I like traveling the most

Because there was a problem with the golden wine and could not be drunk, and because other wines were not adequately prepared, everyone did not enjoy the hard-earned holiday too much, so the cherry blossom viewing celebration ended abruptly.

It was supposed to be dismissed and everyone went back to their respective houses, but the stupid goddess who was not happy with the drink refused to agree and insisted on having a second round of drinks noisily.

This is not a social animal from an island country, drinking round after round. But everyone's heads hurt from the noise. I have no choice but to agree. Of course, there are also reasons why everyone didn’t have a great time drinking.

Seeing that the situation was irreversible, Sato Kazuma solemnly warned: "I'm telling you, stupid Aqua, it's okay to drink with you, but let me make it clear in advance that you can only drink in the safe area. Do you hear me?"

"I know, I know."

The stupid goddess would act drunkenly every time she drank, and she would always do weird things. This was already known to everyone in the guild. Therefore, in order to prevent her from making a fool of herself and being in danger, the guild stipulated that she was only allowed to drink in the guild.

"But Kazuma, if you want to return to the first-level guild, you need to go to the teleportation base, which is too time-consuming."

"...I guess what you want to say."

"So let's drink outside the guild today!"

"Look, I knew it! I promised you to drink so much wine during the cherry blossom viewing today, but you're still not satisfied! You...the goddess of greed!"

Sato and Zhen jumped to their feet in anger.

"Okay, that's too much!" Aqua said aggrievedly: "I didn't drink that much wine! Besides, it's all your fault, Kazuma. I didn't even drink a sip of those golden wines! It's all because of you that we There’s no wine, right?”

"Well--!"

He was speechless.

"I, I understand... In that case, let's stay in the safe area on the eleventh floor. Just find a tavern..."

Xiao Lin could feel how difficult it was for him to say these words. It was really hard for him. Every time I have to accommodate the stupid goddess, I have to take over when I encounter danger or trouble.

"Yeah! I'm going to have a good drink this time!"

The stupid goddess yelled and ran towards the street quickly.

The eleventh floor of Taft is a floor that is no different from the Middle Ages. If you want to describe it, it is a standard different world style. Both the stone buildings and the scenery are exactly the same as in the story.

There are no tasks on this floor, and there are no high-level monsters. If there is anything that impresses Xiao Lin, it is that the difficulty of the BOSS on this floor is much easier than the previous ten floors.

Yes, you read that right.

Much simpler.

I don’t know if Kayaba Akihiko wants to show off to the players. The BOSSs on the first ten floors are stronger than the last, and the mechanics are more perverted than the last.

But after the tenth level, the intensity is reduced by one level. In addition to the basic value being obviously higher than the tenth level, both the mechanism and the scene are weaker by one level.

If you think about it carefully, you can understand that Kayaba Akihiko is a human being after all. He is already a genius if he wants to run this game without any glitches. How could he possibly come up with a variety of BOSS mechanisms?

"Xiao Lin...I mean Xiao Lin!"

"What's wrong, Aqua?"

"How about we go to this store?"

"Hmm."

Xiao Lin wanted to say that you were free, but when he saw everyone's eyes letting him make the decision, he chuckled and nodded.

"Okay, this is the one."

"Okay-! Excuse me!"

Aqua opened the door of the tavern energetically.

This is a relatively small pub with only a few tables, but it is very carefully decorated and gives people a warm feeling of returning home. A large group of people crowded in Xiaolin, which was quite unexpected. But that's fine, at least it won't turn into Aqua, driving the atmosphere and turning the scene into a mess.

As soon as he came in, he heard someone talking loudly.

"Of course, the safety of my companions is the top priority, but... if you just pursue safety, then lock yourself in the starting town. Since we continue to strengthen our strength and improve our level, I still hope that one day I can Join the strategy team. Although the frontline is still far away from us, now we can only leave it to the top guilds such as the Blood Alliance Knights and the Axis Cult to carry out strategy... Hey, Kirito, what's the difference between them and us? "

Nowadays, the newly emerging guilds [Knights of the Blood Covenant] and [Acusis Cult] can be said to be the two most well-known guilds. Their relationship is similar to that of the Loki Familia and the Freya Familia in "Earth".

As the main guild for clearing Aincrad, it is understandable that they would be talked about and even hope that their own guild would be equal to them. Xiaolin and others have heard this countless times.

But one of them had a more familiar name.

Inside the tavern, there were three or five people surrounding a certain swordsman in black. They were probably too excited and did not notice Xiao Lin and others who came to the tavern. They all looked at the man eagerly.

And that person was also very familiar to Xiao Lin. He was Kirito whom he hadn't seen for a long time.

When Kirito faced the door of the tavern, he spotted Kobayashi and the others first. Just when Xiao Lin wanted to say hello to him, he saw the boy in black looking begging and pleading. Xiao Lin instantly understood and stopped talking.

Sato Kazuma and others apparently also discovered him.

"That person..."

"Mr. Kirito?"

"That's Mr. Kirito, right?"

"Senior Xiaolin..."

"I know. It's better not to bother."

Xiao Lin shook his head at his companions.

Fortunately, Sato Kazuma and others also knew the appropriateness and did not rush forward to disturb them. The only one who did not know the appropriateness——

"Boss, bring up all the fine wines you have!"

Aqua strode towards another corner, and Xiaolin and others followed her there.

This time the wine party was very enjoyable.

Thanks to Kayaba Akihiko for not depriving them of their sense of taste and smell, and thanks to the food and drinks he set to be delicious, otherwise the players might collapse even more quickly if they eat tasteless food.

Aqua got drunk as usual and acted like crazy. Darkness, Alice and others took care of her, and Sato Kazuma and Megumin quarreled over something unknown.

Xiao Lin chose to escape temporarily in order to seek peace.

Kirito in the tavern also stood up quickly after seeing Xiaolin leaving the tavern.

"Kirito...?"

"What's wrong, Kirito?"

"Sorry. I kind of went out beforehand."

"Kirito? Hey, Kirito!"

Without responding to his companions behind him, Kirito walked out of the tavern quickly. Then, he saw Xiao Lin in the corner not far from the door.

"I knew you would run out."

The corners of Xiaolin's mouth rose when he saw Kirito.

When I saw Kirito again after half a month, his atmosphere was much gloomier than before, which was very different from when he teamed up with Asuna. Xiaolin knew the reason - Kibaou's guild was framed by PoH.

Although this matter had nothing to do with him, as someone who always reminded Kibaou, after watching Kibaou step into a trap and causing the death of many members of the strategy team, he would inevitably feel guilty in his heart. It was also because of this that he separated from Asuna.

Xiao Lin looked at the gloomy young man in front of him and asked, "What's wrong? Do you have anything to say?"

"…………"

"If you want me not to tell Asuna about you flirting with girls outside...well, I will cover for you."

"Eh?"

"Isn't it true? You have fallen in love with that girl, right? The one with short black hair and bob hair."

"You mean lucky?"

Kirito said her name subconsciously, but quickly explained in a panic.

"That's not true! Misunderstanding! I didn't have that idea! And Asuna and I are not... not..."

Then he fell silent again.

Quite a headache. Kobayashi is not good at comforting and enlightening people, especially the brainless teenagers in adolescence. For people like Kirito, he usually beats him first and then uses his mouth. Unfortunately, SAO cannot be attacked in the safe zone, so this method immediately fails.

"I understand, I understand, you don't need to explain."

"No, I..."

"You happened to encounter them surrounded by monsters in the wild, so you rescued them, right?"

"Huh?"

Kirito blinked.

The story of his encounter with Xing and others was exactly what Xiaolin said.

"Argo told me."

"It's her."

That terrifying intelligence dealer could pry into any private matter. As long as he paid enough, he could also know what color underwear Asuna was wearing today, so it was not surprising that he knew everything about his experience.

"Although she told me, I think with your character Kirito, this must be the case."

"What, that statement."

"Do you think I'm speculating? No, I just happen to be able to read people's minds."

Kobayashi looked directly at Kirito, as if he could read his thoughts.

Kirito was silent again.

"But the only thing I didn't expect was that you would join such an unknown little guild. When Argo told me, I was quite surprised (this was a lie)."

Kobayashi looked at the guild affiliation under Kirito's name.

——The Moonlit Black Cat Group.

Although Kirito is a relatively unpopular closed beta player, with Kobayashi speaking for him and Diabell's efforts to restore his image as a closed beta player, the black swordsman is still very respected in the strategy team. of. If you want to join the guild, apart from anything else, Holy Dragon Knight and Feng Linshan Huoshan (the guild founded by Klein) will definitely welcome you with both hands.

"actually--"

"I understand, I understand."

Xiaolin waved his hand, indicating that Kirito didn't need to explain.

After experiencing the cruel fact that the Kibaou Guild was disbanded, Kirito must have wanted to help them, at least they would not die due to the siege of monsters. I just didn’t expect that it would be so much fun to be noisy with them, and my soul would be saved. ...This is also the reason why Xiaolin likes to be with Aqua and the others.

Seeing the smile that appeared on Kirito's lips inadvertently, Xiaolin knew that he had guessed correctly.

Forget it, as long as he likes it.

only--

"You hid your rank and identity to be with them, right... No, this question is stupid. How could you not hide it if you wanted to be with them of a lower rank?"

Kirito's smile disappeared.

Apparently, he did.

And there are still great hidden dangers.

For example, if he is obviously a member of the frontline strategy team but joins a little-known guild, is there some conspiracy? And this problem coupled with Kirito's status as a closed beta player makes people even more involuntarily think in a bad direction.

"Ah, sorry, sorry." Xiao Lin waved his hand: "I didn't mean to say this, I'm sorry for scaring you."

"What?"

"What I want to say is: you used the place that you had completed a long time ago as a leveling area for them, and you guided them as if nothing had happened. This is very good. But you made a very fatal mistake."

Kirito did not ask, but his eyes were full of inquiry.

Kobayashi did not keep it a secret.

"——That is the sense of crisis."

You should know that when Kobayashi and others came to the eleventh floor, they were the first batch of players to come to the eleventh floor. They needed to explore what was ahead by themselves, and they had to be cautious and run away at any time when they encountered danger. The players in the strategy group were the same.

It is because of this that they became stronger.

"Also, you may think that the players in the strategy group are selfish. They don't share information with others because they want to stand at the top of thousands of players as top players. If the information and props obtained are provided to mid-level players, there will definitely be more people joining the strategy group than before, and they will be better at conquering floors, right?"

It must be said that Kobayashi's words touched Kirito's heart.

That's what he thought!

"But this is not helping them, but harming them."

"What...!"

"Think about it carefully, Kirito. There are indeed players who are selfish and don't want to give the information and props they have worked hard to obtain to the middle-level players, but that is only a small part. Why don't other players - Diabel and Agil do that? Even Kiba Wang returned to the first floor and led the players to the strategy layer by layer."

Kobayashi paused, then said: "That's because they have strength but no corresponding awareness."

Quickly crossing floors and levels means that they have lost their sense of crisis. In the long run, they will definitely have the illusion that the higher floors are just like this, and completely forget that the road they are taking is a relatively safe route that has been repeatedly verified by others.

When they come to the upper floors, no one tells them what to do, and there is no previous safe route for them to take. They will only be blindly arrogant and die tragically if they lose their sense of crisis.

In particular, the strategy group has even higher requirements for the impact of beating BOSS and breaking through levels. Ordinary players like this who are forced to join in and have no experience will not only fail to help the strategy group, but will make other members of the strategy group feel constrained and fall into trouble.

Kirito pursed his lips.

I don't want to admit it, but it's true.

At this moment, he also realized how naive he was.

"Like I just said..."

Kobayashi turned his back and put his hand on the door handle: "You seem to be training that girl - is her name Xing? Do you want to train her to be a shield warrior? Forget it, she doesn't have the consciousness."

"I..."

"Besides -"

interrupted him rather forcefully.

"If you have any trouble, such as in terms of guiding people, you can come to Akusis Church at any time. I'll be waiting for you."

As if he was sure that Kirito would come, Kobayashi didn't say anything more, pushed open the door and walked in first.