Sword Art Online - Volume 1 - Aincrad (13 page)

Immediately afterwards, a row of purple lines appeared exactly where it had first shown when the fight started, this time proclaiming the end of the duel and the victor. Another cheer resounded, and then Cradil stood up shakily and shouted at the spectators.

“
What
’
re you looking at!? Get lost!
”
 

Then he turned slowly towards me.

“
You
…
I
’
m going to kill you
…
I
’
ll definitely kill you
…”
 

I couldn
’
t deny that I was a little freaked out by those eyes.

Emotions in SAO felt a little overstated, but even with that the hate that burned in Cradil
’
s heavily lidded eyes were scarier than any monster
’
s.

Somebody slid to my side as I stood there in surprise.

“
Cradil, I order you as the sub-leader of the Knights of the Blood. I relieve you from the position of bodyguard. Go back to HQ and stay there until there are further orders.
”
 

Asuna
’
s words and expression were both cold. But I felt the distress behind them and unconsciously put my hand on her shoulder. Asuna leaned her stiffly tensed body a bit.

“…
wh
…
what
…
this
…”
 

This sound barely reached our ears. The rest, most probably a string of swearing, were lost in his mouth. Cradil glared at us. There was no doubt that he was thinking about attacking us with his reserve weapon, even though he knew that the crime prevention code would stop him.

But he just barely managed to restrain himself and took out a teleport crystal from inside his coat. He raised it, gripping it so hard that I thought it was going to break, and he muttered
“
Teleport
…
Grandum.
”
He was glaring at us with hate even as his body disappeared in a flurry of blue light.

As the light disappeared, a bitter silence spread across the plaza. The spectators seemed stunned by Cradil
’
s rage but soon left in their small groups. Asuna and I were eventually the only ones left.

What should I say? That thought went round and round in my head, but since I
’
d been living by myself for two years, nothing useful came to mind. I didn
’
t even feel like making sure if I did the right thing.

Then finally Asuna stepped away and started speaking with a fragile voice.

“…
sorry. I got you mixed up in this.
”
 

“
No
…
I
’
m fine, but will you be okay?
”
 

Shaking her head slowly, the sub-leader of the greatest guild gave a spirited but weak smile.

“
Yeah, I think that I
’
m to blame as well for enforcing the rules on everyone so harshly in order to clear the game quicker
…”
 

“
I think
…
that you can
’
t do anything about that. If they didn
’
t have somebody like you the pace would be much slower. Well, that
’
s not really something a lazy solo like me should be saying
…
ah, I didn
’
t mean that.
”
 

I didn’t even know what I was trying to say anymore, so I started saying anything that came off the top of my head.

“…
so, nobody would be able to say anything about, you
…
taking a breather with somebody as thoughtless as me.
”
 

To this Asuna blinked a few times with a confused expression, then she smiled somewhat bitterly and softened her face.

“…
well, I
’
ll say thanks. Then I
’
ll enjoy today as much as I can. I
’
ll entrust you with the position of forward.
”
 

She turned energetically and started walking down the road that led out of the town.

“
What? Hey! Forward is supposed to be taken in turns!
”
 

Even as I complained, I let out a sigh of relief and followed the softly waving chestnut-brown hair.

The air surrounding the path through the forest was warm. It was almost as if the dark feeling that had been present here last night was just an illusion. The morning sun shined through the branches, making golden pillars of light which butterflies fluttered through. Sadly, these were only visual effects, so you couldn’t catch one even if you chased it down.

As she crunched through the soft undergrowth, Asuna said teasingly.

“
You always wear the same things.
”
 

Ah.

I looked down at my body: a slack black leather jacket, a pair of pants, and a shirt of the same color. I had virtually no metal armor equipped.

“
Well, so what? If you have enough money to spend on clothes, it
’
s better to buy something to eat
…”
 

“
Is there a practical reason that you
’
re wearing all black? Or is it just character expression?
”
 

“
W-Well, what about you? You
’
re always wearing that white and red thing
…”
 

As I spoke, I started scanning the area by force of habit without even thinking about it. There weren’t any monsters around. But-

“
I can
’
t help it. This is the guild unifo
…
huh? Why?
”
 

“
Wait a bit
…”
 

I raised my right hand slightly and cut Asuna off. There was a player at the edge of my scan area. As I focused on the area behind me, numerous green cursors started flashing, showing that there were a lot of players there.

There
’
s no chance that they were a group of bandits. Bandits always hunted for players that were weaker than them, so they were rarely seen around the front lines, where all the strongest players were. More importantly, whenever a player commited a crime, their cursor would turn orange and wouldn’t turn back to green for a long time. What I was worried about was their numbers.

I called the map from the main menu and put it on show mode so that Asuna could see it. The map of the area was enhanced by my scan and showed the green cursors. There were twelve of them.

“
That
’
s a lot
…”
 

I nodded at what Asuna said. Usually when there were too many members in a party it became harder to fight as a group, so five or six was the typical number.

“
Look at that size.
”
 

The crowd of lights that were fast approaching in this direction marched in neat lines of two. Maybe in a dangerous dungeon, but it was rare to see such a large uniform group on the field.

If we could see the level of the members, we might have been able to guess what they were doing, but players couldn’t even see the names of other players that they
’
d met for the first time. It was a default system that was put in place to prevent players from PKing
—
player killing
—
too freely, but it also left us with no choice but to simply guess at their level by appraising their equipment.

I closed the map and glanced at Asuna.

“
We
’
ll have to take a look at them. Let
’
s hide behind the trees until they pass by.
”
 

“
Yeah, you
’
re right.
”
 

Asuna nodded with a tense expression. We climbed up a small mount and crouched behind a shrub that came up to about our heights. It was a good position to observe the group as they passed by.

“
Ah
…”
 

Asuna suddenly looked at her clothes. The red and white uniform was pretty noticeable against the green plants.

“
What should I do? I don
’
t have any other equipment
…”
 

The dots were pretty close now. They were getting within seeing distance.

“
Excuse me for a bit.
”
 

I opened my coat and covered Asuna with it as well. Asuna glared at me for a bit but allowed me to cover her. The coat wasn’t all that good to look at, but it gave a big hiding bonus. With all this, it would be pretty hard to notice us without a high scanning skill.

“
Well, it
’
s not that good to look at, but it
’
s pretty useful right?
”
 

“
I don
’
t know!
…
shh, they
’
re here!
”
 

Asuna whispered and brought a finger up to her lips. I crouched lower and the sounds of footsteps reached my ears.

Eventually, we could see the group come up the lane.

They were all warriors. All of them wearing the same black metal armor and green battle garb. Their equipment was all of practical designs, except for a noticeable picture of a castle on each of their shields.

The front six had one-handed swords and the back six had halberds. They all had their visors down so we couldn
’
t see their expressions. As we watched the twelve players march in perfect order, I even started thinking that they were a group of NPCs.

I was sure now. They were members of the huge group that had made the city on the first floor their HQ: «The Army». I could feel Asuna hold her breath.

They weren’t enemies to normal players. In fact, they could be considered the group that put in the most effort to stop crimes on the field.

But their methods were a little rough, and they were said to attack orange players
—
who were called that because of the color of their cursors
—
as soon as they found them and without asking any questions. Then they’d strip the orange players of their equipment and encage them in the dungeons of the Black Iron Castle. The rumors about how «The Army» treated people who didn
’
t surrender yet failed to escape were pretty scary.

They were also known for traveling in huge parties and taking control of entire hunting ranges, so it was common knowledge among the players that they “should never go near «The Army».” Well, they usually operated on the fiftieth floor and below, working on strengthening their group and maintaining order, so it was rare to see them on the front lines-

As we watched silently, the twelve heavily armed warriors disappeared into the forest amongst the clanking sounds of their armor and their boots.

Seeing as all the players had gotten their hands on the software, you could say that everyone trapped inside SAO were all game maniacs, whom were a race that had no connection to the word «Rules» whatsoever. The fact they still showed such orderly movement was amazing. They might even be the strongest unit within «The Army».

After making sure that they had gone out of range on the map, Asuna and I let out a sigh of relief.

“…
the rumor, it
’
s true
…”
 

I whispered to Asuna with my coat still over her.

“
Rumor?
”
 

“
Yeah. I heard at the guild meeting that «The Army» was changing how they worked and have started appearing on the higher floors. They were once a group that was trying to clear the game, right? But after the damage they received while fighting the boss on the twenty-fifth floor, they began focusing on strengthening their group and stopped fighting on the front lines.
–
So, rather than going into the labyrinth in enormous numbers like they used to and causing a huge stir, they
’
ve decided to send smaller, more elite units in and try to show that they
’
re still endeavoring to clear the game. The report guessed that the first unit would appear soon.
”
 

“
So they
’
re advertising their skill. But are they really okay just charging into an unexplored area
…
? They looked like they have pretty high levels but
…”
 

“
Maybe
…
they
’
re going to try to beat the boss
…”
 

Within every labyrinth, there was a boss that guarded the stairs to the next floor. They didn
’
t regenerate and they were really strong, but the reputation and popularity gained for beating them would be huge. It would be very effective as an advertisement.