Where Your God Is - Chapter 18

So, to recap, I needed to make a split-second decision after being confronted with the consequences of my actions. In particular, these consequences manifested in the form of the princess of the forest elves and the daughter of the dark elves' chieftain fighting to the death in an encounter that was supposed to signal the beginning of the <<Elf War>> questline for a party.

Now, in theory, killing the princess could actually solve a lot of problems.

She was fairly important in the late-game of the war's events, so removing her might just cause the entire thing to kind of sputter out and die. The PvP didn't really start to manifest until the larger battles happened on Floor Five anyway. If the heir to the throne was dead, then the program might glitch and just assume that the dark elves won the war, turning later events into non-starters.

In theory.

I wouldn't bet on it, though.

<<Cardinal>> had a lot of subroutines that were intended to deal with Player Bullshit in all of its horrible glory. It was entirely possible that some department had wargamed the possibility of a player faction or guild deciding to assassinate the NPC leaders of one of the elf war's two primary combatants. The argument could be made, of course, that such tactics were fair game in a PvP environment given that it would disallow the rival faction to continue giving quests and advancement lore.

That wasn't why they'd do it, though.

These people – my people – were chaos gremlins that would kill god just to see if the server lagged.

And that was assuming they would have a reason in mind at all.

I had personally done plenty of crazy shit just to see if I could while in the alpha and beta.

Granted, I was getting paid real money to see if arson worked in the in-game environment, but the point stood. Lighting random shit on fire and giggling demonically as the skies went dark with ash was great fun... as long as there weren't permanent consequences.

Here and now, though? There were a lot of permanent consequences.

In particular, the most likely outcome of killing the princess? I'd put good money on it whipping the forest elves into a frenzy and kick-starting early mass combat events that weren't supposed to happen on this floor. The result from that would likely be a lot more people dying a lot earlier than they needed to.

So killing either of the hot elf girls was right out.

Instead, I shot forward and rammed the hilt of my katana, clenched in my fist, into Triniel's gut.

Or I tried to, at least.

The blonde elf's eyes widened dramatically and, with a speed and flexibility I didn't think she possessed, barely managed to get out of the way of my attack.

“Vermin! You shall not take me alive!” Triniel shouted, flourishing her blade.

“Bitchabouttogettakenalivesayswhat?” I spat back at her rapidly.

She blinked. “Come again?”

This time I connected, and the digital breath was flushed from her lungs at the impact of my hilt of her upper abdomen.

[Knockout]

The skill flared to life, and the special effect activated, bestowing a status effect on the elf girl.

An orange tag popped into existence right under her ID tag, floating above her head.

[UNCONSCIOUS]

I sighed as I carefully lowered her to the ground, her health such that I didn't really want to do more damage than I had to at this point. “You ruined the joke.”

Kayaba-sensei hadn't initially been all that receptive to the idea of 'non-lethal' damage, rightfully pointing out that IRL, all damage could theoretically be considered lethal. I hadn't really fought him on that point, given that he was both correct and we'd need to rework the physics engine to account for the different damage types by that point.

I would have gotten tarred and feathered by the dev teams if we'd gone down that road.

Instead, I'd argued for the inclusion of a set of combat skills – Sword Arts – that would have a percentile chance of dealing a type of damage that would incapacitate first. Pointing out to sensei that there were people who had skills IRL relating to knocking enemies unconscious without doing overmuch physical damage to them had sold the idea.

Why had I done so?

Because pacifist routes were fairly popular, and enticing SAO players with the idea of a full MMORPG no-kill run would net us huge amounts of secondary press virtually for free in the gamer communities.

“Kirito?” Kizmel asked, her body still tense as she watched me stand guard over the now-unconscious forest elf. “Will you not finish her off?”

“No,” I replied, shaking my head as I nudged the woman with my boot carefully. I really didn't need her playing possum just to stab me in the gut. “She'll do better as a hostage than as a martyr to rally the forest elves around.”

Kizmel breathed in sharply before her shoulders slumped. “You always see two steps ahead, my friend.”

“Kirito! What was all that?!” Leafa demanded as she walked up, causing me to wince. “After warning us about not running off so much, you do the same exact thing!”

“Ah, Leafa! You're here too!” Kizmel cried, turning to my sister. “It's so good to see you!”

“Oh, um... you too?” Leafa asked, very obviously caught flat-footed as she turned to the dark elf AI, which...

Well, I couldn't say I wasn't also caught off-guard as well. Glancing between Leafa and Kizmel, it really seemed like the latter actually recognized the former, which... well, it meant something, for sure. I didn't know if it meant that the individual AI had more access to the files from the beta than I'd previously considered... or if the way I'd 'summoned' Kizmel had triggered some kind of glitch in the system, causing her to 'remember' all of our interactions. Those same interactions would, by necessity, involve Leafa, considering we'd gone through most of the Elf War Quest together.

I shook my head, both literally and metaphorically, to clear the intrusive thoughts.

Current crisis now, Turing Tests later.

“Leafa, you've got the rope, right?” I asked, having off-loaded a substantial amount of my inventory now that we were seeing regular combat.

Encumbrance was a thing, after all, and even if I had a stat line to beggar most of the floor bosses at this point, I didn't want things to get too dicey.

“Rope?” Leafa asked, blinking as she turned to the downed elf woman. “We're taking her with us? But I thought the event...”

I nodded. “I'll explain later, but the situation's changed. Besides, I think we've triggered the quest anyway. Kizmel obviously recognizes us as part of the Dark Elf Faction, right?”

Addressing the smiling woman, she nodded, slightly confused. “Of course. Kirito and Leafa are my dear friends. We've been through a great deal together. Any of their friends are welcome to accompany us as well, of course.”

The last part was directed at Sinon, Argo, Asuna, and Mito, all of whom were now coming out of the treeline and into the clearing that the battle had taken place in.

“What's going on? Aren't you going to finish her off?” Sinon asked, looking at the blond elf.

“Finish her-?!” Asuna jerked, looking between the blue-haired girl and the downed blond. “That's a person!”

Mito twitched slightly, looking as though she was going to speak before grimacing, her mouth shutting and lips pinching into a thin white line.

“It's a monster,” Sinon replied bluntly, her eyes cold and her reply confused. “An elf can kill you just as easily as a goblin, Asuna.”

I sighed and held up a hand. “Not the time. Situation's complicated. We're taking her back to the dark elf encampment. Leafa, rope?”

My sister blinked and shook herself before opening up her inventory. “R-right! Rope!”

“What's changed, Kiri-bou?” Argo asked, intentionally putting herself between Sinon and Asuna, but ignoring both of them to focus on me. If one didn't know Argo, they could interpret it as an accident easily enough. I don't think Asuna or Sinon were actually fooled by the tactic, though. The former was a socialite and the latter knew her too well to be tricked.

Nevertheless, they used the opportunity to let Argo break their staring contest.

“Look at her ID tag,” I replied, nodding at the blond as I concentrated on tying her up.

“Fufufu... Kiri-bou wants me to watch as he ties up a pretty girl-oh,” Argo started in strong on the teasing, then twitched as she noticed the name. “Oooooh shit. That's Triniel, isn't it?”

In the background, I noticed Mito's eyes widen.

“Triniel?” Asuna asked, frowning. Sinon, though quiet, looked equally confused.

“She's the forest elf's princess,” Argo replied with a grimace. “Basically, she's supposed ta' be end-game content for da' quest. Like... floor eight? No way she should be here right now.”

Argo paused, then sent me a look before flicking her eyes towards Kizmel.

I gave her a tiny grimace, then shrugged, before turning back to the unconscious elf.

“It could be a product of the virus,” I replied, off-handedly. “I don't know the parameters they changed, so including a KO of a faction leader's daughter in the first event might be a trap to dramatically increase PvP by making the entire <<Elf War>> event more hostile.”

“Since the floor nine stuff involves potentially ending the war by negotiating peace, if ya' play yer cards right...” Argo muttered, nodding along as she played along.

Sinon had a vaguely suspicious look on her face, but shrugged it off while Leafa hummed thoughtfully. Strangely enough, it was my sister among our group who could keep a secret from me the best. I rarely had any idea what she was actually thinking, even given that I'd known her the longest.

“So what do we do with her?” Asuna asked, looking around our group. “Because we're not killing her!”

“She will be a hostage,” Kizmel stated with a nod towards me. “The Shadowblade has decreed it, so mote it will be.”

I felt my cheeks burst into a fresh blush as I dipped my head between my shoulders.

Argo, Leafa, and Sinon all began snickering behind me.

“The Shadowblade.” Mito's voice spoke up, an existential crisis torn between suppressed laughter and deadpan snark obvious in her voice.

“Tis Sir Kirito's name as an <<Elf Friend>>,” Kizmel stated proudly. “As someone who has offered great help to the Dark Elves in the past, he was rewarded with a noble name indicative of his contributions and the nature of his skills.”

The purple-haired scythe-wielder was silently shaking by the time Kizmel had finished.

Argo leaned towards Mito and stage-whispered to her. “The ten players who performed the best during the Elf War as a whole got a bonus title once the quest line was finished.”

“That's... actually very impressive, Kirito,” Asuna congratulated me seriously, though it was slightly awkward and a bit strained. She knew exactly how edgy and juvenile the name sounded, but wasn't familiar enough with gamer culture to know that it was downright encouraged to give someone shit over an awesome achievement that resulted in something kind of lame and stupid.

“Thank you Asuna, I appreciate the understanding and support,” I replied scathingly, giving the rest of my party the evil eye. “Just for that, no one else gets any loot.”

“Now hold on there, Ki-chi!” Argo simpered, sliding up to me. “Let's not be too hasty... even if it's a silly name, ya' do wear it well!”

“One day I want to see exactly how far she'll go with the right bribe,” Sinon remarked thoughtfully, not really meaning the double-entendre, but planting it all of our heads. “What's she got, anyway?”

“Hmm...” I muttered, activating another skill.

[Pickpocket]

This was the real perk to being able to knock an enemy unconscious. Beating any mob or boss made Cardinal roll a virtual die in the form of a random number generator. Sometimes only one, sometimes more; it all depended on the strength of the enemy you'd just defeated. The point, though, was that you'd only get a very small selection of items from the wider possible variety that they could be carrying.

If you knocked them unconscious instead of killing them, however...

“Let's see... we've got a tiara, which is a magic item,” I stated, manifesting the loot one piece at a time. “A hefty sack of coins, which looks to have platinum pieces in it, so nice, a max-upgraded and enchanted elven curved blade that will require a special proficiency to use...”

I paused, absently noting that I could remove Triniel's garments if I wanted, which was new...

Is that a bug? A feature of everyone in the party having the NSFW switch flipped? I can't imagine even Kayaba would be looney enough to go that far.

I only knew that Asuna had changed her settings because I'd heard her complain to Mito about looking like a Barbie Doll in the mirror and finding it unnerving.

I shook my head to clear it, focusing on the next item in the list. “Oh, palace keys! Score! Hmm... small cache of gems for weapon upgrades. Those go to Leafa for parceling out later-”

My sister was a weapons geek and a filthy mix-maxer.

I was just so proud.

“Set of healing potions,” I pulled those out and handed them off to Argo. “Map of the Forest Elf Territory! Bingo!”

“Gimme!” The Rat demanded, seizing the scroll and cackling. “Come to Mama!”

“She also has a better bow than the one Sinon is using,” I called out, materializing a the weapon and its quiver. “I don't know if that needs a separate skill to use, you're the expert on ranged stuff.”

Sinon took it appreciatively, grinning as she looked over the weapon's stat line.

“I feel kind of bad for taking everything from her,” Asuna spoke in a not-too-quiet undertone to Mito.

“Worry not, friend of the Shadowblade-”

Insert juvenile snickering here.

“-it is the nature of the oppressive fair-skinned tyrants to hoard more than they need,” Kizmel scoffed at the bound figure. “She would do much the same were we at her mercy.”

“...and, last but not least, we've got her armor and an enchanted cloak,” I noted, then felt my eyebrows rise. “Dibs on the cloak. Mito, you might want the armor. It's not strictly better than what you've got, I think, but it fits your build if I recall correctly.”

“Give me a look,” Mito hummed, accepting the new armor.

Then I blinked. “Oh, magic boots and gloves, almost missed those. Hmm... I've got better stealth equipment. These can go to Leafa or Asuna, either or. Bonus to quiet movement and speed in forested terrain when worn as a set. Non-combat applications for Leafa, combat ones for Asuna.”

Handing them to my sister, she looked to Asuna and shrugged, stepping closer as they debated things.

“Nothing held in reserve for the one who battled her so stalwartly until you and your friends could arrive?” Kizmel asked, a slightly mocking undertone to the question.

I hesitated a moment. Technically, an NPC asking a question like that was just banter. It wasn't an actual invitation to share the loot... most of the time. There were hidden events you could unlock if you did so, though... sometimes.

But Kizmel was an AI and I'd just fucked up the quest's sequencing.

If there was ever a time to try something crazy and see if it worked...

After a moment thinking it over, I materialized the tiara.

It wasn't anything special, though my thief's skills told me it would sell for a nice bit. But without any buffs or enchantments to it, there wasn't even any point in doing that, really. A 'nice bit' of money here on the third floor was a pittance to someone who had entered the game with a maxed-out purse.

“Here,” I stated, grinning conspiratorially, watching her purple eyes widen. “Compensation for not letting you kill her. A trophy worthy of a princess.”

I could barely see Kizmel's cheeks darken, but ignored that for the moment as I hoisted the bound elf over my shoulder in a fireman's carry. “Well, let's get going! I don't want to spend anymore time than we already have out here where we can get caught by the enemy.”

In short order, my party and I were headed towards the dark elf encampment.

~~~

It's done! I did it!

I really don't want to know how long it's been since I updated this story, but I felt every day when getting back into the swing of things.

But it's done!

The conclusion of the cliffhanger we left off on with Kirito fighting the newly-revealed Elven Princess and trying not to make everything a lot worse than it already is.

Hope everyone enjoys this one!

Next update will be either more Mind Games or something else. Maybe New Ron or an Industrious chapter.