A gender-neutral Y/N is an introverted solo player who spends almost every moment they can grinding in the Fields of Aincrad.
Y/N find themselves distancing further from the people they say they're fighting to free; but what happens when those peopl...
Just a couple weeks ago we celebrated Pina's birthday again, her real life cat named Pina was born on the 29th of February and the next leap year isn't until next year so we celebrated a day early again like we had before last year.
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* * *
Other than my outings with Silica, almost all of my interactions with human players have been entirely business-orientated, selling info to Argo and assisting with the Boss Fights as a solo player.
I did have a chat with Asuna about ten floors or so ago, well... less of a chat and more of a meeting - where she came to me as the Vice-Commander of the Knights of the Blood Guild, ordering me to stop engaging the Field Bosses alone like I often did.
I didn't mention it to her, but I was already thinking about stopping anyways as they were starting to get more mechanically challenging more often rather than the simple health sponges that the earlier floors usually hosted.
And because I agreed to this order I haven't solo'd any challenging stuff in a while... I was kind of worried that I'd end up getting rusty should I end up in an unfavourable scenario as I so often seemed to do, but I kept my worries to myself for now and spent my time grinding mobs and recording info to sell to Argo like usual.
* * *
It was a typical day of grinding, nothing really interesting had happened and because the rest of the front-line wasn't ready to deal with the Mid-Field Boss I had a severely limited area of the Field to explore or exploit for exp. I was on my way back from my expedition out into the Field of the 56th Floor, I saw no real need to use a Teleport Crystal as I was in no rush for anything anymore - so I took the scenic way back to the Inn. But as I walked through a dim alleyway I couldn't help but overhear hushed voices...
??? #1: "so... you'll do it?"
???: #2: "you are certain that you know where she intends to rest for the night, yes?"
??? #1: "of course, she still thinks she can trust me. she tells me everything."
This doesn't sound good... and we're in the safe zone now so I can't just nip this in the bud, I should lay low and try and listen in to this in case it is something bad...
??? #2: "in this game of death we play, the worst thing you can do is trust another blindly. we prefer more... expensive forms of trust. you have the payment yes?"
??? #1: "oh yes! I have it right here, I believe this will suffice yes?"
??? #2: "hmm... this is more than enough, consider your request fulfilled."
??? #1: "r-really? fantastic! I guess I'll head home then and wait for the good news"
. . .
The first guy left, but I didn't hear any hints as to who or what was involved... and I'm almost certain that this was someone paying to have another player killed- wait. It sounds like someone else is coming now.
??? #2: "Ah, you're here. Good."
They're not speaking in hushed voices anymore, this might be a more innocent conversation then... but hopefully I can at least learn their usernames.
??? #3: "You have a mission for me then?"
??? #2: "Indeed. We have received a most generous sum for this target."
??? #3: "Sounds good Johnny, so who's my target eh?"
Johnny?: "Seems a Guild Leader has been getting too big for their britches, you'll be looking for a player called Griselda; you'll find her at the player-run Inn: Silver Leaf, in room 34. A simple sleep PK will suffice."
??? #3: "Aww! I always get the easy jobs! I'll get it done, I have my ways into these inn rooms after all!"
Johnny?: "That'll be all, I will return to HQ for now. Do not disappoint me."
. . .
That Johnny guy left, I can't believe they talked about killing another player so brazenly in the open! Either they're idiots or they have the resources to allow such risks...
I need to prepare for this, they said it was room 34 in the Silver Leaf Inn... There's still several hours left in the day before one would normally head to sleep, so I probably have time to get what I need before this Griselda is at risk.
Griselda... I've heard that name before haven't I? That'll bug me for a while until I remember! Hopefully we were friends, because I'm going to need her to trust me for this to work...
