Chapter 187

　In the forest at night, the strange glowing fruits on the trees add a touch of light to what should have been a dark forest, creating a dreamlike atmosphere. This is a famous place near Siluban, the Forest of Light.

　　At this moment, in the Forest of Light, a young man was walking through the woods with two little girls. To be precise, one silver-haired gothic-style girl was sitting on the young man’s shoulder, while the other flew beside him in the form of a little fairy.

　　”Yui, the fairy form in Alo really suits you.” Walking through the glowing forest with the two little girls, Suigintou, being a special being, did not change into the fairy form of Alo, but Yui chose the fairy form out of curiosity.

　　She had long, black hair with bangs adorned with blue flower hair clips, a delicate and adorable face, a pink choker collar around her neck, pink gloves that revealed her small hands, and a long, pink dress that resembled an evening gown, with a matching pink bow below the chest.

　　The skirt parted like a calyx, revealing a pair of slender, fair legs and bare feet. Above the delicate feet were red anklets, and finally, of course, were the features of an elf: pointed little ears and a pair of pink, transparent, thin wings.

　　However, at my suggestion, Yui appeared in Alo at this time in the form of a figure, and her identity was the same as Suigintou’s, pretending to be my summoned spirit.

　　The skill of summoning spirits was acquired by me and Leafa during a leveling adventure when we encountered a mysterious female spirit NPC and received her trial quest.

　　This female NPC was naturally arranged by me. Asuna and the others all obtained special skills from the inheritance of SAO, so Leafa needs to keep up with their combat power. If the talent difference is not significant, giving her a secret skill as well will allow her to catch up faster.

　　Therefore, I also received a hug from Leafa. It was my first time receiving a mysterious quest and obtaining a secret skill in the game, so the girl was inevitably a little excited. The time we spent together made Leafa regard me as a trustworthy comrade and friend, so in a moment of joy, Leafa hugged me, her comrade.

　　Of course, Leafa quickly noticed something was wrong and immediately let go of me. It was a one-off thing, but I still remember very clearly Leafa’s full, soft breasts and her faint fragrance. She was so well-developed.

　　”Really?” Hearing my praise, Yui flew around me once. Actually, she quite liked this posture, just like a real little fairy. I wonder if her mother would be surprised when she saw it.

　　”Of course I’m not lying to you, otherwise you can ask them.” Soon we arrived at the coordinates we had agreed upon with the girls, where several girls in elven form were chatting, some standing and some sitting.

　　Hearing this, Yui looked in the direction I was pointing and saw several beautiful girls chatting ahead, three of whom were people she knew.

　　Asuna, the water sprite, stood in the middle of the group of women. She had long, azure hair tied in a small braid behind her head, blue eyes, delicate features, a pretty face, and fair skin.

　　She wore a combat uniform that was predominantly white, with a light blue stripe down the middle of the white dress-style uniform. There were ties around her neck, collar, chest, and waist. Dark blue stripes outlined the edges of the clothes. There were leather belts tied around her chest and waist. The long skirt hem fell to her calves, while the white dress-style uniform hem reached her thighs.

　　She wore a dark blue wristband, and her arms were covered with openwork dark blue striped sleeves. Her long, slender legs were clad in dark blue stockings with a white stripe around the top.

　　She wore white high-heeled ankle boots with a cross pattern, and a dark blue striped collar hanging from the top of the boots.

　　Silica, with her long brown hair tied into twin ponytails with small red beaded hair ties, sat on a wooden stump. She wore a dark blue combat suit with gold trim, and a silver-white breastplate protected her chest.

　　She wore a black pleated skirt, and her beautiful legs were encased in black stockings with a gold stripe at the top. The black pleated skirt and black stockings created an alluring “absolute territory”.

　　Beside Silica was Liz, with short pink hair. The girl wore a red long-sleeved combat suit with a silver-white breastplate protecting her chest. She also had a silver-white shoulder guard on her left shoulder and silver-white gauntlets on her small hands with white gloves. However, the gloves did not cover her completely; they only protected her arms and the backs of her hands to increase her flexibility.

　　She wore a thin brown leather belt around her waist, with silver-white armor on both sides. Below the armor was a white and red skirt, and she wore white capri pants that reached her knees. She wore brown boots, revealing a small section of her fair and tender calves.

　　Finally, there’s Leafa standing to Asuna’s left. Her long golden hair is tied into a single ponytail with a light green leaf-shaped ribbon, with two small braids hanging down beside her cheeks. She has emerald green eyes, golden eyebrows, and thin cherry lips.

　　The girl wore a white strapless top, with a thick cotton collar that covered her full breasts and had gold trim. She also wore a white choker with green trim around her white, jade-like neck, from which hung a small green ribbon.

　　Over the white tube top, the girl wore a small green top with two white stripes with green edges covering her chest. On her shoulders were green and white sleeves, which were slightly puffed up like lantern sleeves. Below the sleeves were white arm warmers, and green stockings were used to bind her arms tightly. The cuffs were lace-trimmed, and there was a gold bracelet on the girl’s wrist.

　　Continuing downwards, the girl’s slender waist was tightly bound by a brown corset, tied at the waist with a light brown belt. Below the corset was a green skirt with white trim, split in the middle, revealing a small section of white stockings bound by brown leg rings. The white stockings with lace trim parted at the girl’s absolute territory, resembling an alternative safety shorts.

　　Beneath a section of fair, tender thigh, white stockings continued to envelop the girl’s jade-like legs, and on her beautiful feet, she wore dark brown ankle boots.

　　Although it was slightly different from Sai, Yui still recognized Asuna, Silica, and Liz at a glance. She almost couldn’t resist flying over to them, but remembering her promise to behave, she held back.

　　”Jian, you’ve finally arrived.” Leafa waved to me when she saw me.

　　”I shouldn’t be late, right?” I said, carrying Suigintou and with a slightly excited Yui beside me, as I approached Leafa.

　　”It’s not good to keep the girls waiting.” Leafa nudged my waist with her elbow, which was covered by a white silk sleeve, and winked at me with her green eyes, indicating the three girls, Asuna and the others.

　　”What about you, Leafa?” I glanced at the three girls, whose reactions were exactly what I expected, and then turned my gaze back to Leafa.

　　”I…I’m your comrade-in-arms, you won’t mind, right, Asuna?” Leafa didn’t expect me to suddenly shift the focus to her. The blonde girl waved her hand and brought the topic back to Asuna and the others.

　　However, when Leafa turned to look at Asuna and the others, she found that all three girls had surprised expressions on their faces, and Asuna even covered her cherry lips, her blue eyes seeming to be glistening with tears.

　　What exactly is going on? Leafa followed the gaze of the three girls and found that they were all looking at the cute little sprite. Is this another new summoned sprite?

　　Leafa looked enviously at the black-haired fairy and the silver-haired loli. From the day she and I obtained the secret technique together, Leafa knew that I could summon my own fairy, and that she was very delicate and cute. This made the blonde girl envious. She also wanted to hug and hold such a cute loli. Unfortunately, Suigintou had always been uninterested in others, and Leafa had never had this opportunity.

　　”Yui…Yui, is it really you?” Even though she had shrunk in size, Asuna could still recognize her. The girl quickly walked up to Yui and said in a slightly choked voice.

　　”Yes, Mommy has finally seen you again.” At this moment, Yui really couldn’t hold back anymore. The little girl flapped her pink, transparent wings and pounced on Asuna’s cheek, opening her small hands to hug Asuna’s pretty face.

　　”That’s great, I thought you were in Sao…” After waking up, Asuna asked Liz and Silica about Yui, but both girls said they didn’t know. In fact, they both knew that Yui, as an AI program derived from Sao, might have disappeared with the collapse of the world.

　　But Asuna still held a sliver of hope. Perhaps Kirito would find out, or at worst she could come and ask me, who was standing right in front of her. Even though she might have to pay a price for it, she certainly wouldn’t give up if it was for Yui’s sake.

　　Clinging to a sliver of hope, Asuna hesitated about whether to ask me first. Unexpectedly, she was surprised and delighted to see Yui here today.

　　”Yes, Yui, it’s so good that you didn’t disappear.” At this moment, Silica and Liz also came over. The two girls also liked Yui, this cute little girl, very much. They were relieved to see that she was safe and sound.

　　Of all those present, only Leafa was unaware of what was happening. However, Leafa could sense the joy the girls were showing at being reunited after being separated, so she didn’t say anything to disturb the atmosphere, but instead gave me a questioning look.

　　Since neither Leafa nor Liz knows my true abilities, it’s hard to explain, so I can only give Leafa an “I don’t know” look.

　　Fortunately, Asuna and the others hadn’t forgotten about Leafa, the girl who was unaware of the truth. After experiencing the joy of reunion, Asuna wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes with her delicate fingers and prepared to briefly explain the situation to Leafa. As for me? Judging from the fact that Yui appeared beside me, the girl didn’t believe that I didn’t know the inside story.

　　”Leaf, this is Yui, the emotion simulation monitoring AI we met in Sao.” Asuna held the little Yui in her palms, and Yui sat on Asuna’s hands in a duck-like position.

　　”SAO!? Asuna, are you survivors of that death game?” Leafa was astonished to find that the girls she met were SAO survivors like her brother.

　　Judging from our interactions, the three girls have emerged from the shadow of the Sao incident, at least on the surface. Unlike her brother, who remains despondent even after waking up, it’s no wonder they are so powerful even as newcomers to Alo.

　　”Yes, we ultimately triumphed in Sao, and the Sao world collapsed simultaneously. Yui disappeared afterward, and we only saw her again today.” Asuna briefly explained the cause and effect of the matter, omitting the details of the process.

　　”I see, that’s really something to be happy about.” Although Leafa was quite curious about what Asuna and the others had experienced in Sao, she wouldn’t be so tactless as to ask if Asuna didn’t say anything. After all, the Sao incident was a very serious game event, and she heard that many people had sacrificed their lives to complete it. The hardships they had gone through were unimaginable.

　　”By the way, Yui, how did you get to Alo?” Unlike Asuna and Silica, who guessed it was related to me, Liz didn’t know about my magical abilities. Since Yui had arrived here safely, the girl’s curiosity was piqued.

　　”Ah… you could say it’s lucky. When the SAO world disappeared, my data happened to be in the seed data left behind by SAO, and then it was inherited into Alo. But don’t worry, there are no other data clusters formed besides me, so things like Kayaba Akihiko’s resurrection shouldn’t happen.”

　　On the way here, Yui and I had already considered how to explain the background of our arrival in Alo and our transformation into summoned spirits, so Yui’s answer was relatively smooth.

　　”Then I slept in the deep sea of ​​data in Alo until yesterday when I heard the call and woke up from my slumber.” At this point, Yui finally finished explaining the reason why she and I had made it up together.

　　”So, Yui, you were awakened because of the summoning skill you created?” Liz easily connected Yui’s description to my summoning spirit skill.

　　”Yes, that’s right.” Yui nodded; this was a fairly convincing explanation.

　　”So, Yui, you’ve become my summoned spirit now?” Asuna could guess that it was related to me, but she didn’t expect Yui to become my summoned spirit directly. Isn’t that the same as turning her into a pet? Thinking of my nature, a strange look flashed across Asuna’s face. No, I’ll have to ask her properly later.

　　Asuna had to be cautious about this matter concerning Yui, especially given her lecherous nature; anything could happen, and she felt it wasn’t impossible that she might make a move on Yui.

　　”That’s great, Ken. Besides Suigintou, we now have another cute summon spirit like Yui. I want one too,” Leafa said, expressing her envy once again.

　　“Mercury Lamp doesn’t really like interacting with other people, but Yui is different. Leafa, you can become friends with her if you like.” When I mentioned her to another woman, Mercury Lamp just glanced at Leafa and then leaned her small body against my head again. Just as I said, she has no interest in anyone other than me. Even if she gets my attention, it’s only because it’s related to me.

　　After I finished speaking, I watched the girls interact while feeling the mercury lamp pressed against my cheek and my lower abdomen. A strand of the loli’s beautiful silver hair fell onto my face, making it a little itchy.

　　”Really?” Leafa had expected Mercury Lamp’s reaction, so the blonde girl turned her attention to Yui. Hmm, such a cute little fairy, it must feel so good to rub and touch her.

　　”If you’d like, Leafa, I’d be happy to be your friend.” The female friends her mother and the others knew shouldn’t be bad people, right? Yui felt they wouldn’t be as awful as some awful owner who wanted her to be a pet.

　　”Of course I’d love to! You’re so cute, Yui.” Leafa patted her chest to indicate that it was absolutely no problem. Most girls wouldn’t refuse to be friends with a cute little girl.

　　Little did Leafa know that her action gave me, the only man present, a real treat. The blonde girl’s well-developed breasts swayed slightly up and down under her gentle pat, creating a captivating jiggling effect.

　　”Then please take good care of me, Leafa-neechan.” Yui stretched out her small hands.

　　”Mmm.” Because of Yui’s current figure, Leafa simply extended a single, slender white finger and shook hands with Yui’s.

　　”Although I really don’t want to disturb you, it’s almost time for your meeting with the Wind Lord.” After giving the girls some time to chat, I had to remind them when I saw that it was almost time.

　　”Right, we need to get to the city quickly.” After I reminded her, Silica checked the time and realized there were only about ten minutes left before the agreed time.

　　Fortunately, we were able to teleport back to the city, so we still had time. I showed the invitation information to the girls and lolis, and through the female guards, we arrived at the location of Siluban’s lord, which was also where she worked—a snow-white castle.

　　”Was this negotiation successful?” Asuna and the others walked in front, while Leafa and I followed behind. Leafa was a little nervous, as it was her first time meeting a leader in the game.

　　”It should be fine. It’s unlikely that someone who aspires to become an elven lord wouldn’t want to complete the final quest. Even if they don’t want to, many of their elven players will want to achieve this ultimate goal. As the lord, leading them to complete the transformation of the light elves is arguably the lord’s duty.”

　　Unless the player’s clan and lord are all laid-back players, but based on my interactions with Siluban over this period, that’s not the case, so this negotiation still has a relatively high success rate.

　　”I see, that makes me feel a little more at ease. Hmm, we’re here.” Leafa’s tense mood eased slightly, and at the same time, she found herself standing in front of a double wooden door.

　　”Knock knock,” Asuna, who was leading the way, knocked on the intricately patterned wooden door, and then a mature woman’s voice came from inside, “Please come in.”

　　Asuna pushed open the wooden door, and a mature and beautiful woman stood up to greet our group.

　　Her long, dark green hair reached past her hips and down to her calves; she had emerald green eyes, arched eyebrows, thin, delicate lips, and a pair of pointed elf ears adorned with golden earrings, from which small diamond-shaped pendants dangled.

　　The mature woman wore a gold chain as a forehead ornament, and her long sideburns, which fell to her front, were secured with light green hair ties. Around her neck was a white lace choker tied with a gold ribbon.

　　She wore a matcha green open-necked kimono, revealing a glimpse of snow-white skin at her full chest. Her delicate collarbones and subtly visible deep cleavage were accentuated by a purple sash below her full breasts, which perfectly highlighted her slender waist.

　　The kimono’s furisode sleeves are small, perhaps because they are for battle, only revealing the mature woman’s wrists and delicate hands. A dark green cloak is also draped over her right hand, which adds to the mature woman’s leader-like aura.

　　The mature woman’s beautiful legs were covered by the hem of her kimono, but their long and slender shape could be seen from the outline of her legs as she walked. The sound of her walking was because she was wearing thick-soled wooden clogs, which made her already tall figure appear even more slender.

　　Finally, the perfect match for a kimono is the pure white tabi socks. The white tabi socks encase the mature woman’s delicate feet, with her big toe and the rest of her toes separated and clipped to the dark blue straps of her wooden clogs. The contrast in color makes her beautiful feet look even more alluring.

　　”It’s a pleasure to meet you all. My name is Shuoye, the current lord of the wind elves.” The beautiful, mature woman with long, dark green hair walked up to us. Upon closer inspection, she was indeed a more mature woman, and her breasts were even fuller than Yasna’s.

　　”Hello, I’m Asuna.” Asuna shook hands with Sakuya, and then the girls introduced themselves.

　　”Who is this?” Several girls had already greeted her, leaving only the young man behind her carrying a little girl, and, well, a little fairy too?

　　Sakuya turned her gaze toward me. In a group that was almost entirely made up of girls (and all of them were beautiful girls), the only boy stood out, a green dot in a sea of ​​flowers.

　　”My name is Jian, and I’m the support in the team. These two are my summoned spirits, Suigintou and Yui.” When I came in, Suigintou was already in my arms, while Yui was beside me.

　　Jian? Among this rising team, Asuna is the most famous, followed by Silica and Liz, then Leafa, who is also a wind spirit. As for Jian, this is the first time Sakuya has heard of the name.

　　Even as a support member, as a member of a recently rising team, all Shuo Ye could think of was the rumor that there was a male member in the team, without any concrete evidence, let alone any other relevant information. This was rather strange. Was it being deliberately concealed? Or was he just a dispensable support member?

　　Moreover, these two lifelike summoned spirits were clearly extraordinary. Shuoye was somewhat interested in me, this mysterious figure, but that wasn’t the point right now, so she put her curiosity aside and invited us to sit on the wooden sofa chairs.

　　”I heard that you want to cooperate with us, Asuna?” After everyone was seated, Sakuya began the formal topic of the evening.

　　“Yes, we want to join forces with your Wind Elf clan to conquer the World Tree and complete the final mission.” As the strongest and most charismatic member of the team, Asuna represented Sakuya in the negotiation.

　　I was happy to leisurely admire the beautiful legs of the girls on the sidelines. There were white stockings, dark blue stockings, black stockings, and tabi socks. Just looking at these beautiful legs made me never feel bored.

　　”With your abilities, it would be great to cooperate with you. However, given the difficulty of conquering the World Tree, this alone may not be enough. We will need more time to prepare.”

　　According to the information about Asuna and the others, these girls are undoubtedly powerful gamers who have completed many missions with high difficulty levels. With their strength, they can easily take on a dozen or twenty ordinary gamers, if not a hundred.

　　However, the Guardians under the World Tree are equivalent to advanced players. Ordinary players are no match for them in a one-on-one fight and can only win by sheer numbers. It takes three or more ordinary players to win relatively easily.

　　Advanced or elite players are few in number, and even with a large number of guards watching over them, the success rate is still relatively low, even if all the wind spirit players are mobilized to conquer the area, along with Asuna and her companions.

　　More importantly, the Guardians are only the first layer of defense for the World Tree. They have no idea what lies beyond that, because no one has ever made it to the later levels. Generally speaking, the game mechanics make it progressively more difficult, which is why Shuoye suggested that they need more time to prepare.

　　”It would indeed be difficult for everyone to break through the guards together, but we can adopt another strategy. We can have an elite squad handle the follow-up attacks, while the other players try to create a small opening for the elite squad to pass through.”

　　Sakuya didn’t know, and Asuna couldn’t say it outright because she couldn’t explain how she knew. In fact, apart from the first line of defense, there were no other obstacles behind the World Tree, which was why the first line of defense was so difficult.

　　Of course, I told Asuna about this as a little bit of information to help them. Asuna knew how powerful I was, so she didn’t doubt my information. But it’s not easy to explain this to Sakuya unless she personally witnesses how powerful I am.

　　”Even if we break through the first level, who knows what kind of difficulties await us later, I’m afraid…” If Asuna and the others join, this elite team will be very powerful, which will indeed increase the feasibility of this method a lot, but Sakuya feels that the success rate is still not high.

　　”Indeed, even greater difficulties may await us later, but even if we fail to complete the mission, we have one of the biggest advantages of players: resurrection. This will at least allow us to obtain subsequent information, which will be of great help in future missions. I believe that players with an adventurous spirit will not refuse the opportunity to explore the final level of the world.”

　　Unable to speak openly, Asuna could only try her best to persuade Sakuya. She didn’t want to drag things out for too long; she wanted to deal with Sugou, the traitor to the company, as soon as possible.

　　Shuo Ye pondered for a while. In the past, players would usually explore the World Tree alone or in small teams, or at most a small group. Because the server hadn’t been open for long, there hadn’t been any large-scale organization, like gathering a group of elf players to explore.

　　Perhaps this is a good opportunity to try and explore the true nature of the higher levels of the World Tree. As Asuna said, exploring unknown game scenarios is something most players would not refuse, and Sakuya is no exception. However, as a lord, Sakuya, like the other elf lords, first adopted a steady and cautious approach and did not rush to conquer the World Tree.

　　With Asuna and the others joining, the elite breakthrough tactic has become more feasible and is definitely worth a try. Having made his decision, Sakuya spoke again.

　　“Asuna, you have a point. With your help, it’s definitely worth a try. But to increase the success rate, you don’t mind if I bring in other allies, right? They are allies I trust, and their credibility shouldn’t be an issue.”

　　Players from the Wind Elf race alone might not be enough to break through the guards’ defenses. Shuo Ye plans to call on his friend, a lord from another Elf race, so that the operation to break through the defenses will be more secure.

　　”It would be wonderful if it could enhance our combat strength. I’ll have to trouble you, Miss Sakuya.” Sakuya’s words essentially meant that the two sides had reached an agreement, so Asuna extended her delicate hand to Sakuya.

　　”Just call me Sakuya. As for the trouble, it’s not really a problem. Improving the success rate of our operations is the lord’s responsibility, and I’m quite interested in it myself. I believe my friend is too.” Sakuya smiled brightly and shook hands with Asuna.

　　After that, Asuna and Sakuya talked about some details. Of course, since there was another ally, they would talk about more details later. Then, the women chatted to get to know each other better so that they could fight together in the future.

　　”Ah, we’re finally done talking. What should we do next? Take on a quest? Or grind monsters and level up?” Leafa couldn’t help but stretch after leaving the lord’s castle, her well-developed breasts bouncing as she stretched.

　　”If I remember correctly, Asuna was the one who mainly participated in the conversation just now. Leafa, you only joined the conversation after everything was settled.” Although I was talking to Leafa, my attention was basically focused on the girl’s breasts.

　　”Atmosphere, atmosphere, a serious conversation atmosphere will also affect the people present, won’t it? And Jian, how dare you say that to me? You didn’t even participate in the subsequent chat.” Leafa crossed her arms and looked at me strangely. Judging from our interactions, I don’t seem like the kind of person who would be taciturn in front of women; in fact, quite the opposite.

　　”It’s not appropriate for a grown man like me to participate in your girls’ chat.” Actually, it was to maintain some mystery. Shuo Ye seemed a little curious about me, and it would be even better if I could further pique her curiosity. If not, it’s okay; I’ll take the initiative when the time comes.

　　”What about the answer to the question? What’s next?” Leafa rolled her eyes at me. She didn’t believe me at all. She was always with them and had never seen me shy about participating in conversations.

　　”I’m planning to try out Yui’s skill effects. Asuna, are you guys coming?” Leafa, needless to say, mainly teamed up with me now, which is why she asked me what to do next.

　　”Let’s go together. It’ll be a good opportunity to practice our teamwork.” Leafa’s combat strength is gradually catching up, and she will definitely be a member of the elite team that needs to be formed. Asuna felt it was time to start practicing teamwork and find the right synergy in battle.

　　”OK, let’s set off then.” I certainly wouldn’t mind having a few more beautiful girls with me. With that decision made, our group teleported to a suitable location and began our Alo battle journey for the night.

　　Yui’s skill set is powerful and practical. Depending on the situation, she can enhance Asuna’s and others’ HP, attack power, agility and other attributes by 30% to 50%, and it is also a group buff. It can be said that she is not a problem as a support at all.

　　With Yui as a powerful support, and Suigintou as a powerful damage dealer, I can effectively balance damage output and support by simply summoning Yui and Suigintou during battle.

　　Leafa and Liz were somewhat surprised by this. Suigintou’s combat power was already very strong, almost comparable to Asuna’s. Now, with Yui added to the mix, if summoned spirits were included in my combat power, then my combat power would definitely rank first in the team.

　　In the words of the two girls: This summoning spirit skill is too overpowered.

　　Asuna and Silica, however, were not surprised by this. They both knew that Suigintou’s strength was not limited to this, and they had seen even more overpowered abilities before, so there was nothing surprising about it for them.

　　It was almost 11 p.m., and Leafa, who had to go to school, was about to log off, as were Silica and Liz. Although Silica seemed to have something she wanted to ask me, she felt embarrassed to stay since everyone was about to log off. So after saying goodbye, everyone logged off.

　　”Hmm, it’s just us left, Asuna.” I had already sent Asuna a private message when everyone was about to log off. Asuna, who had questions for me, hadn’t planned to log off anyway, so she was just pretending to exit the game.

　　”It’s not just a lucky event that Yui was able to come to Alo, as she said.” Asuna gave me a look that told me not to mess around. Leafa and the others have logged off, but Yui is still here. It’s fine that Suigintou already knows the inside story, but no, if Suigintou were to see her doing that again, Asuna would still feel ashamed.

　　”Huh?” Yui’s small body stiffened as her lie was exposed, just like a child whose lie was exposed by their parents, feeling a little embarrassed and uneasy.

　　”Don’t worry about Yui, Mom doesn’t mean to blame you. Of course, lying is bad, so please don’t lie unless absolutely necessary in the future.” Asuna understood why Yui lied. My abilities are hard to explain to Silica and the others. Unless I’m willing to demonstrate them myself, it’s indeed difficult for them to completely believe me.

　　”Okay, Mom.” Hearing Asuna say that, Yui breathed a sigh of relief. But as she relaxed, Yui quickly noticed something strange: Why was her mother left alone? And why did she say with such certainty that her presence in Alo was not a coincidence or a lucky event? Did the two of them have a very good relationship in private?

　　Yui’s eyes suddenly darted back and forth between me and Asuna. This obvious action probably meant she guessed that Asuna and I had some kind of relationship in private. Asuna, who hadn’t planned to log off but wanted to ask me about it, had already anticipated this. She felt she could reveal a little bit about our relationship to Yui.

　　”I’ve witnessed Kenshin’s true power, so I suspect things aren’t that simple.” Asuna revealed her relationship with me, which definitely didn’t refer to anything sexual, but rather her knowledge of my strength.

　　I can roughly understand Asuna’s thinking. Why she revealed this to Yui is because Yui is now my summoned spirit, and her private interactions with me in the future are likely to be noticed. If she reveals that she knows some of my secrets, it means that her relationship with me is better than that of ordinary friends, so that her private interactions with me will not seem so abrupt.

　　If the girl candidly states this, it should reduce the possibility of Yui overthinking things. Especially since Yui is still an innocent child and Asuna is her trusted mother, she is even less likely to overthink it. She will probably just think that Asuna has something related to my abilities and needs to contact me privately.

　　”I see.” Yui thought to herself that as long as it wasn’t because of a close relationship, it would be fine. After tonight’s experience, Yui felt that I was in some danger, and it would be best if her mother could have as little contact with me as possible.

　　This was something Asuna hadn’t expected. The girl thought I had just awakened Yui and hadn’t done anything to her. In fact, I had already signed a contract with Yui, which made the little girl more wary of me. If Yui knew that Asuna had been in contact with me in private, she might not think of anything sexual, but she would definitely be worried.

　　It’s hard to say whether Yui, whom I’m worried about, might stumble upon something inappropriate for children. If I don’t deliberately avoid Yui, it wouldn’t be surprising if the little girl discovered something, just like Matou Sakura.

　　”Since Asuna wants to know, I’ll tell you. Here’s what happened…” I briefly told Asuna about rescuing Yui and waking her up, but I omitted the part about signing a contract with Yui.

　　Yui didn’t remind me about the parts I was hiding. The little girl also didn’t want her mother to know about this. If her mother found out about her becoming a pet, she would definitely be very worried and resentful. Yui didn’t think her mother was capable of dealing with me right now.

　　”I understand what happened. Thanks to your help, Yui was able to survive. I’m truly grateful to you.” Asuna was genuinely grateful to me for Yui’s situation. If it weren’t for me, Yui might have really disappeared along with Sao.

　　”It’s what I should do, and Yui is such a cute little girl, I can’t bear to see her disappear.” Yui pouted at my words, since I had to make her sign a pet contract.

　　Asuna, however, gleaned a different meaning from my words: Was it because of her that I should do this? The girl smiled bitterly to herself. Wouldn’t this make it even harder to get rid of me? If I had used this to coerce her back then, would I have even taken her physical body? Thinking this, she felt both relieved and a little strange. Based on her understanding of me, she felt that things were probably not that simple.

　　”No matter what, thank you.” Asuna couldn’t figure out where that strange feeling came from, so she put it aside for the time being, since she would have another chance to ask later.

　　”Then I’ll accept your thanks, Asuna.” At the same time, I gave Asuna a look, implying that simply saying thank you wasn’t enough to show sincerity.

　　”It’s getting late, I should log off now.” Asuna gave me a subtle glare, knowing I wouldn’t let her off easily.

　　”Okay, goodnight, Mom. See you next time.” Although she was reluctant to part with Asuna, it was indeed quite late. Yui thoughtfully came over and rubbed her cheek against Asuna’s to say goodbye.

　　”Don’t be like this, Yui. We’ll be able to see each other again tomorrow night, won’t we?” Asuna could see Yui’s reluctance, or rather, as a child, Yui’s reluctance was too easy to see.

　　”Okay, Mom.”

　　”I really have to log off now, bye-bye, Yui.” Seeing that Yui’s mood had improved, Asuna logged off with a little relief, at least in front of Yui, Asuna’s figure disappeared.

　　”They’ve all left, so there’s no need for us to stay. Let’s log off, Yui.” There’s no need to hide anything from Suigintou; all that’s left is Yui.

　　Upon hearing this, Yui nodded. Everyone had logged off, and she wasn’t very interested in staying in the game any longer. She’d rather rest and look forward to tomorrow night.

　　With Yui’s consent, I sent the little girl back to reality and kindly gave her a sleep-inducing buff. Yui, who had just logged off from the game, drifted off to sleep.

　　”Now it’s time to get down to business, Suigintou, want to come along?” After seeing Yui off, I asked Suigintou a question with an obvious answer.

　　”Together.” Even though Suigintou didn’t pay much attention to Asuna and me, she could guess what I was going to do. For Suigintou, being with me was enough; it didn’t matter which woman I was going to have sex with. However, recently her thoughts have changed slightly, and she wants to become closer to me.

　　”Let’s go then.” As soon as I finished speaking, Suigintou and I were teleported to my treehouse in Alo, where a girl was waiting for us.