The alarm ringing by her ear made Silica slowly open her eyes. It was a wake-up alarm only she could hear, set for seven in the morning. She lifted the blanket and sat up. Usually, she would linger in bed, but today she woke up feeling surprisingly refreshed.
Thanks to a deep, full sleep, her mind felt as clear as if it had just been washed clean.
Just as Silica stretched widely and prepared to get out of bed, her whole body froze.
In the morning sunlight spilling through the window, someone was sitting in the chair. His upper body leaned against the backrest, asleep, both arms folded before his chest and his head slightly lowered. Just as she thought there was an intruder and drew in a breath to scream, she finally remembered where she had slept last night.
Yurnero-san had not just kept watch for a while. He had stayed until he was so tired that he fell asleep right there in the room.
The instant she realized that, her cheeks grew hotter than they had ever been. In SAO, where emotional expressions were exaggerated, steam might really have been rising from her head. Unable to tell whether she was embarrassed or apologetic, Silica covered her face with both hands and squirmed.
After taking several dozen seconds to calm her thoughts, Silica quietly got out of bed, stepped lightly around to Yurnero's front, and stared at his face.
Even asleep, his brow remained slightly furrowed, as though he were thinking about something. Compared to when he was awake, his face looked much softer, but she could still feel the gap between his age and the length of the road he had walked.
She did not know when he had finally fallen asleep last night. Silica wanted to let him rest a little longer, but they could not stay like this forever, so she prepared to lightly tap his shoulder.
But before her hand touched him, his body gave a faint tremble, and he immediately opened his eyes. What flashed through them first was absolute calm and vigilance. Only after he blinked and looked at Silica's face for several seconds did the caution in his pupils gradually fade.
"Sorry."
His lips moved, and his voice sounded a little dry after going all night without water.
"I'm a light sleeper."
He probably said that because he saw Silica's slightly panicked expression.
"No, it's not..."
"I spent a period of time resting in Labyrinth Areas before. Without realizing it, I developed the habit of waking up whenever there's movement nearby."
He thought for a moment, softened his tone, and smiled faintly.
"I rested well tonight too. Besides, in this world, no matter what posture you sleep in, your muscles won't ache."
Yurnero stood as he said this, though he still stretched out his body. Then, as if remembering something, he lowered his head to look at Silica and spoke.
"...Anyway, good morning."
"Ah, good morning."
The two looked at each other.
They went to the first floor and ate a proper breakfast for their challenge of the Hill of Memories on the forty-seventh floor. By the time they stepped out onto the street, bright sunlight had already covered the entire town. Day players preparing to set out on adventures and night players just returning from late-night hunts passed each other with opposite expressions.
After restocking potions and other recovery items at the item shop beside the inn, the two headed for the Teleport Gate plaza. They reached the Teleport Gate without running into the group of players who had tried to recruit her yesterday. Just as they were about to leap into the blue-glowing transfer space, Silica stopped.
"Ah... I still don't know the name of the town on the forty-seventh floor..."
Just as she was about to open the map and check, Yurnero held out his right hand first.
"It's fine. I'll designate it."
After a brief pause, Silica timidly took his hand.
A virtual body's skin was not supposed to feel rough or smooth. And yet, from his palm, she could somehow feel the traces built up from countless battles.
"Teleport, Floria."
His voice and a dazzling light spread out at the same time, enveloping them both.
Immediately after the sensation of instantaneous transfer, the effect light faded, and all kinds of brilliant colors rushed into Silica's vision.
"Waaah...!"
She could not help cheering.
The Teleport Gate plaza of the forty-seventh floor's main street area was covered with countless flowers. Narrow roads crossed through the circular plaza, while the rest of the space was filled with brick-bordered flowerbeds. Unknown flowers and plants bloomed inside them, competing in vivid color.
"It's amazing..."
"People usually call this floor the Garden of Flowers. It's not just the streets. The whole floor is covered in flowers. Outside the Labyrinth Area, there are even views that could be called seas of flowers. If you have the time and interest later, you can also visit the Flower Forest to the north."
"Let's save that for next time."
Silica smiled at the person beside her, then could not resist crouching in front of the flowerbed. She leaned her face close to a pale blue flower that looked a little like a cornflower and gently smelled its fragrance. From the five petals with their delicate veins, to the white stamens and pale green stem, the flower had been made with astonishing precision.
Of course, including every flower blooming in this flowerbed, it was impossible for all the plants and buildings in Aincrad to always exist as objects this detailed. If they did, no matter how powerful SAO's servers were, the system resources would be exhausted in an instant.
To avoid that while still providing players with an environment as realistic as the real world, SAO used a structure called the Digital Focusing System. The moment a player took interest in an object and focused their gaze on it, only that object's true details would be rendered.
Ever since hearing about this system, Silica had been restrained by the compulsive idea that becoming interested in all kinds of things would place a needless burden on the system, and she had grown timid because of it. But only now, driven by a feeling she could not suppress, she kept moving among the flowerbeds and admiring the flowers.
"Someone once said that if you could pay attention to many things at the same time, maybe you could use the Digital Focusing System to greatly raise a character's Search ability."
Seeing Silica happily enjoying herself, Yurnero could not help saying it.
"Can something like that be done?"
Silica asked in surprise.
"Probably not. After all, we only have one pair of eyes, and we aren't machines that can freely divide the work in our brains."
He shook his head.
Besides, the human brain already had a hard time just clinging to this vast amount of data. He could not help pressing a hand to his forehead. The pain from that tearing sensation he once felt still refused to leave him.
After enjoying the fragrance to her heart's content, Silica finally stood and looked around again.
The people on the flower-lined paths were almost all pairs of men and women. Every couple was holding hands or linking arms, walking and laughing together happily. It seemed this place had already become that kind of spot. Silica raised her head and glanced at Yurnero, who stood calmly beside her.
Would he misunderstand...?
As if to hide the sudden redness in her cheeks caused by that thought, Silica spoke with forced energy.
"L-Let's go! Toward the Labyrinth Area!"
"Mm."
Yurnero looked over the players around them, smiled wryly in helplessness, and began walking side by side with Silica.
"I just hope this doesn't cause trouble later."
He murmured in a rather troubled voice.
"What?"
It was the first time Silica had heard such a complicated tone from him.
"...I have a friend who might be unhappy because of this."
"Eh?"
Silica froze. Then, as if prompted by a girl's intuition, she immediately asked back.
"Is it a female friend?"
"Uh... yeah."
Yurnero nodded.
So he does have friends... and a woman, too.
Thinking about it carefully, someone who remained on his friend list had to be a partner who could stand shoulder to shoulder with him in strength. It could not be someone he simply chatted with. Perhaps they had partied together for a long time and built a deeper bond by fighting nonstop at the most dangerous edges of this death game.
For no reason, she felt a little disappointed. Fortunately, both of them deliberately avoided that topic.
After they left the Teleport Gate plaza, the town's main street was also buried in a sea of flowers. Silica and Yurnero walked side by side through it, while she thought back to how they had met yesterday.
She could hardly believe that not even a full day had passed since then. This player, whose name was still almost all she knew, had already grown so present in her heart.
Silica unconsciously stole a look at his expression, but his face barely changed, so she could not understand anything more from it. After hesitating for a while, Silica made up her mind and prepared to speak.
But he was beaten to it.
"It's better to stay alert."
Yurnero spoke calmly, eyes still facing forward.
"W-Why are you saying that all of a sudden?"
"Because at the very least, it's never wrong."
After a while, Yurnero continued.
"It's naturally a good thing to have others help you, but the human heart is hard to read. You're still young, so you may not be very conscious of that yet. But you should still remember it. Take me, for example. I only happened to help you a little, which may have given you a good first impression, but..."
He sighed softly.
"What if I were actually a loli-con? Or the kind who's good at hiding himself, likes wandering around lower floors, specifically looks for players in trouble, makes a dashing entrance to defeat the monsters, then slowly eats away at his prey and lures them into a trap. A scumbag type who casts a long line to catch a big fish?"
"Eeeh?!"
As expected, Silica backed away several steps.
"Of course, I'm not actually like that. It's only a hypothetical."
He quickly added.
"But what if saying that is also deliberate? What if it's all to raise your affection or something? Lies that expose a bit of the truth are often harder to see through!"
"Mm... Looks like your guard went up all at once. That's not bad."
Yurnero glanced at the flustered girl and silently lit a cigarette.
Before they knew it, the two had already reached the south gate of the street area. Vines climbed around the huge arch made of thin silver steel, blooming with countless white flowers. The main street passed through that arch, turning into a road surrounded by green hills before disappearing into the spring haze beyond.
"Well then, it's about time we begin the adventure..."
"Yes!"
Silica nodded seriously.
"With your level and that equipment, the monsters here are not enemies you can't defeat."
As he spoke, he searched through the small pouch on his belt, then took out a water-blue crystal and placed it in Silica's hand. It was a Teleport Crystal.
"But if anything unexpected happens, the moment I tell you to run, use this Teleport Crystal immediately. As long as you reach a safe town, it doesn't matter where."
"B-But..."
"There's no reason to refuse."
Returning to that tone that allowed no argument, Yurnero glanced at her.
Though statistically speaking, the chance of something happening to you while you stay by my side is almost negligible.
"Let's go."
"Yes!"
Silica checked the dagger equipped at her waist and resolved herself. At the very least, she would not panic like yesterday. She would fight with everything she had.
...
However.
"Y-Yaaahhh! What is that? It's so gross!"
After they advanced south through the forty-seventh floor's Labyrinth Area for a few minutes, they soon encountered their first monster.
But...
"Nooo! Don't come closer!"
The thing that pushed through the tall grass had an appearance Silica had never even imagined. To describe it simply, it was a walking flower. Its dark green stem was as thick as a human arm, while the roots split into several branches that stood firmly on the ground.
At the top of the stem, or perhaps its body, was a huge yellow flower resembling a sunflower. In the middle was a wide-open mouth full of teeth, revealing a poisonous-looking red interior.
Two plump vines extended from around the center of the stem. Its arms and mouth seemed to be its attacking weapons. The man-eating flower showed a disgusting smile and waved its arms, or perhaps its tentacles, as it rushed toward Silica. Because she loved flowers so much, the monster's exaggerated ugliness stirred an even stronger physical revulsion in her.
"I don't want this!"
She swung her dagger wildly, almost with her eyes closed.
"This thing is actually very weak. If you aim for the slightly white part below the flower, you can easily..."
Standing a little behind her, ready to step in at any moment, Yurnero pressed his forehead and spoke with some helplessness.
"B-But it's really disgusting!"
"After this, there will be even more monsters with lots of flowers, ones that resemble insect-eating plants, and even types covered in wet, sticky tentacles."
"Yaaah!"
Silica got goosebumps at his words, screamed, and swung her dagger again. The blade caught the man-eating flower's neck, and the thick stalk snapped in two. Its head rolled to the ground, and after letting out a shrill scream, both the flower's head and body vanished with a shattering sound.
"Ah... it's so weak."
Silica muttered blankly, somewhat stunned.
"..."
Silica sighed and sheathed her dagger, then turned around and asked nervously.
"Um... don't tell me all the monsters on this floor are like that?"
"Ninety percent of them are."
In front of Yurnero, who had his arms folded, Silica's shoulders slumped all at once.
That said, after about ten battles, Silica finally grew used to how the monsters looked, and the two of them smoothly and quickly worked through their route. Though when they encountered a monster that looked a little like a sea anemone and its slime-covered tentacles wrapped around her whole body, she did think for a moment that she might faint.
The other person in her party basically did not attack during battles. He stayed firmly in a support role, only using his curved sword to deflect attacks when he sensed Silica was in danger.
In party clears, EXP was distributed according to the proportion of damage dealt to the monster. That was also the reason he did not clear the monsters himself.
And because she kept defeating high-level monsters, her EXP increased at several times the usual rate, so Silica's level rose by one almost immediately.
Following the red-brick road straight ahead, they came to a small bridge spanning a stream. On the other side stood a fairly tall hill, with the road winding around it all the way to the top.
"That's the Hill of Memories."
Yurnero glanced at it, compared it with the information in his memory, and said so.
"From here, it looks like we can just go straight, right?"
"All you have to do is climb it. You don't need to worry about getting lost, but the number of monsters will increase. Don't let your guard down."
"Yes!"
Just a little more. Only a little more, and Pina could be revived.
Thinking that, her footsteps naturally quickened.
Just as Yurnero had said, once they stepped onto the mountain path blooming with colorful flowers, the encounter rate suddenly shot up. The plant-type monsters also grew larger. Even so, the Shadow Dagger he had given Silica was stronger than expected. With a single combo, she could defeat most of them.
"It was originally a fully enhanced weapon. A long time ago, I also used it as my off-hand weapon. For some reason, it just kept sitting in my inventory."
When she could not help asking, that was the vague answer she got. After all, ever since Silica met him, Yurnero had always used a curved sword.
When she saw him cut down two Drunk Ape Men with a single strike, Silica had guessed that he was an extremely high-level player. But even now, twelve floors above that place, that sense of leeway had not faded at all. Even when multiple monsters appeared at once, he could instantly destroy them, leaving only one behind while helping Silica from the side.
When she first asked whether he was part of the frontliners... he had not nodded, but that answer had not exactly been a denial either, had it?
But the more that seemed true, the harder it was to shake the question of why such a high-level player had come down to the lower floors. From the way he spoke, she could tell he had gone to the Forest of Wandering for some purpose, but there were no rumors of rare items or special monsters there.
While Silica thought she would ask after the adventure ended, she kept swinging her dagger. During that time, the winding path grew steeper and steeper. After they repelled increasingly powerful monster attacks and passed through rows of tall, lush trees, they reached the top of the hill.
Silica could not help running a few steps forward and letting out a cheer.
It was a place that perfectly fit the name "flower field in the sky." Surrounded on all sides by trees, the open space was filled with beautiful flowers blooming in vivid competition.
"We're here."
Yurnero approached from behind while tucking the slender black curved sword into his tattered cloak. It disappeared like a magic trick, as if he had simply removed it from his equipment slot and put it back in his inventory.
"That flower... is here?"
"Mm. There's a rock near the center, right? It's there."
Before he had finished speaking, Silica had already run off. In the middle of the flower field, there was indeed a large rock glowing white. She ran breathlessly toward the chest-high rock and nervously peered over the top.
"Huh..."
But there was nothing there. Only short, threadlike grass grew on the hollowed top of the rock. There was no sign of anything resembling a flower.
"It's not here... It's not here, Yurnero-san!"
Silica turned toward Yurnero, who had followed after her, and cried out. Tears she could not stop spilled from her eyes.
"That guy may be unpleasant, but his information isn't wrong. Look again."
Urged on by Yurnero's certain gaze, Silica turned her eyes back to the top of the rock.
Then...
"Ah..."
Among the soft grass, a thin sprout was gradually growing. When she focused her gaze on it, the Digital Focusing System began to work, and the tender shoot instantly became vivid. Two pure white leaves opened like shells, and from the center grew a slender, pointed stem.
Like the fast-forward videos she had seen in biology class, the thin sprout rapidly grew taller and thicker. Before long, a large bud formed at its tip. The teardrop-shaped part, shining pure white, truly emitted a pearl-colored glow from within.
As Silica held her breath and watched, the tip of the bud slowly opened. With a clear, bell-like sound, the entire bud bloomed, and particles of light danced through the air.
For a long while, she did not move, staring at the white flower that had bloomed like a small miracle. Seven delicate petals spread like starlight, and a very gentle glow continuously poured from the center before dispersing into the air.
Feeling as though she could not possibly touch it with her hand, Silica quietly looked up at Yurnero. He gave a small nod.
Silica nodded too and gently reached her right hand toward the flower. When her hand touched the thread-thin stem, it shattered from the middle like ice, leaving only the flower resting in Silica's hand. Holding her breath, she tapped its surface with her finger, and a name window silently popped up.
Pneuma Flower.
With this... Pina can be revived, right...?
"According to that person, you only need to sprinkle the droplets stored inside the flower onto the Heart item. But it's better to do it after we return to town."
"Yes!"
Silica nodded, opened the main window, placed the flower on it, confirmed that it had entered her inventory, then closed the window.
To be honest, Silica wanted to use the Teleport Crystal to fly home in one go, but she held herself back and started walking. After all, an expensive crystal was something that should only be used in a true crisis, at the last possible moment.
Fortunately, they encountered almost no monsters on the return trip. They practically ran down to the foot of the mountain.
Now, after only an hour's walk through the streets, she would see Pina again.
Just as she desperately suppressed the urge in her heart and prepared to cross the bridge over the small river, Yurnero, walking behind her, suddenly placed a hand on her shoulder.
Silica turned back in surprise and saw Yurnero looking away indifferently, speaking in the same cold tone he had used when they first met.
"You can come out now."