-1663- I'll bring her with me

That night, Rozen and Leafa didn't manage to reach Alne smoothly.

They had entered the game in the evening, and the incident at the council of lords had happened around one in the morning. It was too late, and due to the restrictions on flight, they couldn't keep traveling straight to Alne.

So, after their wings grew tired, the two of them landed and decided to log out, planning to continue their journey the next day.

Luckily, the Alne Plateau wasn't home to training grounds filled with monsters, so apart from needing to be cautious of other players, Rozen and Leafa didn't have to worry about their characters being attacked while they were logged out. They found a secluded spot to land, and first, Rozen logged out while Leafa watched over him. Once his character disappeared, Leafa hid in the grass and logged out as well, leaving the game together as planned.

This was a part of their previous agreement to take turns watching over each other when logging out. Last time, Leafa had logged out first, so this time, Rozen went first—keeping things fair.

After logging out, Rozen and Suguha quickly fell asleep and entered the realm of dreams.

Although players sleep in bed while fully immersed, similar to SAO, even if their real bodies are lying still outside, mental fatigue still sets in if they spend too long in the game world. People still need to sleep and rest properly; otherwise, in SAO, they wouldn't have rented inns for rest.

It was the same in ALO: no matter what, full-dive immersion couldn't replace sleep. Fatigue was inevitable, and everyone needed rest.

Thus, that night, Rozen and Suguha slept soundly.

They didn't wake up until the next morning.

"Good morning, Suguha."

"Morning, Aoka-nii-san."

Stepping out of their rooms, Rozen and Suguha greeted each other, both looking slightly groggy.

No wonder—both had stayed up late until about two in the morning, and it was now around seven. They'd only gotten five hours of sleep, so it was natural to feel tired.

However, Suguha was genuinely exhausted, while Rozen was merely reluctant to wake up.

After all, Rozen had the Virtual Aether technique, which fortified his mind, enhancing his mental resilience against fatigue. Even if he went a week without sleep, it wouldn't be a big deal for him. If he didn't need to let his brain and body rest fully, he could probably keep going, but sometimes he ended up being a bit too drowsy. This was just how he was.

Regardless, both of them got up, Suguha for her morning exercise.

The long-standing habit motivated Suguha to persist with her training, even if she felt tired. So, after greeting Rozen, she headed to the courtyard.

As for Rozen, he got up to ease his family's worries.

"My family already wasn't too thrilled about me jumping back into gaming shortly after returning. If I stayed holed up in my room, they'd just worry needlessly. It's better to come out now and then to put them at ease."

Otherwise, Kirigaya Midori might worry that Rozen was trapped in the game world again.

So, Rozen got up early to show his face at home.

Thanks to this, when Midori, who was preparing breakfast, saw Rozen appear, her eyes and expression visibly softened—a sign that his approach was correct.

Even Kirito, who had just finished his morning run and was wiping off his sweat, looked at Rozen with relief and jogged over.

"How was it? Everything okay?" Kirito asked quickly.

Rozen found this amusing.

"What could possibly go wrong?" Rozen replied calmly. "I bet you already looked up ALO online last night, didn't you?"

With Kirito's personality, even if he didn't follow Rozen into ALO, he'd still check it out to this extent.

Thus, Kirito had likely done his research on ALO and knew a bit about the game.

"That game has been running for over a year now without any problems. Players have all been able to log out safely. It won't turn into a second SAO, so just relax."

Rozen patted Kirito on the shoulder.

"Hopefully."

That was all Kirito could say.

Even though he didn't fully understand the situation, nor what Rozen planned to find or accomplish in ALO, Kirito still had great confidence in Rozen's abilities.

During those two years in SAO, Rozen had single-handedly supported all the players, gathering the beta testers who were hated by the community to form a guild, becoming an indispensable force in the clearing group. He even redeemed the beta testers' image and status. In the end, it was Rozen who defeated Kayaba Akihiko, liberating all the players. Kirito had witnessed it all.

In fact, Kirito had been the closest player to Rozen in SAO and his most reliable assistant and swordsman. He harbored no doubt about Rozen's capabilities.

So, though worried, Kirito believed Rozen could handle any obstacle he faced.

"If you need anything, just let me know. I can join you at any time," Kirito offered.

With his skill, once in ALO, he would likely rise to prominence quickly, perhaps even rivaling or surpassing Eugene.

Having such an ally was undoubtedly something to look forward to.

"I'll keep that in mind."

Rozen smiled, nodding.

"Oh, by the way," Kirito suddenly recalled, "recently, I've reconnected with everyone in Crimson Wing. Klein, Agil, and the others seem to have sorted things out in real life. They've been wanting to meet up with you ever since they heard you were back."

"Those guys?" Rozen was momentarily surprised, then nostalgic.

Although his time in SAO felt like ages ago, it was that much more precious to Rozen.

Now, he wanted to meet his former friends from the clearing frontlines and those "brats" in the guild.

With that thought...

"Alright then." Rozen smiled. "Tell everyone that we'll have a gathering next month."

"Next month…?" Kirito murmured.

"Exactly," Rozen said nonchalantly. "By then, I'll bring her with me too."

Kirito froze momentarily, then smiled as well.

"Got it!"

Kirito nodded firmly.