Ch 33: If your goddess gives you a hint, you better take it.

On the third day after the clearers opened the sixtieth floor, Noah was heading toward town after a long farming session, when a twenty-something, slightly scruffy man came out of the city gate’s shadow and ran toward him. Noah waited for him, spear and hammer loosely held in his hands.

“Noah-san, please! I beg you to help me! I’ll do anything you want to repay you.”

Noah wasn’t surprised that the man knew his name, since he was one of the most popular players, when the others noticed more and more how he kept up his habit of occasionally saving players during the boss fights, and news spread past the front line, in no small part thanks to Argo’s articles. He had been featured three or four times in her gazette, and a lot of players had been grateful to him when Argo explained to everyone how the player’s subconscious and self-image were having an impact on the player’s combat capabilities and credited him for finding out. He was also gaining a reputation for being seen wielding a variety of different weapons instead of sticking to one, and dual yielding them despite there being no known benefit to doing so.

Most people nodded to him or saluted him whenever he walked in a settlement, and Argo actually made a pretty penny selling off information about Noah to his fan club.

“Who are you, and how can I help?”

“I am Durstal. I have searched for you for most of the day, and people told me they saw you headed to this place. Please, Noah, take revenge on my wife’s murderers.”

“Oh. I’m very sorry to hear that. You have my condolences. Please tell me what happened.”

“My wife Becka and I had a dispute with other members of our guild, so we both left it. We started forming temporary teams with other players, as we were not really in a hurry to join another guild. It worked rather well for us. And one week ago, we formed a team whose leader was a woman called Rosalia.”

His face turned for a moment into a rictus of rage before he controlled himself.

“We teamed with them for a few days, when two days ago, we found a Ragout Rabbit. That’s a rare monster, that is very valuable.”

Noah nodded, knowing the shy, elusive rabbit was a prized cooking ingredient. He had caught one a while ago, and it had given him 5 cooking proficiency points. He and the girls had enjoyed the food a lot.

Durstal started crying.

“I was the fastest in the group, and I really wanted to gift it to Becka, to enjoy something so reputed. We’d have shared with the rest of the party, of course, but… The rabbit was hard to catch. It eventually escaped after I ran after it for a few minutes, and when I came back…”

“When I came back, from between the trees, I saw Becka kneelingon the ground, trying to say something to Rosalia, the other members of her party, and a few orange and red players. Becka’s items were all on the ground, between and her Rosalia… I was too far to hear, but from the way Rosalia was smiling, it was obvious… she and the red players were accomplices!”

“You do not need to say more, I understand. Do you have a cape or something to hide your identity?” Said Noah with a grim voice.

“I don’t?” Durstal answered in confusion.

Noah took a plain gray cloak with a hood and equipped it. Most of his face was hidden under the shadow of the hood. He used it from times to times when he was tired of being recognized everywhere.

He took another cloak from his inventory and gave it to Durstal.

“Equip it. You will accompany me in town, and help me find out this Rosalia. I will observe her for a while to confirm your testimony, just to be certain, then I’ll deal with her and her accomplices.”

Durstal’s face lit up in joy.

“Thank you, Noah-san. Thank you very much. I used most of my saving to buy this.” Durstal gave Noah a large blue crystal. Noah displayed its description.

“Prison Crystal: On activation, the crystal will open for two minutes a portal leading to the prison on the first floor. Players walking through the portal will be unable to use their equipment and imprisoned until the game is cleared.”

“Thanks. Let’s go, then.”

“Yes! They should still be on the 31st floor.”

As the two anonymous figures were making their way toward the main settlement’s portal, Noah reflected on the significance of Durstal seeking him. Considering the reputation he had built for himself, both as a Player Killer Killer and as an exceptionally strong fighter, he was the logical choice for someone who would want to exact vengeance on criminals. So there were little chances of Lilith arranging for that to happen.

It was the start of an event in the original novel. Rosalia was the leader of a criminal guild called… he didn’t remember the name, and it didn’t matter. That guild, a mix of green players not flagged as criminals, orange players who had attacked, but not killed, other players, and red players, ambushed isolated players to rob them, then murdered them to not leave witnesses behind.

In the novel, Rosalia invited in her party a girl named Silica, one of the few who had a tamed monster as a pet, and would eventually try to murder her, not even to rob Silica, who was an under leveled, under equipped and inexperienced player, but simply out of jealousy for her having a pet.

It didn’t take very long for Durstal to identify Rosalia. Like most criminals who don’t get caught immediately, Rosalia had gone overconfident and careless, and was found near the restaurant where she had introduced herself to Durstal and Becka.

“Thanks, Durstal. I’ll take it from there. It may take a few days or weeks.”

“Thanks again. I’ll repay you with everything I can.”

“Just give me a bunch of iron and copper ores or leather someday, and it will be fine. I don’t really want to profit from kicking some scums’ butts.”

Durstal left after they added each other on their friend list.

Noah saw this as an opportunity to increase his hiding and tracking proficiencies. He had no interest in adding Silica to his family, because she was jailbait. Noah might be a pervert, but there was no way he was going to go after a thirteen or fourteen years old. Noah would save her, help her resurrect her pet, pat her head once, and then go on his way.

Noah was hiding in a side-alley, keeping an eye on Rosalia. He could see she was waiting for what he presumed to be her party members, as several men met her and stayed with her. But when the sixth member of their party appeared, Noah’s froze in shock.

“What the actual frack?” He muttered out loud, then remembered he should focus on staying hidden, or the hiding skill would lose in effectiveness.

The girl who had joined Rosalia and the other four men had long, light brown hairs tied in twin tails by red ribbons, and wore a mostly red outfit with golden accents. Her chest was protected by a steel breastplate, and her legs were clad in tight black leather pants. Unless he missed his guess, those pants were even one of Noah’s designs. Not all of Lilith’s patterns were things that exclusively belonged to the bedroom, or to a sex dungeon, and he had given a lot of stuff to Lizbeth for her to sell.

But what shocked Noah was that she must be Silica. An adult version of Silica. The original Silica was a young girl with hairs that wouldn’t reach her shoulders, and the body expected of a girl her age. This Silica’s twin tails reached her waist, had a clearly more mature face, and the body to go with it, although it was hard to judge with the breastplate. The small dog-sized ice dragon floating above her shoulder was an additional proof of her identity.

Noah suddenly changed his opinion about Lilith being involved. And if the Goddess had bothered to make Silica into an adult, Noah took it as a divine clue that Lilith wanted him to make Silica into one of his maids.

And who was Noah, to go against the will of the Goddess?

[Thank you very much, Lady Lilith.]

[You’re welcome. Me sending Durstal to you is a reward for your progress, and for making me win a bet about you. Watching you and the ripples you bring to the world is quite interesting.]

[A bet?]

[Another god was betting that you would use the chastity belt to dominate Argo completely. He wasn’t expecting you to let her remove it once you had that kind of hold on her. But I did read your memories, and I have a lot of insight on human psyche.]

[Well, I’m glad not to have caused you to lose that bet]

Noah only very rarely spoke with Lilith. The last time was a few months ago, when Lilith had told him that she was pleased with his progress and provided him with one tip as a reward. She had advised him to not sleep on his Charisma and Magic stats. Charisma, she had warned him, because the next world would be a… target-rich environment, as she had put it. One that he would like a lot. But he would not be the only Champion present.

And the Magic attribute would prove to be, according to her, just as important as the Agility one was in this tutorial world. It would not only allow him to launch more magic-based attacks or spells before growing tired and increase their potency, but also increase his ability to absorb power from the environment and his ability to make breakthroughs. In a xianxia or cultivation-based world, his MAG attribute would largely determine his growth speed.

Since the accuracy, movement, and reaction speed provided by Agility were Noah’s greatest strength by far, he took her advice to heart and started investing heavily on his MAG and, to a lesser extent, CHA attributes.

Rosalia’s group headed toward one of the town’s exits, and Noah discreetly followed, focusing on the Stealth skill. They headed toward a field labyrinth themed around a forest. It seemed like they were going to do some fighting, despite the sun setting down.

As he followed them, Noah hid behind a tree and opened his interface. He tapped Asuna’s name in his social functions and initiated a chat. Asuna, Suzu and Kaede generally hunted monsters together, with Argo and Lisbeth, both usually busy with their jobs, making regular appearances to keep up with their leveling, and Noah joined them from times to times. Kirito did his own thing, returning every evening to unload the materials he gathered and to receive praise and ‘punishment’ from his Mistresses.”

“Noah?”

“Yes. I don’t have much time to chat. Sorry, but I’m not picking you girls tonight. Something came up. I’ll be busy for a while, possibly several days straight. You girls should rent a few rooms in town.”

“Another girl?”

“Likely, but it looks like she’s being targeted by a guild of robbers and murderers. It may take me a few days to lure them in the open and deal with them.”

“I understand. Do you wish for us to help?”

“Thanks, But I can easily deal with those, I think. You girls keep focusing on your own growth. I don’t know how many of you will be allowed to accompany me on the next test, but it will likely be much harder than this. Lilith called SAO a tutorial, after all.”

“I understand. We’ll keep working hard. Good luck!”

“Please inform Kirito and the others. See you soon, my dear.”

Rosalia and her group had gone out of sight when Noah closed his conversation, but he had no issue following the footsteps, highlighted thanks to his tracking skill.

He quietly watched them grind the gorilla-type monsters populating the labyrinth, until Silica seemed to get into an argument with the others. A few minutes later, Silica separated from the party and went her own way. Noah followed her, glad that there wasn't a 'Stalker' proficiency in the game. That would be embarrassing.

Silica was fighting with a dagger and relied on her pet to occasionally heal her. However, after a while, she obviously lost her sense of direction, going deeper into the labyrinth, and the number of monsters became too much. She got injured too often for her pet to keep up, and as a last resort, the pet used its own body to shield her.

Noah decided it was time to make contact. As he wanted to hide his identity from any potential onlooker, he only equipped a single sword.

Silica’s pet died, its body shattering and leaving a small gem behind.

“Noooooo! Pina!” cried Silica, collapsing on the ground as she took another hit and her HP bar decreased to the red area.

Noah ran into the mobs surrounding her and tore into them. In seconds, they all died.

Silica stared at him for a few seconds, as she sobbed.

Noah sheathed his sword and took a healing crystal.

“Are you okay?” He asked with sympathy.

Silica took the crystal and used it on herself, regaining most to her lost HP.

“You… you could have intervened earlier, right? Are you trying to play the hero saving the damsel in distress? Do you think I’m a fool?” She asked him angrily.

Noah raised an eyebrow. This Silica definitely wasn’t the naïve girl from the novel. He nodded, conceding her point, but put a bit of an edge in his voice.

“I will remind you, miss, that I do not owe you shit. You would be justified in resenting me if I had created this situation, but you put yourself into this mess yourself, and I did save your life, whatever my motives may be.”

“I am John Smith.” He said in a softer voice.

She sighed, looking down. Tears fell down her face. “I’m Silica. Thank you for saving my life, mister with such an obviously fake name. But Pina is dead, and you could have saved him.”

“Yes, I could have. And the reason I didn’t was because your companion can easily be resurrected.”

Silica flinched and looked up at Noah with hopeful eyes.

“He can be?”

“I don’t have a habit of lying about matters of life and death. If you take the gem at your feet and place it on the altar at the center of the 47th floor, your pet will be resurrected. It will be put in a dormant state for a few days, then it will revive. It must be done within a week, though, or the gem will disappear.”

Silica picked up the blue gem and held it like it was an utterly precious object, but her face was still dejected.

“The 47th floor? I’m not nearly strong enough to go there, and with only a week…”

“I can escort you, if you wish.”

“Really?” She started hopefully, then suddenly frowned. “So that’s your goal! You want me to offer up my body in exchange for the escort! Never, you pervert!”

Noah suddenly laughed, which only made her more furious.

“I’ll admit you’re a pretty girl, and travelling with you for a bit wouldn’t be unpleasant. Although, I’m starting to have a few second thoughts, considering your attitude. But that isn’t why I let your pet sacrifice itself.”

Noah came closer to her, and she stepped back, until her back was against a tree. She was about to unsheathe her dagger, when he grasped her hand and came closer still.

“I’m after bigger prey, and you’ll make a good bait.” He whispered near her right ear.

Noah stepped back, and Silica froze, puzzled.

“What do you mean?”

“Not in a public place. You never know who might be hidden nearby. Follow me if you wish to learn more, and if you agree to me escorting you to the 47th floor.”

Noah slowly walked away. Silica hesitated for a few seconds. But seeing no alternative to resurrecting Pina, and wanting someone to help her safely get out of the labyrinth, she sighed and followed him.

Noah guided her out of the forest maze and back to the city, where he rented a room at the first inn he found, with Silica tagging along.

When they were both inside a room, with Silica watching him warily, a hand close to the handle of her dagger, Noah unequipped his cloak.

Silica’s eyes widened as she recognized him instantly.

“N-Noah-sama?” she blurted out in astonishment.

‘-sama’? Noah raised an eyebrow again as he smiled gently.

“I’m Noah, yes. It’s nice to meet you, Silica. But you must call me John Smith outside. Those guys will run away if they recognize me.”

Silica took a moment to compose herself, but he noticed she was flushed a bit. “What guys are you speaking about?”

“Rosalia and her party. If my information is correct, those guys are dangerous. Earlier today, a man came to me…”

Noah relayed to her everything Durstal had told him. Silica got scared when she realized how close she had been from a bunch of murderers, and how she might have been their next victim.

“Are you… sure of it?”

“That guy seemed honest to me. But I need to confirm it before I take action, and that is where you come in. You going to the 47th floor with some random hooded stranger will be an opportunity to them. If they try to kill you, I’ll deal with them. If they don’t, I’ll keep an eye on them for a while, until I can be certain, one way or the other. But either way, we’ll get your little friend resurrected.”

“Oh… I understand. Thank you very much for your help, Noah-s... Noah.” She said as she blushed more.

“Are you okay with my plan, then?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Then let’s meet tomorrow at eight in this town, near the portal. I’ll be disguised, but I will have no trouble recognizing you.”

“Yes!” Silica rose from the chair, and Noah opened the door to see her out. But before she walked out, Silica hesitated.

“Can I, please… have an autograph?” She asked in a low voice.

“Ah?”

“Please don’t misunderstand! I hear your autograph can be sold for a lot of money, so since I have the opportunity…” She shook her hands vigorously in denial while blushing and looking to the side.

Noah had to hold back a laugh at her cute tsundere act and smiled gently.

“After we’re done dealing with Rosalia and her bunch, I’ll give you something considerably better than an autograph. Now remember to call me John Smith, and you should treat me like I’m a slightly suspicious character outside. Good night, Silica.”

“Yes, good night!” Silica quickly left the room.