"If you"re solo, it"ll get harder to take care of unexpected situations. You can"t always escape. It"ll be much safer if you"re in a party."
"I have enough safety nets. Thank you for your advice but...guilds are, just...and..."
It would have been better if I had just stopped there, but I started bragging instead.
"Party members are usually more of a burden than any help, in my case."
"Oh, really?"
Flash, a silver streak seemed to cut the air in front of me, and by the time I registered it, Asuna"s knife was already held just in front of my nose. It"s a basic rapier skill, "Linear". Well, I say basic, but because of Asuna"s overwhelming dexterity, the speed was amazing. To tell the truth, I couldn"t even see the weapon"s trajectory.
With a forced smile, I raised my arms in a sign of defeat.
"...okay, you"re an exception."
"Hmmph."
She pulled the knife away with a bored expression, and then as she spun it around with her fingers, she said something unexpected.
"Then party with me. As the head of the boss party, I"ll see if you"re as strong as the rumors say. I"ve shown you that I"m good enough. Also, this week"s lucky color is black."
"What, what are you saying!?"
I almost fell over at this absurd proclamation and searched frantically for an argument against it.
"If...if you"re going to do that, what about your guild!?"
"It"s not as if we have a level quota."
"Then, then what about your bodyguards?"
"I"m going to leave them behind."
I raised the teacup to my mouth in a bid to buy some time but realized that it was already empty. Asuna took it from me with a smug expression on her face and refilled it with the hot liquid from the pot.
To tell the truth-it was an attractive offer. Almost any guy would want to party with someone you could call the prettiest girl in Aincrad. But because of this, I kept asking myself why such a famous person like Asuna would want to party with me.
Perhaps she pitied me because I was a lonely solo player? Something that I said almost unconsciously, as I was filled with these negative thoughts, almost became my demise.
"The front lines are dangerous."
Asuna"s knife went up again and shined with a seemingly brighter light than before. I nodded as quickly as I could. Even with my doubts about why she chose me, who wasn"t all that noticeable among the people who were trying to clear the game, I said with resolution.
"O-Okay. Then...I"ll be waiting in front of the gate of the seventy-fourth floor, tomorrow morning at nine."
Asuna answered with a confident smile as she lowered her hand.
Not knowing how long I could stay at a woman"s house without being rude, I said goodbye as soon as we finished eating. As Asuna accompanied me to the foot of the stairs in the building, she tilted her head a little to the side and spoke.
"Well...I suppose I"ll have to thank you for today. The food was good."
"Ah me, me too. I want to ask you for your help again...but I suppose I won"t be able to get my hands on something like that again."
"Oh, even normal food tastes different if you"re skilled enough."
Asuna replied before turning her head up to look at the sky. The sky had been completely covered with the darkness of nighttime. But, of course, you couldn"t see any stars. A gloomy cover of iron and stone closed it off one hundred meters up in the air. I lifted my head as well and muttered.
"...this situation, this world, is this what Kayaba Akihiko wanted to make...?"
Both of us couldn"t answer this question that was aimed half at myself.
Kayaba, who was surely watching this world while hiding somewhere, what could he be thinking? This peaceful situation that came after the bloodstained confusion of the beginning, would it have satisfied or disappointed him? There was no way I could know.
As Asuna stepped closer to me silently, I could feel a slight warmth at my arm. Was I imagining it, or was it the result of the ever faithful simulators?
November 6, 2022 was the day this death game started, and now it was nearing the end of October 2024. Even today, after almost two years, not a single message had come through from the other side, let alone any signs of help. All we could do was live and walk, step by step, towards the top.
Another day pa.s.sed on Aincrad as I thought this. Where were we going, or what was waiting for us at the end, they"re all just a huge bunch of stuff that we didn"t know yet. The road ahead is long, and the light is faint. But-there are some good things too.
As I looked at the huge iron cover, I let my imagination take flight towards the unknown world that I have yet to see.
Chapter 7.
9 A.M.
Today"s weather setting was slightly cloudy, and the morning mist that covered the city still hadn"t cleared. The light that shone from outside was reflected off it, coloring the surroundings lemon-yellow.
According to the Aincrad calendar, it was the "Month of the Ash Tree", which meant that we were getting further into fall. The temperature was slightly cold, making this the most refreshing month of the year. But right now, I felt a little under the weather.
I was waiting for Asuna at the gate plaza in the living area of the seventy-fourth floor. I couldn"t sleep last night for some reason, and all I did in my simple bed in Algade was toss about in one way or another. I think I managed to fall asleep a little past three in the morning. There were plenty of features in SAO that helped the player, but sadly a b.u.t.ton that could make you fall asleep wasn"t one of them.
Oddly enough, the opposite did exist. In the time-related options of the menu, there was something called "Alarm Clock" which forced the player to wake up from their sleep. Of course, the choice of going back to sleep again or not was entirely up to you, but I succeeded in gathering enough will-power to crawl out of my bed when the system woke me up at ten to nine.
Perhaps to the blessing of the lazier players, there was no need to wash or change in the game-although some of the stranger players seem to bathe on a daily basis. But since replicating a completely liquid environment was hard even for the Nerve Gear, it couldn"t reproduce a real bath perfectly. After waking up a little too close to the meeting time, I put on all my equipment in twenty seconds and walked out of Algade"s teleport gate with a slight sway out to where I, slightly annoyed by the lack of sleep, waited for her, but- "She"s late..."
The time was already ten past nine. Diligent gamers were appearing from the gate and walking towards the Labyrinth area one after another.
With nothing much to do, I looked at the labyrinth map and the completion rates of my skills, stats that I already knew mostly by heart.
Ahh, I wish I had a portable game console or something.
I was rendered speechless by that sudden thought. To want to play a game within a game, I was getting worse.
Should I just go back and sleep... I even started thinking. Another blue teleport effect appeared inside the gate for G.o.d knows how many times. I watched without much expectation. But then- "Kyaaaaa! Please get out of the way-!"
"Ahhhhhh!?"
Usually players who teleported appeared on the ground, but this person appeared a meter off it and-flew through the air and headed straight for me.
"Huh, huh...!?"
Without any time to catch or dodge, we collided and fell to the ground in a single heap. I hit the back of my head on the stone ground, hard. If I wasn"t inside of a settlement, a couple of dots from my HP would have been taken away.
This meant-that this idiot player had jumped into the gate from the other side and appeared like that here, most likely. The thought flashed calmly though my mind. Still a bit dizzy, I raised my arm and grabbed the idiot on top of me in an attempt to push the person off.
"...hmm?"
The feeling of something strange and full registered in my hand. I squeezed it twice, and three times to figure out what the springy and rich feeling in my hand was.
"K-Kya-!!"
Suddenly, a loud scream sounded in my ear and my head hit the ground again. At the same time, the weight lifted from my body.
In front of me, there was a female player that was sitting on the ground, wearing a red on white knight uniform and a knee-length miniskirt, with a silver-white rapier in her scabbard. And for some reason, she was glaring at me with an inexplicable anger evident in her eyes. Her face was experiencing the highest degree of the emotion effect and was red all the way to her ears, and her two arms were crossed protectively against her chest-...chest...?
I was immediately able to guess what I had been grabbing with my right hand. At the same time I realized, a little too late, the dangerous situation that I was in. All the ways to avoid dangerous situations that I had trained into my head had all but vanished. While opening and closing my right hand, not knowing what to do with it, I opened my mouth.
"H-Hey. Good morning, Asuna."
The anger in her eyes seemed to flare brighter. Those were definitely the eyes of someone who was contemplating about drawing their weapon.
I started inspecting the need for the "escape" option that had flashed to mind when the gate shined blue again. Asuna looked back with a surprised expression and got up quickly before hiding behind me.
"Eh...?"
Without knowing why, I stood up as well. The gate shined brighter when a newcomer appeared in the middle of it. This time, the player had both feet on the ground.
As the light faded, I recognized the person inside, and the impressive white cape with a red symbol on it. The man, who wore a KoB uniform and carried a sword that seemed to be a little overly decorated, was the long haired bodyguard who had been following Asuna around yesterday. His name was Kuradeel or something.
Kuradeel"s frown grew deeper as he saw Asuna behind me. He didn"t look all that old. He would only be around his early twenties, but the wrinkles on his face made him look older. He gritted his teeth so hard that we could almost hear it and then spoke with a barely concealed anger.
"A...Asuna-sama, you shouldn"t be acting on your own like this...!"
As I heard the voice that bordered on hysterical, I thought This is going to get complicated and pulled in my shoulders. With his heavily lidded eyes glowering, Kuradeel spoke again.
"Now, Asuna-sama, let"s return to HQ."
"No. I"m not even on duty today! ...and Kuradeel, why were you standing in front of my house so early in the morning?"
Asuna replied angrily behind me.
"Fufu, I knew that such a situation would occur, so I started going to Salemburg to watch your house starting a month ago."
I could only be surprised at Kuradeel"s proud answer. Asuna froze too. After a long silence, she asked with a forced voice.
"That...that"s not part of the leader"s orders is it...?"
"My duty is to escort you, Asuna-sama. Watching your house is included in..."
"What do you mean included, idiot!"
Kuradeel walked over with his expression becoming even more angry and annoyed, then pushed me out of the way and grabbed Asuna"s hand.
"You don"t seem to understand. Please don"t be like this... now let"s go back to HQ."
Asuna appeared to have been frightened by the voice that seemed to hide something barely concealed behind it. She threw an imploring look my way.
To tell the truth, I was wondering whether to run away like I always did until that point. But the moment I saw Asuna"s eyes, my hand started moving by itself. I grabbed Kuradeel"s right arm, the one that was grabbing Asuna, and increased the strength in my hand until just before the crime prevention code would be invoked.
"Sorry, but I"m borrowing your sub-captain for today."
The line sounded stupid even to my ears, but I couldn"t back down now. Kuradeel, who had been purposefully ignoring me until now, scrunched his face up and pulled his hand away.
"You...!"
He screamed in a voice that seemed to rasp. Even if the system overstated expressions, there was still something that seemed strange behind his voice.
"I"ll guarantee Asuna"s safety. It"s not like we"re going to fight a boss today. You can return to HQ by yourself."
"D...Don"t kid with me!! Do you think a pathetic player like you can protect Asuna-sama!!"
"Better than you can, most probably."
"Y-You insolent fool...! I-If you can talk big, I suppose you"re prepared to back it up...?"
Kuradeel, his face now white, called the menu screen with his right hand and manipulated it quickly. Soon a semi-transparent system message appeared in front of me. I could guess what it is before I even read it.
[A 1-on-1 duel has been requested by Kuradeel. Do you accept?]
Below the expressionlessly shining letters were the Yes/No b.u.t.tons and a number of other options. I glanced sideways at Asuna. She couldn"t see the message but seemed to have guessed what was going on. I thought that she would try and stop me, but surprisingly she nodded slightly with a rigid expression.
"...is it okay? Won"t this pose a problem in the guild...?"
Asuna answered to my whispered question with one of her own.
"It"s fine. I"ll report this to the leader myself."
I nodded in reply, then pressed Yes and chose the "First Strike Mode" from the options.
This was a duel that could be won either by landing the first clean hit or by reducing the opponent"s HP to half. The message changed to [You have accepted the 1-on-1 duel with Kuradeel], and a countdown of 60 seconds appeared below it. The moment that number reached zero, the HP protection system that was in effect within the town would be momentarily withdrawn, and he and I would be able to cross swords until one of us won.