A journey to another world starting from a sword

"So that means... the empty tent could be...?" Forgetting her complicated feelings just now, Asuna, with her pupils dilated, seemed to have suddenly realized something and immediately stared into Dante's black eyes.

“Yes.” Dante knew what Asuna was thinking, so he confirmed that the tent that could be used was vacated by Kismer, who was originally supposed to be sacrificed, but now the elf is still alive and well.

"Okay. I need to find the quartermaster now. You can come find me anytime if you need anything. The rest is up to you." Kizmel waited a long time for a reply, then went to do her own thing, behaving like a meticulous soldier.

After saying that, she lifted the heavy woven curtain, leaving Asuna and Dante staring at each other in bewilderment.

The tent wasn't small; it could easily accommodate a full squad, making Dante want to buy one for camping in the wild. However, considering the unsafe conditions outside the safe zone, it remained just a thought.

Even the tent where Kizmel was temporarily staying was decorated in a way that was both understated and luxurious. For example, the carpet under their feet was made of soft fur, and there was no problem lying down on it to sleep.

There were some pieces of furniture and decorations around the tent, and a strangely shaped stove in front of the central pillar was slowly emitting an orange glow, which completely dispelled the chill of December.

"Don't worry, I don't plan to sleep here." Dante reassured Asuna, who was silent, and said he would just find a place to meditate instead of sleep.

"I didn't stop you from sleeping here!" Asuna's soft mutterings could be clearly heard in the soundproof tent.

"Don't we need to draw border lines?" Dante chuckled, making a small joke.

"I'm not a child anymore!!!" Asuna's face turned red with anger, and she turned her head to the side as if throwing a tantrum.

"Hmm?" Dante received a message from Mitt, who had already taken Silica to receive the mission to form a guild.

After telling Asuna about this, she came closer, so Dante opened the window and showed her Mito's information.

"Are they alright?" Asuna asked, sounding worried.

“It’s alright. Mitt knows how to avoid risks. If there were any real danger, she wouldn’t have brought Silica along. Also, we need to send the situation here over.”

"Then I'll do it." Asuna put her hand to her chest and accepted the task.

"Okay." But having nothing else to do, Dante decided to take a stroll around the camp. After asking the girl who was engrossed in typing for permission, Asuna waved her hand, and Dante walked out of the tent.

The camp is divided into several sections. They are in the soldiers' living area, with the commander's tent in the center. If you walk straight along the road, you will see a small commercial area.

It consists of four tents, with small flags hanging from the front to the back for a prop shop, a tailor shop, a leather craft shop, and a blacksmith shop, respectively.

The sound of hammers coming from the blacksmith's shop sounded as regular as drumbeats, yet the sound was very crisp.

I asked the tailor shop owner about the items they sold, and every single one of them was a rare item that you absolutely couldn't buy in any human town shop, and the prices were quite attractive.

Although Dante has the urge to buy new equipment and upgrade it to its maximum level, which would definitely be better than most of the equipment he's currently wearing, replacing everything would require him to go through the trouble of collecting materials again.

So he only planned to buy a piece of equipment called "Dark Elf Sergeant Pants" to replace his "Knight Pants".

These "Knight Pants" were a free gift from Ashura when she made the "Wild Silver Wolf" armor, saying that they would look better together, and she also named the equipment.

However, it wasn't made from any rare materials. In terms of attributes, it's considered a high-quality item in the first tier, but it's somewhat outdated by the third tier.

After clicking to purchase, the tailor shop owner smiled and said, "Thank you for your patronage."

When passing by the blacksmith shop, Dante paused for a moment. The sword on his back was dropped by the Wilderness Boss and could still be used for a while. Asuna's sword, however, needed to be replaced. Even Silica's short sword had been replaced with the rare weapon "Paralysis Short Sword" dropped by the Minotaur in the second layer of the dungeon.

Further in, you'll find yourself behind the command tent.

The meadow was a dreamy blue under the moonlight, and there seemed to be three graves under a small tree.

Approaching quietly, on the leftmost grave, Dante saw the name "Tirnier" on a simple yet beautiful tombstone carved from wood.

He squatted down, looking at the delicate hand-carved characters on it, wanting to reach out and touch them, but suddenly heard Kizmel's voice.

“That was my twin sister, who died in the first battle when she came down to this floor last month.”

"Is that so..." Dante withdrew his hand that was about to touch her, silently stood up, and turned to look at Kizmel who was walking towards him.

Kizmel was still wearing the armor he wore in battle. As he approached, his tense expression relaxed slightly. "I saw you walk here from the blacksmith's shop..."

"Is this a place where we are not allowed to enter?" Dante asked.

“No.” Kizmel shook his head. “It’s just that I’m usually the only one who comes here.”

As she spoke, she knelt down and affectionately stroked the still quite new white wood surface.

"Tirneel, your sister... is she also a knight?" As if sensing the heavy sorrow in Kizmel's heart, Dante found an excuse to ask.

“No, sister… she’s a pharmacist. Her job is simply to treat patients wounded on the battlefield; she’s never even handled a weapon bigger than a knife.”

With a gentle smile on his face, Kizmel suddenly lowered his eyes and spoke as if in a murmur.

"That day, her rear-guard unit was ambushed by the falconers of the forest elves..."

She didn't continue, but Dante already understood what she meant: Kizmel's sister, Tirnil, had died that very day.

The elven woman in front of me took a leather bag containing an unknown liquid from her waist, untied it, and took a big gulp.

Dante watched as she handed him the bag, thanked her, took the bag, and tilted the leather bag slightly to his lips, letting the thick yet silky liquid flow into his mouth.

It has a slightly sweet and sour taste, but after drinking it, you immediately feel a refreshing burn in your throat from the strong alcohol. You won't really get drunk in Aincrad, but you still get the taste you'd expect from an alcoholic beverage.

After returning the leather bag, Kizmel stretched out his right hand and poured all the remaining wine inside onto "Tirnel's" tombstone, staining the white wood dark.

"This is my sister's favorite red wine, made with moon tears. I secretly brought it from the city to surprise her, but... in the end, she didn't even get a sip."

Her body trembled slightly, as if chilled by the cold wind, and the empty leather bag slipped from her right hand, making a soft sound on the grass.

Kizmel slowly sat down on the soft grass, raised both knees together, and then hugged them tightly with her arms.

"When I volunteered for the mission to retrieve the key yesterday, I was actually prepared to die. No... I should say I hoped to lose my life."

Her voice was low and choked with sobs, like a heartbroken little bird, its mournful cry lingering and sorrowful.

"However, at most I can only perish together with that forest elf, otherwise I will be defeated by him. When I was in dire straits, you miraculously came to my side."

After speaking in a low voice, Kizmel glanced at Dante, her obsidian eyes misting over with a thin layer of water. Her eyes trembled slightly, and tears welled up in her eyes the next second, swirling there with resentment. She tried to control herself, but the sorrow in her eyes left an indelible mark.

There are many things in SAO that cannot be explained by common sense. For example, the sad elf sister in front of us should be a game NPC, but the emotions she is showing at this moment are as delicate as those of a real person.

Dante knelt down on one knee and held Kizmel's head in his arms. "Then continue to live well. Your sister certainly doesn't want you to sacrifice yourself so easily, and you're the only one in this world who still cares about her."

Tears streamed down her face, as delicate as flower petals. Dante heard the faint, hoarse sobs of Kizmel in his arms, as if she were being held tightly by the palm of sorrow, unable to breathe freely.

"Well... I am now incredibly grateful to God for letting me live."

Gods... There are no gods in this world now, Kizil.

As they left the cemetery, Kizmel walked in front, with Dante following behind, still feeling a bit shaken.

I was a little carried away just now, but what if I trigger the sexual harassment prevention rules?

With this dilemma in mind, Dante and Kizmel encountered Asuna, who had come looking for them.

"You go..."

Before Asuna could trigger the landmine, Dante interrupted, "How about we go to the shop? There's a blacksmith there who looks pretty good."

"Really?" Asuna asked with a delighted expression.

“Hmm. That’s right! Let Kizmel take us to see it,” Dante suggested.

As if he had composed himself, Kizmel placed his palm on the bulging breastplate and performed the chivalrous salute as usual.

"I am glad to."

Chapter 80: Kares O's Glory

"Hmm, we need to replace and upgrade the equipment first."

Dante chuckled with satisfaction when he heard Asuna's comment about her excellent gaming sense.

"What?" Asuna glared at him reproachfully.

"No, we really need to be prepared. Who knows what kind of monsters we'll encounter later."

Or perhaps it's a player...

"Then I'll have to ask you for advice on equipment." Asuna put her hands behind her back to accentuate her figure. To be honest, she was already quite well-endowed despite being a JC (Junior High School Student). According to Dante's memories, she could definitely look forward to the future.

"Oh."

"Hey, what do you think of these specs?"

When they actually started browsing the shops, Dante underestimated Asuna's interest in selecting equipment. He had gone straight to the equipment he wanted to buy based on his actual needs, but Asuna didn't miss any item, carefully selecting from both practicality and appearance.

Kizmel stood quietly watching the two of them. When Asuna needed to refer to the appearance, she would ask for her opinion. Of course... Kizmel's comments were not as good as Dante's. If she were a man, she would be completely clueless about romance.

However, she could still tell the origins of some of the equipment and the story of the shop owner, which was quite interesting.

When she saw Dante and Asuna opening the game menu, she interpreted it as one of the few spells still in use by humans who had almost lost all magic, the "Illusion Book Technique." This was probably a setting by the SAO developers to explain the rationality of player behavior to intelligent NPCs.

"Pretty good." Dante commented, looking at the belt Asuna was pointing to. It not only increases maximum HP but also provides some poison resistance.

"Try it on and see how it looks?" To be honest, Dante was quite enjoying it. He would laugh at anything that didn't look good, and admire the ones that did look good.

One of the dark elf outfits was quite revealing, failing to cover the entire chest and revealing a bit of the side breast. Unfortunately, this outfit, which looked very sexy on Asuna, was rejected.

Is this outfit really too early for Asuna right now?

Dante, who uttered those words, was punched hard by Asuna, and his ribs were still throbbing.

"..." Asuna pouted, but still clicked the try-on button for the belt.

Fortunately, it's a normal belt. The increased parameters are slightly worse than the "Amazon Belt" that Asuna is currently wearing, but better than those of Mito and Silica.

"I didn't expect they sell cloaks here." Asuna spotted an item called "Night Watcher's Cloak" at a glance.

"As for cloaks, Ashurai should be able to make them too, there's no need to buy them here." To be honest, cloaks made of non-special materials don't have particularly good stats.

"There's no need to trouble Miss Ashura with such a small matter, is there?" Asuna said, somewhat embarrassed.

“Our relationship with Ashura is mutually beneficial,” Dante shrugged. “When I gave Ashura the large amount of wool and cotton materials we had accumulated on the second floor, she said she would give us some good finished products later. Of course, we can’t let her give them away for free.”

After all, Ashura also needs to practice his skills, and selling the clothes he makes directly to NPC shops doesn't make much money.

“Well…” Asuna glanced down at her cloak, “I’ll ask Miss Ashura later.”

Dante smiled at Asuna's slight hesitation, saying, "When we enter the Queen Spider's cave later, we can collect materials like silk threads, right?"

Some spiders can spin resilient and soft silk, just like silkworms, and can even be used to make clothes.

Hearing him say that, Asuna relaxed. She also took a fancy to a metal breastplate, but it was purple, a color commonly used by dark elves, and it didn't suit Asuna very well.

"But the performance is quite good, isn't it?" She thought for a moment, "Let's put it on the filing list first."

"Hmm... the specs for this wristband are pretty good too."

Asuna seems to value the practicality of equipment more than its appearance.

In the end, she bought a metal breastplate, a pair of leather wrist guards, a belt, and two boots with unlined linings.

The wrist guards and boots are for Silica, and the breastplate and belt are for Mit.

Further along, they arrived at the blacksmith's shop. Asuna asked Kismer about the blacksmith's skills, as he was able to run a shop in the camp.

"Hmm..." Kizmel's expression was a complex mix of wry smile and admiration.

"The blacksmith's skills are excellent, but he has a rather capricious personality. Occasionally, he can forge some truly outstanding weapons, but for impolite guests, he will only forge weapons that are not sharp at all."

Okay, at least we don't need to worry too much about skill proficiency.

When Dante and Asuna left the blacksmith shop with Kizmel, Asuna had already changed the sword at her waist.

Following Dante's suggestion, Asuna, though somewhat regretful, decided to melt the Windflower Sword into an ingot and then combine the rare materials she had collected to forge a new sword, named "Winter's Arrival." It is a terrifying yet beautiful blue rapier that can be upgraded to +16 and is basically usable for clearing five or six more floors.

She cherishes the items she has used, so she wants to take the sword's soul with her in this way, and she will probably continue to use it to make weapons in the future.

Dante, on the other hand, wanted to preserve all the swords he had used, and later, after buying a guild headquarters or residence, he would display them as decorations.

Furthermore, since the NPC blacksmiths here have a fairly high skill level, they took this opportunity to enhance their weapons to different degrees. For this reason, Dante specially brought out the LA reward from the second floor boss battle when he defeated Colonel Bull Natto. Ten metal plates can increase the success rate of enhancing weapons that are not yet +10 to the maximum value, and you can also freely choose the metal plates for enhancing performance.

After upgrading her "Bear Slayer" sword from +8 to +9, the sword finally reached its maximum enhancement level. Asuna's weapon was also upgraded from 0 to +10. Because she still had some materials available in her inventory, she specifically reserved materials for enhancing accuracy.

Judging from the current stats, Asuna's "Winter's Arrival" has completely overwhelmed Dante's "Bear Slayer" by nearly twice the power, which is terrifying.

Dante plans to use the remaining three metal plates to enhance the weapons of Mito or Silica closer to the boss battle.

As Dante was about to head toward Kizmel's tent, Asuna grabbed his coat tightly.

"I sweated a lot today, I'm going to take a shower!"

Dante walked at the back, and together with Asuna and Kizmel, they arrived at a small tent behind the dining hall tent. Asuna stopped in front of the tent, looking somewhat bewildered.

Because there is only one entrance here, and there are no curtains indicating gender at all.

"..." In the silence, Asuna took a few steps forward to make a final confirmation, lifted the curtain to peek inside, and then pulled her head out to say, "There's only one bathroom."

"You can wash first," Dante said nonchalantly, having already known this all along.