The sun was shining brightly, and the refreshing breeze blowing through the hills carried with it the sounds of birds singing and insects chirping.

The wind also carried the noises of battle.

A << Granite Boar >> lunged at Drifter in a reckless charge, and the spearmaster swung his weapon, meeting it head-on.

The mob snarled, a large cut now adorning its snout, and Drifter was forced back, only his quick thinking stopping him from falling over as he stabbed the ground to steady himself.

"That's not very nice!"

Drifter glanced down at the tear in his chestplate where one of the ivory tusks of the mob had grazed him. The red polygons that passed by blood in SAO flickered from the wound.

Grunting, Drifter closed the distance between himself and the mob with a << Rage Spike >>. Rotating his spear, he stabbed at the << Granite Boar's >> eye. The mob turned its head away, but Drifter simply shook his spear, giving it a weird torsion, and accurately hit his target.

The roar the injured << Granite Boar >> gave was deafening, but Drifter was undaunted. He pressed on with << Horizontal >>, << Sting >>, and << Needle Spear >>, eventually claiming the mob's other eye, as well as its life.

"Huff! Taking one of these solo was harder than I thought it was gonna be."

"That's why I told you not to do it, dummy!"

Yuna stomped her way over and examined the wound on his chest. It was already closing, his << Battle Regeneration >> skill having recovered most of his lost HP. Still, the songstress thrusted a low-level health regen food on his hands, and started playing << Rest >>.

Drifter smiled despite his girlfriend's pout. Even after a few weeks, he still found it extremely endearing, not to mention adorable, when she called him dummy. It might not be a very common, nor the most flattering pet name, but it was the one his songbird had chosen for him. He could feel her affection every time she said it.

"Four and a half minutes, Drifter. That's a long time for you to take on a mob."

Nautilus and the others walked over from where they had been watching, a few tens of meters away. Drifter shrugged, swallowing the snack Yuna handed him.

"The pigs are tough. I hadn't realized how big of a difference Yun's << Dark Melody >> made until I tried to fight one without her help."

The spearmaster pecked the songstress on the cheek to show his gratitude, and she rolled her eyes despite her obvious enjoyment.

Feredir came over to Drifter and rubbed against his legs, tongue lolling off his mouth. Drifter grinned and, opening his menu, took out one of the drops from the << Granite Boar >>. He threw the slab of meat high in the air, and the wolf ran and jumped, catching it between his powerful jaws before happily hunkering down to feast.

"I swear this dog is getting smarter each day. He even recognizes which mobs drop meat, and knows how to ask for it!"

"Hey, Drifter! Feredir is not a dog! He is a ferocious, mainly, cutest-in-the-world wolf!"

Silica mock glared at Drifter, and he quickly raised his hands in surrender. Far from him to argue with Reaver's Requiem's youngest member and loyal defender of all things furry.

"It feels like one of those adjectives doesn't agree with the others..."

"Hmph! You are just jealous Feredir is the most famous wolf in our guild!"

"Why you little- Come here, Silica!"

Silica stuck out her little tongue at Wolv, who had made the comment under his breath, and then immediately shrieked when he reached for her.

The Reavers watched with smiles when Silica started to run, only to be caught by Wolv, who put her over his shoulder, and then started spinning. Her screams became delighted laughter as her pigtails swung wildly.

The merchant also had a huge grin on his face when he finally let a very dizzy Silica go. He ruffled her hair and scratched Feredir behind the ears when the wolf trotted over to join in on the fun.

The remaining two members of Merchant Warrior Agil's party were ones who many people easily forgot. They weren't as well-known or distinctive, nor did they have anything to set them apart like the rest of the Reavers.

But none of the players in the guild thought that. Neither did Wolv and Shigio themselves, truth be told. They were all precious companions. Family.

Drifter watched Wolv playing with Silica with a smile. He knew the older man had a child. Just a baby, a few months old. Wolv had already told them during one of the drinking sessions they had with Fuurinkazan, Shivata, and the Legend Braves, that his biggest regret in entering SAO was leaving his daughter for his girlfriend to raise all alone, for who knew how long. Maybe forever, if he didn't survive to the end.

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With no way of knowing his family was watching his every move from the outside, Wolv was constantly afraid of what was going on with the two people he loved the most in the world. He even said, one time when he got too tipsy, that he wouldn't resent his girlfriend if she found someone else. After all, he was the irresponsible father who abandoned them for a game.

That night had been the first time Drifter saw Agil and Shigio so angry. Wolv had gotten two earfuls from them. He would get another one from his girlfriend when they got out of SAO, as she was not amused when she heard it.

Curiously enough, that was also the same night that Wolv said he would marry her when they left SAO. That had earned him a few free drinks, and what was likely to be a very passionate night when they returned to the outside world. Agil's wife, Trisha, had offered to babysit Wolv's daughter when that day came.

Still, leaning on his spear next to Yuna and watching Wolv play with Silica, Drifter could only think that Wolv was a great father. His fears were all understandable. But instead of dragging him down, they made him stronger.

"Oh?"

"What is it, Drif?"

"Argo. Hold on for a moment."

A new message popped up on his HUD, and distracted Drifter. Looking at who the sender was, he couldn't help but exclaim, drawing Yuna's attention. He chatted a lot with Argo, but usually he was the one to start the exchange, not her.

[ Argo: I got an interesting quest here, Dri-bou. Pull me into a party so I can share it with ya. ]

His interest piqued, Drifter looked at his HUD. His party was full already. Yuna... No, that was a bad idea. He glanced around and saw Nautilus chatting with Ran a few steps away.

"Hey, Naut, I'm kicking you for a second. Sorry and thank you!"

Better to seek forgiveness than ask for permission. Before the ash-haired player deciphered what he meant, Drifter had already kicked him from the party and invited Argo. Almost immediately, the info-broker shared the quest details with him. His eyebrows rose until they were almost hidden by his hairline.

"Hey, what's this about, Drifter?"

Nautilus stomped over, not really angry. Ran followed him, and the others started paying attention to the commotion. Drifter just raised his hand in a gesture of asking for silence.

He re-read the quest while the others gathered around him. Sinon tilted her head curiously.

"What's happening?"

"No idea. Drifter just kicked Nautilus from our party and invited Argo."

"Hoh?"

Liz waved her hand, looking at the spearmaster curiously. She knew Argo must have sent him something interesting in private from the face he was making, but the blacksmith didn't think it was bad. Probably just confusing, from his furrowed brows.

"Ah, hey, everyone. I was reading through a quest Argo shared. It's very... Convoluted."

About five minutes later, Drifter stopped staring at the empty air in front of him, and raised his head to discover Reaver's Requiem surrounding him. He scratched his cheek, embarrassed, when he looked at Nautilus.

"Sorry again, Naut, but you might have to join one of the other parties. Argo will have to stay in mine for a while."

"No worries, Drifter. But what's on the quest that had you so focused?"

"Err... It's a quest that can only be completed by two people, hence why I can't share it with you since Argo and I are already in it. But it's all very confusing."

"The word you used was convoluted."

Drifter nodded slowly.

"Well, yeah. Argo has to stay in the town, and I have to go to, quote 'the broken embrace of fallen stars'. Don't ask me what that means. It's somewhere west of where we are now."

Kirito frowned and opened his map. The 20th floor was still being explored, but they already had a simple overview of it.

"There's a small forest over there."

"That's probably it. And here is where it gets even more confusing. Apparently Argo has to do something in the town, and I have to do something in that place, whatever it is. And we have to time it so it happens together, or it won't work."

Now they understood why Drifter had that expression. Quests were usually a lot more clear on the objectives than this, or, at the very least, more detailed.

"That sounds like a whole lot of trouble and time. Are the rewards worth it at least?"

"No idea. It only has question marks."

Ran and some others groaned. Unspecified rewards could mean some incredible treasure - or absolute trash, as it was much more likely.

"And Argo wants to do that?"

"You know how she is, she can't stand not knowing something. And who knows? It might be the next << Flag of Valor >>!"

The skeptical expressions from his friends showed just how likely they thought that was. Drifter himself wasn't that keen on going on some wild treasure hunt. But Argo had asked for a favor, so he was going to do it. He turned to Kirito.

"I don't think we are all needed, Kirito. How about we split up?"

"You think it's going to be okay?"

Drifter nodded. If there was a chance the quest was going to be dangerous, Argo would have warned him. It was far more likely that it was just going to be a colossal waste of time.

"Alright then. Take who you want, we'll continue grinding."

Nodding again, Drifter pulled his spear out of the ground and sheathed it.

"Who wants to go on a wild goose chase with me? Silica? That's one. Yuuki, two. We'll need a shield. Liz, okay. And how about you to round it off, Griselda? Great!"

Party members decided, Drifter kissed Yuna and then walked off. The Reavers who stayed behind waved to the party as it got further away before going back to hunting << Granite Boars >>.

...

"Honest thoughts, Drifter. You think this is gonna end up on anything?"

The small forest had just come into their view when Liz asked this question. Drifter shrugged.

"My gut is saying no. It's too random, like one of those scammer quests."

"I heard some people are still repeating those, hoping it gives some hidden skill like << Martial Arts >>."

Drifter and the others laughed. SAO truly had everything, including rotten NPCs who gave impossible or nonsensical quests only to rip off players. Many people, including Drifter, had been tricked by them in the earlier days.

"Honestly, Argo always had a good nose for sussing out scammers. If her instincts are saying this quest is worth it..."

Yuuki pointed out, and Drifter agreed. It wasn't easy to trick Argo the Rat, not even for NPCs.

"We will see. I say, if we can't find anything by nightfall, then we should just treat it as an excursion."

"Sounds good."

The party of five arrived at the small forest a couple of minutes later. Drifter updated Argo on their progress and observed the grove. It didn't seem any different than any other forest they had come across before.

A rustling bush up ahead caught his attention, and Drifter saw a mob emerge. He raised his spear, and then lowered it.

"Huh. What's that?"