Part 7 (1/2)

Beater was made by mixing ”Beta tester” and ”Cheater”. It was a word meant for people who used unfair means and a swearword that was unique to SAO. It was something I'd heard a lot of times. But however many times I heard it, it still hurt me deeply. The face of the person who had first said it to me, who had once been a friend, suddenly appeared in my head.

”Yeah. You're right.”

When I affirmed it with an expressionless face, the guy started talking excitedly.

”Asuna-sama, these sorts of guys don't care about anything as long as they're fine! There's nothing to gain from mixing with these kinds of people!”

Asuna, who had been calm until now, suddenly knotted her eyebrows in disgust. A crowd had suddenly appeared and the words ”KoB” and ”Asuna” could be heard here and there.

Asuna looked around and said to the man who was getting more excited by the minute.

”Well, please leave for today. That's an order.”

She spoke bluntly and grabbed my belt with her left hand. Then she started walking towards the gate plaza, dragging me as she went.

”Err...hey! Is it okay to leave them like that?”

”It's fine!”

Well, I've got no reason to complain. We made our way through the crowd, leaving the two guards and Agil, who was still disappointed. When I glanced back one last time, the furious expression of the man called Kuradeel stuck to my vision like an afterimage.

Chapter 6.

Salemburg was a beautiful castle-city on the sixty-first floor.

It isn't all that big. But the city, with a castle which has serene spires at its center, was delicately built from white granite and contrasted spectacularly with the overflowing green foliage. There were quite a few shops in the market so a lot of players wanted to use this place as their home city. But since the houses were crazily expensive-they must be at least three times the price of Algade-it's almost impossible to buy one unless you were at a high level.

When Asuna and I arrived at the teleport gate in Salemburg, the sun had almost set, and the final rays of light lit the streets a dark purple.

Most of the sixty-first floor was taken up by a lake, and Salemburg was located on an island in the middle of it, so one could see the setting sun reflected on it like a picture on a canvas.

I gazed at the city in awe, my breath taken away by its beauty as it s.h.i.+ned blue and red with the vast lake behind it. Not that it would be that hard for the Nerve Gear to create lighting effects like this with CPUs of the new generation and their diamond semiconductors.

The teleport gate was placed in the plaza in front of the castle and the main street, which headed north going through the city and was lined by street lamps. The stores and houses stood orderly on either side of the street, and even the NPCs that were walking around looked well dressed somehow. I spread my arms and breathed deeply, as even the taste of the air differed from Algade.

”Hmmm. It's large and has few people. I like how it feels so s.p.a.cious.”

”Then why don't you move?”

”I don't have anywhere near enough money,” I answered with a shrug before fixing my expression and asking hesitatingly.

”...more than that, is it really okay? Back there...”

As if she realized what I was trying to say, Asuna twirled around with her head bowed down and tapped the floor with the tip of her boot.

”...it's true that some bad things happened a couple of times when I was alone. But to a.s.sign bodyguards to me, it's going a bit too far, right? I said I didn't need them, but...the members said that it's guild policy.”

She continued in a subdued voice.

”In the past, the guild was small with the leader inviting people individually by talking with them. But as the number of members grew and started changing... Then when it started being called the greatest guild or so, something became a bit strange.”

She stopped talking and turned around slightly. Something in her eyes seemed like she wanted to rely on me, and I subconsciously stopped breathing.

I had to say something. I thought that, but what could a selfish solo player like me say? I simply watched in silence for a few seconds.

Asuna turned her gaze first. She watched the lake, bathed in soft light, and said, as if to get rid of the awkwardness, ”Well, it's nothing much, so you don't have to worry! If we don't go quickly, the sun is going to set.”

Asuna set off first, and I followed suit. We pa.s.sed by quite a lot of players, but none of them stared at her.

I only stayed here for a couple of days when the front line had been here, so I never really looked around properly. As I looked at the delicate carvings that adorned the city, the thought that living in a city like this for a while wouldn't be too bad came unbidden to my mind. But then I changed my mind and decided that it would be better if I only came here once in a while to sightsee.

The house where Asuna lived was a small but pretty three floored maisonette which you could get to by walking eastward from the downtown area for a few minutes. It was, of course, the first time that I had come here. Now that I thought about it, I'd only talked to this girl during boss fight conferences; and we'd never even been to an NPC restaurant together before. As I became conscious of this, I stopped in front of the doorway, suddenly tense, and asked.

”Is it...alright? Y'know...”

”What? It's something I suggested first, and there wasn't anywhere that was fit for cooking so we don't have a choice!”

Asuna turned her head and bounced up the stairs. I steeled my resolve and followed her.

”E-Excuse me.”

I hesitantly opened the door then stood there, speechless.

I'd never seen a home so well-ordered before. The wide living/dining room and the kitchen adjacent to it had furniture made out of light-colored wood and was decorated with moss green cloth. They were all most probably the highest-quality player-made items.

But it wasn't overly decorated either, nor did it make you feel uncomfortable. It was totally different from my house. I felt overwhelmingly relieved that I didn't invite her to my house.

”Erm...how much did this cost...?”

At my materialistic question.

”Hmm-, with the house and the furniture, about 4000k? I'm going to change so just sit anywhere you want.”

She answered lightly and disappeared through a doorway. ”K” is short for thousand. 4000k meant four million Col. I practically lived on the front lines, so I could save up that much if I tried. But I always wasted it on either some strange item or a sword that caught my eye, so I never saved up. I chastised myself, which was out of character, and sank into the spongy sofa.

Asuna appeared after a short while, fully changed into a simple white tunic and a knee-length skirt. Well, I say changed but there's no actual taking off and putting on involved. All you have to do is fiddle with the figure in the stats window. But there were a few seconds when the player was only dressed in their underwear. So unless they were a very bold male player, most players, especially girls, did not change in front of others. Our bodies may be nothing more than just a bunch of data rendered into 3D, but that sort of thinking got hazy after two years, and right now my eyes went to Asuna's bare arms and legs without any remorse.

Asuna, with no clue of my inner-conflict, threw a sharp look my way and said.

”Are you planning to stay dressed like that?”

I quickly opened my menu screen and took off my leather coat and sword. While I was at it, I brought the ”Ragout Rabbit's meat” out as well and put it, which was in a clay bowl, on the table in front of me.

”So this is the legendary S-rank food ingredient-. ...so, what should I make?”