In front of Kirito, stood a party, a very unbalanced party. The party consisted of five players.
Among the five players, one of them was using mace and shield, one of them used a thief-build with a dagger, one of them used a two-handed staff and two spear users. In other words, there’s one tank, one damage dealer, and three long weapon users, which was undoubtedly very unbalanced.
Ideally, a party should have two tanks, two damage dealers, and two long weapon users.
Because SAO was a game that emphasized somatosensory and real sense in combat, players must first consider each other’s Sword Skills to refrain from hindering each other. In other words, they must consider the problems when it came to Switching.
With two tanks, damage dealers and long weapon users, they could switch with each other, to keep the offense and defense going safely.
In addition to the unbalanced composition in their party, their level wasn’t particularly high either. At most, they were at level 20. So, seeing Kirito with them kind of confused Rozen. But, instead of prying too much into it, he walked right toward them.
“Geez, what took you so long? What if other players beat us to it?”
Kirito immediately breathed like a sigh of relief. It was not like it was a baseless concern.
Almost every Player knew how amazing The Magician, leader of the clearers was, with a Tamed Monster that could inflict various negative status effects toward even the most resistant Floor Boss.
If other Players heard someone found the same type of Tamed Monster as The Magician had, obviously there would be a huge commotion. Let alone average Players; even the clearers would swarm that place immediately.
At the very least, even if the Player who managed to get the Tamed Monster couldn’t use it properly, they could still sell it for a hefty amount of Cor.
“Well, I am here now, aren’t I?” Rozen shrugged, and as he looked at the players he asked: “They are…?”
Before Rozen could introduce them, one of these Players beat him to it.
“Hello! My name is Ducker! My weapon of choice is a dagger! Pleased to meet you!”
The dagger user named Ducker immediately stood upright as he introduced himself.
“M… my name is Tetsuo! I’m using mace! Glad to make your acquaintance!”
The tank who used mace also introduced himself, looking all nervous.
“My name is Sasamaru. I’m using a spear.”
One of the spear users also introduced himself nervously.
The other spear user happened to be a girl. Right after Sasamaru, the petite girl with shoulder-length hair also introduced herself.
“I… my name is Sachi…”
The girl said looking all tense while playing with the spear in her hand to distract herself from nervousness.
The last Player who used two-handed staff smiled wryly, seeing this situation.
“I am really sorry. My friends are nervous because we rarely see a clearer.”
The two-handed staff user then slightly bowed and introduced himself to Rozen.
“My name is Keita. As you can see, my weapon of choice is a two-handed staff. Pleased to meet you.”
Lastly, Kirito closed it with an explanation.
“They’re the one who found the monster like Saihou.”
Kirito then explained that he encountered these players while he was on his way to collect some weapon materials. He saw they were in danger, so he rescued them, and these players recognized Kirito.
Rather than recognizing Kirito, it was more of recognizing Kirito’s guild.
Players could only see other Players’ color cursor, hp bar, and guild’s emblem if they didn’t form a party, while level and name remained unknown.
These Players saw Red Wings’ guild emblem beside Kirito’s hp bar, and they realized that Kirito was part of the famous beta testers guild.
Under normal circumstances, normal players who mostly hated beta testers would quickly leave upon realizing Kirito was a beta tester.
However, when Kirito was about to leave, Ducker who seemed like a quiet guy, suddenly told him certain information.
“You are a member of the Red Wings, right? Then you should be close enough with Red Wings’ leader, The Magician, right? I heard The Magician had a Tamed Monster, which is a beautiful-looking butterfly. We happened to see a similar monster around here!”
Upon hearing this news, Kirito quickly notified Rozen. And only after hearing Kirito’s explanation that Rozen finally knew why Kirito was with them.
“Thank you for providing such important information to me.” Rozen thanked the party and said: “If this information is valid, then I will pay you accordingly.”
“No… no need!” Keita quickly raised his hand and said, “We had no intention to ask you for Cor to begin with, and we didn’t even know the monster we found turns out to be the same monster as the Tamed Monster of Red Wings’ leader.”
“Leader?” Rozen was a little confused, then he asked to make sure: “Uhh… do you know who I am?”
“Yes, Mr. Kirito has already told us.” Keita said: “He said that not all of Red Wings’ members are high-leveled beta testers, some of them are in charge of supporting roles like information gathering, crafting, trading, etc., Kirito-san is one of them, he said he’s here is to collect weapons material, while you’re on the clearer team, and you’re here since your leader asked you to confirm this information.”
Upon hearing this, Rozen glared at Kirito without saying a word.
“Ahaha…”
Kirito smiled wryly and immediately avoided eye contact.
Rozen just sighed helplessly at his brother’s act this time.
“Well, that makes things easier then.”
Rozen said to Keita and his party.
“So, you’re willing to give me the information for free?”
Rozen asked this question.
