“Oh...good point...”
I felt relief flooding into me, but Asuna was still shooting me a skeptical look.
“What’s with this overblown reaction? All this bottle does is let you put your skill level in and take it out–you still have to do the work to raise it. You’re acting like drinking it will automatically give you one hundred skill points or something. Is it that big of a deal?”
I was both stunned by what my temporary partner was saying and resigned–apparently this was just how non-RPG players thought. I tried my best to make her understand my surprise and apprehension.
“The thing is...like I said, you lose your skill progress in SAO when you remove a skill from its slot. So at level sixteen like I am now, I can only improve four skills at any one time.”
“I know that. You’ve got One-Handed Swords, Martial Arts, Search, and...Hiding, is it?”
She knows!
But it was too late to be alarmed by that at this point. I cleared my throat and continued.
“Y-yeah, anyway, I’m seriously wondering if I should remove Hiding so that I can equip Swimming, instead.”
“There’s a Swimming skill? What happens if you use it?”
“You can swim faster, there’s not as much water resistance, and you can move longer underwater. It’ll be a real help on this floor, but I probably won’t end up using it. The terrain is bound to change on the next floor, so I would be giving up on all the hard work I’ve put into Hiding, just for the sake of this one floor.” “Ahh...So with that bottle there, you could save one of your other skills where it already is and temporarily set the Swimming skill in its slot just for this floor.”
“Exactly. Every single player who comes to this floor is going to have to face that hard choice. If word gets out that there’s a player with a magic bottle that can save your skill progress, you’re going to get harassed by people looking to buy it, snooping around, and prying for information, and so on.”
There was another much darker possibility that I could see arising, but I chose not to mention it. Asuna reached out and picked up the crystal bottle to stare at it, appreciating its true value for the first time.
“I see...Now that I think about it, Nezha from the Legend Braves could have used this bottle to earn Martial Arts without having to give up on One-Handed Swords. Since it effectively gives you an extra skill slot, I guess I can see why people would make a big fuss about it...”
As usual, she latched onto concepts very quickly for a beginner. Asuna looked up and went on, speaking faster than usual.
“What if we just went ahead and released all the information we have about this thing? If we tell Argo, she’ll put it in her strategy guides, right? Then no one will need to come ask us.”
“Yeah...I’m not saying that we should cover up its existence...but...”
I leaned over and rested my chin on my folded hands, thinking hard.
“The problem is, the Forest Elven Hallowed Knight that you got the bottle from is only available to fight during that event battle in the Forest of Wavering Mists on the third floor, at this point. You basically only get the one opportunity. I’m guessing that the major players on the front line like Kibaou’s Aincrad Liberation Squad and Lind’s Dragon Knights Brigade have already beaten that event in the normal way by now...”
“I see...So it’s kind of too late to publicize that info now.”
“Yeah. Plus, it’s not like it’s easy to beat him, even if you still have the opportunity...”
“We managed to do it, didn’t we?” she said simply.
I had to admit that she was right, but I had my doubts. I scratched at my bangs and admitted something that had been on my mind all along. “...How do you suppose we were able to beat that Forest Elf, anyway...?”
In the short silence that followed, I remembered a conversation I had with Kizmel in the bathing tent of the Dark Elf outpost.
She claimed that she’d been having a strange dream lately.
In the dream, Kizmel was fighting a powerful Forest Elf knight. In the middle of the duel, I showed up with a number of companions, none of which were Asuna. We helped her fight, but no one was able to handle the Forest Elf, and the group fell one after the other–until Kizmel was forced to release the protection of the Holy Tree to save our lives, thus perishing herself.
Aside from the questions of why an NPC would dream or if an NPC actually “slept” in the true sense of the word, one thing stood out–the content of that dream was eerily similar to my experience with the “Jade Key” quest during the beta test of SAO.
Kizmel was an extremely special NPC with a highly advanced AI. That much was clear.
Was that the reason that she maintained memory from as far back as the beta test? Or was it the presence of that memory that turned her special? Was it because of Kizmel that Asuna and I were able to beat the deadly Forest Elf knight in the retail game at all...?
“...I think it’s because we all tried our hardest,” Asuna murmured. I looked up with a start. “You and Kizmel and I all fought as hard as we could, believing we could win. That was the hardest I’ve concentrated in any battle since I came to Aincrad–even more than the floor bosses.”
As a gamer, I was used to the idea that an “auto-lose event” could never be overturned, no matter how hard one tried, but I couldn’t come out and put that into words.
“...Yeah...exactly. You were really something during that fight. And after putting that much effort into it, you’d expect to get a really great piece of loot or two out of the deal.”
“Just so you know, I wasn’t doing it expecting to be rewarded with items!” she retorted, raising a fist. I laughed and apologized.
Sword Art Online wasn’t like all the other RPGs I’d ever played. It was a deadly game with no log-out button, and the world’s first VRMMORPG. If I stuck to my preconceived notions of how things should be, I was missing out on what was in front of my own eyes.
I gave Asuna a serious look and asked, “Can we at least take some time to think about what to do with the crystal bottle info?
Like I said, I don’t want to just keep it a secret forever. But as long as I know it might be a source of trouble, I want to keep your safety first and foremost.”
I expected her to bite back with a snarky reassurance that she wasn’t a newbie anymore and could take care of herself, and I even went so far as to prepare a further statement to back my case. But Asuna only looked back at me in silence, then turned away in a huff. I could just barely see her mouth move behind the long hanging bangs.
“...Well, if that’s what you want to do, then fine.”
“Oh...y-you’re okay with that?”
I was so surprised by her answer that I wondered what she was thinking and leaned over onto my right side to see around the side of her face. Instead, Asuna turned harder to her left, evading my gaze until she was seated completely backward, facing into the sofa.
What’s going on here?
I had a feeling that if I didn’t take it easy, the fencer was going to explode, so I sat back up properly and said, “A-anyway, let’s take a little rest now. How about we meet up at...the café on the first floor at six o’clock?”
Asuna nodded silently and slipped off of the sofa, her back still facing me. She got up and placed the Crystal Bottle of Kales’Oh into her inventory, then left the room without ever facing me.
What button of hers had I pressed?
I sank into a sitting position.
Five seconds after I had removed all my gear, sent a single instant message, and laid down on the bed by the window, I fell asleep.
When the alarm I set rudely woke me up, the light in the room was the color of sunset. I slowly sat up and pulled open the curtain to look down at the teleport plaza of Rovia from my second-story vantage point.
In just three hours, the square had filled up with countless players. Frontline members peered at the NPC shop wares, tourists noshed on food from the carts, and romantic-loo
king couples sat on the benches facing the water.
This was the forty-fifth day since the game of death had begun. It felt both long and short, but I considered it a good thing if matters had settled down enough for people to consider themselves a couple–this was my most magnanimous opinion as a frustrated middle school boy. Meanwhile, I noticed a particularly long line at the gondola dock to the south.
“Ugh...Crap, I forgot,” I moaned, kneeling on the bed.
I should have expected this. There were only so many gondolas, so if too many players appeared, it was inevitable that a line would form. I had to get accustomed to the idea that moving around Rovia would take much more time than usual.
At the very least, I was relieved to see that so many people could be crammed into a limited space and lining up politely without any trouble.
No sooner had the thought occurred than a group of five armed players attempted to push their way to the front of the line and get on one of the larger gondolas that was just pulling in. Naturally, the group that was being cut protested. But the large, greatsword-wielding leader of the offending group was shouting back just as angrily.
I couldn’t hear them from my distant second-story inn room, but I could imagine what was being said.
“We’re fighting to liberate you normal players! Our needs should come first!”
The tourists in their simple cloth gear had no choice but to unhappily let them go. The man and his partners brandished their gleaming metal equipment in a show of might and leaped onto the gondola.
As the boat left the wharf, I muttered to myself, “That was a bad move, Haf.”
The quintet that had cut in line were all wearing blue doublets. They were members of the Dragon Knights Brigade, a frontline guild that had just been established on the third floor. And the man with the greatsword at the lead was Hafner, one of the guild’s officers.
They’d probably just finished resupplying and opening quests in town and were ready to start conquering the floor in earnest. I could understand how warriors on a mission might be frustrated with waiting around in line behind tourists with no greater purpose.
But if there was one thing to avoid, it was the frontline population acting like it was special and earning the disdain of everyone else. One never knew if those who hadn’t been swinging swords yet might one day emerge from the safety of town and reach the frontier of their own will and ability.
In fact, if that never happened, we couldn’t beat the game. The frontier group was barely fifty strong at this point and would certainly get bogged down eventually. We needed as many people as possible helping to advance the human progress in the game.
I stifled a sigh and checked the time. Only three minutes left until our meet-up at six o’clock.
Crawling out of the bed, I outfitted myself in all the usual gear and plodded out of the room. When I came face-to-face with Asuna for the first time in three hours below, she was back to her usual cool attitude.
“Sorry about the wait,” I said, taking the seat across from her. There were no other players in the café aside from us–clearly the view paled in comparison to what was outside.
“I just got here,” she said flatly, then slid the menu over to me. I saw that aside from drinks and sweets, they had a few items that looked like fish.
“...Should we get an early dinner here?”
“I want to get something to eat from the carts outside.”
“Okay. Drinks only, then...or would you rather just leave?”
“That’s fine with me.”
It did seem like there was something different about her, but we hadn’t been working together long enough for me to be sure, so I set it aside as I got up. It was poor form to meet up at a coffee shop in the real world and leave without ordering anything, but the NPC waiters here just watched us off without a complaint.
We left the inn without checking out. The underside of the floor above was somewhere between rose and indigo. Within another thirty minutes, it would be properly dark out.
But if anything, the gondola line on the other end of the square was even longer. The stone buildings were lit up with lanterns whose light reflected off the water in an entrancing display. Perhaps nighttime was considered the peak of the boating business here.
“Well, uh, you can see the line...Still want to queue up? Or should we forget the gondolas and just swim for ourselves–”
I stopped as soon as I felt the cold glare from under her hood.
“...Or not. I guess we should line up for a trip to the market area.”
“But first I want to visit the food carts.”
“Oh, right.”
We made our way over to the east end of the square, where five or six stylish little carts were arranged. From what I could tell, only three of them were selling food that might make for a dinner. There was a meal set of fried fish and cooked veggies, a seafood pizza with squid and shellfish, and a panini sandwich with grilled fish and herbs.
“I see. So the main style of food on this floor is fish,” I noted.
“Don’t like fish?”
I shook my head hastily. “No, it’s not that. It’s more that I was hoping for...a few traditional choices. Like boiled fish or sashimi.”
“You know you’re not going to get choices like that in a town like this.”
“Good point. I’ll have to hold out hope for the tenth floor...I think I’ll go for the panini. What about you?”
“That sounds good to me, too.”
“You wanna wait on the bench while I buy them?”
Asuna gave me another upward glance beneath her hood, then turned away.
What's going on here? It feels like the time when she ate the cream bread down in Tolbana on the first floor.
The paninis were twelve col each at the cart. I bought two and returned to the bench. I handed one to Asuna, then stopped her when I noticed that she was opening her trade window to pay me for the sandwich.
“No, it’s on me.”
“...Why?”
“Because, um...Oh, because I’ll owe you for making me the swimsuit.”
Fortunately, she nodded and accepted my offer. She was still acting weird, but at least she wasn’t angry with me.
I was just about to sit down next to her, shaking my head in confusion, when someone’s hand snuck out from the darkness behind us and a teasing voice sounded in my ear.
“Thankee kindly, Kii-boy. I’ve been hungry.”
I wasn’t sure whether to play it cool (“Your Hiding’s as good as ever”) or be honest and reject her (“No! That’s my dinner!”), so the result had a bit from both columns.
“Your Hiding’s as good as ever, but that’s my dinner and no you can’t have any!”
“Hmph. So you’ll buy one for her, but not for me. I see how it is.”
“Wha...? I...You heard what I said, that was thanks for her making me an item! It has nothing to do with showing favor on anyone!”
A short female player materialized out of the darkness wearing a plain beige hooded cape much like Asuna’s. Her eyes were hidden behind her curly bangs, but the three whiskers drawn with face paint on either cheek left no uncertainty about who it was.
Argo the Rat, information dealer, leaped over the back of the bench with a grin on her face and sat next to Asuna. She looked to her left and lifted the hood back a bit.
“Evening, A-chan. Good work with the third-floor boss and the fourth-floor gate.”
“G-good evening, Argo. Um...would you like some of this?” Asuna asked, offering up her own panini. Argo cackled and shook her hand in denial.
“No, no, I appreciate the offer. Eat up.”
“Uh, okay...”
Asuna looked as if she wasn’t sure whether Argo was hungry or not. I sighed and decided to set her at ease.
“Don’t worry about it, Asuna. Her Teasing skill is the best in Aincrad.”
“Teasing...?”
Asuna recognized something about this scene, looking up at m
e, then at the panini in her hands, then to Argo on her right-hand side.
“I-it’s not like that, Argo! We are not, at all, in any way, like that!”
“Nyo-ho-ho, I get it, I get it,” she laughed creepily.
I plopped down on the bench to Argo’s right and quietly clinched the message. “It’s true. Don’t go selling any funny rumors.”
“Why, that hurts. You know it’s not my style to sell rumors and gossip.”
“Yeah, sure. Anyway, the fact that you’re here must mean you’ve got all the intel you needed.”
“You bet. In fact, it took just three hours from your message to look up what you wanted, so I figured that might earn me a free meal in addition to my fee, but...”
She had me over the coals. After all, I’d told her I wanted it ASAP, just before I passed out for a quick nap.
“F-fine, fine. What do you want?”
“Gosh, I could sure go for a nice cheesy pizza,” she started.
Before the sentence could finish, I had dashed at a sprint to the seafood pizza cart, bought one with three times the cheese, then bolted back to the bench.
“Sorry about all the trouble. This is a mere token of my gratitude.”
I presented the pizza with a flourish and Argo grinned back at me.
“Very good, sir.”
“Then let’s talk as we eat...Chow that down before it gets cold, Asuna,” I called to the fencer on the other side of Argo. The three of us said grace and started scarfing down our Italian-style dinner.
I had never eaten a true panini in real life, but between the crispy and chewy bread, the fragrantly grilled whitefish, and the herb-scented tomato sauce, it seemed like this was probably a pretty good re-creation of one. Now if only the main ingredients were a nice thick slab of meat and a thick teriyaki-and-mayo sauce...
Both Asuna and Argo were hungry, and we each gobbled down half the meal before finally stopping to breathe.
Before I could prompt her, Argo pulled out a scroll of parchment from one of the many pouches at her waist and held it out between her fingers.
“Normally I’d charge you an extra fee for quick service...but I’ll go with the normal rate this time as thanks for the pile o’ cheese you bought me. That’s five hundred col.”
Sword Art Online Progressive Page 4