Sword Art Online – Progressive - Volume 8 - Chapter 14

14

SHE KNEW FROM A BOOK IN THE REAL WORLD THAT the word spa, as used in Japan to refer to an all-in-one bathing and beauty complex, came from the name of an actual hot spring area in Belgium.

So when Nirrnir, the overseer of the Volupta Grand Casino, suggested that they “go to the spa,” she was briefly taken aback. But then she adjusted her perception—these people were residents of an unfamiliar world, and yet they spoke Japanese. It was simply part of the conveniences of the game. It was all a VRMMORPG being run in virtual reality, and the people in it were merely NPCs being operated by the program itself—she supposed.

“I’ll scrub your back for you, Asuna,” said Kizmel, the dark elf washing her hair directly to Asuna’s left.

Asuna was startled but came to her senses with a smile. “Really? Well, if it’s not too much trouble.”

“No trouble at all.”

Kizmel grabbed a thin sponge that looked to have been fashioned out of some kind of plant, poured some bottled liquid onto it, and frothed it up, then moved her wooden stool to sit behind Asuna. The girl rounded her back, waiting for the touch of the sponge, but was startled by a finger that slid down her spine instead, causing her to jump.

“Hya! Hey…! What was that for?!”

“Ha-ha-ha, I’m sorry. I was just recalling how many times Tilnel played tricks like that on me when we were bathing together. It made me want to have a little fun myself.”

“Well, it doesn’t make sense to get back at me…but I forgive you.”

“Ha-ha. Sorry again,” Kizmel repeated, this time beginning to rub the sponge on Asuna’s back. It was just the right amount of pressure, not too strong and not too weak. She didn’t think anyone had done this since the early days of elementary school, when her family actually bathed together.

She doubted Kizmel had been programmed with instructions to wash a player’s back if they bathed together, and the idea of “getting back at a player for the pranks her little sister played” was something that few people would think of in real life—and certainly not inflict on another person. Kizmel wasn’t just some program; she was something very different from artificial intelligence as Asuna understood it in the real world.

At this point in time, Asuna viewed Kizmel, and many of the other NPCs she’d met, as real people who lived in a real world called Aincrad. She was certain that her temporary partner, Kirito, shared that view.

As Kizmel went to work, the principal representative of “other NPCs,” Nirrnir, watched the activity with envy from their right.

“That looks very pleasant. Will you do that to my back, too, Kizmel?”

“Gladly. Just give me a moment.” Kizmel finished scrubbing Asuna’s back, then used the basin full of hot water to carefully wash the suds off.

“Thank you, Kizmel.”

“You’re welcome,” she said, smiling at Asuna, then moved her seat over to the right.

Nirrnir was seated on another wooden stool. She had her luxurious golden hair parted in two, hanging in front over her shoulders. Her exposed back looked like it belonged to a doll. Kizmel sponged it very gently.

Asuna smiled to herself as the girl closed her eyes in bliss. Then she looked around the rest of the bathing area.

The bath in the luxury hotel on the third floor of the Volupta Grand Casino was certainly deluxe enough to be called a spa. Upon passing through the door in the hallway, they entered a lounge with reclining chairs, then a pristine changing room, followed by the bath at last. It was reminiscent of a real resort hotel, hot spring grand bath, a local public bathhouse, or a neighborhood health spa—and yet also unlike those things.

For one thing, there were no windows. It was one o’clock in the afternoon, and if there had been a big window pointing south, they’d be able to bring in all kinds of sunlight, but the only light came from the lanterns on the wall. The natural black rock interior made the bath very dim, if not as dim as Nirrnir’s room. On the other hand, there was a great variety of plants around the place that made it feel like a greenhouse—and not so cramped and stuffy.

Half of the bathing room, which was a good thirty feet to a side in total, was dedicated to a washing area built in direct facsimile of the Japanese style. Pipes pumped in fresh water at all times, while wooden bath stools sat in front of shelves with sponges, shampoo, and body soap. As a matter of fact, you could say that this entire facility was Japanese style; there weren’t many group baths like this in America or Europe.

In a sense, given that Aincrad was based on classical fantasy themed after medieval Europe, this place might be inappropriate for the setting. But to Asuna, any realism-based design philosophy that would eliminate a spacious, luxurious bath was worth less than the bloodsucking slugs in Looserock Forest.

Between the tented bath in the dark elf camp on the third floor, Yofel Castle on the fourth floor, the village bath in Shiyaya on the fifth floor, and the underground bath in Castle Galey on the sixth, Asuna had received an immeasurable amount of refreshment and vitality. Even the bath in the room above the farmhouse that Kirito was renting on the first floor…If she hadn’t been able to bathe to her heart’s content that day, Asuna might have lost her will to fight against this game of death forever.

She recalled that the bath was where she first met Argo the info dealer. When the girl strode right into the bath, Asuna had screamed her lungs out, but now Argo was a friend she could confide in without reservation.

Speaking of Argo, she had quickly washed her hair and body and was now monopolizing the spacious bath. When Asuna spotted her in a state of utter relaxation with her limbs splayed wide, she couldn’t wait any longer.

“I’m going into the bath,” Asuna told Kizmel.

“Yes, I will join you soon.”

Asuna stood up and crossed the stone floor to the bath. She used her bucket to rinse off first, then slid into the crystal-clear water.

“Auuuuh…”

She couldn’t stop the sound from escaping her throat. The numbing, throbbing sensation extended to the tips of her fingers and toes, and she sank down to her mouth and closed her eyes.

SAO’s VR system had trouble re-creating the sensation of liquid, Kirito had said once. It was true that when she bathed on the first floor, something felt off about the way the water pressed against her bare skin, the sense of overall pressure, the reflection of light on the water surface, and the way individual droplets worked. But the more opportunities she found to bathe, the less she minded these things. Either she was getting used to VR bathing, or the system itself was evolving. If Kirito were here, she could ask him his thoughts…and then she had to scold herself: No, he’s not supposed to be here!

As though reading her mind, Argo lazily murmured, “Gosh, if only Kii-boy could be here, too…”

Asuna very nearly swallowed some water. She had to lift her mouth back above the bath. “Wh-why would you say something like that…? There’s no men’s bath here.”

“Just give him a blindfold, and he’ll be fine.”

“That would be kind of mean.” Asuna chuckled, but then she realized something. “Wait…Argo, was there a sign that this was a women-only bath…?”

“Nope.”

“……”

She glanced back at the entrance. That meant this was a mixed bath, and a male NPC—or worse, player—could walk through at any moment.

“You’re safe,” said a voice from behind her, once again reading Asuna’s thoughts. She spun around and saw Nirrnir, her face and body washed, standing with her hands on her hips. “The hotel’s guests can only use the bath between three and nine o’clock. It’s all ours at the moment. That means we can even do this.”

She crouched briefly, then sprang high into the air, did a pike flip, and landed bottom-first into the bath. Despite her tiny size, the sheer momentum of her maneuver splashed water everywhere. It rained down over Asuna’s and Argo’s heads.

They sat there, unmoving, as water dripped down their bangs. Kizmel, meanwhile, silently slipped into the water and said, “If Miss Kio were here, she would have scolded you.”

“She certainly would have,” admitted Nirrnir as she floated up to the surface. “Almost every bath I take is accompanied by Kio, so on the few occasions this is not the case, I get to do things I’m not normally allowed to do. Why don’t you try jumping in, too?”

“Um, I’ll pass,” Asuna said, doing her best to smile. On the inside, she was thinking, There’s no way this girl is just a program.

She slicked back her wet hair, then relaxed once again. The bath was a bit on the hot side, but the good thing was that you couldn’t get light-headed or dehydrated in the virtual world. Even better, her waist-length hair didn’t need to be tied up before it hit the water. There were no loose hairs floating in the water or clinging to her skin.

If I get too used to the conveniences of this world, I’m going to have a hard time when I get back to reality. She chuckled to herself—until her smile turned bitter. She was acting like they’d come so far since the first floor, but they were only on the seventh. There were ninety-three unconquered floors of Aincrad above their heads. Even if they took a week to complete each one, that would take nearly two years. And that was an optimistic view; the difficulty was only likely to rise as they went upward.

Strangely, however, thinking about the future didn’t fill her with the same sense of despair as before. She had to banish the idea that she might be getting used to this wild scenario: a virtual game world that would kill her if her HP dropped to zero even once. Maybe she was getting a tiny bit used to it, but that wasn’t all.

Most likely, there was something building up within her that was neutralizing that despair. The beauty of the scenery, the taste of the food, the pleasure of the bath, the satisfaction of solving riddles, the socialization with Argo and Kizmel…and her ever-present black-haired temporary partner. It was a little galling to admit it, but for every time he angered her, or annoyed her, or surprised her, or delighted her, some tiny bit of the built-up silt of fear and panic at the bottom of her core blew away.

If she kept going on adventures with him, would all that darkness within her eventually disappear? Would she feel like there was a meaning one day, a benefit to having been trapped in this place?

She couldn’t be sure yet. Maybe some massive, unseen misery was going to beat her down, leaving her unable to get back up again. But even still…

On her right, Kizmel’s eyes were closed. On her left, Argo was watching with a smile on her face. Across from her, Nirrnir floated on the water, limbs outstretched. Asuna decided that if she had the chance later tonight, she’d invite Kizmel to join her in the bath again.

With swimsuits, of course.