Sword Art Online - Alternative Reality

The Diva and Her Knight CHP.2

After sending the rest of the guild members back to HQ, I took a seat at the round table the other 3 had already chosen. The 2 prospective members, Nautilus and Yuna, seemed to be abnormally on edge, while my partner had his typical aloof gaze wandering throughout the restaurant. Since Agil and Klein greeted me before they went off to have their lunch break, I knew that the worse hadn't happened, but that still left several questions...

"Well, first let me say that it's good to see that all of you are alright, but there are still some things we have to discuss."

Looking up at me, Yuna, who I had spent the morning with as I oversaw her training along with the other 2 recruits, had a tense and apologetic expression on her face.

"Um, vice-commander, this is my fault. I panicked and called you down here before I knew what was going on..."

About 20 minutes prior, Yuna had sent me a message saying that someone had activated the trap down in 'The Swarming Mines' and that those two were still down there. I was fairly confident in Kirito's ability to get out of any dangerous situation that could occur, especially after I had Agil and Klein join up with them, but that didn't stop the cold from grasping my heart when I read the message and rushed to gather the guild members before they went off for lunch. At least we got to meet up earlier than planned today...

"You don't have to apologize Yuna, you did the right thing. When we know that someone's in trouble, it is our job to do everything we can to help them out. You to Nautilis, there is no reason for you to be so tense... as for you Kirito..."

Calling his name, Kirito jumped slightly as he looked over to me, his darker-than-night eyes having glints of mischief in them with a small smug smile on his face. While it was annoying he wasn't taking this seriously, at least it looked like he was sleeping better now.

"You told me that everything would be fine and you two would be able to handle it. So, just how did you trigger one of the most obvious and well-known traps on this floor?"

"Hey, it wasn't my fault. It all started when for some reason, Agil and Klein were down here on their own and joined up with me and Naut. Everything was going fine until a certain scraggy bandit jumped the gun and popped open the pod. Anyway, we made it out just fine, safe, and sound. Tho I am sorry about making you come down here."

"...Naut..?"

...and it looks like the ones I sent to keep an eye on him were the actual source of the problem, and Kirito was already giving nicknames to the recruits. With Yuna giving a slight giggle to Nautili's reaction at his new designation, I couldn't stop my sigh.

"Hah... in that case it looks like the Fuuzikannen will have to provide some hazard pay... well so long as your- you two are safe that's all that matters. So, how do you feel after all of that Nautilis? Has there been any improvement?"

Shaking his head, Nautilus looked back down while grinding his teeth before he continued in a low voice.

"I'm sorry vice-commander... it was my fault that the acting commander and the others were put in danger. Although I was mostly fine during our mission, there were times where my body began to freeze up, and I almost lost complete control when we were trying to escape..."

While Kirito cringed at being called 'acting commander I recalled the incident from almost a week ago when the commander brought in the 4 recruits. Their stats and gear were within acceptable standards, the problem was that they lacked real combat experience on the front lines since they all had apparently worked in larger pick-up groups before being scouted. While Nautilus had shown the most combat potential among all of them, the issue lay with his condition that showed up when we tried to take down a respawned field boss from a lower floor.