Scout — Roleplayer Guild

Floor Twenty-Two, in the mountain range outside of Coral

Fitch gazed at the tiny village, made smaller by his distance atop the mountain. This world continued to amaze him with the beautifully membrane which hid the darkness beneath. He could still remember when he saw the true glow of it… When everything was new and fun. Even after being trapped here, he had his friends and they had him; everything was going to be fine and they could enjoy the world as though it were reality until they made it out. Without even trying, they’d been able to join the very strongest players amongst the world’s living denizens. One by one, it seemed, they were all disappearing.

“You weren’t there,” A voice hissed in his ear. He whipped his neck around, but there was nobody there. Before he turned back, it spoke again from the other side, “You could have been with them and helped Kenshin, but you weren’t.”

“Shut up,” He pleaded in a mumble, frustrated and lonely.

“Is this what you want? To sit here, wallowing in self-pity before returning to somebody you barely know, hmm? Or would you like to return to your friends?”

“I should get back…” He muttered to himself dejectedly, moving to rise.

“They’ll look at you as if it were your fault, you know,” It soothsaid to him. The boy didn’t grab his shield and he stopped halfway to getting off the ground.

“Maybe not… I mean… I’m only around them sometimes anyway, I’ll just be in the way,” He decided, sighing and sitting back down.

“Isn’t that… better?” The voice asked finally before disappearing. The demons one’s mind will manifest to make an excuse for their own choices are more powerful than any other.

“… Kyaa!” A voice called out from nearby. It was highly pitched and clearly young, but it held the confidence of a warrior who had been fighting for their entire lives. Fitch furrowed his brow, the monsters weren’t typically hostile around here unless you attacked them – then they all crowded. He was just looking for peace… so, who was interrupting that?

With more than a little bit of agitation, he rose and pulled out his blade, taking his shield from the ground and walking toward the source of the call. A small girl in a dark coat thrust a rapier forward with unparalleled speed as a monster burst from around it. She seemed to be barely a teenager. “Hey, do you mind going elsewhere?” He asked, only realizing after he said it that it was obscenely rude.

“Yes. I do. Do you mind not being so selfish?” She spat back venomously. She didn’t jump or seem surprised at all… Did she know he was there and intentionally choose to start training, or was she simply that stoic? His expression ushered forth an explanation from her, “Searching, Listening, and Detection. Any of those three would have given you away long before I got here, with the way you were muttering to yourself over there,” She pointed out flatly.

He blinked, “You know, for being so small, you’ve got quite the superiority complex. You might wanna watch your tongue, somebody less forgiving than me might catch wind of you and you’ll end up in a pretty bad way.”

She quirked an eyebrow and shook her head, “Not worried about it. Are you going to keep wasting my time, or will I be graced with your ego for the rest of my training session? I’ve a client to escort in… two hours… And I’d like to get as much done as I can before then.” The girl flicked her shoulder-length black hair out of her face in annoyance.

“Well, if you’d like, I can-“

She held up a hand to silence him, “Not interested. Guess I’ll go, then,” She sighed, muttering something about it being such a good training spot. Though she didn’t know him, she turned her head over her shoulder, “Oh, and… whatever it is – you should get there. They’ll want you, whoever ‘they’ are. That’s what friends and family are for,” She pointed out with a shrug before starting on after another training spot.

Two Hours Later, Present Time

Nero nodded, “Hey, Suto.” As everybody filed into the room, clearly perplexed. Yuna, however, arrived rather promptly and explained that there were plenty of spoils from the fight to go around, all crafted into some of the highest level gear they could have.

As they all looked to him for an explanation, he remained rather silent, deciding how best to share the information. They would all be aware of who Kazaro was, but he figured it would be best to formally introduce them all. “I’m sure you’ve all met on different occasions, but… Everybody, this is Kaz-“ He started before Kazaro rose a hand to stop him.

“Hold on, we’ve got one more coming. I figured it would be best to take care of everything at once,” He said, “She said she’d be here in a moment.”

“Don’t tell me you invited Sasayuka…” He groaned in agitation.

“Then I won’t tell you.” The Vice Commander rolled his eyes and moments later, the door opened. However, he and Nero were both surprised as Fitch entered instead of who they were expecting.

Nero cleared his throat, “Uh… Fitch, didn’t think you’d be here,” He sputtered slightly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Yeah, I… didn’t either… I kinda just decided to come back and see how everybody was doing… I… got the news,” He said, looking to Alphard empathetically. He knew where she was right this moment, though Jason was a new face. He didn’t introduce himself, he just found a seat. There was a subtle exchange as Nero looked to his new superior, who merely gave a small shake of his head without explanation. Nero simply shrugged as the final pair entered the room.

Sasayuka strode through the door with an air that made her appear as though she owned Aincrad itself. There was no end to her power, though it was far from physical. Behind her came Kimigami, who had recently made a name for herself both as one of the few trustworthy escorts in the virtual world and as one of the most powerful. It was clear that Sasayuka paid her quite a bit to be a simple guard.

As she and Fitch saw one another, they both called out in unison, “You!” And proceeded to nearly start bickering… Something about ego-centricity and intrustion. They were quickly silenced.

“Attention!” By Kazaro and their eyes darted to him in surprise. Nero cleared his throat and looked around the room.

“I’ve an announcement to make, guys. I suppose it’s a pretty big one, seeing as we’ve specifically invited the number one information broker in Aincrad along… This is Vice Commander Kazaro of the Knights of the Blood Oath,” He said as the man gave a small bow, “And… my new superior. Suto, Alphard, Jason, and Luna… You’ve all been cordially invited to join alongside me with nearly any condition you so desire so long as you aren’t asking to be hired on as any type of mercenary. You would officially become one of us and we want to stress that you’ve not obligation to join whatsoever. The choice is entirely yours and if any of you decline, there will be no hard feelings. In fact, you’ll still have plenty of time to yourselves and to devote to one another whether you join or not,” He explained. “The invitation comes from Commander Heathcliffe himself.”

Fitch looked down darkly. It was official… Even if none of them joined, his name was nowhere in the list. Although it was a rather surprising event in the first place and he wasn’t expected there, he had seen the exchange… He knew that Nero had to list their names rather than saying ‘except Fitch’ to avoid a conflict. It really didn’t work. He stood up, not letting his agitation show, and walked out of the room. As he passed Suto, he looked over stoically, “Good luck,” He said, leaving the room. Soon enough, he was shooting a message off to Doku. I’m ready.

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