My SAO adventure is wrong, as expected

Chapter 47: Arriving Just in Time ~ The Villain PoH

Since Hachiman dared to say such a thing, it meant there had to be enemies present.

With that conviction, Kirito ran at full speed.

Before long, he came upon Schmitt lying on the ground and the other two members sitting slumped.

'So they're still alive, huh.'

Kirito cursed inwardly and forcefully inserted himself between the enemies and the three fallen.

"Yo, long time no see. What's with the bag on your head? Trying to hide your face?" Kirito tried to buy time with conversation.

Standing before him were three men.

The first wore all-black leather gear, with a cloth hood like a monk's cowl covering his head, two round holes cut out for the eyes.

His weapon was a black-coated short sword.

The second—

"So that's why they call you Red-Eyed XaXa. It really fits." XaXa wore a skull mask, and indeed his eyes glowed red. His weapon was a rapier.

But the real problem was the third man, standing behind the other two.

The man in a black cloak exuded no overt hostility, unlike the others.

Yet just making eye contact with him sent a chill down Kirito's spine.

"You must be PoH."

"Yo! What an honor to have the Black Swordsman remember my name~"

"Kirito-kun, even for you, do you really think you can take on all three?"

"Who knows? Honestly, not much chance of winning."

XaXa stood silently, not uttering a word.

"Well then, it's showtime~" said PoH as he pulled out a large cleaver-shaped dagger tinged with a sinister reddish hue.

"What's up with that cleaver? The color's creepy."

"Ha, cool, right? It's called the 'Friend Decapitator.' My favorite weapon~" PoH playfully traced the tip of the blade with his finger, pointing it at Kirito.

"Friend Decapitator? Are you gonna chop your buddies' heads off? If you could chop off those two's heads, that'd save me the trouble."

As Kirito spoke, he downed an anti-poison potion.

"Sonofa(Son of a bitch)! What did you just drink?"

"Just a general-purpose antidote. What, afraid of me? I've also got a ton of healing crystals. I've got more than enough to hold out against you three for a while."

Before the words finished leaving his mouth, Kirito had already drawn the Elucidator.

Perhaps feeling the pressure from the blade, the enemies involuntarily stepped back.

"And after stalling, then what? Mr. Black Swordsman~" Red-Eyes' voice had a disgusting, sticky tone.

"Because reinforcements are almost here. I'm just stalling for time. You really think you can take on dozens from the clearing group?"

"Ohh, we should get outta here, boss."

"Boss! He could be bluffing!"

"Idiot! Haven't you noticed yet?"

"Still as slow as ever."

With those words, Hachiman slowly emerged from behind PoH.

His dead-fish eyes narrowed slightly: "Of course we're waiting to encircle you."

XaXa suddenly flung his dagger.

It flew past Hachiman's ear and embedded itself into a tree.

A few strands of black hair fluttered down, but Hachiman didn't even blink: "If you want to cry, do it in jail later. The prison in SAO should be pretty soundproof."

"You bastard!"

"Wow! It's the legendary Hachiman~ To be graced with the top two players of the clearing group today, it's a happy day~"

"I'd be happier if the ending was happy too."

"Tsk. I'm definitely going to kill you."

"Can you?"

XaXa glared hatefully at Hachiman, while PoH observed him with interest.

"Though the Black Swordsman is tempting, you're even better than I imagined, Hachiman~"

"Hah? What nonsense are you spouting? Obviously Kirito's stronger."

"Heh, maybe for dealing with monsters~"

PoH suddenly blew a whistle—it seemed to be a signal.

The three enemies dashed into nearby bushes and dragged out a man hiding there, pressing weapons against him.

Hachiman and Kirito, briefly restrained by PoH, were a step too late.

"Grimlock..." murmured the long-silent Schmitt, revealing that the captured man was none other than Griselda's husband, Grimlock.

"Now, let's welcome the mastermind to the stage~ It's Show Time!"

"No way! Grimlock is the mastermind?!"

"Hahaha! Even knowing the truth, you guys wouldn't let someone die, right? Mr. Black Swordsman, Mr. Hachiman~"

"...Tch."

Hearing Hachiman's annoyed click of the tongue, PoH laughed joyfully.

"Let's call this one a draw, brothers! We'll settle the score next time!"

The three of them vanished using teleport crystals.

"Damn it, they escaped."

"That's about as far as it goes."

"You're really calm, Hachiman."

"Yeah, I've got some intel now."

"Hachiman! Kirito-kun!"

Asuna and the Knights of the Blood Oath burst into the clearing, but they only saw Hachiman bending down to pick up a broken sword fragment.

Moonlight filtered through the forest, casting a somber expression on his face.

"Sorry, Asuna, they played us."

"The fact they escaped proves there really were enemies."

"Yeah, the three from Laughing Coffin."

After that, the four former Golden Apple members seemed to have a private conversation.

From the later information, it was confirmed: Grimlock had indeed hired Laughing Coffin to murder Griselda.

What was shocking was that Grimlock and Griselda were husband and wife in the real world too.

In real life, the wife had a gentle demeanor.

But in this world, she had shown far greater strength and leadership than him.

He feared that even after returning to reality, his wife would remain a strong, independent woman and eventually divorce him.

To prevent that future, he resolved to kill her in this world and monopolize her for himself.

Schmitt was both an accomplice and a victim. Ultimately, he was not held accountable.

"I see... Since the ring was stored in the shared guild storage, it automatically transferred to Grimlock when Griselda died."

"A shared storage between husband and wife, huh."

"Half the col earned from selling the ring was given to Schmitt. The rest wasn't touched."

"So it wasn't for money..."

"Schmitt only snuck into Griselda's room to set the teleport crystal's return point and stored it in the guild's shared storage. Still counts as major assistance in murder."

"So they used that to sneak into her room and drag her outside the safe zone?"

"Schmitt never intended to kill Miss Griselda. And since the other two forgave him... though still..."

"Yeah..."

The three of them were left with a bitter taste in their mouths over the tragic end of the married couple.

"Marriage... it's not always a happy thing, huh."

"Griselda always wore her guild leader ring and wedding ring. To distrust someone like her—it was all Grimlock's fault."

"Exactly. If there's trust, maybe marriage could be nice. Though I've never been married."

"Hachiman, you're not getting married?"

"Hey, what kind of question is that? Not like any girl would like someone like m—"

Feeling Asuna's rising anger, Hachiman shut his mouth just in time.

He vaguely sensed her feelings, but his deeply ingrained habits kept him from thinking further.

Sensing the mood shift, Kirito changed the subject.

"So, time to share your reasoning, Hachiman?"

"Ah, right. First, I suspected Yoruko, Kainz, and Grimlock staged the in-safe-zone murder to pressure Schmitt into confessing."

"Exactly."

"There might be another real culprit among the other members, but let's set that aside. Schmitt's involvement is certain. No issues there?"

"None."

"I believe the real culprit would definitely take part in the event. Afraid of being exposed, they'd join in to prevent the truth from surfacing."

"I see."

Kirito nodded deeply.

"If the killer was among the four and colluded with the murder guild, then their next move would be—"

"...Silencing the others?"

"Right. When the other three gathered in a remote area on their own, they hired the murder guild to eliminate them all. That way, they'd never be exposed."

"That's terrifying..."

"When you connect that with the recent rumors about a major figure being targeted—it all fits perfectly."