Part 6 (2/2)

So her appearance and sword skill were at the zenith of six thousand players. It would have been strange for her not to have become famous. She had numerous fans, but among them there were some stalkers who virtually wors.h.i.+p her, and there were also those who hate her, so it seems like she's having a hard time.

Well, since she is a top cla.s.s warrior, there shouldn't be that many that would challenge her directly. But as if the guild wanted to show that they would protect her, she's often trailed by two or more bodyguards. Even now, there were two men a few steps behind her fully equipped in metal armor and KoB uniforms. One of them, with his hair in a pony tail, was glaring at me, who had grabbed Asuna's hand.

I let go of her hand, shook mine in his direction, and replied.

”What's up, Asuna? For you to be coming to such a rubbish heap like this.”

The face of the man with the pony tail and the shop owner's faces convulsed; one because I didn't call Asuna with her t.i.tle and the other because I called his shop a rubbish heap. But the shop owner...

”It's been a while, Agil-san.”

...gave a sunny smile after hearing Asuna's greeting.

Asuna looked back at me and pouted her lips in discontent.

”Hey, what's this? After all the trouble I went through to see if you were alive for the boss fight that's going to take place soon.”

”You've already listed me as a friend so you'd be able to tell if you just looked at that. Anyway the only reason you could find me was because you used a friend trace on your map.”

Asuna turned her head to the side as soon as I answered.

She was also responsible for progressing through the game in the guild as well as being a sub-leader. That job included searching out selfish solo players like me and forming a party to fight bosses. But even then, to actually come to see me, there should be a limit to how devoted a person could be.

Looking at my half-tired, half-amazed expression, Asuna put her hands on her hips before saying with a motion that was akin to raising her chin.

”Well, you're alive and that's all that matters. M-More than that, what do you mean? You were saying something about a chef or something.”

”Oh, right right. How high is your cooking skill right now?”

By what I knew, Asuna was particularly focused on raising her cooking skill whenever she found time in between training her sword skills. She answered my question with a proud smile.

”Listen and be surprised! I ”Mastered” it last week.”

”What!?”

She's...an idiot.

I thought that for a second. I didn't say it out loud, of course.

Training skills was mind-numbingly boring and extremely time-consuming, and could only be ”Mastered” after leveling them up 1000 times. On that note, levels didn't have anything to do with skills and went up by gaining experience points. The things that went up with the levels were HP, strength, stats like dexterity, and the number of ”Skill Slots” which decided how many skills you could learn.

Right now I have twelve slots, but the only ones that had been completed were my one-handed straight sword skill, Scan for Enemy skill, and my Weapon Guard skill. It meant that this girl had spent a lot of time and effort on a skill that wasn't even of any help in battle.

”...well, I've got something to ask you to do, trusting that skill.”

I waved her over and put my window on show mode so that she could see it. Asuna looked at it suspiciously, and then her eyes widened at the name of the item.

”Uwa!! That...that's an S-rank food ingredient!?”

”Let's trade. If you cook this, I'll let you have a bite.”

Even before I stopped talking, that right hand of ”Flash” Asuna grabbed me by the collar. Then she pushed her face to a few centimeters before mine.

”Give. Me. Half!!”

My chest stopped at this sudden ambush and I nodded without thinking. When I got back to my senses it was too late, and she was waving her arm with excitement. Well, let's consider it a good thing that I can watch that delicate face from so close. I convinced myself.

I closed the window and spoke while looking at Agil's face.

”Sorry. I'll stop the trade.”

”No. It's fine but...hey, we're friends right? Eh? Can't you give me a taste...?”

”I'll give you an eight hundred word essay on it.”

”D-Don't be like that!”

As I cold-heartedly turned my back on Agil, he called out in a voice that seemed as if it was the end of the world. As I made to walk away, Asuna grabbed the sleeve of my coat.

”Cooking's good, but where are we going to do it?”

”Ah...”

If you're going to cook, then you needed some cooking appliances, such as a stove or an oven, as well as the ingredients. It wasn't as if my house didn't have them, but I couldn't invite the sub-leader of the KoB into a messy place like that.

Asuna looked at me with an unbelieving expression on her face.

”Well, your house wouldn't have the proper appliances anyway. But I could serve it to you in my house just this once.”

She said something shocking in a calm voice.

Asuna ignored me, who was standing there frozen as if I was lagging while my brain processed this, and turned to her guards and spoke.

”I'm going to teleport to ”Salemburg” soon, so its fine if you go. Thank you for your hard work.”

”A-Asuna-sama! Coming into the slums was bad enough, but to invite someone as suspicious as him to your house. Wh-What are you thinking!?”

I couldn't believe what I just heard. ”Sama” he said. He must be one of the wors.h.i.+pers. As I looked at Asuna with these thoughts, the person in question had an annoyed expression on her face.

”OK, maybe you could call him suspicious, but his skill is unquestionable. He's most probably ten levels above you Kuradeel.”

”Wh-What are you saying? To say that I'm not even equal to someone like that...!”

The man's voice sounded all the way out to the alley. He glared at me with his heavily lidded eyes. Then his face scrunched up as if he suddenly recognized something.

”That's right...you, you were definitely a ”Beater”!”

<script>