An Englishman in Castle Aincrad

Floor 9 - Chapter 8 - Elf War Epilogue

Argo was not a particularly tall person, but she made up for that with her presence. She could intimidate people twice her size, Jet had once reckoned, albeit incorrectly. Regardless, she seemed to have a slightly different tone than usual... she seemed more relieved, if he had to guess. Though, the look she was giving Kirito had seriously put that theory in jeopardy... if looks could kill, then chances were, he'd be writing the swordsman's eulogy.

''Ya managed ta beat it by hair's width, ya know! Turns out those o' ya's were the key in the end, 'specially after they'd had that enchantment put on 'em! S'ppost ta let ya nullify his spell when he made his hide unbreakable... which ya'd have known, if Kii-bou here had checked his messages a lil sooner!'' Usually, Jet would've been quite amused by the sight of less than five foot tall Argo, trying to square up with someone nearly a whole head taller, but for once he could understand where she was coming from. He hadn't been present for most of the fight, but he'd have quite liked to have known about the enchanted swords too!

That also being said, it wasn't as Kirito had hid it, he'd probably not even glanced at his messages, so to know that Argo had found something like that at the last possible second, would've required him to either be very lucky, or psychic. Considering he was stuck in Aincrad like the rest of them, took on the brunt of a witch hunt, and was currently being glared down by Argo... he was certainly not a lucky individual, and as for the psychic? Well, if he were psychic, Kirito already knew what he thought of that. ''Leave him alone Argo, it wasn't his fault that we all missed something until it was too late. Still though, can't say I ever imagined I'd have a magical sword! My own personal Excalibur...'' Jet looked lovingly at his sword, whilst Koharu looked towards the sword with a small hint of jealousy in her eyes...

Argo rolled her eyes. ''Hold yer horses, King Arthur...''

Tearing his eyes away from undressing his sword, not that Argo knew how that would even work, Jet checked his messages. A few from Strea, all unread, one from Klein, one from Sachi, an unspecified number from Argo, given the counter stopped at 99, and one from Kizmel. The usual... hang on, one from Kizmel?! That threw him off guard almost immediately. Could NPCs even send messages? He'd never encountered one that could before, but then again, he'd not met that many either. A strange thought popped into his head - Kizmel was unusual even by NPC standards, she was something else... she was clever. She'd picked up on both his and Koharu's feelings for each other, possibly before they had... certainly before they'd admitted it, anyway, and she'd developed a sense of humour, thanks to him and Phillia... maybe his theory that she was something different had some merit to it.

Oh, and now Argo was staring at him, given he was staring intently at his message window. ''Ya know ya girlfriend's right here, ya don't need ta look at pictures of her... ohh, unless...'' She teased, her eyebrows wiggling and a grin forming, as both Jet and Koharu went bright red at the implication. Unsurprisingly, Kirito looked baffled at the teasing, missing the implication as it soared over his head like a paper airplane in the wind.

''It's not like that!'' Both defended vehemently, and in stereo.

Argo fought back her laughter at the couple. ''Nyeheheh, I know it ain't. Still though, what's up?''

''Just something on my mind. Argo, Kirito, can NPCs send messages?'' Jet asked, careful not to look like a madman.

''I've never seen that before...'' Kirito answered, checking his own messages. Perhaps it was something from completing the Elf War Quest? Other than increasingly angry messages from Argo, his inbox was clear, so that ruled that out...

''Same here, that's a new 'un?'' Argo answered, a little confused at the question. It wasn't often that a question about the mechanics of this world stumped the Rat, but that one had. She made a note to research that one, because the last thing she wanted was a nasty surprise somewhere down the line, in the form of a missed quest, or a piece of pertinent information missed. ''Anyway...'' Argo took a look around the chamber, and noticed the two girls a bit away from the group. ''Who's the new gal with Aa-chan?''