Sword Art Online – Progressive - Volume 3 - Chapter 6

6 
3:00 PM , SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24—THE NEXT DAY. 
I was really getting used to controlling the Tilnel and wound the oar around adeptly, exclaiming in wonder. 
“You know…it’s truly impressive, how much you built…” 
A gravelly, deep voice came from the midsize boat moored just to the right. 
“Ha-ha! You should have seen the Bear Forest yesterday. We had two axmen with us, so the material gathering didn’t take long at all. Then again, we focused on the normal wood, so it’s nothing to brag about.” 
The voice belonged to a large man with a shaved bald head and short beard stubble. He’d been practicing his ship steering until late in the night, so his oarsmanship was quite impressive. 
“So you didn’t have to line up at the old man’s place, then?” 
“Nope. We were the first there after the guide came out. Boy, the DKB didn’t like it when they showed up second, five minutes later. You were the ones who collected that data, right? I gotta thank you for that.” 
“N-nah, no big deal,” I mumbled, feeling guilty about the fact that we were still covering up half of the quest-related info. He smirked at me knowingly. 
The man’s name was Agil, and he was the leader of a four-man party that maintained a neutral position among the frontline players between the twin powers of the Dragon Knights Brigade and Aincrad Liberation Squad guilds. 
 

He and his three companions with their double-handed heavy weapons sat in a midsize gondola painted a calm brown shade. Due to the haste of their construction, the boat didn’t have any options such as the battering horn, but the passengers’ imposing weapons seemed capable of making up for that. The name Pequod was written in black ink along the side. 
I didn’t recognize the source of that name, but Asuna in her red hood noticed it at once. 
“The Pequod isn’t a very optimistic name for a boat like that.” 
Agil roared with laughter, and one of his companions bearing a two-handed hammer grumbled, “That’s what we told him.” 
Asuna noticed the giant question mark hanging over my head and turned around to explain. 
“The Pequod was the name of Captain Ahab’s ship. It gets sunk by Moby Dick in the end.” 
“I-I see…And why did you choose that name?” I asked the bald man, who grinned again. 
“Think of it this way: It can’t sink until we fight that big white whale, right? And from what I hear, you don’t fight a whale here, but a turtle.” He pointed a thick finger ahead. 
The Tilnel and Pequod were moored at the entrance to a caldera lake just north of the center of the fourth floor. The pure blue lake, over three hundred yards across and surrounded by sheer cliffs, had to be passed to reach the south half of the floor. In other words, we were waiting here to take part in a battle against the field boss who guarded the path ahead. 
In the beta test, this was the mouth of a volcano with red glowing magma bubbling up from cracks in the earth. It was many times more beautiful now that it was filled with water, but I was uneasy about fighting a boss on a boat. After all, if the player steering the boat fell into the water, it could no longer be maneuvered. 
The crashing of a gong interrupted my thoughts. The sound was coming from one of the many other boats that I had praised just moments earlier. 
Ahead and to the right of the Tilnel were three gondolas pointed away from us, their bodies painted blue with white trim. The one in the center was a ten-seater, the largest kind Romolo could make. The other two were four-seaters like Agil’s. Each one had an extra space for a gondolier, so in all, they could carry twenty-one. As the blue color suggested, they belonged to the Dragon Knights Brigade. 
On the left were three more gondolas, the bodies moss green, with the broadsides dark gray. Each of the three were sized for six, once again totaling twenty-one when boatmen were added. These were the ships of the green-themed Aincrad Liberation Squad. 
On the third floor, each guild had numbered eighteen, so they must have both picked up three more over the course of this floor. If I didn’t get a registry from Argo soon, I wouldn’t be able to keep track of their faces and names anymore. I searched closely for Morte, the mysterious swordsman/axman who I’d dueled against in the dead of night, but his trademark coif was nowhere to be seen. 
Even with all the available manpower they had, it was incredible that both guilds had managed three gondolas each in the span of a single day. It took three hours to build one boat, so the final one must have been finished just barely before our meeting time. NPC or not, old man Romolo must have been exhausted from working around the clock. 
The clanging of the gong was coming from the DKB mother ship, the largest present. The gong right at the prow must have been an option for the larger size. The ALS looked on with distaste at what they hadn’t been able to procure, as Lind held up a hand to stop the gong and address the crowd. 
“It’s time! We are about to begin our battle against the Biceps Archelon, field boss of the fourth floor! None of us have any experience with a major water battle aboard ships, but there’s nothing to fear! As you’ve seen in fighting ordinary monsters, their attacks are almost entirely absorbed by our ships!” 
Easy for you to say, in that giant cruise ship, I grumbled mentally. He raised his right hand high in the air and clenched it into a fist. 
“As I explained in our prebattle meeting, the Archelon’s attacks are quite simple! As long as we watch out for the direction its two heads are facing, we can avoid taking any charges! We will use this gong to signal the timing of evasion, so please keep an ear out for it!” 
And we were the ones who found out that info for you, I grumbled again. Naturally, there was a price for sneaking ahead of everyone to get our ship first, so as a member of this community, I supposed it was my duty to scout ahead and learn what I could. 
I figured they might as well saddle us with the duty of charging front and center in the fight, but that role went to the DKB and ALS. In this fight, the minor parties—Asuna and I and Agil’s group—had to attack the boss’s sides, which were virtually impervious thanks to the creature’s thick shell. 
“Let’s move out! Take formation when the boss appears! Dragon Knights fleet, forward!!” Lind cried, swinging his arm forward. The DKB mother ship Leviathan and its two escorts began to move. Kibaou growled to his guildmates on the left side, not wanting to be left behind. 
“C’mon, let’s get goin’! All ships at top speed, Liberation Squad!!” 
With an “Aye-aye, sir,” the helmsman of the Unleash rowed onward, and their consorts joined in. 
“Welp…guess we should get going,” I said lifelessly, while Agil smirked and thrust out a heavy fist. 
“Let’s show ’em that we’re not playing second fiddle here!” 
His trio of teammates roared in approval, and Asuna nodded with serious intent. It wouldn’t do for me to be left out of the group, so I lamely raised my hand and joined in the cheer. 
The field boss of the fourth dungeon was a huge water monster named Biceps Archelon, and true to the name, it was an ancient, two-headed turtle. It had three attacks: a bite attack from both heads, a watery smack from its side fins, and a charge making use of its sixty-foot length. 
As Lind had reassured us, the bite and fin attacks weren’t that powerful, so letting the ship absorb the damage if necessary was a valid option. The charge attack was the real problem, and it would probably be enough to capsize our ships if it struck true. 
According to Lind’s report, a capsized boat recovered automatically after thirty seconds, but until then, the crew had no choice but to cling to it, leaving them vulnerable to the bites and fin slaps. 
Fortunately, a few seconds before it started one of its massive charges, both heads would point in the same direction. If we watched for that motion and made sure to avoid their line of sight, it shouldn’t be hard to avoid the charge. 
Bwong, bwong! The Leviathan ’s gong crashed, and Lind shouted. 
“Evade!” 
Up ahead, four gondolas split left and right from their position directly before the Archelon. We were on the left flank of the turtle, but I backed up the Tilnel just in case. 
A moment later, the draconic heads of the Archelon rose high in the air, and its sixty-foot-long bulk tore forward. 
Spray showered down on us, and the waves in the wake of its passing rocked the boat. I stood the oar up to balance against the rocking so I could look around; none of the other ships had capsized. The boss’s HP gauge was nearly halfway gone, and at this rate, the battle would be over in less than twenty minutes. 
I sent the gondola after the Archelon’s new location, and Asuna turned back to me, rapier in her hand. 
“Hey, what kind of boss was here in the beta?” 
“Well…it was still a turtle, but more of a giant tortoise. Very tough but slow, and I don’t remember us having much trouble.” 
“Hmm…so I suppose it must have gotten an update along with everything else when they decided to soak this level in water.” 
“Well, of course. I mean, it’s to be expected—all the doors to the buildings in town were on the second floor to start with… Whoa! ” 
One of the ALS’s six-man gondolas raced past, knocking the tiny Tilnel off-balance. As they passed us, the riders left us a heartwarming message: “Even the great beater ain’t gonna win the LA today!” 
After it left, Asuna stomped her foot in indignation. 
“What’s the big idea? This formation was their idea to begin with.” 
“Now, now. As long as we stay to the side, we don’t have to worry about the boat getting damaged,” I said soothingly, moving us back into position at the Archelon’s left flank. 
The attacks and the damage caused were fiercest at the heads, where the DKB and ALS kept two ships each. The third ships from both guilds were at the tail, which also suffered some damage—this was all according to our plan. We and Agil had to take the sides, sheer walls of dark, gleaming shell. Even Asuna’s Chivalric Rapier +5 could barely scratch the boss’s HP. 
I watched her shoot off the Parallel Sting two-part combo out of sheer frustration and used half my brain to engage in some idle thinking. 
The latter stages of the shipbuilding quest were not mentioned in Argo’s strategy guide when the guide appeared in the afternoon yesterday. This was both because of the unknown nature of N’ltzahh’s strength and the fierce rivalry between the two main guilds. 
There was very nearly open warfare outside the Forest Elf camp on the third floor between the DKB, who were undertaking the Forest Elf side of the campaign, and the ALS, who were aligned with the Dark Elf faction. My arguments fell on deaf ears, and we nearly had player-on-player violence—only the advent of the powerful knight Kizmel succeeded in staying their blades. 
After some discussion, both guilds agreed to put the campaign quest on hold, thus averting a collapse of the frontline collective. However, the latter part of this shipbuilding quest seemed to be related to the campaign. If we publicized that information, they might take the teleporter back to the third floor to renew the quest. We had to ensure that the two guilds did not resume butting heads again. 
So after discussion with Argo, Asuna and I decided not to release the connections to the Fallen Elves. But Lind and Kibaou weren’t leading their guilds for show. It was very possible they would discover the continuation of the quest on their own, and if that happened, there was nothing we could do. Then again, with their great numbers, massive ships, and apparently reckless boating, they might not even succeed at trailing the guild’s transport ship. 
It was a fact that the pitched competition between the two guilds was speeding our progress along through the game. But the lack of any kind of stopping force, if their competition crossed a healthy line, was terrifying to me. 
We needed a third power. It could be small in scale, but something with enough influence and leadership qualities that Lind and Kibaou couldn’t overlook it—a linchpin to the frontline force as a whole. 
At present, the closest thing to that third power was Agil the ax warrior, currently fighting on the opposite side of the giant turtle shell. But he and his three companions intended to maintain their position as a free-roaming, neutral force. They only joined the group for field and floor bosses and barely ever appeared otherwise. 
The only other person with the capability of being that linchpin was Asuna the fencer, with her flashing silver rapier. 
After we fought Illfang the Kobold Lord on the first floor, I told her that she could be strong, and if anyone she trusted invited her to a guild, not to refuse. That there were limits to what could be accomplished in solo play. 
My instinct wasn’t wrong. If anything, I was underestimating her potential. If she got more accustomed to this world and learned more of the game’s rules and quirks, Asuna could easily lead a guild of her own. That guild could admirably serve as a third power to balance out the ALS and DKB. 
But as long as she was with me, the beater, she would be shunned within the group. She would never be seen as anything other than a willful outsider, showing up where she pleased and leeching hard-earned items and information from more worthy people. 
If the sake of the front line as a whole, and Asuna as an individual, were to be taken into account…then maybe we shouldn’t be a duo forever. But the existence of Asuna’s Chivalric Rapier, with its absurdly good stats, and the Bottle of Kales’Oh that granted her an extra skill slot filled me with unspoken dread. I wanted to prioritize her safety above all else. 
Yes, I was concerned for her well-being, but the truth was, there was another bigger reason that drove my choices…an egotistical one. 
Somewhere in my heart, I was afraid of her gathering more attention and eventually being called on to take a leadership role… 
“Kirito! The gauge is about to drop into the red!” 
I was snapped back into the present. Up above the looming, mountainous shell of the Biceps Archelon, the two-bar HP gauge was on its last legs. More than a few bosses changed their attack patterns once in the red zone, so I pushed the boat backward, just in case. 
But the four ships trained at the heads of the turtle doing the brunt of the damage were still right there, hammering even harder than before. The players lined up along the sides of the gondolas facing the turtle set off sword skills left and right, enveloping the Archelon’s two heads in colored light. The HP gauge dropped further, under the 10 percent mark. 
“Hey! Everyone get away!” I heard Agil shout from the other side of the turtle shell. 
I was already at a safe distance, just far enough back to take in the entirety of the beast. Its two heads, front and rear flippers, and tail were all twisted up against the sides of the shell. I’d never seen this animation before, but I sensed what it was. 
“Watch out, it’s going to spin!!” 
I very much doubted that it would spin enough to fly like a certain movie monster, but even the largest gondola would certainly capsize if sucked into a giant whirlpool—if it didn’t crash into other ships first. But neither guild retreated, even after our warnings. They probably hoped to take it all the way down in this burst of sword skills, but the spinning preparation raised the boss’s defense, and its HP stubbornly refused to drain away. 
“They’re in big trouble at this rate, Kirito!” Asuna cried. That settled the matter. 
I ordered my partner to duck down, then rowed madly. As the Tilnel raced forward through the whitecaps, the Archelon’s massive body tensed powerfully. 
If we charge in and take all the glory again, it’s just going to make our reputation worse, I thought briefly. But then I changed my mind and pushed on with one last row. 
“Screw that! I’m not giving up my position!” 
The burning red ram at the front of the Tilnel plunged deep into the softer gut of the Archelon just before it could begin spinning. After a brief moment of silence, a few white steam vents burst out of the shell. The entire form of the turtle bulged outward, shrouded in blue light—and exploded. 
I looked up at the listing of col, normal loot, and the Last Attack bonus and thought, Good grief, I did it again . 
Asuna stood up at the prow of the boat and slid her rapier into its sheath, then glanced skeptically at me. 
“S-sorry about just charging like that, but it looked like the turtle was about to start something bad…” 
“Yes, that’s fine. But what did you mean by ‘my position’?” 
I didn’t know if telling her that I meant “my position as gondolier” would fly as an excuse, but fortunately for me, she didn’t press any further, so I quickly guided the boat toward the exit of the caldera. 
We zoomed past the Dragon Knights and Liberation Squad, who looked mighty peeved, pissed, and petulant for having just defeated the field boss, and waved to Agil’s team as they shot us thumbs-up on the way out of the lake. After a brief trip down the river, we would reach a small village called Usco. 
“Y’know, I’ve been noticing,” I started to say to Asuna. She was clearly deep in thought, as it took her a few seconds to turn around and respond. 
“Huh…? Wh-what?” 
“Oh, it’s nothing serious…but I was noticing that travel from town to town on this floor hasn’t been easy. In the previous few, we could just sprint our way down the path, but here you’ve got to either swim or paddle.” 
“Mm, you’re right. Plus there’s the occasional monster in the river. People coming for sightseeing will be satisfied by Rovia alone, I’m sure, but I wonder how Argo’s doing here.” 
“Speaking of which, I wonder if even she’ll be stuck in the main town this time…” 
“No looking down on me, Kii-boy.” 
“I’m not looking down on you, but— whaaah?! ” 
A familiar voice sounded in my ear that should definitely not have been present, and I nearly fell out of the boat. I lost balance and caused the oar to slip, rocking the gondola. Asuna abruptly had to regain her balance up front and turned back in surprise. 
Traveling just to the left of the Tilnel at the exact same speed was the unmistakable face of Argo the Rat. 
She wasn’t swimming. She wasn’t riding on a boat, either. 
She was gliding on the surface of the river like a water strider. 
 

“Wh-what the heck is that?! Did you become an apprentice to those doofus ninjas from the Fuma Ninja Force?!” 
“Nya-ha-ha, hardly. I found these babies in town.” 
She slid along the water on one leg, raising her right foot high so I could see. Instead of her usual boots, she was wearing sandals equipped with very light-looking wooden floater paddles. An item that gave the wielder the ability to run on water, no doubt. 
“Wha…Th-they were selling those things?! What was the point of going to all that trouble to build a ship…?” 
“The rub is, these require a ridiculous amount of agility to equip, and you gotta lower your weight as much as possible when using ’em. Tip your balance even the tiniest bit, and you’ll flip over. No way to fight when using these babies.” 
“Ohhh…Doesn’t seem like you’ve given up much of your gear, though,” I remarked, looking sidelong at her. As far as I could tell, she was still in her familiar hooded cape and didn’t seem much lighter than usual. 
The Rat’s face crinkled into a smirk, her painted whiskers twitching. 
“Is that how it seems to you? Never know, I might be wearin’ nothin’ at all under here.” 
“…O-oh yeah?” 
I started to turn my head to check, but felt a stare inflicting piercing damage on my forehead from the front seat and turned to face forward. Argo chuckled again, while Asuna cleared her throat to ask a question. 
“Um, Argo, would you like to ride with us to the next village? We have an open seat.” 
“Ooh, thanks. I’ll take you up on that.” 
The Rat nimbly leaped onto the gondola and took the leather seat just behind Asuna. The two girls abruptly began whispering to each other. 
As I picked up the gondola’s pace, I silently hissed at old man Romolo. Gramps, you should have told us that a two-seater actually holds three! 
If the main town of Rovia was a “city of water,” then Usco was a “floating village.” 
It was made of about a dozen shacks, walkways, and open spaces buoyed by balsa-like logs, floating and creaking in the midst of a crescent-shaped lake. It was certainly more picturesque than the plain little run-down village of the beta, but I felt likely to get low-grade seasickness if I spent more than a little time there. 
Then again, motion sickness came from the inner ear, so the fact that the signals of movement were bypassing that to the brain directly might mean that there was no seasickness here. In fact, I didn’t recall anyone in the front line feeling sick while riding on the gondolas. 
We stopped the Tilnel at the dock on the edge of town and moored it there, then headed for the center of the settlement to the only restaurant there. It was still early in the day, but surely we could be allowed to a toast to our triumph over the field boss. 
I did my very best to avoid looking at the bare legs clad in floater sandals peeking out from Argo’s cape as we walked down the boarded, floating walkways. Eventually we came to a tropical-themed restaurant. There were no other players sitting on the open terrace facing the lake, of course. 
I sat down at the special seat in the center and ordered drinks and appetizers from the scantily clad NPC waitress, then leaned back in the wicker chair and stretched. 
“Ahhh…Finally, we’re halfway done with the fourth floor…” 
“You say ‘finally’ as if it hasn’t been just three days since we got here. We’re on a much faster pace than the second or third floor,” Asuna pointed out. 
“What, really…? We got up to this floor on December twenty-first, so that makes the twenty-second, twenty-third, twenty-fourth…Oh, you’re right.” 
“You’re not old enough to be going senile yet, Kii-boy,” Argo chimed in. 
I grinned and shot back at her, “You never know. In real life, I might be an old gentleman spending his retirement enjoying a good MMORPG.” 
“Then I’ll have to start calling you Kii-gramps instead.” 
“…Never mind. Please don’t…” 
As we bickered and joked, a tray of brightly colored cocktails arrived. We clinked our glasses, and after downing over half of the lychee-scented juice, I let out a very long breath. 
Once we’d eaten something, I was pretty much ready to walk next door and fall asleep, but there was business to conduct. I shook my head to get into the proper mood. 
“The DKB and ALS will be here very soon, so we should pick up all the quests in the village and start on some of the easier ones…” 
We’d finished all of the short individual quests in Rovia aside from the “Shipwright of Yore” yesterday, while the guilds were busy building their gondolas. That had earned us quite a bit of experience, but we were also well above the proper level for this area, so it wasn’t enough for a level-up. We’d probably get there with two or three quests from this village, so my proper gamer’s instinct said I should hit that point before I slept. 
Asuna and Argo looked at each other, then spoke in turn. 
“I don’t know about Agil’s group, but the big guilds are going back to the city for today.” 
“So there’s no need to rush through all of this village’s quests today, Kii-boy.” 
“Huh…? They’re going back to Rovia? Did they leave some quests behind?” I said, confused. The two girls shot me questioning looks. 
“So…you didn’t get invited, Kirito?” 
“…Invited to what?” 
“Nothin’ to be disappointed about, Kii-boy. We’ll be here with ya.” 
“…Disappointed about what?” 
“Didn’t you just say what day it was?” 
“What…you mean December twenty-fourth?” I said, then frowned. A few days ago, it had occurred to me that some special day was coming up. December 24…meant the day before December 25, making it…something eve… 
“W-wait, you mean…Chrisma-whatever? And that’s why the DKB and ALS went back? Is that why they were in such a rush to beat the field boss?” I said, flabbergasted. The girls nodded together, their faces sympathetic. 
But nothing could have prepared me for what Asuna said 
next. 
“Yes. You see, tonight the two guilds are going to hold a united Christmas send-off party.” 
“…Wha…u…united…party…? You mean…they’re…but…wha…” 

My “What the hell?” scream turned into a sonic boom that ripped the lake apart and shook Usco with a magnitude-7 quake. 
From what I heard later, the Christmas send-off party was a sumptuous, free, all-you-can-eat-and-drink event held in the teleport square of Rovia starting at five o’clock on Christmas Eve. 
They didn’t advertise it far and wide with bulletin boards and flyers (I would have noticed if they had), but they did manage to draw nearly two hundred non-frontline players through word of mouth alone. Between the first major player-run public event and the unpredictable weather, it caused quite a hullabaloo. Aside from the food arranged by the sponsors, some merchant players set up food carts of their own, and there was even a young female blacksmith who set up a stand for weapon repairs. 
The idea came from the ALS, apparently as a way to make good use of all the crab, shrimp, and bear meat they’d accumulated on their questing. Calling it a Christmas party would attract attention from other players, both increasing the guild’s profile and acting as a good recruitment opportunity. When the DKB learned of this, they tried to set up a competing event, and after much squabbling over the use of the teleport square in Rovia, the two groups decided to make up and throw the party together. 
“Well, I suppose I should be happy that they managed to put on an event together…but calling it a ‘send-off party’ is a bit weird. Isn’t that usually what you throw before a big competition or when traveling somewhere new? It seems backward for the people who are going off to the labyrinth tower to throw their own send-off party,” I grumbled as I slurped the remainder of the lychee juice and poked at the food tray. 
Asuna looked like she didn’t know whether to feel sorry for me or laugh at me. She noted softly, “It wasn’t like nobody suggested inviting you to the party. You’re one of the front-runners, too, Kirito. But some folks in the ALS wondered why they should pay for free food and drinks for the guy who always steals the LA bonuses, and they ended up deciding that you didn’t need an invitation.” 
“Who did you hear this from, by the way?” 
“From Shivata in the DKB during the field boss strategy meeting. He also asked me to apologize to you for them.” 
“…Hmm.” 
“They did say that I could go, if I wanted.” 
“…Hmmmm.” 
“And I got lots of instant messages from other people.” 
“…Hmmmmmm.” 
“By the way, Agil’s team is going back to the city as well, but only to finish up their quests, not to participate. So you don’t have to sulk so much.” 
“ …Hmmmmmmmm. So you fancy yourself a solo player, do you?” 
Suddenly, Argo burst out with a series of eerie, smirking giggles. 
“Wh-what’s up with you?” 
“Oh, nothing. Now if you don’t mind, I’ll be getting back to the main town,” she remarked, slipping out of her chair. 
Stunned, I asked, “Already? If you were going to leave so soon, why did you even come out here to this village?” 
“To gather data on quests and shop selections, of course. I’d like to pop in on the send-off party, too. Welp, so long, A-chan, Kii-boy.” She waved briefly, grinned, and added, “Oops, nearly forgot. Merry Christmas.” 
“Merry Christmas, Argo. Take care,” Asuna said. 
“M…Many Crimmas,” I joined in, feeling like I didn’t quite have that right. Before I knew it, the information dealer was gone. 
After a while, Asuna mumbled, “Argo should have been the first one invited to the Christmas party.” 
“No kidding. With ultra-elite VIP status,” I agreed, finishing my juice. 
At this very moment, Argo was out collecting information on the businesses, wares, and quest NPCs of Usco. Her drive for information, whether in the safety of town or hazards of the wilderness, was an invaluable support to our progress in the game of death. 
But more than a few players in the two guilds still felt distaste at hearing the name Argo the Rat. They seemed to think that the former beta testers had a solemn duty to provide the information for these invaluable strategy guides that everyone was using. 
In the face of this expectation, Argo’s policies of selling anything she could and getting her money’s worth were distasteful, to be sure. She would even sell what we’d just talked about, if someone wanted it and paid the price. Even a friend like me had to filter what he said around her. 
I didn’t know why she pursued such unfriendly policies. She would probably sell me the reason if I asked. One day I’d buy that reason from her, price be damned, I told myself, setting the empty cocktail glass on the table. 
“So…what do we do n…” I started, then realized that I hadn’t checked something with her first. “Er, I mean…if you want to go, I’m not going to hold you back.” 
My temporary partner looked surprised at that, so I added, “I mean…if you got formally invited to the Christmas send-off party and you’re refusing because of me, you don’t need to—” 
“Oh, that?” she interrupted, cutting me short. She snorted. “No, don’t bother yourself. I had no intention of going from the start. I’m not one for flashy parties.” 
“O-oh, I see. Well, then…umm…” 
Before I could suggest that we clear up two or three quests and level up before nightfall, I stopped myself. 
I had no particular attachment to Christmas Eve, but that didn’t necessarily hold true for Asuna. She knew what day it was—and talented fencer though she might be, she was still a young woman…I thought. 
“…Do you…want to try it here?” 
“Try what?” 
“Having our own…Christmassy thing.” 
The fencer stared right into me, her eyebrows tensing, as if simulating several possible answers. She ended up choosing the turn-your-head-away-in-a-huff response. 
“N-no, that’s not necessary. I don’t have anything prepared…and it just doesn’t feel like Christmas in this tropical island village.” 
For a moment, I almost thought the weather-controlling system heard her. The onslaught of golden afternoon light abruptly dimmed, and the sparkling blue surface of the lake went a cloudy gray. A chilly wind from across the lake rustled her long hair. 
“N-no way,” she whispered. I followed her gaze. 
There was a tiny white dot falling silently from the cloudy sky. 
It caught the breeze and wandered over through the open terrace of the restaurant to land on my gloved hand. The white dot melted promptly, leaving a tiny chill on the palm of my hand. 
Then came another and another. Seen there were countless white points dancing in the air. 
“…It’s snow…” I mumbled. True, it was December, but I’d never seen snow in Aincrad before. In fact, I’d hardly ever felt what I would call a wintry chill. 
According to what I read in an article before the game trapped me inside, SAO was supposed to re-create the actual season outside, depending on which floor one was on. But the fourth floor couldn’t be one of those specially aligned ones. This snow must be from a special holiday event, just for Christmas. 
Soon the huts of dried tropical grasses were white with snow. Some NPC children raced along the nearby walkway, giggling and screaming. 
As I took in the surreal sight of the tropical island turning to a winter wonderland, I heard a reluctant sigh from beside me. 
“Why did it have to do this…?” 
I looked back to see Asuna watching the snow with wide-open eyes. I couldn’t possibly read the expression on her face. 
At the very least, I knew that the little white flurry dancing past her light brown eyes was beautiful. Eventually, she noticed me staring at her and blinked several times. 
“…Just when we escaped the main city and came here, so I could avoid thinking about Christmas,” she mumbled. “It’s not fair.” 
“Huh…? You were trying not to think about it? But…didn’t you say…?” 
I pressed my fingers to my temples and dredged up my memory of a conversation from nearly two weeks ago. 
“Didn’t you say that it might snow on Christmas, when we were tackling the second-floor labyrinth?” 
She pursed her lips in mild embarrassment. “I’m surprised you remember that. Maybe I did say that, but I’m in no mood to enjoy the holiday given the circumstances. We should be pushing farther rather than throwing parties. Besides, you didn’t even bring it up until just minutes ago.” 
“Huh? Bring…what up…?” 
As soon as I asked, she gave me a dirty look. “If you wanted to have a Christmas event, you should have told me a few days earlier, so I could have prepared. And if you’re not going to bring it up until the day, it’s only natural to assume you weren’t interested in that.” 
“Huh? Prepare…?” 
“ Prepare what? ” I wanted to ask, but I already knew the answer. The three essential elements to any Japanese Christmas celebration were fried chicken, cake, and presents. The first two could be arranged at an NPC shop, but not the presents. 
I didn’t have a single considerate item that Asuna might be happy to receive in my inventory, of course, so bringing up the suggestion of a Christmas party was not to be taken lightly. 
Then again, if I really inspected my entire item list, there might be a surprise here or there, I thought stubbornly, but it was a meaningless idea. When Asuna said she didn’t have anything prepared, she had to be talking about a Christmas present, and knowing her perfectionist nature, she would not want to settle for picking out a present from her unwanted leftovers, rather than something conceived as a gift from the start. 
Besides, it was clear from Asuna’s explanations that she was pretending to shun the big Christmas party in town and focus on the game as a rationale because I hadn’t said anything about the holiday before now. 
“…It’s my fault. I’m sorry,” I said automatically. 
“Huh…? N-no, you don’t need to apologize,” she said, surprised. But I kept my head bowed low. 
“No. I brought up Christmas on the second floor and then forgot all about it by the time we got here—it’s messed up. If we can’t take our mind off the game for this day, at the very least…” 
“This is…kind of throwing me off,” she said awkwardly. I looked up, half-afraid of what I would see. She shrugged and didn’t really look that angry. “Listen, if I really wanted to have a Christmas thing, I should have spoken up about it. But I didn’t, so you don’t need to apologize to me. I’m happy just seeing all of this.” 
I looked out at the village again. The steadily falling snow was already piling up two inches high, which made it look like the village of Usco itself was faintly glowing. 
It did put me in a traveling mind, but I knew that if snow was falling all over Aincrad, there must be better views for it. The stunning setting of Rovia was no doubt improved even more with a coating of snow, and there would be beauty to spare in the forest city of Zumfut, Urbus nestled in its mountain, and even the Town of Beginnings at the very bottom. 
But while it would be easy to travel between these cities with the teleporter, getting back to the gate was too far a distance. We’d have to travel across nearly half of the six-mile-wide floor to get to the gate, and it would be surrounded by all the members of the DKB and ALS in the midst of their party. Now wasn’t the time to show up in their midst. 
We’d have to find someplace here on the fourth floor to be the setting for our white Christmas… 
Suddenly, an image flashed into my head. 
A place I visited in the beta. A dusty building jutting alone out of a wide, wasted landscape of sand and rocks. But there were no more dry, dirty wastelands on this floor anymore. Yes, that spot would do… 
“…Hey, Asuna.” 
“What?” 
She tilted her head toward me. I cast my hesitation aside and made my suggestion. 
“It’s not something physical I can give you…but there is something I’d like to give you, to make up for it…” 
“…” 
She stared at me with large eyes for a few long moments, then mumbled, “Well, you’re free to offer it. Just don’t expect anything in return.” 
We refueled on consumable items in snowy Usco and went ahead with accepting quests, then set off in the Tilnel again through the falling powder. 
If this was happening in the real world, there would be plenty of discomfort: too cold, not enough visibility, snow piling up in the gondola. But in the virtual world, the worst that happened was slightly worse vision and nothing that interfered with our rowing. The boat passed through the evening crescent lake and to the river that exited to the south. 
There was no hint of monsters in the water, either due to it being Christmas Eve or just too cold with all the snow. I used that to my advantage to pick up the speed, and we slid smoothly over the placid surface. 
Eventually the shape of a faded gray tower loomed in the far distance. It was the labyrinth tower at the south tip of the floor, the means by which we would reach the next floor up. It was still nearly two miles away, but the menace of the boss waiting on its highest level emanated out to prickle the skin. 
“You aren’t taking me there , are you?” Asuna turned around to ask me. I quickly shook my head. 
“N-no. Our destination’s over here,” I said, pointing out the southeast branch of a fork in the river up ahead. 
Eventually the cliffs standing tall over us on either side began to change color. The blackened basalt-style rock featured fine horizontal lines carved right across like engraving. Using my memory of the beta and the map in my menu, I took us left and right through several branches in the river. 
About an hour after we left Usco, our way was blocked by a nearly pure white wall at the end of a dimming valley. 
“Hey, it’s a dead end!” Asuna shouted, but I only put more strength into my rowing. 
“Don’t worry—that’s where we’re headed!” 
“B-but I can’t see what’s ahead. What if there’s a wall—?” 
“We’re fine! It’s just normal mist…Well, not normal exactly.” 
She turned back, skepticism on her face. I grinned at her and shot the Tilnel right into the thick white fog. 
Within seconds, I couldn’t even see Asuna sitting seven feet ahead of me. When I sucked in a deep breath, the chilly dampness of the air contained the fresh, lively scent of forest. 
“Huh…?! Wait, is this mist actually—” 
She couldn’t even finish before the mist abruptly cleared away, restoring our view. 
It was a great circular lake, several times larger than the caldera lake where we fought the Biceps Archelon. The falling snow dyed most of the surface white. I pulled the oar out from the water and let the ship coast forward. 
As the Tilnel silently glided through a world of white, a black silhouette eventually appeared ahead. 
It was a fearsome and grand palace…no, fortress, standing tall in the middle of the lake. Four towers of differing heights stood over the roof of the building thick with snow, each one waving a triangular pennant. They featured a crossed horn and scimitar on a black field. 
“Is that…the Dark Elf flag?!” Asuna cried, her voice ragged with surprise and hope. 
I already knew that there was a Dark Elf fortress here. In the beta test, the “Elf War” campaign quest resumed here with another series of brief duties before ending in a long dungeon that carried the story over to the next floor. 
But here in the retail game, there were already major differences from what I remembered. The Fallen Elves were making deals with the Water Carriers Guild in town to buy huge quantities of lumber, and a shadowy figure named General N’ltzahh was overseeing their operation. These things were not present in the beta. 
Because of that, I was planning to only visit this fortress once I had collected as much related information as I could. But given that we’d already passed the field boss’s lair on the fourth day on this floor, we’d be heading into the labyrinth tower much quicker than on the second or third floors. Asuna and I were probably the only people actively following the Elf War questline among the frontline group now, so if we didn’t act with haste, the two guilds would pass by and leave us behind. 
But this reason might have been nothing but an excuse. I just wanted to show my partner this sight. 
“…It’s beautiful,” Asuna murmured, staring at the snowy castle as we approached. “More beautiful than any castle I’ve seen in real life.” 
“Are you talking about…so-and-so’s castle at the theme park? Or the real thing in Europe…?” I asked carefully. She smiled and didn’t elaborate. 
Castles were a fantasy RPG staple, but this might have been the first proper castle in Aincrad so far. The building’s design was about the same as in the beta, but the impression it left was completely different now that it was in the midst of a picturesque lake, rather than a flat, dried basin. Especially on Christmas Eve frosted with a layer of snow. 
The Dark Elf army fortress was walled with white stone, its steeply angled roof gray slate tile. Orange light spilled from its countless arched windows, a perfect counterbalance to the indigo gloom of evening. The building itself was completely isolated from the surrounding land, and several large black gondolas were moored at the long pier straight outside the front gate. 
Guided by a lantern emitting bluish light at the tip of the pier, I slid the Tilnel into an empty space along the dock. No alarms had sounded or guards had come running yet. 
I stashed away the oar and leaped onto the stone pier, then turned to catch the expertly tossed rope and place it over the bronze bitt. Asuna reached over for a helping hand to step off, and we walked to the middle of the pier for a better look. 
The front gate was still a distance away, but the castle’s grand visage was clear to behold. The highest of the towers had to be more than a hundred and fifty feet off the ground. The scale of the structure rivaled that of the giant baobabs that made up the city on the third floor. 
Orange light from the windows spilled onto countless roofs, peaks, and eaves. I stared at the fantastical sight until a small voice hit my ears. 
“…Thank you. It’s a wonderful present.” 
“Well…as long as you think so, it was worth rowing across the entire floor to see…” 
I glanced over at her and grinned. 
“But that’s only half of the present.” 
“Oh…?” 
I put a hand on her back and gently pushed, urging her on. She would figure it out before long, so I had to rush my perceptive partner along to preserve the surprise. 
Ahead on the pier was a massive gate made of dark and gleaming plates of thick metal, with very large, heavily armed (by elvish standards) guards on either side. I took one look at their stunningly long halberds and had to steel myself to push onward. 
The moment I came within twenty feet of the gate, the right guard barked, “Halt!” 
Meanwhile, the left one said, “This place is not for humankind!” 
They crossed their halberds in midair. I was relieved to recognize the same lines of dialogue from the beta and pulled out what I had prepared from my belt pouch and held it aloft. 
“My name is Kirito! I request an audience with the master of this castle!” 
The dialogue probably wasn’t necessary, but I wanted to play the part, so I stifled my embarrassment and pushed forward with it. 
The two guards looked at the sealed scroll I held aloft, bearing the same seal as the one on the castle flags—the invitation given to us by the commander of the Dark Elf forces on the third floor. Their halberds clanked back to a standing state. 
The next moment, the massive metal gate split open with a deep rumble. I breathed a sigh of relief and nudged Asuna into the castle grounds. 
The next moment, a cry of surprise escaped her lips. 
“Ooohh!!” 
The castle’s front garden enveloped us with all the beauty of a great work of art. Trees, planters, and cast-iron fences all frosted with powdery snow were glittering in the light of the lamps. The long approach to the castle doors was absolutely pristine—not a single footprint. I almost didn’t want to step onto it. 
If everything was the same as in the beta, we’d be able to walk freely about the castle. Between the dining hall, the various stores, and even the dungeon-like cells, there was plenty worth exploring, but our first destination was already set in stone. 
We opened the door and walked inside. Asuna exlaimed in wonder again. 
In the center of the main hall with its red rugs was a marble fountain filled with glittering water. Beyond that was a grand staircase, and wide hallways extended to the left and right. Familiar Dark Elf NPCs glided forward on the sound of unseen violins, but unlike on the third floor, very few of these elves had weapons. 
“I don’t see any players,” Asuna remarked, then nodded to herself. “But of course there aren’t. That wall of mist we passed through to get to the lake was switching us to an instance map, wasn’t it?” 
“Good answer. We will never run across another player here, so we’re free to laugh and scream and sing all we want.” 
“I-I wasn’t going to do any of that. Anyways, let’s take a look around,” she said, her aggrieved look giving way to excitement as she tugged on my sleeve. 
“Sure thing, but I already know our first destination: this way.” 
I pulled her hooded cape in return and dragged her down the hallway to the right. 
Yofel Castle, the Dark Elf fortress, was laid out in such a way that the main building connected the four main towers in the shape of a rectangle with one open side. For the most part, the right side of the castle was a station for soldiers, while the left side housed the castle’s inhabitants and servants. But I wanted the center courtyard. 
We walked down the hallway past several soldiers, then turned left at a corner. I found a small door straight ahead and softly pushed it open. 
Back out in the open air, we were met by a place less dazzling than the front garden, but somehow much more mysterious and sacred. Thorny hedges sprouting little black flowers blocked the way left and right like a maze, preventing us from seeing farther ahead. 
We walked over the snowy cobblestones with the pale lantern light as a guide. I could see that someone had left footsteps down the center of the path. Asuna and I shared a look, and we hurried along the trail before the falling snow covered the tracks. 
When we had passed through the thorny maze, we ended up in a beautiful garden surrounding a stunning conifer. Brick flower planters and bronze benches alternated around the tree. Its jutting branches kept the snow back, so the footprints disappeared near the entrance to the garden. 
But we didn’t need to follow them anymore. 
Before our eyes, seated silently on one of the benches, was a frail figure. It was barely more than a silhouette from our loca tion, but there was no need to get closer for a better look or callout or squint to bring up a color cursor for identification. 
As soon as I took the first step forward, pulled toward the figure, it noticed us and stood up, leaping over the planter next to it with all the force of a thrusting sword skill. 
The person landed lightly in front us and embraced us with open arms. 
“Kirito! Asuna!” the familiar, silky voice sounded. 
Doing my best to withstand the rib-cracking hug attack delivered with elite-level strength, I managed to grunt, “Good to see you again, Kizmel.”