"My parents died in a car accident a long time ago, and I don't have any other relatives. I'm all alone now," Illustrious said with a very sad expression.
"I... I'm sorry, Illustrious!" Asuna said apologetically.
"It's okay. So, about me staying at your house today, what do you think? You'll agree, won't you?" Illustrious looked at Asuna pitifully with tearful eyes.
"If you make that face, I can't say no!" Seeing Illustrious looking like an abandoned puppy, Asuna's compassion overflowed. Now that Illustrious's parents were gone and she lived alone, Asuna was worried she might encounter danger in a world full of monsters, even if living alone was usually fine.
"So this is your house! It's huge!" After entering Asuna's home, Illustrious marveled. Looking at this large and luxurious house and comparing it to her own ten-square-meter apartment, Illustrious felt a wave of resentment toward evil capitalism. Both were human, so why was the gap so large?
"How is it? My house is pretty nice, right?" Asuna said with a smile.
"It's more than just nice! It's absolutely incredible!" Dahui said very excitedly.
"The Young Mistress is back! That's wonderful. I went to your room just now and found you weren't there. It gave me quite a scare! I thought you had run outside and was about to go look for you. Let me tell you, the world outside is very dangerous now, so don't run around recklessly," a middle-aged woman ran up to Asuna and said with concern.
"Asuna, this is..." Illustrious looked at the middle-aged woman. She was about to greet her as 'Auntie,' but looking at her appearance—which was, well, a bit ordinary—she didn't look like Asuna's mother at all.
"This is our nanny. You can call her Aunt Oda," Asuna introduced to Illustrious.
"Don't worry, Aunt Oda! I won't run around. I only went out just now to clear my head," Asuna said. She didn't tell Aunt Oda the truth about suddenly disappearing from home and appearing on the street; after all, if she told someone, they wouldn't believe her and would think she was mentally ill instead.
Aunt Oda turned her Gaze toward Illustrious. Upon seeing her, she couldn't help but cry out inwardly, 'This child is so beautiful!' "Is this the Young Mistress's friend?"
"Yes! Her name is Illustrious, and she's my friend. I'm taking her upstairs now. I'll leave the tea and snacks to you, Aunt Oda." Asuna took Illustrious's slender hand and walked upstairs.
"No problem! Leave it to me! Snacks will be sent to your room shortly." Aunt Oda waved to Asuna and Illustrious as they went upstairs.
Running into the kitchen, Aunt Oda was very happy. She had been a nanny here for ten years and had never seen the Young Mistress bring a friend home as a guest.
She had even doubted if Asuna had any friends, but today was different. This Illustrious was the first friend the Young Mistress had ever brought home, which meant Asuna truly acknowledged her. Therefore, she couldn't be negligent and had to provide proper hospitality.
Arriving in Asuna's room, Illustrious plopped down on Asuna's bed and carefully observed the room. The decor was futuristic and filled with high-tech gadgets. The room wasn't huge, about fifty square meters.
The furniture included a computer desk and chair, a round table for guests, a bookshelf full of books, and a wardrobe. Illustrious wondered if Asuna's wardrobe contained any erotic clothes, like bunny girl, maid, or shrine maiden outfits. If so, Illustrious was very much looking forward to Asuna wearing them for her.
Asuna was looking all around the computer desk as if searching for something. Illustrious asked, "What are you looking for? Do you need my help?"
"My NERvGear device is gone. I clearly left it on the bed." Asuna felt it was strange; how could it suddenly vanish into thin air?
"Could someone in your family have taken it to use?" Illustrious suggested an answer to Asuna.
"No, my father, mother, and brother won't be back until tonight. It's impossible for them to have taken it," Asuna said, shaking her head.
"Then could your nanny have taken it out to air in the sun?" Illustrious usually took her clothes out to air if they felt a bit damp in the wardrobe.
"Don't be ridiculous. The NERvGear cannot be exposed to sunlight, or it will be damaged." Asuna grew angry, thinking Illustrious had been giving perfunctory answers to her questions.
"That is strange. Since it wasn't a family member and wasn't the nanny, it couldn't have just vanished into thin air! Wait..." Illustrious paused mid-sentence. She thought for a moment and then said to Asuna, "Maybe it really did vanish into thin air. It's possible that our ability to use sword art online sword skills and our physical strengthening are all related to the NERvGear."
"The designer of the NERvGear is Akihiko Kayaba. If it's him, then it could be explained. But that raises the question: who exactly is Akihiko Kayaba, and why did he design the NERvGear? What did he want to do with the finished NERvGear? What is the ultimate goal of everything he's done?" Asuna wondered.
"Could he want to destroy the world?" Illustrious joked.
Asuna thought that what Illustrious said might indeed be Akihiko Kayaba's goal, just not the ultimate one. "That really is a possibility."
"I was joking! You actually took it seriously? No matter how crazy a person is, they couldn't be so mad as to want to destroy the world," Illustrious said dismissively.
"Listen to me. Think about it: in the sword art online game world, Akihiko Kayaba said he developed sword art online because he wanted to observe a created virtual world. Perhaps the virtual world could no longer satisfy his desires, so he wanted to play a bigger game—to destroy this peaceful world and create the fantasy world of his dreams." Asuna believed this was Akihiko Kayaba's ultimate goal.
Illustrious gave Asuna a thumbs up. Awesome! Impressive, super impressive. We both had twelve years of compulsory education, so why are you so outstanding? "I don't think Akihiko Kayaba had that kind of ability before, at least not before the meteorite fell in the game. That giant meteorite probably wasn't his doing."
Asuna was very dissatisfied with Illustrious overturning what she believed to be the truth, so she said, "You have to realize, the game administrator with the highest authority in the game was Akihiko Kayaba. If the giant meteorite wasn't his doing, then whose was it?"
Illustrious shook her head and said, "I don't know who did it, but I'm certain it definitely wasn't Akihiko Kayaba."
"After all, Akihiko Kayaba did indeed want to imprison ten thousand players at the time, but just as he was about to start the plan, it was disrupted by the giant meteorite."
"In short, Akihiko Kayaba isn't the main big boss behind the scenes. The real big boss is someone else."
"That's not what you said before." Asuna bent down and pointed her right finger at Illustrious.
"What did I say before? Sorry, I have a bad memory," Illustrious said, blinking and playing dumb.
Seeing Illustrious play dumb made Asuna incredibly angry. "Playing dumb won't work! Back on the street, you told the sword art online players that Akihiko Kayaba was behind all of this."
"Asuna, you must have misheard me then. I never said such a thing." Illustrious denied her previous erroneous deduction. However, Illustrious had indeed thought Akihiko Kayaba was the one behind it all and was the big boss, but thinking about it slowly now, that didn't seem to be the case.
"Clang!" The door to Asuna's room was opened. Illustrious looked at the person who entered and saw it was Auntie Oda. Asuna wanted to help, but was stopped by Auntie Oda, who said, "This is my job. I hope the young miss won't steal my work, or else I'll get angry."
"Alright then!" Asuna had no choice but to give up on helping.
Carrying snacks and two cups of black tea in both hands, she placed them on the table. Auntie Oda smiled and said, "Here are the snacks and black tea. I hope you like them. I'll take my leave now and won't disturb your chat."
"Thank you, Auntie Oda!" Illustrious said gratefully.
After Auntie Oda left, Illustrious, who had been very polite, immediately turned into a salted fish. She lay on the bed, propping her head up with her left hand, while her right hand reached for the snacks by the bedside.
Illustrious had absolutely no self-awareness as a guest. Before Asuna could even invite her to eat, she had already taken the snacks and started drinking the tea, looking as if she were in her own home.
Asuna had never seen such a thick-skinned person before and was speechless for a moment.
Illustrious ate the snacks bit by bit, took a sip of black tea, then set it down. She stood up, walked over to Asuna, and said seriously, "There are many suspicious points now, the most important of which are three. First, who sent that giant meteorite, and why did they send it?"
"Second, who conjured the monsters in reality, and what is their goal in bringing them here? Third, who is responsible for their physical strength increasing and their ability to use sword art online sword skills? What do they want us to do, and what is their purpose? Only by finding this 'who'—finding this mastermind behind the scenes—can our problems be solved."
"The problem is, how do we find this 'who'?" Asuna asked.
"As for how to find them, you're asking me, but who should I ask?" Illustrious said, feeling a bit speechless.
"So you're saying a bunch of nonsense, what exactly are you trying to express?" Asuna said, a bit angrily.
Illustrious didn't like hearing Asuna say that. "How can you call this nonsense? At the very least, I've pointed out that Akihiko Kayaba is not the mastermind."
"Then tell me how to find the mastermind! The world is being messed up by monsters, the apocalypse is about to begin, aren't you anxious?" Asuna didn't want peaceful days to disappear.
"Don't be anxious. It's useless to be anxious. Even if you find the mastermind, it won't do any good. Think about it: the mastermind can conjure so many monsters in the world, which shows they are not a simple person. With such heaven-defying means, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call them a god. Are you sure you can deal with such a person?" Illustrious said earnestly.
Illustrious didn't care about the lives of others; she just needed Asuna to live well for these three years. Once she completed the mission, she would head to the next world, so she didn't care what happened to this world.
However, before leaving, she had to ensure Asuna had the ability to protect herself before she could leave with peace of mind. After all, in her previous life, Asuna was her wife—even if she was a 2D wife, she was still her wife!
"Then what should we do? Should we just let monsters destroy our city everywhere? Are we to remain indifferent to the actions of the mastermind?" As a righteous person, Asuna found this unacceptable.
"What do you want to do? And what can you do? You're just an ordinary high school student. Don't tell me you want to transform into a magical girl and save the world?" Looking at Asuna's determined, saintly expression, Illustrious had a headache. It seemed Asuna wasn't a stabilizing element; saying that meant she wanted to stir up trouble!
Illustrious roared internally: "But can't you consider my feelings when you go stirring up trouble? If something happens to you, my mission will fail!"
Illustrious already knew what Asuna was going to say next. In a moment, she would definitely say that she possessed power and could use it to save the world.
Sure enough, Asuna conjured a rapier. The rapier slashed toward the left side of Illustrious's neck. When it was only one centimeter away from Illustrious's neck, the rapier stopped. Because of the immense pressure, the rapier created a powerful gust of wind, which caused Illustrious's hair and clothes to blow to the left. "See that?"
Illustrious swallowed, feeling a bit scared, and said, "See what? I only saw that you almost killed me just now! Fortunately, your control was good, otherwise I would have become a ghost under your sword." Illustrious used her hand to push the rapier further away.
"That's not what I wanted you to say. I wanted you to say that I'm no longer an ordinary high school student. I now possess power; I am not a frail girl with no strength to truss a chicken. I can use this power to protect the world." Asuna brought the rapier close to Illustrious's neck again.
Looking at the rapier approaching her neck again, Illustrious sighed and said, "I understand what you mean. That is to say, you want to become a magical girl and save the world."
"Something like that! But I don't want to be a magical girl." Asuna nodded and said.
"Why? Aren't magical girls quite cute?" Illustrious asked, puzzled.
Asuna took the rapier away from Illustrious's neck and said, "Because compared to magical girls who wear fluffy clothes, carry cute wands, act cute everywhere, and strike embarrassing poses, I prefer to be a swordsman—the kind from the Huaxia nation who sees injustice and draws their sword to help."
"Wow, you're so amazing! Good luck, you can do it." Illustrious lay back down on the bed, splayed out, and said in a very frivolous tone.
"Don't talk as if it has nothing to do with you. You also have to be a swordsman with me and save the common people." Asuna wanted to drag Illustrious into this.
"You can just do it yourself, why drag me into it?" The thought of saving the common people felt like such a hassle. As a salted fish, Illustrious stated she only wanted to be a salted fish.
"Because you are my friend, and friends should help each other." Asuna brought up the concept of friendship to persuade Illustrious.
"I think you have a misunderstanding of what a friend is! Friends shouldn't force each other to do things they don't like." Illustrious said, very dissatisfied.
"I don't care! Are you willing to become a swordsman with me and save the world?" Asuna said, her chuunibyou levels off the charts.
Illustrious couldn't stand the strong scent of chuunibyou on Asuna. "Can you stop being so chuunibyou?'Save the world'—you're past that age already."
"Stop nagging! Are you agreeing or not!" Asuna brought the rapier close to Illustrious's neck again, threatening her.
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