Sword Art Online

Chapter 6

Selmburg was a beautiful castle-city on the 61st floor.

It isn't all that big. But the city, with a castle which has serene spires at its center, was delicately built from white granite and contrasted spectacularly with the overflowing green foliage. There were quite a few shops in the market so a lot of players wanted to use this place as their home city. But since the houses were crazily expensive —they must be at least three times the price of Algade— it's almost impossible to buy one unless you were at a high level.

When Asuna and I arrived at the teleport gate in Selmburg, the sun had almost set, and the final rays of light lit the streets a dark purple.

Most of the 61st floor was taken up by a lake, and Selmburg was located on an island in the middle of it, so one could see the setting sun reflected on it like a picture on a canvas.

I gazed at the city in awe, my breath taken away by its beauty as it shined blue and red with the vast lake behind it. Not that it would be that hard for the NerveGear to create lighting effects like this with CPUs of the new generation and their diamond semiconductors.

The teleport gate was placed in the plaza in front of the castle and the main street, which headed north going through the city and was lined by street lamps. The stores and houses stood orderly on either side of the street, and even the NPCs that were walking around looked well-dressed somehow. I spread my arms and breathed deeply, as even the taste of the air differed from Algade.

“Hmmm. It's large and has few people. I like how it feels so spacious.”

“Then why don't you move?”

“I don't have anywhere near enough money,” I answered with a shrug before fixing my expression and asking hesitatingly.

“...More importantly, is it really okay? Back there...”

“...”

As if she realized what I was trying to say, Asuna twirled around with her head bowed down and tapped the floor with the tip of her boot.

“...It's true that some bad things happened a couple of times when I was alone. But assigning bodyguards to me is going a bit too far, right? I said I didn't need them, but... the members said that it's guild policy.”

She continued in a subdued voice.

“In the past, the guild was small with the leader inviting people individually by talking with them. But as the number of members grew, it started changing... Then when it began to be called the greatest guild or so, something became a bit strange.”

She stopped talking and turned around slightly. Something in her eyes seemed like she wanted to rely on me, and I subconsciously stopped breathing.

I had to say something. I thought that, but what could a selfish solo player like me say? I simply watched in silence for a few seconds.

Asuna turned her gaze first. She watched the lake, bathed in soft light, and said, as if to get rid of the awkwardness,

“Well, it's not a big deal, so you don't have to worry! If we don't go quickly, the sun is going to set.”

Asuna set off first, and I followed suit. We passed by quite a lot of players, but none of them stared at her.

I only stayed here for a couple of days when the front line had been here, so I never really looked around properly.

As I looked at the delicate carvings that adorned the city, the thought that living in a city like this for a while wouldn't be too bad came unbidden to my mind. But then I changed my mind and decided that it would be better if I only came here once in a while to sight-see.

The house where Asuna lived was a small but pretty three-floored maisonette which you could get to by walking eastward from the downtown area for a few minutes. It was, of course, the first time that I had come here. Now that I thought about it, I'd only talked to this girl during boss fight conferences; and we'd never even been to an NPC restaurant together before. As I became conscious of this, I stopped in front of the doorway, suddenly tense, and asked.

“Is it... alright? Y'know...”

“What? It's something I suggested first, and there wasn't anywhere that was fit for cooking so we don't have a choice!”

Asuna turned her head and bounced up the stairs. I steeled my resolve and followed her.

“E-Excuse me.”

I hesitantly opened the door then stood there, speechless.

I'd never seen a home so well-ordered before. The wide living/dining room and the kitchen adjacent to it had furniture made out of light-colored wood and was decorated with moss green cloth. They were all most probably the highest-quality player-made items.

But it wasn't overly decorated either, nor did it make you feel uncomfortable. It was totally different from my house. I felt overwhelmingly relieved that I hadn't invited her to my house.

“Erm...how much did this cost...?”

At my materialistic question.

“Hmm-, with the house and the furniture, about 4000k? I'm going to change so just sit anywhere you want.”

She answered lightly and disappeared through a doorway. “K” is short for thousand. 4000k meant four million Cor. I practically lived on the front lines, so I could save up that much if I tried. But I always wasted it on either some strange item or a sword that caught my eye, so I never saved up. I chastised myself, which was out of character, and sank into the spongy sofa.

Asuna appeared after a short while, fully changed into a simple white tunic and a knee-length skirt. Well, I say changed but there's no actual taking off and putting on involved. All you have to do is fiddle with the figure in the stats window. But there were a few seconds when the player was only dressed in their underwear. So unless they were a very bold male player, most players, especially girls, did not change in front of others. Our bodies may be nothing more than just a bunch of data rendered into 3D, but that sort of thinking got hazy after two years, and right now my eyes went to Asuna's bare arms and legs without any remorse.