Sword Art Online ー The Cloaked Swordsmen

Chapter 15 - Anneal mishap

And so after we spent another day mapping out a part of the second floor, we went back to the main city <Urbus> where we met with Kirito. It seems the party members were all doing their own thing now.

"Yo Kii-chan" Argo greeted with a wave of her hand.

"Hey, Argo. Thanks for taking care of Keika"

"yeah, I should start charging ya at this point, Nishishi"

"Sure, it's the least I could do."

"huh? Don't you dare do such a thing Kirito. You're making it seem like I need a babysitter."

I said as Kirito let out a chuckle.

"Relax, I was joking." Kirito said and at that moment, a high pitched was heard, almost like a shriek.

"S... S-SCREW YOU!!"

Argo separated from our side as Kirito and I hid from the crowd and looked on.

Up ahead, the path opened into a wider plaza, from which the disturbance was coming from.

"P-Put it back, Back to the way it was! That was a plus-four!"

Another shriek as it seemed there was an argument taking place. We came out of hiding since there was no reason to as it looked as if the hype about the beta testers had died down.

The beta players had been turned into heroes and now bounties are being put on Criminal Beta testers, managed by me and Diavel.

It had been four days since I'd cleared the names of the Beta testers. The story of what happened in the boss chamber spread like wildfire.

Of course there were still those who held a grudge on some Bete testers, but it could not be helped.

A boss monster with the Katana skill, Beta testers being turned into heroes, the story of Diavel the knight and most of all, the illusive party that had turned into figures of legend.

However, even though we're famous amongst the top players now, our names are not being displayed on the game cursor, and along with our party having temporarily disbanded, we could walk through town without being surrounded and bombarded with questions.

We made our way to the source of the argument, which was taking place in a bowl-like open space as Kirito and I slipped through the crowd.

"W-Wh-What did you do?! The properties are all the way down!!"

I recognized the player since I had sold him the material for his armour as well as his helmet. The person continued to complain about his sword, which had failed its enhancement four times somehow.

It seemed as if the situation was going to end badly, but just then, to my surprise, a blue haired man with a refreshing smile came out.

"Now now. Please calm down, we'll replace your sword."

"But Diavel-san... It would be expensive."

"It's fine. I'll help you, don't worry."

Diavel had diffused the situation and seeing this, I smiled a bit.

However, upon this, I noticed his longsword, which had now visibly been reduced in quality was held close to the man's chest. It seems he really liked his sword, which I could easily relate to.

Standing quietly in a plain brown leather apron and looking guilty in front of the player and bowing was a short male player.

He'd set up a gray carpet at the edge of the plaza with a chair, anvil, and shelf crowded together. The rug was a <Vendor's Carpet> a necessity for any enterprising merchant or crafter.