"Yolko!" "Keep an eye on him!" "No wait!" "Damn!" "Where the hell does he think he's going?" "Shit... 80)}Mitometeta okubyou na kako" "1060)}The cowardly past that I'd acknowledged 80)}Wakaranai mama ni 80)}Kowagatteta ushiro no jibun ga Genjitsu wo ima ni utsusu scared Projecting reality onto today" "80)}Ikutsu mono sora wo egaita 1060)}I've drawn so many skies" "80)}Koko wa kitto hakanai kokoro 1060)}This must be my fleeting heart" "80)}Midashite 1060)}Out of control" "80)}Yume de takaku tonda karada wa this body soars so high" "80)}Donna fuan matotte mo furiharatteku 1060)}And it can brush away any fears that cling to me" "80)}Nemuru chiisana omoi hirogari dashite these budding feelings start to expand" "80)}Kizuku yowai watashi kimi ga ireba weak as I am..." "As long as I had you 80)}Kurai sekai tsuyoku ireta 1060)}I could stay strong in this dark world" "80)}Nagai yume miru kokoro wa sou eien de 1060)}My heart will dream a long dream forever" "I want to always be with you" "I'll give you everything I have... 725)}Illusionary Avenger" "You idiot!" "What's your problem?" "Well?" "What happened?" "I lost him." "He teleported off somewhere." "The system's supposed to protect players inside the inns." "she'd be safe in here." "Dammit." "That robe was Griselda's." "It was Griselda's ghost..." "She's come back to get revenge on us!" "only a ghost can PK someone in a safe zone!" "That wasn't a ghost." "Someone's using the system to kill." "That's the only way these murders could've happened in a safe zone." "I know it!" "I don't know what to think." "Was that black-robed figure Griselda's ghost? I'm starting to think it's possible." "No." "That definitely wasn't a ghost." "I bet my life on it." "Why would a ghost need a teleport crystal?" "A teleport crystal..." "What is it?" "it's nothing." "Here." "What?" "Is that for me?" "what do you think I'm doing?" "Showing it off?" "Are you gonna take it or what?" "thanks!" "Thank you." "Better eat it fast before it disappears." "Its durability is almost down to zero." "right!" "It's delicious." "When the heck you find time to pick this up? I packed one for us." "okay?" "you rock." "anyway?" "I didn't." "I made it." "so what?" "I-I don't even know what to say." "you make a killing selling these." "Should've been eating instead of talking." "Are you crying?" "That's right..." "That's it!" "What's it?" "What did you just figure out?" "I..." "No wait... we never saw a thing." "We just thought we did." "But we were seeing something else." "I was right." "The game doesn't allow killing inside a safe zone." "There's no weapon or system exploit!" "1065)}Floor 19:" "Cross Hill 934)}Griselda..." "The only way I can be saved now is if you forgive me." "I'm sorry..." "I'm so sorry!" "Griselda!" "I never thought this was going to happen!" "You have to believe me!" "Oh... really?" "really...?" "Schmitt." "Tell me what you did." "Tell me now." "okay. and there was a crystal and a note with instructions..." "Who were they from?" "Who gave you them?" "Grimlock?" "You're dead too?" "Tell me." "I want to know who gave you those instructions." "I-I don't know!" "I swear I don't know!" "The note said for me to bind the crystal to Griselda's room so whoever it was could get in!" "Then I had to put the crystal in the guild's shared storage." "Then what?" "That's all I did!" "I swear!" "I didn't want her to die!" "I didn't want to be part of that!" "believe me!" "Schmitt." "they're alive?" "they're alive." "Both Kains and Yolko." "B-But... a player's HP doesn't deplete on its own." "But the durability of an object does." "Just like that sandwich you gave me." "the spear was sticking out of Kains's armor." "It wasn't draining his HP though." "It was draining the durability of his armor." "it was... nothing else. poof." "Kains used a crystal to teleport out of his armor." "it looks a lot like what happens when a player dies in the game." "he didn't die." "what happened to Yolko?" "I bet the dagger was rigged to her back the whole time." "She had it all planned out." "But we would've seen." "Only if she turned around though." "not even once." "She kept an eye on her equipment's durability level while she was talking. all she had to do was act like she was hit by a dagger thrown from outside the window." "Who was the person in the black robe you chased?" "It wasn't Grimlock." "I'm pretty sure of that." "But Kains... he and Yolko were in it together." "They figured out how they could use this method to fake their own deaths." "Getting people to think they were murdered in a safe zone was a calculated twist." "Everything they did was designed to draw out the person behind Griselda's murder and expose him." "The only way to find out for sure was by faking their deaths and creating an Illusionary Avenger." "probably since the beginning." "don't you?" "she's in the field on floor 19." "just outside of town." "I see." "That's it then." "I guess they can handle it from here." "wouldn't you say?" "You were... recording?" "huh?" "You cared about what happened to Griselda after all." "did you?" "honest! I feel guilty getting money from my part of it." "so..." "Paralysis?" "One down!" "No way..." "That's a hell of a catch." "A big shot from the Holy Dragon Alliance." "the murder guild." "All right." "What game should we play with these three?" "I know!" "Let's play the one they have to kill each other!" "The last one standing wins!" "but last time we did that you killed the winner anyway." "come on!" "You spoiled it." "It's no fun if they know they're gonna die!" "All right." "Let's get this show on the road." "Ow!" "Looks like I made it just in time... now what?" "I've got thirty players from the Assault Team coming." "You guys wanna stay and fight them?" "Come on." "Yolko." "I was going to tell you the truth." "I am sorry we had to trick you to help us out." "Kirito... but... how did you figure it out?" "How did you know those three would attack us here?" "I didn't figure anything out." "is all. didn't you?" "but he was against our plan from the beginning." "All he wanted was to let Griselda rest in peace... but only after we got down on our knees and begged him." "but he had a different reason for not liking your plan." "Griselda had nothing to do with it." "He was worried faking PKs in a safe zone was gonna draw a lot of attention." "He didn't wanna take the risks of someone snooping around for answers." "We figured the whole thing out about half an hour ago." "didn't we?" "You know what?" "I don't really mind." "me neither." "Hey. what would you have done?" "I don't know." "I play solo." "Part of why I do is so I can avoid situations like that." "the one who got the kill gets it." "Those are the rules we have to play by. no one knows unless that person reports it?" "no one can hoard stuff because we worked out who gets what ahead of time." "the rules my guild play by gives the concept of marriage in this world real meaning." "you have to share your item storage." "but... you can't hide it anymore." "I think sharing storage with the person you're married to is wonderfully pragmatic." "I think it's also very romantic." "Hey... what?" "anyway?" "Wait!" "I didn't mean it!" "That didn't come out right!" "uh... you ass!" "What I said is "it's romantic and pragmatic!" "the word pragmatic means practical!" "My god..." "You think marriage in SAO is... practical?" "Of course." "everything's out in the open." "'cause of common storage." "What?" "That's it." "Common storage." "what happens to the items?" "right?" "what happens to their stuff?" "If you're talking about Griselda and Grimlock..." "Hmm..." "If one of them died... right?" "then the ring in Griselda's storage... not the killer's." "It's been sitting there this whole time." "It was never stolen in the first place?" "it was stolen." "It doesn't matter it's still there." "Grimlock was basically stealing it the minute he put his plan into action." "It was Grimlock?" "Those were his instructions?" "Then he killed Griselda too?" "I doubt he was the one who actually killed her." "Although..." "I'm pretty sure he went and found himself a red player to do it for him." "My god... why would he go to all that trouble just to help us out?" "!" "didn't you?" "Your plan was the perfect chance for him to bury the ring incident and any witnesses once and for all." "Schmitt and Kains to get together." "You'd be sitting ducks." "That's it." "That's why." "They knew we'd be here because he hired them!" "Yeah." "My guess is it was probably the same bunch he hired to kill Griselda." "Oh my god... found him." "you can ask the man yourself." "comrades." "I can't believe it." "Did you..." "Did you really plan this?" "How could you Grimlock?" "!" "Answer me!" "Why did you kill Griselda?" "Was it the money?" "Was the money so important to you that you killed your own wife for it?" "!" "Money?" "Did you say money?" "It wasn't for the money." "I had to..." "I had to kill her while we were stuck in this world." "I had to kill her while she was still my wife." "And because she was also my wife in the real world. so submissive." "we never had a single fight. she changed. terrified of playing this death game. more alive than she ever did in the real world." "There was nothing I could do about it." "She changed." "The Yuko I loved was gone!" "Gone!" "But then I realized that I didn't have to live with the way she was." "Murder is part of this game!" "I'd settle for the memory of her." "And who could blame me?" "That's why you did it?" "That's the reason you killed your wife?" "It's reason enough." "you'll understand too." "you'll do anything to keep it." "Grimlock." "You've got it all wrong." "You didn't love Griselda." "That's not what you felt." "You stopped loving her when you became selfish and possessive!" "we appreciate your help." "But I think this is our problem to deal with now." "Okay." "Hey... you found out she had a side to her you didn't know about?" "How would you feel?" "I guess... that I was lucky? doesn't it? then... that would be awesome?" "Right." "Good answer." "I'm hungry after all this." "I didn't really get to finish my dinner." "you didn't." "We should get back to work tomorrow." "We've been off the front lines for two days." "I was hoping to have this floor totally cleared by the end of this week." "Now what?" "Kirito..." "Do you wanna friend me?" "It's kind of silly not to." "It's convenient." "We are in the same Assault Team after all." "But I'm a solo player..." "I didn't say you had to form a party with me." "You should try to make some friends while you're here." "I don't know." "It's not that I don't want..." "Hey!" "no pressure." "let's go back and find a good restaurant." "okay." "80)}Tookuni kikoeta kane no ne ga sukoshi samishikute 1060)}The tolling of the faraway bells sounded a little lonely to me" "80)}Mou ichido tsuyoku kondo wa takaku kake nuketa all the way up" "80)}Tada kurikaesu genjitsu mo 1060)}Neither this reality that just keeps repeating itself" "80)}Hoshi no kazu no negai goto mo as numerous as the stars" "80)}Mezasu beki asu wo mitsuketa 1060)}Now that I've found the tomorrow I should strive for" "80)}Kono omoi ni wa katenai 1060)}None of them can overcome these feelings of mine" "80)}Me no mae ni hirakareta hate nai sekai opening up before my eyes" "80)}Tatoe yume demo ii 1060)}Even if it's no more than a dream" "80)}Mayoi tsuzukete mo mune no oku de tsuyoku it is strong" "80)}Zutto zutto hibiiteku 1060)}Echoing forever and ever" "80)}Sotto sotto hikatteru ever so softly" "826)}Next Time:" "The Temperature of the Heart"