Unital Ring III: Rebellion In the Underworld

Interrogation And A Favor

"Well, well...you were every bit the berserker I expected." That comes from the tiger-man, Otto, as he and his three companions sit at the side of the road. The tiger, the monkey, the raccoon, and the dog person now seen as a fox are tied at the ankles with Needy's rope.

Kirito and Koharu remain armed. Kirito stands in front of them while Koharu fiddles with her dagger behind the tied quartet. "How was that fighting 'berserk'?" Kirito grunts in response. "That was totally clever, ingenious combat."

"Whatever you say," Ralcas the raccoon chirps. "Normally, in a three-on-two fight, you'd at least consider a strategy. You've gotta be crazy to start running even faster into combat."

"Euuugh... This gross taste just won't go away... Eww, what kind of magic was that?"

"We have experience in not running from an insane amount of danger. And here you go, Azuki." Koharu takes a pot of water from her inventory and hands it to the fox, revealed to be a female based off her voice when she introduced herself. She's still gagging from Kirito's Rotten Shot to the face. She glances skeptically at the pot, then at Koharu. "Don't worry, it's water."

"So...is anyone going to tell us why you were trying to kidnap her?"

Masaru looks behind Kirito to Asuna, Yui, Kuro and Aga.  The animals have been treated with salve for their burns, thanks to Asuna's Pharmaceutical skill, and potions for their HP. They glare back at the monkey, ready to rip it apart in revenge. "Let's see, where to begin... We reached the second tier in the morning two days ago, half a day after Asuka. But they're in a freezing region of ice and snow, where they have to deal with cold, while we're in a forest zone with ample water, food, and natural resources, so we should have been able to catch up quickly. We sent an advance team of five parties, totaling forty in all, to clear the first six or so miles, and found a clearing with a fresh spring of water, so we decided to use that as a resupply base." 

"Hold on. If there are forty in your scouting party, how many people in the AD faction have actually reached the second tier?"

Masaru glances at Otto before answering. "I'll answer your question, but I have no evidence to back it up."

"We'll decide whether it's true or not." 

"...About two hundred. Of course, not all of them are diving at the exact same time."

Koharu and Kirito share a stunned glance. Only nineteen ALO players have reached the second level — granted they just got here — but two hundred AD players in two days? Either that's a bluff or the people of Apocalyptic Date are more united than she suspected.

"I do not think he is lying?" Yui informs, which says a lot if she's reading his voice and emotion patterns as her abilities as a Mental Health Counseling Program gives her. Trusting her niece's instinct, Koharu nods to Kirito, and he turns his attention back to Yui.

"I see. In that case, I'll trust you on it."

"Also, although it is not foolproof, there is a way to test the hypothesis." 

"Oh? H-how?" 

"If we have Masaru open his menu, we can check the number of people registered in his friends list." 

"Ah...yes, that makes sense..." Without behind ordered, Masaru opens up his menu and hits the COMMUNICATION option. Over his shoulder, Koharu can see the number 218 in the upper right portion of the list.

 "He's telling the truth. You can keep talking" 

"Glad to hear it... So in order to build a base in the clearing in the forest, we started cutting down trees. There wasn't enough empty space there, and there were tons of valuable-looking conifers right around the clearing. And since we have tons of really strong therians like Otto over there, we quickly—"