The Captive Swordsman
Chapter 19— Gathering Allies
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Original Title: Sword Art Online(ソードアート・オンライン)
Original Concept by: Kawahara Reki
written by: wrathie
Author's Notes: Woah it's back from the dead! I guess you should thank LiSA for her rousing performance at AFA 14 for me to actually bring this back from the depths of ... somewhere.
Thank you, bowpurity for the beta. Just to put it into perspective, I almost forgot what the name of the guy I want to punch in the face (Sugou Noboyuki) as it has been so long? My apologies for the long delay.
Regarding the chapter itself, I gave some hints on what is happening to Kii-bou as well as what's going to happen next. Cheers~
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Lugru
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Leafa was impatient, but after seeing how they had gotten another ally to aid in their quest to find her Onii-chan, she could hardly complain.
Despite Silica-chan's lack of confidence in her abilities, anyone who has the skill to tame a "Feather Dragon" was someone with an almost maxed out skill on demon tamer Skill set. The "Feathery Dragon" was not just a rare dragon, it was the rarest Dragon that was tamable and that was largely due to it's great support skills.
"Ano, Asuna-san, Agil-san and Lisbeth says to pay them a visit before we go." Silica spoke cheerfully as they prepared to make their move. The Salamanders were no doubt going to be attacking them again after they leave Lugru to head to the World Tree, Asuna was no doubt aware of that but she was oddly not as impatient as she was. Which was... odd, seeing how she was usually the one who was rushing her. Her Onii-chan was waiting for her after all, but if Asuna was able to wait, she had to rein herself in as well.
Thinking back, Leafa found that her life was literally a whirlwind of activity after meeting with Asuna, and for the most part, Asuna was still leading her on despite her having more knowledge and experience within ALO.
Asuna was very skilled and experienced despite being new to ALO, but if she did come from SAO, that wasn't too surprising. She also took offence to how seemingly 'laidback' the players of ALO were, but Leafa had already promised to show her that was not the case. She was just as determined as she was to risk everything for her Onii-chan.
"Ano, I know that the Cait Siths and the Sylph are neutral to each other, and can be loosely called our allies... so is it okay for Silica-chan to help us?" Leafa asked, remembering how Asuna was almost branded as a renegade for trying to lead her away to help in her efforts to find her Onii-chan instead of helping her fellow Sylph players to conquer the World Tree. No one but her knew that she would follow her to Hell in order to save him, and although Sigurd and Asuna had made peace, she also knew that Sigurd would not take this lying down.
She really feared for her future in the Sylph Race, and considered whether it was wise to even continue to be with them or to break free and to be a free-player like how she was sure Asuna would be in the future.
"Mmm~ It's okay. Kirito-san helped me when I was in SAO, he saved me and Pina... and so I want to help him. As long as Pina is with me, I'm fine." Silica answered cheerfully while Pina made a happy noise on top of her head.
"That sounds like the Kirito-kun I know, he's always helping people... but never once helping himself." Asuna muttered softly, her mood darkening a little.
"That's wrong, Asuna-san." Silica spoke up cheerfully as she reached out to pull one hand and leading her on. Leafa found herself having to jog a little to catch up to the two of them as they started running for no particular reason.
"By helping us, Kirito-san is helping himself... he doesn't want anyone else to go through what he did. So... he helps us, and that helps him. That's what I think... if he didn't help me, I don't think I can ever stand up by myself after losing Pina... and it's the same for Asuna-san, right? Kirito-san helped you in someway to be stronger?" Silica breathed harder as they stopped at the edges of Lugru, in front of a dusty looking shop without a signboard listing on it.
"And Kirito-san is the strongest when he is defending someone else, like Asuna-san~" Silica giggled, but that only made Asuna seem sadder as she shook her head.
"... He shouldn't have... ... I don't know exactly what happened to cause this, but I... i'm sure that he saved me, again. I... I wonder if sometimes if it would be better if I was still stuck there and Kirito-kun was... free." Asuna's lips trembled and the other two girls quickly gathered around her. Yui on the other hand was trying her best to hug Asuna's cheek while Pina flew circles around the gathered girls.
"It's probably my fault that he... he needs help now... I'm so silly... I'm trying my best now, but..."
"Asuna, you... shouldn't be upset that Onii-chan choose to save you." Leafa didn't think that she would say that, but since she did, she'll follow on. Leafa wasn't completely sold on having Asuna as a... sister-in-law, but she could do worse seeing how she loved him so much.
"Why shouldn't I? I... I'm causing him problems again. That's all that I do... even that time in [K.O.B]." Asuna found herself snarling instead of being upset, angrier than she should be now at what nearly happened to Kirito because she trusted her own guild instead of believing the signs.
"Asuna-san, Kirito-san choose to save you... and that's why you can't be mad at him. Have you ever tried to persuade Kirito-san to not do something?" Silica asked quietly and after a moment, she nodded her head.
"Kirito-san is very stubborn and very brave, but that's why he is Kirito-san. If... if Asuna-san was the one that was still sleeping, he would do everything that he could to save you too." Silica couldn't help but smile when Asuna snorted while nodding her head in agreement. Even Leafa had to agree, the blonde Sylph sighing as she remembered how reckless he was and she added on.
"Onii-chan might even try to do something by himself only, Asuna is trying hard with all of us helping you. That's... better and smarter, isn't it?" Leafa knew her Onii-chan the most after all, and that remark certainly struck home as Asuna laughed uncontrollably for a while as she shook her head.
"That's right, Kirito-kun was always a solo player wasn't he... he'll probably charge straight up to the World Tree by himself because he is always thick headed like that..." Asuna couldn't help but sob and cry at the same time while doing her best to gain control of her emotions.
"Mama, Papa will be sadder because of that too. Mama has so many wonderful friends that can help her. But Papa... he'll just..." Yui trailed off, wiping tears from her eyes as she tried to convey her message. But Asuna did get the message and she reached up to press Yui against her chest.
"I understand... maybe it's best that he saved me then... let's save Kirito-kun together... and maybe he won't be so protective over all of us again. That.. stupid... idiot. He doesn't like to rely on others you know?" Asuna scoffed at the end before nodding to her two friends.
"I am sorry for breaking down like that suddenly..."
"Well don't mind me, I think that's good gossip material, nihihihi~" A new voice speaking to them caused them all to whirl around to see a cloaked figure waving at them cheerily from the top of the shop.
"Argo-san!" With Silica's cry of recognition, Asuna relaxed and gripped Leafa's hand to reassure her as well.
"You shouldn't be eavesdropping, Argo-san."
"Yikes, no wonder you're the sub-commander of the K.O.B, I was just looking out for you. You know, the amount of tracers that I have to destroy isn't a joke." Argo winked but still looked concern when Asuna grimaced.
"Ah, that's not the first one you destroyed? Seriously you need a Spriggan if you want to sneak around... Well, we shouldn't be talking outside. Let's go in." Argo dropped down from the roof to land just in front of Asuna before pushing the door open for them.
"Private building, invite only, it's secure!"
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Leafa could not help but be intimidated when she shook the hand of the Gnome player named Agil. He was just so imposing and large that she had taken a few steps back after the handshake.
However she steeled herself as Asuna seemed to comfortable around him, and even Silica and Pina seemed to recognize him as well.
"Glad to see you finally made it, Asuna. We've spend a few days working on your stuff." The gruff man grinned as the other player, a Leprechaun named Lisbeth chuckled while wringing her arms.
"The mechanics are almost the same in SAO, the problem comes from the materials but Argo-san was able to get us some top grade materials. Of course... they didn't come too cheap." Lisbeth grumbled in the end but still waved Asuna off when she wanted to pay for them.
"I'll submit a reimbursement claim to Kirito when you save him." Lisbeth laughed again before she peered at Leafa, causing the blonde to take a few steps backwards in nervousness. Her gaze on her was more intimidating than the one Agil had on her!
"Hi? I-I am Leafa, it is nice to meet you!" Leafa waved at her uneasily but she jumped when someone else wrapped a hand around her waist and poked a finger into her sides.
"AAAND THIS IS KII-BOU'S LITTLE SISTER EVERYONE! ISN'T SHE CUTE?" Argo screamed out loud, causing Leafa to panic as she grabbed her in a vicious headlock without even noticing it.
"Wo-aaaah! OW OW OW! HURTS! HURTS! I GIVE UP!" Argo patted her waist repeatedly in surrender while everyone started laughing at the two of them.
"S-Sorry... nihihi, I guess I couldn't help myself. We didn't get to meet Kii-bou's family before~" Argo cheerfully laughed as she was released while rubbing her sore neck. Leafa noticed that Asuna was giggling too while she was checking her inventory but her own face flushed when Lisbeth offered a hand to her again.
"Yo! I'm Lisbeth, Kirito helped me alot in SAO, so I.. err, find it nice to meet one of his family members." Lisbeth grinned when Leafa shook her hand back but was surprised when she bowed back to her as well.
"No, my onii-chan has been in your care too, all of you. Thank you for helping him in SAO." When Leafa raised her head, she saw all of them giving sheepish grins with each other before shaking their head.
"Well that's not quite right, Kii-bou helped all of us more than we ever helped him. So we're repaying our debts... no that's not quite right either. I don't owe him anyth-" Argo yelped when Agil tossed a hammer over to her and she scratched her head while pouting.
"Oh alright, anyway we're his friends, and we'll help our hero because he saved all of us. Maybe it would finally get through him that he's doesn't need to Solo through everything." Argo sniffed but when Leafa spoke again, turned contemplative.
"All of you kept on saying that... Onii-chan is always alone, why is that?" Leafa couldn't help but notice Asuna looked sick while the rest frowned at her question.
Eventually it was Agil who coughed and started telling her why her Onii-chan was known as the Black Swordsman and the Beater.
"It was during the first floor boss raid..."
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"I have to give it to Kii-bou, he changed everything for the clearers after that... But he was still an idiot for taking that burden by himself." Argo finished what Agil started, while Leafa found herself trembling at finding out how her Onii-chan suffered.
"H-How could any one of you do that to Onii-chan!" She found herself screaming at them and it felt just a bit better when most of the looked guilty.
"It's not that we want to, but it's either do that, or get maybe half the players who could be clearers quit because they were afraid of being called Beaters. I know it's unfair to Kii-bou, but we all did our part to help him." Argo answered slowly, trying to wait out Leafa's anger as she added on.
"No one could keep up with Kii-bou at all for first fifteen floors anyway. It's also not as bad as it sounded like... he was always trying so hard to clear the game that he didn't care what others felt about him."
"But -" Leafa tried to protest but she was cut off by Argo who looked sternly at her.
"We can argue till the cows come home over that matter, and for the record, I did not like it, but at that point Kii-bou was the one who made that self-sacrificial and idiotic decision by himself." Argo huffed, panting while being upset and that made Leafa come up short. It wasn't just her that was angry at her Onii-chan for doing something that stupid and she felt guilty again.
"I'm sorry, Argo-san..."
"Don't be, it's not your fault, and you're his family so you have the right to be mad... but can I ask you to be mad after we get him out of whatever mess he's in now?" Argo sniffed while having two hands on her hips and she grinned when Leafa nodded her head, abashed at her behavior.
"Well at least I know that you're really his sister, do I have to worry about you being not blood related?" Argo teased but was taken aback when Leafa turned crimson and she shot an accusing look at Asuna.
The other Sylph simply looked amused while trying out the armour that Lisbeth had given her, everyone else was stunned into silence before Argo reacted, predictably to embarrass Leafa.
"WOAH, WOAH?! REALLY? YOU'RE TOTALLY A BRO-CON AREN'T YOU!" Argo squealed so happily and loudly that it made Pina growl at her while the girls all turned red save for Asuna.
Agil had his back turned while stifling his laughter, Silica was opening and closing her mouth in shock while Asuna simply huffed and looked resigned to the news spreading to the entire world now that Argo was in the know.
"Your secret is safe with me!" Argo's words made Asuna gape and she whirled around pointing a finger accusingly at her.
"You, keep a secret?!" She shrieked and Argo turned pink before crossing her arms and looking to the side.
"There are some secrets that are not for sale. Like Kii-bou's three sizes, Aa-chan... but will you be willing to sell that though?" Argo's eyes glittered while Asuna did a Silica imitation, mouth opening and closing before giving an outrage shriek when Leafa commented that she might know about that. She looked somewhat smug, buffing her nails while Argo whirled on her instead.
Agil just wondered what brought this on as he watched the fireworks happen amongst the all girl party.
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Asuna was less certain of Argo's motives when she joined them with Lisbeth as they prepared to head off. The party now consisted of herself, Yui-chan, Leafa-chan, Silica-chan and Lisbeth. Argo however suggested that Lisbeth stay back for now as they were not heading towards the World Tree just yet.
"Why shouldn't we?" Leafa asked unhappily and Asuna agreed with her. Time was of the essence, she just had a few days before she would have to give an answer to Sugou. Even if she knew that the answer wouldn't change, it was still somewhat of a relief to know exactly when things would get pear-shaped and when she needs to get creative, especially regarding her parents about Sugou and Kirito-kun.
"Because the Sylph Lord and the Cait Sith Lord are going to get ambushed soon. And before Lisbeth complains, it's only with this information that you pushed yourself to get the best equipment for all of us, right?" Argo's words made Lisbeth huffed while looking annoyed.
"And why must I stay behind, Argo-san?"
"We need the cavalry after we get back, so we need more equipment if we are going to join in the raid with the World Tree. Leave the talking to me, Aa-chan, Leafa-chan. I'm not Argo the [Rat] for nothing." Argo puffed her chest out in pride while Asuna looked doubtful.
"If we save the Sylph and the Cait Sith Lord from an ambush, they'll listen to us, right? Besides, if we pool all of our resources, we can buy an alliance easy. We're going to need the firepower to climb the World Tree." Argo clarified and unfortunately, Leafa agreed with her.
"It's just not possible to climb the World Tree yourself, there are too many mobs with varied effects that will swarm you before you even get to the halfway mark. That's why none of us could climb up the World Tree. But if we have two races working together..." Leafa looked at Asuna, herself, Silica and then Argo.
"The Sylphs are trying to get an alliance with the Cait Sith. Leafa and Asuna is well known enough, and having a Cait Sith friend won't help. I'm the information breaker that makes it happen... but that leaves Lisbeth as the odd one out... Sorry about that." Argo looked apologetic as Lisbeth bit her lip before she sighed.
"I suppose there's no helping it. I'll stay behind this time." Lisbeth rested both her hands on her hips before she grinned at Argo.
"Don't hold them back, alright, Argo? You're only good at one thing..."
"But I'm the best at what I do. My speed isn't too shabby either." Argo sniffed unhappily before saying that they should go now.
"The meeting is in like half an hour, so we have to get to the meeting place ASAP." Argo pulled the other girls going with her out of the door while Agil grinned and told them to say "Hi" to a friend of theirs.
"He said that he'll be part of the raid, so hold Asuna-san and Leafa-san back, eh?"
"Ah right, I almost forgot about that. It'll be bad if we have get some friendly fire... So hold your fire till I say so, alright?"
"There are more of you?" Leafa couldn't help but ask in wonder while Asuna smiled proudly.
"It's not just the people that Kirito-kun helped that wished to help him, it's almost all the players in SAO who wished to help. He did save all of us from Aincrad. The Knights of the Blood, the Divine Dragon Alliance and the other Guilds of SAO are also under the same banner."
"Nihihi~ It can be said that the entire force of the Aincrad Clearers are here to help our dear Kii-bou... so don't worry, Leafa-chan, we'll get Kii-bou back easy!"
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Elsewhere
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"So is the preparation complete?" Sugou Nobuyuki asked the staff under his command who had been working on this secret project that must be kept hidden from the director.
He had been poking around after the night that Asuna rejected him. He had always been supportive of the two of them getting engaged and subsequently married, but after that night, something had definitely changed about his attitude towards him.
Director Yuuki was asking more questions than before, and the pressure on his staff had subsequently increased. Members of his team had even been asked to report to the Head Office to give reports and debrief on what was going on with the ALO servers.
Since they had full control of the servers, he could... provide issues that made it difficult for them to just remove them from their position. Besides Kayaba himself, the people who knew most about the Nervegear and SAO was in his team.
He was not giving up this last Ace in the Hole that he had managed to capture after so damn long.
"Yes, but he is proving resistant. His will is strong, it will take some time before he accepts the situation that has been suggested to him." Sugou snarled his impatience while feeling reassured at the same time. The special project was still doable, it will just take some more time than he had expected to be.
Honestly, from the day that this meddling fool had ruined his plans, he had been feeling uneasy.
"How long more do we have to wait? He has been there for more than two months now... how is he still resisting us?" His subject's tenacity was worrying, but was also gratifying. There weren't many in the military who would have undergone such strenuous training to be able to resist in this manner.
For someone as young as the subject was, having held on for so long without surrendering was notable.
He was sure that the paper published by him about him would be of interest to everyone.
It wasn't everyday that one get to peer into the psyche of a hero after all.
"Perhaps a day or two, but only if he doesn't lose unconsciousness again. He would be free from our... scenarios if he does so." The scientist mumbled quietly, trying hard to phrase his words better while Sugou nodded in acknowledgement.
"Use the effective stimulus and bring him back to consciousness... the more we play this game, the faster he will fall." He dismissed the scientist when he nodded his head in agreement while he made his way out. There were plenty of other things to do, especially when he knew that his fiance was not going quietly.
"Now my little Princess, what say we up the stakes a little?"
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Lugru
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"Bye bye, Keiga-san, thank you for the help!" Silica waved to the giant blue serpent that had reared it's head from the water to call out to her. It was hard for Leafa to say that the Dragon was... cute, but Silica sure thought so as it blew another bubble before dropping back into the moat with a big splash.
"Honestly..." Leafa wondered if her common sense was corrupted but snapped back into attention when Argo asked Silica to hop onto her back.
"What are you two doing?"
"I'm carrying her, duh. She's not as fast as I am on foot and we can't waste flying time until we clear the caves, can't we?" Argo raised an eyebrow while explaining and Leafa turned to see Asuna offering a hand to her as well.
"Argo's speed stat is among the fastest in the game. I know that you aren't that used to running, so it's best for me to take the lead, right?" Asuna smiled warmly while Yui waved at her from her breast pocket.
Lisbeth and Agil had given them player made equipment of the highest quality. Asuna was wearing a white and red light armour that made her blush and hug Lisbeth in joy. Argo had later told her that it was a close replica armour that she had worn when in Aincrad. Asuna was also holding onto a new rapier that Lisbeth had made for her.
Argo was wearing a greenish grey trenchcoat with a hoodie cap that she was wearing right now. Her preferred weapon was wrist mounted blades and from how fast she could jab, Leafa couldn't help but wonder how painful it to be at the receiving end of it.
Silica was a dagger user, and was in medium red and brown armour that fitted her frame perfectly. With Silica resting on top of her head, she looked very adorable as well.
"We'll have to move as fast as we can, so follow my lead, Aa-chan~" Argo whistled cheerfully as Leafa took Asuna's hand and gripped it tightly.
"Let's go!" The two groups dashed off, their feet slamming into the ground while kicking up a dust of smoke behind them. Leafa didn't think that they would be able to move so fast!
"I-It's amazing!" She exclaimed to a more focused Asuna as she kept her eyes on Argo in front of her. Things were falling into place, but why did she feel so uneasy all of a sudden?