-350- Embark on a new journey

Eventually, Rozen took his leave.

It was as the day grew late, and evening enveloped the entirety of Aincrad.

"If you ever need anything, feel free to message me."

Rozen bid his farewell with those words. He and Silica mutually added each other as friends. Soon after, amidst Silica and Pina's farewell, he vanished through a teleportation gate.

Silica's smile only lasted until that moment.

Once Rozen had left, the smile vanished completely from Silica's face.

"Chu..."

Pina, as if sensing her worry, lay in Silica's arms, extending her long neck and emitting a comforting chirp.

Hearing Pina's chirp, Silica managed to muster a forced smile.

"I'm okay, Pina."

Indeed.

She was fine.

Hadn't she anticipated this outcome from the start?

Compared to herself, Rozen was the hope of thousands of players in SAO. He was not only the leader of the strongest guild, but also the leader of the Clearing Group, needed at the frontlines at all times. Otherwise, the progress of clearing would stall, and no one would dare to challenge floor bosses.

Such a person could spare a day to be with her. That was already a precious and rare occurrence. Perhaps she was the only one in SAO who received such treatment. As his fan, how could she not be satisfied with that?

She should be satisfied.

She should be satisfied...

"If Rozen-nii were to stay with me all the time, it wouldn't be fair to the other players. Having a day with him is already good enough; I should be content..."

Silica kept reminding herself.

However, the feeling of disappointment in her heart wouldn't dissipate.

"Anyway... now that we've added each other as friends, we can always message each other, right?"

Silica expressed this to Pina, who was nestled in her arms.

But just as Pina seemed to perceive Silica's true emotions, she didn't respond. She just stared at her with a pair of clear eyes.

"Sigh..."

Finally, Silica's facade of strength crumbled.

In truth, Silica knew it well.

Even though they had mutually added each other as friends, it didn't mean their distance had lessened.

Message each other anytime?

That was impossible.

As the leader of the front-line Clearing Group, Rozen's every moment was tied to the complete clearing of the game. Even the top players within the Clearing Group didn't have the right to message him whenever they wanted. At most, guild leaders could contact him in emergencies. In such a situation, how could Silica casually send a message?

Meet anytime?

That was even more impossible.

Being able to spare a whole day was already precious; how could they meet anytime?

Therefore, Silica knew.

This parting might be forever.

"Ah..."

Silica couldn't help but sigh.

Just then...

"Are you the Dragon Master, Silica?"

As such a voice rang out from behind Silica, she was startled and quickly turned around to see who it was.

The next moment, Silica saw them.

Behind her were several players who had appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

It was an unbalanced-looking team.

"Hey, look at this!"

A dagger-wielding thief pointed at Pina in Silica's arms and exclaimed with excitement.

"A real familiar!"

A mace and shield user's face was filled with surprise.

"Never thought we'd meet an actual Beast Tamer here!"

A male spear user was similarly excited.

"Wait, everyone, let's not be impolite."

A seemingly gentle female spear user advised her companions.

The one who spoke to Silica was a dual-wielding staff user, who seemed to be the leader of the group.

From the top left of their HP bars, Silica could see a guild emblem resembling a black cat.

These people were members of a guild.

Seemingly the guild leader, the dual-wielding staff user smiled wryly and spoke to Silica.

"Sorry, because we have some history with a great Beast Tamer, everyone here really admires and looks up to Beast Tamers a lot. I apologize if their reactions seemed too extreme."

Upon hearing this, Silica didn't mind the attitude of the group; she just focused on one phrase.

"A great Beast Tamer...?"

As far as Silica knew, within all of SAO, there was only one person who could bear such a title.

"Yes." The person smiled slightly and continued, "It's the person you're thinking of, right?"

This sentence made Silica's eyes light up.

And then...

"Actually, we're currently focusing on leveling up to become part of the clearing group."

The guild leader, a double handed staff user, rubbed his head and spoke somewhat embarrassedly.

"Although we can only operate on the 50th floor for now, which is five floors behind the front lines, it's precisely because of this that we need reliable companions to join us and help us progress faster."

The 50th floor...!

In other words, if these people had achieved their safe levels, that meant they were all level 60...!

These must be the closest mid-level players to the top players in the clearing group, right?

But what did they just say?

"Reliable... companions...?"

Silica murmured in astonishment.

Seeing her reaction, the leader of the group smiled and extended his hand to Silica.

"Would you consider joining our guild?"

They extended an invitation to Silica like this.

Silica held her breath.

This definitely wasn't the first time Silica had been invited.

In the past, countless teams and guilds had invited her to join.

However, none of those invitations had ever made Silica's heart beat like this.

Because...

"Focusing to become part of the clearing group as our goal..."

This was an objective no previous guild had ever had.

It was this goal that stirred Silica's heart.

If she could join the clearing group, would she be able stand with him?

With that thought, Silica gathered her courage.

"....Let me join."

Silica lifted her head and earnestly spoke.

"Please let me join!"

Silica made her request with determination.

Seeing this, the guild leader smiled.

"Welcome to our guild, the Moonlit Black Cats."

The dual-wielding staff user named Keita extended his hand to Silica.

Behind him, Ducker, Tetsuo, Sasamaru, and Sachi all smiled as well.

In this way, Silica, along with Pina, joined the Moonlit Black Cats and left the 35th floor behind.

In a small alley, two people observed this scene.

"Are you at ease now?"

Kirito said to Rozen somewhat helplessly.

To this, Rozen merely shrugged, smirking slightly without giving a direct answer.

Nonetheless, Rozen still offered his blessing to Silica as she embarked on her new journey.

"I hope you can survive until the end."

Survive until the day when this game is completely cleared.