After witnessing Yolko's murder, Kirito finds the killer: a hooded assailant. Kirito gives chase, but the murderer uses a teleport crystal to escape. Kirito is left puzzled: if the killer was, indeed, a vengeful ghost, why would it need a teleport crystal? Unfortunately, a town bell ringing prevents Kirito from hearing where the assassin was teleporting to.
When Kirito returns, Asuna is attempting to comfort a frightened Schmitt. Schmitt recognized the assassin's cloak as one belonging to Griselda, leading him to believe the murderer to be her ghost, and that he was next to die.
That night, as Kirito and Asuna try to sort out the case between one another, Asuna offers Kirito a sandwich she made. Kirito is surprised at how tasty the sandwich is, and asks if Asuna could make money on her cooking, irritating her. When Kirito accidentally drops the sandwich and watches it vanish, however, he comes to a startling realization about the murders he and Asuna had witnessed: what they witnessed was not a player dying, but the durability of their equipment reaching 0 and breaking. Broken equipment disappears in the same fashion as a dying player, in the same way that Kirito's dropped sandwich had: a well-timed use of a teleport crystal would make it appear as though the player died when their armor shattered at the time of their teleporting.
On the 19th floor, Schmitt visits Griselda's grave and begs her forgiveness. He is confronted by two hooded specters, who demand to know what Schmitt had done. Schmitt confesses that he received a crystal with a note in it. He knew not who left it for him, and adamantly claims innocence. The specters reveal themselves to be Yolko and Caynz, who faked their deaths in an attempt to solve Griselda's murder.
Before Schmitt could divulge any more, he is hit with a paralyzing dagger by players from Laughing Coffin, the most notorious player-killing guild in the game. Kirito appears and drives away the assassins, then asks Yolko and Schmitt about Grimlock's weapons. Grimlock was initially reluctant about their plan to find Griselda's killer, but relented. Kirito, however, states that Grimlock wasn't hesitant for Griselda's sake...
Before coming to rescue Schmitt, Kirito and Asuna discussed in-game marriage: in-game spouses shared inventories, so they would not be able to hide items from one another. If one spouse died, their entire inventory would be left to their widow. As such, when Griselda died, the rare ring she was keeping would be left to Grimlock. This left little question as to who was ultimately responsible for her death...
According to Kirito, Grimlock hired out Laughing Coffin assassins to carry out a hit on Griselda, and assisted Yolko and Caynz in order to hide his complicity in her death, while also planning to have them and Schmitt assassinated as well.
Asuna appears with Grimlock in custody. He confesses his true reason for having Griselda killed: they were not only married in-game, but in real life as well. Griselda's player, Yuko, was a quiet and demure housewife. When she started playing SAO with him, however, she started to change, becoming brave and passionate. He felt the Yuko he fell in love with was gone, and the only way to keep his memory of her old self alive was to kill her. Asuna throws the reasoning back in his face, calling Grimlock's feelings for Griselda not those of love, but of possession.
Yolko, Caynz, and Schmitt leave with Grimlock in their custody. Before Kirito and Asuna depart, they see the thankful spirit of Griselda as the sun rises.
