An Englishman in Castle Aincrad

Floor 19 - Chapter 1 - Groundworks

The past three months had been... a mixed bag for the group, if any of them were being honest.

The Fourteenth Floor had been another test in Jet's abilities to not die through sheer idiocy - at least in Strea's words, anyway - as they fought yet more things that were detrimental to his continued existence. Namely, a field boss that was, in fact, a giant mushroom, and had been reduced to nothing more than slithers by the time they'd all finished with it. Koharu had made a note to ask him about what mushrooms had ever done to him after that fight.

The Fifteenth and Sixteenth Floors had been relatively uneventful for the group, save for the bet being paid off on the latter. The groups had been in the process of fighting the field boss, when it somehow grown two extra limbs, and it had only been through the intervention of Kirito and Asuna that they'd all made it with barely a scratch on them.

Needless to say, that 50 Col went to the Reaper there.

The Seventeenth Floor had been far more interesting, in that the central mechanic of the floor was a set of white water rapids. That had been a surprising amount of fun for two members of the group, whilst the other two could barely speak after the sheer volume and duration of their screams, as they missed a turn and nearly went over the waterfall at the end...

The Eighteenth Floor, however, was just cold. That much they could all agree on, as they had spent nearly three weeks criss-crossing the floor, trying to solve the mystery of why the land had frozen, and to find the flame that would solve that particular problem - only to discover that said flame would in fact burn down the entire land.

All of which led them to the Nineteenth Floor.

A floor that had confused them all to no end as they exited the Teleport Gate... mainly as it was almost entirely barren, save for a few tents near to the gate, and what appeared to be a lake in the extreme distance. Looking over the land, it really was just grassland as far as they eye could see, and almost entirely featureless from a geographical point of view, the grass spread across the entire floor, possibly reaching as far as the edge of Aincrad.

''Uhh, what exactly are we supposed to do here?'' Jet asked, as he scanned the entire floor, seemingly. It wasn't too unusual that the floor quest was hidden, pat of the fun was finding it after all, but this was on a new level of hidden. Where exactly could it be in such a barren land?

''I wouldn't say no to some company on this expedition...'' The familiar voice of the friendly Dark Elf came from the nearby tents.

''Kizmel!''

''I'm glad to see you made it this far, you four. It is rather boring here, to be blunt.'' She admitted.

''What's even happening here, Kizmel?'' Phillia asked.

''An archaeological expedition to find a village from our past. Several hundred years ago, Lyusulans left our main territories and set up a number of villages for trading purposes and the like. One of these was the village of Nesse, which our historians believe now lies on this floor. With the war... dwindling down, Her Majesty has asked the knights to assist on more peaceful missions. I chose this one, but...''

''Archaeology isn't the most interesting thing in the world, if you're stuck on guard duty?'' Jet asked, ignoring Phillia glaring daggers at him, whilst Kizmel nodded slowly in agreement.

''Indeed. Tilnel always had a fascination with the village, and even if she is no longer here, I am still her sister, and I grew up listening to her ideas. I would be lying if I said I wasn't at least somewhat curious.''

''So, this village, any ideas why it might have disappeared?'' Jet asked.

''The stories were that it disappeared overnight. The children were all found in a nearby village, but the adults were never heard from again.'' Kizmel explained. ''Of course, those were nothing more than fairy tales, so I doubt they hold too much truth. What is true though, is that the children were found in a nearby village with no knowledge of what happened, and the village has never been found since.''