“Do you have any idea how hard these past few days have been without proper weapons or equipment?!
Do you?!” “Don’t screw with us!” In the eastern plaza of Urbus, Nezha knelt in a formal dogeza before several players.
He had always been small, but now, hunched beneath the weight of their anger, he looked smaller than ever, as though the burden pressing down on him might crush him completely.
Diavel and the others arrived just in time to witness the apology after making the long journey back across the floor.
They knew Nezha was guilty.
Even so, watching him face the fury of every victim alone left a bitter taste in their mouths.
This had never been something he should have been forced to carry entirely by himself.
No matter how harshly the cheated players cursed him, Nezha remained silent.
He simply kept his forehead lowered against the ground, maintaining the proper dogeza posture in the hope that his humiliation might somehow begin to make amends for what he and his companions had done.
“Um…
maybe that’s enough, Lufiol.
He’s been kneeling there for ages.” “How can you say that?!” The player called Lufiol was visibly shaking with anger.
“An Anneal Blade can only be obtained from a hidden quest with a limited number of attempts!
I spent an entire month getting mine all the way to +6!” His voice caught.
More than a month’s worth of effort had nearly disappeared because of them.
“Diavel-san…
we’re sorry.” Unable to continue watching Nezha absorb everyone’s hatred by himself, the five members of the Legend Braves lowered their heads in shame.
Then, after apologizing briefly to Diavel, they ran over to Nezha and dropped into dogeza beside him.
“We’re truly sorry!
We let greed get the better of us!” The sudden sight of six people bowing before him left even Lufiol stunned.
Now that he had begun to understand what had actually happened, he still shouted at them for a while longer.
But after recovering his Anneal Blade +6, his anger finally cooled enough for him to offer the Legend Braves a reluctant measure of forgiveness.
Only after Lufiol and the others had left did Nezha slowly push himself upright.
He had been kneeling for so long that his legs trembled beneath him, and his entire body swayed unsteadily.
“Nezha.” Diavel’s party approached and asked him what remained to be done.
When they learned that Nezha intended to seek out every other player they had cheated and apologize in person, even Diavel was briefly left without words.
“I’ll help you.” Diavel offered him a respectful smile.
“Recognizing your mistake, admitting it, and correcting it are qualities worthy of a knight too, Nezha.” For the rest of the afternoon, Diavel accompanied the Legend Braves through the villages surrounding Urbus, helping them openly confess what they had done and apologize to the players whose equipment had been stolen.
By the time darkness fully settled over Aincrad, they finally stopped to rest in Marome Village.
…
With Asuna accompanying him, Shindo completed a Crime Pardon Quest and finally cleared his Orange Player status.
The criminal-orange cursor above his head returned to green.
Once he was an ordinary player again and no longer had to worry about hostile NPC reactions inside settlements, he and Asuna headed toward Marome Village, where Diavel, Nezha, and the others had stopped for the night.
The local inn had a glowing INN sign hanging outside, while the ground floor doubled as a tavern.
There were few customers this late.
Although the snow from the first winter flurry had not returned, the night air remained sharply cold.
“Lind-san?” When Shindo and Asuna arrived, they found only a single two-handed swordsman leaning against the wall outside the tavern.
Lind was drinking steaming sweet-potato shochu, the sort of cheap alcohol that cost only a few col for a full cup.
“Oh, Shindo-kun.
Miss Asuna.” Lind raised his cup.
“I’m impressed you managed to finish a Crime Pardon Quest that quickly.” “Well, I only shaved a tiny amount off that black-raincoat bastard’s HP.
The system didn’t consider the offense serious, so the pardon conditions were pretty easy.” Shindo exhaled.
His breath turned into a pale cloud beneath the inn’s warm yellow lights.
“Still…” Lind glanced toward the quiet, graceful Asuna standing beside him.
“If you make a cute girl accompany you on an errand like that, you’ve got to make it up to her properly, don’t you?” He hooked an arm around Shindo’s shoulders and leaned in conspiratorially.
“Urbus has a local specialty called Lucky Trembling Fruit Shortcake.
It temporarily raises LUK.
Miss Asuna might like it.” “Lind-san, I can hear you.” Asuna looked helplessly at the two boys who were standing only a few steps away from her yet had somehow convinced themselves that whispering made the conversation private.
Still, the content itself amused her, and a playful smile soon appeared on her face.
“Ah.
Sorry.
Next time we’ll move farther away.” Lind immediately stepped into the tavern, wearing an openly teasing grin as he waved them inside.
Asuna gave Shindo a mildly dissatisfied look.
Shindo, entirely innocent in the matter, could only spread his hands helplessly.
“Shindo-kun’s back to full health.” Inside, Diavel greeted them with a laugh.
“Diavel, Nezha.
How did everything go?” “Mm…
we’ve apologized to most of the players whose combat strength was affected, and returned everything we could.” Diavel’s expression became a little awkward.
“Some of them still aren’t ready to forgive us.” “That’s about what I expected.
Give them time.” Shindo took a seat across from Diavel at the long tavern table before turning toward Nezha.
“Nezha, severe FullDive Non-Conformity can’t really be cured.
I’m sorry, but close-range combat against MOBs may simply never suit you.” “You don’t need to comfort me, Shindo-san.” Nezha kept his head lowered.
The cup of sweet-potato shochu in front of him had already gone cold, yet remained completely untouched.
“I’ve understood that for a long time…
ever since I realized I was severely FNC.” “But that doesn’t mean you can’t fight.” Nezha’s head snapped up.
“And it doesn’t mean you can’t participate in raids.” His eyes brightened for only a moment before dropping again.
Shindo noticed, but did not press him.
Instead, he opened his inventory.
A peculiar weapon materialized above the table.
The Chakram.
“Whoa!” Diavel’s eyes widened.
“Isn’t that one of the extremely rare special weapons dropped by upper-tier MOBs in the Labyrinth?!” His surprise was understandable.
Diavel’s group had reached the Second Floor Labyrinth only a few days after arriving on the floor and had spent most of their time aggressively mapping it ever since.
But encountering the rare Golden Bull elite capable of dropping this weapon was almost entirely a matter of luck.
Apparently Diavel’s party had not been particularly blessed in that department.
“Nezha.” Shindo pushed the Chakram across the table.
“If you combine «Throwing» with «Martial Arts», you’ll be able to use this as a proper ranged weapon.” Nezha stared at it.
“So start training again, young man.” A faint smile appeared on Shindo’s face.
“When you come back after mastering it, you’ll be able to fight beside us—and beside everyone in the Legend Braves—just like before.” “Shindo-kun…
something this valuable…” “Nezha.” Shindo’s expression became serious.
“Right now, we’re fighting Akihiko Kayaba, and we’re fighting this death game itself.” He gestured for the boy to raise his head.
“So look forward.” “If you can’t defeat yourself, how are you ever going to help clear all of Aincrad?” Then Shindo tapped the Chakram.
“As for this…” Internally, he offered Kirito a silent apology.
“If you want to pay me back someday, you can do it later.” “Seriously, Shindo-kun?” Diavel knew perfectly well what a rare weapon was worth inside SAO.
The Chakram alone could easily be worth hundreds of thousands of col once the game’s economy matured.
And Shindo had just given it away.
“Shindo-kun!” Diavel abruptly grabbed both of his shoulders.
“Do you have any more rare weapons?
I want one too!” “Diavel…
what happened to that knightly honor you’re always going on about?” “Who cares about that?!
A knight’s honor isn’t supposed to be such an inconvenient thing!” Diavel leaned closer with shameless intensity.
“Please entrust any other rare weapons you happen to possess to me.
I swear I’ll use them with the utmost care—” “I don’t have any!
Seriously, that’s it!” Shindo grabbed Asuna’s hand and made an immediate tactical retreat from the tavern.
The two hurried away along the neon-lit street beneath the deepening night.
…
After finally completing their «Martial Arts» training, Mito, Aiko, and the others had spent some time near the eastern rocky mountains collecting enough materials to enhance their equipment.
They had also managed to recover most of the EXP progress they had fallen behind on.
“Aiko-chan,” Mito said, resting both hands against her knees, “didn’t Shindo-kun tell us to meet him in Taran Village once we finished our Martial Arts training?
Why are we going to Marome instead?” Yuuki had both arms wrapped around Mito’s slender waist, looking half-asleep.
“There’s a field boss in the middle section of the Second Floor canyon called Bullbous Bow.” Mito explained the plan to Aiko.
“It drops a rare item.” She pointed toward the route ahead.
“The front-line players are already gathered around Taran and the Labyrinth, so we can defeat it on the way and then continue toward the front line afterward.” “I see.” Aiko nodded.
“Nautilus…
Yuna’s sleepy…” Yuna leaned against Nautilus’s shoulder and gradually drifted off.
“Aiko, change of plans.” Mito suddenly opened her main menu.
“I just received a message from Asuna.” “What happened, Mito-chan?” Aiko moved closer.
Mito had not enabled privacy restrictions on her menu, so Aiko could see the contents directly.
“Look.
Asuna says she and Shindo-kun are on their way here.” Mito paused.
“And apparently Shindo-kun became an Orange Player.” “Orange?” Aiko tilted her head.
“Did Shindo-kun run into some kind of emergency…?” Then another possibility abruptly occurred to her.
“Wait.
Shindo-kun is with Asuna-chan, right?!” “Mm.
He is.” Mito confirmed it.
Aiko suddenly placed both hands on Mito’s shoulders.
Mito blinked in confusion.
“Is it possible Shindo-kun did something terrible to Asuna-chan?!” “Shindo-kun…
probably wouldn’t do something like that.” For once, Mito’s normally placid expression developed visible ripples.
“Although if he did…
d-do that kind of thing, I suppose the system could turn his cursor orange…” She considered the possibility with complete seriousness.
Then reason reasserted itself.
“But I can’t think of any reason Shindo-kun would ever do something like that.” “Right?
Aiko thinks so too.” Another notification appeared on Mito’s menu.
“Asuna sent another message.” The girls leaned closer.
“PoH—a criminal player who attacks ordinary players outside safe zones.
Carries a special weapon…” Mito and Aiko quietly read through the message together.
Nautilus caught enough of the conversation to hear the words special weapon.
His curiosity immediately awakened, and he subtly leaned closer.
“Nautilus-kun.” Aiko turned toward him.
“It’s late.
Out.” Nautilus sighed.
He stood, carefully transferred the peacefully sleeping Yuna into Mito and Aiko’s care, and left the girls’ room.
Cold night air swept through the corridor and made him shiver.
He looked outside.
The streetlamps beyond the covered walkway glowed faintly, like columns of white stage lighting that somehow failed to illuminate the night around them.
Nautilus let out a slow breath.
Then he turned and walked toward his own room.