The Black Swordsman

Chapter 19: The Seduction Fairy, Muma Pt. 1

Klein, I know that you're just trying to help but I really feel like you should have been the one to take the potion, I thought to myself as I watched Klein's health bar that was still in the red.

I had ended up taking the potion that was a reward from defeating the first of Sugou's royal guard, Takeshi, much to my own dismay. Klein claimed that, despite having such low health, I should still be the one to take the potion. He made the point that if he died in the VR world, it wouldn't be as big of a deal compared to if I died. It made him feel more comfortable that I was sitting at full health, just in case the next boss was even tougher than the one we just faced. It was a scary thought but the more I thought about it, the more I could see some truth to his reasoning. If Klein got eliminated from the game, it would suck for sure but if I got eliminated, then this whole mission to rescue Asuna would be put in jeopardy. Also, Suguha had made the point that we don't know if we can return to this world, after we wake up in the real one, after we're eliminated. Sugou could have easily made it so that once a player is eliminated from his game world, they can't return unless he, himself, sends another game invite. I highly doubted the bastard would send me another one. So, with all of this taken into consideration, I decided to selfishly take the potion. I still felt like a dick for doing it but Klein really wouldn't take no for an answer. Klein joked that he could make it through the rest of the castle with the small amount of health that he had. I knew he was joking but a part of me could actually see that he was being serious. He believed in himself so why shouldn't I believe in him too? Just to be on the safe side, though, I had Klein stay behind me and the others and told him to not engage in combat if it can be helped since the rest of the party members, myself included, had a good amount of health left.

"Try not to beat yourself up too much, kid", Agil commented, noticing how deep in thought I was.

My friends and I continued to make our way through the second floor of the castle. We had just finished climbing up the small staircase that led to the second floor. It was unlocked as soon as we defeated Takeshi. The second floor of the castle didn't look too different from the first, except for some weird, creepy, statues that littered the hallways.

"You realize that we would have been stuck down there forever, arguing with each other about who should take the potion, if you didn't just give in to Klein", assured Agil, in an attempt to make me feel better about the decision I made.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Klein was being stubborn. Besides, the longer we stayed down there, arguing, the more time we would be wasting in our search of Asuna. We may have defeated one of Sugou's royal guard members but I imagine that there's going to be a boss on each floor of this castle."

"Shit, just like how there was a boss on every floor of Aincrad", compared Agil which caused me to remember how many bosses the players of SAO had to defeat in order to clear the death game. "How many floors are in this castle...I wasn't paying attention when we were outside of it."

"There were six", answered Suguha, who was standing behind Agil and I and walking next to Lisbeth, with Klein walking behind both of them. "That means there's going to be five bosses or royal guard members, correct?"

"Seems that way", I muttered to myself. "Takeshi was strong just by himself. I can't imagine tackling four more that are equal in power or even more powerful than he was. Guess we don't have a choice, though."

"The last boss we defeated dropped a potion so does that mean every boss will drop a potion as well?" asked Lisbeth, making a solid point that I hadn't even thought of.

"Hm, I could kind of see that. It might be Sugou's way of making this whole ordeal somewhat fair", I muttered. "Although, that's not a guarantee. Perhaps, each boss will drop something but, maybe, it's just a random item, not a potion each time."