Chapter 67: Laughing Coffin
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Half an hour later, they finished eating. They got so engrossed in it that they only felt full after eating everything on the table.

"Now that everyone's done, let's go to the real rewards." Shiro said so as he took out five gift boxes of different colors. It is small, to the point that it can fit in a palm.

"Those are..."

"The limited drops in the Christmas event."

Sasamaru recognized the item in front of Shiro, <<Gift Box>>.

"That's right."

During Christmas, there's a chance of getting these boxes, in which a player can receive some items when opened. Apart from those, there are also empty <<Gift Box>> whereas a player can place an item to be customized as a gift.

Shiro received almost a thousand of those, which speaks for its huge drop rate.

Of course, whether they would receive a good item is another question.

"Advance Merry Christmas." Shiro said so while he placed each <<Gift Box>> in front of them.

'We might not meet for quite a long time after this ends...' 

Since it'll be troublesome to travel between worlds back and forth, there's a huge chance that Shiro can only see them once a year. He earns points around 95~100 every day, so it'll take him more than 20 days just to earn enough for a round-trip travel.

"Ah, right. Let's talk about something later, Keita-kun."

"I understand."

*****

"How's the Laughing Coffin issue?"

"The guilds are busy preparing for it right now. They take them seriously, after all."

In the courtyard, a serious conversation is happening. Unlike their previous easy-going demeanors, Keita and Shiro took this matter seriously. The former wanted them apprehended to reduce the obstacles for clearing this game and the safety of his guildmates.

As for the latter, well... They ought to pay for what they'd done to a chat group member.

He got pissed at that time that he swore to do their punishment through Hammurabi's style.

"Where are their headquarters?"

"It's a surprise, but it's in the 50th floor."

"Hah. The irony."

Their location was never divulged in the light novel nor the anime, but he clearly didn't expect for them to reside in the 50th floor. That's where the strongest guild, Knights of Blood, reside!

'That guy's mocking them, for sure. Just wait until I kill you...'

There's a good reason as to why he's very annoyed with that guild. Their attempts of tracking them down never ended until a few months ago. That's right, the rest of the Chat Group members got targeted, too.

Shiro knew about such informants of them hiding as green players, but it's quite a trouble for them to locate those players.

The only way to stop those annoyances would be to kill their roots, namely Prince of Hell (PoH).

"You guys will participate in this crusade?"

"We're still deciding if we would. There's some chances that they might... kill other people."

Due to SAO's nature, a single critical hit can one-hit a player. That's also why Kirito had killed some players even when he didn't mean to. There's also the Corridor Crystals that could transport them to Town of Beginning's prison that would allow them to avoid such a bloodbath.

"Mn, alright. When will it happen?"

"Tomorrow. KoB, Divine Dragon Alliance, and Aincrad Liberation Force are confirmed to be joining. Even then, that information is only circulated to the higher-ups."

All this time, the guilds are giving orders to the members with a completely different reason. The latter thought that they're about to raid the labyrinth due to the potion supplies being stockpiled one after another.

There's also the Corridor Crystals, but the guilds entrusted it to players whom they truly trust. It was not noted in the light novel, but the amount of spies from Laughing Coffin can easily reach a thousand or even more.

Either these spies are coerced by them or they willingly became one due to their craziness.

'Hm... He's truly bored this time.'

"Alright. You can leave this to us."

"Us? You mean, your team mates will also come to that raid, Shiro-san?"

"Haha, it's just me and another one, though."

"I see. I feel more confident that this crusade would succeed if you're with them..."

After that, Shiro parted with him. Of course, he'd already did so to the other guild members earlier. Though, he couldn't help but notice something amiss with Sachi.

'It's not like she's dependent to me, so she should be fine.'

At worst, being with Shiro is her coping mechanism as he noticed her becoming more relaxed every time he's present. However, is it truly everything?

"Nevermind. I should message her first."

*****

"So that's where those vermins are hiding."

"You're still pissed at them, I see."

Surprisingly, this grown-up woman is none other than Kuroneko. Due to her added status in her real template, everything turned out like this.

She still kept her long hair, but her height caught up to Shiro's. There's also hints of lean muscle on her arms, albeit they're barely noticeable. Other than that, there's a certain aspect of hers that grew... large.

(A/N: The short-haired girl is Kuroneko's sister Tamaki, roughly 10 years from canon. It came from the Kuroneko route in the manga if anyone's interested.)

It is none other than her chest.

At first, she didn't notice this. Only when it grew visibly did she notice it herself, which of course made her proud. 

She'd read her own manga route and saw that Tamaki, one of her younger sister, grew up to be a good girl with the sole exception of her inheriting Kuroneko's chuunibyou.

Similar to how her future self reacted to those antics, she felt quite embarrassed now that she'd mature over the course of a year. Albeit, she kept doing such things due to her not knowing how to react in some embarrassing situations.

"They still haven't paid for what they'd done to Shino."

"Don't worry, I'll execute them myself." Shiro replied to her, with his amiable smile still on his face. However, it didn't prevent Kuroneko from sensing the hidden extreme bloodlust underneath it.

What happened is infuriating, after all.

That one time, Shino went alone to do a quest, unbeknownst to her that a couple of parties sent out by Laughing Coffin followed her. They still hadn't gained that much fame in the past, thus this scenario didn't come across their mind.

Turns out, those two players that Kuroneko had killed sent out one last message to their guild leader, which is them requesting for back-up against a player from the NEXUS guild.

Thanks to the Ethics Code, no cases of sexual harassment happened inside the game, but physical harassment can still be done by damaging another player. 

In Shino's case, they cut off five of her fingers before she was able to retaliate. By using her mouth to draw her bow, she managed to take down some of them.

She sensed real pain at that time, but she managed to kill a couple of those players due to her firm will!

Still, her entire right arm was cut in the end. Everything only ended when Kuroneko arrived on the scene and simply eliminated some of those players did it end.

Though, most of them escaped and since she is only a single person, she couldn't catch them all.

"As the Queen of Darkness, it's my duty to finish off corrupted ability users in my vicinity."

In normal language, it roughly translates to: "Let me finish them off myself."

"Okay, then. I'll handle their boss while you handle the rest."

Finished with that conversation, Shiro added, "You have something to do today?"

"No. Why?"

"Just thinking if you have some idea on what to do during our break."

Hearing that, her expression faltered for a second before going back to her chuunibyou mode. 

"Are? Shiro, are you asking me... on a date?"

Seeing her tease him, he didn't plan to lose and replied. "If that's how you interpret it."

Accustomed to his counters and calmness, she only laughed lightly at him. Though, it hits different with her mature appearance. She didn't notice, but he truly paused for a second before returning to normal.

'Sigh. This emotion is too troublesome to understand.' He lamented as he thought of some knowledge that he has as common sense.

In the end, the two went around the 50th floor's city, Salemberg.

*****

Fact #25: Originum guns are not only hard to do maintenance, but it's also expensive to use. Unlike our guns that only has gunpowder, theirs use originum as a substitute. Yes, originum might be common, but its processing fees are too complicated. That's why every shot in Terra is gold, and that most mercenaries use bows/grenade launchers/cold weapons to fight. 

PS: They might not have gunpowder for guns, but they still has a gunpowder for bombs.

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