My SAO adventure is wrong, as expected

Chapter 40: The Threat of the Malicious PK Guild

Three months had passed since Liz announced she wanted to buy a house.

"Tada—! This is this lady's secret savings passbook!"

Liz slammed a semi-transparent data panel onto the table.

In the forge shop filled with the scent of metal, Asuna's hand, which was stirring her honey tea with a spoon, trembled slightly, and Hachiman started coughing violently.

"Saved up the down payment in three months... That's definitely impressive." Asuna's chestnut hair shimmered softly under the light. "But… Liz, you didn't forget the renovation budget, did you?"

The air suddenly froze.

Beads of sweat appeared on the forehead of the blacksmith girl as she turned mechanically to look at the black-haired young man leaning against the wall.

Hachiman slowly raised two fingers. "200,000 Cor. Monthly interest 3%—"

"Are you a vampire?!"

"I'll borrow it!" Lizbeth lunged at the counter and grabbed his collar. "But the shop has to be named 'Lizbeth's Weapon Shop'!"

"That name…" Hachiman squeezed out his voice between her fingers. "It's practically writing 'Gullible Rich People Welcome' on the signboard…"

And so, the shop preparations were completed, and the grand opening day finally arrived.

Though they didn't do much promotion and didn't attract many customers, a few members of the Knights of the Blood Oath came through Asuna's connections, and some regulars from her street stall days came to support her.

The opening went relatively smoothly.

Hachiman would continue supplying materials at low prices, so the shop's prospects seemed good.

A few days later, Agil contacted Hachiman, which was rare—he seemed to have something to discuss. Hachiman went to Agil's stall.

"Yo, thanks for coming all the way."

"No problem."

"You came because Liz opened her shop, right? I'm thinking of opening my own shop too."

"I see. No problem."

The two then went around checking out potential locations.

They eventually decided that, rather than a player-owned residence, a shop inside a main street building would be more suitable.

"Do you have enough funds?"

"I was already planning to buy a house, so this scale is manageable."

"Didn't expect acquaintances to open shops one after another. Makes you reflect."

"Craftsman-type players are gradually gathering, and the system supporting the frontlines is becoming more refined."

"But I'm a little worried."

"About what?"

"There might be more and more people starting to think it's not so bad to stay in this world."

"...True, especially among lower-tier players, there are many like that."

"If this world could continue forever, maybe it'd be fine. But…"

At that moment, they passed by the central plaza.

Hachiman suddenly stopped—next to the fountain were several figures huddled under tattered cloaks.

One of them had a leg exposed, showing purplish bruising—a sign of muscle atrophy in the virtual world caused by being bedridden for too long.

"Agil," Hachiman's voice suddenly turned low. "What do you think we look like right now in the real world?"

Agil's figure froze.

"Last week on the 32nd floor, I saw a completely paralyzed player." Hachiman's fingers unconsciously rubbed the hilt of his sword. "His neural interface might've malfunctioned—he can't even feel pain here."

"That's why those maniacs in the raiding group rush forward like they've lost their minds… Rather than become living corpses, they'd rather die in a boss room."

After saying that, the mood turned undeniably heavy.

Hachiman waved his hand and left.

Several months after the raids resumed, the frontlines reached the 58th floor.

One day, while resting at home, Hachiman received a message from Argo—PK incidents had recently been frequent on floors in the 30s.

"Yo, Hachi, an entire guild got wiped out!" Argo's message flashed on his retinal display. "And there's always one survivor in all these incidents."

"A decoy?"

"Could be someone luring people to spots that are easy to ambush."

"Want me to keep an eye on them?"

"Let's start with that."

"Name?"

"Rosalia. She's your least favorite type."

"The type I hate, huh… I'll check it out."

.

.

.

Investigations revealed Rosalia indeed matched Hachiman's disliked type (confident and jealous).

He tailed her and found she had a base on the 47th floor.

One day during surveillance, he saw her wearing a hood and meeting with orange players on the 19th floor, confirming her ties to a criminal group.

Later, during the monitoring period, Argo messaged again: the Silver Banner guild had been wiped out except for its leader.

"Rosalia didn't make a move today."

"The surviving leader said he got high-quality leveling location info from Rosalia, and got ambushed at one of those spots. All the other info she gave was real, so there's no evidence left."

"Damn it, I should've been watching that group! That was my mistake…"

"We didn't expect it either. Next plan: Hachiman continues monitoring Rosalia, Kirito will go on-site."

"Hachiman, don't take everything on yourself. You two can definitely handle this together."

"The survivor is on the 51st floor holding a corridor crystal, requesting they be imprisoned."

"Not execution, but imprisonment? That guild leader's something else."

"Let's respond to that resolve. We'll take the request."

"The guild is an orange guild—Titan's Hand."

"We must destroy Titan's Hand!"