Sword Art Online

Chapter 5

After ending my fight with a formidable enemy that prowled the «Labyrinth Area» of floor seventy-four, I recounted my way back, as well as the past, and let out a sigh of relief as I saw the light of the entrance.

I emptied my head, walked quickly out of the passageway, and took a deep breath of the fresh, clean air.

In front of me, a narrow lane went into the thick, overgrown forest. Behind me, the labyrinth area I had just come out of soared high into the sky—until the bottom of the next floor to be more precise.

Because the game was based on getting to the top of the castle, the dungeons in this world weren't underground labyrinths but existed as towers. However, the basic setting hadn't changed: monsters stronger than the ones you met out on the fields roamed within, while the boss monster waited for you in its deepest reaches.

Right now, 80% of the 74th floor labyrinth area had been explored, or in other words, had been «mapped». In a couple of days, the boss room would most probably be discovered, and a large-scale team would be made. Then, even I, a solo player, would take part.

I smiled at myself for feeling both expectant and frustrated at the same time and started walking down the lane.

For the moment, my hometown is the biggest city in Aincrad, «Algade», which was located on the 50th floor. Well, in mere size, the Starting City was larger, but that place had now totally become «The Army»'s base of operations, so it was a little uncomfortable to walk around in.

As soon as I made it out of the now darkening plains, a forest full of old trees stretched out before me.

If I walked for thirty minutes through there, I would arrive at the «Housing Area» of the 74th floor and just use the «Teleport Gate» there to warp myself over to Algade.

I could always use one of the instant teleportation items in my inventory to return to Algade at any time. But since it was a little expensive, I was reluctant to use it unless I was in a dangerous situation. There was still some time before the sun disappeared completely, so I resisted the temptation of returning to my house as fast as I could and entered the forest.

As a rule, the edges of each floor in Aincrad were usually open to the sky, apart from the support pillars. The trees burned red from the light that entered through that gap. The mist that flowed in between the rays of light shone brilliantly as it reflected the light of the sunset. The cries of the birds, which were common during the day, were hard to hear now, while the sound of branches swaying in the wind seemed magnified.

I knew quite well that I could fight the monsters that appeared in this area even while half-asleep, but the fear that comes with the dark was hard to suppress. A feeling, similar to the one I had as a kid when I was trying to get back home after losing my way, filled me.

But I didn't dislike this feeling. I had forgotten about this primitive fear sometime when I was living back on the other side. The feeling of loneliness that you get when you're traveling the wilderness with nobody in sight however much you look—you could call this the essence of an RPG.

While I was absorbed in these nostalgic memories, a cry that I'd never heard before suddenly entered my ears.

It sounded only for a moment, high and clear like a reed pipe. I stopped my feet and carefully searched for the direction the sound came from.

If you heard or saw something that you'd never experienced before in this world, it meant that you were either very lucky or the opposite.

As a solo player, I'd trained my «Searching3 skill». This skill prevented ambushes and when you became more proficient at it, it gave the player the additional ability of being able to detect monsters that were in “hiding.” Through it, I could see a monster hiding between the branches ten meters away.

It wasn't very big. It had green fur to camouflage itself in the leaves and had ears longer than its body. As I concentrated on it, it automatically became my target and a yellow cursor appeared along with its name.

I held my breath as soon as I read the name: «Ragout Rabbit». It was rare enough to earn the adjective “super”.

It was the first time I'd actually seen the real thing. The plump rabbit that lived in the branches wasn't all that strong, nor did it give you that many experience points, but—

I silently drew a thin throwing pick from my belt. My «Blade Throwing Skill» wasn't all that high. I had simply chosen it as a branch on my skill tree at some point. But I'd heard that the Ragout Rabbit was the fastest monster among the ones that were currently known, so I didn't really have much confidence in catching it with my sword.

I had one chance to attack before the opponent noticed me. I raised my pick, praying mentally, and assumed the «Single Shot» position.

Well, however low my skill was, my hand was backed up by my high dexterity and threw the pick in a blur of motion. The pick glinted once and then was sucked into the trees. As soon as I attacked, the cursor, which showed the direction the Ragout Rabbit was in, turned red and the HP bar appeared beneath it.

A high pitched scream sounded from the direction which I'd thrown my pick. The HP bar faltered a little and then went down to 0. The familiar sound of polygons shattering resounded.

I made a fist with my left hand. I raised my right hand and opened the main menu.

I opened the inventory quickly, with even my hand movements seeming too slow to me, and it was there at the very top of the newly acquired item list: «Ragout Rabbit's meat». It was a rare item that could be sold to other players at a minimum price of one hundred thousand Cor. That amount of money was enough to tailor a full set of the best armor and still have change leftover.

The reason that this was so expensive was pretty simple, as it was set as the most delicious food ingredient among the numerous ingredients available in the game.

Eating was just about the only pleasure in SAO, but the only thing you could eat usually was the soup and bread that tasted as if they were from the European countryside—well not that I knew; but the fact was that it was plain. A few players who had trained their cooking skill had established this after a lot of thought in order to let the other players eat a wider range of foods. But even this wasn't that easy to get across, so as a rule the players were all deprived of taste.

Of course, my current situation wasn't much different, and I didn't dislike the soup and full wheat bread the NPC restaurant that I frequented sold. But from time to time the need to eat at least a mouthful of juicy meat overtook me.

For a while I stared at the name of the item and kept wondering what to do. The chances of me getting this sort of ingredient again were very low. To be honest, I really wanted to eat it. But the higher the ingredients' rank, the more skill was needed to actually cook it. So I had to find a master-level cook to cook this for me.

But I didn't know any. Well, I did know a few, but hunting them down for something like this was annoying.

Even more than that, it was about time I got a new set of equipment. Consequently, I decided to sell it.

I closed the window as if to get rid of any regrets, and scanned the area with my skill. There wasn't a very high chance of a bandit appearing on the front lines, but you couldn't be too careful when you had an S-class item in your hands.

I'd be able to buy all the teleport items I wanted once I sold this, so I decided to minimize the risk involved and started rummaging through my pouch.

The thing that I'd taken out was a crystal shaped like an eight sided pillar that shone a rich blue. The few magic items in this world where «Magic» had been excluded were all shaped like gems. Blue was for instant teleportation, pink for recovering HP, green for antidotes, and so on. They were all convenient items that produced instant effects, but they were also expensive. So in most cases, people used cheaper items such as slow-acting potions after running away from a fight.

Telling myself that this was, without a doubt, an emergency situation, I grasped the blue crystal and shouted.

“Teleport! Algade!”

There was the refreshing sound of many bells ringing and the crystal in my hand shattered into pieces. At the same time, my body was engulfed in blue light and the forest disappeared from my vision as if it was melting. A brighter light then flashed, and when it disappeared, the teleportation was over. In place of the sound of the rustling leaves, the sound of a smith hammering and the loud sounds of the city invaded my ears.

The place I appeared at was the «Teleport Gate» that was situated in the middle of Algade.

In the middle of the circular plaza, a gate made out of metal stood over five meters high. Inside, the air swirled as if a mirage, and people who were teleporting, or who had just teleported, came and went.

Four large roads stretched in all four directions out of the plaza, and on the sides of all these roads, countless small shops were gathered. The players who sought a short refuge after a day of exploring shared conversations in front of the food menus or pubs.

If someone tried to describe Algade in one word, it would be «messy».

There were no big streets like the ones you could see in the Starting City and crisscrossing alleyways covered the whole city. There were shops that you couldn't even tell what they were selling, and inns that looked like you could never get back out once you went in.

Actually, there were a lot of players who'd accidentally gone into one of the alleyways of Algade and wandered for days before getting back out. I've been living here for almost a year now, but I still can't remember half of them. Even the NPCs here were strange people whose class was hard to guess, and it makes you think that people who use this as a hometown these days are all sort of strange.

But I liked the feel of these streets. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that the only time I felt at peace was when I was sipping some strange smelling tea at a corner shop I frequented. The reason behind this was that I felt a little sentimental because it reminded me of an electronics store I used to frequent—well not really, or I hoped not.

Thinking that I'd deal with the item before going back to my house, I started walking towards a shop.

If I followed the road that led west out of the central plaza, I would arrive at the shop after working my way through the crowds for a little bit. Inside, it was so small that five players would feel cramped in there, and it had the trademark dizziness of a player shop: the tools, weapons, and even food ingredients were mixed up.

The shop owner was busily getting worked up bargaining.

There are two ways of selling items. One was selling to an NPC, a character controlled by the system. There was no danger of being tricked but the price was always the same. To stop inflation, the price was set lower than the actual market price.

The other was trading with another player. In this case, you could sell the item for a high price if you bargained well, but you had to find someone to buy it, and arguments between the players after completing the trade weren't uncommon.

Therefore, merchant players who specialized in trading items appeared.

Merchant players couldn't live on trading itself. Like the technician classes, they had to fill half of their skill slots with battle unrelated skills. But that didn't mean that they could stay off the fields. Merchants had to fight for goods and technicians for ingredients, and, of course, they had a harder time than warriors. It was hard for them to feel the exhilarating feeling of beating an enemy.

Therefore, the reason that they chose these classes would be the noble one of helping the players who fought on the front lines every day. So I respected them deeply, if secretly.

...Well, I respected them, but it was also true that the character in front of me was someone who was very far from self-sacrificing.

“Okay, it's settled! Twenty «Dusk Lizard's Hides» for five hundred Cor!”

The owner of this shop I often came to, Agil, thumped his bargaining opponent, a weak looking spearman, on the back with his thick arm. Then he quickly opened the trade window and entered the amount in his trade list.

The opponent seemed to be thinking, but as soon as he viewed

Agil's face, which looked frightening enough to resemble one of a seasoned warrior —in fact, Agil was a top class axe warrior as well as a merchant— he hurried to put the items in his trade list and pressed OK.

“As always, thank you! Please visit again!”

Agil thumped the spearman's back one last time and smiled brightly.

The hide of the Dusk Lizard could be used to create high standard armor. I thought that five hundred was too cheap however you looked at it. But I stayed silent and watched the spearman leave. Take this as a lesson to never give any ground when bargaining, I muttered in my mind.

“Hey, you're going about your business shamelessly as usual.”

The bald giant looked my way and smiled when I said this behind him.

“Hey, Kirito. Our shop's motto is to buy cheap and sell cheap,” he said without any sign of remorse.

“Well, I'm a little suspicious about the 'sell cheap' bit but that doesn't matter. I want to sell you something too.”

“You're a regular, so I can't trick you. Well, let's see...”

As he said this, Agil stretched his thick, short neck and looked in the trade window that I'd offered.

The avatars in SAO were all replicas of the player's real body which had been created through scans and calibrations. But every time I looked at Agil, I always asked myself how someone could have a body that fit him so well.

All 180 centimeters of his body were packed with muscle and fat, and the head that rested on top of it looked as if it'd fit a pro-wrestler villain. On top of that, he had set his hairstyle, one of the few things that could be customized, to be bald. The effect was at least as scary as the barbarian monsters.

Despite that, he had a charming face that looked childlike when he smiled. He looked in his late twenties but I couldn't even guess what he did in the real world. Not asking others about «The other side» was an unspoken rule in this world.

The two eyes that were below his thick eyebrows widened as soon as he saw the trade window.

“Wow, it's an S-rank rare item. «Ragout Rabbit's meat», it's the first time I've actually seen one... Kirito you're not that poor are you? Don't you have any thoughts of eating this?”

“Of course I have. It'll be hard to come across something like this a second time... But it's sort of hard to find someone who can cook something like this...”

Then someone behind me tapped my shoulder.

“Kirito-kun.”

It was a feminine voice. There weren't many female players who knew my name. Well actually, in this situation there was only one. I grabbed the hand on my left shoulder and said.

“Cook acquired.”

“Wh-What?”

With her hand in mine, the person stammered with a suspicious expression on her face.

The small face, which was surrounded by long straight chestnut hair that was split neatly in two, was egg-shaped, and her two sparkling hazelnut eyes were almost blinding. Her thin body was covered by a red and white knight-like combat uniform, and there was an elegant silver-white rapier sheathed in her white leather scabbard.

Her name was Asuna. She was so famous that almost everybody in SAO knew her.

There were a lot of reasons, but the first was that she was one of the very few female players, and that she was the owner of a face that lacked nothing.

It's hard to say this in this world, where everyone had their real bodies, but beautiful women were a super rare presence within it. You could most probably count the number of players that were as pretty as Asuna with your fingers.

Another reason that she's famous was because of her red and white uniform which belonged to the guild «Knights of the Blood». The members are called KoB by taking the initials from «Knights of the Blood», and, out of the many guilds, everyone acknowledged them as the best.

While it is only a medium-sized guild of about thirty players, but they were all high leveled and seasoned warriors, with the leader of the guild being its strongest player and almost a legend within SAO. Also, contrary to her delicate frame, Asuna was the sub-leader. Her sword skill was so exceptional that it had earned her the title «Flash».

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 worship 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 class 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 ponytail, 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 ponytail and the shop owner's faces convulsed one, because I didn't call Asuna with her title 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 «Completed» 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 «Completed» 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, Searching skill, and my Parry 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 «Selmburg» soon, so it's 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 worshipers. 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»!”

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.