Chapter 15: Chapter 14 Meeting
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As Arthur made his way to the town near the labyrinth area where the strategy meeting was to take place, he was greeted by a figure in a hooded cloak of earthy tones, waving at him.
"Argo? What are you doing here?" Arthur's brows furrowed in confusion as he looked at the girl before him. If he remembered correctly, Argo had no intention of joining the strategy, being more inclined towards buying and selling intelligence.
"Just happened to have some business in this neck of the woods, and since today's the strategy meeting, why not accompany you, eh?" Argo's eyes narrowed slightly, and coupled with her facial hair and current expression, she resembled a cunning mouse.
"Really?" Arthur shrugged. Despite the strict requirements for the strategy meeting, someone as capable as Argo wouldn't raise any eyebrows if she decided to participate.
"By the way, was it the closed beta players who found the boss room this time?" Arthur turned to Argo.
"Yeah, sort of," Argo blinked. Though Arthur wasn't a beta player, Argo didn't seem to have much guard against him. After all, in terms of strength, Arthur, despite not being a closed beta player, had long surpassed everyone else. Moreover, Arthur didn't harbor the same animosity towards closed beta players as most ordinary players did.
"I see." Arthur nodded. In the original work, the person who found the boss room was called Diavel, also a c beta player. Although he was killed by Illfang the Kobold Lord due to his selfish desire to claim the reward for the final blow, which had already been modified by Kayaba, the boss, before his attack.
Now, whether the one who found it was still Diabel was uncertain, but since it was still a closed beta player, there was a good chance it was him.
Arthur couldn't say he disliked or liked Diabel, but in terms of leadership and charisma, he was pretty decent. Although he died because of his own selfishness, his final words entrusted to Kirito still made Arthur slightly change his attitude towards him.
With Argo, Arthur arrived at the location of the strategy meeting.
By now, quite a few players had arrived. When Arthur and Argo walked in, they attracted some attention, but soon everyone's gaze shifted elsewhere, engaging in conversations with other players.
Arthur chose an empty corner and sat down with Argo.
"So, Argo, are you planning to participate in the strategy battle?" Arthur sat down and asked Argo beside him, his eyes scanning the surroundings for any familiar faces.
"Why, is that not allowed?" Argo crossed her arms, smiling.
"Not at all," Arthur shook his head.
"Are you worried about something?" Arthur looked at Argo. After just now looking around, he probably found Asuna, but Kirito didn't seem to have noticed him. However, despite smiling, Algo's brows still seemed slightly furrowed.
"Not really," Argo shook her head. "Just wanted to take this opportunity to see how strong these players are nowadays."
Argo's explanation sounded somewhat forced, but Arthur didn't call her out on it, merely nodding softly and continuing to survey the surroundings.
Not far from his left hand, there was a person in a red cloak. From the chestnut hair peeking out from under the cloak, Arthur had already guessed her identity: Asuna, the future Vice Commander of the Blood Alliance Knights and holder of the Flashing title.
With his target locked, Arthur continued to search for Kirito's whereabouts. Unfortunately, it seemed that he hadn't found Kirito's trace.
Could it be because of him that Kirito didn't come here? Arthur frowned, feeling somewhat regretful.
But he did manage to see the "Tiffany" shopkeeper Agil from the future.
When everyone had arrived, a man with slightly curled blue hair stepped forward and walked to the center position. Because they were in a building similar to an opera house, everyone could see the man.
Diabel. Although there were slight differences in appearance between the character in reality and the one in the anime, Arthur still recognized him.
"Is everyone here? Then, let's begin," Diabel clapped his hands when no one else entered, drawing everyone's attention to him. A smile appeared on his face.
"Hello, everyone. I'm Diabel, and I personally think my profession..." Diabel spoke with a slightly awkward smile. "Is a knight."
"What? There's no such thing as professions in this game," others retorted with smiles as soon as Diabel finished speaking, and in an instant, the atmosphere, which had been somewhat unfamiliar due to their lack of acquaintance, became quite lively.
Not bad. Arthur observed Diabel, who stood below, laughing with everyone else, and concluded in his mind. Just one sentence managed to change the somewhat cold or guarded attitude towards each other due to their lack of familiarity. This person is definitely someone like a senior executive in reality.
After the laughter died down, Diabel continued, "Yesterday, my team and I found the boss room on the top floor of the tower."
No one spoke, but everyone looked at Diabel because that was why they were here.
"So, today I specially called everyone here for the strategy meeting," Diabel continued.
"The time has passed.
"It's been over a month, and yet we've only just discovered the boss room. In order to beat this damn game as soon as possible, we need to overcome the first obstacle standing in our way at the fastest speed possible," Diabel declared, his voice filled with determination.
But just as Diabel was about to continue, he was suddenly interrupted.
"Wait a minute!" A short middle-aged man appeared behind everyone, his hairstyle looking rather peculiar, with a small tuft of beard under his chin.
"Who are you?" Diabel, instead of showing annoyance at being interrupted, looked at the middle-aged man with confusion.
"I'm called the Kaibou!" The short middle-aged man took a few steps forward.
This guy. Arthur furrowed his brows. He seemed to recall who this Kaibou was—a troublemaker with a strong sense of jealousy. It was because of him that Kirito had been troubled until he joined the Moonlit Black Cats as a solo player in battles.
Thinking of this, a faint smile of interest played on Arthur's lips as he folded his arms and quietly watched the Kaibou, who appeared to be filled with righteous indignation.
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