March 6, 2024

There was a meeting at the main town of the 56th Floor, Clearers were discussing the advancement of the game. In this meeting, Asuna of Knights of the Blood debated with Kirito intensely over strategies to fight against the Field Boss, GeoCrawler. However, Kirito objected as they would be trampling on the NPCs' lives, though Asuna coldly stated that they were merely "objects" to the game, thus they would simply respawn after being killed, unlike the players. She also reminded Kirito of her status and as thus he was forced to comply. I didn't say anything 'cause I remembered her position, do Yes, I did want to, but nii gave me a death glare. Afterwards, Agil confronted Kirito about their constant bickering, causing Kirito to remember the advice about joining a guild that he had given to Asuna, and how amazing she had become.

April 11, 2024

Asuna found Kirito and I sleeping at a grass hill, within the 59th Floor's main town, Danac, while Shiro- nii was at the laberynth, and tried to tell him off for not working at the front lines. Kirito responded that the weather in «Aincrad» at that time was the best, and it would be a waste to be in the Labyrinth on such a day. After listening to Kirito's reply, she rested beside me to test his theory and fell asleep along with us. When Asuna woke up from her eight hour sleep, she noticed us watching over her and almost attacked me, for i was the closest to her, before she remembered what had happened. To thank Kirito and me  for protecting her as she was sleeping, Asuna tried to treat us to a meal at an NPC restaurant in the 57th Floor's main town, Marten. There, we discussed about the concept of «Sleep Player Killing», caused by forced «Dueling». Before we could eat, however, we heard a scream outside and hurried to investigate.

Upon arriving, Kirito, Asuna and I witnessed a murder within the city, which should have been impossible due to the «Anti-Criminal Code Effect Area» feature within a safe area in the game. A heavily armored player was hung by a rope in front of a church, appearing to have been pushed out of a window after being impaled with a spear, and finally shattering into blue polygons due to the «Continuous Piercing Damage over Time» effect. As the killed player was still within the city boundaries, Kirito believed that the cause of death was losing all his health in a duel with another player. However, the «Winner» notification for such a duel did not appear, eliminating that possibility. While investigating the murder case, Kirito, Asuna and I interviewed a witness, Yolko, who claimed that she was supposed to meet up with the victim, Caynz.

Retrieving the murder weapon and leaving Yolko in the safety of an Inn, Kirito, Asuna and I traveled to a player shop in the main town on the 50th Floor, Algade, to have it appraised by Agil. Agil deciphered that the weapon, named «Guilty Thorn», was created by a player named «Grimlock». Kirito attempted to test if the weapon could harm him inside the city, but Asuna stopped him before he could stab his hand. "What are you doing?!" asked Asuna. "What does it seam like it? Kirito- kun's testing it." I said. "Are you kidding?! That weapon already killed a man!" They exited the shop after leaving the weapon with Agil.

The next day, we met up with Yolko at the restaurant we had been to the day before, and learned that Yolko, Caynz, and Grimlock were former members of the now defunct «Golden Apple» guild, which had lost their leader, Griselda. Yolko told us that after obtaining a rare ring from a monster, they voted whether they should keep or sell it and came to the decision to sell it with five people voting to sell it and only 3 voting to keep it. Griselda then went to the front lines to try and sell it, but never came back at all. Yolko mentioned that Grimlock was the leader's «in-game husband», and that the killer may possibly be after the three Golden Apple members who were opposed the selling of the ring: Caynz, Yolko, and Schmitt. By Yolko's request, Kirito brought Schmitt to have him meet with Yolko.

During their conversation, Yolko told Schmitt that she believed that the killer was the vengeful ghost of their deceased female leader, Griselda, since no normal player could kill another inside the safe area. Suddenly, as Kirito, Asuna, Schmitt and I are watching the panicked Yolko, she was murdered in front of them, stabbed in the back (A/N: Get the Irony?) from a dagger through the open window. As she fell from the second floor window, Kirito and I rushed to the window to call her name, but she shattered into blue polygons in front of our eyes.