After experiencing the "pleasure" of lifting high, Xiao Yui was reluctant to get off Ye Chi's shoulders...... So in the following journey, Xiao Yui has been dancing on Ye Chi's shoulders......

"Damn...... Why didn't you come to me...... Kirito is in a broken mind......

"It's a height suppression!"

"That's weird! You're ten centimeters taller than me, aren't you? ”

"That's a lot, isn't it? Ten centimeters is also a height! ”

"You guy!"

"You bite me!"

Lizzy on the side was also chanting "I want ...... too"

Asuna: [When will I try it?] (Looking at Ye Chi's shoulder...... ）

————————————————————————————

The first floor, the City of Initiation.

Last time I was here...... I came here half a year ago to solve the murder incident in the circle.,Although it was already a depression last time.,But now it's even more so.。

In principle, as the largest street, it is cheap and abundant, and the key point is that accommodation here is quite cheap, not only hotels, but also NPC-run accommodations, which can be rented at a much lower price than hostels - although the other floors are not absent, but because it is the most spacious floor, this type of resource is also the most.

However, as far as Ye Chi knew, there were no high-level players who stopped here. In addition to the equipment level is not high enough or other similar reasons, it may be necessary to add a "military".

The autocracy of the military...... Although the existence of this organization does ensure the normal life of a considerable number of players, its autocracy has brought a lot of annoyance to other players who do not belong to the "army......

There is one more, a very important one......

It's home to a large number of players waiting for rescue in the neighborhood.

This kind of person is almost rotten in Ye Chi's opinion......

Doing nothing, thinking about nothing, just waiting for outside rescue or the struggle of other players to free themselves, stay in the safe zone and silently watch the outside world.

Ye Chi has seen this kind of person, just like the war refugees he saw in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and South Sudan when his father participated in peacekeeping, the difference is that the latter needs to face death every day, and even spend half of his life in wars, plagues, and natural disasters - maybe a lifetime, as long as the five dead merchants have no desire to end the war.

The former grew up in a vision of peace, especially in a country that has been without war for almost 80 years (original time 2022).

Ye Chi shook his head, touched his head with an inopportune reverie, and said to the little Yui behind him: "Yui, do you think you have seen the building?"

"Uh......h a"

Yui looked at the connected stone buildings around the square with an annoyed expression, but it didn't take long for her to shake her head.

"I don't know ......"

"After all, the starting town is too big to be."

Kirito said as he touched Yui's head.

"Wandering around should remind her of something, anyway, let's go to the Central Market first."

"Yes."

The four of them looked at each other and walked over to the street where they could see the south.

It's terrible to have fewer people.

The Shiftgate Plaza in the Startup Town is quite large enough to accommodate 10,000 players when it opened two years ago. In the center of the circular space with a stone floor, a large clock tower stands, and below it is a transfer door that glows with blue light. The concentric slender flowerbeds that surround the tower extend outward, lined with elegant white benches. It's not surprising that a sunny afternoon like this is a bit noisy because it's full of players taking a break for a while. But all the figures in sight moved towards the transfer door or the exit of the plaza, and there were almost no people stopping or sitting on the benches.

If it's a massive street on the upper floor, the Diversion Gate Square is always a mixed bag because of the myriad of players coming and going. Some people gossip from all over the world, some recruit team members, and some people set up simple stalls to sell, and it is almost impossible to move forward in a straight line because of the crowd of people gathered-

"Hey, Kirito, I'm asking you something."

"What?"

"How many people are there in the City of Initiation now?"

"Well, that's it...... There are about 6,000 players still alive, and about 30% of the players, including the 'army', remain in the starting town, so it's about 2,000, right?"

"In that case, don't you think there are too few people?"

"Listen to you...... Will they all gather at the market?"

However, even when you enter the street from the plaza and reach the market area with shops and vendors side by side, the streets are still very deserted, and only the shouts of chaotic NPC merchants echo through the street.

It's noisy, but there are no people, real, soulful people.

Although the people who are still here really don't have any souls to speak of.

But there's nothing to blame.,It's definitely a person who can keep calm in the face of life and death.。

Even Ye Chi has an attachment to life.

Although there was no one, Asuna found a man sitting under a large tree in the middle of the street, so she walked over and asked:

"Well, I'm sorry."

The man who looked up at the tree with a particularly serious expression replied in a troublesome tone without looking back:

"What's the matter?"

"That...... Is there a place like a tracing window around here?"

Hearing this, the man finally turned his gaze to Asuna, and stared at her face unceremoniously.

"You're from somewhere else?"

"Yes, yes...... We are looking for a guardian of this child......"

As he spoke, he pointed to Yui, who was being dozing in a daze, which Ye Chi was holding behind him.

The man, who was dressed in a simple and light suit, and it was difficult to distinguish the group he belonged to, was somewhat surprised when he glanced at Yui, but he immediately turned his gaze to the tree on his head.

“…… Lost kids? It's really unusual...... There are a lot of imp players who live in the church by the river in the East 7th District, so go and ask over there. ”

"Thank you, thank you."

Because of the powerful information obtained by accident, Asuna quickly bowed her head and thanked her, and also took the opportunity to ask other questions.

"That...... What are you doing here? And why aren't there any people here?"

Although the man showed a displeased expression, he still replied in a tactful tone:

"Actually, I'd love to tell you that it's a trade secret, but since you're a foreigner, that's fine...... You should be able to see that too, right? That tall branch. ”

Asuna looked in the direction the man was pointing. The branches of the tall street trees are covered with bright autumn leaves, and if you look closely, you can see a few yellow fruits growing in the shadow of the leaves.

"Of course, because the street tree is an indestructible object, even if you climb it, you won't be able to pick a single leaf, let alone a fruit."

The man continued.

"But that fruit drops a few times a day...... Although it will rot and disappear after only a few minutes, if you pick it up at the chance, you can sell it to NPCs for a good price, and it tastes good. ”

"Huh-"

When it comes to ingredients and props, Asuna, who has fully acquired her cooking skills, is very interested.

"How much can that sell for?"

“…… Please keep this confidential. One can be sold for five kol. ”

“…………”

Looking at the man's smug expression, Asuna was speechless for an instant. In addition to being surprised that the price was too cheap, I also felt that it was completely incompatible with the labor of staying under the tree all day.

"W-That...... Should I say that this is completely unprofitable...... If you go to the practice area and knock down a wild boar at random, you can earn 30 kers. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, this time it was the man's turn to widen his eyes. He barely said, "Is there something wrong with your head?" The spoken-eyes looked at Asuna.

"Are you serious? Go to the practice area and fight the monsters...... This is a dead man!"

Asuna couldn't reply. As the man said, the battle with the monster is indeed close to death. But as far as Asuna's current feeling is concerned, it's the same as worrying about getting into a traffic accident when she walks on the streets in the real world, and it's useless to say that worrying.

Asuna was momentarily unable to tell if her feelings about SAO's death had become dull, or if the man was too neurotic and was at a loss. Neither side of the equation is the right answer. However, in the beginning town, what the man said must have been the common people's cognition.

Completely oblivious to Asuna's complicated feelings, the man continued:

"Huh? What else did you ask? Why no one? Actually, it's not that no one is there, it's just that everyone is hiding in the hotel room. During the day, there is a possibility that you will run into the army's taxing troops. ”

"Levy and Tax...... What's going on here?"

"It's a rogue with a card. Be careful, those guys won't be polite to outsiders. Oh, there's a fruit that's about to fall...... That's all for now. ”

The man closed his mouth and began to stare into the air with serious eyes. Asuna nodded her head in thanks, but found that Kirito had been silent during the conversation so far, so she turned away.

I saw Kirito show serious eyes that he hadn't even seen in the middle of the battle, staring at the yellow fruit. It seems that he intends to take the next fallen fruit with all his might.

"Stop, really!"

"Because, because it's so caring!"

"Really!" Liz grabbed Kirito by the collar and dragged him away......

"Ahhh......h It looks delicious......"

"Leave that alone, where is the East 7th District? The younger players seem to live in the church, so let's go over there first. ”

“…… Be. ”

After taking Yui, who was completely asleep, and holding it steadily, Asuna walked to Ye Chi, who was staring at the map, and moved towards the set goal.

Yui's physique looks like she is about ten years old, and if she were held like this in the real world, it would only take a few minutes for her arms to become sore. But here, because of the correction of the tendon value, the weight on the hand is the same as that of a feather.

After walking along the wide road where there were still few people, I walked southeast for more than ten minutes, and finally arrived at an area that looked like a large garden. A forest of coloured broad-leaved trees swayed in the cold wind of early winter.

"Well—as far as the map goes, this is the East Seventh District...... Where is that church?"

"Ah, it should be over there, right?"

Asuna looked at the extraordinarily tall minaret across the wide forest on the right hand side of the road, and showed her direction with her gaze. At the top of the tower, with its blue-gray roof, a metal ancient Egyptian cross made of a cross and a circle gleamed. That must be the symbol of the church. This is a facility that has at least one in each town, and the internal altar can be used to remove the monster's special attack "curse", as well as to pray for weapons against undead monsters. This is arguably the most mysterious place in SAO, where there is almost no magical element. In addition, as long as you continue to pay Kol, you can borrow a small room in the church instead of a hotel.

"Oh, really...... This church...... It's so small......" Liz exclaimed in faux puff

"Strictly speaking...... This can't be a church, is it? This should be a chapel...... Ye Chi also felt the dilapidated and narrow nature of this church, and frowned slightly.

"Hey, Levy, wait a minute!"

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"Ah, nothing...... That one...... If we find Yui's guardian here, we will put ...... Yui stays here, right......?"

“…………”

Ye Chi was silent, indeed, around Yui, the cute little Lori, the two people—no, it was the two pairs of people who seemed to have added vitality in the past two days, and the dull gray Eingrant on the main body added a touch of brightness.

"I don't want to be separated from her either. How to say that...... With Yui, the home in the forest becomes like a real home...... That's what I think...... However, this is by no means never to see each other again. When Yui recovers her memory, she will definitely come back to us. ”

"Hmm...... That's right. ”

Nodding slightly, Asuna pressed her cheek to Yui in her arms, determined to take a step.

"Shh......h Someone ......" Ye Chi's face suddenly turned grim, stopping Asuna's steps.

Ye Chi had sensed that someone was peeping at this place from just now.

As mentioned above, Ye Chi can feel something similar to the murderous ability to feel the attention of others in VR.

There are at least ten or more people to have such a huge sense of being spied on.

"Four from the left and two from the right, seven people upstairs...... And much more! Ye Chi counted in Eagle Vision...... "Adults downstairs...... The rest are children......"

Ye Chi's heart was settled and he pushed open the stone door. Sticking only her upper body into the mouth, Asuna called out:

"Is there anyone there, please?"

The sound dragged on with the echo effect fading, but no one showed up.

"Isn't everyone here......?" Asuna asks "No, it can't be, I can't go wrong with my feelings......"

"We're here to find someone!" Ye Chi raised his voice slightly, and then—the door on the right hand opened slightly, and a faint female voice came from within:

“…… Aren't you the 'army'?"

"No, we're from above."

The four were completely unarmed – at least in the eyes of others, with a small child......

Fools can see it......

Soon, the door opened, and a female player appeared tremblingly.

He has short dark blue hair and large black-rimmed glasses, and his dark green eyes are wide open under the glasses. She was dressed in a plain dark blue dress and held a small dagger in her sheath.

"Really...... Not the army's tax brigade ......?"

Asuna smiled and nodded in order to reassure the woman.

"Yes, we are looking for talents to come down from the top here, and it has nothing to do with the army."

That's when —

"From above? So you're a real swordsman?"

"Ahh That's right! Kirito pretended to be great.

Then they were surrounded by bear children......

——————————————————————————————

…… This university is so pitiful...... Although the military training is a little late, I am so busy before the start of school!

The failure rate is the first in the country?

I'm almost scared to pee......