A journey to another world starting from a sword

It wasn't the kind of discomfort caused by the impact; it was real pain!

"What's sexy?" Lisbeth and Lingyin had finished their commotion and were walking against the flow of hot water.

"It's nothing!" Asuna crossed her arms, clearly a little angry.

"Why is Asuna angry?" Kizmel asked, somewhat puzzled.

“Well, it’s a little complicated to explain.” Dante said, stroking his chin. Feeling a sharp gaze sweep over him, he explained succinctly, “Anyway, Asuna isn’t angry.”

Maintaining the image of one's own vice president is also an important part of maintaining harmony.

"Wow! It's like floating in the sky!" Lisbeth exclaimed as she finally reached the edge of the bathtub and looked down.

"Wow—really?" Ling Yin exclaimed, her mouth agape in surprise.

The hot water in the bathhouse blended with the surface of the lake, creating a scene that was simply like a fairyland.

After fully releasing their excitement, they sat quietly in the bath with everyone else.

Of course, there was a reason for this silence. To escape the cold gaze, Dante cleared his throat with a hint of evasion and spoke to Kizmel: "Kizmel, you elves have a queen, right?"

“Yes, Her Majesty’s residence is on the ninth floor, in a castle that is much larger than this,” Kizmel explained with interest.

“If the baths here are this big, then Her Majesty the Queen’s castle must have an even more magnificent bathhouse!” Dante continued, ignoring Asuna’s suspicious gaze.

“Just as you said, and the baths over there are built on a higher ground than here, and are even more luxurious. You can even see the entire Ninth Floor from there,” Kizmel continued after confirming Dante’s statement.

Asuna, who had been wearing a gloomy expression with a hint of displeasure, instantly transformed into a dreamy girl. However, upon realizing what was happening, her body stiffened instantly, and her right hand unconsciously fiddled with the hair hanging over her collarbone.

"How cunning." Asuna, who had been looking down at a loss, suddenly lowered her head and muttered to herself.

"You're right, all's fair in war." Dante quietly shrugged his shoulders, exhaling a damp breath.

That was the word used during the night raid on the forest elf camp in the third layer of the plan, Asuna vaguely recalled her past memories.

After blinking, Kizmel continued, "...that bathhouse can only be used by noble civil officials and high-ranking knights personally appointed by the Queen."

She sighed regretfully, "It must be very difficult for you humans to get there."

"Don't worry, we'll definitely get in. As long as we make a great contribution to the Dark Elves, Her Majesty the Queen won't mind so much." Dante said in a loud voice, causing Asuna to smile and rub her eyes.

She understood Dante's meaning: by the time they reached the ninth level, the elven campaign would be in its final stage, and they would likely be granted special permission to enter based on their merit in helping the dark elves.

“Hmm.” Kizmel gave a slightly helpless smile, as if to say, “I really can’t do anything with you.” “What you said is not wrong, but simply protecting the First Key is not enough.”

"Hahaha...then there's no need to worry." Dante felt that tonight was not the right time to discuss the follow-up strategy, so he didn't plan to say it for the time being.

As he started talking, the girls chatted freely in the bath, mostly about things in SAO, as they had come to regard the events in SAO as part of their daily lives.

After taking a bath, Asuna returned to her bedroom and practiced swordsmanship with Dante before going to sleep. They then said goodnight to each other and went back to their room.

The next day, sitting on the sofa in the living room, Dante told Kizmel that he and Asuna had discovered the presence of fallen elves on this floor. The fallen elves were planning to build a ship, and their target was likely this dark elf water fortress.

At the same time, he interacted with Asuna, explaining the origin of the matter—starting from the discovery of a suspicious transport ship in Robia—it took a full ten minutes to finish.

Immediately afterward, the sound effect of the mission in progress was heard, and the "Former Shipwright" mission was finally progressing again, with a large amount of experience points being awarded.

There was no time to be happy about it. Kismer, who had quickly risen from the armchair, hurriedly called out, "Dante, Asuna, come with me to see the Lord of the Castle!"

Following closely behind Kizmel, Dante and Asuna entered the fifth floor of the castle.

As soon as I climbed the central staircase, I saw that the two elite guards on duty let me pass without any obstruction when they saw Kizmel. It seems that Kizmel's status is much higher than I had imagined.

Lord Jofelis was a dark elf who hid in the shadows and never showed his face. Kizmel called him one of the oldest elves, though he was said to have been confined to his room for years due to illness.

However, Dante knew that his claim of being ill was a lie; in reality, the man was avoiding seeing people because of a facial injury and his pride.

They were informed that two days later, the forest elves would join forces with the fallen elves to attack the dark elves' castle by ship.

When they came out of the lord's room, Dante and Asuna were wearing the same ring on the index finger of their left hand.

The rings are silver ornaments with heraldic symbols. The stamped part is engraved with the familiar horn and scimitar. These rings symbolize identity. After wearing them, Dante and Asuna will be treated as allies when they encounter dark elves again.

It's still somewhat useful up to the ninth floor, but after that it'll probably be kept as a souvenir for completing the Elf Campaign mission.

"I will also help with the retrieval of this layer of glass key." As a royal knight, Kizmel showed a very reliable side, and she seemed to want to participate in the task entrusted by the city lord to retrieve the second key.

"Great, we can fight side by side again." Hearing this, Asuna smiled and reached out to grasp Kizmel's hands.

“Yes,” Kizmel said with emotion, while squeezing Asuna’s hand tightly in return. “Let’s do our best together.”

"Ok!"

Chapter 107: Whose bad luck really is?

"So where exactly is the Glass Key?" As they moved out of the castle, Asuna asked Kitzmer.

“As far as I know, the Glass Key should be sealed on the border between the territories of Leuss and Kares O,” Kizmel replied, turning his head to the side.

"Why is it left there?" Asuna asked, puzzled. "Won't it easily fall into the hands of the forest spirits?"

“That’s true, but this key to the fourth level was originally a symbol of peace passed down between the forest elves and the dark elves,” Kizmel explained with a sigh.

"Peace? But the two races have been fighting all along, haven't they?" Asuna glanced at Kizmel and then looked at Dante behind her, asking with her eyes.

Dante spread his palms, indicating that he didn't know much either.

Most of the diverse missions in the game are automatically generated using a template. Only the Elf campaign missions are designed by the game design team, but the various background settings are very likely not written by one person.

“Indeed,” Kismer agreed with Asuna. “According to historical records, the people of Leusla and the people of Kares-O have been at odds since before the ‘severance of the earth,’ and it may even be a continuous war that has been going on since the beginning of creation.”

"Then..." Asuna thought to herself, "Just as I expected."

“But…” Kizmel shook his head, “Even with such a long history of conflict, it’s impossible to fight without sleep. Soldiers get tired, and that’s true for both sides. Therefore, there is a custom of agreeing to a truce during seasons such as the Sacred Tree Festival.”

Then we got down to business, and a hint of sadness appeared on Kizmel's face.

"That was during a truce hundreds of years ago, when a tragedy occurred: the daughter of the dark elf lord who ruled this area fell in love with the son of the forest elf lord."

"Ah!" Asuna covered her mouth with her hand, as if she had already guessed what was coming next.

Dante knew why Asuna looked so disappointed. After all, they were enemies, and if it wasn't a happy ending, it would definitely be a tragedy. And Kizmel had already said from the beginning that it was going to be a tragedy.

The two listened quietly as Kizmel recounted the rest of the story.

“Actually, in the forest elves’ heritage, there are records of a girl from Leussra using a bewitching spell on the lord’s son. Of course, our heritage has a similar but opposite account, but none of that matters.” After a pause, Kizmel gently closed his eyes.

"Regardless of the circumstances, their love was genuine. But the fate of having to resume their hostile status after the armistice ended was unbearable for the lovers, so they chose death."

"..." At this moment, Asuna and Dante looked at each other, and then listened to Kizmel's final words.

"Afterwards, the lords, grieving the deaths of their children, sealed the 'Glassy Key' as a tombstone for the lovers."

As Dante was deep in thought, Asuna gently tugged at his sleeve and asked in a very low voice.

"This... isn't this Romeo and Juliet?"

As Asuna listened to Kitzmer's story, she felt more and more that it was similar to Shakespeare's famous plays in real life.

“It must have been based on some reference.” Dante nodded, covering his mouth with the back of his hand, and whispered as well.

"Is there a problem?" Kizmel slowed his pace and turned to look at the two of them.

"No, it's nothing," Asuna said, gently shaking her head.

"Hey, Kizmel, what you just said means that the forest elves also know the location of the Glass Key, right?" Dante suddenly looked up and found a loophole in the story.

“Yes, after all, it was sealed by both sides.” Kizmel let out a heavy sigh.

"Then maybe that key isn't there anymore, that it's been taken back by the forest elves. Is that a possibility?" Dante said, spreading his hands.

“It’s amazing you were able to find that out. It is indeed possible, but both sides can sense whether the seal has been broken or not. It is already confirmed that the Glass Key is still sealed.” Kizmel gave an approving smile, and then said solemnly, “Most of our Dark Elf nobles, including Lord Yoferis, believe that it is too dangerous to keep the keys together and that they should be stored separately.”

If the first and second keys are sent to the upper levels as planned, then there will be three keys on the fifth level, and the enemy can take them all by concentrating their forces.

For the forest elves, they actually wanted to see the demise of their mortal enemy, the dark elves, more than the collection of the key. They probably reasoned that if the dark elves were destroyed, wouldn't the key still be theirs?

Therefore, the forest elves' attitude towards the key was somewhat inconsistent. However, the real reason that forced the dark elf lord, Yoferis, to retrieve the key was not the forest elves, but the fallen elves!

The involvement of the Fallen Elves made it necessary to retrieve the Emerald Key.

After discussing the background and consequences of the mission with Dante in a low voice on the ship, Asuna, who was sitting at the back next to Dante, nodded with her eyes half-closed and said, "I see."

Dante was about to continue focusing on rowing when Asuna suddenly grabbed his collar and brought her face very close to his.

Of course, this wasn't meant to be a kiss. Asuna brought her lips close to his ear while looking straight ahead. "Hey, Kizmel has been standing at the bow of the ship since just now."

Hearing this, Dante glanced at the beautiful figure standing tall in front of him and thought, "She's probably thinking of her sister."

I quickly fell into this state after seeing the name "Tirnier" printed on their ship's side.

Asuna also thought it was very likely, so the two of them quietly kept quiet and didn't disturb Kizmel.

Just as they arrived by boat at the border between the Dark Elves and the Forest Elves, intending to retrieve the Emerald Key, a group of uninvited guests emerged from the forest.

"Who?" Dante was the first to notice someone watching them, while Kizmel was focused on chanting the incantation to break the seal.

"Hmph, you human monkeys, you don't need to know our names," one of the newcomers said arrogantly, clad in finely crafted armor.

"It's a fallen elf." Asuna placed her hand on her rapier, clearly ready for battle.

Dante had anticipated that his opponent was a fallen elf, since there were only a handful of enemies who could hide and ambush.

Criminal players, forest spirits, and fallen spirits.

It's actually a fallen elf, which means the situation isn't too bad.

At least the cooperation between the forest elves and the fallen elves wasn't that close; otherwise, the fallen elves wouldn't have sent people here to watch the seal. The fallen elves were the ones who most wanted the key among the three parties.

Three fully armed fallen elves stepped forward, their faces somewhat ferocious. They mocked in a manner that was anything but typical of NPCs, saying, "Our mission is to retrieve the key and eliminate the witness. You're really unlucky."

Bad luck?

"..." Dante frowned, his expression somewhat subtle. He thought he had misheard and checked again the dark red cursors above the heads of the fallen elves.

Strange, he wasn't seeing things.

Unlike the corrupted elf general we encountered before, who was so dark it was unsettling, these three corrupted elves were clearly only between elite monsters and mini-bosses in strength.

So who gave these fallen elves the courage to say they were unlucky?

“Dante, Asuna, we can’t linger here too long. Once the forest spirits notice, they’ll send a large force to support us.” Kismer took out the key and stood beside Dante and Asuna.

indeed.

Dante then turned his gaze to his companions, "One for each of us shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"Hmm!" Asuna nodded eagerly as she drew "Winter's Descent."

“Leave one of them to me,” Kizmel assured him solemnly.

-----------------

After reporting the completion of their mission to the city lord, Dante and Asuna, who received a large reward, were promoted to another level.

They walked out of the room with Kizmel, and then Dante saw that the large window at the west end of the corridor they had just passed was now bathed in the beautiful colors of the sunset.

When I walked to the window and looked down, I was amazed by the lake's beauty. Although it was dusk when I first came, I had looked up from below. The view from above now was completely different.

As the evening breeze picked up, the ripples on the lake became more numerous, and the lake water, in the afterglow of the setting sun, looked like a flame being lit.

"Hey, Asuna, Kizmel, wanna go boating?" Dante asked with a smile, leaning on the windowsill.

Asuna didn't answer immediately. Instead, she stood by the window, looking down at the lake, a faint smile on her face. "It's so beautiful."

After a brief sigh, she lowered her arms and spoke to Dante with a strange excitement.

"Hurry up and go down, the sunset will disappear soon, won't it?"

At the same time, she extended an invitation to Kizmel, saying, "Kizmel, come along too."

“It’s my pleasure,” Kizmel said with a light laugh, patting his chest.

The three then moved to the pier outside the castle, where Dante untied the ropes and stood at the stern, gentlemanly waiting for the two ladies to board.

"Thank you," Asuna whispered her thanks before sitting down in the front seats with Kizmel.

"We're about to set sail," Dante warned, then rowed hard, and the Tirnier shot off from the pier in an instant.

"The breeze feels so nice." Asuna gently pressed her soft hair, which was fluttering in the cool breeze, behind her ear.

On the other side, Kizmel had already closed his eyes, relaxed his mind and body, and enjoyed this leisurely and contented happiness.

After a while, she turned around and called to Dante, "Let's stop here. Dante, don't stand in the back, come over here."

She patted the seat next to her, indicating that she could squeeze in.