Counting losses was never easy, even when those losses were just one player and one wolf. It was still death.
After the raid was over and King Atlametis the Failed Chimera was dead, felled by Issin, Drifter ordered each guild to yell their count. It was standard procedure, and he grimaced when Ambros' guild called one short.
Drifter's fellow guild leader seemed angry, more than anything. The spearmaster held back from saying anything. Each person dealt with death differently.
Such as Silica, who wasn't crying. It was unfair that she felt the need to hold back from grieving for Feredir so as to not disrespect the player who had fallen, but not everyone saw the wolf as anything more ran a pet.
Drifter was about to walk over to console their youngest member, but Wolv and Kizmel were there first. Each of them took hold of one of her shoulders and led her up the stairs.
The spearmaster closed his eyes and stiffled the urge to curse. Not right now.
So instead, he nodded to the Assault Team. They had done a good job. Had Drifter been younger and less experienced, he would be blaming himself for the ones who died - he led the raid, after all. But by all parameters, this was still considered a very successful round floor boss battle.
"Good work, everyone. I'll see you all soon. Don't do something stupid, and be safe."
There was more he could say, but not anything any of them would want to hear right now. Unfortunately, this was far from new to them.
And Drifter still had one teammate to mourn, and another he needed to talk to. He didn't like how blank Ran was. Holding in your emotions so much rarely ended well.
"Kirito, take everyone to the next floor. Ran... With me."
His friends hesitated, and Yuuki started to talk, but Ran cut her off with a shake of her head. She mimicked Drifter by pulling out a Teleport Crystal.
Two flashes later, and they were in the last safe zone they had registered. Coral Village on the 22nd floor. Ran was still silent.
Drifter started walking, and she followed him. Other than a few old folk who waved in greeting to them, the settlement was mercifully empty.
Still, Drifter went further, past the gates and out into the wilderness. By now, Ran had a good inkling of where Drifter was taking her.
They kept quiet the entire way, each lost in their thoughts. Drifter was dreading the conversation ahead, and wondering what to say when they arrived at their destination. Ran was replaying the raid in her head, especially the moments immediately before and after Feredir's sacrifice, in excruciating detail, for the nth time.
Finally, after walking for what felt like an eternity but couldn't have been more than 10 minutes, they arrived at a small lake, out of the way from the more well traversed paths of the floor.
A cozy wood cabin with a 'for sale' sign sat at the shore of the lake. Drifter led Ran away from it, to the other side of the lake, where a giant weeping willow towered over, branches brushing against the water surface.
Ran smiled despite herself. This was a spot she and Yuuki had found during one of their little adventures, back when there was no Laughing Coffin to stop them from going out with just the two of them. Much simpler times.
It had become one of the favorite hangout spots for Reaver's Requiem after the sisters showed it to the rest of the guild. Asuna had already called dibs on buying the cabin on the other side if she and Kirito decided that they wanted a honeymoon away from the rest of the guild one day.
She wondered if she would still be around to see that.
Quietly, Drifter and Ran lowered themselves to the ground, using the weeping willow's roots as seats. For a long time, they just watched the small ripples spreading over the lake's surface each time the breeze swayed the branches.
"Ran... What happened?"
"I don't know."
It was the truth.
"Is it going to happen again?"
"I don't know."
That was the truth too.
"What should I do?"
"I don't know."
She hadn't lied yet.
Drifter sighed. He was refusing to look at her. That suited Ran just fine.
"I can't afford to let you go, Ran. Just like I couldn't let Silica rest. I've never felt more like a monster than now."
"You aren't one."
"I am. I am. I asked Silica to fight when her heart was broken. And now I'm asking you to die."
"It's my choice."
"It is. So I guess we are both monsters."
Now the spearmaster turned to her. And Ran smiled. She cried in relief. Because she had been so afraid he would ask her to leave. To be safe.
"Precise Blade Ran. No. Konno Aiko. I need you to fight. And if whatever happened today happens again... I need you to die alone. You can't drag someone else down with you."
Ran smiled. She could taste the tears.
"That's the first time you used my real name since we all shared ours after the 25th Massacre."
Drifter closed his eyes. A pair of arms embraced his waist, and he pressed Ran's forehead against his chest.
"I never knew Konno Aiko. Only Ran. Please... Please don't die on me. I can't lose more family."
"You will take care of Yuuki."
It wasn't a question. Drifter didn't need to answer. But he spoke anyway.
"Of course I will. She's my sister too."
Ran smiled and cried and laughed and sobbed. Drifter hugged her tighter.
-----------------------
It hurt to watch. Seijirou turned away from the screens and took refuge in his office. He had so many people calling him today. So many generals and politicians and businessmen who had somehow heard the news asking how and why Ran was still alive in SAO, and most importantly, how did they replicate it.
He wondered if those same people were feeling the least bit ashamed while watching Ran sell her fate away, not knowing and yet fully aware she was already dead, only her sister's name on her lips. He doubted it.
Seijirou had never hated anyone as much as he hated Kayaba right now.
She was a child. Drifter too, for all he was was an adult. And yet, here was a child asking another to die. Because what other option did they have?
"Fuck!"
Suddenly overcome with emotions, Seijirou grabbed his computer monitor, ripping the cords away, and threw it against the wall. Wisely, none of his subordinates tried to enter his office to find out what the noise was about.
It took a long time for Seijirou to calm down. When he did, he opened a drawer on his desk and pulled out a bottle of alcohol. It was sealed. For all the bad he had seen since he had taken over the SAO task force, Seijirou had yet to feel the need to open it.
He ripped the seal apart. Forgoing a glass, he swallowed three mouthfuls straight from the bottle. Feeling the burn as it went down his throat did nothing to ease the knot in his stomach.
THUNK!
Putting the bottle down with a lot more force than was necessary, Seijirou got up and grabbed his suit jacket. Ran didn't have any family left in this world but for those trapped with her. Ambros' guildmate did.
-----------------------
Many of the Reavers asked where Drifter and Ran had gone and what they had talked about. Not all of them had seen Ran freezing, but they all noticed Drifter benching her for the latter half of the raid.
They recounted the entire conversation without leaving out a word. After crying, Yuuki was furious with both of them. She spent several days without talking to either of the two.
Neither blamed her. And if Silica yelled at Drifter for what he said about forcing her to fight, and if Kizmel gave Ran a disappointed stare when she tried to take blame for Feredir's death... They deserved it.
"Feredir was a warrior's companion. He fulfilled his role to the end. I grieve for him, and you should do the same, sister Ran. But never diminish his sacrifice by claiming it was anything but his choice."
The dark elf wasn't nearly as okay with it as she tried to show, Drifter could tell. They all could. But she still meant every word.
Life went on. A little dimmer. A little sadder. But the next morning, Reaver's Requiem was out exploring the 41st floor. And nobody treated Ran like glass, even if they threw worried glances her way every so often.
Silica... Her situation was more delicate. She wasn't just the youngest Reaver, but also the youngest frontliner and combat active player. She had just turned 14.
If they weren't treating Ran like she was some fragile maiden, then it would be unfair to act like Silica would break if they weren't careful. But there was no denying the young tamer was in a much worse state than everyone else.
The reason behind it wasn't just Feredir's death. It came from the feeling of hope being crushed.
After the wolf died, a tooth, a sharp fang, was left in his place. It was a Memento. An item that could be used to revive a fallen pet. Silica had treated it like her lifeline.
Expect Mementos could only be used within 48 hours of the pet's death. After that, they became just a pretty trinket and a painful memory.
And the description of the fang said very clearly that to revive Feredir, they needed to bring it to the Hill of Memories.
On the 47th floor.
Silica's soaring hope had crashed and burned, and the Dragon Tamer's spirit with it.
She still fought. But to see their friend so lifeless hurt the Reavers deeply. And it was worse because, while they talked to her about it, the truth was there was nothing they could do.
It took a week for Silica to regain some of her previous liveliness. And only because time eventually dulled the pain.
She had taken to carrying Feredir's Fang on a string around her neck. At any given time, one of the Reavers would look at their friend to find her fiddling with it.
-----------------------
Someone else was watching Silica closely this last few days.
Kayaba was in his office, the usual 10 or so screens around him flowing with all kinds of data.
He was focusing on one of them in particular, which was split in two. The left half showed Silica's current live broadcast. The right had the moment of Feredir's death in a loop.
"Curious... The wolf wasn't her pet. Not system-bound, anyway. And yet, it still followed her orders in detriment of its own continued existence. That should contradict its coding."
[ ... ]
Cardinal recognized when her creator was just talking to himself.
"Another anomaly. Not a worrying one... But another. It is in Reaver's Requiem, I don't know if I should be surprised or not. But lately even mid-tier and some low-level players have been breaking the set parameters. Have you redone the calculations, Cardinal?"
[ 17 times, sir. Extrapolation is possible, but the margin of error makes it unusable as reliable data. ]
"It's the human factor. I thought I had taken it into account, but it turns out I have been underestimating it. It simply took time for enough minor blips to accumulate in visible waves. I'll have to adjust my plan for the later stages of Sword Art Online."
[ I have already started, sir. Should I bring up my calculations? ]
Kayaba scratched his chin. Then he shook his head.
"Not yet. Set it aside, I'll try to go through it later. For now, put the latest report on the Medicuboid and Ran on the screen. How's the STL transmission report?"
[ Stable. Player Ran shouldn't show any effects from the transmission. Her data is being cycled through 3 backup systems to ensure integrity. ]
"Add another. She is too important to be lost."
[ Understood. ]
"And our project?"
[ Implementation estimate has advanced by 9 months 12 days and 23 hours. Both Seed and Cornerstone are ready for deployment and development. ]
"Not yet. However, set the sub-routines and pathways. I want it started the moment the players clear the 50th floor."