⌜Chapter 20⌟

-50th floor, Algade City-

Inside one of the mansions, a handsome young man got out of the bathroom naked, only a towel on his head, he wiped himself and started wearing clothes, though, he only have to click some interface for him to instantly wear clothes.

"It's been a year already huh? well, good for them, I stayed there for more than many years they could think of"

Tanaka laughed, yes, it been a year ever since he came into this world, this mansion was he bought after saving a lot of money, in other words, he was the 2nd richest player in the game right now, maybe Kayaba is the richest because he can get money whenever he wants.

Anyway, Tanaka wore his armor under his clothes then proceeded outside, Algade is the second-largest city in Aincrad, only topped by the Town of Beginnings in size, but exceeding it in population due to the Town of Beginnings being controlled by The Army.

Algade is a messy city, with several alleyways that may take several days to navigate; there were shops that players were unable to tell what they were selling and inns that looked as though players could never get back out once they went in.

Tanaka also opened a shop here, though, there is no one who buys yet since there are no players yet, but there will be soon, yes, players have finally reached floor 49 after a year, and after disappearing for a long time, Tanaka decided to show himself now.

To go to the 49th floor without being seen, Tanaka decided to go down by teleportation, arriving at the Algade Teleport Gate Plaza, Tanaka teleported back to the 49th floor.

-49th floor, Myujen City-

Myujen is an urban city with mostly 3-storey apartment-like buildings, the first floors of which have columns that form arches. The city has a large church near the central market, which mostly consists of many small gift shop kiosks. There is also a clock tower at the Teleport Gate plaza of this city.

And since Christmas is nearing, this place was very lively, the city was decorated with a large Christmas tree in its central market, as well as many decorative lights, festive ornaments, and garlands hanging between buildings, while the roofs and roads of the city were covered in a blanket of white snow.

Tanaka walked around the place looking at the players, they were in a very festive mood, at least, they started to try and enjoy their life in this death game.

"Hmm, wait, if I remember correctly, there is an event 5 days later"

Tanaka suddenly remembered, the Christmas event, where an event boss monster will appear, it was already known by every player, the boss was called Nicholas The Renegade, though, where the boss will appear is still unknown but many players are excited to fight the boss to get good rewards.

It was said that it will also drop an extremely rare item, remembering it, Tanaka decided to hold off fighting the 50th-floor boss for now and join the event, he didn't know what it will drop but it was not too late to join the fun.

But since there are still a few days left before the events start, Tanaka decided to roam around for a while, even though, he stayed on the 50th floor for a long time, he only went to dungeons and clear quests, he didn't really look at its scenery that much.

But since he decided to rest for today, he would look around, there are many stalls open in this place, each selling some kind of things as the second richest player in the game, Tanaka bought things that got his interest.

And since he was not wearing his mask today, he caught much attention from girls, being a handsome guy has its merit, they also don't recognize him as Madara, maybe, they have also forgotten Madara who disappeared for a year.

As Tanaka was looking around, he noticed a player in one of the alleys, a nimble-looking guy who has brown eyes and curly golden-brown hair, one thing that caught Tanaka's attention is that the player looked like a trap, not a literal trap but that trap.

The player also noticed Tanaka was looking and made their way towards him.

"Hi, nice to meet you, are you interested in buying information?"

"Are you a broker?"

"Yes, I am called Argo the Rat"

"Hmm, I see how much?"

"Not that much, it depends on what information you want to buy"

"I see, then, do you have any information about the event boss that is coming out?"

"Yes, it's not that accurate but there are three places that the event boss may appear, it will cost you about 10,000 colls for that"

"I will give you 15k, tell me where he will really appear"

Tanaka immediately sent the money, Argo smiled as she looked at Tanaka, straightforward and knew how to do business.

"Forest of Wandering"

"I see, thanks"

After that, Tanaka left, Argo looked at his back and could not help but remember a figure, but she shook her head, this guy was very gentle unlike the guy she remembered, she shook her head and went back to her position waiting for more customers.

After Tanaka left, he spent most of his time buying food from stalls and also restocking his ingredients, he also found some rare ingredients that he wasn't able to find, it could be said that going down the 49th floor was very worthwhile.

After he was done, Tanaka decided to go to the lowers floor to have some fun, and on the 27th floor, he found something interesting, he found Kirito going with a group of players, and looking from their items, they are low-level players.

Tanaka also noticed one character, she only appear for a short time in anime but she was a very memorable character, he forgot her name but Tanaka remembered she died.

'I see, they will go to the secret room, I wasn't able to find that place but I will definitely go there'

Tanaka smiled and wore his mask and approached the group.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Quotes:

If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done. - Bruce Lee