The flickering light of the fire did not come from the fire they had raised, but from the strange-looking blue flames of the temple.

It was a quiet night, and as the language described, except for the sound of each other's heartbeats heard by the two people back to back, there was only the faint sound of wind and clouds.

Natsume was sitting behind Lizbet, his right hand outstretched, open and closed, looking at his moving five fingers.

This world is real to oneself, not an imaginary world in the eyes of others, but a pure, extremely simple reality.

Natsume couldn't figure out whether he was an AI set up by the system or a player wearing NERvGear in the 'real world' outside of SAO, so he couldn't be sure that he could only treat what he was experiencing as his own reality.

At the end of the day, the definition of authenticity is very vague.

After all, the degree of 'realness' varies from person to person, some people will take 'death' as real, some people will take 'crime' as real, and some people will take 'murder' as real, all of which prove-

The moment, the moment, the present, the present.

Everything you have experienced may be false or true.

Regardless of the outcome, you have to accept and obey, and if you want to rebel against fate, you can start by confirming your truth.

Natsume withdrew his right hand, and he looked at the sky outside the window in the temple, the black night sky had no moon or stars, only clouds with a very vague sense of existence.

Lizbet didn't rush herself, she clasped her legs with her hands, waiting for Natsume to speak on her own.

What to say?

Previous story. Once upon a time. Maybe tell her something. It will change Lizzebet's opinion of herself.

If that's the case, maybe you deserve it.

At that time, Natsume spoke, and he clearly felt that his sudden speech startled the girl behind him.

Her movements are as cute as a kitten, making Natsume snicker on the side.

"Before, it should have been the boss of the forty-second layer that the strategy team had just attacked, and I got a lot of information on that layer."

That's due to the small size of the 42nd floor, but each hunting location is perfect for ambushing the player. With a lot of grass, rocks, rugged mountain roads, etc., it has become a location for many murder guild activities.

During that time, the Murder Guild was very rampant, and many high-level guilds also issued many wanted warrants, but not many people dared to accept this bounty.

After all, if you do, you risk being hostile to all the Killer Guilds, and this situation must be something that few players want to encounter.

Therefore, some murder guilds that usually operate in secret began to operate. At that time, he traveled around the world, collecting information about players and buying information from the intelligence house.

At last. I finally found the Murder Guild that killed four people in the [Nameless Brigade] a month and a half ago.

Speaking of this, Natsume felt his left hand clenched involuntarily, and in order to relax, he propped his left hand on the ground and put his back close to the girl behind him.

But at about the same time, in a very clever gap, Lizbet also released her right hand from the state of wrapping her legs, and touched Natsume's hand.

A moment of contact made Lizzebet feel like she was electrocuted, and she put her right hand back in some panic, and Natsume smiled a little funny on the other side.

However, Lizbet seemed to take this as a timid mockery, so she lowered her right hand again and placed it tightly on top of Natsume's left hand.

Slightly taken aback, Natsume didn't withdraw his hand, maybe it would be a lot more reassuring to say this.

Feeling the softness of the girl's palm, I found that the hand looked a little pale and cold.

Ah, Natsume found out that the temperature on the sky island at night was low due to the air current, and the two people who didn't bring spare clothes were not very cold-resistant.

Drawing open the frame, Natsume took off his coat and threw it behind him, covering Lizbet's head.

"Huh? How? ”

"You're cold, that has a blessing effect against the cold."

"No, just a little bit...... Ahh ”

…………

Natsume was silent for a moment, and the other party seemed to be embarrassed, so he ripped off the clothes covering his head and put them on his body.

I'm a little cold.

Thinking in his heart, Natsume's left hand moved slightly, and he twisted it to the top with the palm facing down, holding it with Lizzebet's hand.

"Go on, what happened?"

Lizbet didn't care, but grabbed Natsume's hand and began to urge.

What's wrong?

And Natsume continued to think about those memories that were not happy, but could not be forgotten.

The reason why I told Lizbet was probably that I was looking for someone to share the responsibility.

He couldn't tell Asuna that it was because the man was always on the front lines and might be distracted in the fight for his 'friend'.

As he continued, Natsume returned to the past, and the space in front of him began to change.

After finding the murder guild, he infiltrated the guild alone to investigate.

From the outside, it looks like a guild that transports goods and equipment, but in fact, all those things are obtained by killing people, and they don't rely on their own strategies at all.

This way the player will always be everywhere, and in reality, there will be the same 'killer player'.

However, it was discovered because it was too careless, causing all the members who remained there at the time to storm it......

This sentence made Lizzebet's hand grip tighter, and Natsume immediately added,

Luckily, they couldn't hurt me in the circle, but that wasn't what I wanted.

So-

Natsume didn't know whether to continue or not, and after thinking about it in his heart for a while, Natsume continued without waiting for Lizbet to urge

"So, I led them all to the hunting area, intending to have them follow me to apologize to those they had killed, but it was evident that they were completely foolish, and they did not take me seriously because of their numbers."

At last.

Natsume's eyes suddenly became sad and serious.

"I used that one and killed all the people who were chased out of the guild at that time."

This is the story of the beginning of the SAO killer.

"It's annoying, Lizz Bet, it's dangerous to be with me, it's better not to meet after this repair."

"Then you don't want to meet with me."

Hearing this, Natsume felt relieved and lost.

One person can go down, but the journey of two people should be more interesting.

Then, Natsume heard the following words again.

"But I'll meet you."

Turning around, Natsume wanted to say something, but found that the other party also turned around, and the distance between the lips of the two was close at hand.

You can feel the girl's breath.

"It's so decided, let the family, Lizbet stick to you all the time."

As he said this, the person on the other side put his face up.

At night, it's still so silent. (To be continued......)