Tolbana

Tolbana (トールバーナ) is the closest settlement of the 1st Floor's Dungeon.

Description
Tolbana is the second largest town on the 1st Floor of Aincrad. It is the known for its white walled windmill towers, as well as being the closest town to the 1st Floor’s Dungeon at a walking distance of thirty minutes. It consists of an inn, a place where food is served, and several NPC houses. Many water fountains are scattered across the town. The fountain at the center of Tolbana could be considered the largest of the fountain areas, since it was the meeting place for the «First Floor Boss strategy conference».

Aincrad Arc
After Asuna faints in the Dungeon, Kirito carries Asuna to this town so she could recover. Kirito is rebuked for his actions, but does not dwell on it. He rather informs the rapier-user that the «First Floor Boss strategy conference» was going to be held at 4PM, later that day.

After Asuna leaves, Kirito is confronted by «Argo the Rat». It is revealed that there is a player who wishes to buy Kirito’s «Anneal Blade», but Kirito does not wish to pay the hush money of 1000 Col to reveal the buyer’s identity.

Kirito soon encounters Asuna again while the latter is eating a loaf of the 1 Col black bread. Kirito joins her and shares some «Cream» with her, the fruits of completing the «Cows of the Counterattack» quest. Asuna embarrassingly scarfs the enhanced food, and later tells Kirito of her previous disposition and what she intends to do for the rest of this life in Aincrad. Kirito only apologizes, and the two leave for the Boss strategy conference.

After five minutes of waiting, Diabel starts the conference. After jovially introducing himself, Diabel announces that his party had found the stairs to the 20th floor of the dungeon. After declaring that ascending Aincrad was possible, he was stopped by Kibaou, who requested that any present Beta Testers were to apologize for leaving the other starter players behind and to fork over any money and items as compensation. This topic was concluded when Agil steps forward and shows Argo’s «Strategy Guide by Area», which was freely distributed in item shops across the 1st Floor. It is later revealed that this information was compiled of the Beta Testers. Kibaou’s request was turned down, and the conference adjourned until the next day.

With the Dungeon’s 20th Floor and the location of the Boss room mapped out, the Boss strategy meeting continued. With the quick update of «Argo’s Strategy Guide: First Floor Boss edition», Diabel announced that scouting raids were unneeded, and that the information would be sufficient to beat the boss on the first try. Afterwards, parties of six were formed, leaving Kirito and Asuna as the outliers. They were assigned to back up Group E (Kibaou’s Group), and the raiding party set out for the Dungeon.