It was a group of haggard but happy players who arrived at the other shore of << Caldera Lake >> after the field-boss fight. Despite their fleet being in shambles and the warriors themselves exhausted, just the fact that no one had died in the battle was enough to lift their spirits.

"Drifter!"

Once on dry land, the first thing Drifter did was reunite with his guild. Yuna grabbed his arm, while all the others looked at him worried. He gave them a smile to reassure his friends he was okay.

"It's more my ego that got bruised than anything."

That got him a few laughs. After showing them the last-attack bonus, which the others promptly agreed to hand over to Agil, so he could sell it for them - for a commission, of course - Drifter then turned to Yuuki, Ran, and Merida.

"So? What did you three think of your first boss fight?"

"It was awesome! And terrifying! But mostly awesome!"

Yuuki was practically jumping on the spot as she answered, a huge grin on her face. Drifter reckoned that, had someone lost his life, she would've been nearly as bubbly and excited. But, hey, he wasn't about to rain on her parade, especially so when he was also chuckling along.

"She said it all."

Merida giggled, and Ran nodded. Seeing that, Asuna not-so-subtly prodded Kirito in the ribs. When the swordsman yelped and glared at her, she raised her eyebrows and gestured with her head towards the trio. After a moment of confusion, realization showed on his face.

"Oh! Right. Err... Ran, Merida, Yuuki, so... Have you changed your mind after this battle? Do you still want to become frontliners?"

"Of course!"

"Then, what about what we discussed before? Would you like to join Reaver's Requiem?"

As one, Yuuki and Merida looked over to Ran. It was clear both of them would follow the elder twin's decision. The purple-haired girl, on the other hand, didn't respond immediately, neither to agree nor refuse. Her silence caused Kirito to slightly panic, as he wasn't sure if he had done something wrong. The boy hadn't quite settled on his role as guild leader yet.

"You don't need to say anything now if you don't want to. And we won't ever force you to..."

"We accept."

"Hum? You do?"

Ran nodded easily.

"Yes. We would be honored to join Reaver's Requiem, guild leader."

"G-Great!"

"Yay!"

"Welcome to our guild, Ran, Merida, Yuuki!"

"It's good to have you."

Ran smiled. Yuuki, never one for subtlety, whooped and shouted loudly in joy. She quickly made the rounds hugging everyone, and almost tackled Asuna to the ground by the end of it. Merida snorted in amusement, but she also had a happy grin on her face. Drifter patted the blue-haired broadsword-user on the back.

"You sure about that? It will only get more dangerous from here. Well, I suppose you can back out whenever you feel like you aren't up for scratch anymore."

Drifter smiled to take out the sting of his words, and to show he was just teasing her. Merida rolled her eyes.

"Bit late to say that, no?"

The spearman's smirk grew wider, and he reached out his hand for her to shake, before repeating the action with Ran and Yuuki. He was the vice-leader of Reaver's Requiem, after all.

"Welcome to the frontlines, all of you. Officially this time."

"Thank you, Drifter."

"Congrats, you lot. They may not look like it..."

"Hey!"

Agil walked towards them at this moment, and slapped Drifter in the back with a huge grin plastered on his face. Ignoring the spearman's objections, he continued.

"... but they are actually the third strongest guild in the frontlines. And I say third 'cause they have low numbers, otherwise they would be tied with the DKB and ALS for first."

"Heh. Just don't let Kibaou or Lind hear you say that, Agil. They'll scream bloody murder and attack you for defamation."

"It's not defamation if it's the truth."

"Somehow, I don't think they will see it that way. Hahahaha!"

Not only Drifter, but the entire group laughed. After letting some of the tension out, the players walked towards the second settlement of the floor, Usco Village. If the 4th floor was the same as the one before it - and there was no reason why it wouldn't, at least in this matter - then the entrance to the tower would be close to this village.

But the Reavers weren't aiming for the tower at the moment. In fact, Drifter wasn't entirely sure what they were aiming for. As soon as the teleporter in Usco Village was open, Argo had appeared and dragged Kirito away to discuss something she 'couldn't tell them but they were gonna like it'. Just that sentence had left the guild - even the new members - quaking in their boots.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

However, when Kirito came back, he was positively shining, like some overcharged version of Yuuki. By that, Drifter meant the swordsman had the biggest smile he had ever seen on his face, at times leaking some anxiety, but mostly joy. And he also refused to tell them what was going on.

Together, swordsman and info-broker led the party through the floor, showing no intention of going back even though the night was rapidly approaching. When Nautilus mentioned that, Argo simply said they would have somewhere safe to stay the night.

The sun was just coming down over Aincrad's edge - and when had that become a normal sight? - when they arrived at... Wherever they were.

Drifter looked at the building in front, and tilted his head. A thought suddenly assaulted his mind, and he snorted in self-amusement, drawing a few curious looks from his friends.

"Sorry. It's just... That's a castle. In Aincrad. Castle Aincrad. So that's a castle inside of a castle."

"Lame."

"Haha... I know. I think it just now hit me how absurdly absurd our situation is. Not the whole death game thing, but the background story."

That had a few others chuckling. Ran turned to Kirito.

"So, guild leader, mind telling us what we are doing here now? Please don't tell me we are assaulting the castle."

"Ugh... Please just call me Kirito, Ran. And no, we aren't attacking it. They are our allies."

"Allies?"

Before Kirito could explain, Sinon, who had the best vision out of all of them, exclaimed.

"Ah, I see. Dark elves."

"Kizmel! She's here, isn't she, Kirito?!"

"Yup! Surprise!"

Asuna jumped up happily, and hugged Kirito. It only lasted for a brief moment before the fencer let go, but it left the boy dumbfounded. Snickering, Drifter followed Asuna as she practically ran towards the entrance of the castle.

"It was a great idea, Kirito. And thank you for finding the path so quickly, little rat."

"T'was nothin', Dri-bou. Wouldn't do not to have everyone together for tonight."

Halting, Drifter glanced at Argo, who was grinning from one ear to the other. He felt like he was missing something.

"What's special 'bout tonight?"

"What day is it, Dri-bou?"

"Today? It's the 24th of... December. Christmas Eve!"

Drifter ground to a halt, and slapped his forehead. Everyone else, with the exception of Kirito and Argo, stopped in a mix of shock and horror, their gaping mouths big enough to fit an egg. The info-broker, meanwhile, was giggling.

"Right in one!"

The spearman ignored Argo for now. How had he forgotten the date?! Though, he supposed he had bigger things to worry about. And it wasn't like there was a gift shop in Aincrad where he could buy presents for everyone. Heck, he didn't even know if they would celebrate Christmas! For all he knew, it was very likely they would spend the entirety of the holiday doing the same thing they did every day: grinding. Christmas lost a lot of its meaning when you were trapped in a death game.

Shaking his head, Drifter wrapped Argo in a quick one-armed hug. The info-broker had been a little mischievous by not reminding them earlier, but she did bring them to meet Kizmel, so he would let it pass.

The << Dark Elf Guards >> at the entrance didn't give them any trouble, the cursors above their heads green. Drifter noticed with some interest that the NPCs gave the guild members that elven salute Kizmel had shown them, but Argo, Agil, and the others were simply ignored.

"Kizmel!"

Once inside the castle, it didn't take long for them to find who they were looking for. With a girly squeak, Asuna launched forward like a bullet, and hugged a very surprised, but overjoyed, dark elf.

"Asuna! And everyone else too! You've finally arrived!"

After hugging Asuna, Kizmel then held her at arm's length, and inspected the fencer. Her gaze also lingered on Drifter, Kirito, Yuna, Nautilus, and Sinon, all the members of the original party. The spearman was momentarily surprised by the real worry and relief he saw in her eyes, though he knew he shouldn't be. Kizmel had always been special.

"I take it you managed to defeat the guardian? Did you have any problems? Were any of you hurt?"

"Yes, no, and no, Kizmel. It's good to see you."

Saluting the dark elf, Drifter answered her quick questions. Then he grinned and hugged her too, mimicking Asuna. The others did the same, while the other players stared alternatively at them and Kizmel, probably trying to make out how and why the party was so close to an NPC, and why was said NPC so life-like. Drifter noticed that.

"Kizmel, let me make some introductions. First of, everyone, this is Kizmel, a Royal Knight of Lyusula. It was thanks to her that we managed to beat Nerius so easily. She has helped us a lot."

Argo's eyes shone. The info-broker had probably connected the dots, and realized the dark elf was the secret source of information for the then party.

"You are too polite, Drifter. Had it not been for your aid, I would have lost my life, and the sacred item of my people would've been stolen too."

Drifter simply waved off Kizmel's gratitude. She was a friend, there was no need to get all formal about it.

"Kizmel, those four are members of our guild, Reaver's Requiem. This is Lisbeth, or Liz for short. She is our blacksmith. The little bundle of energy over there is Yuuki, and next to her is her twin sister Ran. Last but not least, this is Merida."

"Hello."

"Hi! Are you an elf? Can you talk to..."

"Slow down, Yuuki. You can pester Kizmel later."

Chuckling, Drifter held up a hand to stop the younger sister. Kizmel once more placed her fist in front of her chest as greetings.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, human friends. I'm glad you found others you can trust, Drifter, Asuna, Kirito, Sinon, Nautilus, Yuna."

The original party smiled. Drifter then gestured to Argo.

"The sneaky-looking one over here is Argo. Don't let her fool you, her mind is sharp as a blade, and she will very probably try to scam you for information. She has a good heart, though."

"Hey! I'll have ya know I run a very legitimate business, 'kay? Don't go 'round scarin' away my clientele, Dri-bou!"

Ruffling Argo's hair just to annoy her, Drifter then turned to Agil and his party.

"Finally, those are Agil, Wolv, Namate, and Shigio. They are frontliners like us, and very powerful warriors. They have been fighting against the floor bosses - the guardians - with us since the very first floor of Aincrad."

"Aww, you'll make me blush, Drifter."

Agil feigned embarrassment, causing many snorts of amusement throughout the group. Kizmel also smiled. She was well aware of Drifter's skill level, so anyone the spearman considered strong was likely to be a fearsome warrior in their own right.

While most of the others were still getting used to talking to Kizmel as if she was more than an NPC - they kept waiting for robotic responses, and were surprised when a fluid answer came - Argo had engaged the dark elf in a conversation about Aincrad and the << Elf War >> campaign's background. In fact, she even managed to convince Kizmel to ask the ruler of Yofel Castle about the floor boss before Drifter or Kirito could do it.

Explaining the concept of Christmas and Christmas Eve to Kizmel was also a fun experience. It earned them a literal banquet, though, when the dark elf asked the cooks of the castle to prepare a feast for the players.

Later, laying in bed in the room he was sharing with Kirito and Nautilus, Drifter thought that, all things considered, this wasn't a bad Christmas.