"May I say something?"
Into the silence left by Kibaou's outburst, another voice rang out. It was just as deep as Kibaou's, but far steadier. The man striding forward was so big you had to tilt your head up a little to see his face, and the brutal-looking two-handed battle axe in his hands suited him perfectly.
His appearance was so imposing he hardly looked Japanese, but that didn't really matter.
Built like solid muscle from head to toe, he stepped to the front of the crowd.
"My name is Agil. Kibaou, if I understand you right, you're saying so many new players died because the closed beta players were cold and uncaring, so they should take responsibility for it. Is that right?"
"O-of course it is." A player's character didn't affect their actual stats, but appearances could still be intimidating. With that huge difference in size between them, Kibaou visibly shrank back for a moment. Still, he clearly didn't want to lose ground, so he quickly raised his voice again. "They just stood by and let people die!"
"In that case, money is secondary. What really matters is information, right?"
With that, Agil took a simple little booklet out of the pouch at his waist. In his huge hand, it looked especially tiny.
"I think everyone's seen this guidebook. You can pick it up for free in Horunka, Yerika, and at Meide's item shop. It doesn't cost anything."
So that's the thing Argo squeezed more than ten thousand Col out of me for? Satoru thought.
So that's the thing I paid 500 Col a volume for while trying to rebuild my information? Kirito thought.
The two of them instinctively looked at each other.
It was free all along.
"Anyone can get this, right? And it's helped a lot, hasn't it?" Agil added.
So even that stingy cheapskate wants to do something decent once in a while, Satoru thought, glancing toward the high wall where Argo had been earlier. At some point, she had already disappeared.
"This thing gets updated fast, and it's packed with information. Other than closed beta players, who else could've put something like this together?"
That was basically a finishing blow. Kibaou opened his mouth, but no rebuttal came out. After all, he himself seemed to have a copy.
Agil turned back to the crowd.
"We have information too, and players still died. The reasons differ from case to case, but now isn't the time to argue over blame. At the very least, what matters right now is this meeting, because it's going to decide our future."
It was a solid speech, and the proof he had presented left little room for argument. Kibaou could've made one last clumsy jab and said Agil was probably a closed beta player too, but that only would've made him look ridiculous. In the end, all he could do was glare at Agil's broad back.
"All right, all right."
Diavel spoke up again.
"Just as Agil said, there's no point in condemning the closed beta players right now. On the contrary, when we challenge the boss, we'll need their strength. If we shut them out and that leads to failure, then we've completely missed the point, and we'll never move forward."
As the one leading the meeting, he began settling the crowd.
"Kibaou, all of our fates are tied together now. If you truly can't accept that, you're free to withdraw. But I think you'll regret it. This battle is something we can only win if every one of us gives it everything we've got."
He looked around at the others. In the end, he lowered his voice and reluctantly gave in.
The slumped Kibaou and the proudly upright Agil both returned to the group.
After that, the discussion shifted to the boss itself, and finally, no more trouble came up.
...
Once the long meeting ended, it was time to assign parties. Satoru had nothing in particular to say about that. Kirito, on the other hand, seemed genuinely troubled. Since he usually kept to himself, he was now having a hard time finding enough people to fill a party.
In the end, the three of them, including the rapier user, formed a tiny little group.
After turning down Kirito's invitation to dinner, Satoru stayed by the edge of the plaza. Quite a few people had remained behind as well, and the place had turned into a sort of send-off drinking party before tomorrow's departure.
Besides, all Kirito was going to treat him to was cheap bread anyway, the kind that only cost a few Col.
Leaning against the steps by the fountain, Satoru stretched with rare, obvious fatigue.
The past month had been anything but pleasant. If anything, trying to stick to the way he played games had worn his nerves down to the point of shaking. He had braced himself for this from the start, but every time he remembered that this was only the beginning, all he wanted to do was sleep.
Then someone casually sat down beside him, as familiar as if they were an old friend. The level of easy warmth rivaled even Klein's.
Satoru looked over in surprise.
Diavel.
"Ah, sorry. Am I bothering you?" Diavel asked with an easy smile, lifting the cup in his hand. "Want a drink?"
"The one who actually wants to have a good talk with you isn't me," Satoru said.
Most of the people still in the plaza were there because they admired and trusted him. After all, he had stepped forward and taken on this burden without a word of complaint. He was the kind of man who would end up leading a guild someday, and Diavel really did have solid leadership skills, at least when it came to assigning groups and arranging tactics.
He was no worse than any captain or guild leader Satoru had seen before. Especially at a time like this, it wasn't as simple as barking orders over voice chat.
Right now, he truly had taken on the role of the hero who would save his comrades.
"Then I guess I'm the one interrupting," Diavel said. Even so, he made no move to leave. He took a sip of the deep red wine in his cup and smacked his lips lightly. "Actually, I came on behalf of everyone to thank you."
"Thank me?"
"That guidebook. Your name's on the last page, isn't it? Yurnero?"
Ah. That damn Argo.
Satoru rubbed his forehead.
Diavel smiled and looked toward the tower in the distance. Night had already fallen. The black tower was slowly blending into the night sky behind it, and under the flickering starlight its outline had grown vague and hard to make out. Looking at it never felt good, but you couldn't avoid facing it either.
"There are still a lot of frightened people in the Town of Beginnings," Diavel said suddenly.
"Of course there are. It's cruel. When your HP hits zero, you die." Satoru glanced at the number in the upper left of his vision. It still hadn't even reached four digits.
"But we still have to move forward. If we stay where we are forever, there's no salvation to be found. That's what I believe. I'm not especially capable myself, and I'm terrified—scared of every shadow in that labyrinth. But bit by bit, as I made my way to the boss room, I realized there comes a point where you just have to step up."
"That's a noble resolve," Satoru said evenly.
Diavel gave a small, sheepish smile. "You're giving me way too much credit."
"Not really."
Satoru thought for a moment.
"Whether it's the kind of player who wants to grind experience alone, or the kind of player like you who doesn't want to leave the people behind you behind, neither is wrong. The only difference is whether you place yourself a little farther forward or a little farther back... but there's one thing even I understand clearly. Maybe we can do without the former. We absolutely can't do without the latter."
"Heroes who save everyone, knights and all that, yeah, it sounds kind of embarrassing. But people like that really are necessary. I admire you. I mean that."
Diavel looked at him quietly, as if those words had encouraged him too.
"Thank you..."
"It's the kind of ideal I forgot a long time ago." Satoru absently patted himself down, then realized something and clicked his tongue. "By the way, you got a cigarette? I've been craving one forever."
"Uh..." Diavel was clearly thrown by that sudden turn. "I-I don't think this game has anything like that."
"That son of a bitch, Kayaba," Satoru muttered, shaking his head.
"...He really is a son of a bitch." Even the bright, upright blue knight had to agree with that.
After a while, Diavel finally looked like he was about to get up.
He stood and headed toward the group of people calling out to him.
"But it's not really that noble. I guess... I just couldn't ignore the sense of duty inside me. That's why I did it..."
He said it quietly with his back to Satoru, then walked off in long strides.
Watching his back, Satoru didn't bother digging into what he meant.
After all, what ideal was left in this world that didn't come mixed with something extra?
Even his own admiration for people like Diavel only came from the thought that things would go better this way, that at least the odds of clearing the game would be a little higher.
Other than that, he had no desire at all to get close to someone like him. To balance out people like himself, someone like Diavel was necessary.
He didn't need to be a hero, but he also couldn't become one of those useless people who stayed behind in the Town of Beginnings.
If he wanted to stand at the top, it wasn't because he wanted to save anyone. It was to secure his own strength.
...A textbook petty little mindset.
And Argo probably saw right through it.
She counts as a girl too... right? Maybe women really do have sharper instincts.
Either way, there was no question about it. She definitely hated him.