The screeching sound of metallic cutting continued as Kirito’s sword kept on cutting the wall of ice. I turned my neck to look down and noticed that we could already see the white snow-covered bottom of the cave. I watched it come closer and closer, until there were only a few seconds left before we crashed. I wanted to at least refrain from screaming, so I bit down on my lip and tightly held onto Kirito.
Kirito let go of his sword, used both arms to hold me tightly, and rotated his body so that he was on the bottom. Then–
An impact. A huge sound.
The snowflakes that were blasted into the air by the force of our fall began to land lightly on my cheeks before melting away.
The cold sensation pulled back my scattered thoughts. I opened my eyes, and my gaze met with that of Kirito’s black pupils as he laid extremely close to me.
Kirito was still hugging me tightly; he raised the corner of his mouth and smiled weakly.
“…Still alive?”
I nodded back weakly and replied:
“Yeah, still alive.”
For several dozen seconds– or maybe several minutes, we simply laid motionlessly in that position. The heat from Kirito’s body allowed my entire self to relax and my mind to go completely blank.
After a while, Kirito let go of my arm and slowly stood back up. He first picked up the sword that fell nearby and returned it to his inventory, and then pulled out from his waist pouch a bottle of what was probably a high-class recovery potion, as well as another bottle for me.
“Anyhow, just drink it.”
“…Okay.”
I nodded and sat up to receive the potion while checking my own HP bar. I still had about one-third left, but Kirito, who had struck the ground directly, was already in the red zone.
I pulled off the cork and gulped down the sweet liquid in one breath, then turned towards Kirito. Remaining in my relaxed posture, I began to move the lips that have such a hard time saying anything nice.
“Ummm… th-thank you for saving me…”
Kirito weakly showed his usual sneer and replied:
“It’s still too early to thank me.”
He quickly glanced towards the sky.
“…Thank god the white dragon didn’t chase us, but how are we going to get out of here…”
“Eh… can’t we just teleport?”
I reached into my apron pocket and pulled out a sparkling blue crystal to show Kirito. But–
“That probably won’t work, since this is a trap made especially for players, I doubt we’ll be able to get out that easily.”
“How could this be…”
Kirito hinted at me with his eyes to try it out, so I held the crystal tightly and commanded:
“Teleport! Rindaasu!”
–My shout echoed emptily off the frozen walls before finally disappearing. The crystal simply continued to sparkle silently.
Kirito squeezed my shoulders lightly without making any sound.
“If I thought we could use crystals, then I would have already used it when we were falling. But because this place felt like it would be an anti-crystal zone…”
“…”
I dropped my head in despair; Kirito put his hand on my head with a ‘pat’ and tousled my hair.
“Alright alright, don’t cry. If we can’t use crystals, then there must be another way out of here.”
“…Maybe not, maybe this is an inescapable pit that guarantees death… or should I say, we’re already dead!”
“Hmmm, maybe you’re right.”
Watching Kirito nod in agreement made me lose all the energy in my body once again.
“What… what kind of attitude is that! Can’t you be a little more positive?”
After I suddenly yelled, Kirito smiled and said:
“That angry expression is much more like you, keep it up!”
“Wha……”
My cheeks flushed red and my body froze in place. Kirito then lifted his hand from my head and stood back up.
“Well, let’s try some things out. Any ideas?”
“…”
I smiled bitterly at Kirito, who was clearly unaffected by the situation we were in and kept up his usual attitude. Feeling a bit more cheerful, I slapped my cheeks with both hands and stood up.
I surveyed my surroundings; the cave’s bottom was a flat surface of ice with a hint of snow. The diameter should be about 10 meters just like the cave’s opening. The icy walls near the top continued to reflect rays of light from the setting sun, but this place would soon be completely engulfed by darkness.
I looked around, but there was no visible way out on either the walls or the floor. I put both my hands on my waist, ran my brain at full capacity, and told Kirito the first idea that came to mind.
“Mm… can we ask for help from someone?”
Kirito denied it instantly:
“Uh–— I’m guessing this place is considered a dungeon.”
Players registered as ‘friends,’ such as Asuna in my case, can communicate through a type of mail called ‘private message.’ However, that function cannot be used within a dungeon, nor could the ‘trace system’ be used to located them.
I opened the message window in blind hope, but as Kirito said, it was unavailable.
“Well… how about we shout at other players who come to hunt the dragon?”
“I think we are about 80 meters away from the apex, so my guess is that our voices won’t reach that far.”
“I guess so… Wait! Now you come up with an idea!”
When I retorted at Kirito, upset at him for constantly putting down my ideas, he replied with something preposterous:
“Run up along the wall.”
“……Are you an idiot?”
“Well, let’s find out.”
While I stared at him with a dumbstruck expression, Kirito walked up to one side of the cave and started dashing toward the walls on the opposite side with unnatural speed. The snow blew off the floor and a gale of wind smashed into my face. Just as he was about to hit the wall, Kirito crouched and leaped upwards with explosive force. He stepped on the walls at an unbelievable height and then started running diagonally along the wall.
“Oh my god…”
As I watched in awe, Kirito was already far above me and running upwards in a spiral along the walls like one of those ninjas from a third-rate movie. His silhouette got smaller and smaller–
Then, as he was a third of the way up, he suddenly slipped.
“Ahhhhhhhh!!!”
Kirito floundered about as he fell towards my head.
“Kyaaaaa!!!”
As I backed off screaming, a human-shaped hole appeared right where I was standing. A minute later, after Kirito finished his second health potion, I sat down next to him and sighed.
“I’ve always thought you were an idiot, but I never even considered that you were this stupid…”
“I would have succeeded if the initial approach was longer.”
“Not a chance.”
I blurted out softly.
Kirito ignored my words and returned the empty potion bottle to his pouch. After stretching his arms, he said:
“Well, it’s getting too dark, so let’s just camp here. Fortunately, I don’t think any monsters spawn in this hole.”
The sun had already set, and the bottom of the hole was getting quite dark.
“I guess so…”
“Well then…”
Kirito opened a window and materialized several things. A camp stove[1], a pot, several small sacks that I couldn’t tell what they were for, and two mugs came out.
“…You always carry these around?”
“I tend to camp out in the fields quite often.”
He said it with such a serious expression that I don’t think he was joking.
He clicked on the stove; it lit with a fwoosh and illuminated the place with a soft orange glow. Kirito put a pot over the stove, then tossed in a few chunks of snow before pouring in the c
ontents of those small sacks. He closed the pot with a lid and doubled clicked it; a timer window for cooking then popped up.
Soon I began to smell a herbal aroma. Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t eaten anything since that hotdog in the morning. My stomach suddenly demanded food loudly as if it just remembered that it was starving.
The cooking timer disappeared with a ‘pin pon,’ and then Kirito split the contents of the pot into two mugs.
“Don’t expect too much, my cooking proficiency is zero.”
“Thank you…”
The warmth transferred to my hands through the mug that Kirito handed to me. It was a simple soup of dried meat and herbs, but the ingredients’ item levels seemed to be high and it was more than delicious. The heat also spread throughout my cold body.
“What a mysterious feeling this is… I don’t feel like this is real.”
I mumbled as I drank the soup.
“I mean this situation, camping in an unexplored area and having a meal with a stranger…”
“Ah, I guess so… since you are an artisan. I make PuGs[2] with random players and camp with them quite often.”
“Hmm, really? …tell me some more, about the dungeons and everything.”
“Huh? Mm…okay. I don’t think it’s that interesting though… oh wait, before I start……”
Kirito collected the empty mugs and pot, and returned them to his inventory. He opened the panel again and materialized what looked like two rolled up chunks of cloth.
After he unfolded them, they revealed themselves to be sleeping bags. They looked similar to their real world equivalents, only significantly larger.
“These are high-end items. Perfect heat preservation, plus a hiding effect against aggressive monsters.”
He tossed me one as he smiled. When I laid it on the snow, it looked like it could fit three people of my size. Dumbfounded by the size of it, I spoke to Kirito:
“It’s remarkable that you bring these things everywhere, and especially two of them……”
“Well, I should utilize my inventory space for something.”
Kirito quickly unequipped himself and laid down in the sleeping bag on the left. I also unequipped my cloak and mace, and rolled into the sleeping bag. It was a high-end item all right; the inside was very warm, and a lot fluffier than it looked. We were a meter apart with the stove in between us. But I was still feeling a little… embarrassed, so I spoke again to get rid of the silence:
“Mm… yeah, go on with the story…”
“Oh, sure…”
Kirito slowly started talking after he laid his head on his hands. He told me about the time when he got trapped by MPK—– criminals who purposely gathered mobs to ambush other players in a dungeon, and fought a boss mob with low damage but an obscene amount of health for two full days by taking turns to sleep with other players. There was also when he rolled dice with 100 other players for a rare item. All of his stories were thrilling, delightful, and somewhat humorous. His stories also made one thing obvious—– he was one of the Clearers, those who risk their lives on the frontline. But that also meant this person was burdened with the fates of thousands of players. He wasn’t the type of person who should risk his life just to save me.
I turned toward Kirito and looked at his face. His black eyes were reflecting the light from the stove.
“Hey… Kirito, can I ask you something…?”
“–What’s so serious all of a sudden?”
“Why did you save me at that moment…? There was no guarantee that you would have succeeded. Well, it was more likely that you were just going to die with me, so… why……?”
Kirito’s expression hardened for a second, but he immediately relaxed to his usual face and responded with a calm voice:
“…I would rather die alongside them than watch someone else die without doing anything. Especially if that someone is a girl like you, Liz.”
“…You really are an idiot. You are probably the only one who would say such a thing.”
Although I retorted sarcastically, my eyes couldn’t help but weep. A part of my heart ached, and I tried my hardest to control and hide it. I haven’t heard such stubborn, upright, and warm words since I came to this world. No, I haven’t heard such words even before in the real world.
The painful feelings of loneliness and wanting to interact with others more that had been buried deep within a corner of my heart suddenly flared and engulfed me like a tempest. I wanted Kirito’s warmth close enough for my heart to feel–
Without realizing it, the words spilled forth from my mouth:
“Would you… hold my hand?”
I turned towards Kirito, pulled my right arm out of the sleeping bag, and reached towards my left.
Kirito’s eyes widened slightly, but he answered ‘yes’ in a small voice and held out his left hand. When our fingers touched, we both jerked our hands away for a second, but then reached in again to grasp our hands together.
I held onto Kirito’s hand tightly, which was a lot warmer than the soup that I just ate. Although the back of my hand was still laying on the ice, I didn’t feel any coldness. I felt human warmth. I felt like I had finally figured out what was the longing that had settled in a corner of my heart ever since I came to this world.
Because I was afraid of becoming aware of the fact that this world was an illusion– that my real body was somewhere far away, unreachable no matter how hard I tried, I continued to set goals for myself and focused everything on my job. I convinced myself that leveling up my blacksmithing skills and expanding my store was my reality.
But some part of me always realized that this was all a fake, nothing more than simple data. What I starved for was true human warmth.
Of course, Kirito’s body was also data. The warmth that I feel now were just electronic signals for my brain to react to. But I finally realized that it doesn’t matter. I can feel his heart—– whether in the real world or in this simulated world, this is the only truth.
As I held Kirito’s hand firmly, I smiled and closed my eyes. Although my heart was beating faster than ever, sleep came to me regrettably quick and dragged my consciousness into the pleasant darkness.
Part 3
A refreshingly sweet scent gradually drifted past my nose; I slowly opened my eyes and saw the entire world enveloped by a white glow. The dawning light, which had already been reflected several times down the icy walls, caused the snow at the bottom of the cave to glitter.
I shifted my eyes and noticed a teapot sitting atop the lantern, with vapor wavering above it. Looks like that’s where the smell was coming from. In front of the lantern sat a person in black clothes whose face I could only see from the side. But as soon as I saw that figure, a small flame seems to have ignited within my heart.
Kirito turned his head, revealed a tiny smile, and said:
“Morning.”
“……Morning.”
I replied. As I prepared to get up, I noticed that my right hand, which should have been hanging outside when I went to sleep, was neatly placed back inside the sleeping bag. I brought the warmth that lingered in that palm to my lips, and then suddenly jumped up.
Kirito brought a steaming mug to me, who had just crawled out onto the snow. After thanking him, I accepted the mug and sat down beside him. In it was a kind of flowery tea with a mint-like aroma which I had never tasted before. As I slowly drank the tea one sip at a time, allowing it to gently sink into my body. My heart pleasantly warmed up.
I shifted my body, leaning it right against Kirito’s. As I turned my head, our eyes met for an instant before quickly separating. For a short while, only the sounds of two people drinking tea could be heard.
“Hey……”
Finally, I murmured with a small voice while my eyes continued to stay fixed on my cup.
“Hmmm?”
“……If we really can’t get out of here, then what should we do?”
“Spend every day sleeping.”
“That sure was a quick reply. Think about it a little more!”
I smiled as I prodded Kirito’s arm with my elbow.
“……Although, that wouldn’t be bad either……”
After saying this, I began to lean my head towards Kirito’s shoulder—
“Ah……!?”
Kirito suddenly cried out and leaned forward. I, losing my support, ended up falling onto the ground with a plop.
“Geez, what was that for!”
I complained angrily as I straightened my torso back up, but Kirito stood up without even looking back. Following that, he sprinted towards the middle of that circular pit.
While in doubt, I also got up and followed him.
“Just what is it?”
“Oh, just a little……”
Kirito knelt down onto the floor and began to brush aside the snow, piled up on the ground, with both hands. He quickly dug up a deep hole as a scraping sound reverberated. And then-
“Ah!?”
A beam of silvery light suddenly flashed into my eyes. Something buried deep inside the snow was reflecting the light of the rising sun.
Kirito dug that thing out, seized it with both hands, and then stood back up. Unable to restrain my curiosity, I peered into it from an extremely close distance.
It was a transparent, silvery-white, rectangular object. Just slightly bigger than both of Kirito’s hands. It was of a familiar shape, with a familiar size— a metallic material. But I have yet to see one of this color.
I tapped the material lightly with my right hand’s fingers. An automatic window immediately popped up. The object was named “Crystalite Ingot”.
“This— isn’t this…”
As I looked up towards Kirito’s face, he too, nodded with a confused expression.
“Yeah… This is the metal we’ve been looking for… I wonder why is it here…”
“But, just why was it buried here?”
“Hmm……”
Kirito continued to stare at the ingot grasped in his right hand as he thought about it, before letting out a short, “Ah…”
“…The white dragon eats crystals…… which are refined in its stomach to become…… Hehe, so that’s how it goes!”
He seemed to have figured it out and started showing a smile, then tossed the metal ingot towards me. I hurriedly caught it with both hands and held it close to my chest.