“I see you flustered the First Floor Titaness.” A nasally voice marveled from beside me. Turning around, I nearly jumped out of my digital skin as a short cloaked figure had suddenly appeared beside me.

“Nee-hee.” The figure laughed in a strange nasally way. “That reaction was almost worth a free tip from me. You must honestly be low level if I caught you that off guard. I wasn’t even using my hiding skill!”

Getting a better look at the stealthy individual I realized that it was yet another girl. She was short; even shorter than me which was starting to feel like a rare occurrence in this game. She had curly golden brown hair that almost reached her shoulders, brown eyes, and whiskers painted on her face. She wore a shabby brown cloak, that hid some claws and throwing picks underneath. In spite of the simplicity of her costume, she appeared to be a higher level player. Noticing my glances, she stuck her hand out towards me.

“Argo’s the name! Nice to meetchya!”

Argo took my hand before I could react and gave me a firm and enthusiastic handshake that could win her any interview.

“Information’s my business.” She explained. “If there’s ever anything you need to know, I’m your girl! Everything has a price! I’ve got the info if you’ve got the col!”

Argo paused for a moment looking intently at my face as if searching for something. “I pride myself highly in the quality of my wares.” Argo Continued undeterred. “I can smell a scoop from a mile away, and don’t like spreading information unless it is 100% confirmed. And that’s why you interest me. There are several things about you that don’t line up. You smell like a scoop yourself.”

“Oh?” I asked evasively. “I don’t know what you mean by that.”

I backed up instinctively. In spite of Argo’s small stature she was surprisingly more overpowering than the two men I faced earlier. I wasn’t certain what this game had done to people, but everyone I had met so far had such intimidating presences.

“Your equipment doesn’t match your actions.” Argo explained. “Your equipment is as low as it can go, so there ain’t no way you’ve wandered away from the Town of Beginnings before, but any of the waiters usually go hiding around this time of day in order to avoid any of the Army’s random inspections.”

“I-I guess I just lost track of time.” I lied in the least convincing way possible.

“See that’s what I thought at first too.” Argo surprisingly agreed to. “But then I saw your attack.”

“What attack?” I retorted. “I got beat half way across the plaza!”

“That ya did.” Argo laughed. “Was pretty impressive too. But that’s because ya used the wrong skill. You’re holding a dagger, but I recognized the skill ya used. You were going for ‘Slant’. A one handed sword skill. You timed it surprisingly well too! I know it because there’s a boy I keep close tabs on up near the front lines who likes using it a lot. So I want to know how a guy who has a dagger and so little combat experience that he can’t even afford a better set of armor managed to time a one handed sword skill better than a veteran.”

She had me… this Argo girl may have been tiny, but she knew her stuff. Defeated I fell back down to the ground with a sigh. Maybe it was time I came clean with things.

“I don’t think you’d believe me if I told you.” I groaned.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” Argo replied leaning against the wall beside me with a mischievous grin. “I’ve been in this information business for a long time now and I reckon there ain’t much left out there that can catch ole Argo off guard. Besides, I’ve already got my suspicions.”

I looked up at Argo unconvinced that she truly appreciated the scope of the information I held. Still, she threw out the challenge, and just for once today I wanted to not be the one who was flustered and caught of guard so I took her up on the offer.

“Today was the first day I’ve logged in to Sword Art Online.” I replied as unceremoniously as I could explain it.

Argo stared at me for a moment before breaking out in a nasally laugh.

“Nee-hee that’s a good one.” She replied knocking my arm. “You had me going for a second there, but seriously. If you’re going to test ole Argo with a lie, at least make it a believable one!”

“I’m not-” I started to refute her when suddenly my voice cut off. I felt myself falling as the world around me went black and silent. In front of me, a large window appeared saying “DISCONNECTED”.