The gigantic waterwheel spun steadily, filling the entire shop with a calming sound.
Even though this was just a small house for support-class use amongst the player-exclusive housing, its price rose like the tide because of that waterwheel. When I first found this house in the main district of the 48th floor Rindaasu, my mind suddenly went 'this is it!', right before its price horrified me.
From that moment on, I began to work like crazy, borrowed money from various sources, and managed to accumulate three million Col within just two months. If this was the real world, my body would be covered in muscles from all the times I had swung my hammer, and my right hand would be full of thick calluses.
But all that paid off, as I acquired the deed just a step ahead of my competitors and opened «Lisbeth's Special Weapon Shop» at this house with the waterwheel. That happened three months ago during the cool Spring.
After quickly drinking my morning coffee — thank god this is Aincrad — while listening to the revolving waterwheel as if its sounds were a BGM, I changed into my blacksmith uniform and glanced at my image in the full length mirror that hung on the wall.
Even though I called it a blacksmith uniform, it wasn't anything even resembling overalls, but actually looked more like a waitress uniform: a dark red top with puffed sleeves and a flared skirt of the same color, plus a pure white apron over that and a red ribbon atop my chest.
I wasn't the one who picked these clothes; it was actually a friend of mine who was also a regular customer. According to her, 'you have a baby face so stiff clothes don't suit you.'
Well that's what she said, and I was like 'mind your own business!' But sales jumped twofold once I started wearing this uniform, so I had no choice but to keep wearing it.
Her advice didn't just stop with my clothes, but even went to my hair; it was now customized to be extremely pink and fluffy. But based on the customer responses, it seemed that this look suited me.
I, blacksmith Lisbeth, was fifteen when I first logged onto SAO. I heard back in the real world that I looked younger than my age, but that became even more pronounced in this world. When my pink hair, large blue eyes, and small lips combined with the old-fashioned apron, my reflection in the mirror felt almost like a doll.
Since I was a middle schooler in the other world with no interest in fashion, the gap grew even wider. Somehow I had gotten used to how I look, but since my personality doesn't change as easily, I had scared some customers with my outbursts from time to time.
I checked if there was anything that I forgot to equip before I went to the front of the shop and flipped the 'CLOSED' sign. I looked at the few players that had been waiting for the shop to open, then showed them my best smile and greeted them.
"Good morning! Welcome!"
Actually, it hadn't been all that long since I was able to do this naturally.
Running a shop had been a longtime dream of mine, but doing so in a game was very different from in the real world. I experienced firsthand how hard reception and service was when I first started as a street vendor with an inn as my base.
Since keeping a smile on was too hard, I decided to win through quality, and it seemed that leveling my weaponsmithing skill like crazy was the answer, as many of my regular customers continued to peruse my weapons even after I opened this shop.
After I finished greeting them, I left the reception to my NPC clerk and holed myself up in the workshop that was attached to the store. There were about ten items that needed to be made to order today.
As soon as I pulled the lever on the wall, the bellows began using the mechanical power from the waterwheel to blow air into the furnace, and the polisher started spinning. I took out an expensive piece of metal from my inventory and stuck it in the furnace, which had begun to heat up. After heating the metal enough, I moved it over to the anvil with a pair of tongs. I knelt on one knee and grasped my hammer, then called up the pop-up menu and chose the item I wanted to make. Now all I had to do was hit the chunk of metal for the designated number of times and the item would be forged. There was no technique required for this and the quality of the resulting weapon was random; but I thought that the end result depended on how much I concentrated, so I tensed all my muscles and slowly raised the hammer. Then, just when I was about to strike the metal—
"Hey, Liz!"
"Ahh!"
The door to the workshop opened loudly and I missed; instead of the metal, I struck the anvil with a pathetic clang and a spray of sparks.
As I raised my head, the intruder was scratching her head and smiling with her tongue stuck out.
"Sorry~ I'll be careful next time."
"I wonder how many times I've heard that— ...Well, at least it was before I started."
I stood up with a sigh and put the piece of metal back into the furnace before placing my hands on my hips and turning around. Then I looked up at the girl who was slightly taller than me.
"...Hey, Asuna."
My friend and regular customer, the rapier-wielder Asuna, crossed the room as she walked towards me and sat down on the wooden stool. She then pushed back the long chestnut-brown hair that went past her shoulders with her hand. All of her movements seemed to shine, as if she was a movie star, and dazed me even though I've known her for ages.
I sat down as well on the chair in front of the anvil and leaned my hammer against the wall.
"...So, what is it today? You're pretty early."
"Ah, I want you to take care of this."
Asuna took off her rapier, with the blade still in its sheath, and then threw it. I caught it with one hand and pulled it out. The rapier was a little dull from the long period of use, but it wasn't bad enough to give the blade any trouble cutting.
"It's not that out of shape is it? It's a bit early for polishing."
"Yeah you're right. But I want it to be all shiny."
"Hmmm?"
I looked at Asuna carefully. Her knight outfit with the red crosses on white and her miniskirt was the same as ever, but her boots shined as if they were new and she even wore a pair of silver earrings.
"You're being strange~ Now that I think about it, it's a weekday today. What about your guild's clearing quota? Didn't you say that you guys were having a hard time with the sixty-third floor?"
After I said this, Asuna gave an embarrassed smile:
"Yeah— I got a vacation today. Because I have a promise with somebody later today..."
"Ohh~!"
I shifted closer towards Asuna while still sitting on my chair.
"Tell me more. Who are you meeting?"
"Se-Secret!"
Asuna blushed and avoided my gaze. I crossed my arms, nodded, and then spoke:
"Ah~ I thought that you were strangely brighter these days. So you finally got yourself a boyfriend."
"It-It's not like that!!"
Asuna's cheeks turned to a deeper red. She coughed and then asked me a question while glancing at me slightly:
"...Am I, really all that different nowadays...?"
"Of course~ When I first met you, you only concentrated on clearing dungeons! I thought you were a little too stiff, but then, starting this spring, you began to change a little; like taking a rest from clearing the game on a weekday — that's something you would never have done back then."
"Ri-Right ...maybe I really have been affected..."
"So, who is it? Someone I know?"
"I... don't think so... most probably."
"Bring him over next time."
"It's really not like that! It's still, well... a one way thing..."
"Hmm...?"
This time I was really surprised. Asuna was the sub-leader of the strongest guild, KoB, and one of the top five best looking girls in Aincrad. There were as many boys who wanted Asuna's attention as there were stars in the sky, but I never even dreamed that the opposite existed.
"Well, y'know, he's a really strange person."
Asuna said with her eyes gazing off into the distance. She had a soft smile on her lips. If this was a romance manga, then there would be flower petals in the background right now.
"Should I say that he's unpredictable, or that he just takes everything at his own pace... yet in spite of all that, he's really strong."
"Oh, stronger than you?"
"Yeah, like really; if we duelled, I wouldn't even last one minute."
"Ohh~ I could count the number of people who can do that with my fingers."
As soon as I began going through the list of clearers in my head, Asuna started waving her arms.
"Ah, don't imagine him~!"
"Well, I'll look forward to seeing him soon. And if that's the case I'll rely on you for advertising as well!"
"You never miss a chance. I'll introduce him —Ah, oh! Polish it quickly!"
"Right, right. I'll get it done right now so just wait a moment."
I stood up with Asuna's rapier in my hand and walked over to the revolving polisher in the corner on the room.
I drew the thin blade from its red sheath. The weapon was categorized as «Rapier» with the unique name «Lambent Light». It was one of the best swords I've ever made. Even if I use the best raw materials, the best hammer, the best anvil, and the best everything, the quality of the weapon still differed due to the random factor. Therefore, I would only be able to make a sword of this quality every three months or so.
I slowly held the sword against the polisher with both hands. There was no technique involved in polishing weapons either, but I had no intention of neglecting it.
I slid the blade across the polisher from the hilt to the tip of the sword. Sparks flew out as a clear, metallic sound rang about, and at the same time a shimmering gleam returned to the blade. When the polishing process finished, the rapier returned to its clear silvery appearance, shining with the light of the morning sun.
I sheathed the blade again and threw it over to Asuna. Then I caught the 100 col silver coin that she tossed over to me at the same time with the tips of my fingers.
"Thanks!"
"I'll ask you to repair my armor later as well... but I'm running out of time now so bye!"
Asuna stood up and hung the rapier to her side on the sword belt.
"I wonder what he's like~ Maybe I should go along."
"Ehh, n-no!"
"Hahaha, I'm joking. But bring him along next time."
"S-Soon."
Asuna waved her hand and ran out of the workshop as if she was running away. I let out a deep sigh and collapsed into my chair again.
"...Must be good."
I smiled somewhat bitterly at the words that popped out of my mouth.
A year and a half had passed since I came to this world. Because of my personality, I didn't dawdle and instead poured everything into making my shop flourish, which had gotten me this far. But now that I had set up a shop and almost completed my smithing skill, I was starting to miss the company of people again, most probably because I didn't have a clear goal anymore.
Since there weren't many girls in Aincrad, quite a few guys have tried to get close to me, but for some reason I never really felt like responding. So when it came to this subject I felt pretty envious of Asuna.
"Will a «Fabulous Meeting» quest come to me as well, I wonder~"
I mumbled, then shook my head to get rid of these strange thoughts and stood up. I took the piece of metal, which was red hot by now, out of the furnace and put it back onto the anvil. I supposed this guy would be my partner for the time being. With these thoughts lingering about, I raised my hammer and struck down. Hiiyaa.
The rhythmic sound of metal resounding through the workshop would usually clear my mind for me, but today the lump in my heart just wouldn't go away.
It was noon of the next day when he visited my shop.
I finished all of the weapon orders yesterday and was nodding off on the rocking chair on the terrace in front of the shop.
I was dreaming. It was a dream about when I was still in elementary school. I was a diligent and quiet kid, but I had this habit of falling asleep during the first afternoon lesson. The teachers often berated me for drifting off.
Back then I looked up to this young male teacher who had just graduated from university. I still felt embarrassed about getting reprimanded, but for some reason I really liked the way he woke me up. He would softly shake my shoulder and say in a low, quiet voice—
"Erm, I'm sorry but..."
"Ye-Yes, I'm sorry!"
"Wha?!"
I shouted and jumped up like a spring. In front of me stood a male player with a surprised expression fixed onto his face.
"Huh...?"
I looked around at my surroundings. It wasn't the classroom filled with rows of desks. The trees planted along the street, the waterway that ran beside the wide stone road, the court that was covered with grass; it was my second home, Lindus.
It seemed that I had been daydreaming for the first time in a while. I coughed to hide my embarrassment and greeted the person who appeared to be a customer.
"Wel-Welcome. Are you looking for a weapon?"
"Erm, yes."
The boy nodded.
He didn't look like someone on a really high level. He looked only a little older than me; black hair with a simple shirt, pants, and boots. The only armament he had was the one-handed sword on his back. The weapons in my shop required high stats and I was worried if he was on a high enough level, but I didn't let that show and led him into my shop.
"The one-handed sword display is over here."
As I pointed towards the case that displayed the basic weapons, he smiled a bit awkwardly and spoke.
"Ah, well, I wanted to order a custom made one..."
I became even more worried. Even the cheapest custom-made weapons, which needed special ingredients to forge, were over a hundred thousand col. If he started panicking at the price, then I would be embarrassed as well, so I tried to avoid that situation.
"The price of metals right now is a bit high, so I think it might be a little expensive..."
I told him that, but the boy clad in black said something totally unbelievable with an uncaring expression.
"You don't have to worry about the price. Please just forge the best sword that you can right now."
"..."
I just stared at the person's face for a moment and then somehow managed to open my mouth.
"...Well, even if you say that... I have to have some sort of idea about the quality..."
My tone was slightly rougher than usual, but he didn't seem to care about that and simply nodded.
"Well I suppose that's true. Then..."
He took off the sword on his back, still sheathed, and gave it to me.
"How about a sword with a similar or better quality than this one?"
It didn't look like a very impressive weapon. A handle with black leather twined around it; a hilt of the same color. But when I took it with my right hand—
It's heavy!!
I almost dropped the thing. The strength stat prerequisite was incredibly high. As a blacksmith and mace wielder, I was pretty confident in my strength stat. But I would never be able to swing this sword.
I hesitantly drew it from the sheath and the almost pitch black blade gleamed. I could tell that it was a high-quality sword with just a glance. I clicked it with my finger to call out the popup window: category «Long-sword/One-handed», unique name «Elucidator». It didn't have a maker name, which meant that this wasn't the work of a fellow blacksmith.
You can separate all weapons in Aincrad into two groups.
One is «Player made», which meant weapons made by us blacksmiths. The other included weapons that one gained from adventuring as «Monster drops». Needless to say, blacksmiths don't like drop weapons all that much. I couldn't even begin to count all the names like 'Unnamed' or 'No brand' that were given to them.
But this sword seemed to be a very rare item amongst monster drops. If you compared the average quality of player-made weapons and monster drops, the former was better. But once in a while, «Demon Swords» such as this one appeared — that was what I heard.
Anyhow, my pride was now on the line. As a blacksmith, there was no way I would lose to a drop weapon.
I returned the heavy sword and brought out a long sword that was hanging on the back wall of the shop. I had forged this sword a month ago and it was the best I could make right now. The blade that I drew from its sheath had a reddish tinge to it, which appeared as if it was covered by fire.
"This is the best sword in my shop right now. It most probably won't lose to yours."
He took the sword wordlessly, swung it with one hand, and then cocked his head.
"It's a bit light."
"...I used a speed type metal for it..."
"Hmm..."
He made a doubtful expression and swung the sword a few more times before he turned his gaze towards me and asked.
"Can I test this for a bit?"
"Test what...?"
"Durability."
The boy drew his sword, which he had been holding in his left hand, and put it on top of the counter. He then stood before it and slowly raised the red sword with his right arm.
I realized what he was about to do and tried to stop him.
"Wa-Wait! If you do that your sword will break!"
"If it's a sword that would break so easily then it's useless. If that happens I'll deal with it then."
"That's..."
That's totally crazy, is what I was going to say, but I stopped myself. He held the sword up above his head and his eyes shone sharply. Soon, the sword began to shine with a blue light.
"Hyah!"
With a shout, he swung the sword down at an amazing speed. The two blades clashed against each other before I even had the time to blink, and the impact rang loudly within the shop. Because the resulting flash was so bright, I squinted to take a look, and then involuntarily took a step back...
The blade was broken neatly in two and had been completely destroyed.
—The blade of my best work.
"AHHHHHH!!"
I screamed and rushed to his right hand. I took the remaining half and carefully examined it from every angle.
...Repair... was impossible.
As soon as I came to that conclusion and sagged my shoulders, the remaining half scattered and became polygon fragments. After a few seconds of silence passed, I slowly raised my head.
"Wha...Wha..."
I grabbed the boy by the collar as my lips trembled.
"What are you going to do—!! It's broken—!!"
"I-I'm sorry! I never even imagined that the sword I swung would break..."
...*Snap*.
"In other words, do you mean to say that my sword was weaker than you thought it was!?"
"Errr— ummm— well, yeah."
"Ah!! Now you're just going straight out!?"
I released his collar, put my hands on my hips, and straightened my chest.
"I— I'm telling you! If I had the right materials I could make weapons that would snap your sword just like that as much as I want!"
"—Oh?"
He smiled at the words I said in anger.
"Then I would really like to ask you to make that; something that could just snap this sword just like that."
He took the sword on the counter and sheathed it. The blood finally rushed all the way up my head and—
"So that's how it's gonna be!? Fine! Then you help too! Start with helping me get the ingredients!"
I knew I just made a mistake, but the milk was already spilt. There was no way I could back down now. Yet he wasn't shaken at all and rudely scrutinized me.
"...Well, I don't mind, but wouldn't it be better if I went by myself? It would be a problem if you got in the way."
"Argh—!!"
To think that there really was a person who was this good at getting on people's nerves. I waved my arms about wildly and protested like a little kid.
"Do-Don't take me so lightly! Even if I look like this, I'm a master mace wielder!"
"Whew~"
The boy whistled. Now he was just enjoying himself.
"Well then, I'll look forward to it. —Anyways, I'll pay for the sword I broke."
"There's no need to do that! Just remember that if I make a sword that's better than yours, I'll make you pay bucket loads!"
"Fine, as much as you want. —I'm Kirito. I hope we get along together until the sword is done."
I crossed my arms and looked away.
"I hope we get along too, Kirito."
"Uwa, you're calling me by my name just like that? Well, I'm fine with it. I hope we get along, Lisbeth."
"Kaaah—!!"
—It was the worst first impression ever for forming a party.
Rumors about «That Metal» began to circulate amongst the blacksmiths about ten days ago. Of course, the ultimate goal of SAO was to reach the top floor and beat the game. But other than that, there was also a variety of other missions: quests from NPCs, guard missions, treasure hunting, and more. But because the reward usually included desirable equipment, most quests had a cooldown time after they were completed before they would become available again. There were even quests that could only be finished once, which really drew attention from the players.
One of these missions was found in a hamlet in the corner of the 55th floor. A certain white-bearded village leader NPC would say—
There was a white dragon that lived in the mountains to the west, which ate crystals each day as its food and stocked large quantities of it to create an extremely valuable and rare metal within its stomach.
This was obviously a mission that awarded amazing materials, so a large number of people immediately formed an assault party that would be able to easily defeat the dragon.
—But they didn't get anything. The dragon dropped only a small quantity of Col and some poor quality equipment, which didn't even reimburse the cost of the healing potions and crystals used.
After that, everyone guessed that the metal had only a chance of dropping, therefore many parties spoke to the elder and then defeated the dragon, but still no one found the metal. Within one week, countless white dragons had been killed, but not a single party managed to find the metal. Someone finally suggested that there must be special conditions which must be met, so now everyone was trying hard to find out what those were.
After listening to my explanation, the man named Kirito, who sipped on the tea which I didn't want to make, who sat on my workshop chair with his casually crossed legs, replied 'Ah...' and nodded lightly.
"I've heard about this too. There does seem to be a chance to get rare ingredients. But so far no one has gotten anything right? Would we really get anything if we go now?"
"Amongst all the circulating theories, one of them claims that 'the party must include a blacksmith', because there aren't many blacksmiths who properly trained their combat skills."
"So that's why; actually that does sound kind of right — if that's the case, then we should get going soon."
"..."
I stared angrily at Kirito's face.
"I'm surprised you've managed to live till today with such a lack of common sense. This isn't goblin hunting! We have to form a good party and..."
"But if we do that, then even if the material drops, there's a chance we won't get it right? What floor is that white dragon on?"
"...55th floor."
"Heh— Then I should be fine even by myself; you don't even need to help."
"...Are you insanely strong, or just insanely stupid? Whatever, I don't care, the sight of you crying while teleporting away also sounds pretty interesting."
Kirito simply chuckled, finished his tea without answering, and placed the cup back down on the table.
"I'm ready to leave anytime; what about you, Lisbeth?"
"Ah— Never mind, since you're not going to add an honorific anyway, just call me Liz... the white dragon's mountain isn't very big, so we should be able to return today. Let me just make a few simple preparations."
After opening a console window, I first put on some simple armor over my skirt, then confirmed that my mace was in my inventory and made sure that I had enough potions and crystals.
I closed the window and said ok, then Kirito stood back up. Luckily, there were no customers in sight as we went from the workshop to the shop entrance. I quickly flipped the sign on the door.
I raised my head and looked out; the sunlight passing through was still bright, so there was still quite some time before it gets dark. Whether we retrieve the metal or not — the latter being more likely no matter how I thought about it — I wouldn't want to come back too late.
That being said.
—How did I wind up in this strange situation...
After leaving the store, I walked towards the gate plaza while thinking deeply.
I definitely had a bad impression of the black-dressed man leisurely walking beside me — as it should be. Not only did everything he say make me angry, he was also some arrogant megalomaniac, and most of all, he broke my masterpiece.
But still, I was walking alongside a man whom I just met. We even formed a party and prepared to hunt monsters on another floor; it was just like— like a da...
Arriving at this, I immediately forced a stop to that thought. I had never experienced anything like this until now. Although I was pretty close to several male players, I've always made excuses to avoid going out with them with just two people. I wanted to make sure that the first person I paired up with would be someone I really liked, or so I thought.
But when I came to my senses, I was already with this weird man... How did it end up like this!
Completely oblivious of my inner turmoil, Kirito saw a food vendor near the gate of the plaza and rushed over. By the time he turned around, a huge hot dog was already in his mouth.
"Doo yu van son duu?"
...My inner thoughts were instantly filled with a sense of helplessness and I felt like an idiot for being the only one worrying over it. So I yelled back:
"Yeah!"
The crisp taste of the hot dog — more precisely, a mysterious food that looked like a hot dog — still lingered in my mouth when we reached the rumored hamlet on the 55th floor.
We also didn't have any trouble with the monsters in the field.
Considering that the front line was on the 63rd floor right now, the monsters here were pretty strong. But my level was about 65, and that braggart Kirito should be just as strong, so we went through quite a few battles almost completely unscathed.
The only mistake was that the theme of this floor involved fields of snow and ice—
"Achoo!"
I sneezed loudly as soon as we entered the small village and relaxed. Because all the other floors were in an early summer season, I became too careless. Not only was there a layer of snow on the ground here, but every building still had huge icicles hanging from the roofs.
This bone-chilling winter cold made my entire body shiver like crazy. Kirito, who stood beside me, put on an exasperated expression and said:
"...You didn't bring any other clothes?"
"...No."
Then, the seemingly lightly-dressed Kirito operated his window. A black leather cape materialized, which he placed over my head.
"...Are you alright yourself?"
"It's all a matter of willpower."
Every line this man said gets on my nerves. But the fur-lined cape looked pretty warm, so I couldn't resist it and quickly put it on. I let out a sigh of relief as the cold bite of the wind immediately disappeared.
"Umm... which one do you think is the elder's house?"
As Kirito said this, I looked around the tiny village, and found an especially large house across from the central plaza.
"It should be that one right?"
"Right."
We both nodded and started walking.
—Several minutes later.
As we predicted, we found the white-bearded elder NPC and successfully initiated a conversation. His story was full of useless details that started from his long and boring childhood, into his teenage years, past his difficult days in adulthood, and then abruptly mentioned a white dragon in the mountains to the west. By the time he finally finished, the orange light of the setting sun had already covered the entire village.
We left the village elder's house feeling completely wiped out. The snow that covered the houses were stained orange by the setting sun. It was an image beautiful beyond comparison, yet—
"...I never expected just receiving the quest would waste that much time..."
"Unbelievable... well, what now? Should we wait until tomorrow?"
I turned my head and looked at Kirito.
"Hmmm— I've heard the white dragon is nocturnal though. Is that the mountain?"
Looking towards the direction Kirito pointed at, I saw a white peak reaching into the sky. Although I say that, the structural limitations of Aincrad meant the height couldn't possibly exceed 100 meters, so climbing the mountain shouldn't be difficult.
"Alright, let's go then. I want to see your crying face as soon as possible anyway."
"Just don't become overwhelmed by my magnificent sword skills."
We both turned our faces away from each other with a 'Hmph'. But somehow, how should I put it, even though I was arguing with Kirito, my heart began to feel a little shaky—
I forcibly shook my head to get rid of these stupid thoughts and then began to crunch my way through the snow.
Although the white dragon's mountain looked dangerously steep from far away, we discovered that it was actually very easy to climb.
When I thought about it, many impromptu teams managed to accomplish this without any trouble, so there was no way it could be hard.
Even though it was already evening, which affects the strength of spawned monsters, the strongest that would appear right now were ice skeletons called «Frost Bone». Furthermore, bone-type monsters were no match for my mace. I simply continued to smash them apart with clear crunching sounds.
After walking up the snow-covered roads for several dozen minutes and turning towards the plunging icy cliffs, we had already reached the mountaintop.
The bottom of the next floor was extremely close. Huge columns of broken crystal pillars stood out from the thick layer of snow. The purple light of the setting sun refracted through these columns and scattered into the rainbow colors of the spectrum, painting a scene that can only be portrayed in dreams.
"Whaa...!"
Just as I cheered without restraint and was about to dash over, Kirito grabbed onto my collar to stop me.
"Oi... What are you doing?!"
"Hey, get ready to use the crystals first."
Against his extremely serious expression, I could only meekly nod. I materialized the crystals and then put them into my apron pockets.
"Also, it'll get dangerous from here on out, so it would be best if I continued on alone. Once the white dragon appears, just hide behind that crystal pillar over there and absolutely do not come out."
"...Why? My level is pretty high too! I wanna help too!"
"No!"
Kirito's black pupils stared directly into my eyes. The moment our eyes met, I understood that this person was truly worried for my safety from the bottom of his heart, so I let out a huge sigh and backed off. I didn't say anything and simply nodded lightly.
A smile spread across Kirito's face as he patted my head and said "Alright, let's go." I could only keep on nodding.
It felt like the atmosphere suddenly changed entirely.
After travelling all the way here with Kirito, could it be that my feelings had changed? Or did I get caught up in the mood—? Either way, I completely did not recognize this as a life-threatening encounter.
Over half of my experience came from forging weapons, so I had never entered any merciless battlefields.
But I felt that this person was different. He had a gaze that only one who fought every day in the most dangerous places could have.
I continued to walk with my scrambled emotions before we soon arrived at the center of the peak.
We quickly looked around, but found no sign of the white dragon. However, we saw an area sealed by crystal pillars—
"Wow..."
There was a gigantic cave opening of at least ten meters in diameter. The light reflected off the walls reached down the deep hole, while an impermeable darkness covered even the deeper regions.
"That's really deep..."
Kirito kicked a small chunk of crystal into the hole. The falling crystal glittered briefly before completely disappearing without even a sound.
"Don't fall down."
"As if I would!"
Not long after I replied, a sharp feral screech pierced out from the cave and spread across the entire mountain through the air that was stained blue by the sunset.
"Hide behind there!"
Kirito pointed towards a gigantic crystal pillar nearby and spoke in a commanding tone. I hurriedly followed his instructions while waving exaggeratedly at Kirito's shadow and yelling:
"Hey... The white dragon's attacks are slashes using both claws, freezing breath, and blizzard assault... B-Be careful!"
After quickly adding that last phrase, I saw Kirito, who kept his back towards me pretending to be cool, gave a thumbs-up with his left fist. The space in front of him began to shake, and a huge shape exploded outwards from the hole.
Various large, strangely-shaped polygons appeared in a continuous stream. As those polygons appeared — they began connecting with one another and the identity of the huge shape grew more evident. The shriek that made people quiver uncontrollably resounded once again. Countless shards scattered outwards in every direction before disappearing into the light rays.
A white dragon covered in scale-like shards of ice had appeared. It slowly beat its gigantic wings while hovering in the skies. The situation was frightening — or it could be more appropriately described as extremely beautiful. It stared with large, ruby-colored eyes, casting a contemptuous look down upon the two of us.
Kirito calmly reached his hand towards his back and unsheathed his jet-black one-handed sword with a perfect chime. Then, as if the sound had sent off a signal, the white dragon opened his huge jaw — and with a hardened sound, sprayed out a wave of white gas.
"It's the breath! Get out of the way!"
Even though I screamed, Kirito didn't budge a single inch. He stood perfectly still and thrusted upwards with the sword in his right hand.
There was no way such a thin weapon could block a breath attack—
As soon as I thought this, the sword began to spin like a windmill centered in Kirito's hand. Based on the light green color of the effect, it must be a sword skill. In just a second, the sword reached speeds invisible to the human eye and looked like it had become a shield of light.
The icy breath streamed directly towards the light shield while emitting a dizzying white light, which forced me to avert my eyes. But, when the cold air slammed into Kirito's sword-shield, it dispersed as if it had evaporated.
I quickly focused on Kirito's body to confirm his HP.
Maybe it was impossible to completely block the breath, because his life bar was slowly draining. But the shocking part was, the damage taken was recovering within just a few seconds. This must be the really high level battle skill «Battle Healing» — but to raise this skill, one must sustain enormous amount of battle damage. Considering the current floors, that was impossible to do so without endangering oneself.
Kirito — just who is he...?
Only now did I begin to seriously wonder about the identity of this black swordsman. His absurd power made him seem like a key strategic player. But his name wasn't amongst the list of KoB-dominated top guild players.
At this moment, Kirito, who accurately predicted the end of the icy onslaught, made his move. He burst through the snowy mist and leapt towards the dragon hovering in midair.
Normally, when fighting a flying enemy, one should first attack with a halberd or some sort of throwing weapon; only after long-range weapons knocked the enemy down to ground-level first did the short-ranged weapon users join the fray. But shockingly, Kirito flew upwards until he almost touched the white dragon's head, where he began to initiate consecutive sword combination techniques in midair.
With a sharp ring, Kirito's onslaught pummeled the white dragon's torso at a speed faster than the human eye could follow. Even though the white dragon retaliated with both of its claws, the difference in their capabilities was simply too much.
By the time Kirito slowly descended back down to the ground, the white dragon's HP bar was already down by over a third.
—It was single-handed slaughter. Watching this unbelievable battle made my spine shiver endlessly.
Suddenly the white dragon aimed at the grounded Kirito and blasted its icy breath, but this time he sprinted to dodge the attack and then leapt back up into the air. With a deep and heavy sound, a single powerful attack struck the target, and the white dragon's health dropped significantly.
The HP bar immediately changed from yellow to red, and the battle should conclude with just one or two more attacks. I decided that this time I would honestly praise Kirito's skill and took one step out from behind the crystal pillar.
At that moment, as if he had eyes on the back of his head, Kirito suddenly shouted:
"Idiot! Don't come out yet!"
"What? It's obviously about to finish right? Just hurry up and end it..."
As I replied in a loud voice—
The dragon, flying even higher than before, fully expanded its wings. As its wings beat forward, the snow directly below the dragon went flying with a *bang*.
"...?"
As I stood frozen in shock by the scene before me. Kirito stabbed his sword into the ground several meters in front of me and moved his mouth like he wanted to tell me something, but his profile was immediately blocked by the snow. A moment later an incredible pressure, like a wall of wind, hit and easily blew me into the air.
Crap... The blizzard attack!
As I tumbled across the air, I finally remembered what I myself had just said about the white dragon's attacks. Thankfully, this skill didn't have much attack power, so I took virtually no damage. I spread open both my arms and took a posture for landing.
But as the snow dispersed — there was no ground in the clearing up ahead.
It was the gigantic hole atop the mountain peak. I had been blown into the air directly overhead this huge pit.
My thoughts immediately stopped; my entire body completely froze.
"You've got to be kidding me..."
With my mind completely paralyzed, I could only utter these words, while my right hand reached towards the air in vain—
—A hand covered in only a black-leather glove suddenly grasped my fingers.
My unfocused eyes suddenly sprang open.
...!
Kirito, who had been confronting the white dragon far away, sprinted over here at a frightening speed and leapt into the air without hesitation. He extended his right hand to grab onto mine and then pulled me into his embrace. After that he loosened his right arm to wrap around my back and hugged me tightly.
"Hold on tight!"
As I heard Kirito's voice reverberating beside my ear, I forgot myself and tightly hugged his body with both of my arms. We began to descend only an instant later.
In the center of the cave opening, the two of us fell straight down while holding onto each other. The wind howled in our ears and our coats flailed about wildly.
If this hole extended down to the surface of the floor, then falling from this height meant certain death. This thought suddenly passed through my mind, but I just didn't feel like this was actually happening right now. All I could do was to keep staring dumbly at the disappearing circle of white light.
Suddenly, Kirito's sword-wielding right arm began to move. He raised the sword forcibly and then swung it forward. A flash of light burst out, accompanied by the loud echoing *clang* of metal striking one another.
The strong counterforce changed our fall trajectory, pushing us towards the cave walls. The blue icy walls gradually approached, and I couldn't help but bite down my teeth. We were going to crash—!
Just as we were about to collide with the wall, Kirito raised the sword in his right hand once again and stabbed it into the wall at full power. Fiery sparks exploded outwards as if the weapon had struck a whetstone. The sudden attack slowed our falling speed, but it was unable to completely stop our descent.
The screeching sound of metallic cutting continued as Kirito's sword kept on cutting the wall of ice. I turned my neck to look down and noticed that we could already see the white snow-covered bottom of the cave. I watched it come closer and closer, until there were only a few seconds left before we crashed. I wanted to at least refrain from screaming, so I bit down on my lip and tightly held onto Kirito.
Kirito let go of his sword, used both arms to hold me tightly, and rotated his body so that he was on the bottom. Then—
An impact. A huge sound.
The snowflakes that were blasted into the air by the force of our fall began to land lightly on my cheeks before melting away.
The cold sensation pulled back my scattered thoughts. I opened my eyes, and my gaze met with that of Kirito's black pupils as he laid extremely close to me.
Kirito was still hugging me tightly; he raised the corner of his mouth and smiled weakly.
"...Still alive?"
I nodded back weakly and replied:
"Yeah, still alive."
For several dozen seconds — or maybe several minutes, we simply laid motionlessly in that position. The heat from Kirito's body allowed my entire self to relax and my mind to go completely blank.
After a while, Kirito let go of my arm and slowly stood back up. He first picked up the sword that fell nearby and returned it to his inventory, and then pulled out from his waist pouch a bottle of what was probably a high-class recovery potion, as well as another bottle for me.
"Anyhow, just drink it."
"...Okay."
I nodded and sat up to receive the potion while checking my own HP bar. I still had about one-third left, but Kirito, who had struck the ground directly, was already in the red zone.
I pulled off the cork and gulped down the sweet liquid in one breath, then turned towards Kirito. Remaining in my relaxed posture, I began to move the lips that have such a hard time saying anything nice.
"Ummm... Th-Thank you for saving me..."
Kirito weakly showed his usual sneer and replied:
"It's still too early to thank me."
He quickly glanced towards the sky.
"...Thank god the white dragon didn't chase us, but how are we going to get out of here..."
"Eh...? Can't we just teleport?"
I reached into my apron pocket and pulled out a sparkling blue crystal to show Kirito. But—
"That probably won't work, since this is a trap made especially for players, I doubt we'll be able to get out that easily."
"How could this be...?"
Kirito hinted at me with his eyes to try it out, so I held the crystal tightly and commanded:
"Teleport! Rindaasu!"
—My shout echoed emptily off the frozen walls before finally disappearing. The crystal simply continued to sparkle silently.
Kirito squeezed my shoulders lightly without making any sound.
"If I thought we could use crystals, then I would have already used it when we were falling. But because this place felt like it would be an anti-crystal zone..."
"..."
I dropped my head in despair; Kirito put his hand on my head with a *pat* and tousled my hair.
"Alright alright, don't cry. If we can't use crystals, then there must be another way out of here."
"...Maybe not, maybe this is an inescapable pit that guarantees death... Or should I say, we're already dead!"
"Hmmm, maybe you're right."
Watching Kirito nod in agreement made me lose all the energy in my body once again.
"What...What kind of attitude is that!? Can't you be a little more positive?"
After I suddenly yelled, Kirito smiled and said:
"That angry expression is much more like you, keep it up!"
"Wha...?"
My cheeks flushed red and my body froze in place. Kirito then lifted his hand from my head and stood back up.
"Well, let's try some things out. Any ideas?"
"..."
I smiled bitterly at Kirito, who was clearly unaffected by the situation we were in and kept up his usual attitude. Feeling a bit more cheerful, I slapped my cheeks with both hands and stood up.
I surveyed my surroundings; the cave's bottom was a flat surface of ice with a hint of snow. The diameter should be about 10 meters just like the cave's opening. The icy walls near the top continued to reflect rays of light from the setting sun, but this place would soon be completely engulfed by darkness.
I looked around, but there was no visible way out on either the walls or the floor. I put both my hands on my waist, ran my brain at full capacity, and told Kirito the first idea that came to mind.
"Mm... Can we ask for help from someone?"
Kirito denied it instantly:
"Uh—— I'm guessing this place is considered a dungeon."
Players registered as 'friends,' such as Asuna in my case, can communicate through a type of mail called 'private message.' However, that function cannot be used within a dungeon, nor could the 'trace system' be used to locate them.
I opened the message window in blind hope, but as Kirito said, it was unavailable.
"Well... How about we shout at other players who come to hunt the dragon?"
"I think we are about 80 meters away from the apex, so my guess is that our voices won't reach that far."
"I guess so... Wait! Now you come up with an idea!"
When I retorted at Kirito, upset at him for constantly putting down my ideas, he replied with something preposterous:
"Run up along the wall."
"...Are you an idiot?"
"Well, let's find out."
While I stared at him with a dumbstruck expression, Kirito walked up to one side of the cave and started dashing toward the walls on the opposite side with unnatural speed. The snow blew off the floor and a gale of wind smashed into my face. Just as he was about to hit the wall, Kirito crouched and leaped upwards with explosive force. He stepped on the walls at an unbelievable height and then started running diagonally along the wall.
"Oh my god..."
As I watched in awe, Kirito was already far above me and running upwards in a spiral along the walls like one of those ninjas from a third-rate movie. His silhouette got smaller and smaller—
Then, as he was a third of the way up, he suddenly slipped.
"Ahhhhhhhh!!!"
Kirito floundered about as he fell towards my head.
"Kyaaaaa!!!"
As I backed off screaming, a human-shaped hole appeared right where I was standing. A minute later, after Kirito finished his second health potion, I sat down next to him and sighed.
"I kept thinking you were an idiot, but I never even considered that you were this stupid..."
"I would have succeeded if the initial approach was longer."
"Not a chance."
I blurted out softly.
Kirito ignored my words and returned the empty potion bottle to his pouch. After stretching his arms, he said:
"Well, it's getting too dark, so let's just camp here. Fortunately, I don't think any monsters spawn in this hole."
The sun had already set, and the bottom of the hole was getting quite dark.
"I guess so..."
"Well then..."
Kirito opened a window and materialized several things. A camp stove[1], a pot, several small sacks that I couldn't tell what they were for, and two mugs came out.
"...You always carry these around?"
"I tend to camp out in the fields quite often."
He said it with such a serious expression that I don't think he was joking.
He clicked on the stove; it lit with a *fwoosh* and illuminated the place with a soft orange glow. Kirito put a pot over the stove, then tossed in a few chunks of snow before pouring in the contents of those small sacks. He closed the pot with a lid and doubled clicked it; a timer window for cooking then popped up.
Soon I began to smell a herbal aroma. Now that I thought about it, I hadn't eaten anything since that hot dog in the morning. My stomach suddenly demanded food loudly as if it just remembered that it was starving.
The cooking timer disappeared with a *pin pon*, and then Kirito split the contents of the pot into two mugs.
"Don't expect too much, my cooking proficiency is zero."
"Thank you..."
The warmth transferred to my hands through the mug that Kirito handed to me. It was a simple soup of dried meat and herbs, but the ingredients' item levels seemed to be high and it was more than delicious. The heat also spread throughout my cold body.
"What a mysterious feeling this is... I don't feel like this is real."
I mumbled as I drank the soup.
"I mean this situation, camping in an unexplored area and having a meal with a stranger..."
"Ah, I guess so... since you are an artisan. I make PuGs[2] with random players and camp with them quite often."
"Hmm, really? ...Tell me some more, about the dungeons and everything."
"Huh? Mm...okay. I don't think it's that interesting though... oh wait, before I start..."
Kirito collected the empty mugs and pot, and returned them to his inventory. He opened the panel again and materialized what looked like two rolled up chunks of cloth.
After he unfolded them, they revealed themselves to be sleeping bags. They looked similar to their real world equivalents, only significantly larger.
"These are high-end items. Perfect heat preservation, plus a hiding effect against aggressive monsters."
He tossed me one as he smiled. When I laid it on the snow, it looked like it could fit three people of my size. Dumbfounded by the size of it, I spoke to Kirito:
"It's remarkable that you bring these things everywhere, and especially two of them..."
"Well, I should utilize my inventory space for something."
Kirito quickly unequipped himself and laid down in the sleeping bag on the left. I also unequipped my cloak and mace, and rolled into the sleeping bag. It was a high-end item all right; the inside was very warm, and a lot fluffier than it looked. We were a meter apart with the stove in between us. But I was still feeling a little... embarrassed, so I spoke again to get rid of the silence:
"Mm...yeah, go on with the story..."
"Oh, sure..."
Kirito slowly started talking after he laid his head on his hands.
He told me about the time when he got trapped by MPK —— criminals who purposely gathered mobs to ambush other players —— in a dungeon. And a story of fighting a boss mob with low damage but an obscene amount of health for two full days by taking turns to sleep with other players. There was also the time he rolled dice with 100 other players for a rare item. All of his stories were thrilling, delightful, and somewhat humorous. His stories also made one thing obvious—— he was one of the Clearers, those who risk their lives on the frontline. But that also meant this person was burdened with the fates of thousands of players. He wasn't the type of person who should risk his life just to save me.
I turned toward Kirito and looked at his face. His black eyes were reflecting the light from the stove.
"Hey... Kirito, can I ask you something...?"
"—Why so serious all of a sudden?"
"Why did you save me at that moment...? There was no guarantee that you would have succeeded. Well, it was more likely that you were just going to die with me, so... Why...?"
Kirito's expression hardened for a second, but he immediately relaxed to his usual face and responded with a calm voice:
"...I would rather die alongside them than watch someone else die without doing anything. Especially if that someone is a girl like you, Liz."
"...You really are an idiot. You are probably the only one who would say such a thing."
Although I retorted sarcastically, my eyes couldn't help but weep. A part of my heart ached, and I tried my hardest to control and hide it. I haven't heard such stubborn, upright, and warm words since I came to this world. No, I haven't heard such words even before in the real world.
The painful feelings of loneliness and wanting to interact with others more that had been buried deep within a corner of my heart suddenly flared and engulfed me like a tempest. I wanted Kirito's warmth close enough for my heart to feel—
Without realizing it, the words spilled forth from my mouth:
"Would you... hold my hand?"
I turned towards Kirito, pulled my right arm out of the sleeping bag, and reached towards my left.
Kirito's eyes widened slightly, but he answered 'Yes' in a small voice and held out his left hand. When our fingers touched, we both jerked our hands away for a second, but then reached in again to grasp our hands together.
I held onto Kirito's hand tightly, which was a lot warmer than the soup that I just ate. Although the back of my hand was still laying on the ice, I didn't feel any coldness. I felt human warmth. I felt like I had finally figured out what the longing was that had settled in a corner of my heart ever since I came to this world.
Because I was afraid of becoming aware of the fact that this world was an illusion— that my real body was somewhere far away, unreachable no matter how hard I tried, I continued to set goals for myself and focused everything on my job. I convinced myself that leveling up my blacksmithing skills and expanding my store was my reality.
But some part of me always knew that this was all a fake, nothing more than simple data. What I starved for was true human warmth.
Of course, Kirito's body was also data. The warmth that I feel now were just electric signals for my brain to react to. But I finally realized that it didn't matter. I could feel his heart —— whether in the real world or in this simulated world, this was the only truth.
As I held Kirito's hand firmly, I smiled and closed my eyes. Although my heart was beating faster than ever, sleep came to me regrettably quick and dragged my consciousness into the pleasant darkness.