He laughed again.
“Ah…”
I could mostly guess the reason for why he was in this game. Tohto was a network operator company that had been cooperating with Argas. They were responsible for taking care of the network that linked to the SAO servers.
“I’m Kirito. I moved here from the upper levels a while ago. Nishida oji-san…must have been…maintaining the SAO network connection…?”
“I was in charge of it.”
Nishida said as he nodded. I looked at him with a complicated feeling. This meant that the man had become entangled in everything here because of his job.
“Haha, my superiors said there was no need to log on, but I can’t be fully at ease until I see my work with my own eyes, and because of an old man’s worries I became like this.”
He swung his rod with an amazingly smooth motion as he said this, and one could tell that he had the professional mastery of a skilled fisherman. He also seemed to like talking, as he kept on going without waiting for a response from me:
“Other than me, there are around twenty to thirty other old men who ended up here due to various reasons. Most of them are living safely in Starting City, but I enjoy this far more than simply eating three meals a day.”
He lifted his fishing rod a little.
“I searched endlessly for good rivers and lakes, and finally came up all the way to a place like this.”
“Oh, really… Well, there are almost no monsters on this floor.”
Nishida just smiled at what I said without answering. Then he asked me:
“Well, are there any good spots on the upper floors?”
He asked.
“Hmmm… Well, the sixty-first floor was entirely a lake, well, more like a sea, and they say one could catch huge fish there.”
“Ohh! I better go there sometime.”
At this time, the float of his fishing rod began to quickly sink. Nishida wasted no time in pulling it in. It seemed that his fishing skill level was pretty high, as well as his actual ability to fish.
“Woah, it’s huge!”
As I strained to lean forward, Nishida calmly reeled in the fishing line and quickly pulled up the shimmering blue fish. The fish flapped in his hands a few times and then vanished into his inventory.
“Amazing…!”
Nishida gave an embarrassed smile as he raised his head to reply:
“It’s nothing. All you need to do here is raise your fishing skill.”
Then he added while scratching his head:
“But, even if I can catch them, I still didn’t know how to cook them properly… I wanted to eat sashimi or grilled fish, but I can’t do anything without soy sauce.”
“Ah…yeah…”
I hesitated for a moment. We had moved here to avoid other people, but I figured that this person wouldn’t really be interested in rumors and gossips.
“…I know of something that tasted a lot like soy sauce…”
“What!?”
Nishida leaned closer with his eyes shining behind his glasses.
As Asuna greeted my return and saw Nishida, her eyes went wide with surprise, but then she smiled and said:
“Welcome back. A guest?”
“Yeah, this is Nishida oji-san, a fisherman. And-”
My voice trailed off as I turned towards Nishida and was unsure of how to introduce Asuna. Then, Asuna smiled at the old fisherman and introduced herself:
“I’m his wife, Asuna. Welcome to our home.”
She nodded confidently.
Nishida was staring at Asuna with his mouth open. Asuna was dressed in a plain long skirt, a hemp shirt with an apron, and a headscarf on top. She looked very different from the imposing warrior image of her as a KoB member, but her beauty didn’t change.
After blinking several times, Nishida finally came to his senses and said:
“Ah, ahh, I apologize. I was mesmerized for a moment. I’m Nishida. Sorry for intruding upon you like this…”
He scratched his head and laughed.
Asuna applied all of her impressive cooking skills on the huge fish that Nishida had caught, and brought it onto the table after turning it into sashimi and grilled fish with soy sauce as a seasoning. As the aroma of the handmade soy sauce wafted through the house, Nishida widened his nostrils with a look of delight on his face.
It tasted more like a yellowtail with just the right amount of oil rather than a freshwater fish. According to Nishida, you needed to have at least 950 points in fishing to be able to catch it. After a brief conversation, the three of us focused on eating with our chopsticks.
The plates were empty within the blink of an eye, and Nishida sighed with an expression of bliss as he held a cup of hot tea in his hands.
“…ah, that was very satisfying. Thank you. To think that soy sauce actually exists in this world…”
“Oh, it’s handmade. You can take some back with you if you like it.”
Asuna retrieved a small bottle from the kitchen and handed it over to Nishida. I thought that it was a good idea not to tell him the recipe. Asuna then smiled and said to the grateful Nishida:
“Don’t worry about it; you also brought us such a good fish.”
She then continued:
“Kirito never caught anything.”
At this sudden attack, I simply sipped on my tea in silence before responding:
“The lakes in this area are all too hard.”
“No, not really. It’s only the lake that Kirito-san was fishing in.”
“Eh…”
What Nishida said made me fall speechless. Asuna grabbed her stomach and began to laugh without stop.
“Why did they set it like that…?”
“Well actually, in that lake…”
Nishida lowered his voice before continuing, so Asuna and I leaned forward.
“I think the local god lives there.”
“Local god?”
As Asuna and I echoed each other, Nishida smiled, pushed back his glasses, and then kept talking:
“In the village item shop, there is one bait that’s much more expensive than the others. I was curious about its capabilities, so I decided to buy it once to try out.”
I swallowed instinctively.
“But I couldn’t catch anything with that bait. After trying it out in various locations, I finally thought of taking a shot at that high-difficulty lake.”
“Did, did you catch something…?”
“Well, something took the bait.”
Nishida nodded deeply, and then his expression became one of regret:
“But I couldn’t pull it out with my strength and ended up losing my fishing rod to it. I only managed to see its shadow during the last moments. It wasn’t just huge; one could call it a monster, but in a different sense from the ones that appeared in the fields.”
He spread his arms wide apart. This was probably the reason behind his meaningful smile when I said, “There are almost no monsters on this floor.”
“Uwa, I want to see it!”
Asuna exclaimed as her eyes sparkled. Then, Nishida caught my gaze and said:
“So I have a proposal—do you have confidence in your strength stats Kirito-san…?”
“Well, it should be alright…”
“Then how about we fish for it together?! I’ll hold it until it bites and then leave the rest to you.”
“Hmm, so we’ll «Switch» while fishing…would that be possible…?”
I tilted my head to the side.
“Let’s try it, Kirito! It sounds interesting!”
Asuna said this with “excitement” written all over her face. But, it was true that I was also quite interested.
“Then let’s have a go at it.”
As I answered, a smile spread across Nishida’s face.
“That’s the spirit, wa-ha-ha.”
That night.
After exclaiming, “Coldcold,” Asuna crawled into the bed, then pushed her body against mine and made a soun
d of satisfaction. She blinked sleepily and then smiled as if she had just thought of something.
“…there’re so many different people here.”
“He was interesting, wasn’t he?”
“Yeah.”
Asuna then suddenly removed her smile and muttered:
“Up until now, I had only fought on the upper floors. I had completely forgotten that there were people who lived normal lives…”
“I don’t mean that we’re special; but since we’re on a high enough level to fight on the front lines, I suppose it also means that we have an obligation to them.”
“…I had never thought about it like that… I always felt that becoming stronger was just a way to survive.”
“I think that a lot of people are going to be counting on you from now on. Of course that includes me.”
“…except with my personality, hearing these kind of expectations only makes me want to run away.”
“Oh you.”
As Asuna pouted in dissatisfaction, I stroked her hair and hoped for this life to continue for a while longer. For Nishida and the other players, we have to return to the front lines at some point. But at least for now-
Based on the messages that Egil and Cline had sent me, I knew that they were having a hard time trying to clear the seventy-fifth floor. However, I believed from the bottom of my heart, that the most important thing to me right now was this life with Asuna.
Chapter 19
Three days later, Nishida informed us in the morning that he was going to fish for the local god. Around thirty people would be there to watch, as it seemed that he had told his fishermen friends about this.
“This is troublesome. Asuna…what should we do?”
“Hm~mmm…”
To tell the truth, we weren’t all that happy about this. We had come here to hide from the gossipers and Asuna’s fans, so we were a little hesitant about appearing before so many people.
“How about this?!”
Asuna gathered her hair and pushed it up. Then she covered her face up to her eyes with a huge scarf. She didn’t stop there and pressed some buttons on her menu window to put on a plain overcoat.
“Y-Yeah. Pretty good. You look like a proper farmer’s wife.”
“…is that, a compliment?”
“Of course. In my case, they’re not going to recognize me as long as I don’t equip battle gear.”
Before the sun even rose, I walked out of the house with Asuna, who was carrying our picnic basket. She could have just called it out when we got there, but she insisted that it was part of the disguise.
Today was warm for an early winter day. After walking through the forest of huge pine trees for a while, we could finally see the sparkling water between the trunks. A lot of people had already gathered there. As I approached nervously, a familiar stout figure waved to us as he laughed.
“Wa-ha-ha, it’s a relief that we have such great weather today!”
“Hello, Nishida oji-san.”
Asuna and I nodded our heads. He told us that the assembly of people here from various age groups were all members of a fishing guild that Nishida ran. We greeted everyone nervously, but it seemed nobody recognized Asuna.
Putting that aside, Nishida oji-san was far more active than I imagined. He must have been a good team leader within his company. The atmosphere was already spirited, as the group had been holding a fishing competition before our arrival.
“Eh~ so, today’s main event will finally be starting!”
Nishida loudly announced this as he walked towards us with a long fishing rod in his hand, and the spectators cheered in excitement. I looked at the fishing rod he was carrying, my eyes tracing down the pole without much thought before the item at its end surprised me.
It was a lizard, an abnormally large one at that. It was as long as an adult’s forearm. Its poisonous-looking red and black skin shone as if to emphasize its freshness.
“Hiiiii—”
Asuna noticed it even later than I did, and her expression froze as she took several steps back from it. If this was the bait, then what we were trying to catch must be unbelievable.
But before I had any time to ask, Nishida turned towards the lake and raised his fishing rod. With a short shout, he swung it in an impressive form, and the huge lizard drew an arc in midair before falling into the water with a large splash.
Fishing required almost no waiting time within SAO. Once you put the bait in the water, either a fish took the bite within a few dozen seconds, or you lost the bait. We swallowed involuntarily as we watched as the line sank into the water.
After just a few moments, the fishing rod twitched several times. But Nishida didn’t even move an inch.
“It’s, it’s here Nishida-san!”
“It’s still too early!”
Behind Nishida’s glasses, the two eyes that usually belonged to a good-natured grandfather were shining with light. Nishida continued to watch the end of the rod without moving as it twitched.
Then the rod jerked harder.
“Now!”
Nishida strained his small body backwards and pulled the rod using his whole body. I could tell the rope was really tight just by looking at it, which also gave off a twanging sound effect.
“It took the bait!! I’ll entrust the rest to you!!”
I cautiously pulled the rod that Nishida had handed over, but it didn’t even budge one bit. It felt as if the fish hook had caught onto something embedded into the ground. I looked back at Nishida, worried if the fish had really bitten, and then within the blink of an eye—
The rope started pulling into the water with a burst of power.
“Ahhh!”
I quickly dug my feet into the ground and pulled it up again. The strength-applied gauge quickly went past the normal mode.
“I-Is it okay to strain this?”
I asked Nishida as I worried about the durability of the fishing pole.
“It’s of the highest quality! You can pull on it all you want!”
Nishida nodded, his face already red from excitement. I corrected my grip on the rod and then pulled with all my strength. The fishing rod bent around the middle and became a huge U.
As each player levels up, they can choose to raise either strength or dexterity. Axe-users such as Egil would opt for strength, while rapier-users like Asuna would focus on their dexterity. Although I was a normal sword user and raised both of them, my personal preferences prioritized dexterity somewhat more than strength.
But I seemed to be winning this tug of war, most probably because my level itself was so high. I slowly stepped backwards, steadily forcing the huge thing out of the water.
“Ah, I can see it!!”
Asuna leaned over the water and pointed to it. I was leaning backwards and further away from the lake so I couldn’t check. The spectators got louder and rushed forward to look into the water, which quickly deepened as it left the shore. I couldn’t suppress my curiosity and focused all of my strength to tug at the fishing rod.
“…?”
Suddenly, something startled all the spectators that had been leaning over the water. Each one of them took a few steps back.
“What’s wrong…?”
Before I even finished talking, they all turned around and ran away. Even Asuna and Nishida ran past me from either side with white faces. I was about to look back towards them when—the weight lifted from my hands and I fell down on my backside.
Ah, did the rope snap!?
As I thought that, I threw the rod away and ran towards the lake. At that moment, the glittering water surface of the lake suddenly surged upwards.
“Eh-!?”
I froze on the spot with my eyes wide open, and at this moment I heard Asuna’s faraway voice:
“Kiritooo—it’s dangerous—!!!”
When I turned around, I saw Asuna, Nishida, and everyone else had already gotten up the embankment that rose from the edge of the lake, which was quite far away from m
e. I could hear the water splashing loudly behind me as I finally began to understand the situation. Then, with a feeling of uneasiness, I turned back around.
The fish was standing.
To be more precise, the creature was like a Coelacanth [2], a cross between fish and reptiles, except this one leaned more towards the reptile side. It stood there on the grass with its six powerful legs and looked down upon me as water streamed off it like waterfalls.
I said “looked down” because this thing was at least two meters tall. Its mouth, which seemed like it could swallow a cow whole, was positioned just a bit higher than my head with a familiar looking lizard leg sticking out of it.
From either side of this ancient colossal fish’s head, two basketball-sized eyes met with those of my own. A yellow cursor appeared automatically to mark it as a monster.
Nishida had told us that the local god of this lake was a monster in a different sense from those that appeared in the fields.
How was it different? This thing was a monster in every sense of the word.
I forced a smile and took a couple of steps backwards. Then I turned around and scrambled off. The huge fish behind me gave a thunderous roar and then started following me with steps that shook the ground.
I pushed my dexterity stats to the limit and ran as if I was flying. I reached Asuna within a few seconds and complained loudly:
“Th-Th-That was unfair! Running away by yourself!!”
“Uwa, Kiritothisisn’tthetimetobesayingthat!!”
I turned around and saw the huge fish running towards us with an impressive speed despite its sheer size.
“Ooh, it’s running on the ground… So it’s a dipnoan[3]…?”
“Kirito-san, this isn’t the time to be saying pointless things like that!! We should run away quickly!!”
This time it was Nishida who shouted in fear. The dozens of spectators were in a state of shock from the situation, and quite a few of them was sitting on the ground with blank expressions.
“Kirito, did you bring your weapons?”
Asuna said as she brought her head right next to mine. Yeah, it would be pretty hard to get everybody ordered enough to escape in this sort of situation—
“Sorry, I didn’t…”
Sword Art Online - Volume 1 - Aincrad Page 17
