Summoner of Miracles

"Don't get someone else's hand dirty…?"

The girl stared at Rozen from under her hood.

"You wanted to try your best to struggle, right? Then might as well unveil who framed you, that way you could help other players too, or would you rather just die in vain?"

Rozen quickly said before the girl could say anything.

"Fight back?"

That was undoubtedly a word that didn't exist in the girl's mind before.

But it was different now.

"In any case, since the one who framed you was also a criminal, he must be punished, am I wrong?"

Rozen said with a smile.

"You would try your best to struggle, right? Or you just want to give up since that's the easy way out?"

Rozen finally said this in a sarcastic tone.

However, this time the girl could no longer feign ignorance, she was incited by Rozen's words.

The girl has just turned 15 this year, yet she was constantly in battles, not only the battle here in this death game but the hardships she faced in life.

Because of her demanding parents, she had to go to an all-girl school and partook in various courses for her future. She constantly had to meet her parent's expectations since kindergarten.

The girl did everything her parents asked like a robot, she believed that once she failed to meet her parent's expectations, she was useless as a human.

However, all those routines finally stopped this year when she put on the NerveGear that belonged to her brother out of curiosity.

As a result, she was trapped in a death game called Sword Art Online.

Unlike how it has been in the past, this time she believes she couldn't pull this one through, since this was something new to her, she never went through something this complicated.

Although the condition to survive was clear as day, even after one month, players still couldn't clear the first floor.

And there were a bunch of players who knew details about this game like beta testers, yet none of them has tried to challenge the floor boss, and that was not even the worst news.

In a month, there were about 2000 Players whose hp has hit zero.

Yes.

In a month, a total of 2,000 players had died.

There were only 10,000 people in this game, and about one-fifth of them have fallen victim to this game in merely a month?

Hearing this news, the girl who was secluding herself in her rented room in the Town of Beginnings finally gave up hope.

Since the help from the outside world didn't come even after two weeks, the girl realized something.

"Waiting for someone else to clear this game is pointless."

She believed everyone would die sooner or later anyway, including herself.

Then…

"Rather than constantly living in fear at a small and darkroom, I'd rather go outside and fight however I can."

This is the girl's final choice.

"If I died at the end of the day, at least that's the decision I made on my own."

With this conviction, the girl left the inn and left the safe zone without having any knowledge about the game, she solely relied on the basic rapier sold in the Town of Beginnings and the basic Sword Skill for rapier, Linear. And before she realized, she was already in the labyrinth area.

But she did that not because she believed she could clear the game.

"Even if I lost my life to a monster, I definitely don't want to be discouraged by this game, this world."

The girl did her best, she refused to admit defeat.

Then…

"Alright then."

The girl nodded her head.

That was the final decision that the girl made.

A few years later, the girl would often grit her teeth whenever she remembered this scene.

"He planned this all along."

That was a sentence that the girl often said in the future.

…

Labyrinth area, seventeenth floor.

A party of players was hunting monsters in vigilance.

While most of them handled the monsters, one of them must stay on the lookout in case there was another monster coming.

However, this time they didn't only look out for monsters, but also for players.

"There's a red player in the 17th floor who'd PK other players while they were dealing with monsters, that player's level and equipment were unknown. One thing for sure, that red player used rapier and wore a full-bodied hood."

That was a rumor that was spread in the labyrinth area that day.

Therefore, the players were more focused than usual as they couldn't take the warning lightly.

Presumably, once an orange cursor appeared in their field of vision, these players will definitely abandon the monster and surround the opponent at once.

Rozen and the girl were observing the situation from afar.

"Okay, don't get too close. Otherwise, players with high-level Search will find us, both of us don't have high-level Hiding after all."

Rozen whispered to the girl.

"…"

The girl did not say anything, she just observed those players with her hands on the hilt of her rapier.