An Englishman in Castle Aincrad

Floor 7 - Chapter 2 - Sage Advice

About thirty minutes later, Floor 7

''Ahh, that makes sense now.'' - Given Rain hadn't been with involved in the quest for quite a while, Jet and Koharu made use of the walk to explain how the Elf War campaign had gone since she left them on the Third Floor, Koharu making sure to inform her just how unbelievably reckless Jet had been on the Fifth Floor, facing off with Fuscus. Despite it having been the saving grace for them, Koharu had made it certain that he wouldn't forget just how angry she'd been at him, any time soon...

Thankfully for Jet, the sprint down memory lane, away from an angry Koharu, was interrupted by voices... ''Cover, now!'' - Jet forcefully whispered, as the trio took cover behind a tree stump...

''Anyway, could ya refrain from fightin' in tha boss fight from now on?''

''I don't mind, that's what I had in mind when I said what I did.''

''So, you aren't telling us you want us to stop doing quests on the Seventh Floor, are you?''

''I'm not that narrow minded! Just... my guys are unsettled that ya got a head start on us. Since e'rrythin' on the third and sixth floors, there's bin a new hardline movement in the ALS, one that wants ta compete wi' the DKB, cus we can't...'' - Asuna held her head and sighed, clearly frustrated at that.

''Do some people even remember what we're actually fighting for here...''

''Boggles my mind too...'' - Even Kibaou, stubborn as he was, had to admit that the sheer arrogance on display by some members of his guild was enough to test the patience of a saint. At times, it almost felt as if they wanted them to start fighting each other... ''Our goal's ultimately ta beat the Hundredth Floor, not ta drag e'rryone down. We've got ta show what we can do here, and bring back unity.'' - What went unsaid was that the ALS felt that couldn't be done with Kirito there...

Asuna didn't seem to take that particular implication too well, and fought back her anger at their collective arrogance - ''That's just an excuse!''

Kirito, on the other hand, didn't seem to as annoyed by that implication as he perhaps should've been - ''As long as you can defeat the boss, that's all that matters to me.'' - Asuna began to speak, but was quickly cut off by Kirito continuing - ''A solo player can't defeat the floor boss alone. I know we need a leader that can lead everyone. Someone who can bring a sense of security and reliability just by being there.''

''That person won't just magically appear, because you miss one boss fight, you know?''

Kibaou seemed equally annoyed at the unspoken sentiment that he wasn't good enough to lead the clearers either - ''I'm the leader of the Aincrad Liberation Squad. I at least have responsibility over them. I won't let ya deny that.''

''I know.'' - Kirito turned to his partner - ''You don't need to stick with me, Asuna. I already told you, you're needed for the boss fight.''

''Still, I'll go with you. We're in the middle of a quest, and I don't plan on quitting it halfway through.''

''I see... thank you, Asuna.''

''I don't think we were meant to hear that...'' - Rain mumbled, as she emerged from the hedge she'd taken cover in.

''It's like Liten said, ALS is being cornered... but this isn't right! We need to at least win that auction.''

''At least that much...''

''Then we should carry on. These woods are where we were supposed to go, right?''

''Yeah, the Dead Tree Forest.'' - An apt name, if ever Jet had heard one. The tree stumps and branches were all still present, but the yellow tinge of the area, mixed with the complete lack of foliage, bar a few shrubs, really made it feel like something cataclysmic had happened here. - ''Did all the trees wither from the rain?''