Eight o'clock in the morning.

Today's weather is set to be cloudy, and the morning haze that envelops the streets has not yet dissipated, and the sunlight coming in from the periphery reflects off the fine air particles, staining the surroundings with a tartrazine.

In such a morning scene, Xia Qianshi appeared in the main block on the 55th floor of Al Grant, which is the guild residence of the Blood Alliance Knights.

Asuna stood beside him with a worried expression.

Seven days have passed since the cave talk.

Forty days have passed since Xia Qianshi lived as a degenerate.

In these seven days, Xia Qianshi did not accumulate any more crimes, and after the church donated a large amount of money, he finally changed from an orange player to an ordinary white player, and set foot in the player's base again.

As for why he was so restrained, it had to start with his conversation with Asuna that day.

After learning that Kraidier was a member of the Smiling Coffin, Xia Qianshi decided to extract the information about the Smiling Coffin from his mouth.

It just so happened that he often pestered Asuna, so Xia Qianshi thought of borrowing Asuna to lure him out.

However, Asuna is the deputy head of the Blood Alliance Knights and the backbone of the strategy group, and her every move is related to the strategy process of the entire game.

So if she wanted to leave the front, she had to tell the regiment commander Heathcliff in advance.

This should have been a reasonable request, but no one expected that Heathcliff would actually refuse.

"I can allow you to leave the group temporarily, but I want to meet Xia Qianshi."

That's what Heatscliffe said.

"I'm sorry to trouble you for such a trivial matter......" Asuna said with a look of frustration.

"I should have asked for it first, and I'm willing to do anything to help you, because you're my ......."

Asuna had been staring at Xia Qianshi, who had fallen silent in search of a proper term.

"The Most Important Friend......

Although she seemed to pout her mouth a little dissatisfied, Asuna finally smiled a little.

"Anyway, let's go meet that person first."

Xia Qianshi took Asuna's hand and walked forward.

The 55th-story main district, Gransom, is also known as the "Iron City", so named because unlike other towns, which are mostly made of stone, the town's main building, the giant minaret, is made of steel that glows black.

Although many players have settled here due to the thriving smelting and gold carving crafts, the streets are completely devoid of street trees, making it especially chilly during this freezing season.

The two men crossed the transfer gate square, and walked on the wide road connected by washed steel plates, which were fastened with rivets.

After walking for about ten minutes, a taller minaret appeared in front of me.

There were many silver spears protruding from the huge door, and the red cross flag on a white background hung on it was blown everywhere by the cold wind.

This is the headquarters of the Blood Pact Knights.

Asuna stopped at the bottom of the stairs in front of the guild gate and looked up at the spire.

Before Xia Qianshi fell into darkness, he once called her, Kirito, Achill, Yuki and others together.

During that brief meeting, he first handed over the interpreter to Kirito on the grounds that he didn't want anyone else to get involved again.

He then said he didn't want to manage the guild anymore, and asked if any of them would.

Kirito and Achill are the first to refuse, and the rest is her and Yuki.

She immediately refused, because in the eyes of the outside world, she was Xia Qianshi's girlfriend, and the negative evaluation of Xia Qianshi by the outside world would also be transferred to her, so she was not suitable to become the manager of the [Ayn Grant] People's Liberation Army.

So in the end, he won the chairman's throne, and he was fortunate that he had not spoken.

Both Kirishi and Achill continued to serve in the [Ayngrant Liberation Army] as honorary deputy heads, and Asuna was the only one who quit the guild.

She had already seen that Xing also had different feelings for Xia Qianshi, so she was unwilling to succumb to Xing.

In addition, she also wanted to be recognized by others with her own efforts, so she joined the Blood Alliance Knights, which was still an unknown small group at the time.

It's just that even she didn't expect that in just over a month, the Blood Alliance Knights would grow into the second guild in the game.

As the reputation of the guild grew, so did the hearts of the members, and now Asuna regretted joining it.

"Let's go inside."

After a gentle sigh, Asuna led the way.

Climbing up the wide staircase and through the open gates to the left and right, Asuna walked in an awe-inspiring and inviolable manner.

Whether it is a neat one-handed return salute or a vigorous way of walking, there is a heroic and sassy taste.

After climbing an unknown amount of time on a huge spiral staircase, Asuna finally stopped in front of a door.

"Is this it?"

"Hmmm......"

Asuna nodded, and then as if she had finally made up her mind, she stretched out her right hand and knocked on the door hard, and then without waiting for the person inside to answer, she directly pushed the door open, and the large amount of light that overflowed from the door made Xia Qianshi's eyes narrow.

Inside is a circular room that uses an entire floor of space in the upper tower, and the walls are all transparent glass on all sides. The gray light that comes in through the glass gives the whole room the same hue.

In the center of the room was a huge semicircular table, located in the center and on either side of the table, where five people were seated.

Xia Qianshi had never seen these five people, but he could recognize at a glance that the person sitting in the middle was Heathcliff, who was called 'Paladin' in the game.

He didn't look oppressive at all, he was supposed to be around twenty-five years old, and he had a skeiny, thin face that looked like a scholar.

Iron-gray hair hung down on Xiuyi's forehead, wrapped in a loose bright red robe, and was a tall but slightly thin body.

Such a figure looks more like a magician who does not exist in this world than a swordsman.

But the most distinctive thing should be his eyes, those incredible brass-colored pupils emanating a strong magnetism, which makes those who confront him feel timid.

However, Xia Qianshi still stood leisurely in place, staring at him from afar.

"Commander, I have brought a thousand things."

The first to speak was Asuna, the thin sword in a knight's uniform that made the girl's expression solemn: "Now, I am asking you to resign. ”