Sword Art Online - Volume 1 - Aincrad (27 page)

“
Uwa, I want to see it!
”
 

Asuna exclaimed as her eyes sparkled. Then, Nishida caught my gaze and said:

“
So I have a proposal
—
do you have confidence in your strength stats Kirito-san
…
?
”
 

“
Well, it should be alright
…”
 

“
Then how about we fish for it together?! I
’
ll hold it until it bites and then leave the rest to you.
”
 

“
Hmm, so we
’
ll «Switch» while fishing
…
would that be possible
…
?
”
 

I tilted my head to the side.

“
Let
’
s try it, Kirito! It sounds interesting!
”
 

Asuna said this with “excitement” written all over her face. But, it was true that I was also quite interested.

“
Then let’s have a go at it.
”
 

As I answered, a smile spread across Nishida
’
s face.

“That’s the spirit, wa-ha-ha.”

That night.

After exclaiming, “Coldcold,” Asuna crawled into the bed, then pushed her body against mine and made a sound of satisfaction. She blinked sleepily and then smiled as if she had just thought of something.

“…
there
’
re so many different people here.
”
 

“
He was interesting, wasn
’
t he?
”
 

“
Yeah.
”
 

Asuna then suddenly removed her smile and muttered:

“
Up until now, I had only fought on the upper floors. I had completely forgotten that there were people who lived normal lives
…”
 

“
I don
’
t mean that we
’
re special; but since we
’
re on a high enough level to fight on the front lines, I suppose it also means that we have an obligation to them.
”
 

“…
I had never thought about it like that
…
I always felt that becoming stronger was just a way to survive.
”
 

“
I think that a lot of people are going to be counting on you from now on. Of course that includes me.
”
 

“…
except with my personality, hearing these kind of expectations only makes me want to run away.
”
 

“
Oh you.
”
 

As Asuna pouted in dissatisfaction, I stroked her hair and hoped for this life to continue for a while longer. For Nishida and the other players, we have to return to the front lines at some point. But at least for now-

Based on the messages that Egil and Cline had sent me, I knew that they were having a hard time trying to clear the seventy-fifth floor. However, I believed from the bottom of my heart, that the most important thing to me right now was this life with Asuna.

Three days later, Nishida informed us in the morning that he was going to fish for the local god. Around thirty people would be there to watch, as it seemed that he had told his fishermen friends about this.

“This is troublesome. Asuna…what should we do?”

“Hm~mmm…”

To tell the truth, we weren’t all that happy about this. We had come here to hide from the gossipers and Asuna’s fans, so we were a little hesitant about appearing before so many people.

“How about this?!”

Asuna gathered her hair and pushed it up. Then she covered her face up to her eyes with a huge scarf. She didn’t stop there and pressed some buttons on her menu window to put on a plain overcoat.

“Y-Yeah. Pretty good. You look like a proper farmer’s wife.”

“…is that, a compliment?”

“Of course. In my case, they’re not going to recognize me as long as I don’t equip battle gear.”

Before the sun even rose, I walked out of the house with Asuna, who was carrying our picnic basket. She could have just called it out when we got there, but she insisted that it was part of the disguise.

Today was warm for an early winter day. After walking through the forest of huge pine trees for a while, we could finally see the sparkling water between the trunks. A lot of people had already gathered there. As I approached nervously, a familiar stout figure waved to us as he laughed.

“Wa-ha-ha, it’s a relief that we have such great weather today!”

“Hello, Nishida oji-san.”

Asuna and I nodded our heads. He told us that the assembly of people here from various age groups were all members of a fishing guild that Nishida ran. We greeted everyone nervously, but it seemed nobody recognized Asuna.

Putting that aside, Nishida oji-san was far more active than I imagined. He must have been a good team leader within his company. The atmosphere was already spirited, as the group had been holding a fishing competition before our arrival.

“Eh~ so, today’s main event will finally be starting!”

Nishida loudly announced this as he walked towards us with a long fishing rod in his hand, and the spectators cheered in excitement. I looked at the fishing rod he was carrying, my eyes tracing down the pole without much thought before the item at its end surprised me.

It was a lizard, an abnormally large one at that. It was as long as an adult’s forearm. Its poisonous-looking red and black skin shone as if to emphasize its freshness.

“Hiiiii
—
”

Asuna noticed it even later than I did, and her expression froze as she took several steps back from it. If this was the bait, then what we were trying to catch must be unbelievable.

But before I had any time to ask, Nishida turned towards the lake and raised his fishing rod. With a short shout, he swung it in an impressive form, and the huge lizard drew an arc in midair before falling into the water with a large splash.

Fishing required almost no waiting time within SAO. Once you put the bait in the water, either a fish took the bite within a few dozen seconds, or you lost the bait. We swallowed involuntarily as we watched as the line sank into the water.

After just a few moments, the fishing rod twitched several times. But Nishida didn’t even move an inch.

“It’s, it’s here Nishida-san!”

“It’s still too early!”

Behind Nishida’s glasses, the two eyes that usually belonged to a good-natured grandfather were shining with light. Nishida continued to watch the end of the rod without moving as it twitched.

Then the rod jerked harder.

“Now!”

Nishida strained his small body backwards and pulled the rod using his whole body. I could tell the rope was really tight just by looking at it, which also gave off a twanging sound effect.

“It took the bait!! I’ll entrust the rest to you!!”

I cautiously pulled the rod that Nishida had handed over, but it didn’t even budge one bit. It felt as if the fish hook had caught onto something embedded into the ground. I looked back at Nishida, worried if the fish had really bitten, and then within the blink of an eye
—
 

The rope started pulling into the water with a burst of power.

“Ahhh!”

I quickly dug my feet into the ground and pulled it up again. The strength-applied gauge quickly went past the normal mode.

“I-Is it okay to strain this?”

I asked Nishida as I worried about the durability of the fishing pole.

“It’s of the highest quality! You can pull on it all you want!”

Nishida nodded, his face already red from excitement. I corrected my grip on the rod and then pulled with all my strength. The fishing rod bent around the middle and became a huge U.

As each player levels up, they can choose to raise either strength or dexterity. Axe-users such as Egil would opt for strength, while rapier-users like Asuna would focus on their dexterity. Although I was a normal sword user and raised both of them, my personal preferences prioritized dexterity somewhat more than strength.

But I seemed to be winning this tug of war, most probably because my level itself was so high. I slowly stepped backwards, steadily forcing the huge thing out of the water.

“Ah, I can see it!!”

Asuna leaned over the water and pointed to it. I was leaning backwards and further away from the lake so I couldn’t check. The spectators got louder and rushed forward to look into the water, which quickly deepened as it left the shore. I couldn’t suppress my curiosity and focused all of my strength to tug at the fishing rod.

“…?”

Suddenly, something startled all the spectators that had been leaning over the water. Each one of them took a few steps back.

“What’s wrong…?”

Before I even finished talking, they all turned around and ran away. Even Asuna and Nishida ran past me from either side with white faces. I was about to look back towards them when
—
the weight lifted from my hands and I fell down on my backside.

Ah, did the rope snap!?

As I thought that, I threw the rod away and ran towards the lake. At that moment, the glittering water surface of the lake suddenly surged upwards.

“Eh-!?”

I froze on the spot with my eyes wide open, and at this moment I heard Asuna’s faraway voice:

“Kiritooo
—
it’s dangerous
—
!!!”

When I turned around, I saw Asuna, Nishida, and everyone else had already gotten up the embankment that rose from the edge of the lake, which was quite far away from me. I could hear the water splashing loudly behind me as I finally began to understand the situation. Then, with a feeling of uneasiness, I turned back around.

The fish was standing.

To
be
more
precise,
the
creature
was
like
a
Coelacanth
 
[2]
,
a
cross
between
fish
and
reptiles,
except
this
one
leaned
more
towards
the
reptile
side.
It
stood
there
on
the
grass
with
its
six
powerful
legs
and
looked
down
upon
me
as
water
streamed
off
it
like
waterfalls.
 

I said “looked down” because this thing was at least two meters tall. Its mouth, which seemed like it could swallow a cow whole, was positioned just a bit higher than my head with a familiar looking lizard leg sticking out of it.

From either side of this ancient colossal fish’s head, two basketball-sized eyes met with those of my own. A yellow cursor appeared automatically to mark it as a monster.

Nishida had told us that the local god of this lake was a monster in a different sense from those that appeared in the fields.

How was it different? This thing was a monster in every sense of the word.

I forced a smile and took a couple of steps backwards. Then I turned around and scrambled off. The huge fish behind me gave a thunderous roar and then started following me with steps that shook the ground.

I pushed my dexterity stats to the limit and ran as if I was flying. I reached Asuna within a few seconds and complained loudly:

“Th-Th-That was unfair! Running away by yourself!!”

“Uwa, Kiritothisisn’tthetimetobesayingthat!!”

I turned around and saw the huge fish running towards us with an impressive speed despite its sheer size.

“Ooh,
it’s
running
on
the
ground…
So
it’s
a
dipnoan
[3]
…?”
 

“Kirito-san, this isn’t the time to be saying pointless things like that!! We should run away quickly!!”

This time it was Nishida who shouted in fear. The dozens of spectators were in a state of shock from the situation, and quite a few of them was sitting on the ground with blank expressions.

“Kirito, did you bring your weapons?”

Asuna said as she brought her head right next to mine. Yeah, it would be pretty hard to get everybody ordered enough to escape in this sort of situation
—
 

“Sorry, I didn’t…”

“Oh well, I don’t have any choice then…”

Asuna shook her head as she turned to face the huge fish that was nearing us. She quickly manipulated the menu with a sure hand.

As Nishida and the other spectators watched with surprise, Asuna took off her overcoat and scarf with her back to us. Her chestnut hair danced wildly in the wind as it reflected the sunlight.

Although she wore only a grass-colored long skirt and a shirt of hemp cloth, a rapier shone at the left side of her hip like a mirror. She drew it with her right hand, and the sword gave a clear ringing noise as she waited resolutely for the huge fish to come.

Nishida, who was standing beside me, finally got back to his senses and shook my arm while shouting:

“Kirito-san! Your, your wife is in danger!!”

“No, we can just let her handle this.”

“What are you saying!? I-If that’s what you’re going to say then I’ll…”

He snatched a fishing rod from a nearby companion and prepared to rush to Asuna with a tragic expression on his face. I had to quickly stop this old fisherman.

The gigantic fish didn’t slow down one bit. It opened its huge mouth, which was lined with countless sharp teeth, and threw its entire body at Asuna as if trying to swallow her whole. Asuna turned the left side of her body away from the fish while her right hand flew out with a silver-white light streaming behind it.