In the year 2022, the VRMMO game "Sword Art Online" trapped 10,000 players in a death game. This is the story of a rapier wielding girl joining an armored slayer on his journey to defeat all 100 floors of the floating castle of Aincrad. Will his exi...
The tranquil ripples of the lake echoed, and the small waterfall a distance away set the calming mood. Throwing his line out, the brown-haired boy took rest on the dock, sitting on a foldable chair. The sun shined brightly that morning, just like every other day of the year on floor twenty-two. A silver ring rested on his left hand that held the fishing rod. It had been 10 days since the couple bought their log cabin and officially got married. Every day had been a new adventure, not receiving the same amount of thrill and excitement as clearing a dungeon, but discovering something new about their partner.
As the boy's mind drifted, thinking about the previous days spent with his wife, his line tugged his arm. Waiting for the right moment, the player took his opportunity and began reeling in the catch. Pulling his line out of the water, he is disappointed to see the fish had escaped with his bait. This has been going on for days now. Replacing his sword skills for fishing skills, he hasn't caught a single thing yet. Asuna also made the switch, taking up sewing as her latest skill. Speaking of which, she was actually sewing him a coat that might probably be a size too big for him inside their log cabin.
Nishida: Catch anything?
The boy was surprised to hear a voice directly behind him, not even alerting his detection skill. Taking a good look, he wore fishing gear, from the hat, to the sand green clothing. The only thing that was off-putting was what appeared to be his age. He seemed to be around the realm of 50 but it's extremely rare to see someone around that age in SAO, the possibility of him being a non-playable character crossed the boy's mind.
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Nishida: Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you like that. I'm not an NPC if you were wondering.
Almost as if he was reading his mind, but he must have received that assumption many times before. The older man swung his fishing hook into the lake and took rest on his own portable chair.
Ares: ...Apologies.
Nishida: No, it's fine. It's understandable. I'm most probably the oldest player here. My name is Nishida. I'm a fisherman here. In Japan, I worked as the head of maintenance for a company called the Tohto Broadband Connection.
Ares: I'm Ares, I moved here a while ago with my wife... If I may ask, wasn't Tohto the company that--
Nishida: Yep, we were the folks in charge of network security for this game. 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'm stuck in here too. 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 the Town of Beginnings, but I enjoy this far more than simply living down there. I searched endlessly for good rivers and lakes and finally came up all the way to a place like this.
