone beneath the hood of her cloak, bright and clear like a shallow pool reflecting the afternoon sun.
“Shindo-kun, the Crime Pardon Quest won’t take very long.” She smiled gently.
“Once we’ve cleared your Orange Player status, we’ll go back inside the safe zone together.” “Ah…
yeah.” Shindo nodded almost mechanically.
For several seconds afterward, he could not think of anything else to say.