Chapter 27 Huh?

"...," Black Cat shook her head helplessly. While Yuta Togashi's reasoning made sense, things couldn't possibly be that simple, could they? She knew the price of these desserts, several thousand col, making them the most expensive desserts in the shop. Just thinking about having this amount of money would instantly solve her headache. Her heart ached at the thought.

Moreover, why would someone send such expensive items? After all, in a sense, she had offended him. What was he thinking? Did he have too much col and lost his mind? Black Cat felt it was also possible.

Arthur, of course, had no idea what Black Cat was speculating about his motives. If he knew, he would definitely cry. He just sent a gift in appreciation of both characters being his favorites in anime. To be misunderstood like this, even labeled as a villain and idiot, he would regret it terribly.

Not to mention Black Cat, but now Yuta Togashi was eating the dessert happily. She felt like she had never eaten anything so delicious before, enveloped in a feeling of happiness, she squinted her eyes.

"Hey, can you not be so exaggerated?" Seeing Yuta Togashi make a contented groan, Black Cat covered her face.

"It's really delicious, Black Cat." Yuta Togashi nodded vigorously. "And, once you've bought something, you can't return it. It's such a waste not to eat it!"

Seeing Yuta Togashi had already eaten most of the dessert, Black Cat looked at the remaining desserts in front of her and was momentarily in a dilemma.

To eat or not to eat? That is the question.

"Black Cat, if you're worried, let me have them!" Yuta Togashi looked at Black Cat, full of anticipation.

"You...," Black Cat pushed away Yuta Togashi's hand offering the dessert. She couldn't bear to eat such expensive desserts! And, Aincrad was known for the quality of its food. Since these desserts were so expensive, they must taste exceptionally good. Just looking at the dessert in front of her, she could already feel a pang in her heart.

Without hesitation, the black cat didn't dwell on it for too long. After all, there's no harm in trying. With tears in her eyes, she criticized the despicable behavior of these rich folks and took the first bite.

Meanwhile, not far away, Arthur was secretly observing the actions of the two women. Seeing the black cat, who had been hesitating all along, starting to eat the sweets he had given, he felt relieved. Though abrupt, at least she accepted it.

Of course, Arthur had no idea that the black cat had already turned him into various villainous roles in her mind.

After finishing their meal, Arthur didn't disturb the two and left the restaurant alone. The black cat seemed to be eating all along, but the corner of her eye was always watching Arthur. When she saw him leave alone, she sighed in relief. At least for now, there wouldn't be any trouble.

The incident at the restaurant was just a small episode. Arthur had already accepted the fact about this. So what if a few other anime characters appeared? No need to panic.

However, with complicated feelings towards the black cat and Rikka Takanashi, Arthur contacted the information broker.

"Hey, hey, hey!! You've gone too far!!"

Seeing the information broker's reply to his message, Arthur scratched his face. Really? Was it too much to ask her to keep an eye on the player named Black Cat?

Just as Arthur was thinking this, the information broker sent another message.

"I'm an information broker!!! Not a stalker!!! Not a pervert either!!! I can't spare mental energy to focus on other players!!!"

Arthur broke into a cold sweat. So that's what she was angry about?

Since the information broker put it that way, Arthur felt embarrassed to ask her again. After apologizing, Arthur returned to the inn.

The night passed without incident. The next day, Arthur woke up early. It was a rare cool morning in Urubas. Arthur had a refreshing breakfast and then set out into Urubas.

In the depths of the wasteland area, it should have been farther than yesterday's journey to escort the blacksmith Sg to the crystal mine, but when Arthur was alone, time seemed to pass more quickly. In just an hour, Arthur had already set foot in the depths of the wasteland.

Here, compared to the wasteland area, it was even more desolate and barren. To set the atmosphere, there were even some monster corpses nearby.

Arthur looked around and then randomly chose a direction to head deeper into the wasteland area. The mission stated that the Giant Minotaur was elusive but would only appear in the depths of the wasteland. So Arthur decided to try his luck. If luck wasn't on his side, he might spend three or four hours here.

But luckily, the intel mentioned that the Giant Minotaur liked to eat a kind of bone grass that grew on corpses. So most of the time, it roamed around the areas where monster corpses were concentrated. In the depths of the wasteland, there were three such areas. However, they were far apart from each other. If Arthur had bad luck, he might spend three to four hours.

And where Arthur was heading now was the closest of the three areas.

After about twenty minutes, Arthur finally arrived at the first area where monster corpses were concentrated. However, he didn't find any traces of the Giant Minotaur; instead, he was targeted by a pack of wolves lurking among the corpses.

After dealing with the wolves, Arthur continued on to the next area of monster corpses.

However, half an hour later, when he arrived at the second area, Arthur still didn't see any sign of the Giant Minotaur.

Could my luck have turned bad? Arthur's mouth twitched slightly. But for the mission's sake, he had to head to the next area of monster corpses.

Yet, to Arthur's dismay, he still didn't find any trace of the Giant Minotaur after arriving at the third area of monster corpses.

"Could it be that the intel the information broker gave me was fake?" Arthur began to doubt a certain professional information broker. At that moment, a sneeze suddenly interrupted a cloaked girl exploring somewhere.

"What the heck? People don't get sick in SAO, do they?" The information broker rubbed her nose, quite surprised.

However, Arthur ultimately chose to believe the information broker's intel. There were only two possibilities left: either the Giant Minotaur had been killed by someone or it happened to not be hungry and wasn't at any of these three areas but was wandering elsewhere in the depths of the wasteland.

"Ah, the information broker tricked me! Why does this mission feel more exhausting than grinding monsters for three days?!" Arthur sighed to the sky, feeling more tired and troubled than when he was grinding monsters.

But with a slight touch of OCD, Arthur wouldn't allow himself to give up. Even if it's troublesome, he would do the task he accepted. It's just that the unscrupulous and sinister information broker... you wait for me! Arthur clenched his fist, silently vowing.

Meanwhile, in a certain place, the information broker sneezed again.

"Huh? Something's not right!" The information broker squinted, feeling a deep malice coming from somewhere.

Since there were no traces of the Giant Minotaur in any of the three areas where it should have been, Arthur was somewhat at a loss.

As a boss-level monster, the Giant Minotaur shouldn't be so easily defeated. After all, no players had been to this area yet. So, most likely, the Giant Minotaur had had its fill of food.

Arthur took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and spun around. After a full circle, he randomly pointed in a direction and opened his eyes, but he was stunned by what he saw.

In his line of sight, a Giant Minotaur towering three stories high was walking towards him. And behind him was the third area of monster corpses, with plenty of bone grass growing on them.