Sword Art Online

Chapter 19

Three days later, Nishida informed us in the morning that he was going to fish for the local god. Around thirty people would be there to watch, as it seemed that he had told his fishermen friends about this.

“This is troublesome. Asuna... What should we do?”

“Hm~mmm...”

To tell the truth, we weren't all that happy about this. We had come here to hide from the gossipers and Asuna's fans, so we were a little hesitant about appearing before so many people.

“How about this?!”

Asuna gathered her hair and pushed it up. Then she covered her face up to her eyes with a huge scarf. She didn't stop there and pressed some buttons on her menu window to put on a plain overcoat.

“Y-Yeah. Pretty good. You look like a proper farmer's wife.”

“...Is that, a compliment?”

“Of course. In my case, they're not going to recognize me as long as I don't equip battle gear.”

Before the sun even rose, I walked out of the house with Asuna, who was carrying our picnic basket. She could have just called it out when we got there, but she insisted that it was part of the disguise.

Today was warm for an early winter day. After walking through the forest of huge pine trees for a while, we could finally see the sparkling water between the trunks.

A lot of people had already gathered there. As I approached nervously, a familiar stout figure waved to us as he laughed.

“Wa-ha-ha, it's a relief that we have such great weather today!”

“Hello, Nishida oji-san.”

Asuna and I nodded our heads. He told us that the assembly of people here from various age groups were all members of a fishing guild that Nishida ran. We greeted everyone nervously, but it seemed nobody recognized Asuna.

Putting that aside, Nishida oji-san was far more active than I imagined. He must have been a good team leader within his company. The atmosphere was already spirited, as the group had been holding a fishing competition before our arrival.

“Eh~ so, today's main event will finally be starting!”

Nishida loudly announced this as he walked towards us with a long fishing rod in his hand, and the spectators cheered in excitement. I looked at the fishing rod he was carrying, my eyes tracing down the pole without much thought before the item at its end surprised me.

It was a lizard, an abnormally large one at that. It was as long as an adult's forearm. Its poisonous-looking red and black skin shone as if to emphasize its freshness.

“Hiiiii—”

Asuna noticed it even later than I did, and her expression froze as she took several steps back from it. If this was the bait, then what we were trying to catch must be unbelievable.

But before I had any time to ask, Nishida turned towards the lake and raised his fishing rod. With a short shout, he swung it in an impressive form, and the huge lizard drew an arc in midair before falling into the water with a large splash.

Fishing required almost no waiting time within SAO.

Once you put the bait in the water, either a fish took the bite within a few dozen seconds, or you lost the bait. We swallowed involuntarily as we watched as the line sank into the water.

After just a few moments, the fishing rod twitched several times. But Nishida didn't even move an inch.

“It's, it's here Nishida-san!”

“It's still too early!”

Behind Nishida's glasses, the two eyes that usually belonged to a good-natured grandfather were shining with light. Nishida continued to watch the end of the rod without moving as it twitched.

Then the rod jerked harder.

“Now!”

Nishida strained his small body backwards and pulled the rod using his whole body. I could tell the rope was really tight just by looking at it, which also gave off a twanging sound effect.

“It took the bait!! I'll entrust the rest to you!!”

I cautiously pulled the rod that Nishida had handed over, but it didn't even budge one bit. It felt as if the fish hook had caught onto something embedded into the ground. I looked back at Nishida, worried if the fish had really bitten, and then within the blink of an eye—

The rope started pulling into the water with a burst of power.

“Ahhh!”

I quickly dug my feet into the ground and pulled it up again. The strength-applied gauge quickly went past the normal mode.

“I-Is it okay to strain this?”

I asked Nishida as I worried about the durability of the fishing pole.

“It's of the highest quality! You can pull on it all you want!”

Nishida nodded, his face already red from excitement. I corrected my grip on the rod and then pulled with all my strength. The fishing rod bent around the middle and became a huge U.

As each player levels up, they can choose to raise either strength or dexterity. Axe-users such as Agil would opt for strength, while rapier-users like Asuna would focus on their dexterity. Although I was a normal sword user and raised both of them, my personal preferences prioritized dexterity somewhat more than strength.

But I seemed to be winning this tug of war, most probably because my level itself was so high. I slowly stepped backwards, steadily forcing the huge thing out of the water.

“Ah, I can see it!!”

Asuna leaned over the water and pointed to it. I was leaning backwards and further away from the lake so I couldn't check. The spectators got louder and rushed forward to look into the water, which quickly deepened as it left the shore. I couldn't suppress my curiosity and focused all of my strength to tug at the fishing rod.

“...?”

Suddenly, something startled all the spectators that had been leaning over the water. Each one of them took a few steps back.

“What's wrong...?”