Chapter 2

Rumors about «That Metal» began to circulate amongst the

blacksmiths about ten days ago. Of course, the ultimate goal of SAO was

to reach the top floor and beat the game. But other than that, there was

also a variety of other missions: quests from NPCs, guard missions,

treasure hunting, and more. But because the reward usually included

desirable equipment, most quests had a cooldown time after they were

completed before they would become available again. There were even

quests that could only be finished once, which really drew attention

from the players.

One of these missions was found in a hamlet in the corner of the

55th floor. A certain white-bearded village leader NPC would say——

There was a white dragon that lived in the mountains to the west,

which ate crystals each day as its food and stocked large quantities of it

to create an extremely valuable and rare metal within its stomach. This

was obviously a mission that awarded amazing materials, so a large

number of people immediately formed an assault party that would be

able to easily defeat the dragon. ——But they didn't get anything. The

dragon dropped only a small quantity of Col and some poor quality

equipment, which didn't even reimburse the cost of the healing potions

and crystals used.

After that, everyone guessed that the metal had only a chance of

dropping, therefore many parties spoke to the elder and then defeated

the dragon, but still no one found the metal. Within one week,

countless white dragons had been killed, but not a single party

managed to find the metal. Someone finally suggested that there must

be special conditions which must be met, so now everyone was trying

hard to find out what those were.

After listening to my explanation, the man named Kirito, who

sipped on the tea which I didn't want to make, who sat on my

workshop chair with his casually crossed legs, replied 'ah...' and

nodded lightly.

"I've heard about this too. There does seem to be a chance to get

rare ingredients. But so far no one has gotten anything right? Would

we really get anything if we go now?"

"Amongst all the circulating theories, one of them claims that 'the

party must include a blacksmith', because there aren't many

blacksmiths who properly trained their combat skills."

"So that's why; actually that does sound kind of right —— if that's

the case, then we should get going soon."

"..."

I stared angrily at Kirito's face.

"I'm surprised you've managed to live till today with such a lack

of common sense. This isn't goblin hunting! We have to form a good

party and..."

"But if we do that, then even if the material drops, there's a

chance we won't get it right? What floor is that white dragon on?"

"...55th floor."

"Heh —— Then I should be fine even by myself; you don't even

need to help."

"...Are you insanely strong, or just insanely stupid? Whatever, I

don't care, the sight of you crying while teleporting away also sounds

pretty interesting."

Kirito simply chuckled, finished his tea without answering, and

placed the cup back down on the table.

"I'm ready to leave anytime; what about you, Lisbeth?"

"Ah —— never mind, since you're not going to add an honorific

anyway, just call me Liz... the white dragon's mountain isn't very big, so

we should be able to return today. Let me just make a few simple

preparations."

After opening a console window, I first put on some simple armor

over my skirt, then confirmed that my mace was in my inventory and

made sure that I had enough potions and crystals.

I closed the window and said ok, then Kirito stood back up.

Luckily, there were no customers in sight as we went from the

workshop to the shop entrance. I quickly flipped the sign on the door.

I raised my head and looked out; the sunlight passing through

was still bright, so there was still quite some time before it gets dark.

Whether we retrieve the metal or not —— the latter being more likely

no matter how I thought about it —— I wouldn't want to come back

too late.

That being said.

——How did I wind up in this strange situation...

After leaving the store, I walked towards the gate plaza while

thinking deeply.

I definitely had a bad impression of the black-dressed man

leisurely walking beside me —— as it should be. Not only did

everything he say make me angry, he was also some arrogant

megalomaniac, and most of all, he broke my masterpiece.

But still, I was walking alongside a man whom I just met. We even

formed a party and prepared to hunt monsters on another floor; it was

just like —— like a da...

Arriving at this, I immediately forced a stop to that thought. I had

never experienced anything like this until now. Although I was pretty

close to several male players, I've always made excuses to avoid going

out with them with just two people. I wanted to make sure that the

first person I paired up with would be someone I really liked, or so I

thought.

But when I came to my senses, I was already with this weird man...

how did it end up like this!

Completely oblivious of my inner turmoil, Kirito saw a food

vendor near the gate of the plaza and rushed over. By the time he

turned around, a huge hot dog was already in his mouth.

"Doo yu van son duu?"

...My inner thoughts were instantly filled with a sense of

helplessness and I felt like an idiot for being the only one worrying

over it. So I yelled back:

"Yeah!"

The crisp taste of the hot dog —— more precisely, a mysterious

food that looked like a hot dog —— still lingered in my mouth when

we reached the rumored hamlet on the 55th floor.

We also didn't have any trouble with the monsters in the field.

Considering that the front line was on the 63rd floor right now,

the monsters here were pretty strong. But my level was about 65, and

that braggart Kirito should be just as strong, so we went through quite

a few battles almost completely unscathed.

The only mistake was that the theme of this floor involved fields

of snow and ice——

"Achoo!"

I sneezed loudly as soon as we entered the small village and

relaxed. Because all the other floors were in an early summer season, I

became too careless. Not only was there a layer of snow on the ground

here, but every building still had huge icicles hanging from the roofs.

This bone-chilling winter cold made my entire body shiver like

crazy. Kirito, who stood beside me, put on an exasperated expression

and said:

"...You didn't bring any other clothes?"

"...No."

Then, the seemingly lightly-dressed Kirito operated his window.

A black leather cape materialized, which he placed over my head.

"...Are you alright yourself?"

"It's all a matter of willpower."

Every line this man said gets on my nerves. But the fur-lined cape

looked pretty warm, so I couldn't resist it and quickly put it on. I let out

a sigh of relief as the cold bite of the wind immediately disappeared.

"Umm... which one do you think is the elder's house?"

As Kirito said this, I looked around the tiny village, and found an

especially large house across from the central plaza.

"It should be that one right?"

"Right."

We both nodded and started walking.

——Several minutes later.

As we predicted, we found the white-bearded elder NPC and

successfully initiated a conversation. His story was full of useless

details that started from his long and boring childhood, into his

teenage years, past his difficult days in adulthood, and then abruptly

mentioned a white dragon in the mountains to the west. By the time he

finally finished, the orange light of the setting sun had already covered

the entire village.

We left the village elder's house feeling completely wiped out. The

snow that covered the houses were stained orange by the setting sun.

It was an image beautiful beyond comparison, yet——

"...I never expected just receiving the quest would waste that

much time..."

"Unbelievable... well, what now? Should we wait until tomorrow?"

I turned my head and looked at Kirito.

"Hmmm —— I've heard the white dragon is nocturnal though. Is

that the mountain?"

Looking towards the direction Kirito pointed at, I saw a white

peak reaching into the sky. Although I say that, the structural

limitations of Aincrad meant the height couldn't possibly exceed 100

meters, so climbing the mountain shouldn't be difficult.

"Alright, let's go then. I want to see your crying face early anyway."

"Just don't become overwhelmed by my magnificent sword skills."

We both turned our faces away from each other with a 'hmph'.

But somehow, how should I put it, even though I was arguing with

Kirito, my heart began to feel a little shaky——

I forcibly shook my head to get rid of these stupid thoughts and

then began to crunch my way through the snow.

Although the white dragon's mountain looked dangerously steep

from far away, we discovered that it was actually very easy to climb.

When I thought about it, many impromptu teams managed to

accomplish this without any trouble, so there was no way it could be

hard.

Even though it was already evening, which affects the strength of

spawned monsters, the strongest that would appear right now were ice

skeletons called «Frost Bone». Furthermore, bone-type monsters were

no match for my mace. I simply continued to smash them apart with

clear crunching sounds.

After walking up the snow-covered roads for several dozen

minutes and turning towards the plunging icy cliffs, we had already

reached the mountaintop.

The bottom of the next floor was extremely close. Huge columns

of broken crystal pillars stood out from the thick layer of snow. The

purple light of the setting sun refracted through these columns and

scattered into the rainbow colors of the spectrum, painting a scene that

can only be portrayed in dreams.

"Whaa...!"

Just as I cheered without restraint and was about to dash over,

Kirito grabbed onto my collar to stop me.

"Oi... What are you doing!"

"Hey, get ready to use the crystals first."

Against his extremely serious expression, I could only meekly nod.

I materialized the crystals and then put them into my apron pockets.

"Also, it'll get dangerous from here on out, so it would be best if I

continued on alone. Once the white dragon appears, just hide behind

that crystal pillar over there and absolutely do not come out."

"...Why? My level is pretty high too! I wanna help too!"

"No!"

Kirito's black pupils stared directly into my eyes. The moment our

eyes met, I understood that this person was truly worried for my safety

from the bottom of his heart, so I let out a huge sigh and backed off. I

didn't say anything and simply nodded lightly.

A smile spread across Kirito's face as he patted my head and said

"alright, let's go." I could only keep on nodding.

It felt like the atmosphere suddenly changed entirely.

After travelling all the way here with Kirito, could it be that my

feelings had changed? Or did I get caught up in the mood —— either

way, I completely did not recognize this as a life-threatening encounter.

Over half of my experience came from forging weapons, so I had

never entered any merciless battlefields.

But I felt that this person was different. He had a gaze that only

one who fought every day in the most dangerous places could have.

I continued to walk with my scrambled emotions before we soon

arrived at the center of the peak.

We quickly looked around, but found no sign of the white dragon.

However, we saw an area sealed by crystal pillars——

"Wow..."

There was a gigantic cave opening of at least ten meters in

diameter. The light reflected off the walls reached down the deep hole,

while an impermeable darkness covered even the deeper regions.

"That's really deep..."

Kirito kicked a small chunk of crystal into the hole. The falling

crystal glittered briefly before completely disappearing without even a

sound.

"Don't fall down."

"As if I would!"

Not long after I replied, a sharp feral screech pierced out from the

cave and spread across the entire mountain through the air that was

stained blue by the sunset.

"Hide behind there!"

Kirito pointed towards a gigantic crystal pillar nearby and spoke

in a commanding tone. I hurriedly followed his instructions while

waving exaggeratedly at Kirito's shadow and yelling:

"Hey... the white dragon's attacks are slashes using both claws,

freezing breath, and blizzard assault... b-be careful!"

After quickly adding that last phrase, I saw Kirito, who kept his

back towards me pretending to be cool, gave a thumbs-up with his left

fist. The space in front of him began to shake, and a huge shape

exploded outwards from the hole.

Various large, strangely-shaped polygons appeared in a

continuous stream. As those polygons appeared —— they began

connecting with one another and the identity of the huge shape grew

more evident. The shriek that made people quiver uncontrollably

resounded once again. Countless shards scattered outwards in every

direction before disappearing into the light rays.

A white dragon covered in scale-like shards of ice had appeared.

It slowly beat its gigantic wings while hovering in the skies. The

situation was frightening —— or it could be more appropriately

described as extremely beautiful. It stared with large, ruby-colored

eyes, casting a contemptuous look down upon the two of us.

Kirito calmly reached his hand towards his back and unsheathed

his jet-black one-handed sword with a perfect chime. Then, as if the

sound had sent off a signal, the white dragon opened his huge jaw ——

and with a hardened sound, sprayed out a wave of white gas.

"It's the breath! Get out of the way!"

Even though I screamed, Kirito didn't budge a single inch. He

stood perfectly still and thrusted upwards with the sword in his right

hand.

There was no way such a thin weapon could block a breath

attack——

As soon as I thought this, the sword began to spin like a windmill

centered in Kirito's hand. Based on the light green color of the effect, it

must be a sword skill. In just a second, the sword reached speeds

invisible to the human eye and looked like it had become a shield of

light.

The icy breath streamed directly towards the light shield while

emitting a dizzying white light, which forced me to avert my eyes. But,

when the cold air slammed into Kirito's sword-shield, it dispersed as if

it had evaporated.

I quickly focused on Kirito's body to confirm his HP.

Maybe it was impossible to completely block the breath, because

his life bar was slowly draining. But the shocking part was, the damage

taken was recovering within just a few seconds. This must be the really

high level battle skill «Battle Healing» —— but to raise this skill, one

must sustain enormous amount of battle damage. Considering the

current floors, that was impossible to do so without endangering

oneself.

Kirito —— just who is he...?

Only now did I begin to seriously wonder about the identity of

this black swordsman. His absurd power made him seem like a key

strategic player. But his name wasn't amongst the list of KoBdominated top guild players.

At this moment, Kirito, who accurately predicted the end of the

icy onslaught, made his move. He burst through the snowy mist and

leapt towards the dragon hovering in midair.

Normally, when fighting a flying enemy, one should first attack

with a halberd or some sort of throwing weapon; only after long-range

weapons knocked the enemy down to ground-level first did the shortranged weapon users join the fray. But shockingly, Kirito flew upwards

until he almost touched the white dragon's head, where he began to

initiate consecutive sword combination techniques in midair.

With a sharp ring, Kirito's onslaught pummeled the white

dragon's torso at a speed faster than the human eye could follow. Even

though the white dragon retaliated with both of its claws, the

difference in their capabilities was simply too much.

By the time Kirito slowly descended back down to the ground, the

white dragon's HP bar was already down by over a third.

——It was single-handed slaughter. Watching this unbelievable

battle made my spine shiver endlessly.

Suddenly the white dragon aimed at the grounded Kirito and

blasted its icy breath, but this time he sprinted to dodge the attack and

then leapt back up into the air. With a deep and heavy sound, a single

powerful attack struck the target, and the white dragon's health

dropped significantly.

The HP bar immediately changed from yellow to red, and the

battle should conclude with just one or two more attacks. I decided

that this time I would honestly praise Kirito's skill and took one step

out from behind the crystal pillar.

At that moment, as if he had eyes on the back of his head, Kirito

suddenly shouted:

"Idiot! Don't come out yet!"

"What? It's obviously about to finish right? Just hurry up and end

it..."

As I replied in a loud voice——

The dragon, flying even higher than before, fully expanded its

wings. As its wings beat forward, the snow directly below the dragon

went flying with a bang.

"...?"

As I stood frozen in shock by the scene before me. Kirito stabbed

his sword into the ground several meters in front of me and moved his

mouth like he wanted to tell me something, but his profile was

immediately blocked by the snow. A moment later an incredible

pressure, like a wall of wind, hit and easily blew me into the air.

Crap ... the blizzard attack!

As I tumbled across the air, I finally remembered what I myself

had just said about the white dragon's attacks. Thankfully, this skill

didn't have much attack power, so I took virtually no damage. I spread

open both my arms and took a posture for landing.

But as the snow dispersed —— there was no ground in the

clearing up ahead.

It was the gigantic hole atop the mountain peak. I had been blown

into the air directly overhead this huge pit.

My thoughts immediately stopped; my entire body completely

froze.

"You've got to be kidding me..."

With my mind completely paralyzed, I could only utter these

words, while my right hand reached towards the air in vain——

——A hand covered in only a black-leather glove suddenly

grasped my fingers.

My unfocused eyes suddenly sprang open.

...!

Kirito, who had been confronting the white dragon far away,

sprinted over here at a frightening speed and leapt into the air without

hesitation. He extended his right hand to grab onto mine and then

pulled me into his embrace. After that he loosened his right arm to

wrap around my back and hugged me tightly.

"Hold on tight!"

As I heard Kirito's voice reverberating beside my ear, I forgot

myself and tightly hugged his body with both of my arms. We began to

descend only an instant later.

In the center of the cave opening, the two of us fell straight down

while holding onto each other. The wind howled in our ears and our

coats flailed about wildly.

If this hole extended down to the surface of the floor, then falling

from this height meant certain death. This thought suddenly passed

through my mind, but I just didn't feel like this was actually happening

right now. All I could do was to keep staring dumbly at the

disappearing circle of white light.

Suddenly, Kirito's sword-wielding right arm began to move. He

raised the sword forcibly and then swung it forward. A flash of light

burst out, accompanied by the loud echoing 'clang' of metal striking

one another.

The strong counterforce changed our fall trajectory, pushing us

towards the cave walls. The blue icy walls gradually approached, and I

couldn't help but bite down my teeth. We were going to crash——!

Just as we were about to collide with the wall, Kirito raised the

sword in his right hand once again and stabbed it into the wall at full

power. Fiery sparks exploded outwards as if the weapon had struck a

whetstone. The sudden attack slowed our falling speed, but it was

unable to completely stop our descent.

The screeching sound of metallic cutting continued as Kirito's

sword kept on cutting the wall of ice. I turned my neck to look down

and noticed that we could already see the white snow-covered bottom

of the cave. I watched it come closer and closer, until there were only a

few seconds left before we crashed. I wanted to at least refrain from

screaming, so I bit down on my lip and tightly held onto Kirito.

Kirito let go of his sword, used both arms to hold me tightly, and

rotated his body so that he was on the bottom. Then——

An impact. A huge sound.

The snowflakes that were blasted into the air by the force of our

fall began to land lightly on my cheeks before melting away.

The cold sensation pulled back my scattered thoughts. I opened

my eyes, and my gaze met with that of Kirito's black pupils as he laid

extremely close to me.

Kirito was still hugging me tightly; he raised the corner of his

mouth and smiled weakly.

"...Still alive?"

I nodded back weakly and replied:

"Yeah, still alive."

For several dozen seconds —— or maybe several minutes, we

simply laid motionlessly in that position. The heat from Kirito's body

allowed my entire self to relax and my mind to go completely blank.

After a while, Kirito let go of my arm and slowly stood back up. He

first picked up the sword that fell nearby and returned it to his

inventory, and then pulled out from his waist pouch a bottle of what

was probably a high-class recovery potion, as well as another bottle for

me.

"Anyhow, just drink it."

"...Okay."

I nodded and sat up to receive the potion while checking my own

HP bar. I still had about one-third left, but Kirito, who had struck the

ground directly, was already in the red zone.

I pulled off the cork and gulped down the sweet liquid in one

breath, then turned towards Kirito. Remaining in my relaxed posture, I

began to move the lips that have such a hard time saying anything nice.

"Ummm ... th-thank you for saving me..."

Kirito weakly showed his usual sneer and replied:

"It's still too early to thank me."

He quickly glanced towards the sky.

"...Thank god the white dragon didn't chase us, but how are we

going to get out of here..."

"Eh ... can't we just teleport?"

I reached into my apron pocket and pulled out a sparkling blue

crystal to show Kirito. But——

"That probably won't work, since this is a trap made especially for

players, I doubt we'll be able to get out that easily."

"How could this be..."

Kirito hinted at me with his eyes to try it out, so I held the crystal

tightly and commanded:

"Teleport! Rindaasu!"

——My shout echoed emptily off the frozen walls before finally

disappearing. The crystal simply continued to sparkle silently.

Kirito squeezed my shoulders lightly without making any sound.

"If I thought we could use crystals, then I would have already

used it when we were falling. But because this place felt like it would

be an anti-crystal zone..."

"..."

I dropped my head in despair; Kirito put his hand on my head

with a 'pat' and tousled my hair.

"Alright alright, don't cry. If we can't use crystals, then there must

be another way out of here."

"...Maybe not, maybe this is an inescapable pit that guarantees

death ... or should I say, we're already dead!"

"Hmmm, maybe you're right."

Watching Kirito nod in agreement made me lose all the energy in

my body once again.

"What ... what kind of attitude is that! Can't you be a little more

positive?"

After I suddenly yelled, Kirito smiled and said:

"That angry expression is much more like you, keep it up!"

"Wha..."

My cheeks flushed red and my body froze in place. Kirito then

lifted his hand from my head and stood back up.

"Well, let's try some things out. Any ideas?"

"…"

I smiled bitterly at Kirito, who was clearly unaffected by the

situation we were in and kept up his usual attitude. Feeling a bit more

cheerful, I slapped my cheeks with both hands and stood up.

I surveyed my surroundings; the cave's bottom was a flat surface

of ice with a hint of snow. The diameter should be about 10 meters just

like the cave's opening. The icy walls near the top continued to reflect

rays of light from the setting sun, but this place would soon be

completely engulfed by darkness.

I looked around, but there was no visible way out on either the

walls or the floor. I put both my hands on my waist, ran my brain at full

capacity, and told Kirito the first idea that came to mind.

"Mm… can we ask for help from someone?"

Kirito denied it instantly:

"Uh–— I'm guessing this place is considered a dungeon."

Players registered as 'friends,' such as Asuna in my case, can

communicate through a type of mail called 'private message.' However,

that function cannot be used within a dungeon, nor could the 'trace

system' be used to locate them.

I opened the message window in blind hope, but as Kirito said, it

was unavailable.

"Well… how about we shout at other players who come to hunt

the dragon?"

"I think we are about 80 meters away from the apex, so my guess

is that our voices won't reach that far."

"I guess so… Wait! Now you come up with an idea!"

When I retorted at Kirito, upset at him for constantly putting

down my ideas, he replied with something preposterous:

"Run up along the wall."

"...Are you an idiot?"

"Well, let's find out."

While I stared at him with a dumbstruck expression, Kirito

walked up to one side of the cave and started dashing toward the walls

on the opposite side with unnatural speed. The snow blew off the floor

and a gale of wind smashed into my face. Just as he was about to hit the

wall, Kirito crouched and leaped upwards with explosive force. He

stepped on the walls at an unbelievable height and then started

running diagonally along the wall.

"Oh my god…"

As I watched in awe, Kirito was already far above me and running

upwards in a spiral along the walls like one of those ninjas from a

third-rate movie. His silhouette got smaller and smaller——

Then, as he was a third of the way up, he suddenly slipped.

"Ahhhhhhhh!!!"

Kirito floundered about as he fell towards my head.

"Kyaaaaa!!!"

As I backed off screaming, a human-shaped hole appeared right

where I was standing. A minute later, after Kirito finished his second

health potion, I sat down next to him and sighed.

"I kept thinking you were an idiot, but I never even considered

that you were this stupid…"

"I would have succeeded if the initial approach was longer."

"Not a chance."

I blurted out softly.

Kirito ignored my words and returned the empty potion bottle to

his pouch. After stretching his arms, he said:

"Well, it's getting too dark, so let's just camp here. Fortunately, I

don't think any monsters spawn in this hole."

The sun had already set, and the bottom of the hole was getting

quite dark.

"I guess so…"

"Well then…"

Kirito opened a window and materialized several things. A camp

stove, a pot, several small sacks that I couldn't tell what they were for,

and two mugs came out.

"…You always carry these around?"

"I tend to camp out in the fields quite often."

He said it with such a serious expression that I don't think he was

joking.

He clicked on the stove; it lit with a fwoosh and illuminated the

place with a soft orange glow. Kirito put a pot over the stove, then

tossed in a few chunks of snow before pouring in the contents of those

small sacks. He closed the pot with a lid and doubled clicked it; a timer

window for cooking then popped up.

Soon I began to smell a herbal aroma. Now that I thought about it,

I hadn't eaten anything since that hot dog in the morning. My stomach

suddenly demanded food loudly as if it just remembered that it was

starving.

The cooking timer disappeared with a 'pin pon,' and then Kirito

split the contents of the pot into two mugs.

"Don't expect too much, my cooking proficiency is zero."

"Thank you…"

The warmth transferred to my hands through the mug that Kirito

handed to me. It was a simple soup of dried meat and herbs, but the

ingredients' item levels seemed to be high and it was more than

delicious. The heat also spread throughout my cold body.

"What a mysterious feeling this is… I don't feel like this is real."

I mumbled as I drank the soup.

"I mean this situation, camping in an unexplored area and having

a meal with a stranger…"

"Ah, I guess so… since you are an artisan. I make pick-up groups

with random players and camp with them quite often."

"Hmm, really? …tell me some more, about the dungeons and

everything."

"Huh? Mm…okay. I don't think it's that interesting though… oh

wait, before I start..."

Kirito collected the empty mugs and pot, and returned them to his

inventory. He opened the panel again and materialized what looked

like two rolled up chunks of cloth.

After he unfolded them, they revealed themselves to be sleeping

bags. They looked similar to their real world equivalents, only

significantly larger.

"These are high-end items. Perfect heat preservation, plus a

hiding effect against aggressive monsters."

He tossed me one as he smiled. When I laid it on the snow, it

looked like it could fit three people of my size. Dumbfounded by the

size of it, I spoke to Kirito:

"It's remarkable that you bring these things everywhere, and

especially two of them..."

"Well, I should utilize my inventory space for something."

Kirito quickly unequipped himself and laid down in the sleeping

bag on the left. I also unequipped my cloak and mace, and rolled into

the sleeping bag. It was a high-end item all right; the inside was very

warm, and a lot fluffier than it looked. We were a meter apart with the

stove in between us. But I was still feeling a little… embarrassed, so I

spoke again to get rid of the silence:

"Mm… yeah, go on with the story…"

"Oh, sure…"

Kirito slowly started talking after he laid his head on his hands.

He told me about the time when he got trapped by MPK —– criminals

who purposely gathered mobs to ambush other players —— in a

dungeon, and fought a boss mob with low damage but an obscene

amount of health for two full days by taking turns to sleep with other

players. There was also the time he rolled dice with 100 other players

for a rare item. All of his stories were thrilling, delightful, and

somewhat humorous. His stories also made one thing obvious—– he

was one of the Clearers, those who risk their lives on the frontline. But

that also meant this person was burdened with the fates of thousands

of players. He wasn't the type of person who should risk his life just to

save me.

I turned toward Kirito and looked at his face. His black eyes were

reflecting the light from the stove.

"Hey… Kirito, can I ask you something…?"

"——Why so serious all of a sudden?"

"Why did you save me at that moment…? There was no guarantee

that you would have succeeded. Well, it was more likely that you were

just going to die with me, so… why...?"

Kirito's expression hardened for a second, but he immediately

relaxed to his usual face and responded with a calm voice:

"…I would rather die alongside them than watch someone else die

without doing anything. Especially if that someone is a girl like you, Liz."

"…You really are an idiot. You are probably the only one who

would say such a thing."

Although I retorted sarcastically, my eyes couldn't help but weep.

A part of my heart ached, and I tried my hardest to control and hide it. I

haven't heard such stubborn, upright, and warm words since I came to

this world. No, I haven't heard such words even before in the real

world.

The painful feelings of loneliness and wanting to interact with

others more that had been buried deep within a corner of my heart

suddenly flared and engulfed me like a tempest. I wanted Kirito's

warmth close enough for my heart to feel——

Without realizing it, the words spilled forth from my mouth:

"Would you… hold my hand?"

I turned towards Kirito, pulled my right arm out of the sleeping

bag, and reached towards my left.

Kirito's eyes widened slightly, but he answered 'yes' in a small

voice and held out his left hand. When our fingers touched, we both

jerked our hands away for a second, but then reached in again to grasp

our hands together.

I held onto Kirito's hand tightly, which was a lot warmer than the

soup that I just ate. Although the back of my hand was still laying on

the ice, I didn't feel any coldness. I felt human warmth. I felt like I had

finally figured out what the longing was that had settled in a corner of

my heart ever since I came to this world.

Because I was afraid of becoming aware of the fact that this world

was an illusion —— that my real body was somewhere far away,

unreachable no matter how hard I tried, I continued to set goals for

myself and focused everything on my job. I convinced myself that

leveling up my blacksmithing skills and expanding my store was my

reality.

But some part of me always knew that this was all a fake, nothing

more than simple data. What I starved for was true human warmth.

Of course, Kirito's body was also data. The warmth that I feel now

were just electric signals for my brain to react to. But I finally realized

that it didn't matter. I could feel his heart —– whether in the real world

or in this simulated world, this was the only truth.

As I held Kirito's hand firmly, I smiled and closed my eyes.

Although my heart was beating faster than ever, sleep came to me

regrettably quick and dragged my consciousness into the pleasant

darkness.