Chapter 28 - Everything (Not) According to Plan

Argo watched as the three parties, plus Liz, who temporarily joined Agil and his friends, filed out of the inn. When Kirito was about to leave, she held him back.

"Argo? What is it?"

"I need ya to do me a favor, Kii-bou. Keep an eye on the Braves, yeah?"

The swordsman frowned.

"Keep an eye as in 'make sure they are safe' or as in 'expect trouble'?"

"Not really how I would've put it, but the second, Kii-bou. I don't mean they might stab ya in the back, but that there might be disputes after y'all defeat the << Bullbous Bow >>."

Hearing that, Kirito relaxed slightly. Conflicts when dividing up drops were commonplace in RPGs. Still, he pinched the bridge of his nose, thoughtful.

"I don't like this, Argo."

"Me neither, Kii-bou. I want to believe the Legend Braves are genuinely good people, but they've got their own circumstances. I'm still investigatin', but it's nothing that should affect the fight. Just... Be careful, will ya? And look out for the others."

"I will."

Kirito rushed to meet the others, leaving Argo alone in the room. The info broker let out a deep sigh. She knew Kirito hated not being able to trust those he was fighting with. But there was no way around it. It was better that he knew and be prepared, even if - hopefully - nothing happened, than not knowing and suffering a loss because of it.

The whole beater situation had taken a toll on Kirito. He had fought so hard, only to have pretty much everyone turn against him. Even with everyone having watched the broadcast, and Argo's silent efforts in the shadows to minimize the impacts of Kibaou's accusations, there were still many players who believed them, and despised and feared the young swordsman. Luckily, Drifter and the others hadn't abandoned him.

That was another player with trust issues. The spearman may appear outgoing and willing to think the best of everyone, but Argo liked to think she was the third person who knew him best in SAO - after Yuna and Nautilus, obviously. She could see that even now, apart from herself and the two original members of his party, Drifter didn't really trust anyone. No doubt a reflection of what he experienced in the labyrinth that day.

Which was also why she had chosen to ask Kirito to keep a lookout on the Legend Braves, even though Drifter would be able to do a better job. The spearman had too much to worry about already, he didn't need his head filled with yet unconfirmed suspicions of an ongoing scam.

'Right. Now to find the last member of the Braves.'

With a slight groan, Argo opened her messages tab, and started typing. She only had a night to solve everything.

---------------------------

Drifter noticed how Kirito got held back by Argo, but didn't pay any attention to it. It was their business, after all. He was sure that if it affected the party, they wouldn't hide it from him and the rest.

He was more concerned with their upcoming fight against the << Bullbous Bow >>. While it might be just a field-boss, they had just sixteen players, three times less than what they had when they went up against << Illfang the Kobold Lord >>. Furthermore, apart from his party and Agil's, he wasn't sure how the others would fare in battle. Needless to say, he was worried.

So, when Kirito finally joined them a few minutes later, Drifter grabbed him, Agil, and Orlando, the party leaders, to discuss their attack plan. While Kirito was officially the leader of their party, Drifter was always included in those kinds of meetings. It was almost as if he and Kirito shared leadership.

"Everyone got Argo's intel, right? The << Bullbous Bow >> shouldn't be that hard to deal with, it has simple attack patterns."

"But it hits like a truck."

"Uhum. Agil, we will have to depend mostly on your guys to tank it. Nautilus too. Orlando, I saw that Beowulf and Enkidu are carrying shields. Are they tanks too?"

When it concerned battles, Kirito changed into a different person. His voice carried much more conviction and confidence than normal, proving once again that Drifter had made the right choice in giving up his spot as party leader to the boy. Orlando nodded.

"Yeah. Beowulf is going a pure tank build, while Enkidu is splitting it up between vitality and strength, but he can act well enough as a tank."

"Humm. So, it is decided. Nautilus, Wolv, Shigio, Enkidu, and Beowulf will tank, and the rest focus on attacking. Remember, while the field-boss only had simple charge attacks during the beta, there's no guarantee that nothing has changed, so be ready to change tactics and improvise."

"Got it."

"Let's do this!"

While he offered his verbal agreement, Drifter couldn't help but worry if putting Nautilus in front of a four-meter-tall charging bull was the smartest move. He didn't doubt the blade-user's courage, but if his FNC acted up... Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do other than keep an eye on his friend. He couldn't just oust him, not when he had promised to keep the secret.

He also didn't want to undermine Nautilus' confidence before the battle began, so he resisted the urge to pull him aside. What little he understood from Argo's explanation the other night taught him that Nautilus' FNC was probably triggered by psychological issues. Trying to warn the blade-user might have the opposite effect.

"Everyone, be ready! We are almost there. Remember, keep your potions at hand, and drink them if your health drops below yellow."

"Kirito's right, don't tempt fate, people. Yun', start with << Firemare >>, but switch to << Rest >> if you think it's necessary."

"Okay!"

With all the preparations complete, the three parties silently walked the last hundred meters to where the field-boss stayed, right in the path to the city just outside of the 2nd floor's tower.

The first indication that something was wrong were the flickering lights. Their group had chosen not to use torches, as the moonlight was more than enough to illuminate the path, but ahead of them they could see the reflexes of many moving lights against the night sky.

The second signal was the noise. Few players dared to adventure outside of the safe zones during the night. Apart from the odd fight against some mobs, the sixteen of them had barely heard a sound during the entire journey here. But now, there were lots of shouts and indistinct screams coming from over ahead.

Recognizing one particularly annoying and familiar voice, Drifter cursed under his breath as they overcame the past stretch of tall grass obstructing their vision.

As he feared, more than forty players came into sight, evenly divided into two camps. The two groups were arguing - having a shouting match, really - with each other, while the field-boss lazily slept a safe distance away.

Seeing Drifter's group appear, the leaders of the two camps turned to them in unison, their faces scrunched up with disgust. Lind and Kibaou yelled in one voice.

"Beater! What the hell are you doing here?!"

-------------------------

After many messages and trades, Argo took a final look at her notepad and then closed it. She was fairly certain she was right. She better be, or she would have spent a lot of money for nothing.

Nimbly climbing the stairs two steps at a time, the info broker stopped in front of a simple wooden door with a plaque with the number '4' engraved in it. Taking a few seconds to compose herself, she knocked and waited.

Ten seconds passed, and there was no response. Others might get impatient and knock again, but her << Eavesdropping >> was high enough that she could hear a faint rustling sound, as if someone was getting out of bed to answer the door. Another ten seconds later, a young man opened it, rubbing an eye, clearly still half-asleep.

"Orlando, is that... Huh? Who are you?"

The man had an honest-looking face, his pale blonde hair parted in the middle. He looked to be slightly older than Argo, maybe seventeen or eighteen, not that she really cared. She was much more interested in how he tensed up after discovering that the one who knocked on his door in the middle of the night was not, in fact, Orlando. His posture spoke mostly of curiosity, but also not a small amount of anxiety.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

The boy asked again, freaked out by how Argo was just standing there. He couldn't see her face clearly due to her hood. If it wasn't because he knew he was inside a safe zone, and that no one could enter his room without his authorization, he would have definitely slammed the door in her face. As it was, he was feeling just slightly terrified.

"Nehza, right? Name's Argo the Rat. I wanna have a chat with ya."

Nehza shook when he heard her name. Argo the Rat was not someone you wanted visiting you. Sometimes it meant you were able to gain a lot of money. Most of the time it meant you were screwed. And Nehza couldn't think of anything he knew that was worth a lot. Apart from the one thing he didn't want anyone to know, of course.

"S-Sorry, but I don't know you! Good night!"

"Nehza of the Legend Braves, a relatively famous blacksmith, for some not-so-good reasons. A scammer, really, aye?"

Nehza was so stunned he stopped in the middle of his action of slamming the door. Seeing his fearful look, Argo smiled a predatory grin and decided to strike while the iron was hot - pun intended.

"Smart stuff, really, discoverin' ya could use the << Quick Change Mod >> to swap players' equips for some copies without durability, and pretendin' they broke. Made a pretty cor sellin' 'em later, did ya?"

"N-No! I-I..."

"Ya are lucky nobody died 'cause of what ya did, or what I discovered would be on the first page of my guidebook's newest edition."

Giving up on closing the door, Nehza slumped to the floor, fingers loosely grabbing at the hem of his shirt. He cowered before the much smaller girl, not daring to look into her eyes. But Argo wasn't done just yet.

"And don'tchu think of messagin' Orlando. He's on a job for me right now. Humph! Ya can't run away from what you've done so easily."

"I-I... You don't understand... I had no choice..."

That last sentence sent Nehza into a spiral of denial. He kept mumbling under his breath, but Argo couldn't care less.

"Why? 'Cause of your little problem? You've got an FNC. So what? Someone else's got it too, and he's fightin' side by side with the Braves tonight. They're your party, so why can't ya do the same?"

"H-How did you know?"

"It's my job. I watch, I listen. I gather tidbits of information and piece the whole together. I've been keepin' an eye on ya for the last few days. You've got some kinda depth perception issue, don't ya? You've missed your victims - sorry, I mean customers - hands more than once when they're handing their weapons to ya."

Nehza looked up at Argo with surprise, shock, and no small amount of admiration. Though he had been plagued by his FNC ever since he entered SAO, and fallen into depression due to such, he was a sharp young man. Now that he had some time to think things through, he knew Argo's intention wasn't to expose him, or she would've done so already.

"A-Are you saying I should fight with them? But I'm just a burden... Chuchulainn almost died to save me."

"Hell nah, ya shouldn't fight. Ya are gonna die without a grave if ya try."

"B-But then! What should I do?"

Argo shrugged, her attention caught by something else. Who was messaging her at this time?

"I dunno, I'm not your babysitter. Maybe become an honest blacksmith? Figure somethin' out. But stop scammin' people, otherwise somebody's gonna die one day. I'll stop ya before that happens. And when I do that, your party's gonna be disgraced alongside ya. So put a stop to it while ya can."

In deep thought, Nehza stared at his hands. He knew this was Argo's last warning. But could he really do something else? Could he really amount to anything without his tricks?

He was startled from his divagations when Argo suddenly stomped and turned around. Her figure quickly disappeared, leaving Nehza kneeling where he was. Before she left, he heard her last sentence.

"God dammit Kibaou, ya effin' idiot!"