Yolko-san!
Asuna, you handle the rest!
Don't!
Damn it!
He's teleporting?
Where to?
Damn it...
The Phantom Avenger
Idiot! Don't be so reckless!
So what happened?
Unfortunately, he managed to teleport away.
I thought the system would keep us safe while we were in this inn. I really did.
Damn it!
That robe belonged to Griselda.
That was Griselda's ghost!
She's here to take revenge on all of us!
A ghost could easily PK at an inner area.
That wasn't a ghost.
There's got to be a system-related explanation for the two inner area murders.
There has to be.
Is that black-robed figure really Griselda-san's ghost?
I'm starting to believe it now that we've seen it happen twice.
No, that can't possibly be it.
If that was a ghost, it wouldn't use a teleportation crystal.
Teleportation crystal?
What is it?
It's nothing.
Here.
Is that for me?
What do you think I'm doing?
Do you think I'm just playing with you?
O-Okay, thanks.
It'll run out of durability and disappear soon, so you should eat it now.
U-Uh, sure.
It's really good.
Since when did you stock up on food?
Didn't I mention their durability will run out soon?
I figured this would happen, so I had these ready since this morning.
I'd expect nothing less from the strategic commander of the Knights of Blood.
So where did you buy these?
I didn't buy them.
Huh?
They didn't come from a store.
I can cook too, you know.
U-Um, I dunno what to say.
You could probably earn big bucks if you auction these off!
You're not getting another one.
What's wrong?
I see!
So that's what happened!
Huh? What did you figure out?
I...
No, we didn't really see anything.
We thought we saw something, but we were looking at something entirely different.
The inner area murders.
The weapons and method to carry those out...
...never existed in the first place!
19th Floor • Hill of the Cross
Griselda.
Your forgiveness is my only salvation.
I'm sorry! It's my fault!
Forgive me, Griselda!
I had no idea things would turn out like this!
Really?
Really? Really?
What did you do?
What did you do to me?
Schmitt.
I-It's just... It's just that...
I found a note and crystal in my belt pouch the day we agreed to sell the ring, with instructions...
Whose was it, Schmitt?
Whose instructions were they?
Grimlock?
Are you dead too?
Who? Who made you do it?
I-I don't know! I swear!
The note only said to sneak into Griselda's room, save the gateway crystal's destination,
and put it in the guild's shared inventory.
And then?
That's all I did!
I didn't mean to help with a murder!
Believe me, I beg you!
We've recorded everything you've said, Schmitt.
Th-They're alive?!
Yeah, they're alive.
Both Yolko-san and Kains are alive.
B-But...
Players cannot lose their HP at an inner area.
But an object can still lose durability.
Just like my sandwich.
Kains' armor was pierced by a spear.
But the spear was chipping away at the armor's durability and not Kains' HP.
S-So the thing that burst into little pieces was...
Yes, it was just his armor.
Which means Kains used his crystal to teleport away the moment his armor broke.
As a result, we saw something that looked just like a player's death animation but was something else entirely.
That means Yolko-san...
The dagger was inside her back the whole time she was talking with us.
The whole time?
Think about it.
She never actually turned her back to us in that room.
She talked to us while keeping an eye on her clothes' durability as it decreased.
Then she timed the whole thing to make it look like she'd been stabbed by a dagger flying in from the outside.
So the man in the black robe was...
I'm almost certain it was Kains and not Grimlock.
Yolko-san and Kains figured they could use that trick to fake their deaths,
and they used it to stage something frightening—inner area murders.
And the purpose of that was to ferret out the culprit behind the ring incident.
They conjured up a phantom avenger by acting out their murders.
They must have suspected Schmitt from the start.
Hey, Yolko-san is still in your friends list, right?
She's out in the field on the 19th Floor,
on top of a small hill some distance away from the town area.
I see.
Anyway, let them settle this themselves.
We've already fulfilled our obligations in this incident.
Okay.
R-Recorded?
So that's what it was.
You guys would go that far for Griselda.
You didn't hate her, did you?
O-Of course not!
Believe me!
It's true that I was able to qualify for the Divine Dragons by buying rare weapons with the money I received, but...
Paralysis?!
One down!
Don't tell me they're...
He's certainly quite the catch.
Isn't he one of the Divine Dragons' commanders?
The PK guild, Laughing Coffin.
Now, what game should we make them play?
Let's go with that one game, boss!
A deathmatch where we spare the winner!
But you ended up killing the winner the last time we did that.
It won't be a game if you ruin the surprise, boss!
Well then.
Shall we begin?
Looks like I got here just in time.
So, what'll it be?
My allies will be arriving any minute.
Are you going to take on 30 front-liners?
Let's go.
Good to see you again, Yolko-san.
I was going to apologize to you once it was all over.
But you probably don't believe me anyway.
Kirito!
You have my thanks for saving us, but how did you know those three men were attacking us here?
I didn't actually know.
I only inferred that possibility.
Kains-san, Yolko-san.
You got Grimlock-san to make you those two weapons, didn't you?
He was reluctant about it at first.
He wanted Griselda-san to rest in peace.
But we pleaded as hard as we could, and he eventually made those weapons.
Unfortunately, he didn't oppose your plan for Griselda-san's sake.
If a major, attention-grabbing event like an inner area PK were to occur, someone is bound to figure it out.
I only figured it out 30 minutes ago.
I completely fell for Yolko-san's scheme, but I'm not mad about it at all.
Me neither.
Hey.
If you were in their position and a super rare item dropped, what would you do?
Let's see.
One of the reasons I go solo is to avoid those squabbles.
We give it to whomever first received the drop.
We stick to that rule.
In SAO, you don't know what items were dropped until the players declare them, right?
That rule is the only way to avoid problems like players hiding their drops.
Also...
That system is why marriages in this world have significance.
If you marry someone, you share your inventory with them, right?
So once you marry someone, you can no longer hide anything from them.
This inventory sharing is a very pragmatic system, but I also think it's very romantic.
Say.
What?
Asuna, have you ever married someone?
No, no!
That's not what I meant!
You were saying how it was so romantic and plastic...
That's not what I said!
I said it was romantic and pragmatic !
And by "pragmatic," I meant practical, by the way!
Practical? You mean SAO marriages?
That's right!
Shared inventories keep things honest between people, in a sense.
What?
Shared... inventories?
If your spouse dies, what happens to the items?
After sharing your inventory with your spouse, what happens to the items if he or she dies?
You mean Griselda-san and Grimlock-san?
Hmm, if one of them dies...
...then the other one gets all the items?
So that means the rare ring in Griselda-san's inventory...
It would go to Grimlock's inventory instead of the culprit's.
So the ring wasn't stolen?
No, that's not it.
It was stolen.
Grimlock took the ring that was in his inventory.
Grimlock?
So he gave me that note and killed Griselda?
No, he wouldn't dirty his hands like that.
He probably hired some red players who specialize in dirty work to do the actual killing.
He couldn't...
If he's the real culprit, why would he cooperate with us on our plan?
Maybe because you told Grimlock your entire plan.
He could use that as a way to bury the ring murder case for good.
He could wait for the moment when you, Kains-san, and Schmitt are all gathered together
and have you all killed in one fell swoop.
I see...
So... So that's why those PK guild members were here.
He's probably associated with them ever since he hired them to murder Griselda-san.
No...
Here he is.
You can ask him the details.
Hey, long time no see, guys.
Grimlock-san...
Are... Are you really a...
Why, Grimlock?!
Why did you kill Griselda-san, your own wife, and steal the ring for money?!
Money?
Money, you said?
It wasn't for money.
I...
I had to kill her, no matter what...
...while she was still my wife.
She was also my wife in the real world.
She was the ideal wife in every way.
She was cute, she was docile...
We never fought even once.
But after we were imprisoned in this world, she changed.
I was the only one who feared and cowered from this game of death that we were forced into.
She seemed so much more vibrant and fulfilled here than in the real world.
I had no choice but to accept the fact...
...that the Yuuko I loved no longer existed.
Given that...
How can you blame me for using the fact you can murder legally here to preserve Yuuko within my memories forever?!
That's why you killed your wife?
It's more than good enough of a reason.
You'll understand one day, Mr. Detective,
when you're about to lose the love that you found.
No.
You're the one who's wrong, Grimlock-san.
It wasn't love that you felt for Griselda-san.
It was just a desire to possess her!
Kirito-san, could you let us deal with him?
Okay.
Hey.
Let's say you marry somebody and later discover a hidden side to her.
What would you think?
I'd consider myself lucky, I guess.
I-I mean, if I marry someone, it means I already love the side she's been showing, right?
So if I find out later that she has another side to her and grow to love it too,
i-it'd be double the experience...
Well, whatever.
More importantly, I'm hungry.
We didn't eat before coming here.
Y-You're right.
We've been away from the front lines for two days now.
We need to make up for that starting tomorrow.
Yeah, I'd like to clear the current floor within the week.
What now?
Hey, Kirito-kun.
Wanna friend each other?
You haven't friended anybody yet, right?
Since we're both front-liners, it'd be much easier if we could contact each other.
But I go solo, remember?
I'm not asking you to party with me.
Besides, you need to make some friends.
R-Really?
I guess it wouldn't hurt—?!
Think about it over breakfast.
Come on, let's go back to town.
O-Okay.