Chapter 188 - Planning a Trip

Fighting the Sleeping Queen was fun. The field-boss didn't hit too hard, but it had a lot of means to attack - mainly vines, lots and lots of them. It made the battle a lot more technical instead of just desperate slashing.

Even the Violet Hurricanes got in on the action, after Drifter confirmed it was safe enough.

It was in times like this that the spearmaster was grateful for his title and reputation. While he mostly disliked the attention it brought, it was useful knowing that when he spoke, people listened.

Not that they always obeyed him, mind you. And he didn't really want to have his every word followed like it was law. Most of the times, he would rather be just Drifter, instead of Broken Spear.

Not all, though. Drifter had never been an overly modest person. He knew his own worth, and wasn't shy about showing off every once in a while. His confidence only grew as did his position in the Assault Team.

In another life, that confidence would have turned into unbridled arrogance. But in this world, it had been tempered through way too many trials. It had transformed Drifter into a leader, not just to his guild or the Assault Team, but to all the players.

All that was to say, Drifter had grown used to people listening when he spoke. So he was not amused by being currently ignored by his latest cause of annoyance, and even less so by all his laughing guildmates.

"Feredir! Get back here, you smelly mutt!"

Predictably, the wolf didn't listen. Instead, he continued to run circles around Drifter while Yuna, Yuuki, Liz, Agil, and Nautilus egged him on.

"Give me back my spear, you unevolved dog! Kizmel!"

"Feredir enjoys playing chase, Drifter. It's very kind of you to volunteer."

The dark elf chuckled and pointed out in that way of hers that made it impossible to be mad at her. Drifter was making a good effort, though.

"Kizmel! I didn't- Argh!"

The spearmaster threw his hands up in the air and gave up. He thumped over to a bench and sat down, giving everyone his patented I-hate-you-right-now glare. For some reason, that only made his guildmates laugh harder.

"There, there... Feredir's just playing. Don't be mad, dummy."

Yuna patted her husband's shoulder reassuringly, but it seemed quite insincere when she was struggling to hold back her giggles.

The Songstress fully broke down when Feredir trotted over to the bench, spear still in his mouth, and gave Drifter puppy eyes. When the player resisted - with effort - the wolf dropped the spear at his feet.

The spearmaster stared at it suspiciously, until Feredir whined. The wolf seemed genuinely sorry for upsetting him. Drifter's expression softened some, and he bent down to pick up his weapon.

That was when Feredir darted forward and picked it up again, holding it tight between his jaws. The wolf skipped out of reach and restarted the chase while Drifter screamed.

"Feredir! I'm going to boil you!"

By now, most of the Reavers were rolling on the ground with laughter. Silica was wiping away a tear and leaning on Kizmel to hold herself up.

"I think... Hahaha... I think Feredir's getting smarter."

The dark elf opened her mouth to answer, but only a strangled snort came out when she saw Feredir diving under the spearmaster's legs. Since he still had the spear held horizontally in his mouth, that sent Drifter tumbling down.

The Reaver didn't bother getting back up. He laid on the ground, defeated and glaring at everyone he could see.

"If I ever find out who told Feredir to do this, I'll make them suffer."

His guild laughed harder. Drifter kept his stern expression until Feredir approached him again.

"Oh no. You are not tricking me again. Go away."

The wolf whined, and Drifter's frown twitched. When Feredir plopped down next to him and laid his head on his stomach, Drifter couldn't resist it anymore.

"Alright, alright. Maybe I won't boil you."

He scratched the wolf behind the ears, and Feredir's tail wagged rapidly against the ground in contentment. Drifter sighed.

"I won't give you any more pats if you get slobber all over my spear again."

Feredir grumbled, and Drifter closed his eyes. The ground wasn't the most comfortable place, but he enjoyed the moment. He wouldn't ever get tired of listening to his friends chat and laugh - even if it was at his expanse. It proved that they weren't just still alive, but also living.

"I never thought I would catch you of all people slacking, Drifter."

The spearmaster opened his eyes at the new voice, and saw Sasha staring at him upside-down. Well, not really. It was just how it looked since she was standing by his head.

Her seemingly innocent remark didn't fool him. He didn't miss the glint of amusement in her eyes, nor the slight curling of her lips. He would bet anything she had been watching for a while.

"I'll sic Klein on you if you say anything, Sasha."

He took some vindictive pleasure in the way her expression contorted in distate. Ever since the Fuurinkazan guild leader had met Sasha a couple floors back, he had been declaring his undying affection for her. Love at first sight, he said.

"Please don't."

Drifter stuck out his tongue, which proved to be a bad choice as Feredir decided to lick his face.

"Eck! Stop that! Anyway... How have you been, Sasha?"

Sputtering, Drifter pushed Feredir's head away and sat up. He also conveniently swipped his spear back into his inventory while at it. Feredir whined at the loss of his toy.

"Me? Pretty good. Also, why didn't you do that from the beginning?"

Drifter flushed a little and turned his head away. Sasha giggled when she heard him mumble an answer.

"Feredir was having fun."

"You are a big softie, aren't you?"

"Hey! I'll have you know I'm a very cold-hearted frontliner! Broken Spear Drifter! I am-"

"Yup, he's a softie."

"Sinon!"

Drifter crossed his arms and pouted. It didn't really work when everyone knew he was playing along.

"Hm, I knew Drifter was a good guy from the beginning. Not everyone would take time out of their busy schedule, especially frontliners, to play with the kids."

"That was mostly Yuna, though."

"Liar. You were as excited as I was."

The songstress stuck out her tongue at him from where she was sitting cuddling Silica and Pina. Drifter just snorted and flopped back down, resting his head on Feredir's flank.

"Okay, maybe I was. Speaking of which, if you are here, who's taking care of the church, Sasha?"

"Ah, Thinker and Yulier are looking after it and the kids."

Drifter furrowed his brows.

"Thinker? Yulier?"

The spearmaster had never heard of them. Neither had his guildmates, and the new names caught the attention of the others, who paused their conversations to look at Sasha.

All of Reaver's Requiem was very fond of the lost kids that Sasha took in. Maybe even a bit overprotective.

The woman knew that, and she couldn't help the grateful smile that touched her lips when she noticed the keen interest from all the Reavers. Knowing that others cared for the kids like she did took a weight of her shoulders. She knew they would never be abandoned again, even if something happened to her.

"They are a couple, you probably don't know them 'cause they come in the days you aren't there. But they have been a huge help for the past few months. I had to rely on doing odd quests around the Town of Beginnings to fund the church, but with Yulier and Thinker hunting and doing actual quests on the lower floors, I've been able to providence better care for the kids."

Drifter felt a prick of guilt when he heard that, and he wasn't the only one. They knew Sasha didn't mean anything by it, but it was a fact that the Reavers only went down to the 1st floor once a week.

Nobody blamed them, of course. Their work in the frontlines was much more important. But it still felt a little like they let Sasha and her charges down.

"That's good to hear, Sasha. You deserve all the help you can get."

What Sasha did was charity. She was a saint. Nobody had told her she had to take in kids and cloth, feed, entertain, and put a roof over their heads. She did it all of her own volition.

"Thank you. It would have never happened if you didn't support me at the start. Especially you, Drifter, Yuna."

The couple shook their heads.

"We didn't do much."

Sasha, Sinon, Nautilus, Kirito, Asuna, Ran, and several of the others snorted at that. For a guild leader and a performer, Drifter and Yuna sure had a hard time accepting praise.

"Yes, you did. But enough about that. I actually came to talk about something else. Involving painting, fishing, and a field trip to the 22nd floor."

Drifter stared at Sasha.

"How did you even know about that?"

"Oh, a little rodent told me. She thought I might be interested. In her own words: 'Dri-bou's stupid and forgot to invite ya, so I'm doin' it for him'."

"Argo."

The spearmaster groaned, not just because the info-broker wasn't wrong. All of Reaver's Requiem going down to the 22nd floor? That was the perfect chance to take the kids out to play. They couldn't be safer.

"I hope I'm not imposing too much, Drifter. I do believe the little ones would enjoy it, however."

Waving his hand, Drifter dismissed her sheepish expression.

"Not at all, Sasha. Argo's right, I should have thought of it sooner. You are more than welcomed to join us. I bet Ceba will love it. Oh, and bring those two you talked about. It will be a good chance to meet them."

The caretaker beamed. Kneeling, she threw her arms around Drifter in an awkward hug, before proceeding to get up and wrap her arms around Yuna, squishing Silica and her pet in the middle.

"Thank you so much!"

"You're- Ugh... Welcome."

They chatted for a while more before Sasha looked at her menu and saw that it was already past 10 PM. She hugged Yuna and Drifter once more and bid farewell go the Reavers.

"I should relieve Thinker and Yulier. I'll see you soon. Good luck with the raid tomorrow!"

The players waved goodbye to her, not in any hurry to leave their spot. The 38th would probably be a simple battle, but they had all gone back to the safe zone early today, as soon as the sun started to set, so they could rest.

Most players had learned to leave frontliners alone before a floor boss raid. The ones who didn't were sent scurrying away with glares and frowns if they made too much of a fuss.

The other Assault Team guilds each had their own pre-raid rituals. Relaxing as a guild was Reaver's Requiem's, and, all in all, they were pretty satisfied with having a corner of the safe zone all to themselves.

"It's getting to be quite a huge group, no? For our little trip."

Griselda commented while braiding Sachi's hair. Yuna, who was next line for the older woman's treatment, shrugged.

"The more the merrier. It'll be fun. If nothing else, we can hand our catches to Asuna so she can level up her Cooking."

"Oh, seafood!"

"Oh, seafood!"

Keita and Tetsuo high-fived, and Kirito snorted.

"Close enough, I guess."

The swordsman was sitting on the ground in front of a bench, with his back pressed on Asuna's legs, and his head reclined back to rest on her lap.

"I don't have any problems cooking what you fish. Although I do need to prepare some extra ingredients since there will be more people than usual."

The fencer tapped her lips with a pensive expression. Probably making a mental list of everything she had to buy.

"I'm volunteering Yuuki to go with you buy what you need, Asuna."

"Sinon! I thought you loved me! But yeah, I can go, no worries, Asuna-chan."

"Stop jostling her, Yuuki. I'm trying to sleep."

"Why are both of you even using me as a pillow?!"

Cracking an eye open, Drifter saw Sinon, with Yuuki and Nautilus, sitting to her left and right respectively, and leaning heavily on the poor archer.

The two exchanged mischievous glances. They could have chosen to sit or lay down anywhere, and had decided to bug Sinon on purpose.

"You are my girlfriend. It's my right to cuddle up with you."

"My girlfriend abandoned me. I'm using my right to cuddle up to you as you are her sister-in-law."

Sinon blinked.

"I don't think that's how that works"

"And I didn't abandon you, Nautilus. Honestly..."

Ran, who was perfectly within reach, seeing as her feet were on Nautilus lap as she and Liz chit-chat, rolled her eyes. She was unable to keep a smile from appearing on her face.

Drifter shook his head, amused. There wasn't a single moment when the players of Reaver's Requiem weren't trying to mess with one another. All in good fun, of course.

The quietest member of their guild, Vallerk, was surprisingly managing to keep some of the loudest - Agil, Wolv, and Shigio, who else? - entertained via a card game you could buy from NPCs. Otherwise, things wouldn't be nearly as placid.

Well, loud and boisterous or silent and intimate, Drifter enjoyed all the moments with his guild. This was the family SAO had gifted him, and he knew he couldn't have done better if he tried.