Selmburg was a beautiful castle town on the sixty-first floor. The city itself wasn't particularly large. An old castle with fragile minarets loomed over the center of town, but the buildings were painstakingly built of chalk-white granite with copious greenery placed to great effect. The selection of shops was rich as well. Many players coveted the chance to live in Selmburg, but the cost was exorbitant—at least three times that of Algade. Residence was a pipe dream for all but the highest-level players. It was well past sunset when we arrived through the teleport gate, the last remaining traces of sunlight reflecting purple on the town. Most of the sixty-first floor consisted of lakes, and Selmburg itself sat on a small island surrounded by water. The view of the sun shining through the outer aperture of Aincrad and reflecting off the lake was worthy of a painting, at least. The sparkling scenery of dark blue and red set atop that massive lake was so breathtaking, I couldn't help but be bewitched. The only thing that could take away from the sight was the knowledge that it was just child's play to the NerveGear's diamond-semiconductor CPU. Selmburg's teleport gate was located in the square before the old castle. The town's main street stretched south, lined with leafy trees. Shops and homes both quaint and elegant stood along the boulevard, and the NPCs and players who walked the city seemed to carry themselves with more class than elsewhere. Even the air seemed to taste different than in Algade; I couldn't help but stretch my arms and inhale deeply. "It's so big and spacious here. Feels liberating." "You should move, then." "Don't have nearly enough money," I mumbled, shoulders slumped. I gathered myself and cast her a concerned look. "Seriously, are you sure this won't cause trouble with your folks?" "…" Asuna seemed to catch my meaning and turned around, hanging her head and kicking the heel of her boot on the ground. "It's true that I've had some unpleasant encounters while alone, but my own personal guard? It's too much. I keep telling them I don't want this, but it's guild protocol, the chief of staff tells me…" She continued in a downcast mutter. "In the past, we were just a small guild. The commander picked every member himself. But we just keep taking on more members, and people come and go…Things started to get crazy when they began calling us the most powerful guild here." She stopped talking and twisted her torso around. Something in her eyes seemed to plead for help, and the breath caught in my throat. I have to say something , I thought, but as a solo who did everything out of self-interest, what could I say? Several seconds of silence passed. Asuna broke the eye contact first. She looked at the deep blue of the lake and piped up in a much higher pitch, sounding eager to change the mood. "But it's not that big a deal! Better hurry before it gets dark." I started walking after her through the town. We passed no small number of players, but none of them stopped to stare at Asuna's face. I spent a few days in Selmburg about a half year back, when it represented the frontier of our advancement through the game, but I couldn't remember ever stopping to take in the sights. Gazing at the exquisite sculptures on display, I felt a momentary desire to live here permanently, but then thought better of it, deciding it was better suited to the occasional holiday trip. Asuna's residence was on the third floor of an attractive little maisonette, immediately to the east of the main street. It was my first visit, of course. Thinking back on it, the most I'd ever interacted with Asuna before was at boss strategy meetings. I'd never even stopped at an NPC-run restaurant with her. I couldn't help but hesitate at the entrance of the building. "So, uh…are you sure this is okay with you?" "It was your idea, wasn't it? Besides, there's nowhere else to do the cooking." She turned her head with a huff and trotted up the stairs. I steeled my willpower and followed her. "W-well, pardon the intrusion." I stopped stock-still when I passed through the door, my mouth agape. I'd never seen such a neat and orderly player home. The spacious living room and adjacent kitchen were filled with lightly colored wooden furniture, and accents of moss-green cloth tied together the visual style. It was all likely custom-made of the highest quality by other players. Despite the emphasis on looks, there was no ostentatious decoration, which made the whole place seem inviting and comfortable. It was a stark contrast to the lair I called a home. I was glad I'd chosen not to invite her there. "H-how much did all of this cost?" I asked bluntly. "Hmm, about four M for the room and furnishings together, I think? Sit wherever you like; I'm just going to change." She disappeared through the door on the other side of the living room. The letter M was shorthand for million, just like K for thousand. I spent my days adventuring on the front line, so I'd probably earned that much in total during my time in SAO , but with my penchant for spending money on whatever swords and equipment caught my eye, there was no way I'd save up a lump sum like that. Indulging in a rare moment of self-reflection, I sank into a soft couch. Eventually, Asuna emerged from the back room wearing a simple white tunic and skirt that stopped above the knee. Changing clothes in the game didn't involve actually removing or putting on anything—it was as simple as dragging items onto the character mannequin in the equipment screen. But because there were a few seconds during the shift in which a player was temporarily reduced to his or her underwear, female players made certain not to change in public, though the men didn't seem to mind doing it. Our bodies were just 3-D models made of ones and zeros, but when you'd lived in this world for two years, you tended to take things at face value. My eyes naturally traveled to the newly exposed skin on Asuna's limbs. Unaware of my inner conflict, she shot back a look at me. "How long are you going to wear that gear?" I hastily brought up the menu and removed my leather coat and scabbard. I switched to my item window and materialized the Ragout Rabbit meat into a ceramic pot, placing it on the table. Asuna picked up the container and peered into it with a reverent expression. "So this is what an S-rank ingredient looks like! What dish are we having, then?" "Um, I'll have the chef's choice." "Okay…how about a stew? They don't call it a 'Ragout' Rabbit for nothing." I followed Asuna into the other room. The kitchen was on this fact. What I felt in that moment, all that mattered, was that I was eating the greatest meal I'd had in the two years since I first logged in to the game. We didn't share a word, silently shoveling spoonfuls of the stew into our mouths. Finally, after we had literally cleaned every last trace of stew from our plates and the cooking pot, Asuna let out a contented sigh. "Ahhh…I'm glad to still be alive…" I had to agree. I sat back, sipping a strangely scented tea, reveling in the fulfillment of a primal urge satisfied to completion. Were the meat and tea programmed to resemble some real-life ingredients, or were those flavors just the fictional product of a number of finely tuned parameters? After several minutes of silent contentment, Asuna began to speak, a mug of tea cupped in her hands. "It's so strange…It feels like I was born here. Like I've always lived in this world." "There are days that I don't even remember about my life over there. And I'm not the only one. You don't see as many players desperate to beat the game and escape these days." "The rate of our conquest is slowing down. There aren't even five hundred players fighting at the front line at this point. It's not just the danger…we're all getting used to this life…" I gazed at her beautiful, pensive face, lit by the warm orange light of the lamp. It wasn't the face of a living, breathing human being. The skin was too smooth, the hair too lustrous to be real. But it didn't even look like a polygonal model to me at this point. It was easy to accept her as a living being inhabiting this space. In fact, if I went back to the real world now, I would probably find true reality off-putting. Do I even really want to go back? I was startled by the thought. Were all the early mornings, dungeon adventures, mapping expeditions, and level-ups really for the purpose of escaping the game? It must have been that way once. The game was deadly, and I wanted out. But now that I'd gotten used to life within SAO … "I still want to go back," Asuna said clearly, as though to drown out my indecision. I raised my head with a start. She flashed me a rare grin and continued. "There are so many things left to do back there." I had to nod in agreement. "Good point. And it's not fair to the crafters working for our benefit if we don't give it our best…" I tilted my cup and took a deep swig, trying to swallow my hesitation. The top floor was a long ways off. I could think about this when the time came. Feeling bold, I gazed at Asuna as I tried to formulate the right words to properly thank her. Instead, she grimaced and started waving a hand in front of her face. "Wh-whoa…stop." "Huh? What?" "I've gotten too many marriage proposals from players giving me that look." "Wha…" Despite my mastery of battle skills, I had far less experience when it came to delicate matters like this. My mouth opened and closed repeatedly with no sound. I must have looked like an idiot. Asuna smiled. "Let me guess—you're not that close to anyone else, either." "Well, sorry for being a solo player." "You're in an MMORPG—making friends is the point." Her smile disappeared, and she asked me a question in the tone of an older sister or teacher. "Have you ever thought about joining a guild?" "Huh…?" "I know you beta testers don't like to work in groups." Her expression grew even more serious. "But it feels like the monster activity patterns have been increasingly irregular since we hit the seventieth floor." I'd noticed that, too. It wasn't clear if the drop in CPU predictability was planned from the start or the result of the system itself learning. If it was the latter, we'd have our work cut out for us. "And playing solo leaves you much less capable of handling unexpected situations. You can't always make an emergency escape. You're much, much safer forming a party." "I'm always cautious enough to leave myself a safety margin. Thanks for the warning…but guilds just aren't my thing. Besides…" My mind screamed at me to stop, but my mouth barreled onward. "Party members usually end up being more of a hindrance than a help for me." "Oh?" A silver flash of light passed before my eyes. It was Asuna's knife, held motionless at the end of my nose. This was a basic rapier skill called Linear. Basic, but scaled in effectiveness based on one's agility stat. She'd moved so fast, I hadn't even seen the skill's telltale movement trail. With a grin frozen on my face, I assumed the hands-up position of surrender. "Fine, fine…you're an exception." "Good." She pulled back the knife, unamused. As she twirled the blade around her fingers, her next words were completely unexpected. "In that case, I want you to partner up with me. Being in charge of arranging boss raid parties, I've always wanted to see if you're as good as they say. Plus, I want to show you just how tough I really am. And lastly, black is my lucky color this week." "What's that supposed to mean?!" Shocked by the absurdity of her demand, I weakly grasped for some kind of counterargument. "B-besides, what about your guild?" "We don't have a leveling quota to meet." "Y-your personal guards, then?" "I'll leave them behind." I raised the teacup to my lips in a bid to buy time, then realized that it was empty. Gloating, Asuna snatched it from my hands and served more of the steaming liquid. To be honest, the invitation was tempting. Who wouldn't want to team up with the most beautiful woman in Aincrad? But the more enticing the offer, the more my hesitation and suspicion grew. Why would she want to be with me? Perhaps she felt pity for a gloomy, introverted solo player. Stuck in a negative thought process, I uttered the words that sealed my fate. "The frontier's dangerous, you know." The knife in her hand rose again, and when I saw an even stronger glow envelop the blade, I hurriedly nodded. Even among the "clearers," as those who fought on the front line to advance the game's progress were known, I was hardly notable. Hesitantly, I pushed on. "F-fine, fine…I'll see you at the seventy-fourth-floor gate tomorrow at nine o'clock." Asuna lowered her hand and chuckled confidently. I wasn't sure how long etiquette dictated it was acceptable to stay in a single woman's apartment, so I hastily pardoned myself once we finished eating. Asuna escorted me down the stairs of the building and inclined her head slightly. "Anyway…I should thank you for the food." "Me, too. We should do this again sometime…though I doubt I'll ever get that particular ingredient again." "Oh, even normal ingredients will work. You just need the skill to do it." She turned her head to look upward. The sky was dark with night, but there were no stars to be seen. The only object overhead was the giant gloomy lid of rock and metal, several hundred feet above. "I wonder if what we're in right now really is the world Kayaba wanted to create," I muttered, looking up as well. There was no answer to this query, of course. Kayaba must be taking refuge somewhere, observing his creation. What was he feeling now? We had passed through the initial period of blood and chaos, reaching the current stasis of relative peace and order. Did this satisfy or disappoint Kayaba? I had no idea. Asuna silently took a step closer. I felt a faint glow of warmth on my arm. Was that an illusion or a subtle temperature simulation? The game of death began on November 6, 2022. It was now late October 2024. Almost two years later, there was still no sign of rescue, no messages from outside. All we could do was survive day by day, getting closer to the top, one step at a time. It was the end of another day in Aincrad. Where we were going and what waited for us at the end of the game were still a mystery. The road ahead was long and arduous, and the light at the end was faint. But even then, it wasn't worth giving up. I stared up at the metal lid, letting my mind wander through the unknown worlds left to conquer.
