Sword Art Online: Another Reality

Tolbana Town.

The second-largest town on the first floor, approximately 200 meters wide.

It is the closest town to the first floor's labyrinth, only 30 meters away from its entrance, and the site of the first-floor boss strategy conference.

While Sharia had gone to the labyrinth a few times, he had already warmed up to Horunka Village.

There was less noise there, and the environment was more comfortable for him than the crowded Tolbana Town.

In short, Sharia didn't like crowded places much.

However—

Once again, Sharia had returned to this city, presumably for the last time, as they would be clearing the first-floor boss tomorrow.

[Items]

[Stamina recovery crystals x15]

[Recovery crystals x10]

[Abnormal Status Crystal x15]

[Healing Potion x20]

He had also procured lots of items, especially potions and crystals. While he was confident in himself, he was also rather cautious.

Arriving at the entrance of the town, just in front of the city-gate-like arch, Sharia blinked as he looked towards a figure nearby.

The person seemed to be waiting for someone, and it was someone he recognized. "Argo?"

He tilted his head as he saw her looking towards him before approaching.

Upon arriving in front of him, she lightly tapped him with the back of her hand. "It's good to see you're still alive, Shar."

Hearing her way of greeting him, he smiled awkwardly. After all, she was the only one who knew what he had been doing for the past one month.

"Haha."

"When I suddenly heard about what you told me last month, I was pretty shocked."

"I personally conducted several researches but..."

Argo's voice trailed off as she shook her head. That monster never appeared in the beta.

She kind of blamed herself because she had inadvertently endangered his life, but Sharia had told her not to think about it back then.

"But don't worry, Shar. If it's indeed connected to a hidden quest, you'll eventually come across it in the future," Argo said with a smile.

According to her knowledge, that was a special type of monster.

If it was connected to a hidden quest, then the one who killed the guardian was destined for the quest.

As for how she was so sure about that, it's simply because it's the norm.

Once an event or hidden quest has been revealed, there are those who would contact information brokers for more details.

And among the information brokers, information spreads like wildfire.

Furthermore, as one of the popular information brokers in SAO, there was no way she wouldn't hear news about it.

"Heh, thanks, Argo." Sharia smiled as they began walking into the town of Tolbana. "By the way, why are you here?"

He doubted she was here for the strategy meeting.

She was an information broker, not a front-liner. Though, he'd be pretty surprised if that was the case.

"Ahh, that. I'm here for something, and would you guess, that something happens to be related to today's strategy meeting."

Argo narrowed her eyes in seriousness, despite her relaxed tone.

'Did this event happen in the anime...? Nah.' Sharia thought.

Since he was already here, he couldn't use his knowledge to predict what would happen.

This wasn't an anime anymore. This was real life.

However, even though this was now his reality, things were still on their predetermined path.

"That aside, who discovered the boss room?" Though he already knew, he asked just to be sure.

"Hm, it was a party. The name of the leader of that party if I remember correctly is Diabel," Argo replied, holding her chin as they continued.

When it came to Sharia, Argo didn't put up her guard. He was someone who didn't care if a person was a closed beta tester or not.

In terms of strength, he wasn't bad—no, in fact, he was even better than some to most beta testers.

Moreover, he was also a solo player.

He was currently the only player closest to the testers, who had used their foreknowledge of the game for themselves.

Hence her desire to support him.

Sharia nodded upon hearing this. 'Alright, so far so good. Only a little has changed.'

Diabel was still the one who discovered the boss room, another closed beta tester. But there were a few things he did that quite pissed Sharia off.

Because he wanted the last hit reward that most newbie players didn't know about at that time, he died.

Even before that, he could have survived since Kirito got to him early, but the stupid man let himself die.

No matter how much Sharia thought about it, it didn't make sense. In the end, it was for the plot, not like he mattered after that episode.

He was just a random side character for the progression of the plot, much like several others.

Even his lackey Kibaou became somewhat important along the line. But Diabel? He was just a tool to promote the plot!

Oh no, Sharia didn't hate him, no way. At the same time, you couldn't say Sharia liked him.

In terms of leadership, Diabel's talent would have been useful.

Heck, even if he didn't get stronger in the future, he would have been one of the important strategists in the front-liners' ranks.

Yet... all that talent just had to go to waste because of the plot.

And don't even get him started on how many complaints he had against Blackie-sensei.

It felt to him like the author was doing everything to make him emo before his interactions with his girls.

And even then, Sharia didn't really care about the girls around him.

"Shar, we're here."

Argo's voice brought Sharia back from his reverie as she led him into the strategy room.

Rather than a room, it was more like a mini-colosseum or amphitheater that didn't quite make it.

Argo entered first, with Sharia following behind her as they ascended to an upper, deserted section, taking their seats on the cold benches.

As Sharia sat down, he blinked before looking at Argo. "D-don't tell me, you're planning on participating in the boss battle?"

"Huh? Am I being underestimated here?" Argo turned to look at him speechlessly, but to her shock, Sharia only nodded.

"You don't seem like the type that would hold out for long."

To his harsh words, Argo could only grit her teeth in annoyance before deciding to ignore him.

She turned her head as if looking for someone, which also caught Sharia's attention. Seeing her do this prompted him to look around.

Sitting at the other end of the strategy room silently was a person wearing a red cloak, with chestnut hair peeking out from under it.

Seated nearby the red-cloaked figure was the honored one himself, the overpowered protagonist wrong, Kirito Kirigaya Kazuto, in his full glory.

'As emo as always, eh? Sensei.' He joking thought before, "heh. Interesting."

Sharia muttered under his breath, his lips curling up slightly, not noticing that Argo was looking at him weirdly.

Of course, she also recognized Kirito but ignored him for now.

Another plot character was sitting right below—a muscular, tanned, burly man, Agil. Who can also be considered a minor-major supporting character.

After all, he had also done a lot for Blackie, especially in ALO.

He was the one who investigated Asuna's whereabouts to relay them to Sensei, which prompted him to play ALO to release Asuna from her captivity.

Speaking of which—that guy called Sugou is the next target after Kayaba. Hehehe. All second-rate antagonist deserves to die don't they? Hehe.

That aside.

Though Sharia hadn't interacted with Agil yet, he planned to do so in the future, along with Lisbeth.

One was a well-known trader, and the other was a blacksmith!

This was another chance for him to get his own exclusive blacksmith, and he wouldn't let that chance pass.

Now that almost everyone had arrived, a man with blue, wavy medium-length hair stood up and moved to the front where everyone could see him.

Diabel.

Although he looked slightly different in person, Sharia still recognized him.

"Is everyone here? Then I'll begin," Diabel said, clapping his hands to draw everyone's attention, a smile on his face.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Diabel. I consider my profession..." Diabel paused, patting his armour with a smile before continuing, "to be a knight."

He said those words to ease the tension, and surprisingly, it worked.

"What? There are no professions in this game," someone immediately retorted with a laugh, which lightened the already tense atmosphere a little.

'Impressive.' Sharia watched Diabel standing below, laughing along with everyone who found his words funny.

With just a few words, Diabel had eased the tension and wariness among the unfamiliar players.

"Surely. This person must be charismatic in the real world," Sharia commented, glancing towards Argo, who raised an eyebrow. "You think?"

... Seeing that the tense atmosphere had lifted a little, Diabel continued, "Yesterday, my team and I discovered the boss room at the top of the labyrinth."

Everyone remained silent, all eyes fixed on Diabel, as this was the reason they had come.

"So today, I specifically called everyone here for a strategy meeting," Diabel continued.

"Over a month has passed, yet we have only now discovered the boss room."

"In order to progress forward, we need to defeat the boss, reach the second floor and tell everyone in the Town of Beginnings that, we can clear this game—!"

His inspirational words ignited a fire in everyone's heart as they all silently agreed, looking at each other and nodding their heads.

Seeing everybody silently agreeing with his view, Diabel also nodded, preparing to continue.

However, just as Diabel was about to speak again, he was suddenly interrupted. "—Wait!"

A short middle-aged man appeared at the back of the crowd. His hairstyle looked odd, and he had a small tuft of beard on his chin.

"And who are you?"

Seeing someone interrupt his speech, Diabel didn't show any anger; instead, he looked curiously at the middle-aged man.

"The name's Kibaou!" The short middle-aged man stepped forward.

'This guy.'

Sharia frowned, remembering who this Kibaou person was. If Sharia were to sum him up in one word, scratch that, make that two words, it was:

A meddler and a power-hungry person.

[It was more than two words wasn't it.]

Anyways.... Thanks to his words after Diabel's stupid death, though he probably didn't mean it that way, but regardless....

... He drove Kirito into a corner, forcing Blackie to take most of the heat that the beta-testers would have taken.

From then on, things just went downhill for Blackie.

Thinking of this, a slightly amused smile appeared on his face. He crossed his arms quietly, watching the indignant Kibaou.

...

Intermission.

...

Kibaou took three steps forward, stopping beside Diabel before turning to the crowd.

His eyes swept over everyone present with an expression filled with resentment as he angrily proclaimed.

"Before this meeting continues, I have two things to say!"

"Some of you here need to apologize for the death of over 2,000 people who died over the past month!" He pointed his finger to the players on the seat.

His sudden accusation made the players tense up again, warily looking at each other.

"Hold on a minute," Diabel interjected suddenly. "Mr. Kibaou, are you referring to those players from the closed beta test?"

"Exactly!" Kibaou nodded vehemently.

"The beta guys ditched us beginners and disappeared the day this stupid game started!"

"They took all the good hunting spots, easy quests for themselves, so only they could get stronger. They couldn't even care less about us."

Kibaou ground his teeth, appearing as though he was advocating for the average player.

Then, he turned to the players. "I damn sure some of you were in the beta! They should get on their knees, apologize, and give up all the items and money they've hoarded."

"Wow. How convincing," Sharia whistled softly with widened eyes.

Had he not known Kibaou's true nature beforehand, Sharia might have been swayed by his words.

Glancing at Argo, who was seated nearby, Sharia quietly asked, "Argo, what do you think? Are you angry?"

Argo glanced at Sharia, shaking her head nonchalantly. "No, not really. I just want to punch that guy."

She said the last part with a smile—scratch that, a menacing smile.

"H-haha...."

As they spoke, Agil, seated not far below them, suddenly raised his hand. Standing up, he made his way to the front, towering over Kibaou.

Ignoring Kibaou's furious expression, Agil pulled out a palm-sized book from his inventory. "You received this book, didn't you?"

"This is a strategy guide that was distributed for free by the item shop," Agil calmly explained, causing Kibaou to nervously take a step back.

"Yes, I received one. So what?"

"Well, I'll have you know, this strategy guide was compiled from the data given by the beta testers."

Agil's words shocked several non-testers in the group, who stared at each other in disbelief.

They had honestly believed Kibaou's words since Kibaou's words were in some ways somewhat true.

"Yet, despite receiving this guidebook, several players still died."

"I thought we would be discussing what we can learn from their deaths and how that can help us defeat the boss."

Agil calm words reached other players instantly easing their nerves, they turned to each others nodding.

Agil's reasoning was reasonable enough.

"Tsk. Hmph!"

Realizing he couldn't sway the crowd any longer, now that Agil had bluntly stated the truth, Kibaou snorted in frustration and returned to his seat.