-318- Waiting there for you guys

Watching Asuna, who stood before him with an imposing demeanor and looked at him with a pair of radiant eyes, Rozen once again felt a little astonished.

(Who would have thought that rapier user from back then would become the person she is now.)

While he felt this way internally, on the surface, Rozen didn't reveal anything. He remained as casual and indifferent as Asuna had described, even bordering on nonchalant.

"Did you send me an immediate message and bring me here just to catch up?" Rozen merely said those words.

In SAO, players could send messages to each other, but there were conditions.

Generally speaking, messages fell into two categories.

One type could be sent to anyone as long as you knew the correct spelling of their character name in English letters, not kanji. However, these messages had a limit on the number of characters and wouldn't be received if the recipient was on a different floor's street or outside.

The other type could be sent to someone who was logged in as a friend. These messages had a higher character limit and could be sent to different floors, but they couldn't be sent within Labyrinth area or closed maps with real-time or limited access.

Rozen had quite a few friends, including all the members of "Crimson Wing," which included players like Kirito, and others he got along with well, like Argo, Agil, and Klein.

However, Rozen's friend list naturally didn't include the stunning swordswoman of the clearing group who would surely captivate the entire SAO world.

That's why Asuna had to sent him an instant message to be able to brought him here.

It wasn't strange at all that Asuna knew the correct spelling of Rozen's character name. After all, they had fought side by side before, and it would have been odd if she didn't know.

Of course, calling Rozen here wasn't some envy-worthy romantic event, and it certainly wasn't for catching up.

There was only one purpose for Asuna calling Rozen here.

"I was given orders from our guild leader."

Ignoring Rozen's nonchalant attitude and words, Asuna got straight to the point.

"The guild leader wants to see you."

At her words, Rozen's eyes squinted slightly.

"The guild leader?"

She naturally meant the leader of the "Knights of the Blood Oath," right?

"He wants to see me?"

Rozen couldn't help but chuckle.

For this guild leader, it would be a lie to say that Rozen wasn't curious.

Setting aside everything else, the fact that this person had invited Asuna to join and had established a guild that had left the clearing group players in awe was reason enough for Rozen's curiosity. How could he not wonder what kind of person this guild leader was?

Moreover, Rozen still remembered Argo's evaluation of the guild leader.

"The leader of this guild, along with the vice leader, is definitely stronger than most players in the clearing group. Making it into the top five of the clearing group should be no problem, and even the top three wouldn't be out of reach."

That was Argo's assessment.

Regarding this assessment, Rozen had been convinced of at least half of it since he met Asuna.

At the very least, based on the exceptional swordsmanship that the vice leader had displayed back on the 1st Floor, making it into the top five of the clearing group was definitely achievable, and reaching the top three wasn't impossible either.

Under these circumstances, how could Rozen not be curious about this guild leader of the "Knights of the Blood Oath" who was said to possess equal or even superior strength? He wouldn't mind meeting him.

However...

"If he wanted to meet me, shouldn't he have come in person?"

Rozen couldn't help but chuckle, his tone carrying a touch of playfulness.

"Could it be that the enigmatic guild leader is planning to play hard to get, having his vice leader bring me to him, so I can meet him in person?"

One sentence caused Asuna's attractive eyebrows to twitch slightly.

It seemed that Rozen had hit the mark.

However, this was a rather unreasonable matter.

No matter how you looked at it, Rozen was the leader of the clearing group, the guild leader of the strongest guild in this world.

If the other party had simply asked the vice leader to lead a team to participate in the clearing, without personally attending, Rozen wouldn't have any objections. After all, whether one volunteered or not was a personal choice; the clearing group had never forced anyone to participate.

However, if the other party actively requested a meeting, that was a different story.

Rozen wasn't trying to put on airs, but an intangible clash had already begun.

Despite explicitly requesting a meeting, Rozen was now being compliantly invited by the other party. As the formidable guild leader of the strongest guild, he was being told to just show up by a guild that had only recently joined the clearing group. This situation not only seemed subservient but would also invite mockery from someone like Zahard if he found out.

Unconsciously, it would allow "Knights of the Blood Oath" to gain the upper hand over "Crimson Wing," and in the future, the latter might be overshadowed by the former within the clearing group.

The other party couldn't be unaware of these implications, but they still had Asuna extend the invitation. Their motives likely boiled down to two possibilities.

One was to gain an advantage in the upcoming situation.

The other was to test Rozen's abilities.

Otherwise, he would truly be a vulgar fellow who only knew how to act important, didn't understand his position, and couldn't see the bigger picture.

So, regardless of what kind of meeting would follow or who he would meet, Rozen had no reason to compromise in order to not let the other party dictate the situation.

Therefore, Rozen had only one thing to say.

"If you want to meet me, then come over yourself. Otherwise, I'll see you at the boss clearing battle during the floor boss raid."

Leaving behind these words, Rozen had no intention of personally going to visit them.

Perhaps Asuna sensed this from Rozen's demeanor, as she fell silent for a moment before sighing.

"I'll message the guild leader to ask."

Asuna turned around, extended her hand downwards to bring up the main menu, opened her friends list, and started sending a message.

Not long after, Asuna received a reply. She turned back to Rozen.

"The guild leader is already on his way," Asuna said succinctly. "Where should we meet?"

"Let's meet at the Crimson Wing's headquarters," Rozen said without hesitation. "I'll be waiting there for you guys."

With those words, Rozen turned and walked out of the alley, leaving the scene.

Asuna simply stared at Rozen's departing figure without hesitation.

After a while, a muttered sentence escaped the young girl's lips.

"Still managing to annoy me just like before..."

With that said, Asuna also left the place.

At this moment, all the clearing group players were probably seizing the opportunity to enter the labyrinth zone as the boss of the practice area was being defeated. They were likely competing for limited resources against each other.

No one knew that at this very moment, during this time, the two most powerful individuals in all of SAO were about to meet.

And this meeting, with its immense significance, was enough to determine the future course of SAO.

An unavoidable course.