- The first floor of "Ayn Grant", "The Beginning Town".

A week has passed since the day of the ambush, and the black-haired girl, who had been invited by a certain regiment commander, returned to the town where it all began.

The moment he stepped out of the portal, Yuki couldn't help but look at the surrounding scenery and buildings with some nostalgia, and the wide streets were full of players wearing ordinary equipment.

Unlike the atmosphere at the top, most of the players here live a relatively peaceful life, so they don't have that kind of murderous aura on their bodies.

With Yuki's strategy book, the first layer has basically been thoroughly explored by all players, and now it can be said to be the safest harbor in the entire game.

（…… The last time I went back to the first floor, it was two or three months ago, right? ）

After stretching and relaxing, and feeling the relaxed atmosphere of the first floor, Yuki walked to the headquarters of the "Ayngrunt Liberation Team", which led the guild of the lower level.

……

"I'm really sorry for what happened before, Miss Yuki."

Looking at the black-haired girl in front of her, the silver-haired woman wearing the uniform of the "army" bowed her head and apologized quite formally.

“…… So, I don't mean to dig into this matter, and that guy is out of the game, so I don't have to worry about it anymore. ”

Waving his hand, Yuki looked at the leather whip envoy with a ashamed face in front of him a little helplessly.

The name is "Yuriel", and because the relationship with the head of the regiment "Sinka" is "unclear", the work of the secretary is usually more than the work of the vice president.

And the reason why the other party apologized,It's also because the tooth king was originally a member of their union.,Although he was expelled after the duel with Yuki.,But until now, it seems that he has kept in touch with some of the players in the team.,The information that Argo found was also released with the cooperation of those people.。

However, it is commendable that the "army" is much easier to manage because it lacks the leading radicals and opportunists like the Tooth King, and no longer exploits the players in the first layer, at least now the players in the first layer still have a good evaluation of them.

Although there were some people who wanted to learn from the Tooth King before, but after all, the ability to provoke trouble was not enough, and it happened that at that time, an activity was carried out smoothly, which can be regarded as consolidating the development policy of Sinka.

"By the way, what about your one?"

Finding that the rough-faced man in the office was not there, Yuki asked strangely at the silver-haired leather whip envoy whose face was starting to turn red.

"I'm my family's one? No, no, no, no, no—I'm not in that relationship with the regimental commander! ”

（...... Sister, can you still be a little more obvious? ）

Shaken so much, Yuki, who was originally talking casually, felt that something was wrong.

"Well, it doesn't matter if it's your or his, so where did he go?"

To be honest, Yuki has always felt that this big man who likes to do big and small things by himself is not suitable to be the head of the group.

In terms of ability, this man has absolutely no problem, after all, in the real world he is also the manager of a well-known gaming website.

But he lacks a leadership like Diabeglu.

That is, the type that is only suitable for cadres.

Of course, these are just Yuki's thoughts, and it doesn't matter how the army develops to her, she can guard her own one-third of an acre.

"Said that there was something to discuss with me, and asked me to come down for a special time, but I disappeared?"

As the guild leader of the Raiders frontline, well, she's very busy.

"Actually, this thing is—"

Looking at Yuki, who was unhappy, Yuriel smiled bitterly and was about to explain something, when he was interrupted by a visitor who pushed the door open.

"Please don't blame the head and deputy head of the regiment, it's all because of me."

Under Yuki's somewhat surprised gaze, the girl with a knight's hat and a braided right sideburn smiled slightly.

"Long time no see, Miss Yuki."

"Are you...... Una?! ”

……

************************************************************************************************************************

"Looks like you're doing pretty well on the first floor."

Sitting down in the reception room again, Yuki looked at the brown-haired girl he hadn't seen in a long time.

At the beginning of the 39th floor strategy meeting, Yuna, who was singing in the square, attracted a lot of players who were listening, and Yuki was of course one of them, because of a certain lily singer, the black-haired girl who knew a little about music gave her some advice after the end.

At that time, Yuna was still a member of the "Knights of the Blood Alliance", but she liked to sing and didn't like to fight.

- "If you like to sing, why don't you try to sing it to more people?"] ”】

Before parting, Yuki's words made her find more possibilities and made her rethink her future.

When they met again later, she had already been hit by the death of her childhood sweetheart and quit the "Blood Alliance Knights".

For this reason, a black-haired swordsman also blamed himself for a long time, because it was Kirito who had just become the deputy head of the Blood Alliance who went to the forty-story dungeon to rescue Yuna who was confused at the time.

It's just that I didn't expect him to lead the team, but there were still casualties.

The two players who went with him said that it wasn't Kirito's problem, and even he couldn't have known in advance that his team would be too scared to move when surrounded by monsters.

Although there was a later hearing that Kirito, who helped her go through the withdrawal procedures, said that this girl went to the first floor, but I didn't expect to see her here.

"I really didn't expect you to join the 'army'."

glanced at Yuna with some emotion, compared to the front-line strategy guild like the "Blood Alliance", maybe the guild that stabilized the rear like the "army" was more suitable for her.

"Not really, Miss Yuki."

"Huh......?"

Standing next to Yuna, Yuriel shook her head.

"We're just protecting Yuna."

“…… Looks like there's a lot of story in there? ”

Holding her body with both hands, Yuki looked at Yuna, who was smiling bitterly, and blinked.

……

************************************************************************************************************************

"In other words, you want my guild to take on Yuna's escort mission, right?"

After a brief summary, Yuki, who had listened to the 'story', confirmed again.

- The "singer" of the lower level.

Yuna seems to be called that.

In the beginning, Yuna lived near the church on the East End, so she would often sing to the younger players to soothe them. It's just that over time, her singing voice seems to attract more and more players, and in the end, it gradually evolved into a concert-like scale.

Over time, players who found some solace in Yuna's singing enshrined her as a "singer".

In desperation, in order not to let the situation get out of control, Yuna had to turn to the guild responsible for maintaining the first level of order, that is, the "army" to which Liel belonged.

After that, the concert of "Singer" gradually became one of the important events of the lower class under the management of the "army".

Originally, it was a good thing for players to have an activity where they could relax, but recently, there seems to be some invisible 'ghost' in Yuna's life.

Although the people of the "army" also tried hard, they didn't find any results, and it was impossible to protect her all the time, so the head of the company, Xinka, asked if it was entrusted to a more suitable guild to try.

That is, the "Arcadia" to which Yuki belongs.

“……”

"Okay, I'll take the commission."

“——！”

Frowning and measuring something, in the expectant gaze of the two, Yuki finally nodded.

……

(Ghost...... ）