A journey to another world starting from a sword

Looking at his childhood friend on the stage, he felt like he didn't recognize her anymore. Was this still the same Yuna he knew?

"I might be a bit busy then, so you can have fun at the festival by yourself, Nuo-jun."

Yuna said those words, so Nochiras only wandered around for a short while before finding it somewhat boring.

Just as he was about to leave because he couldn't find Yuna, he saw his childhood friend standing on the stage with another male player, completely ignoring Lingyin. They were singing a very beautiful song together.

Although he knew that Yuna often went out to practice singing, Nochiras had an extremely absurd thought when he saw Yuna performing so glamorously on stage: perhaps Yuna didn't need him.

The vows I've always made to protect her seem somewhat pale and powerless now.

After all, the raiding group had already reached the fifth level, but he was still in the "Starting Town" and had never left the main street.

"..." He stood there alone, gazing absently at Qingmei's happy smile on the stage. However, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed another solitary figure.

Just then, the other person seemed to notice his gaze and looked at him.

Realizing he had been somewhat rude, Nochiras nodded apologetically to the other person, who unexpectedly made the same gesture.

Nochiras suddenly felt a strong connection between the two, so he walked over, only to be met with the other person speaking first: "Aren't you going down?"

“…I have acquaintances down there.” Nochiras didn’t explain why he couldn’t go down because he had acquaintances, but instead asked, “What about you?”

"Ah, there are some familiar faces of mine down there too." The player Nochiras encountered was none other than Kirito. At this moment, Kirito looked down again and saw a player with a very conspicuous face of a wandering samurai among the crowd surrounding the stage. His eyes began to dart away.

Klein, the friend he left in the starting town on the first day, because Klein said he had other friends he met in the game, so Kirito left Klein, a new player, to go on his own.

Seeing the other person now full of energy attending the festival, embracing his current companions with great emotion, Kirito suddenly wondered if it would have been better for him to have stayed in the town of beginnings.

“Really?” Nochiras raised his head. “You’ve had a tough time too.”

"Ah, well, we're all the same," Kirito replied, puzzled, but he decided to end the conversation. "I'm going now, goodbye."

Having just replied to Agil's message and symbolically participated in the festival, he now plans to return to his inn to rest.

"Okay, goodbye." Nochiras watched Kirito leave before realizing he hadn't asked Kirito's name, so he shook his head. "Never mind, I'll ask next time we meet."

Seeing that Yuna had come down from the stage, Nochiras wanted to at least say goodbye to his childhood friend before leaving, so he walked down from the high ground.

"No-kun!" Yuna exclaimed as she excitedly shared her joy with Mito and Ashurai, noticing the arrival of her childhood friend. "I was just wondering where you were."

"Hmm..." Nochiras looked at the group of girls surrounding Yuna and a male player he had just seen, feeling incredulous. When did Yuna get to know so many players?

"Let me introduce you. This is my friend in real life, his name is... um, this guy's name is Nochiras." Yuna walked between Nochiras and the others, gesturing with both hands towards Nochiras.

"And these two are Dante and Mitt, both very skilled players," Yuna introduced first.

"Hmm, hello." Nochiras nodded slightly. He suspected that Yuna was just being polite. She didn't seem to have the tension that a large guild should have. Her clothes were also completely different from those of other players who wore expensive equipment. She was too relaxed and didn't look strong at all.

Could these two be a couple? Nochiras hoped, looking at the ambiguous distance between them. Or perhaps, looking at the chestnut-haired player standing on Dante's other side, he wondered, could it be this one?

"Hello." Dante had no idea that the other party had already categorized him as a mere figurehead. He knew about Nochiras, Yuna's childhood friend.

The opponent seems to suffer from severe FNC, which is short for being unable to fully stealth. Specifically, it means that one becomes completely unable to move whenever they are afraid of death during combat.

This directly led to Yuna's sacrifice during a rescue operation on the 40th floor.

With this in mind, Dante abandoned his original idea of ​​asking the other party if they wanted to join "Eternal Garden". He hoped to establish a partner guild that would help him conquer SAO.

However, the opponent's combat power ceiling has been limited, so there is no value in training them. A heavy FNC means that the opponent might fail at some crucial moment. Joining a guild like mine might put him or others in danger. Considering the future, perhaps not inviting them is the best choice.

“This is my first friend, Miss Lily,” Yuna introduced Ashurai to Nochiras, “and this beautiful lady is Miss Asuna…”

Just as Nochiras had predicted, these people were all new friends Yuna had made in SAO. After introducing them all, he said listlessly, "Yuna, I'm a little tired, so I'll be leaving now."

"Huh? But the festival is only halfway through!" Yuna said in surprise.

"I know, I just ate a lot, and I'm very full now," Nochiras lied.

Although she sensed that her childhood friend seemed to be hiding something, Yuna nodded and said, "Okay."

Watching her childhood sweetheart's departing figure, she stood there stunned, feeling somewhat downcast.

After Nochiras left, Dante whispered to Yuna, "Take him out more often and let him meet other people; it might help."

"Pfft..." Ashura laughed at Dante's words; perhaps it was true.

"Ha... I hope No-kun will listen to me." Yuna said helplessly, covering her forehead, as if she had already anticipated how her childhood friend would respond.

It's probably something like "It's none of your business," "I don't have time for that now," or "Other people aren't trustworthy."

They might even ask themselves where Miss Li and the others met, as if they were interrogating a criminal.

Well, she was right. After this happy Christmas Eve, she would argue with her childhood sweetheart again.

Then, breaking the silence, Asuna was the first to suggest, "Hey, since we still have some time, why don't we go and browse the vendors' stalls?"

"Yeah."

Chapter 123: The Shadow Follows

"Oh, remember to bring some food for Miss Liz," Silica reminded her. Lizbet had gone back to the shop immediately after the concert.

"Hahaha..." Everyone laughed.

Since they were busy making money, Liz probably wasn't enjoying the festival, even if she wasn't starving. So they decided to visit her later.

We ate and drank along the way until we arrived at Lisbeth's jewelry store.

“What a long line!” Silica exclaimed in surprise.

There was a line of about twenty people in front of Lisbeth's shop, and some players who passed by curiously glanced at the wooden sign in front of the shop and joined the line.

"Jingle Bell"

A bell rang, and Lisbeth shook the bell in her hand before announcing loudly, "Congratulations, this player has won the second prize: a complete set of jewelry including earrings, a necklace, and a ring."

"Wow—" "Lucky guy." "Is this really the second prize?"

Exclamations immediately arose from the crowd.

"Great!" The player who won the prize shouted happily, showing off to his companions and other players behind him.

"Hey, do you think we should join the queue too?" Asuna found it amusing and suggested.

"Forget it, weren't these all made by Mitt?" Dante shook his head. Some of the dropped items were the ones they had rejected, and the ones they used for the lottery were the ones that were completely useless.

Asuna was so confused by the special magic of the festival that she forgot about something like this.

“Yeah, that’s true.” Asuna pouted. Although she was a little upset, she thought about it again and realized that Dante was right. They didn’t need to get involved.

This special event attracted a large number of players who were bored and only knew how to eat and drink, but unfortunately other shops did not have the resources to organize such an event.

Even though it costs 100 Corel to enter the lottery, the gift alone is worth several times that amount. This generous approach is something other stores can only dream of.

Following Dante's suggestion, Lisbeth only set aside a quarter as a consolation prize, leaving the rest to be given away in small amounts.

After all, he thought it was a worthwhile thing to use props that didn't exist to make everyone happy for a while, and the girls all agreed with this approach.

"Oh oh oh!!!" At this moment, a male player cheered. He looked like a defeated samurai—or you could say a bandit. He was excitedly raising his fists towards the sky.

At the same time, Lisbeth rang the bell in a very cooperative manner and said, "Congratulations to this player! You have won the grand prize, a special item made by SAO's top jewelry master with D-grade gemstones."

"...Hmph." Dante chuckled mischievously and nudged the somewhat embarrassed Mitt with his elbow, causing her to roll her eyes and look away.

The master that Liz was referring to was Mitt. It was just a practice piece by Mitt, but with this kind of packaging, it instantly became high-end.

Of course, it's not entirely wrong. Mitt really is the top jewelry master in SAO right now, because other masters don't have that many practice materials.

After the ring, worth at least a thousand kor including processing fees, was given away, an extremely long queue instantly formed again in front of Lisbeth's shop.

This led Dante and Asuna to decide to visit Liz later, and judging from her smiling face, she seemed to be enjoying herself too.

We walked around and tried all the food that interested us. To be precise, we bought it, shared it with everyone, and then asked someone to finish the rest.

Asuna, Mito, and Silica were the first to do so, and Lingyin was a little embarrassed but still chose to join in.

Yuna and Miss Lily didn't do that; they shared the food together, and occasionally Yuna would unabashedly feed Dante and Mitt what she thought was delicious.

Just as Asuna expressed her desire to do the same, she was immediately enraged by Dante's words, "Do you think this tastes bad and are you planning to feed it to me too?" She then kicked his shin hard.

“Dante!” Diabel approached with two subordinates, one of whom was Liting, and the other was likely also an executor of the festival.

"What's wrong?" Dante asked Diabel, rubbing his aching calf.

“I’m about to go on stage to give my thank-you speech, why don’t you come along?” Diabel invited.

"Ugh—" Dante's first thought was, "This is so troublesome."

"Isn't this great?" Asuna then nudged Dante's back, encouraging him like a mother comforting her son.

“Hey.” Diabel immediately gave him a look that said, “Even your vice president said so.”

"Understood." Dante sighed softly and obediently followed Diabel.

"Go for it!" Asuna shouted, adding fuel to the fire, and the other girls joined in with giggles and cheers.

Seriously, are you Argo?!

Upon seeing Diabel standing on the stage, most of the players still in the venue, especially those on the front lines, spontaneously gathered around.

"Yes, first of all, thank you all for coming to this event. This is a festival hosted by me—the president of the Aincrad Alliance—and Dante, the president of the Evergarden, with the aim of helping everyone relax a bit amidst their busy strategy."

"Of course, some people also felt that it was a waste for the NPC shop to sell so many seafood ingredients that were obtained on the fourth floor for such a low price."

Diabel's teasing elicited laughter from some of the players in the audience, who chuckled.

Nobody really thinks that's the reason... at least it's not that significant.

Diabel then looked at Dante, signaling him to say a few words as well.

Dante thought for a moment, then asked the audience, "Is everyone happy?"

"Happy!" "Of course!" the players shouted.

Upon hearing the answer, Dante smiled and said, "That's good. That's what Diabel and I wanted too. Let's hold it together again next time."

"Ohhhhhh!!!" "Please!" "Definitely next time!" "By the way, could we have another one for the New Year?"

Suddenly, amidst the enthusiastic cheers, a different voice rang out.

"Hey! Knight! Were those two girls from your guild too?"

"Ah, guess," Dante said with a smile.

Although Lingyin is indeed the one in question, and some people have probably already recognized her, Dante chose this ambiguous statement to prevent Yuna from being harassed by players later.

"It's the last one, can we have one more song?!"

This guy really hasn't had enough fun yet. It's all Kayaba Akihiko's fault for not designing any entertainment projects in SAO. Everyone has been holding back for a long time.

"Yes." "One more song, please." "This is the last one."

As some people egged them on, the voices of the more than one hundred players present eventually merged into one: "One more song!"

"What should we do?" Diabel asked Dante.

"Who knows?" Dante replied loudly, plugging his ears, only to have his voice instantly drowned out by the other players.

However, Yuna and Lingyin were already exhausted, and they didn't need to satisfy the players' impromptu greed.

He then made a gesture for silence, and the players below immediately quieted down.

"I really can't do anything with you guys, it's just one song."

Then he took out the mandolin from his inventory; yes, he intended to do it himself.

The players in the audience had no objections. Although they couldn't see any cute girls, some men were more charming than women.

For example, the next second, that rather sexy pronunciation made Asuna's heart flutter.

"Oh, there is only one thing to remember: dreams can be grasped, and friends cannot be bought with money."

The simple admonition, accompanied by deep eyes that seem to see right through people's hearts, is filled with power and determination with every glance.

"No matter how much time has passed, I know you will join me, because we don't know how to give up."

With slightly parted lips, each note was gently uttered, the sound piercing the air and striking the hearts of every player.

"Let's get wild tonight! Tonight belongs to us lions! Let the one who wants the world to stop moving forward get nothing!"

Kayaba Akihiko! Although his name wasn't mentioned in the lyrics, all the players present thought of him without hesitation.

Instantly, the players who shared the same experience were ignited with emotion.

"We selected the best from among the best, giving our all, until we gave everything and reclaimed everything we had. We celebrate here because we are the victors!"