The sky was getting dark, and it was time for Rozen to leave.
“You can send me a message anytime you need something.”
Rozen’s avatar disappeared at Mishe’s Teleport Gate after adding Silica as a friend and leaving that as the parting words.
The moment Rozen left, the smile on Silica’s face completely disappeared.
“Kyru…”
Pina consoled Silica as if knowing how Silica felt. Seeing Pina worried about her, Silica smiled wryly.
“I’m fine, Pina.”
That was right. Silica should’ve seen this coming.
Unlike her, Rozen was the hope of thousands of Players in SAO, the leader of the strongest guild and the Clearers’ commander.
Without him, the Clearers wouldn’t be able to clear the next Floor, let alone this game.
Silica was fortunate enough that such a person would spend an entire day with her. Perhaps she was the only one who was this lucky to get such a treatment, and she should be satisfied with that as a fan. That was what she was trying to tell herself.
“It’d be unfair to the rest of the Players if I keep Rozen-san to myself. I should be thankful that he can spend the whole day with me.”
However, she couldn’t help but feel slightly sad deep down.
“Well… We’ve registered each other as friends, anyway. I can send him a message and see him anytime, right?”
Silica said to Pina, that was in her arms.
However, Pina didn’t say anything and looked straight at Silica with a pair of gloomy eyes as if knowing how Silica truly felt.
“Sniff…”
Silica finally could no longer keep her bravado.
Because deep down, she realized that even though they were registered as friends now, that did not mean the distance between them would become closer.
She could send a message anytime she wanted? Impossible.
As the Clearers’ commander, Rozen’s existence was vital to clearing the game. Even the Clearers couldn’t brazenly just send him a message anytime they want.
The one who would contact him at most might be Clearers Guild’s leaders, and even that was only in an emergency, how could Silica casually send him some message asking him a trivial question.
She could meet him anytime she wanted? That was even less realistic.
It was rare enough for Rozen to be able to make some time like today, so meeting him anytime was out of the question
That was why Silica had a feeling that they might never see each other again.
“Sigh…”
Silica couldn’t help but sigh.
All of a sudden…
“Are you Silica, the Dragon Master?”
Silica quickly turned around when she heard that question, and before she realized that there were several Players behind her.
They were an unbalanced party.
“Hey, Look!”
A short dagger user who dresses like a Thief pointed at Pina in Silica’s arms.
“It really is a Tamed Monster!”
A mace and shield user was also surprised.
“To think that we’d see a Beast Tamer here!”
A male spear user was also somewhat excited.
“Hold your horses, everyone. You’re rude right now.”
A seemingly timid female spear user scolded her friends.
The one who called out Silica was a two-handed staff user who seemed to be the leader.
On the upper left of their hp bar, Silica could see a Guild Emblem, which resembled a black cat.
It turned out they all were members of the same guild.
The guild leader smiled wryly at Silica.
“Please forgive my friends. They didn’t mean any harm, it’s just that we’re acquainted with an amazing Beast Tamer, so we all admire Beast Tamers in general.”
Silica didn’t mind their attitude at all. However, she was intrigued by a sentence from the boy in front of her.
“Amazing Beast Tamer…?”
Silica only knew one person who deserved such a grandiose nickname.
“Yes,” The boy in front of her smiled and said: “Are we perhaps thinking of the same person?”
Silica’s eyes instantly lit up upon hearing this sentence.
Then……
“To be honest, we’ve been trying our best and set our eyes to join the Clearers.”
The guild leader scratched his head in embarrassment.
“We can only hunt at the 50th Floor right now. We’re looking for a reliable companion right now to close down the 5 Floors gap with the Clearers.”
The 50th Floor…!?
In other words, if these people have already achieved the safe level for that Floor, that meant they were already level 60…?
That made them the closest Players to the Clearers, right?
Silica once again noticed certain words that the guild leader just said.
“Reliable…Companion…?”
Silica murmured.
Upon seeing Silica’s reaction, the guild leader smiled and extended his hand to Silica.
“Will you please join our guild?”
All of a sudden, Silica was invited to join a guild, and she was speechless.
Obviously, this was not the first time Silica was invited to a guild. Countless guilds and parties have tried to invite her prior to this. However, none of them made Silica speechless like just now.
Because……
“Aiming to join the Clearers…”
None of the guilds that invited Silica had such a goal before.
It was this goal that made Silica’s heart skip a beat.
If she could join the Clearers, won’t she be able to see that person anytime she wanted?
When that idea crossed her mind, she worked up a courage.
“Please let me join.”
Silica raised her head and said sincerely.
Upon seeing this, the guild leader smiled.
“Welcome to our guild, Moonlit Black Cats.”
The staff user named Keita extended his hand to Silica, while Ducker, Sasamaru, Tetsuo, and Sachi smiled cheerfully behind him.
Silica then took Pina, joined the Moonlit Black Cats” and left the 35th Floor.
Meanwhile, two people witnessed this scene from the beginning.
“So you can rest easy now, right?”
Kirito said to Rozen helplessly.
Rozen just shrugged his shoulders and smiled wryly.
However, Rozen blessed Silica, who embarked on a new journey.
“I hope you can survive until the end.”
Survive until the day when this game was cleared.
