Jaymes
"Unknown Burglar" is the text that read over the heads of two yellow-cursored dark figures through the smoke. Jaymes, sword hand wrapped around Imperial, his left hand over Koharu's mouth in case the purple smoke around them was a poisoned inhalant, kept his eyes on the mysterious figures as they entered the veiled room. They possess curved blades and drew them in the direction of the group, but did not attack.
That might sound bad and all, but Jaymes wasn't bothered by the smoke or the burglars. After all, the players are in town — because of the Anti-Criminal Code safe haven rules, their HP is protected. Only Kizmel, Myia, and the two newcomers are in danger...or so he hoped.
The code protects PvP from happening, sanctioned duels being an exemption. This is the first time an NPC attacked him in a town, so would PvE follow the same logic? If not...well, he's gonna fight as hard as he can anyway, before the physical limit of holding his breath forces him to breath again.
Looking as Kizmel first, he pointed at Koharu, Asuna, and Myia, gesturing for her to protect them first. With a brief glance to Kirito, they share a single message through their eyes and acted on it.
"Attack."
They lift up and charge the intruders. The cloth-faced burglars leap at them two, and two pairs of swords lock upon contact. Yellow cursors turned red, indicating open hostility. The cursor wasn't pure red either, but had some darkness to it. That meant they were fighting a enemy a little tougher than they are, even at level-20. Thankfully it wasn't the fearsome black of the Fallen Elf leader, but that's still scary. Add in the fact the boys will have to breath soon, it's either break the stalemate or choke on air.
As sparks fly in the air around the combatants, Jaymes and Kirito hear a voice from behind shout, "Kirito, Jaymes, pull inward!" Without question, Kirito leans to his right, Jaymes to the left. In a split second, a bright-red light shot past Jaymes, slashing the burglar's chest to form a triangle then knocking him back to the far wall. That was the three-part rapier skill Triangular, and his helper was Asuna. It was Myia who called out to them and assist Kirito with the same rapier attack..
Springing forward next is Kizmel and Koharu to deliver either a finishing or apprehending blow to the enemy. But before they reached the intruders, the burglars remove something from their belts and throw it at the women. They deflect the objects, but because they had to stop first to deflect, the burglars had enough time to recover and made their escape out the broken window.
Kirito and Kizmel follow them out the window while Jaymes and Koharu rush out of the room for the front door, hoping to cut the burglars off. However, once they make it outside, no one's present aside from Kirito and Kizmel down the alleyway.
Taking deep breaths, the swordsman clicks his tongue. "Damn, what was that all about? One surprise after another... You good?"
Koharu sheathes her dagger behind her, looking as annoyed as he is. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good. Was that another 'cutscene' encounter? Or...something else?"
"Still trying to figure that out. But the good thing is that they were NPCs. The bad...they were NPCs, and that might mean we're in danger no matter where we are, even in town."
"Seems this new quest line is going to have all kinds of twists and turns. Let's regroup with the others." The pair join with Kirito and Kizmel just as the masked Myia and Asuna exit out the back door of the house right next to the window. Myia trots over to Kizmel and Kirito, and through the muffling of the gas mask on her face says, "They were dressed the exact same way as the thieves who snuck into my house two days ago. Like the last time, I think they were after my mother's key."
"I...I see..."
"Who are they?" Jaymes asks, in which Kizmel holds up the thin object in her hand. He immediately recognizes the spiral-shaped needle as a Spine of Shmargor and swears under his breath. Only one group of NPCs carry those poisonous needles. "...Fallen Elves. And on that note, they're after Myia."
"At least one of you boys have your wits about you," Kizmel remarks, eyeing Kirito.
He gives her a wry smile and takes out the iron key from a pouch. Presenting it to Myia, he asks, "Myia, what are these keys? Do you know where they're supposed to be used?"
"No. All my mother's letter said was that it was a memento of her time with Father, so she wanted me to take good care of it. If she knew that dangerous people would come after it, I don't think she would have left it in my care."
"I see..."
Bending down to Myia's level is Kizmel, and she asks, "Myia, how did you find us? You were following us before I detected you in the alley, weren't you?"
"Yes...I'm sorry for having done that, but I wanted to make sure you weren't with the burglars..."
"No, I am not blaming you. It only makes sense that you would do this, considering the circumstances."
"But on that note," Koharu starts before pausing, as if choosing her words carefully. "...There could have been many adventurers like us helping your father. How did you know we had the key?"
"The key my mother left me and the key that Kirito holds, belonging to my father, are drawn to each other. Even when separated by great distances, they always vibrate faintly, trying to point to the other."
"Huh? Really?" Kirito tested it out by holding the iron key and pointing it directly at the key hanging around Myia's neck. Jaymes could see the vibrations, but a twitch from Myia and a satisfied look from Kirito suggests that what Myia said is true. So all Myia had to do was wait until the keys came closer together, the follow the resonance between them until she got to us. That's good and all, but it doesn't answer what's the purpose of the keys or why the Fallen Elves would want them.
"Say, Kirito," Asuna opens up, still holding to Myia's shoulders, "does the golden key we found at the hideout in Suribus react to the iron key at all?"
"Huh? Oh, I don't know." He materializes the golden key in his left hand and points it at the iron key in his right hand. It doesn't seem like anything is happening, based on Kirito's composure.
"Is that?" Myia steps forward, closely inspecting the golden key. "Is that golden key the same one that my mother took from the mansion ten years ago?"
"Uh...yes, I think so. We found it at Pithagrus's hideout in the town of Suribus."
"Then maybe...maybe my mother went to search for that key."
"Huh?"
"Yes, I think that's possible,' Asuna says with understanding. "Terro the gardener was following Cylon's orders, but while he knew he was supposed to paralyze us and locked us in the dungeon beneath the mansion, I don't think he actually knew the purpose of that mission. So I don't think that he would've been able to explain what happened to the golden key to Theano..."
"Yes, when Terro visited the night before Mother disappeared, I was there, too. But he didn't mention anything about a key."
"So...did Theano go to the hideout in Suribus? But the basement dungeon won't open without this key, so she would have known the key was removed. After Cylon was killed, only the brigands and our group could have the key...so has she been searching for us for the past three days?"
"No, that is not probable. The one with the golden key would likely have an iron key, and Theano knew that the two iron keys reacted, so if she wanted to find the current holder, she wouldn't leave her own iron key at home like that."
"Oh...yeah. Good point..."
"Which means... If Kizmel hypothesis is right, Theano knows the iron keys are drawn to each other, but she isn't looking for the possessor. Yet if she wants to catch them...she's more concerned about the golden key, or more specifically, the use of the golden key." Jaymes glances up towards the north, where in the distance, the while mansion can be seen over the town. "Theano's there, waiting for the golden key to be used."
"That sounds correct," Koharu replies. "There's no guarantee to her that the iron key and the golden key are together, but she knows that whoever took the golden key would head to the one place it could be used. That sounds like a smart plan to me, to ambush the robber there instead of hunting them down. But Morte and his friends had no interest in the keys, though."
"Yeah... If Jaymes' is right and Thenao's at the mansion, we should go and explain the situation." Asuna and Kizmel agreed with Kirito's plan, and being the ones to build up to it, Jaymes and Koharu were all for it.
Myia, however, remained silent for a moment, then lifted her masked face to them. "Kirito, Jaymes, Koharu, Asuna...My father deceived you, poisoned and abducted you, and hoped to force a dangerous duty upon you. Evil acts only beget more evil...It was divine punishment when he was attacked and killed by those brigands. If my mother is trying to avenge his death, you have no obligation to help her. I only wanted to warn you of the danger around...so why are you going to these lengths?"
"Um...well..."
"It's not about logic or reason." Asuna answers for them. "You tried to warn us about the danger we were in. If you're in trouble, too, then of course we'll help. You're worried about your mother, aren't you?"
".........Yes. Um...thank you, everyone."
"It is no matter. I have my own meaningful connection to those ones who attacked us, too," Kizmel replies with a smile. "But, Myia, how long are you going to continue wearing that mask? The poison is long gone."
"Oh...uhhh..." Myia raises her hands to the mask, then turns to Asuna. "Um, do you mind if I borrow this mask just a bit longer?"
"Huh...? It's all right, of course. But isn't it stuffy?"
"I'm fine. I feel more secure when I have this on."
"Oh..." Asuna and the others seem to understand why Myia might've wanted to keep the mask on. It belonged to Cylon, her father — a man she may or may not have ever met personally — but it brought her comfort. Jaymes may not have gotten along all too well with his father, but he still loves and misses him. The only gift of comfort he has of his dad Josuke is his dream, so for Myia to have something material to bring her peace is nice.
"In that case, let's go to the lord's mansion together. I bet we'll find your mother there."
"Okay!" At that moment, Myia's name took over the fifth and final spot on the side of his HUD. With Mito's name gone for now, there's an open space in the party. Seeing how Myia's name is spelled, he almost lifts his gaze from the sidebar...until he sees the number right beside her name which indicates her level...and it caused the warrior to bless the fact Myia is on their side.
Koharu and Asuna are level-19.
Jaymes and Kirito are level-20.
Kizmel is level-21.
Myia is level-23.
xxxxxxx
If Jaymes was Sherlock Holmes, he would have been embarrassed by having a sound deduction debunked.
Theano wasn't at the mansion. In truth, most of the servants were gone due to Lord Cyclon being "missing", More importantly, the dungeon where the golden key would eventually be used had its marble entrance closed tight, and Theano wasn't nearby. WIth no other options, they went to look for the gardener Terro.
Terro played dumb when the adventurers asked him questions, but the moment Myia demanded an explanation, his mouth was as flowing as a rapid river.
The morning of January 2nd, hours after Cylon's death, Theano arrived at the mansion. With Terro's help, se entered the underground maze through a secret back door.
"Th'ellman?!"
"What the fuc—udge?!"
To an experience dungeon delver like Kirito and Jaymes, of course there's a back door to a dungeon, but that's usually the way out of the place, not in. And only two people would know about the secret back door, Theano and her departed master, as they ventured through the dungeon once before. Jaymes and Kirito wouldn't know of it because, once they got the golden cube, they were teleported back to the dungeon entrance. Yet Koharu and Asuna, who spoke to their respective partners about the obvious logic of a back door, wouldn't have ever known that; Koharu might not have made it to the end of a dungeon in the beta, so of course she wouldn't know that teleportation out of the dungeon was present in the beta, but not in the current build.
Nowadays, teleportation is only for cross-floor transportation at the teleport gates and to be transferred to Black Iron Palace after activating the harassment code. No teleporting after dungeon completion, no teleporting after death.
Terro leads them to the back door, shifting a stone statue nearby to open up a staircase. The other end of the descending steps is the final chamber of the room. As expected, the golden cube is gone.
With the trail gone cold, it was Kizmel who suggested their next action; with no reason for anyone to be in Stachion any longer, and Kizmel putting priority on the investigation instead of Asuna's original plan to take Kizmel to the Town of Beginnings, she suggested they return to Castle Galey with Myia in tow.
With Myia excited to see an elven castle, the six returned to the castle, gaining a level-up in the process. Shortly after one in the afternoon, they crossed into the courtyard of the castle.
While Myia gazed at the spirit tree and the castle in wonder, Asuna suggested they took the meetings to the baths. A strange place to hold a meeting, but the girls were in agreement to do it there, so who cared what the boys wanted.
That didn't stop Asuna from getting angry that Kirito, who along with Jaymes beat the women to the bath, had crossed the invisible border of the bath that separated — or maybe Asuna made that line up so she and the girls could sit at the the root of the spirit tree as it entered the pool. In whatever case, she displaced Kirito who was there first, with Myia on her lap and Kizmel and Koharu on a root nearby.
With the smoke so thick that Jaymes can't see the girls — the green and yellow cursors are visible — he wonders if there's a point to wearing the swimming trunks. Then again, he isn't comfortable being exposed to the air with Kirito so close either.
"And for one thing, if you're already in the water, you should at least let us know. When you're hiding in this spot the way you were, of course I'm going to assume you have something devious in mind."
"I thought you and Kirito were either brother and sister or boyfriend and girlfriend," Myia chimes in.
"W...well, you're wrong! He's just a party mem...er, a partner, or a sidekick, or an attendant, or what have you!"
"Attendant, huh?"Jaymes murmurs to Kirito. "Way she treats us, just say slave."
"...I think I'm fine with sidekick..."
"Ha-ha-ha...I have been around you for quite a while, and even I have trouble ascertaining the particular nature of your connection. You seem to act with one mind in battle, but you fight three times a day. That was the second, by the way."
"What? No, we've only fought the one time."
"You were angry at Kirito for coming back to the room after taking a walk this morning, weren't you?"
"Oh, that wasn't a fight. I was just giving him a warning."
"And Koharu, aren't you Jaymes' girlfriend?"
In comparison to Asuna's awkwardness to the same comment Myia mentioned about her and Kirito, Koharu is much calmer and sterner when she replies, "We're just partners."
"'Just partners', huh?" Kirito repeats.
"No need to twist the dagger deeper."
"At least you and Jaymes get along, Koharu. I'd say you two are more united in mind than Asuna and Kirito and don't fight as much."
"Well, we've been together since we...came to Aincrad. And I don't think it's that we're one in mind... I just follow what he says or what I think he'd say to the best of my ability. I have a long way to go before I can hold my own and...stand as equal to him."
"Hmm, if that's how you see it...but is that true, Jaymes?"
Jaymes' eyes hone in on the supposed location of Koharu, based on where her cursor lies. Something in him says she's looking back at him. This is so embarrassing. He could simply deny her and say what she might want to her. But after all she's done to better herself since the beginning, after all the things she's done to better their partnership, and after all the things she might not realize she's done to better him, he owes her a honest answer.
"Koharu, you're my one and only partner. In many regards, you are my equal. And you've grown plenty over the last two months... Do you remember what I told you after we escaped from those wolves?"
"...Yes, I do."
"I know this is the world we have to live in now, but that's not how someone should have to die... Koharu, let's get stronger together. Let's live and beat this thing!"
"But... I'm just slowing you down."
"No, you're not. You'll be way stronger in no time. Besides... You're the only one I can trust here."
"Really... Well, okay... Watch out, Jaymes! Cause I'll be stronger than you someday."
"I have little doubt about that."
The edge of his mouth curling upward, Jaymes replies, "Then keep working towards that. In the meantime, I'll work harder to make sure you never reach me, and make you work harder. Because...if that day ever comes..."
If that day comes, then what?
Jaymes is not of the mind that girls cannot be stronger than boys — hell, look at the elven knight and the ten-year-old's levels — but Kirito already had a plan for Asuna. Jaymes doesn't agree with it, and may never will, but he sees the logic behind it. Asuna has shown the qualities of a leader, and the moment she becomes strong in her knowledge of the game, there'll be no logical need for her and Kirito to remain partners. Her talents would be better suited for a leadership role with a guild and beat Sword Art Online.
But what about Koharu? What happens when her skill surpasses Jaymes'? Maybe nothing will happen, they'll be as they are. Koharu has been vocally adamant that they remain partners no matter what, and if anything, she's more fearful that he'll leave her behind.
Maybe this hot bath got him overthink. He clears his throat and looks to Kirito. "Anyway, let's get started."
They went through the ordeal that started ten years ago in chronological order. Pithagrus, the lord of Pithagrus, had two apprentices: Cylon, who was publicly his apprentice, and Theano, the secret apprentice. According to Myia, no one including their master knew Cylon and Theano were involved. When the time came, Pithagrus told Cylon he was chooing another apprentice as his successor, so in his rage, Cylon killed his master with the golden cube.
Theano witnessed all of it, but never accused her lover and father of her child, so she took other measures. When Cylon left the room, she grabbed the golden cube and golden key. The cube was taken to the dungeon beneath the home while the key was taken to Pithagrus' second estate in Suribus.
After the lord's death, the cursed puzzles started to appear in Stachion, one per day. Theano went home, awaiting Cylon to confess his crime, yet he created a murderous traveler, assumed lordship, and commissioned any passing adventurers to seek out the cube.
All those details Jaymes and Kirito knew previously and had told Koharu and Asuna many times now. Myia hadn't interrupted, so there hasn't been any change of details from the beta. What comes next is brand new for everyone.
After sending Jaymes' group to Suribus, Cylon and Terro captured them with paralytic gas. Instead of what should have happened, Morte and his comrades intervened, killing Cylon. Terro escaped alone and explained what happened to Theano. Theano left the iron key and a note for Myia, then went to the dungeon to grab the cube. At the same time, Fallen Elves entered Myia's home, looking for the key. Then the events earlier today played out, which leads them to this moment in the baths.
After the recap from Kirito, Asuna groans from across the bath. "Hrrrmmm... Putting it all together raises more questions than it answers, I feel. Mostly about Theano...I just don't understand why she would leave the iron key at her house. Cylon and Theano lived apart for ten years, but they kept the keys that were their remembrance of the relationship for all of those years. I would assume it was something very precious to Theano..."
"Ha-ha. You have the most romantic opinions, Asuna." Kizmel laughs.
"I—I don't mean it that way. I'm just being realistic and rational about it..."
"But you do have a point," Koharu adds. "Oh, I don't mean about the romance of the keys, but the logic of leaving it behind. It is unlikely anyone would've known the keys resonate with each other, so why not take it with her? Why leave it with Myia, or not take both key and daughter with her? Why did Theano disappear without telling her kid where she's going?"
Koharu raises good points, specifically why Theano would expose Myia to danger. Yes, Myia can take care of herself as they've seen, but Jaymes isn't comfortable having a preteen exposed to danger. Kinda hard to argue that point when he's in a group of fourteen to sixteen year olds engaging in a greater amount of danger.
"Speaking of which, where is your mother's key now, Myia?"
"It's right around my neck."
"Oh, that's good."
"And where is your key, Kirito?"
"It's, uh, in my book of Mystic Scribing."
"Oh, you mean that ancient charm that only adventurers can use."
"...Say, is it all right with you that I'm holding that key? That was Cylon, your father's key, so shouldn't you have both...?"
"No. If it's not too much trouble, I want you to have it. I think there is a reason there were two keys and that each of my parents kept one. I feel it is best to keep them from being too close, until we discover the proper use for them."
"Oh...okay."
From the girls' side of the pool, there's a sound of squirting water. What follows that is Asuna's voice. "So if we don't know where to use the two keys, and we don't know why Theano took the golden cube out of the mansion, then we're kind of stuck. I have no idea where we should go and what we should do next."
"About that," Kizmel says, finally breaking her silence. "Why don't we show the keys to the storyteller? It is clear they are under some magical charm. I am not an expert, but the storyteller might be able to tell us something. And if I am not mistaken, your four, you wanted to ask the elder how to defend against the evil dragon's poison, yes?"
True...but Jaymes wasn't all too happy to see the storyteller twelve or so hours after meeting him. Last night's troublesome training is still fresh in his head. But if anyone can answer their questions, it is him.
Jaymes sighed and looked to Kirito. "Guess...we'll see the storyteller."