Asuna coldly grabbed onto my hand and stood up before sharply looking away. She raised her hands up high as if she was about to breathe in all of the sunset air into her lungs. 1 year and 5 months have already passed since this death game called «Sword Art Online» began operating. Before we knew it, almost 60% of the 100 floors of the floating city of Aincrad, which we first thought was extremely distant, were conquered, with the foremost front line at the 59th floor currently. The time taken to clear each floor on average was thus, 10 days. As for whether such a speed was fast or slow, even I, who was more knowledgeable about the clearing, couldn’t tell. However, with this constant clearing speed, «A sentiment to enjoy life» seemed to develop in the upper-median floors, regardless of how meagre it was. On the main street of the 57th level «Marten», such an atmosphere was rather abundant. This large street that’s only 2 floors away from the front line had inevitably turned into the base camp for the clearing groups, as well as a tourist attraction. With the arrival of evening, the place would become extremely busy with the players returning from the front line above, or those coming from lower floors for dinner. Asuna and I, who came down to Marten through the transfer gate on the 59th floor, walked side by side on this main street crowded with people. The many people we passed by who widened their eyes, startled, gave a feeling not at all pleasant. It’s no wonder that they would have such an expression, since this aloof, beautiful woman, reputed to even have a fan club, had a very suspicious looking solo player walking brazenly by her side. I guess Asuna really wanted to use all of her agility to rush into the aforementioned shop, but