Chapter 17

There were four types of relationships that two players could have within the SAO system.

First was two people who didn't really know each other. The second was friends. People who had listed each other as friends could send short messages to each other no matter where they were. They could also search for each other's locations by map.

The third was guild comrades. Apart from the above benefits, they also gained a slight increase in their stats when they partied with members of the same guild. However, they had to give up a bit of the Col they earned as a sort of tax to the guild.

Up until now, Asuna and I were friends and members of the same guild, despite the fact that we were taking a break from the guild. But we had decided to enter the last type of relationship.

Marriage— although getting married was very simple. Once one person sent the proposal message and the other person accepted it, then they were married. But the difference between marriage and friends or guild members was incomparably different.

Marriage in SAO meant the sharing of all information and items. One could see the other's stat window at will, and even their inventory windows had fused into one. In others words, it was entrusting one's most important safety nets to their partners. In Aincrad, where betrayals and fraud were common, few went as far as marriage even amongst the closest couples. Of course, another important reason was because of the extremely unbalanced male-female ratio.

The 22nd floor was one of the most sparsely populated areas in Aincrad. Since it was one of the lower floors, it was especially large; but most of it was taken up by the forests and the numerous lakes that were scattered around the area; therefore, the living area was so small that it could be called a hamlet. Monsters seldom appeared on the field, and since the difficulty level of the labyrinth was exceptionally low, the level was cleared in three days and most players didn't remember much of it.

Asuna and I decided to buy a small, round cottage within the woods on the 22nd floor to live in. Even though it was small, it still cost a considerable amount of money to buy a house within SAO. Asuna offered to sell her house in Salemburg, but I was strongly against it, because selling such a perfectly furnished house would be far too regrettable. So in the end, we gathered all of our rare items and sold them with the help of Agil, which managed to provide just enough money to buy the house.

Although Agil said with a sad expression that we could use the second floor of his shop if we wanted, I thought that spending a newly-wed life within a merchant shop was far too tragic. Furthermore, I didn't even want to imagine what would happen once the fact that the all-famous Asuna had gotten married became known. I thought that we should be able to spend our days peacefully on the sparsely populated 22nd floor.

"Uwa— What a beautiful view!"

Asuna leaned forward, out of the window in our bedroom; although it was called the bedroom, there were only two rooms in the entire house.

The scenery outside really was breathtaking. This was near the edge of Aincrad, so one could see the glittering lakes, the green forest, and the wide-open skies all at once. Because we usually lived with a stone ceiling about one hundred meters above us, the open skies gave us an inexplicable feeling of freedom.

"Just don't fall off while you're looking at the scenery."

I stopped organizing the household items and wrapped my arms around Asuna. This woman was now my wife— as I thought that, the warmth of bright sunlight in the winter, the marvelous feeling of wonder, as well as the surprise of how far we had gone all rushed me at once.

Until I became trapped in this game, I was just a kid who went to school and then back home without any goal in life. But now, the real world had become a faraway past.

If— If this game was cleared, we would be able to return to the real world... that was what all the players, including Asuna and I, wished for. But I couldn't help feeling anxious whenever I thought about it. I unconsciously began to apply strength to my arms that were around Asuna.

"It hurts, Kirito-kun... Is something wrong...?"

"S-Sorry... Hey, Asuna..."

For a moment I stopped talking, but I had to finish asking.

"...Our relationship, is it only in-game...? Is it going to disappear once we return to the other world...?"

"I'm going to be angry, Kirito-kun."

Asuna turned around and looked at me with her eyes full of emotion.

"Even if this was just a normal game rather than this strange situation, I still wouldn't like another person so casually."

She squeezed my cheeks with both her hands, and then said:

"I learned something here, and that was to keep trying and never give up. If we make it back to the real world, I'll definitely come find Kirito-kun again, and I'll still like you."

How many times have I marveled at Asuna's honest and strong heart? Or maybe mine was just too weak.

But even if I was the weak one, it was still all right. I had forgotten for such a long time how comfortable it was to depend on someone else and have them depend on me. I didn't know how long we would be able to stay here, but at least we were away from the battlefield during this period of time—

I let my thoughts wander and concentrated my feelings on the softness and the sweet smell that filled my arms.