The Exploiter (A Sword Art Online Fanfic)

Chapter 24:Bodyguard

I pulled at the sleeves of my red and white uniform as asuna and the tailor looked me over.

"Are you done looking at me? I'm feeling like I'm in a display case or something.",I told her. She ignored me, and continued to scrutinize my uniform.

"Yes. This will be fine. Collect your payment for the treasurer for the guild."

The tailor quickly bowed and left the room, and I glared at asuna." Is this really necessary? I feel like I'm dressing up for a party or something."

She sighed, and straightened out a crease in the fabric." This is a compromise you'll have to take. Being my bodyguard means people will respect you, and I can keep an eye on you at the same time."

I sighed as well, before strapping my sword at my waist." Your other bodyguard has been with you for months, and people still hate him. But that might be just because he's creepily obsessed with you."

Asuna smacked me on the head." Don't talk about Kuradeel that way. He's been protecting me for months, even if I don't want it."

After a bit of messing around with my outfit, I decided to leave the hood open, so people could see my face. The outfit was simple, a traveler's cloak that hid most of my body and armor, and the insides were linked with pockets to hold my weapons.

After I was ready, I left to go meet kirito to raid a floor, with asuna promising me that she would catch up. I used a teleport crystal to head into the town's teleport gate, and found kirito leaning on one of the teleport gate pillars.

Before I could warn him, I crashed into him, and asuna chose that moment to appear from the portal. As we collapsed into a pile by the gate, asuna and kirito began to fight while I separated myself from the tangle of bodies.

I managed to get away from the two as another person stepped through the portal. Asuna quickly stopped fighting and hid behind kirito.

"I'm sorry for being a little too direct with you, vice-captain, but I cannot allow you to go alone." Kuradeel said, rapidly approaching asuna.

"I told you I don't want you protecting me, kuradeel. I have Y/N for that now, and I'm going with kirito."

"But-" kuradeel stepped forward, and I raised my sword to block him.

"The vice-captain doesn't want you here. Leave."

Kuradeel glared at me and tried to shove me away, and I countered with hitting him on the head. As we both began to fight, kirito separated us.

"Why don't we settle this with a duel?"

Kirito began to draw his sword, but I placed my hand on his to stop him.

"He's my problem to deal with."

Kuradeel snarled and drew his sword." I'll deal with you and prove to the vice-captain what an imbecile you are."

I quickly opened the duel menu and set it up.

"The first one to have their health drop into the red loses."

Kuradeel ignored me and took his place at one end of the courtyard, and drew his giant broadsword. I took my place at the other end and drew a dagger.

That seemed to enrage kuradeel even more, and as soon as the timer hit zero he rushed toward me, his sword going for my head with an overhead strike. Trying to counter with my dagger would probably cause my dagger to break.

His sword arced toward my head at lighting speed, but I was already to the side. As he finished swinging his sword, I used my dagger to draw a line on his left eye.

Kuradeel swung his sword like he was in a berserk rage. I sidestepped and ducked under his blows with ease. Someone like kirito would have ended the fight by now, keeping kuradeel's humiliation to a minimum. I wasn't kirito.

As the fight continued, I slowly added more and more cuts to kuradeel's body. Every time I cut him, the crowd that had formed around us cheered.

By the end of it, kuradeel looked more like a piece of steak than a member of the knights of the blood. His uniform was in taterers and one of his eyes was a massive scar.

As he fell to the round, I placed my dagger back into my inventory, and placed my arms around kirito and asuna's shoulders.

"Let's get going to the floor, shall we?"

Both of them nodded, and as we left, I could feel kuradeel's eyes burning a hole in the back of my head.